Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 33

Author: Hayden, Horace Edwin
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: New York, Chicago, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 988

USA > Pennsylvania > Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume I > Part 33
USA > Wyoming > Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume I > Part 33

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Asher Corss, eighth child of James and Thankful (Munn) Corse, born in Greenfield, Massachusetts, September 10, 1737, died there, June 25, 1822 ; married (first), Submit Chapin, died March 22, 1777, daughter of Samuel Chapin, of Chicopee, Massachusetts.1 She had five chil- dren. Asher married (second), Lucy Chapin, cousin of his first wife, and daughter of Zediah Chapin. She bore him no children. This Asher Corss was a soldier in the French and . Indian wars. and was the owner of three hundred acres of land on the west bank of the Connecticut, six miles above Greenfield. He changed his name from Corse to Corss. Asher and Submit Corss had the following children: Clarissa, born No- vember 9, 1768, married, December, 1793, Tim- othy Larabee : Submit, born December 27, 1770,

married, March 11, 1793, Eli Smead : John, born March 31, 1773, married (first), December 31, 1795, Sarah, daughter of Oliver Atherton, and married (second), November 10, 1801, Sarah Bennet, had eleven children ; Asher, born June 5, 1775 ; and Eunice, married Mr. Flagg.

Asher Corss, son of Asher and Submit (Chap- in) Corss, born in Greenfield, Massachusetts, June 5, 1775, died there May 8, 1814; married. Sep- tember, 1797, Lucy Grinnell, died May 14. 1814, aged thirty-nine years, daughter of William Grin- nell. Asher and Lucy Corss had children : Polly, born January 9, 1798, died unmarried, August 19, 1846: Submit, born September 29, 1799. died un- married, November 18, 1820: Henrietta MI .. born March 28, 1801. married (first). October 26, 1820, Henry Atherton ; married (second). Feb- ruary 24, 1824, Rudolphus Pratt, of Marlboro : Charles Chapin, born May 22, 1803: Lucy, born -, 1805, married, October, 1823, Charles L. Smead : Cornelius Clark, born October 13, 1807, married Mehitable Hill, reside in Illinois : Chris- topher Gore, born October 18, 1809, married Polly Brigham ; Climena, born August II, 18II, died April 29, 1833 : Sarah, born July 21, 1813, married, June 25, 1829, Harvey C. Newton.

Rev. Charles Chapin Corss, eldest son and fourth child of Asher and Lucy Corss, was born in Greenfield. Massachusetts, May 23. 1803. died May 20, 1896: graduated at Amherst Col- lege, A. B., 1830 ; and was afterward principal of Deerfield Academy. He studied theology at Princeton, New Jersey, and was licensed to preach by the Hampshire Association of Alassa- chusetts, in February, 1834. December of same year he became stated supply of the Presbyterian church in Kingston, Pennsylvania. and served two years there in connection with more general missionary work in adjacent localities. August 27, 1836, he was ordained by the Susquehanna Presbytery, of which he continued a member until the reunion of the old and new school branches of the Presbyterian church. From 1838 to 1847 he was pastor and teacher in Athens, Pennsyl- vania : from 1847 to 1869. was stated supply at East Smithfield, and in 1869-70 occupied the same relation to the church in Barclay. He supplied

I. Samuel Chapin. of Chicopee, was son of Sam- uel Chapin, who was son of Japhet Chapin, who was son of Deacon Samuel Chapin, of Springfield, Massa- chusetts. Deacon Chapin, "The Puritan," was one of the most exemplary men in early Springfield history. His name first appears in the records in 1642. He was one of the first board of selectmen, and served nine consecutive years : was magistrate, and one of the com- missioners "to hear and determine all cases and offences, both civil and criminal. that do not reach life, limb and banishment." At various times in the absence of the minister he officiated in religious meetings; in 1663 he was one of the commissioners to lay out North- .ampton, and in 1659 to lay out the town of Hadley.

