Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 36

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 36
USA > Wyoming > Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume I > Part 36

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).

H. E. H.

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THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

AYARS FAMILY. The American ances- tor of the Ayars family of the line under consid- eration here was Robert Ayars, 1, who is said to have come from England in 1664, and settled in Rhode Island. He removed thence about 1684- 85 to a place called Black Neck (or Shrewsbury Neck), near the mouth of Cohansey creek, on the south side, in Cumberland county, New Jersey, where he died, January 14, 1718-19. He owned . 800 acres of land at the time of settlement, and in 1705 purchased 2,200 acres on the north side of Cohansey creek. By his wife Esther Bowen he had nine children, among whom was Caleb Ayars, who married Rebecca Brayman.

Caleb Ayars, born 1692, son of Robert and Esther (Bowen) Ayars had a son Aaron, born December 18, 1723, who had a son Hamilton, born. December 20, 1753, who had a son Shep- herd. born June 19, 1789, died August 15, 1857 ; married Mary Murray, born December 28, 1790, died July 1, 1861. They had children :

Preston, born January 19, 1813, died Feb- ruary 9, 1862 ; married Jane Todd.

Hamilton, born October 6, 1815, died May 3, 1858; married, May 26, 1836, Lydia Weiler.

Lemuel, born July 27, 1819, died May 21, 1820.

Addis Meredith, born April 12, 1821, died February 5, 1872 ; married Debby R. Evans, born March 13, 1824, died March 20, 1889.

Anna Eliza, born February 9, 1825, died 1901 ; married February 18, 1858, Kersey Shoemaker, they had Mary, dead; Emma, married Dr. Pat- rick of West Chester, Pennsylvania; Margaret, married Harry Tallman, of Philadelphia, Penn- sylvania.

Lemuel Wesley, born September 12, 1828, died May 21, 1869; married Margaret R. Cronin.

Edwin, born May 8, 1831, died November 26, 183I.

Sarah Powell, born August 7, 1834; married John S. Mullin; they reside in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

I. Some of Robert Ayars' descendants changed their surname to Ayers and Ayres, but he always wrote it as here given.

Addis Meredith Ayars, fourth son of Shep- herd and Mary (Murray) Ayars, was for many. years a prominent figure in Chester county, Penn- sylvania, civil and political circles ; was clerk of the courts and otherwise conspicuous in public affairs in West Chester, the county seat. The later years of his life were spent in Wilkes-Barre, where he died, February 5, 1872. His wife, Debby Reese Evans, was of Welsh descent, the daughter of Evan Evans, born October 22, 1775, died April 28, 1854, and his wife Margaret Dunn, died September 1, 1848, and she was the grand- daughter of Evan Evans and his wife Catherine. Addis Meredith and Debby Reese (Evans) Ayars had :

Charles Evans, born November 1, 1846, see elsewhere.

David Preston, born October 8, 1848.

Margaret Dunn, born July 28, 1851 ; mar- ried James P. Taylor, of Montrose, Pennsylvania.

Jeanette Davis, born November 26, 1854; married Harry Stoddard, a merchant of Wilkes- Barre, Pennsylvania.

Elizabeth, born October 31, 1858; living in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

Shepherd, born March 29, 1861, married Clare Hillman, lives in Wilkes-Barre. (See Hillman Family).

David Preston Ayars, a descendant of the seventh generation of Robert Avars, the immi- grant ancestor of the Ayars family in America, was born in Belvidere, Chester county, Pennsyl- vania, October 8, 1848, and spent his young life in the eastern part of the state. He came to Wilkes-Barre in 1866, as bookkeeper in the em- ploy of Haggerty & O'Donnell, railroad con- tractors, and after was deputy in the office of J. B. Stark, United States collector of internal revenue for the Twelfth district, in which Wilkes-Barre is situated. He continued in this office six years, serving under the following collectors: J. B. Stark, Caleb E. Wright, and Henry M. Hoyt, until 1873, when he was elected city clerk of Wilkes-Barre, succeeding Edward H. Chase. Mr. Ayars was city clerk until December I, 1875, when he was offered and accepted the office of cashier of the Miners' Savings Bank of Wilkes-

