Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 5

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 5
USA > Wyoming > Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume I > Part 5

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ter of Colonel John Lord Butler, granddaughter of General Lord Butler, and great-granddaughter of Colonel Zebulon Butler, of the Continental Line, 1775-1783, who commanded the American forces at Wyoming, July 3, 1778. Her great- grandfather on her mother's side was Captain Samuel Richards, of the Continental Line, 1775- 81, member of the Connecticut Society of the Cincinnati. (See Butler Family). Judge and Mrs. Stanley Woodward had three children :

I. Ellen May, born May 27, 1858; died May, 1860.

2. John Butler, born April 3, 1861 : grad- uated A. B. Yale University, 1883 ; admitted to the Luzerne county bar September 7, 1885. He is a member of the law firm of Woodward, Darling & Woodward. He married, June 6, 1888, Marion, daughter of Thaddeus S. and Esther (Reynolds) Hillard. Children: John Butler, Marion Hillard, Stanley Hillard.

3. George Stanley, M. D. born June 22, 1863; graduated A. B. Yale, 1887, Ph. B. 1888: M. D. University of Pennsylvania, 1891. Mar- ried October 9, 1894, Gertrude, daughter of Henry Howard Houston, of Chestnut Hill, Phil- adelphia. Children: Henry Howard Houston. George, Stanley, Charles Henry.

Judge Woodward died, deeply regretted, March 29, 1906. H. E. H.

HARDING FAMILY. Among the early planters of New England were the ancestors of the Hardings. Of the dates of their embark- ation or arrival in America no record can be found, but circumstances indicate that it was in 1623. Captain Robert Gorges, "late from the Venetian wars," son of Sir Fernando Gorges, of Redlinch, Somersetshire, England, having re- ceived from the council of New England the ap- pointment of general governor of the whole coun- try and the grant of a tract four miles wide on Massachusetts bay and extending thirty miles into the interior, arrived August 23, 1623, with a clergyman of the Church of England and "sundrie passengers and families, intending there to begin a plantation," that being the "place he

had resolved to make his residence." Sir Robert Gorges, his near kinsman, if not himself. had married Mary Harding, daughter and heir of William Harding, and whichever was her hus- band we may reasonably suppose that some of Lady Harding's relations would have accom- panied him. If she was his wife and attended him, the Hardings probably were. her brothers. He pitched upon Wessagussett, already aban- doned by Weston's people, and now Weymouth Landing, partly in Braintree. Here were seated the most ancient Hardings of New England, where our record begins, and here for half a cen- tury was the geographical center of the race. (Gen. Reg. of Desc. of Sev. Anc. Puritans, by Rev. Abner Morse.)

There were several of these Hardings at the time indicated, and their names were variously rendered, such as Harding. Harnden, Haraden, and Hardy, yet all of the same ancestral head, and all remote descendants of Hardin, a name extremely early in Europe, doubtless of Gothic origin, and known to have existed in Germany, Scandinavia, and Britain previous to the intro- duction of the feudal system and the erection of permanent castles, and many centuries before the adoption of surnames and the formation of the dialects of northern Europe. Hardin was a com- mon name in England, A. D., 1086: for at that time "Doomsbook," in vulgar Latin, reports Har- dinus, Hardine, Hardincus, Hardineus filius Elnodi, Hardingus, and Hardingus filius Alnodi, as proprietors or 'assignees of lands. In the eleventh century Hardin became a surname in circumstances evincive of distinction, if not of noble rank ; and from some of these the modern Hardings, Harndens, and Harradons of New England probably have sprung, but claims to any distinct line of descent is rendered doubtful by the fall and confusion of families that ensued ; and records of so remote a period are out of the question (Ibid). The authority quoted from mentions no less than thirteen representatives of the surname previously noted, and fourth among them is recorded the name of Stephen Harding, the founder of the family whose branch came to

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dwell in the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania something more than a century and a quarter ago.

Stephen Harding is first mentioned in early records in 1669 as a blacksmith of Providence, in the colony of Rhode Island. Family tradition traces him back to Massachusetts, and he is supposed to have been the son of John and the brother of Abraham Harding; and that he fol- lowed the colony from Weymouth to Rehoboth, and to have first settled in the Baptist part of the town which became Swanzey, and afterward in Rhode Island, where he was an original grantee, in whose right and name he and his heirs drew many lots. In 1669 he purchased the right of commoning in Providence, on the east side of Naqunkeake, and in 1710-1I had his deed rec- orded, when he or another for him probably completed the settlement of his estate. Subse- quently he made a disposition of his lands among his children, each according to his needs. The second son of Stephen was named Stephen, and he died a widower previous to 1680; there was another son Stephen, who was born after 1680, or who adopted that name after the death of his elder brother, who is mentioned hereinafter.

