Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 57

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 57
USA > Wyoming > Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume I > Part 57

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).

Dr. Lewis H. and Emily B. Taylor had two children : Anna Hollenback Taylor and Margaret Taylor, who died in her seventh year.

THE DERR FAMILY. In Wyoming Val- ley history the surname Derr does not stand for pioneership, but for enterprise, thrift and public spirit. In Pennsylvania and New Jersey history under the colony, the surname does represent an element of early settlement, an element of pro- gression in keeping with the times in all genera- tions of ancestral life of the family in America. The representatives of the Derr surname who have figured so prominently in Wilkes-Barre his- tory during the last half century are descended from two old and substantial German families- Moelich and Dorr, each of which may be briefly mentioned.

Johannes Moelich ( John Mellick, of Bed- minster ) was a son of John Wilhelm and Anna Catharine Moelich, of Bensdorf-on-the-Rhine, Germany, where he was born February 26, 1702, and baptized in the Evangelical head church by the Rev. Johannes Reusch. He married, Bens- dorf. November 1, 1723, Maria Cathrina, daugh- ter of Burgomaster Gottfried Kirburger. Early in 1735 Johannes embarked with his wife, his four children born in Bensdorf, and his youngest brother, Johan Gottfried, in the ship "Mercury," and landed at Philadelphia on May 29, 1725. Tradition says that Johannes Moelich remained in Pennsylvania about ten years. He appears in New Jersey in December, 1747, as purchaser of four hundred and nine acres of land in Green- wich township, Sussex (now Warren) county, fronting on the Delaware river and Pohatcong creek. In 1750 he was living in Readington township, Hunterdon county, where he estab- lished one of the first tanneries in the province, but which he subsequently sold. Until his death he was active in the affairs of Zion Lutheran Church at New Germantown, in that county. In November, 1751, he purchased a large tract of land in Bedminster township, Somerset county, on which he built a substantial stone mansion into which he removed with his family. On the prop- erty he erected a bark mill and tannery, which was continued in operation for more than one

hundred years. Johannes Moelich and Maria Cathrina had ten children, of whom Andrew was fourth in the order of birth.

Andrew Moelich was born in Bensdorf, Ger- many, December 12, 1729, died June 29, 1820 ; married Catharine born 1741, died October 27, 1804. When he attained his ma- jority he settled in Greenwich township, Sussex (now Warren) county, New Jersey, on lands in- herited from his father, and on which he built the large stone house in which he lived until ISIO. July 4. 1776, he was commissioned captain of a company of the First Sussex regiment, com- manded by Colonel (afterward General) William Maxwell, and served during the Revolution. He anglacized his surname and wrote it Malick, and sometimes Malik. He had at least five children. His eldest child, Catharine, baptized April 4, 1770. died May 8, 1831 ; married, August 21, 1787. Johannes Fein (John Fine), born June 5, 1768, died May II, 1826, son of Philip Fein. Philip Fein, born 1744, died 1810, lived in 1767 in Alexandria township, in Hunterdon county, New Jersey, where he had a saw and flour mill, and was in all respects a man of consequence and means. His lands were at Finesville (named for him) on Musconetong creek, and at his death the flour mill was carried on by his son John Fein, born 1768, died 1826, son of Philip, was warden of St. James' Lutheran church near Phillipsburg, four years, beginning in 1813. Hannah Fine, born January 17, 1813, died April 2, 1864, daugh- ter of John and Catharine (Mellick) Fine, mar- ried John Dorr (Derr), born September 4, 1802, died April 26. 1864, of Springfield township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, a descendant of Jo- hann Heinrich Dorr, who emigrated from Ger- many in 1742, landing from the ship "Loyal Ju- dith" from Rotterdam, and took the test oath in Philadelphia, September 3, 1742.

The Dorrs were among the more than thirty thousand German Protestants who were driven out of the Palatinates in the first half of the eighteenth century and found refuge in Pennsyl- vania. Johann Heinrich Dorr was one of these, and afterward became an elder in the old "Swamp Church," (now Trinity Reformed) in Upper Milford township, Bucks county. His son Jacob served through the Revolutionary war in Captain Church's company of General Anthony Wayne's regiment, Fourth Pennsylvania batta- lion, and was wounded at the battle of Brandy- wine. Michael, eldest son of Jacob, was a soldier in the War of 1812, and after leaving the army returned to Bucks county, where he died in 1862, having reared a family of ten children. John

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Derr, eldest son of Michael Derr, a millwright and bridge builder and lumber dealer on the Del- aware, married Hannah Fine, born January 17. 1813, died April 2, 1864, youngest daughter of John Fein and Catharine Melick (supra), of Finesville, New Jersey. John Derr and his wife, Hannah Fine. had five children who grew to ma- turity: Thompson Derr : Catherine Derr, mar- ried John P. Richter, and died in 1885: Henry Haupt Derr ; John F. Derr, of Sunbury, Pennsyl- vania : and Andrew Fine Derr.

