Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 66

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 66
USA > Wyoming > Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume I > Part 66

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).

358

THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

less tracts of wild lands located here and there over the surface of the country from the waters of the Lehigh to the York state line. Such was the scale of enterprise on which this young man commenced life.

In 1818 Mr. Hollenback commenced the ardu- ous task of erecting the brick structure on the corner of Market and River streets at the bridge. What may seem of slight account in these times was a matter of much greater moment at that early period. He was under the necessity of erecting kilns and burning his own brick, whilst the lime required was hauled in wagons from Berwick ; and glass, hardware, etc., were brought over the turnpike from Philadelphia by the same means of transportation. The building was com- pleted and he moved into it in February, 1820. Here he became permanently established and opened his store, long known to the citizens of Luzerne as the leading mercantile house of the valley. Ziba Bennett, well and favorably known throughout the valley, came into the new estab- lishment as head clerk, became partner in the store in 1822, and retired therefrom in 1826. ( (See Bennett Family.) Mr. Bennett.was suc- ceeded by Nathaniel Rutter, then a young man lately from the county of Lancaster, in 1833, who continued as partner in the business until 1848. (See Rutter Family.) His place was afterwards supplied by Charles F. Reets, with whom Mr. Hollenback closed his career as a merchant a few years later, after an experience of more than forty years. As a merchant and business man generally, Mr. Hollenback may justly be re- garded as occupying a very high rank. No man could be more prompt and attentive-nothing was forgotten, nothing was omitted. Every engage- ment was met precisely at the appointed hour. His discipline was strict. In manner he was em- inently agreeable and courteous. He was alike communicative and respectful to and with the high and the humble. In his dealings he was scrupulously exact. He settled by the record, demanding or receiving neither too much nor too little. His honesty of purpose was never a mat- ter of question. His word had the sanctity of his bond. He could lay his hand in a moment on the needed paper or document, and in the im- mense and complicated mass of his business affairs, he had a knowledge of the details of each particular item. A man of such character for in- tegrity, ability and business habits, necessarily could not avoid the calls made upon him by the public. Though destitute of all political aspira- tions, he was at various times compelled to serve his fellow-citizens in official positions. At the

time when a system of internal improvements,. evoked by the public enterprise of New York, was being inaugurated in Pennsylvania, Mr. Hol- lenback was sent two sessions to the assembly as an advocate of the North Branch canal. He was largely instrumental in procuring the necessary legislation favoring that then popular policy. He also served the public in the office of county treas- urer, was one of the canal commissioners of the state, and for thirty-five years superintended the interest of the Wyoming Bank as its president. He took an active part in the great public enter- prises of the age, aiding not only in counsel but by most liberal contribution of means. He sac- rificed much towards the erection of the Tide Water canal. He furnished a great part of the capital for building the Junction canal in New York state, and the same liberality evinced in those helps to more public objects, appeared in the charities dispensed in his native town. At his suggestion the heirs of his father donated the lot on Franklin street as a site for the Presbyte- rian church, now the Osterhout Free Library building. He gave the lot on River street to the Wilkes-Barre Female Institute, since removed to. Franklin street. Afterwards he contributed the fifteen acres to the Hollenback cemetery which bears his name, and of which he was president. at the time of his death. He was one of the original members of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, 1858, and vice-president 1860-61. He was a member of Lodge 61, F. and A. M., Wilkes-Barre, from 1825 to 1866; treasurer of the Luzerne County Bible Society from 1819 to 1886, etc., etc.