Frederic Cores

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the pulpit of the Reformed Presbyterian church in Ulster in 1871, and was teacher in Smithfield in 1874, remaining in the locality several years. His work in the ministry covered a period of about sixty years. In an obituary notice, published in the "Presbyterian," June 17, 1895, Rev. Mr. Phelps, his biographer and lifelong acquaintance, said : "He was the first minister of the gospel I ever knew; I think the first one to whom I ever listened." Probably no one ever lived in Smith- field who exerted an influence upon human char- acter and human thought in Smithfield such as he did. Mr. Corss was especially active and influen- tial in establishing the Susquehanna Collegiate Institute at Towanda. He married (first), Sep- tmeber 1, 1836, Ann Hoyt, who died August 9, 1851, aged thirty-four; he married (second), June 6, 1866, Lucelia Phelps, of East Smithfield, Five children were born of his first marriage: Charles, born July 27, 1837, married (first), Sarah Kennedy, of Stewartsville, New Jersey, and married (second), Emma Pollock, daughter of George Pollock, of Philadelphia ; he was a law- yer at Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, and died No- vember 28, 1904. 2. Nancy, born October 9, 1839, married, September 24, 1903, Lucius L. Morse, and lives in Jennings, Louisiana. 3. Frederick, born January 16, 1842, married Mar- tha Hoyt. 4. John Hoyt, born April, 1847, died 1866. Ann Hoyt, born July 4, 1851, married William F. Church, of Wilkes-Barre.

Dr. Frederick Corss, of Kingston, was born January 16, 1842. He was educated in the Sus- quelianna Collegiate Institute, Towanda ; Wyom- ing Seminary, Kingston; and Lafayette College, graduating at the latter, A. B. 1862, and A. M. 1865. His doctor's degree was acquired in the medical department of the University of Penn- sylvania, 1866. He began practice in Kingston, March 17, 1866, and has been identified with its history from that time to the present. He is a member of the Presbyterian church; Masonic Lodge, No. 395 ; the Luzerne County Medical So- ciety ; the Lehigh Valley Medical Association (and its president, 1903-1904) ; the Pennsylvania State Medical Society ; the American Medical As- sociation ; the Wyoming Historical and Geolog-

ical Society ; the Pennsylvania Society Sons of the Revolution ; and of "P. B. K." of Lafayette Coll- ege, the famous so-called "Gamma" chapter.

Dr. Frederick Corss married, June 19, 1872, Martha Sarah Hoyt, born October 14, 1849,. daughter of John Dorrance Hoyt and Martha Goodwin, his wife. John D. Hoyt, farmer of. Kingston, was a son of Ziba and Nancy Hoyt, and brother of the late Governor Henry Martyn. Hoyt. H. E. H.

LATHROP FAMILY. Rev. John Lothrop,- the immigrant ancestor of the Lothrop and Lathi- rop families in America, was the great-grandson of John Lowthroppe, of Cherry Burton, a parish about four miles from Lowthorpe, wapentake of Dickering, East Riding of Yorkshire, England- a gentleman of extensive landed estate in Cherry Burton and various other parts of the country, and assessed on the Yorkshire subsidy roll in 1545 twice as much as any other inhabitant of the par- ish. This John left a son Robert, who succeeded to the paternal estates in Cherry Burton, and who . died in 1558, leaving a son Thomas, who inher- ited from his father certain lands and their appur- tenances in Walkinton, also "an ambling gelding, dapple gray, two draughts mante-a hawked and browne-and fourtie weathers such as he will choose," and also his father's "jack" (coat of mail), his "bill" (battle ax), steel cap, and pair of splents; wherefore it may be assumed that Robert had served his king in the wars, and that he bestowed his accoutrements upon the son whom he deemed worthy to possess them and de- fend the honour of his house and the person of his sovereign.

This Thomas was also of Cherry Burton, but after his marriage removed to Etton, Harthill wapentake, East Riding, Yorkshire, and died there, 1606, having made his will, excluding from its benefits those of his sons whom he had edu- "cated and thus provided with means of self -? maintenance. Among these sons was John, issue of Thomas's second marriage, who was the American ancestor of the Lothrop-Lathrop fam- ily, although he wrote the surname Lothropp. He was baptized in Etton, Yorkshire, December 20, .

