USA > Pennsylvania > Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume I > Part 39
USA > Wyoming > Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume I > Part 39
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Dr. Levan was a frequent contributor to the Reformed Church Messenger and the Re- formed Quarterly Review. On August 8. 1888. he began a series of articles for the former pub- lication under the caption of "Wyoming Papers." These papers appeared weekly until January 18, 1894, when he became the leading contributor to the editorial page.
His articles for the "Review" were numerous, always bearing the stamp of scholarship and lit- erary ability. He also contributed several valuable articles to the Pennsylvania German Society, of which he was a charter member and in which he always took the deepest interest. While in col- lege he was a member of the Diagnothian Lit- erary Society. Dr. Levan married, August 18, 1864, Sarah Ann Ermentrout, of Reading, Penn- sylvania, who was born at Womelsdorf, Pennsyl- vania, and died October 1, 1897, aged 53 years. She was a daughter of Samuel Ermentrout and wife Maria Vanderslice ; they had three daugh- ters: Emma C., Rebecca and Sarah Ann. Three children were the issue of this union: I. Anna Maria, born September 18, 1868, in Oakland, Pennsylvania, who became the wife of the Rev. W. D. Happel, of Wilkes- Barre, who succeeded Dr. Levan as minis- ter of Zion's Reformed Church. Rev. W. D. Happel taught thee terms in the public schools of Bucks county, 1884 to 1887, and two years in Franklin Marshall University, 1902 to 1904. 2. Louis E., mentioned at length hereinafter. 3. Kate G., born in Oakland, Pennsylvania. The death of Dr. Levan, which occurred suddenly on Novem- ber 13, 1894, at his home in Wilkes-Barre, was
THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS. 223
felt to be both a private and a public calamity. He was well known by a large number of people in Wilkes-Barre, and was esteemed and beloved by all for his many excellent characteristics. His daily walk and conversation was such as befitted his profession, and was an incentive to others to follow the teachings of the Master whom he loved and served.
Louis E. Levan (7), only son of the Rev. Dr. Franklin Klein (6) and Sarah Ann (Ermentrout) Levan, was born in Oakland, Pennsylvania, June 4, 1870. In 1878 he came to Wilkes-Barre with his father, attended the city schools, and later Wyoming Seminary, at Kingston, Pennsylvania, from which he graduated in 1888. The following two years he was engaged in a wall paper store in Wilkes-Barre, where he thoroughly learned the details of the business. In 1890 he engaged in business on his own account, locating in the Young Men's Christian Association building, where he remained for ten years. He then moved to his present store on Main street, Wilkes- Barre, and has built up a large trade among the people of Wilkes-Barre and the surrounding country. He is a stanch supporter of those en- terprises and interests which are calculated to benefit and improve the city and advance the gen- eral welfare. He attends the Zion's Reformed Church. He is a member of the Young Men's Christian Association, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Royal Arcanum, and the Pennsyl- vania German Society, all of Wilkes-Barre.
H. E. H.
HAKES FAMILY-The American family of Hakes were in New England early in the eigh- teenth century, and were of English ancestry and origin. The immigrant of the family, so far as now known, was Solomon Hakes, who was of Westerly, Rhode Island, 1709, when he was made a freeman. In 1710 he moved to Stonington, Con- necticut. His wife was Anna Billings, daughter of Ebenezer Billings and wife Anna Con- stable, and granddaughter of William Billings, who came from England and settled in Stoning- ton in 1640. George Hakes, son of Solomon Hakes, had a son, George S. Hakes, born Ston- ington. Connecticut, January 27, 1751, died Salis- bury, Herkimer county, New York, lived in Ston- ington from 1779 to 1793, then emigrated to New York state, and was a farmer by occupation. He married, 1774, Zerviah Church, a descendant of Captain Church. They had children : Robinson, born about 1776, died about 1840; Esther, born 1778; Hannah, born 1780, died 1858. She was grandmother of Judge Charles E. Rice, of Wilkes-
barre. Zerviah, born 1782; Elizabeth, born 1784; Priscilla, born 1786; Lyman, born May 26, 1788, died Harpersfield, Delaware county, N. Y., July 14, 1873.