Thompson Derr, eldest son of John and Han- nah (Fine) Derr, was born in Durham township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, January 16, 1834. When fifteen years old, he removed with his par- ents to a farm near Shamokin, and four years later to a farm in Upper Augusta township, where his father engaged in merchant milling as well as farming. Other than a short course of study at Dr. Vanderveer's Academy in Easton, Thompson Derr had no schooling of advanced character. In 1856 he began active business life in a store and mill in Dry Valley, Union county. During the same year he established a fire insurance agency in Sunbury, and created a business which then was in its infancy outside the great cities. He was an ambitious worker and met with de- served success. Desiring a larger field, he re- moved to Wilkes-Barre in the same year, and from that time to 1862 was in business alone : then his brother, Henry H. Derr, became his partner, the firm style being Thompson Derr & Brother. They secured the confidence of the strongest fire insur- ance companies in the country, and a vast aggre- gate of insurance was placed by them, large profit following. About 1882 Thompson Derr's health began to fail, and in that year his younger brother Andrew Fine Derr, came into the firm. The senior partner retired from active business in 1882, and died in Wilkes-Barre, February 8, 1885.

Henry Haupt Derr, second son of John and Hannah (Fine) Derr, born in Nockamixon town- ship, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, July 5. 1839, died in Wilkes-Barre, October 12, 1888 ; married, May 15, 1866, Mary Delilah Fell, born October 9, 1837. daughter of Samuel Fell and wife Mary Dingman Kyte. In his youth Mr. Derr had no educational advantages other than those of the common schools, but he learned much by personal observation and association with men of business, and later developed qualities that placed him among the most successful and well informed bus- iness men of his day. As a farmer's son he taught school for a time, and devoted his leisure hours to study in his own behalf. In 1862 he removed to Wilkes-Barre and joined his brother,

Thompson Derr, who six years before had started a general fire insurance business in that city. Here was laid the scene of his business career, and a substantial fortune was the reward of his endeavors. In itself the insurance business car- ried on by the firm of Thompson, Derr & Brother was one of the largest enterprises in its line in the state, and was correspondingly profitable. He was a director and stockholder in the Vulcan Iron Works, and of the leading manufacturing concerns of the city : a trustee of the Wyoming Seminary ; president and the largest stockholder of the Suburban Electric railway : a director and former treasurer of the Wilkes-Barre Hospital ; first president of the Wilkes-Barre Lace Manu- facturing Company, the first concern of the kind in America : a director of the Young Men's Christian Association: a trustee of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, and teacher of its Bible class, and member and president of the city council. His widow and heirs gave the land and half of the building fund for the Derr Memorial Church (Methodist Episcopal) of Wilkes-Barre. About a year before his death Mr. Derr purchased forty acres of land in the northern part of the. city, the old Conyngham farm, and developed the unoccupied tract into what now is a popular part of the city. The transaction was a splendid financial success for Mr. Derr, and resulted in equal benefit to the city.

But it was not Mr. Derr's wealth which made him friends : it was his strong and rugged char- acter, his ever pleasant disposition, his approach- ableness, his desire to mingle with and to be one of the people "who move things." and his desire to put his community in the front rank of Penn- sylvania cities. His course as a member of the city council and his official connection with the execution of the game laws of the state, as fish and game commissioner : his extensive real estate operations : his assumption of the major part of the financial burden and practical management of the movement that resulted in the establish- ment of a 'successful system of electric street railway: and his active association with other leading Wilkes-Barre interests-all these things attested a foresight. energy and persistence that made him a conspicuous guide and counsellor among his fellow men. He gloried in church and Sunday school work, and among the keenest of the sorrows occasioned by his sudden summons to "that other country" were those of his class in the Sunday school of the Methodist Episcopal Church whose religious training he patiently and intelligently directed for many years. He had a helping hand for every movement looking to the:

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benefit of his fellow-citizens and the improvement of his adopted city, and was one of the earliest members, and at the time of his death a trustee of the board of trade. (From the "Historical Record.") His children were: I. Grace Derr, born August 22, 1867. 2. Katy Thompson Derr, born August 10, 1869, died August 14, 1886. 3. John Derr, born September 26. 1871, died October 7. 1876. 4. Chester Berger Derr, born April 20, 1873, married Charlotta Consalus, of Troy, New York. 5. Ralph Derr, born September 19, 1875, married Edna May Consa- lus, sister of Charlotta ; he is engaged in ship building at Sailors' Snug Harbor. 6. Henry Haupt Derr, born January 7, 1878. 7. Olin Derr, born May 4, 1880. Chester B. and Henry H. Derr are connected with the firm of Thomp- son Derr & Company.