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1584; matriculated at Queen's College, Cam- bridge, 1601 ; graduated B. A. 1605 ; M. A. 1609. He was admitted to the living about 1611 in Egerton, forty-eight miles southeast from Lon- don, in the lower half hundred of Calehill, lathe of Scray, county of Kent, as curate of the parish church there and labored faithfully as long as his judgment could approve the ritual and gov- ernment of the church, but when he could no longer do this he renounced his orders and as- serted the right of fulfilling a ministry to which his heart and his conscience had called him. He departed from Egerton in 1623, and in 1624 succeeded to the pastorate of the First Indepen- dent Church in London, accepting the leadership of a congregation of dissenters, and sharing with them the privations to which they were afterward subjected, and which culminated in the arrest and imprisonment of forty-two of their number, April 22, 1632. Rev. John and his followers were confined in the old Clink prison in Newgate, and were kept there until the spring of 1634, when all except himself were released on bail, for he was deemed too dangerous to be set at liberty. During his imprisonment his wife fell sick, and through the favor of the bishop he was per- mitted to visit her and pray with her before she died. After her death his children, being many, made known to the bishop at Lambeth their mis- erable condition, and through his intercession pro- cured an order of bail: "1634, Apr. 24. John Lothrop enlarged on bond to appear in Trinity term, and not to be present at any private con- venticles."

Under the date of September 18, 1634, this record is found on page 71 of Governor Win- throp's journal: "The Griffin and another ship now arriving with about 200 passengers, Mr. Lothrop and Mr. Sims, two godly ministers com- ing in the same ship." On reaching Boston with that portion of his London flock who had ac- companied him, he found preparations already begun to welcome him to a new home in Scituate. On Monday, January 29, 1635, in a meeting for worship held in his own house, John Lothrop was chosen minister of the town, and was once more inducted into the pastoral office. On Octo-

ber II, 1639, (O. S.), with a "large company" of his people, he removed from Scituate to Barn- stable and founded a church in that town and there closed his life work, November 8, 1653. He left a will which he had failed to sign and execute, but the instrument was admitted to probate with- out question. His second wife he married while living in Scituate, and her name was Anna.

Samuel Lothrop, seventh child of Rev. John Lothrop, came with his father from England to Scituate, removed thence to Barnstable, where he married, November 28, 1644, Elizabeth Scudder, daughter of John Scudder, and removed in 1648 to Pequot (New London), Connecticut, where he was a man of consequence, a "house builder" and farmer, prominent in affairs of the church, and one of the town magistrates "to settle causes of differences between the inhabitants." He re- moved to Norwich, 1668, was constable, 1673 and 1682, and "townsman," 1685. These were offices of dignity in colonial times. Samuel was twice married : his second wife, Abigail Doane, daugh- ter of Deacon John Doane of Plymouth, attained the remarkable age of 102 years-1632-1734. Samuel Lothrop died February 29, 1700.

Israel Lathrop, son of Samuel, born October, 1659, died March 28, 1733 : married April 8. 1683, Rebecca Bliss, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Bliss, and granddaughter of Thomas Bliss, sen., of Hartford, Connecticut. In Norwich in 1730 Israel Lathrop's rank among the townsmen was next to his brother Samuel. "He was a man of worldly thrift, and had a family of enterprising sons, who are said to have planted themselves on seven hills within the old nine-miles square of Norwich."

Benjamin Lathrop, son of Israel Lathrop and his wife Elizabeth Bliss, born July 31. 1699. mar- ried (first), November 13, 1718, Martha Adgate, who died March 26, 1739-40 ; married (second). June 15, 1741, Mary Worthington, died August 4, 1770, widow of Daniel Jones, and daughter of William Worthington of Colchester, Connecticut, and his wife, Mrs. Mehitable Horton, daughter of Isaac Graves of Hatfield, Massachusetts. By his first wife Benjamin had ten children and one by his second wife.