Lyman Hakes, son of George S. Hakes and Zerviah Church, married (first). September 22, 1813, Nancy Dayton, born Watertown, Massa- chusetts, and living at the time of her marriage in Harpersfield, Delaware county, New York, where she was a school teacher. She died in 1850. He married (second). Delinda Osborne. Lyman Hakes was a man of activity and in- fluence, and the instrument for the accomplish- ment of much good in the hilly regions of Dela- ware county, where he lived. In 1841 he was commissioned by Governor Seward county judge of Delaware county, and performed the duties of that office with entire satisfaction. He was drafted into the service during the war of 1812- 15. and in 1870 was awarded a pension for his military service of almost three-score years be- fore. The children of Lyman Hakes and Nancy Dayton Hakes were:
Lyman, born Harpersfield, Delaware county, New York, March 23, 1816, died Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, December 8, 1873. He came to Pennsylvania in 1837 and taught school at Ber- wick, Columbia county ; while there took up the study of law; removed to Wilkes-Barre, 1839, read law with William Wertz, and was ad- mitted to practice in April, 1841.
Minerva, born March 14, 1818, married Phineas L. Bennett.
Homer, born January 6, 1820, died November 13, 1854; married April 9. 1844, Anna Judd, and was a farmer in Mckean county, Pennsylvania.
Adaline, born October 16, 1821, died October 5, 1844 ; married April 19, 1843, Samuel Scott.
Harlo, born September 23, 1823, now de- ceased ; married, 1855. Mary Chandler ; he was a member of Assembly, Steuben county, district at- torney same; register in bankruptcy; county judge Steuben county 1884-1896; and president Urbana Wine Company.
Harry, born Harpersfield, New York, June 10, 1825 : married (first), 1849, Maria Eliza David ; married (second), August 29, 1855, Harriet Louise Lape.
Caroline, born August 26, 1827 ; married, Jan- uary 24, 1855, Joseph G. McCall.
Vienna, born September 16, 1830; died March 16, 1858.
Lyman Hakes, eldest son of Lyman and Nan- cy (Dayton) Hakes, was for many years a prom- inent figure in Wilkes-Barre legal circles. During the period of his active professional life he was
1
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one of the most successful trial lawyers at the bar of the courts, whether in the civil or crim- inal branch of practice. Says, Kulp: "He was not a brilliant orator but he had a mathematical mind, capable of condensing facts and presenting them to a jury in a most convincing manner. He excelled in clearness of statement, and was al- ways powerful before a jury. In the earlier years of his practice Mr. Hakes was a close stu- dent and was almost as successful in civil as in criminal cases, but in his later years his practice was principally criminal and books were in a great measure neglected. But even up to the last he was no mean antagonist in any case." "He
stood steadfastly by his word. His fellow attor- ney need not ask under his signature for the evidence of any agreement pertaining to any mat- ter to come before court on trial. His word was sufficient. What he verbally agreed to do was with him a matter of professional pride to consummate."" Mr. Hakes married (first ), 1851, Elizabeth J. Baldwin, of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsyl- vania, daughter of Jared R. Baldwin, who was clerk of the board of commissioners of Luzerne county from 1845 to 1850; married (second), 1868, Margaret D. Cowley, of Pittsburg. There were no children of either marriage.