Mr. Hollenback married, 1816, Emily Linds- ley, of New York, with whom he lived most hap- pily until the day of her death in 1851. This most exemplary and pious woman left a blessed memory surviving her, and her modest and quiet grace of manner, her generous sympathies and eminent piety, left a record uneffaced in the- community. Mr. Hollenback died, Wilkes-Barre, November 7, 1866. He left a widow, whom he- married in 1852, and an adopted son. In his personal bearing he was always a gentleman. For him the low vices and vulgar indulgences of men had no charm. His salutation, his language,. his bow, his cheerful smile, his respectful atten- tion, were all types of the well-bred man. He was wholly free from the exhibition of ostentation, egotism and pride of display. We had no man amongst us more plain or unpretending. May we cherish his memory as a man whose relations with his fellows were characterized by justice and probity-whose friendly intercourse with the

359

THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

community was ever respectful and decorous- whose domestic life passed in strict attention to his business affairs, and the frugal enjoyment of abundance, and whose public career has never been blotted by the pen of censure. A man rich without contumely-elevated in the estimation of his countrymen, without indulging in the weak- ness of pride. (From a sketch by Caleb E. Wright, Esq., Record of the Times, November 14. 1868). H. E. H.

JOHN W. HOLLENBACK, fifth son of Charles Fisher and Ellen ( Hollenback) Welles (See Welles family), was born in Wyalusing, Pennsylvania, March 15, 1827, and is a grandson of George and Prudence (Talcott) Welles, and of Colonel Matthias Hollenback, a survivor of the battle of Wyoming, and a great-grandson of Col- onel Elizur Talcott, of Glastonbury, Connecticut, and a lineal descendant in the seventh generation of Thomas Welles, who was the fourth colonial governor of Connecticut, 1655-58, and of William Pynchon, patentee of the charter of the Colony of Massachusetts, through his daughter Mary, who married Elizur Holyoke.

John Roset Welles was educated at the Athens Academy and with his brother Edward Welles had charge of the Welles estate in Wyal- using, Pennsylvania, 1848-1863. He changed his name by suffixing his mother's maiden name, and dropping his second Christian name, Roset, the change being authorized by the legislature of Pennsylvania in 1862. In 1863, at the request of his maternal uncle, George M. Hollenback, he re- moved his family to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, where he became prominent in local affairs and held many important offices. He became a mem- ber of the city council, serving two terms of three years each, and president of the People's Bank of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and a director since its organization in 1872. He is also presi- dent of the Wilkes-Barre Bridge Company, of the Hollenback Cemetery Association, of the Harry Hillman Academy, and of the Wilkes-Barre Lace Manufacturing Company ; vice president and di- rector of the Wilkes-Barre City Hospital since its organization, and now its president ; a director of the Y. M. C. A. from the day of its organization, also a director of the Spring Brook Water Com- pany, the Title Guarantee and Surety Company of Scranton, the Scranton Trust Company, and the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company of New York. He is a life member of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, was vice-presi- dent 1875 to 1878, and president, 1879 to 1880, and is vice president of the Wyoming Com-

memorative Association. He was elected trustee of Lafayette College 1865, president of the board in 1892, and is the only one now living of the trustees of 1865. His benefactions to the col- lege have been large and frequent.

John W. Hollenback married (first) October 25, 1854, Anna E., daughter of Eli Beard, of Brooklyn, New York. He had three children by this marriage: Walter, died at the age of six ; Samuel, died in infancy ; Emily B., married Dr. Lewis H. Taylor, of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. (See Taylor Family). Mr. Hollenback married (second) December 13, 1866, Josephine, daugh- ter of John Woodward, of New York City. He had three children by this marriage: Eleanor J., married Murry Gibson, of Philadelphia, Pennsyl- vania ; Josephine W., married Louis V. Twyef- fort, of Brooklyn, New York ; and Anna W. The mother died while these children were of tender age. Mr. Hollenback married (third) Amelia Beard, a sister of his first wife, and they had three children : Julia, died in infancy ; Amelia and Juliette. H. E. H.

HARRADON STERLING SMITH, a rep- resentative citizen of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, where he was born December 29, 1866, is a son of Douglass and Mary Ellen ( Faser) Smith.