David Ayars

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Barre, Pennsylvania, a position which he still CHARLES EVANS AYARS, a representa- tive in the seventh generation of the family, and eldest son of Addis Meredith and Debby ( Reese) (Evans) Ayars, was born in Belvidere, Pennsyl- vania, November 1, 1846. holds. But outside of his regular business em- ployment Mr. Ayars has taken an interest in all matters pertaining to the welfare of his adopted city and its' institutions. He served two terms as councilman-at-large, representing the Thirteenth He obtained a practical and thorough educa- tion in the common schools of his native town, and at an early age began as a drug clerk in the store of Dr. T. J. Casper, in West Chester. Later deplhia, Pennsylvania and Washington, New Jer- sey, serving for eight years. In 1868 he took up his residence in Wilkes-Barre and entered the employ of Thompson, Derr & Bro., as a clerk and step by step he steadily worked his way upward, not through influence, but by merit and earnest effort, until he attained the responsible position of insurance adjuster, in which he is serving at the present time, and his record is one of which he may be justly proud. In the community he is recognized as a valued citizen, and his public duties are discharged with loyalty and fidelity. and Fourteenth wards, and during his incum- bency of the office he served on some of the more important committees of that body ; was chairman of the finance committee, and also one of the . he was employed in the same capacity in Phila- sinking fund commissioners. For many years he was treasurer and trustee of the First Presbyter- ian Church of Wilkes-Barre, of which he is a member. He was appointed, 1902, United States disbursing agent of the fund for the new post- office building in Wilkes-Barre: was elected, 1903, a director of the Hanover Fire Insurance Company of New York City, vice H. Evelyn Pierrepont, deceased, and in the same year was elected a director of the Wyoming Valley Lace Mills of Wilkes-Barre. For many years he was secretary of Landmark Lodge, No. 442, F. and A. M. He is past high priest of Shekinah Chap- ter. No. 182, R. A. M., also past eminent com- mander Dieu le Veut Commandery. No. 45, Knights Templar, and holds a membership in Lodge No. 109, B. P. O. E. He also holds office of trustee in the Young Men's Christian Associa- tion of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

David Preston Ayars married, November 9, 1893, Eugenia Gilman, born in Foxcroft, Maine, daughter of Reuben D.2 and Helen E. (Tolman) Gilman, of Foxcroft, Maine. Their children are : Agnes Gilman, born Wilkes-Barre, October 8, 1894. David Preston, Jr., born Wilkes-Barre, March 16, 1898. H. E. H.

2. Reuben D. Gilman, son of David Gilman, and descendant of Colonel Edward Gilman, of Gilmantown, New Hampshire, was born, 1829; married Helen E. Tolman, daughter of Phineas Tolman, of Milo, Maine, a prominent character in Maine political and civil his- tory. Reuben D. Gilman and Helen E. Tolman had three children, of whom two are living: Eugenia, a graduate of Wellesley, with high honors, 1888, now wife of David Preston Ayars, of Wilkes-Barre; and Agnes, a graduate and post-graduate of the Boston school of oratory, and now wife of Willis E. Parsons, a promi- nent citizen of Foxcroft, Maine.

Mr. Ayars married, January 15, 1873, Sally Stewart, born April 24, 1849, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, daughter of William S. and Eliza (Barnes) Stewart, also of Wilkes-Barre, Penn- sylvania, the latter being a daughter of Gil- bert Barnes. Mr. and Mrs. Stewart had four other children, namely: Ruth Ellen,' Gilbert Barnes, John, and William Sharp, the two latter named dying in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Ayars had six children: I. William Stewart, born Oc- tober 29, 1873; educated in the common schools, the Wilkes-Barre high school, from which insti- tution he graduated in 1891, the Harry Hillman Academy, from which he graduated in 1892, and the Lehigh University, where he pursued a full course in mechanical engineering and received the degree of Mechanical Engineer. In Septem- ber, 1896, he accepted a position on the Red Star Steamship "Pennsylvania' as assistant engineer and had charge of the electrical department. After a short period of time he was transferred to the "Illinois" of the same line, and from there to the steamer "New York," under Captain Jam- eson, as senior third assistant engineer, remaining in that capacity until the vessel was called into the