Harry Hakes, youngest son of Lyman and Nancy (Dayton) Hakes, born June 10, 1825, died in Wilkes-Barre, April 20, 1904. He was first a physician and later a lawyer, a good physician and a lawyer of excellent capacity and standing at the bar. Dr. Hakes, as he was known among friends, was brought up on his father's farm, but he was given a good elementary education, and a collegiate course in the old historic Castleton Medical College, Castleton, Vermont, where he was awarded his diploma, M. D., in 1846. His professional career was begun in Davenport Center, New York, but in 1850, upon the death of his wife, he went to New York City and de- voted his attention during that year to attendance at and work in the schools of medicine and hos- pitals of that city. He removed the next year to Nanticoke, Pennsylvania, and practiced there three years, then visited Europe and gave another year to study in the great medical institutions of London and Paris. He returned to America in 1855, remarried, and resumed practice in con- nection with farming pursuits. In Nanticoke he took up the study of law and was admitted to practice at the bar of Luzerne county, January 25. I860. From that time he was known to the legal profession as long as he was in active work, but his old familiar title, Dr. Hakes, was always retained. He was a member of the Pennsylvania
State Medical Society, American Medical Asso- ciation, Luzerne County Medical Society, Buffalo Historical Society, Buffalo, New York, Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, and Wyoming Commemorative Association. Dr. Hakes was a life-long Democrat, and always ready both in pub- lic and private to give a reason for the faith that was in him. In 1864 and 1865 he represented Luzerne county in the state legislature. In speak- ing of his personal and mental qualities, Kulp says: "Dr. Hakes was a genial friend, a kind neighbor, and a public-spirited citizen. Over six feet in height, he united with a large frame a large heart, and a grasp of vigor and an indepen- dence of mind which rendered empiricism and the small art and details of professional life distaste- ful, but especially qualified him to subject every question, whether in medicine, law or theology, to the rigid test of principle, and to that meas- ure and amount of proof of which it was rea- sonably susceptible."
Dr. Hakes married (first) June, 1849, Maria Eliza Dana, daughter of Anderson Dana, Jr., and granddaughter of Anderson Dana, Esq., who was killed at the Massacre of Wyoming, July 3, 1778. Mrs. Hakes died December, 1849. He married (second), August 29, 1855, Harriet Louise Lape, who died November 22, 1896. He married (third), June 22, 1893, Clara J. Lape, a sister of his second wife. Two children were the issue of the second marriage : Minnie, born September 25, 1856, died January 4, 1857; Lyman, born Feb- ruary 16, 1859, died September 26, 1859. Dr. Hakes died April 20, 1904. H. E. H.
SIMEON DECKER GOFF, son of William and Anna (Decker) Goff, was born on his father's farm in Monroe township, Bradford county, Pennsylvania, March 6, 1842. He was educated in the common and public schools of his native county, and resided at home until he at- tained his twenty-fifth year. When he left home he went to New York City and found employ- ment there, remaining about two years. He then went to Mahoopany, Wyoming county, Pennsyl- vania, where he became senior member of the firm of Goff & Sturdevant, merchants. After three years of successful business experience he sold his interest in the store and removed to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, where he has since resided. At first he served as bookkeeper and afterwards manager of the Wyoming Valley Ice Company, holding the latter position thirteen years, until 1903, when he established the Spring Lake Ice Co., of which he is now sole proprietor. Mr. Goff married, 1880, Mary Elizabeth Dow,
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born October 7, 1847, daughter of Jeremiah Burns and Hannah Welding ( Fell) Dow, whose other seven children were: William Burns, born January 12, 1850, married Mary Emma Fell, and is now traveling in the west. Alphonse Burns, born April 7, 1852, died August 11, 1854. Ruth Ella, born January 25, 1856, married Henry Newton Young, D. D. S .. of Wilkes-Barre. John Dorrance, born June 13, 1858, married Melissa Jane Denman, resides in New York City. Sarah Leah, born June 10, 1861, resides in Wilkes- Barre. Daisy, born June 15. 1864, died Jan- uary 12, 1868. Stella Willetts, born July 10, 1869, died January 14, 1872. (See Fell family). Jeremiah Burns Dow, father of these children, was born in Topsham, Orange county, Vermont. January 4. 1806, and died in Wilkes-Barre, Penn- sylavnia, September 4, 1884. He was a son of Isaiah and Betsy (Burns) Dow.
Mr. and Mrs. Simeon D. Goff had four chil- dren, all born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania : Ruth, born June 28. 1881 ; Elton Mills, Septem- ber 26, 1882 : Burns Dow. July 25, 1884, died Jan- uary -, 1904 : Katherine Welding Dow, Decem- ber 22, 1889. Mr. Goff and his family are mem- bers of the Presbyterian church. H. E. H.