Douglass Smith (father) was born June 9, 1840, at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He ob- tained his early education in the common schools, and later pursued advanced studies at the high school, from which he was graduated in 1860. He at once took up his residence in Wilkes- Barre, and accepted a position as bookkeeper for Hollenback & Reets, remaining for several years. He then engaged in business with his brother-in-law, Ziba M. Faser, under the firm name of Faser & Smith, opening a store which they equipped with a full line of dry goods and fine carpets, and continued the same until 1880. He was appointed postmaster of Wilkes-Barre in 1877, which responsible position he filled to the entire satisfaction of all concerned for four years. He was a man of honor and integrity, esteemed and respected by all who came in con- tact with him, and the various interests of the city of his adoption received from him a strong support. He was a member of the First Pres- byterian Church, being received on confession of faith, and when quite a young man was elected a ruling elder in that church. Several times he represented the church in Presbytery and was once a commissioner to the general assembly. For. more than forty years he served in the capacity of superintendent of the Westminster Sunday

360

THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

school, a mission connected therewith. He mar- ried, May 16, 1865, Mary Ellen Faser, daughter of John and Nancy ( Atherholt) Faser, and their children are: Harradon Sterling, born December 29, 1866, mentioned hereafter; Laura May, born May 6, 1873, educated in the common schools, married, June 13, 1901, Jesse Sharpless Cheyney. born March 3, 1873, in Philadelphia. Mr. and Mrs. Cheyney reside in Galatzin, Penn., and had Ellen Moore and Nancy Faser Cheyney (twins), born August 31, 1903, the former now living and the latter deceased, passing away August 18, 1904. Ralph Alexander, born January 15, 1877, edu- cated in the common schools, a civil and mining engineer, and now (1906), for three years chief engineer of Kingston Coal Company. Douglass Smith, father of these children, died at his beau- tiful home on Franklin street, Wilkes-Barre, De- cember 12, 1903. His widow survives him.

At the session of Lackawanna Presbytery. Rev. R. B. Webster, of Westminster Church, in the Sunday school of which the late Douglass Smith was so indefatigable a worker, read a tribute. to his memory, a portion of which was as follows : He was faithful in attendance on the ordinances of the sanctuary and up to the close of his life went regularly to church morning and evening, even when nearly all the afternoon had been taken up with Sunday school duties. He was a charter member of the Young Men's Christian Associa- tion, and was interested and active in the various agencies for the welfare of the community. But it was in the Sunday school of Westminster Church that his life work for Christ was done. February 12, 1860, two days after he came to Wilkes-Barre, he entered that school, then a mis- sion of the First Presbyterian Church. He was soon made superintendent and continued in that office until December 12, 1903. nearly forty-four years. He saw it grow from a small mission to a school of about eight hundred and a church of about three hundred members, with a mission named in his honor, Douglass Mission, which has a membership of nearly two hundred. His heart was in his work for the school. He was seldom absent from its sessions, and then only when cir- cumstances beyond his control compelled it. In every social gathering or entertainment or so- ciety that was gotten up in the interests of the church or the school he was one of the most in- terested and active workers. He cheerfully gave his time. counsel and labor and never thought self denial or work for the school a sacrifice. He loved the children and never was happier than when they were happy. He planned and worked for picnics, Christmas and other entertainments

with unabated enthusiasm. He was never impa- tient with his school, never spoke a cross or un- kind word. When he did have occasion to criti- cise he did it in such a way that some one said he would sooner hear Mr. Smith scold than other men talk.

"Though the school of Westminster was his school, no one entered into the organization of tne mission school at Lee Park more .heartily than he. did. When the chapel for that school was being built he was there nearly every day to see how the work was getting along. In an address made there I once heard him say that he loved every nail and board in the building. Sun- day. November 29, 1903, not quite two weeks before his death, Westminster Church was closed for repairs and Mr. Smith went to the Douglass Chapel, taught a class and gave an interesting and helpful address on "Stop! Look! Listen!" Mr. Smith loved his school and the school loved him and we did not wait until he was dead to say so, but at different times and in different ways we showed our appreciation and love, and the words spoken of him after his death are like those spoken to him during his life. He superintended the school Sunday, December 6, 1903, and was at the teachers' meeting the next evening,when he of- fered prayer. This was the last service he attended and his last public appeal for the school he loved so well. Saturday morning, December 12, 1903. the community was shocked when it saw in the Wilkes-Barre Record that Mr. Smith had died suddenly about midnight. The next day appro- priate memorial services were held at the regular Sunday school hour in Westminster chapel and the Douglass chapel. Our school has lost its faithful, loving and beloved superintendent, but the work goes on and, next to the Divine Master, nothing gave us more joy than to say : "This would please Mr. Smith." Mr. Smith was a man of varied experience, excellent judgment, untiring patience, rare tact, hopeful disposition and warm loving breast. In his death the com- munity lost a good citizen, the First Presbyterian Church a loyal elder, Westminster Sunday school its beloved superintendent and his family a de- voted husband and father. Of him it may be truthfully said: "He was faithful unto death." "Well done, good and faithful servant."