Captain Stephen Harding acquired consider- able lands in Providence and subsequently sold them, removing thence to Warwick. In early life he was a tanner and currier, and before leaving Rhode Island had probably built and sailed his own vessel, hence his title "Captain" Stephen. He was in middle life a man of wealth, and his acquaintances and transactions seem to have been with the first persons in the colonies. Captain Stephen Harding was a man of conse- quence and substance in Warwick (then in New London, now Waterford, Connecticut), and he engaged in commerce, sailing from New London until, sustaining losses at sea, he returned to his early occupation and died upon his farm. The name of his wife is unknown, but he was the father of five sons, all of whom, save one, left the parental acres and helped to colonize other sec- tions of the country. There were John, Abra-

ham, Stephen (3), Thomas (3), and Israel Hard- ing.

Captain Stephen Harding (3), son of Captain Stephen (2), settled first in Colchester, Connec- ticut, 1747, where his children were born. He removed thence to the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania in 1774, settled in what now is Exeter, Luzerne county, on the west side of the Susquehanna, and died October II, 1789, aged sixty-six. He commanded at Jenkins Fort1 at the time of the Wyoming massacre, where two of his sons-Benjamin and Stukley-were ruth- lessly slain. He married Amy Gardner, by whom he had nine sons and three daughters. The sons were :

I. Stephen, born about 1749; died at Exe- ter, 1816.

2. Thomas, born about 1751 ; died 1813.

3. Benjamin, born 1753; killed with his brother by the Indians, June 30, 1778.

4. Stukley, born 1755; killed with his brother by the Indians.

I. "At Fort Jenkins, the uppermost in the valley, and only a mile above Wintermoot's, there were gathered the families of the old patriot, John Jen- kins, Esq., the Hardings and Gardiners, distinguished for zeal, with others. Not apprised of the contiguity of the savages, on the morning of the 30th of June. Benjamin Harding, Stukley Harding, John Harding, a boy, James Hadsell, James Hadsell, Jr., Daniel Wel- ler, John Gardiner and Daniel Carr, eight in all, took their arms and went up about three miles into Exeter, to their labor. Towards evening, at an hour when aid could not be expected, they were attacked. That they fought bravely was admitted by the enemy. Wel- ler, Gardiner and Carr were taken prisoners. James Hadsell and his son James, Benjamin and Stukley Harding, were killed. John Harding, the boy, threw himself into the river, and lay under the willows. his mouth just above the surface. He heard with anguish the dying groans of his friends. Knowing he was near. the Indians searched carefully for him. At one time they were so close that he could have touched them. The bodies of Benjamin and Stukley Harding were found after the massacre, taken down to the fort, now West Pittston, and buried near the fort, in what later became known as the Jenkins Cemetery. In after years their brother, Elisha Harding, Esq., raised them a monument with this inscription, 'Sweet be the sleep of those who prefer Death to Slavery." "-Miner.

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5. Israel, born about 1756; died about 1835 or 36.

6. Micajah, Captain, born 1761 ; died 1845.

7. Elisha, born 1763 ; died 1839.

8. John, born about 1765; died 1826; mar- ried Affa Baldwin Jenkins.

9. William, born about 1767; died 1825.

Thomas Harding (3), the fourth son of Captain Stephen Harding (2). of Warwick and younger brother of Captain Stephen Harding (3), the Wyoming pioneer and patriot, was born May 16, 1727, and died February 20, 1804. He married, March 29, 1745, Mary Richards, daugh- ter of Jeremiah and Mary Richards, of Water- ford, Connecticut, where they lived and died. They had nine children, of whom the fifth, James Harding (4), born March II, 1762, died No- vember 5, 1835. He married his cousin, Chris- tian Richards, settled first at Waterford but re- moved in 1807 to Exeter, Pennsylvania, where this branch of the family became established for many years. They had seven children, of whom Nancy, the eldest, married Isaac Harding (5) son of John (4), and grandson of Captain Stephen Harding (3). A son, Daniel Harding (5), was long a distinguished citizen of Exeter township, and was prominent in the early de- velopment of Luzerne county, being at one time its county treasurer.

John Harding (4), the eighth son of Captain Stephen Harding and Amy Gardner Harding, was born at Exeter in 1765, and died in 1826. He married Affa Baldwin, widow of Benjamin Jenkins. They had seven children : John, Isaac, George, Hiram, who removed to Lee county, Il- linois ; Harry, Affa and Celinda.