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THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

service of the United States government at the breaking out of the Spanish-American war, and he was on this boat at Santiago when Admiral Cervera's fleet was destroyed. During this period it was used as a scout boat and sailed under the name of "Harvard,' and it was used to bring the Spanish prisoners to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Shortly afterwards Mr. Ayars was honorably discharged from the Navy depart- ment, and for a short time thereafter served as mechanical engineer with the Susquehanna Coal Company of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. He then accepted a position as senior third assistant engineer on the steamer "St. Paul," and later was an instructor in the scientific and mechanical de- partment of Pratt Institute. In the spring of 1905 he resigned from this position to accept that of professor in the mechanical department of the State College, near Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. He married, October 19, 1901, Laura Agnes Porter, born in Southampton, England, daughter of Ethelbert and Eliza (Pullman) Porter. 2. Eliz- abeth Ingalls, born July 7, 1875, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, married J. Edward Slade, of Chi- cago, a civil engineer with the C. N. W. R. R .; they reside in Boone, Iowa. 3. Natalie Law- rence, born February 12, 1878, resides at home. 4. Allen Meredith, born June 30, 1881, a rising young machinist in the employ of the Vulcan Iron Works in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. 5. Margarete, born in 1884, resides at home. 6. Charlotte Muir, died January, 1890. Mrs. Charles E. Ayars died January 29, 1906. Rev. Dr. Mogg officiated at the funeral services which were held at her late home, No. 144 Dana street. The interment, which was private, was made in the Hollenback cemetery. H. E. H

SUTTON FAMILY. James Sutton was the pioneer head of what became in later years one of the most prominent families in the Wyoming valley, while he himself in Revolutionary times was one of the conspicuous figures in that region. He was born March 7, 1744. Before the war was begun he was a merchant at North Castle, Westchester county, in the province of New York, and when British importations were inter-

dicted by the patriotic Americans he sold his property there and removed with his family and his wife's father to the Wyoming valley and cast his fortunes with the settlers, who were beset on one side by the British and Indians and on the other by the Pennsylvania authorities. Before these troubles began he removed to Exe- ter, on the west side of the river, about five miles above the head of the valley, and built a saw and grist mill on a small stream which was named in honor of him, Sutton's creek. Here, too, the Sutton family was established, and here for fully nfty years, except for a short period, the pioneer and his good wife furnished entertainment to two generations of itinerant Methodist preachers who traversed the wide circuit in the missionary work of their church.

In the early part of 1778 Mr. Sutton rented his mill property in Exeter and purchased a mill in Kingston, within what now is Luzerne bor- ough. On the day of the massacre he was sta- tioned inside of Forty Fort, where he was charged with the duty of guarding the safety of the women, children and aged men who sought refuge within its walls. He himself was a Quaker, "scrupulous of bearing arms," but on that day he was resolved to lay aside his scruples and use a musket in defense of the settlers, but he was assigned to important duties inside the fort. A few days after the massacre he gathered his family about him and went down the river in a boat he had built and lived about two years in Middletown. On his return he found the mill had been burned and his house had been stripped of its roof, whereupon he set to work and built another house and afterward another mill, the latter being located on the Mill creek, near the river, within reach of the high waters of the "pumpkin flood," which carried away the struct- ure in October, 1786. During the Pennamite- Yankee war the Sutton house was burned, upon which the resolute Quaker patriot built another house at Forty Fort, but soon returned to his old home in Exeter, where his remaining years were spent in safety and in comfort. James Sutton was born of Quaker parents, but early embraced the teachings of Methodism and was leader of