John Faser, father of Mrs. Douglass Smith, was born in Einsburg, near Wurtenburg. Ger- many, January 26, 1803. died April 12. 1882, aged seventy-nine. He was an educator in his native town, where he learned the trade of a paper manufacturer. When about twenty-five years of age he was included in the draft for the Ger-

Jpm Griffith

361

THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

man army from his district, but being fortunate enough to draw one of the lucky numbers he did not have to serve. He then traveled over Eu- rope for a year, and in 1829 he sailed for Amer- ica. intending to make a home and name for him- self in the new world, and located at what was then known as Mill Hollow. He first engaged in the manufacture of paper, conducting his operations in the old mill, carried the paper on wagons to Philadelphia, each trip taking several days, and this line of work he followed for sev- eral years, but later turned his attention to the lumber business, which yielded him a goodly re- turn for his labor. In 1872, after a residence of fifty years in the United States, he returned to his native land and among his numerous relatives there was but one cousin to greet him, the re- mainder having passed away during his absence. John Faser was a charter member of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, trustee of the Female Institute, and - director of the First National Bank from its or- ganization up to the time of his death. He mar- ried Nancy Atherholt, born in Kingston township, Pennsylvania, June 14, 1813, died September 18, 1879, daughter of Christian and Catharine (Full- mer) Atherholt, formerly of Bucks county, Penn- sylvania, who were the parents of seven children. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Faser were as follows : Ziba M., born August 18, 1837, died April 24, 1881, married September 25, 1873, Lucy H. Sturdevant, who bore him two children : Charles, born June 5, 1877 ; and John R., born June 24, 1880. Mary Ellen, born at Wilkes- Barre. July 16, 1840, widow of Douglass Smith, who resides in a comfortable home on Franklin :street, Wilkes-Barre. Laura, born in Wilkes- Barre, December 9, 1841, attended a private school and female institute of that city, and now resides with her sister, Mrs. Douglass Smithi. Both are members of First Presbyterian Church.

Harradon S. Smith, eldest son of Douglass and Mary Ellen (Faser) Smith, received his educational advantages in the public schools and Wilkes-Barre Academy, after which he took up the study of mining. He gained his first prac- tical knowledge in the employ of the Lehigh Valley Coal Company, at Wilkes-Barre, with which corporation he remained until February, 1891, when he became chief engineer of the R. & P. Coal and Iron Company, located at Punx- sutawney, Pennsylvania, where he remained five years. He then returned to Wilkes-Barre and continued at his work as civil and mining engi- neer, and July I, 1904, formed a partnership with Theodore L. Welles, a sketch of whom ap-

pears elsewhere in this work, under the firm name of Smith & Welles. He was formerly a member of Lodge No. 301, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, of Punxsutawney, of which he was exalted ruler during the spring of 1895-96. In the latter year he withdrew from that place and is now a member of the same order, Lodge No. 109, of Wilkes-Barre.

Mr. Smith married. August 8, 1889, Lizzie Hollister, daughter of Dr. F. Lee and Lillie ( Baker) Hollister, and two children have been the issue: Harradon Hollister, born in Wilkes- Barre, Pennsylvania, July 26, 1890, and is at present (1906) a student in the Harry Hillman Academy. Douglas Lee, born in Punxsutawney, December 3, 1894, now attending public school.