Andrew Fine (Fein) Derr (Dorr), fourth son of John and Hannah (Fine) Derr, born Up- per Augusta township, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, May 29, 1853 : married June 23. 1896, Harriet Lowrie, born June 15, 1871 ; daugh- ter of Rev. Dr. Samuel T. Lowrie and wife Elizabeth Dickson. Dr. Lowrie was son of Judge Walter Hoge Lowrie (son

of Matthew B. Lowrie) born Armstrong county, Pennsylvania., March 3, 1807, died Meadville, Pennsylvania, November 14, 1876: graduated from Western University

of Pennsylvania, 1826; read law, and admitted to practice August 4, 1846 ; appointed to judgeship district court Alleghany county, Pennsylvania, and served until elected judge of the supreme court in 1851 ; remained on bench twelve years, officiating during the last six years as chief jus- tice ; practiced law a few years in Pittsburg and afterward chosen president judge of a judicial district in western Pennsylvania; removed to Meadville, Pennsylvania, and lived there at the time of his death : was contributor to "Princeton Repertory," and other periodicals : several of his papers read before the American Philosophical Society were published, including those on "Origin of the Tides," and "Cosmical Motion." Rev. Dr. Samuel Thompson Lowrie was born, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, February 8, 1835 ; edu- cated Western University of Pennsylvania, and also Miami University, (Ohio) where he was graduated, 1852 ; studied theology in Presbyterian Seminary, Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, 1852- 56: in Heidelburg. Germany, 1857 : pastor Pres- - byterian Church, Alexandria, Pennsylvania, 1863 ; in Philadelphia. 1865-69: Abington, Pennsyl- vania, 1869-74; Ewing, New Jersey, 1879-85 ; occupied professorship of New Testament Liter-

ature and Exegesis in Western Theological Semi -- nary, Allegheny City, 1874-78; in 1887 was ap- pointed chaplain of Presbyterian Hospital in Philadelphia. In this connection it is interesting to note something of the early Lowrie family history : Rev. Robert Johnson, said to be a lineal descendant of Cromwell by his daughter Bridget, first wife of General Hunter and second wife of General Irvine, was pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Venango county. John Lowrie, his principal elder, had been in himself a part of the church. Indeed, the family was remarkable in its influence in the early history of the church. John Lowrie had a son Walter Lowrie, secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Missions ; and Wal- ter Lowrie had sons: John Cameron, Walter Mason, Jonathan Roberts, Reuben P., and Mat- thew B. Lowrie. The latter was for many years a valuable elder in the church, and was the father of Judge Walter Hoge Lowrie, who was also an elder, and Rev. Dr. John Marshall Lowrie, a prominent Presbyterian minister.

Elizabeth Dickson was a daugliter of Rev. Hugh Sheridan Dickson, who, September 2. 1845, married Sarah Margaret Stoever, who was a descendant of Rev. John Casper Stoever, born Frankenburg, Saxony, December 21, 1702, who. in 1728, after a pastorate of five years in An- weiler, Bavaria, came to America as chaplain of a party of immigrants. In 1733 Mr. Stoever was preaching in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, and in 1740 became the first regular pastor of the Lutheran Church in Lancaster. Pennsylvania. He married Maria Catherine Markling, and had by her eleven - children, eight of whom survived him. He died May 13, 1779. His youngest son Fred- erick, born 1759, married Margaret Dinshert, and their eldest son, Frederick, born 1784, died 1867, married Sarah Reigart, and their daughter, Sarah Margaret, born Philadelphia, 1824, married Rev. Hugh Sheridan Dickson. Hugh Sheridan Dick- son, born 1813, seventh son of Alexander Dickson who was born 1776, in 1798 took part in the Wolf Tone rebellion under the leadership of Rev. Will- iam Dickson, his cousin, who was a general in the rebel ranks, a man of learning and probity, and who for his part in the action suffered im- prisonment and ultimate banishment. Alexander himself for a time was in hiding on the downfall of the rebellion. His wife was Sarah McKee, by whom he had ten children. In 1827 he brought his family to America and settled in Rensselaer county, New York, where he died April 2, 1871. Alexander was the son of James Dickson, who was the son of John Dickson, born about 1673, and wife Mary Dodd; and John was the-