BROOKS FAMILY. "Brooks (Brocks) Pieter, and Francyntje Wendell, married Novem- ber 7, 1771, Frances, widow of Pieter B., April 25, 1818; aged 65 years, six months, five days. Children : Jonathan, born August 13, 1772 ; Re- becca, baptized October 15, 1775: Johannes, born Nov. II, 1777 : Susanna, born August II, 1779 ; Pieter, born May 3. 1780." (Pierson's Geneal- ogies of the First Settlers of the Ancient County of Albany"). This Pieter Brocks undoubtedly was the son of Jonathan Brooks (Brocks, Broecks) who married, April 13, 1727, Rebecca Tattem (Tatton, Totten) as Pieter's eldest son was named Jonathan, after his grandfather, and his eldest daughter was named Rebecca, after her grandmother.
The foregoing would appear to indicate that Peter Brooks, the ancestor of the Rev. Peter Haverly Brooks, D. D., family of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, was of New England birth ( 1733) and that he removed when young to the Hudson valley and settled there among the Dutch colon- ists, married a Dutch wife and raised a family. It is more than probable that Peter (or Pieter) was the son of Jonathan Brooks and wife Rebecca Tattem. Family tradition has it that his father Jonathan was of New England birth, and that
Peter was recorded as one of the inhabitants of Albany, after the customs of that ancient town. However this may have been in fact, the present writer has not the means or power to determine, and this record, so far as obtainable data is con- cerned, must begin with Peter Brooks, of Albany, New York, who married Francina Wendall, No- vember 7, 1771, and had children :
Francyntje Wendell ( Francina Wendell) bap- tized November 12, 1752, was a daughter of Jo- hannes Wendell and wife Sara Bergen. Johannes Wendell was son of Jeronimus (or Hieronimus) Wendell and Ariaantje Visscher, and Jeronimus Wendell was son of Evart J. Wendell and Sus- anna Du Trieux. Evart Jansen Wendell was born in 1615 in Emden, a town of about twelve thousand inhabitants, situated at the mouth of the Ems, in the northeastern extremity of Han- over, in Prussia. He came to New Amsterdam about 1642, and married (first) Susanna, daugh- ter of Du Trieux (now spelled Truax), who probably was the father of Philip Du- Trieux, court messenger in New Amsterdam, (now New York City) at an early day. (See Raider Family).
Peter Brooks 'was born in 1733 and died March 8, 1825. He lived in Albany, New York. He was a private soldier during the Revolution, as was his son Jonathan Philips Brooks, in the First Regiment of Albany County Militia, serving more than two years, and the names of both are found in the military rolls under land and bounty rights awarded for service in that war. As is before stated, this would appear to give Peter Brooks a New England origin. He married as above, and he named, says the family record, two of his sons George and John, after two of his brothers he had left in New England, either in Massachusetts or Connecticut. They had child- ren : I. George. 2. Peter, Jr. 3. Jonathan Philips Brooks. ("He was entered into the An- cient and Honorable Society of Free and Ac- cepted Masons in Union Lodge in the City of Al- bany, New York, on the 15th day of February, 1799.") He died June 21, 1829. 4. Abraham. 5. John. 6. William. 7. Sarah, married Garret G. Van Zandt. They had two sons in the ministry, one an eminent scholar and professor in New Brunswick Theological Seminary, in New Jersey. 8. Rebecca, married a Mr. Fisher. 9. Susan, married Jacob Van Patten. 10. Fanny, married Garret Van Denberg.
Jonathan Phillips Brooks married, at Nor- manskill, New York, February 28, 1791, Maria
15
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Haverly,1 and had children: I. Peter Haverly,
born April 23, 1792, died July 15, 1837. 2. Nancy, born March 15, 1794: married, June 8, 1811, Aaron Swart; died March 20, 1826. 3.