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Benjamin Lathrop, son of Benjamin Lathrop and his wife Martha Adgate, born March 28, 1721, died June 23, 1768; married ( first), Eliza- beth Hyde, daughter of Daniel Hyde and his wife Abigail Waters. He married ( second), Huldah He settled in Franklin, Connecticut, where he joined the church, 1741.

Asa Latlırop, son of Benjamin Lathrop and his wife Martha Adgate, born February 2, 1755. died September 2, 1827 : married September 17. 1782, Alice Fox of Bozrah, died September 18. 1847. Asa Lathrop was an early settler in Sus- quehanna county, Pennsylvania (then a part of Luzerne county), having located there September 22, 1803. Children of Asa Lathrop and Alice Fox his wife: I Abigail, born February 8, 1783 ; died March 3, 1790. 2. James, born June 17, 1785: died July 6, 1854. 3. Susan. born November 17, 1787 ; died October 10, 1824. 4. Walter, born May 12, 1790; died January 19. 1839. 5. Abigail, born June 10, 1793 ; mar- ried Charles Eddy. 6. Alice, born January 2, 1795; married Elisha Fargo. 7. Asa, born March 2, 1799 ; married Wells, and re- moved to Potter county, Pennsylvania.

James Lathrop, second child, eldest son, of Asa Lathrop and his wife Alice Fox, was born in New London county, Connecticut, and was eighteen years old when he came to live in Sus- quehanna county. For half a century he lived in the county, and was himself an interesting part of its history. He builded well for himself, his fam- ily, and for the community in which he lived so long. His wife was Lydia Luthensia Burchard, born March 19. 1790, died January 22, 1867 ; daughter of Israel and Lydia Burchard, formerly of Granby, Hampshire county, Massachusetts, and who removed to Luzerne (now Susque- hanna) county, Pennsylvania, in 1802. Their children : 1. An infant, born December 23. 1809; died same day. 2. William Fox, born February 10. 1811 : married Emeline Sproat. 3. Austin Burchard, born March 8, 1813, died un- married. 4. Charles Jacob, born June 25, 1815 : married Laura Lathrop. 5. Lydia Alice, born September 1, 1818; died unmarried. 6. Israel

Burchard, born July 21, 1821 ; married Mary Eliz- abeth Bolles, and died, Springville, Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, February 19, 1900. 7. Su- key, born February 28, 1826; died March 9, 1826.

Dr. Israel Burchard Lathrop, born Susque- hanna county, Pennsylvania, July 21, 1821. died Springville, Pennsylvania. February 19, 1900; married, September, 1845. Mary Elizabeth Bolles, daughter of Andrew Bolles, of Springville, Penn- sylvania, and his wife Susan Beardsley. Dr. Lathrop spent his whole life in Susquehanna county, and was for more than half a century one of its leading professional men. In many respects he respected his Yankee ancestry, and was one of the best types of the old family revealed in a later generation. He acquired his early education chiefly in the schools of his native county, and his medical education in the Albany (New York) Medical College, where he graduated. Dr. Lath- rop's wife, too, was of good old New England stock. Her father was Andrew Bolles, and her mother was Susan Beardsley, daughter of Phil- onus Beardsley, originally of New London, Con- necticut, and his wife, Mary Beach of Kent, Litchfield county, Connecticut. Children of Is- rael Burchard Lathrop and his wife Mary Eliza- beth Bolles: 1. Henry, born April 8, 1850; died May, 1853. 2. Edgar James, born August 15, 1852. 3. William Arthur, born August 4, 1854; married March 21, 1881, Harriet Eliza Williams, born July 26, 1856. 4. Homer Beardsley, born May 28, 1856.

William Arthur Lathrop, C. E., M. E., second son and child of Dr. Israel Burchard Lathrop and his wife Mary Elizabeth Bolles, is a native of Springville, Pennsylvania, and in which town he acquired his early education and prepared for college. He matriculated at Lehigh University in 1871, and graduated in 1875 with the degree of C. E. He afterward took a course in mining, and received his M. E. degree from the same in- stitution. He at once entered the service of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company in the capacity of civil engineer, and was in that employ until about 1879, when he came to Wilkes-Barre and was associated with Major Irving A. Stearns, C.