Isaac Harding (5). the second son of John Harding (4), and his wife Affa Baldwin, mar- ried Nancy Harding (5), the daughter of James Harding (4), and his wife Christian Richards. Isaac removed in 1846 to Pawpaw Grove, Lee county, Illinois, and subsequently was elected one of the judges of the county court there. They had four children, Lestor, Nancy, Garrick M., and Isaac, all of whom, except Garrick M., moved to the west and settled there.

Garrick Mallery Harding (6). son of Isaac and Nancy Harding, was born in Exeter, Luzerne county, July 12, 1827, and died in Wilkes-Barre, May 19, 1904. He was educated at Franklin Academy, Susquehanna county, Madison Academy, at Waverly, and in Dickinson College, Carlisle, where he graduated in the class of 1848. He at once began the study of law in the office of Henry Mills Fuller, and in 1850 was admitted to practice in the courts of Luzerne county. From that time to 1856 he practiced in partnership with Mr. Fuller, and two years later, 1858, was elected on the Republican ticket dis- trict attorney of Luzerne county. At the end of his term he resumed practice, and in 1865 formed a law partnership with Henry W. Palmer, a former student in his office, who later became at- torney general of Pennsylvania under Governor Hoyt, and subsequently the member of congress from Luzerne county for three consecutive terms. This partnership was continued until 1870, when Mr. Harding was appointed by Governor Geary president judge of the eleventh judicial district, then including both the counties of Luzerne and Lackawanna. to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of the Hon. John Nesbitt Conyng- ham, LL. D. In the fall of that year he was the Republican nominee for the same office and was elected for a full term, defeating his Democratic opponent, Hon. George W. Woodward, by a ma- jority of 2365 votes. In speaking of Judge Harding's qualities as a judicial officer, Kulp says: "On the bench Judge Harding displayed those active qualities which had been a distin- guishing feature of his life, and the promptness with which he dispatched business, the constant attention he gave to the duties demanded, the fearless methods that he employed, all linked with an integrity of purpose that was undeviat- ing, gained for him the highest respect of the bar, and the wide plaudits of the people."

In the latter part of 1879. after nearly ten years of arduous service. Judge Harding resigned his seat on the bench, and returned to his private practice. He was afterward a faithful worker in the ranks of the profession until within the

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last few years, when he gradually withdrew from the office to pass the remaining years of his life in comfortable retirement. "In private life," says Kulp, "Judge Harding is generous and charitable ; devoted to his family and his books ; a faithful friend and an outspoken opponent, a worthy representative of those men whose stout hearts and arms made the valley of Wyoming classical ground, and whose vigor of body and mind, force of character, and native integrity still bloom and flourish among their children." The regard in which Judge Harding was held by his associates, and in the community in which he lived, was fittingly epitomized in the resolu- tions of the bar meeting held in his honor :

"Resolved, That the death of Hon. Garrick "Mallery Harding, who was at one time presi- "dent judge of the several courts of Luzerne "county, removes from this bar and community "a man of unusual ability and of marked promi- "nence in his profession.

"Judge Harding was a descendant of those "New England men of might and renown who "endured the privations and perils of pioneer life "upon an exposed frontier, and the awful danger "of massacre by merciless Indian savages. He "inherited a vigorous constitution and great in- "tellectual ability.

"He was distinguished as an advocate by "gifts of eloquence and power that rendered his "forensic efforts memorable in our annals. His "judicial opinions gave evidence of great indus- "try and research in their preparation, and of "discriminating discernment and understanding "of sound legal principles. They were also char- "acterized by clearness and strength and beauty "of style which rendered them conspicuous as "literary productions.

"His generosity to young men, his ever ready "counsel and aid to any who applied to him for "assistance, his genial friendliness to all with "whom he came in contact, endeared him to his "fellows, and will long be remembered among "the traditions of the Bar by generations who "will succeed us after we shall sleep with the "dead."

Judge Harding married, October 12, 1852, Maria Mills Slosson, daughter of John W. Slos- son and his wife, Hannah Mills, of Kent, Litch- field county, Connecticut, who died January 24, 1867. They had four children :

Harriet Fuller Harding, born August 27, 1853; married, October 21, 1875, William W. Curtin, only son of Andrew Gregg Curtin, the war governor of Pennsylvania, 1861-1867. They reside in Philadelphia and have two children, Marion, married, June 16, 1904, James D. Win- sor, Jr., and Katherine Irvine Curtin.

John Slosson Harding, born August 29, 1859.

Henry Mills Harding, born July 16, 1862.

Garrick M. Harding, Jr., born December 3, 1865 ; died February 10, 1874.