John H., born December 2, 1797. 4. Francina, born August 7, 1799; married, Ballston Spa, New York, July 8, 1816, Garret Stephens. 5. Christian Haverly, born May 8, 1801, married, February 5, 1820, Maria Hewston. 6. Hermanus Van Slyck, born May 24, 1803; died November 29, 1875. 7. Maria Vedder, born February 10, 1806; died March 31, 1826. 8. Jacob Adams, born April 10, 1808; died March 15, 1843. 9. Saralı Ann, born May 3, 1812 ; married, May 20, 1829, Robert Mckay. IO. Aaron Swart, born September 1, 1817 ; died February 10, 1859 ; mar- ried, September 8, 1836, Fanny Duncan.
Aaron Swart Brooks was born in Glenville, near Schenectady, New York. September 1, 1817. About 1843 he exchanged his farm near West Milton, in Saratoga county, for a residence in Schenectady, where he spent the remainder of his life in various business enterprises. He be- came a professor of religion during the last years of his life. His wife, Fanny Duncan, was born in Schenectady, in 1811, daughter of Major John Duncan, and granddaughter of John Duncan, who with his wife Martha March, settled in Schenectady in 1755, where Jolin Duncan was the pioneer of a new class of merchants and for- warders, extending their business over the north- ern lakes, and after 1759 dealing largely and di- rectly with Montreal and the merchants and for- warders of that part of Canada. As head of the great mercantile firm of Duncan & Phyn, he was one of the most widely acquainted men in the Mohawk valley, and no man did more than he to establish a business reputation for Schenectady during the last half of the eighteenth century. His country seat, "The Hermitage," in the town of Niskayuna, comprised eight hundred acres of land. Fanny Duncan Brooks spent the last years of her life at the home of her son, Rev. P. H. Brooks, in West Milton, Saratoga county, New York, and died there Sunday noon, February 2, 1868, at a ripe old age. She was a member in Schenectady of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Peter Haverly Brooks, son of Aaron Swart
Brooks and wife Fanny Duncan, was born in Glenville, New York, December 16, 1837. He was educated in the Schenectady Union School, and Union College, class of 1862, graduated Prince- ton Theological Seminary, 1864, and received the degree of D. D. from Union University in June, 1897. As licentiate he supplied about one year (1864-65) the pulpit of the Presbyterian Church at Tom's River, New Jersey : was or- dained and installed by the presbytery of Albany, New York, July 11, 1865, pastor of the Presby- terian Church in West Milton, New York, and served three years ; was pastor of the Knowlton and Hope Presbyterian Churches in New Jersey three years; in 1871 became pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Susquehanna, Pennsyl- vania, serving in that capacity eighteen years, until 1889; was temporary supply of the First Presbyterian Church of Wilkes-Barre, 1890, dur- ing the illness of the pastor, Rev. F. B. Hodge, (sketch elsewhere), and at the same time was Presbyterial missionary under appointment of the Lackawanna Presbytery. One of the sources of pride of Dr. Brooks is his wonderful penman- ship, which excites the admiration of all who are privileged to see it. In his twenty years service as stated clerk of Lackawanna Presbytery he has completed five different records of the proceed- ings, each one containing about five hundred pages. The writing shown in these is of various styles and all are marvels of execution and neat- ness. They are said to be the most wonderful records of the kind ever seen in any part of the globe. In addition to this in 1864 he wrote the Lord's Prayer four times upon the space covered by a silver three-cent piece. It was written with the naked eye, and can be read clearly and dis- tinctly.
In July, 1890, Dr. Brooks removed to Wilkes- Barre, Pennsylvania, where he now lives. For twenty years he has been stated clerk of the Lackawanna Presbytery, which postion he holds in connection with his Presbyterial mission work and during the same period he has been a regular correspondent for several religious papers, hav- ing for one year the preparation of blackboard designs for the "Westminister Teacher," with notes on Sunday school lessons. His published books are: "History of the Lackawanna Presby- tery." 1888; "Fifty Golden Years," on the pas- torate of the Rev. N. G. Parke, D. D., of Pitts- ton, Pennsylvania. 1894 : "Eden's Sunny Slopes," 1897, illustrating the first and second chapters of Genesis, with twenty original designs.