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grandson of Rev. David Dickson, born 1899. Thompson Fine, born November 30,

1583, one of the regents of the Univer- sity of Glasgow; moderator of the general assembly, 1639, and elected to the pro- fessorship of divinity at Glasgow, 1650, but ejected for declining to take the oath of suprem- acy. Rev. David was the son of John Dickson, an eminent lawyer, and the first of the family of Dickson of Hartree in Lanarkshire. Nisbet says: "They of the surname of Dickson are descended from one Richard Kieth, said to be a son of the family of Keith Marischal, took their name from Richard (called in the south country Dick), and to show themselves descended of Keith Marischal they carry the chief of Keith."

Andrew F. Derr, business manager and actual head of the firm of Thompson Derr & Brother, acquired his early education in the Missionary Institute at Selinsgrove, where he prepared for college. In the fall of 1871 he entered Lafayette College at Easton, and was graduated B. A. 1875: his M. A. degree was conferred in 1878. He read law in Philadelphia with George W. Biddle, and came to the bar in that city in 1878. In December of that year he removed to Wilkes- Barre, where his older brothers were engaged in business, and began his professional career. He was in active practice four years, until 1882, when on account of the ill health of Thompson Derr he became connected with the firm of Thompson Derr & Brother, and relieved the senior partner of much of the heavy work of the office. From this time Mr. Derr virtually discontinued active practice, and still his understanding of the law has been of inestimable value to him in connec- tion with the new field of business in which he has since engaged. Mr. Derr is president of the Miners' Savings Bank of Wilkes-Barre : director of the Anthracite Savings Bank: trustee of the Osterhout Free Library and of the Wilkes-Barre City Hospital ; a member, trustee, and elder of the Memorial Presbyterian Church ; a member of the Presbyterian Historical Society of Philadel- phia, of the Archeological Institute of America, the Lawyers' Club, the University Club, and the Grolier Club of New York: the Prince Society, of Boston : the American Economic Association ; the American Bar Association : the Pennsylvania State Historical Society ; the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society; the Pennsylvania Ger- man Society; the Sons of the Revolution; the Sons of the American Revolution, of New Jer- sey : and the Society of the War of 1812.

The children of Andrew Fine and Harriet (Lowrie) Derr were: Elizabeth Lowrie, born March 21, 1898. Katharine, born September 12,

1901. Andrew Fine Derr, Jr., born July 10, 1903.

H. E. H.

KIRKENDALL FAMILY. There were Kirkendalls in New Jersey among the earliest families in that region of country and they were of Scotch ancestry, although they may have come to America from English seaport towns. They were scattered over the region mentioned. and some of them were among the early settlers in Warren county, as now known, while others found their way into the territory of Pennsyl- vania previous to the Revolution. The Revolu- tionary records of New Jersey show the names of several of the Kirkendalls who fought with the colonists during the war, and among them were Andrew Kirkendall, of Hunterdon ; Samuel and Stephen, of Sussex; and while the connection is not definitely traced, it is probable that some of the Kirkendalls who came over into Pennsyl- vania in the early part of the last century and settled in the "Green Woods" district of old Lu- zerne county, in the township of Dallas, were descendants of the Kirkendalls of the revolution- ary period then living in New Jersey, along the Delaware, where they generally were farmers and mechanics.

William Wheeler Kirkendall was born in New Jersey. December 25. 1805. Intimately connected with the early settlement of the Green Woods country, at the village called Kun- kle, was the founder of one of Dallas' respected old families, among whose descendants in sub- sequent years there have been men of action : men who have accomplished results, without the training of the academies or the polish of univer- sities. The widowed mother of Wheeler Kirken- dall-as he was familiarly called-married ( sec- ond) Philip Kunkle, and it is quite probable that William Wheeler Kirkendall's father died in New Jersey before the date of the settlement in Dallas, which was before 1830. There is no tradition in the family that he ever lived in the town, and the struggling pioneers in that wilderness region of Luzerne county gave little attention to matters of family record ; theirs was a struggle for the neces- sities of life, and the most moderate comforts for their families : but they wrought well and builded up good farms for their children and descendants.