John Slosson Harding (7), son of Garrick Mallery Harding and his wife, Maria M. Slosson, was born in Wilkes-Barre, August 29, 1859. He was educated in the Wilkes-Barre public schools and at St. Paul's School, Concord, New Hamp- shire, where he fitted for college; entered the academic department of Yale College in 1876, and graduated with the degree of A. B. in the class of 1880. He read law with his father and under the direction of John McGahren, Esq., and was admitted to the courts of Luzerne county November 21, 1882, and to the supreme court of Pennsylvania, April 21, 1886. He served as the assistant district attorney of Luzerne county under hoth John McGahren, Esq., and James L. Lenahan, Esq., and was for three years one of the board of examiners of candidates for admis- sion to the bar of Luzerne county.

Outside of his profession he has taken an ac- tive interest in the National Guard of Pennsyl- vania, having enlisted as a private in the Ninth Regiment in April, 1884, and served contin- uously in the building up of the regiment, as cor- poral, sergeant, sergeant major and adjutant, un- til the expiration of his commission as a major of the regiment, in November, 1899, when he de- clined a tendered re-election and was placed on the roll of retired officers. He served with his. regiment at Chickamauga and Lexington,

THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

through the Spanish-American war, having been enrolled as a volunteer April 27, 1898, mustered into the service of the United States May II, 1898, as major, Ninth Pennsylvania Infantry Volunteers, to serve two years, and honorably discharged from the service August 26, 1898, at Lexington, Kentucky, on tender of his resigna- tion after peace with Spain had been declared, and the necessity of his return to civil life and the practice of his profession had become urgent.

He married, January 25, 1899, Mary B. Brown, daughter of Edgar A, Brown and his wife, Elizabeth Whitman, born in Napa Valley, California, but all of whose ancestors were ori- ginally from New England. They have two children, Elizabeth Wheeler Harding, born June 26, 1900, and John Slosson Harding, Jr., born January 27. 1905.

Henry Mills Harding (7), the second son of Garrick M. Harding and Maria Mills Slosson, was born at Wilkes-Barre, July 16, 1862, was educated at the public schools and the Hillman Academy in Wilkes-Barre until he entered the class of 1886 at Yale College. On account of failing health, and because of the necessity of active out-of-door life, he abandoned his college course before completing his first year, and de- voted himself to active business, first as general salesman with Ahlborn & Company, and since 1898 with the Hazard Manufacturing Company of Wilkes-Barre, where he is now actively en- gaged as an assistant to the general manager.

He married, (1) October 23, 1889, Annie Leavenworth, daughter of Frank J. Leavenworth and Anna Woodward, of Wilkes-Barre, who died on August 29, 1890. He married (2). January 25, 1905, Adelia Russell Sharpe, daughter of William Sharpe, of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. H. E. H.

CHARLES EDMUND RICE, of Wilkes- Barre, is a descendant of an old and honored Connecticut family from which sprang the New York branch of which he is a representative.

His great-grandfather was a teacher in Wal- lingford and New Haven, Connecticut, for forty

years prior to the Revolution. His grandfather, Moses Rice, was a native of Wallingford. In early years he removed to Salisbury, Herkimer county, New York, where he resided during the remainder of his life. His wife was Roxana Cook, daughter of Atwater Cook, who was a descendant of Henry Cook, a native of Kent, England, who was at Plymouth, Massachusetts, before 1640. His son Samuel went to Walling- ford with the first planters in 1670. Mrs Rice was born in Salisbury, New York, September 25, 1777, and died September 15, 1852. Hon. Atwater Cook, of Salisbury, prominent in his day in Herkimer county, New York, and who represented the county in the state legislature in 1831 and 1839, was a brother of Mrs. Rice. Thomas Arnold Rice, father of Charles E. Rice, after his marriage removed to Fairfield, where he became a leading man, serving for many years as trustee of Fairfield Academy and the Fairfield Medical College. His wife was Vienna Carr, daughter of Eleazer and Hannah Carr. The Carrs were natives of Salisbury, and came originally from New England.