Dr. Brooks married, in Kingston, New Jer-
I. Maria Haverly Brooks after the death of her husband removed to Glenville and later to Schenec- tady, New York .. At the time of her death one of her granddaughters was a grandmother. She died in Schenectady, New York, July 9, 1861. She was of an exemplary christian character.
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sey, September 1, 1864, Kate S. Colby,1 daugli- ter of Aaron Colby and Lydia Van Dyke Van de Veer, his wife, and had children :
I. Lilly Brooks, born and died West Milton, New York, June 7, 1865.
2. John Duncan Brooks, born West Milton, New York, May 9, 1866; died Glenolden, Penn- sylvania, December 27, 1893. "Rarely in a man of only twenty-seven years have such mature graces of christian character been seen. He was gentle, self-sacrificing and laborious to a degree that reminded men continually of the Christ whose name he loyally bore." John Duncan Brooks at the age of seventeen years became an official in the service of the Presbyterian Board of Education in Philadelphia, and served nearly ten years, until his death. He took a full course in art in the Spring Garden Institute, Philadelphia, and rose rapidly as an artist. After his death his wife, Lizzie Marian Jurisch, whom he married September 5. 1888. took a course in Bible study and mission work in Albany, New York, and is a missionary under commission and in the service of the Woman's Presbyterian Board of Home Missions.
3. Alian Colby Brooks, born Knowlton, New Jersey, August 12, 1869 ; he graduated from the Susquehanna Collegiate Institute in Towanda, Pennsylvania, June, 1889, and is an M. D. grad- uate of Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, May 15 1895. He married, Wilkes- Barre, Pennsylvania, October 6, 1897, Margaret Hamilton Carrick. Children : Frances Edna,
born December 7, 1899. Margaret Alleine, born February 22, 1905.
4. Philip Haverly Brooks, born Susque- hanna, Pennsylvania, November 11, 1874, died May 25, 1876.
5. Katherine May Brooks, born Suseque- hanna, Pennsylvania.
All the adult members of the family living at this date ( 1905) are members of the First Pres- byterian Church in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. H. E. H.
HUNLOCK FAMILY. In early New Jer- sey history this surname was variously spelled Hunloke, Hunlocke, and Hunlock. The latter construction seems to have prevailed with more recent generations, and is generally accepted as authentic and permanent. The probate records in Elizabeth, New Jersey, show that the will of John Hunlocke was proved December 7, 1745, and that of Thomas Hunlocke, August 24, 1746. About 1757-60, when the northeastern section of Northampton county, in the province of Penn- sylvania, along the Delaware river, began to be. settled by immigrants from Connecticut, New York and New Jersey, under the proprietorship of the Connecticut Delaware Company, a branch of the Hunlock family, presumably from New Jersey, settled in the township of Lower Smith- field, in the locality afterward set off from Northampton to form Monroe county.
Jonathan Hunlock was one of a number of inhabitants of Lower Smithfield, who in Sep- tember, 1763, addressed a petition to the provin- cial governor of Pennsylvania. The township just mentioned lay not far from the route of travel of settlers under the Connecticut Susque- hanna Company in journeying to and from the Wyoming valley, and naturally an acquaintance sprang up between the families settled along the Delaware and those who were migrating farther westward to the Wyoming region in the valley of the Susquehanna. The travelers were so ac- tive in giving good report of the latter region, the fertility of its soil, and the healthfulness of its climate, that many of the inhabitants of Lower Smithfield were persuaded to remove with their families and join with the colonists under the Susquehanna Company proprietary. Jona- than Hunlock was one of the settlers who re- moved about this time. He located in 1773 on the right bank of the Susquehanna, about three miles below the Wyoming valley, near the mouth of a large creek, to which he gave his name. He was well settled here in December, 1775, when the Plunkett invasion took place, and he was
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