William Wheeler Kirkendall was auditor of Dallas in 1836, and one of the supervisors of the township in 1810. He bought thirty acres of un- improved land in 1829-30, and eighty-three acres more in 1841. He was a carpenter, also a carder, fuller, and cloth-dresser by trade, and it was

I. M. Stirkendall

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largely through his aid that the first carding and fulling mill was set up by Jacob Rice in Trucks- ville. Mr. Kirkendall died in Dallas, Pennsyl- vania, December 10, 1845; married, April 26, 1826, Maria Dereamer, born May 28, 1807, died January 23, 1882. They had seven children :

I. Conrad, born January 26, 1827, died Sep- tember 15, 1854 ; unmarried.

2. John Shaver, born August 17, 1828, died August 20, 1854 ; unmarried.

3. George Washington, born October 4, 1833, of whom later.

4. Ira Mandeville, born November 3, 1835, of whom later.

5. Anna Elizabeth, born October 12, 1837; married Dwight Wolcott of Wilkes-Barre, for many years an employee of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company.

6. Charles Wesley, born April 6, 1840, died August 21, 1854.

7. William Penn, born April 13, 1843, of whom later.

George Washington Kirkendall, third son of William Wheeler and Maria (Dereamer) Kirk- endall, was born in Wyoming township, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, October 4, 1833, and died July 14, 1891. For nearly forty years Mr. Kirk- endall was a prominent figure in business and political circles in Wilkes-Barre, and indeed in Luzerne county, for few men were more widely acquainted than he with the various business in- terests for which that county is noted.

Like other of the sons of William Wheeler Kirkendall, he had little opportunity to gain an education in the schools during his youth, for it became necessary that he find some employment as soon as he was able to go out and work. His school days were limited, but he studied and read his books while many other boys slept, and thus he became well informed on general subjects and well prepared to meet the various propositions of business life as presented to him. He began his business career as clerk in the store of Jacob Rice in Dallas, and in the course of a few years be- came his employer's partner. Later on, when Wesley Kunkle, who was Mr. Kirkendall's kins- man, was made register and recorder of Luzerne county, Mr. Kirkendall was appointed his deputy and at the end of his term succeeded him in office and served two years, 1864-66. Still later he was associated with his brothers, Ira and William P., in the lumber business in Wilkes-Barre, and was interested with them, too, when they were in the wholesale grocery business in Wilkes-Barre, 1880-1883. During these years, and more, Mr. Kirkendall was interested with the late Ephraim

Troxell in a general real estate business in Wilkes-Barre and its vicinity and at one time he- was considered one of the heaviest holders of and. operators in real estate in all Wilkes-Barre. He was interested in the city, its improvement and prosperity, and contributed his full share to that object. He served one term as member of the council, and was in political preference a firm. Democrat. He also was a prominent Mason, past high priest of Shekinah Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and past eminent commander of Dieu le Veut Commandery, Knights Templar. He was an earnest member and a trustee of the Methodist. Episcopal Church,

He married, July 3, 1856, Almira Shaver,. daughter of James Shaver and wife Louisa Mon- tanye, and granddaughter of Philip Shaver, who, was the pioneer of his family in the Wyoming Valley. Mr. and Mrs. Kirkendall had seven. children, of whom only two are living: Marie Louise Kirkendall, widow of John T. Phillips, late of Dallas, Pennsylvania, and George Tal- mage Kirkendall.

George Talmage Kirkendall, born in Wilkes- Barre, Pennsylvania, August 26, 1871, was edu- cated in the Wilkes-Barre public schools, the- high school, and the Harry Hillman Academy, where he prepared for college. His purpose was to enter Cornell, but his plans were changed and he took up the study of law with Allan H. Dick- son and Thomas H. Atherton, Esquire. He was admitted to the bar in 1893, and for the next three years was associated in practice with Mr. Atherton, and afterward for a like period with Mr. Hahn.

Mr. Kirkendall was appointed deputy treas- urer of Luzerne county, January 1, 1900, under- Treasurer Frederick C. Kirkendall, and re-ap- pointed under Treasurer John J. Moore, 1903, which position he now holds. He is a Democrat, and an active figure in his party's councils in Lu- zerne county. He is a member of the Dallas Methodist Episcopal Church, and for several years was treasurer of the Epworth League of Wilkes-Barre. He is past master of Lodge 61, Free and Accepted Masons ; a member of Shek- inah Chapter, Royal Arch Masons ; Dieu le Veut Commandery, Knights Templar : and Irem Tem- ple, A. A. O. N. M. S., the leading Masonic bodies of Luzerne county.

He married, July 21, 1897, Helen Dennis But- ler, daughter of Zebulon Butler. Mr. and Mrs. Kirkendall had three children: George Butler, John Phillips, and Marie, who died December 12, 1904.

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Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 57

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