Charles Edmund Rice was born in Fairfield, Herkimer county, New York, September 15, 1846. He was prepared for college at Fairfield Academy, a famous old institution which was incorporated in 1803, and was during the first fifteen years of its existence the only academical institution of its grade in central or western New York. After leaving the academy Mr. Rice entered Hamilton College, at Clinton, from which he was graduated in 1867. He afterward taught for one year in the Bloomsburg ( Penn- sylvania) Literary Institute, meanwhile reading law under the preceptorship of John G. Freeze, Esq., of that place. In 1868-69 he attended the Albany Law School, graduating in the latter year, and was at once admitted to the bar of the supreme court of the state. He then located in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, which has since been the place of his residence, and, entering the office of his relative, Lyman Hakes, was ad- mitted to the bar of Luzerne county, February 21, 1870. He was soon well established in prac-

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tice. A Republican in politics, he was made the candidate of his party for the judgeship of the Orphans' court in 1874, but was defeated by Judge Daniel L. Rhone. In 1876 he was nom- inated for the district attorneyship, and was elected over P. J. O'Hanlon, Democrat, by a majority of over 2000, despite the fact that Mr. Tilden, the Democratic candidate for president, received in the same county the large plurality of nearly four thousand. In 1879 he was the Republican candidate for judge of the common pleas court of Luzerne county and was elected. Upon his accession to the bench he became pres- ident judge, by virtue of seniority of commis- sion, and upon the expiration of his term was re-elected to the same position, which he held until June 28, 1895, when he was appointed and commissioned president judge of the newly created superior court of Pennsylvania. The degree of LL. D. was conferred by Lafayette College in 1895. In the fall of the same year he was elected for the full term of ten years from the first Monday of January. 1896. In religion Judge Rice is a Presbyterian, and was one of the charter trustees of the Memorial Church, of Wilkes-Barre, but is now connected with the First Presbyterian Church of that city. The "Letters and Other Writings" of his brother, Lieut. Adam Clarke Rice, of the One Hundred and Twenty-first Regiment New York Volun- teers, who died while in the service of his coun- try during the Civil war, were compiled and edited by Judge Rice in 1864 and printed for cir- culation among the family and friends of the fallen soldier.

Judge Rice was married December 18, 1873. to Maria Mills Fuller, daughter of the late Henry M. Fuller, long a distinguished member of the Luzerne county bar. Of this marriage were born three children: Charles Edmund, October 8, 1874: Henry Fuller, August 13, 1876, de- ceased ; and Philip Sydney, June 22. 1878.

H. E. H. -

WHEATON FAMILY. The Ballou gen- ealogy, in noting the marriage of Sarah Ballou and Moses Wheaton, says that this Moses prob-

ably was a descendant of the Wheatons of Rehoboth, Massachusetts. As a matter of fact, Moses Wheaton, who married Sarah Ballou, was a descendant of Robert Wheaton, the im- migrant ancestor of the Wheaton family in America, who came from England in 1636 and joined the colony of planters at Salem, Massa- chusetts, then being about thirty years old. He married there Alice Bowen, who was a daugh- ter of Richard Bowen, and in 1645 removed with his family to Rehoboth, and died there, 1696.

Moses Wheaton, of Richmond, New Hamp- shire, a descendant of Robert Wheaton, of Sa- lem and Rehoboth, is recognized as the progen- itor of the Wheaton-Ballou families who in later years and generations have been important factors in public life, in the professions, and in the varied activities of business life in the com- munities in which they have lived and of which they have been a part. Recollections of Moses Wheaton and his immediate ancestors are meagre. He married in Richmond, New Hamp- shire, October 14, 1781, Sarah Ballou, born Scit- uate, Rhode Island, May 4, 1763, died October 15. 1824. Sarah Ballou was a daughter of Rev. Ma- turin and Lydia Harris Ballou. Rev. Maturin Bal- lou was in early life a farmer and mechanic, and in 1752, at the age of thirty years, began preach- ing, an expounder of the gospel under Baptist doctrines, a faithful follower of John Calvin, al- though among his near and remote generations were able exponents of the doctrine of Univer- salism. Rev. Maturin Ballou was a son of Peter Ballou, of Providence, who was son of Peter Ballou, of Providence, Rhode Island, (and Re- becca Esten), who was son of John Ballou of Providence (and Hannah Garrett), who was son of Maturin Ballou (and Hannah Piki, daugh- ter of Robert and Catherine Piki), one of the proprietors of the Providence plantations in the colony of Rhode Island, a follower of the for- tunes of Roger Williams, one of the signers of the compact, and one of the principal personages of the Providence settlement. This Maturin had six children ; and his son John, and Hannah, had six children ; and his son Peter, and Rebecca,

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had eleven children ; and his son, Rev. Maturin, and Lydia, had eleven children, of whom Sarah who married Moses Wheaton, was the eighth child and fourth daughter. Moses Wheaton died in Richmond, New Hampshire, January 3, 1815. He had thirteen children, whose names are re- corded in Richmond: Job, Charles, Maturin, Sarah, Moses Ballou, of whom later ; Silas, Asa, Ira, Lydia Platt, Betsey Dixon, Lemira Faxon, Jesse, and James.

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Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 5

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