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THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

the first class formed in the Lackawanna valley. He was appointed July 4, 1808, justice of the peace, and on the same day was appointed sealer of weights and measures for Luzerne county. James Sutton married, June 2, 1769, Sarah Smith, born January 18, 1747, and their children were :

I. Polly, born September 30, 1770, became the wife of Putnam Catlin, who had been a drum- mer boy in the Revolution. (See Catlin family.) He was admitted to practice law May 27, 1787, the day Luzerne county was organized. In 1797 Governor McKean appointed him brigade in- spector of militia of Luzerne county, and in 1814 he was elected to the legislature. He after- ward removed to Windsor, Broome county, New York ; thence to Brooklyn, Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania ; thence to Montrose in the same county, where he was cashier of the Silver Lake bank ; and thence removed to Great Bend, Penn- sylvania, where he died in 1842. They were the parents of George Catlin, the famous artist, author, and world traveller, born in Wilkes- Barre, Pennsylvania, 1796, died in Jersey City, New Jersey, December 22 1872. He was edu- cated for the legal profession and practiced two years in Philadelphia, but art was his favorite pursuit, and he soon established himself in a studio in New York as a portrait painter. In 1840 he went to Europe, and the following year published his "Manners, Customs, and Condi- tion of the North American Indians." In 1844 his "North American Portfolio" was issued, fol- lowed by "Eight Years' Travels and Residence in Europe," in 1848. In 1861 he issued "The Breath of Life," and in 1868 appeared his "Last Ram- bles amongst the Indians of the Rocky Mountains and the Andes." Mrs. Catlin died July 15, 1844. 2. A son born March 2, 1772, died March 3, 1772.

3. Deborah, born February 8, 1773, mar- ried Jacob Bedford, who was the grandfather of George Bedford, (See Bedford family) and her death occurred April 3. 1869.

4. William, born February 20, 1775, died January 30, 1828.

5. Sarah C., born June 29, 1777, died May, 1778.

6. James, born September 10, 1779, died July 27, 1827.

7. Sarah, born July 4, 1782, died June 12,. 1812.

8. A son born November 9, 1784, died the same day.

9. John, born October 9, 1786, started trad- ing among the Indians and was never afterward heard of.

IO. Samuel, born November 2, 1788, of whom later.

James Sutton died at his home in Exeter, July 19, 1824; his widow Sarah (Smith) Sutton, passed away August 20, 1834.

William Smith, great-great-grandfather of Sarah (Smith) Sutton, served in Cromwell's. army. His son, Thomas Smith, great-grand- father of Mrs. Sutton, born 1702, was an eminent lawyer in the province of New York, member of the King's council, and judge of the court of King's bench. His son, Rev. John Smith, grand- father of Mrs. Sutton, born May 5, 1702, died at White Plains, New York, February 26, 1771, was a graduate of Yale College, 1727; married, May 6, 1724, Mehitable Hooker, daughter of Judge James Hooker, of Guildford, Connecticut. Judge James Hooker, born in Farmington, Oc- tober 27. 1666, was the first judge of the court of probate of Guildford; he married Mary, daughter of Governor William Leete. He was a son of the Rev. Samuel Hooker, of Farming- ton, born in 1633, married, September 22. 1658, Mary Willett. The Rev. Samuel Hooker was a son of Thomas Hooker, the great Puritan reformer, and founder of Hartford, Connecticut. William Leete, father of Mary (Leete) Smith, was a signer of the plantation covenant, 1639; assistant of New Haven Colony, 1643-58; dep- uty governor of New Haven Colony, 1658-61 : commissioner of the United Colonies, 1655-79 ; governor, 1661-65 ; assistant commissioner of col- onies, 1665-69 ; moderator of general court, 1668; deputy governor, 1669-75 : governor, 1676-83 : and original founder of New Haven Colony.