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E., M. E .; a relation which was maintained until 1881, when Mr. Lathrop went to northern New Jersey to take the management of an iron mining enterprise. He next went to Virginia and opened the pioneer coal mine in that region-the well known Pocahontas coal field, in Tazewell county, and in connection with his mining operations there he also laid out and built up the town of Pocahontas. In June, 1885, Mr. Lathrop returned from Virginia and located at Snowshoe, Centre county, Pennsylvania, having the management of the bituminous department of the Lehigh Valley Coal Company, in that region. He returned to Wilkes-Barre in February, 1888, as superinten- dent and general manager of all the coal produc- ing departments of the same company, and so continued until May, 1902, when he resigned, and was made president of the Wehster Coal and Coke Company, now the Pennsylvania Coal and Coke Company, with principal offices in Philadel- phia. Mr. Lathrop has a fine home in Dorrance- ton, a small residence borough above Kingston, opposite Wilkes-Barre. He is a trustee of Lehigh University, a director of the People's Bank of Wilkes-Barre, and the Fourth Street National Bank of Philadelphia, a member of the Univer- sity Club of Philadelphia, the Westmoreland Club of Wilkes-Barre, of the Pennsylvania Society Sons of the Revolution, and the Wyoming Histor- ical and Geological Society. He married March 21, 1881, Harriet Eliza Williams, born July 26, 1856, daughter of Charles Freeman Williams and his wife Eliza Campbell of New York City.

Mr. Williams is of an old Massachusetts fam- ily, an ancestor being John Howland, one of the "Pilgrim Fathers," who came to America in the "Mayflower." He is also a descendant of Richard Williams of Taunton, Massachusetts. Eliza Campbell was of Scotch birth and parentage, and came with her father, William Campbell, wid- ower, from Glasgow, Scotland, about 1794, and settled in Troy, New York. He was by trade a linen weaver.

Children of William Arthur and Harriet (Williams) Lathrop were: Helen, born March 12, 1887 ; died same day ; Helen, born April 24, 1889. "C. of R." H. E. H.

FOSTER FAMILY. The Fosters who came and settled in the Wyoming valley in 1803 were from old historic Hubbardton, in Vermont, on the west side of the Green mountains. Edward Foster, so far as existing records indicate, was the head of this branch of the family in Ver- mont. Tradition says he was of old New Eng- land stock, resident originally in Massachusetts, and a descendant of Puritan ancestors, some of whom served with the colonists of the western plantations in the wars with the Indians from the time of the Pequot outbreak to the close of King Philip's war, covering a period of more than forty years of the seventeenth century. By direct relationship with the Nashes and Johnsons, the Fosters are descended from revolutionary ances- tors. It is probable that either Edward Foster or his father served with Colonel Seth Warner in that famous military organization, the "Green Mountain Boys," who fought through the revolu- tionary war, or, at a still earlier date, served in the same command under Ethan Allen in resist- ing the pretended authority of the province of New York in its attempt to dispossess all the Vermont settlers who held land titles under the governor of New Hampshire.

The circumstances of Edward Foster's set- tlement in Vermont are not definitely known, but it is certain that he was located in Hubbardton about the time of the close of the war for Inde- pendence. He there married, February 10, 1791, Lowly Nash, born December 12, 1760, died in Wyoming, October 10, 1852, daughter of Phineas Nash and his wife Mary Hamlin. Their chil- dren, all born in Hubbardton, were: Samuel, March 2, 1793; James, November 14, 1794: Phineas, December 26, 1795, of whom later ; Sally, born September 10, 1797; Lowly, October 5, 1799; Anoca (perhaps Hannah, the record be- ing quite indistinct), September 6, 1801.