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Captain Thomas Willett, father of Mary (Wil- lett) Hooker, was captain of Plymouth colony military, 1648; assistant, 1651-64; member of council of war, 1653 ; member of general coun- cil, 1672; first mayor of New York, 1664-73; commissioner on boundary, New Netherland, 1650 ; magistrate of Plymouth colony, 1651 ; com- missioner of admiralty, 1655; and councillor, 1665.

Dr. William Hooker Smith, son of the Rev. John and Mehitable (Hooker) Smith, and father of Mrs. Sutton, was born March 23, 1725, died July 17, 1815. He was a member of the medical profession, and when he took up his residence in Wilkes-Barre in 1772 was the only physician between Milford and Sunbury. In 1774 he pur- chased land, and was a prominent figure in Wyoming valley history. He was captain in the Twenty-fourth Regiment, Connecticut Militia, Westmoreland county, and served with the set- tlers during the Revolution. He was surgeon in the American army ; surgeon of the garrison at Wyoming. June 14 and 21, 1777 ; marched with General Hand's army under Sullivan against the Indians in 1779, and in 1838 his heirs were voted $2400 by Congress in consideration of his ser- vices during the war. He was appointed justice of the common pleas of Luzerne county, May II, 1787. Old Forge in Lackawanna county de- rived its name from Dr. Smith, who located there late in 1779, and who, with James Sutton, built the forge there in 1789. The late Isaac S. Osterhout, founder of the Osterhout Free Li- brary in Wilkes-Barre, was a grandson of Dr. Smith, and James Ross Snowden, at one time speaker of the house of representatives at Har- risburg. treasurer of the state, and later director of the mint at Philadelphia, was also a grand- son of Dr. Smith.

Samuel Sutton, youngest child of James and Sarah (Smith) Sutton, born November 2, 1788, died March 25, 1842. He married, November 14, 1822, Mary Dorrance Buckingham, born Jan- uary 26, 1799, died March 13, 1882, daugliter of Stephen and Mary (Dorrance) Buckingham. Their children were: Nancy Ann, born October 13. 1824, died July 31, 1854. James, born De-

cember 22, 1825, mentioned hereafter. Stephen B., born November 20, 1827, died at his home in Minnesota, January, 1893. Samuel, born July 9, 1830, died August 21, 1894. Charles B., (twin of Samuel) born July 9, 1830, died September 6, 1897. Benjamin D., born March 20, 1832, died January 6, 1833.

James Sutton, eldest son of Samuel and Mary D. (Buckingham) Sutton, was born December 22, 1825. He acquired his education during the winter months of the years of his boyhood in the little country schoolhouse in Exeter, his native town. In 1843, about a year after the death of his father, he came to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsyl- vania, when it was a small town of less than ten thousand inhabitants, and found employment as clerk in a store. In 1853, ten years later, with money saved from his labors and a small amount borrowed for the purpose, he opened a store which was stocked with all kinds of goods, as was the custom in stores of those early days, and was located on the site of the present store of Phelps, Lewis, Bennett & Co. He disposed of his stock, in 1873 to Isaac Louge, and began in- vesting in real estate. He built a block, in addi- tion to a number of dwelling houses, which he still owns, and from which he derives a goodly income. Mr. Sutton enjoys the distinction of be- ing one of the oldest business men in the city of Wilkes-Barre. H. E. H.

DOUGLAS FAMILY. William Douglas (I), of Bergen, New Jersey, appears upon the records in 1671 and reappears in 1686. In 1686 William Douglas and Charles Douglas arrived at Perth Amboy in the expedition organized by George Scott, Laird of Pitlochie, in Scotland. From 1686 to 1725 others of the name also ap- pear upon record. Between 1700 and 1725 at least four contemporary Douglases were born in or moved into the counties of Morris and Essex, New Jersey, viz .: Samuel Douglas, of Basking Ridge, then West Hanover; David Douglas (born about 1715-20), of Hanover Neck ; Samuel Douglas, of Hanover Neck, and John Douglas of Newark.