In 1803 Edward Foster emigrated from Ver- mont to Pennsylvania and settled his family on lands in the Wyoming valley, in what is now Jackson, between Huntsville and Truckville. He was a farmer, prudent and thrifty, and a Pres- byterian in religious preference, orderly in his daily walk, and exacting from the members of his

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family and household a strict obedience to all the requirements of the church. He died in 1814, and his widow survived many years, dying Octo- ber 10, 1852. Of the sons of Edward Foster, Phineas alone attained to mature years. He suc- ceeded to the home farm, and increased it to more than six hundred acres. Like his father, he was industrious and thrifty, but more venture- some in business undertakings. He was fortu- nate in his dealings, and accumulated a large property for his time. He was interested in mer- cantile pursuits both in Huntsville and Wilkes- Barre, but the management of these enterprises was left to his partners. They furnished the ex- perience, he the capital and business stability of the concern, and all profited by the association.

Phineas Nash Foster, son of Edward and Lowly (Nash) Foster, born December 26, 1795, was an old-time Whig, and a man of much in- fluence among his fellow townsmen. For several terms he served as justice of the peace, in which office he sought to dispense justice as well as law. His wife was Mary Bailey Bulford, widow of Albon Bulford, and daughter of Rev. Jacob John- son, who came to Wilkes-Barre in 1772, and was the first permanently located minister west of the Blue mountains, in the territory now com- prising the state of Pennsylvania. Mr. Johnson was a Congregationalist, the teachings of which church were for more than a half century the prevailing religion of the Wyoming valley. He was a remarkable man, especially influential with the Indians, speaking fluently the language of more than one of the tribes, and was a conspic- uous figure on the Connecticut side through all the so-called Pennamite troubles. He died in Wilkes-Barre, and his monument bears the fol- lowing inscription.

"Rev. Jacob Johnson, A. M., born at Wall- ingford, Connecticut, Apr. 7, 1713, died at Wilkes-Barre, Pa., March 15, 1777. Graduated at Yale College, 1740; Pastor of Congregational Church (subsequently First Presbyterian), 1772- 1797. He made missionary journeys to the Six Nations, preaching in the Indian language. He was a firm and self-sacrificing defender of the was an early and outspoken advocate of American

`liberty, and a commanding figure in the early his- tory of Wyoming. He wrote the articles of capi- tulation following the destruction of the infant settlement by the British and Indians in 1778, and was a firm and self-sacrificing defender of the Connecticut title throughout the prolonged land contest." (See Johnson Family) .

By her first marriage with Mr. Bulford, Mrs. Foster had three children-Olive A., John J., and Lord Bulford, all now deceased. The children of Phineas Nash Foster and his wife Mary Bailey (Bulford) Foster were Charles Dorrance Fos- ter, and one who died in infancy.

Charles Dorrance Foster, son of Phineas N. and Mary B. Foster, was born in Dallas township, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, Novem- ber 25, 1836. He entered Wyoming Seminary at Kingston, and after an academical course of study taught for one year in this vicinity, and afterward for a short time in Illinois. He studied law in the office of Lyman Hakes, and on April 23, 1861, was admitted to practice. This extends to all the state and federal courts, embracing many important and noteworthy cases, and he is widely known as one of the safe, reliable and successful lawyers in this portion of the state. In recent years he has achieved success as a prac- titioner in the orphans' court of his county, and his practice in its various departments has proven large and lucrative. While giving diligent at- tention to his profession, Mr. Foster has also carefully cared for his properties. The old home farm of the Foster family which was originally settled upon by his grandfather, became his by in- heritance upon the death of his father, and has been kept by him to the present day, having been in the ownership of the family (grandfather, father and himself) for more than one hundred years.

In addition to his law practice and the man- agement of his landed properties, Mr. Foster is interested in various business affairs. He was president of the first street railway of Wilkes- Barre, is a director of the Wyoming National Bank, a director of the Wilkes-Barre and Dallas Turnpike Company, and treas- urer of the Hunlock Creek Turnpike Company.

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Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 33

Author: Hayden, Horace Edwin Publication date: 1906 Publisher: New York, Chicago, The Lewis publishing company Number of Pages: 988

Author: Hayden, Horace Edwin
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: New York, Chicago, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 988