(II) David Douglas, born about 1715-20;

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THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

died about 1765, resided at Hanover Neck, New Jersey. He married (first) February 13, 1744; (second) October 29, 1755, Esther Reed. She survived him and afterward married William Ely, of Hanover. His children born at Hanover Neck were: Joseph, October, 1744; David, April 8, 1746: Theodosia, March 3, 1748; Thankful, May, 1750; Esther, October 12, 1756 ; Jolin, Oc- tober 14, 1757 ; Nathaniel, January 24, 1760.

(III) Deacon Nathaniel Douglas (David) was born at Hanover Neck, New Jersey, as is supposed, January 24. 1760. He lived for a time in Pompton, where one at least of his children was born. He was for many years one of the respected firm of Vanderpool & Douglas, leather manufacturers and dealers in Newark, New Jer- sey. In 1813 he moved to Caldwell, and in 1815, with his son Marcus, bought an iron furnace and forge with seven hundred acres of woodland in Bloomingdale. Being disappointed in this in- vestment he moved in 1816 to Caldwell, and there died May 15, 1824. He was a deacon in the First Presbyterian Church at Caldwell from 1819 to 1824. He was proficient in music. He was a quiet, resolute, devout man, one who ruled his household well. In his wife Sarah, daughter of Captain David Bates, whom he married Janu- ary 15, 1782, he was exceptionally blessed. She was born March 31, 1762, and died January 22, 1816. She was the sister of David Stanhope Bates, of Rochester, a civil engineer of eminence who was assistant engineer on the middle di- visions of the Erie canal, and afterward chief engineer of canals in Ohio. His life is given in Stuart's "Civil and Military Engineers of Amer- ica." The father, Captain David Bates, of Whip- pany, was a remarkable man, of great and varied experience. He died September 7, 1820, aged ninety-five years, in the enjoyment of his full mental power and faculties of observation and perfect memory, almost to the last day. His wife was Phebe Tappan, of Morristown, "an accom- plished lady of quiet and winning manners." Sarah, his daughter, and the wife of Mr. Doug- las, was a woman of singular clearness of under- standing, sound judgment and decided character.

Their children were : Lucius Franklin, born Jan- uary I, 1783, died February 26, 1812; Marcus Brutus, born December 27, 1784, died February 21, 1864: David Bates, born March 21, 1790, of whom later : Esther Maria, born March 2, 1796; Julia Angelina, born March 7, 1800, died Decem- ber 22, 1834 ; Caroline died in infancy.

(IV) Major Davis Bates Douglas, LL. D. (Nathaniel 2, David I,) was an accomplished engineer. He was born at Pompton, New Jersey, March 21, 1790, and died October 21, 1849. He married, December 12, 1815. Ann Eliza, daughter of Andrew and Sarah Brown Ellicott, who was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1792, and died in Batavia, New York, July 1, 1873. David Bates Douglas, usually known as Major Doug- las, graduated at Yale College, B. A., September I, 1813, and received the master's degree from the same institution. He was commissioned sec- ond lieutenant of engineers. U. S. A., thirty days after, and was ordered to West Point. He was ordered to the front in the Niagara campaign of 1814, was promoted first lieutenant September 17. 1814, and was brevetted captain from the same date, "for distinguished and meritorious services during the siege of Fort Erie." He was commissioned captain of engineers March 31, 1819. January 1, 1815, he was appointed assis- tant professor of natural philosophy in the United States Military Academy, West Point. In April, 1815, he was ordered to examine and re- port upon the defenses of Narragansett Bay, New London Harbor, Saybrook and New Haven. In October, 1815, being officer in charge at West Point, he systemized the details and carried into effect the organization of 1812 as to the military academy and corps of cadets. In 1817 he was ordered to make a reconnoissance with a view of fortifying the eastern entrance of Long Island Sound. In 1819 he was appointed the United States astronomical surveyor to the joint commis- sion on the boundary. appointed under the 6th and 7th articles of the Treaty at Ghent to survey the Niagara river and the islands of Lake Erie. In 1820 he was assigned to duty as civil and mil- itary engineer and astronomer to the Northwest-

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Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 36

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