Dr. F. Lee Hollister, father of Mrs. Harra- don S. Smith, was born in what is now Forest Lake township, Susquehanna county, August 16, 1846, son of F. P. and Alice B. (Young) Hol- lister, and grandson of Cuza and Susan (Robin- son) Hollister, natives of Connecticut, of Puri- tan stock, who were pioneers of Delaware county, New York, settling in Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, in 1836, where they died. Dr. Hol- lister was educated at Montrose Academy and the Union School at Hamilton, New York, and in 1879 was graduated from the Pennsylvania Col- lege of Dental Surgery at Philadelphia. He prac- ticed his profession at Tunkhannock, Towanda, and Wilkes-Barre. He married, September 10, 1869, Lillie, daughter of Hon. Isaac P. and Anise (Handrick) Baker, of Susquehanna county, and they have two children : Lizzie ( Mrs. Harradon S. Smith), and Fred B. Hollister, of Providence, near Scranton, Pennsylvania.

H. E. H.

WILLIAM GRIFFITH. Robert and Will- iam Griffith with three sisters came to America before 1800 and settled in Philadelphia. Their parents were William and Grace Griffith, at that time residing in Nurey, Ireland, having moved there from Belfast, to which city tradition says their ancestors fled from Paris to escape the Huguenot persecutions. Robert and William Griffith were house carpenters by occupation.

William Griffith, the founder of the family, married (second) Mary Chapman of New Egypt, New Jersey, November 20, 1805. They purchased a home in Philadelphia county, at the falls of the Schuykill, where they resided until some time . after 1828, when they moved to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. William Griffith was an enthus- iastic Baptist, and was the principal organizer and builder of the First Baptist Church of Har-

362

THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

risburg, where he and his family worshipped. William and Mary (Chapman) Griffith had twelve children. The eldest, Jane Griffith, mar- ried Griffith Roberts, of Philadelphia, and her descendants reside there at the present time. Of the remaining children all except the youngest either died in youth or left no surviving children.

William Robert Griffith, fifth child of Will- iam and Mary ( Chapman) Griffith, born April 2, 1815, died in New York City, June 14, 1876. He became prominent throughout the Wyoming Val- ley and New York City and elsewhere as one of the foremost pioneers of the anthracite coal in- dustry. He was one of the first to grasp the vast future of anthracite. He was organizer and for a number of years president of the Pennsyl- vania Coal Company, and, coming to the Wyom- ing Valley about 1848, made extensive purchases of excellent coal lands about Pittston and vicinity in the interests of his company, which soon after constructed a gravity railroad from Pittston to Hawley, and became one of the largest and most successful producers of anthracite in the Wyom- ing Valley.

Andrew Jackson Griffith, youngest child of William and Mary (Chapman) Griffith, was born in Philadelphia county; October 25, 1828, and died in West Pittston, June 18, 1889. He at- tended school at Lititz, Pennsylvania. About 1849 he came to Wyoming from Harrisburg, Pennsyl- vania (where he spent his youthful days), to as- sist his elder brother, William R. Griffith, in the development of his extensive mining enterprises, and was engaged upon the engineer corps in sur- veying and constructing the gravity railroad to Hawley. He married Jemima Ellen Sax at Pitts- ton, March 14, 1854, and shortly afterward pur- chased a lot and built a residence in West Pitts- ton, corner of Susquehanna avenue and Spring street, where his widow now resides. After the railroad was constructed Andrew J. Griffith en- gaged in farming, having purchased Scovel's Is- land, in the Susquehanna river, above Pittston, for the purpose. After several years he sold his farm and invested money in West Pittston real estate near his home, and retired from active business. In politics he was an ardent Repub- lican. He was one of the incorporators of West Pittston borough, where he held the offices of bur- gess, councilman, and other offices at various times. He was an enthusiastic sportsman, and took great delight in hunting, fishing and trap- ping. After retiring from business he took great enjoyment in his collection of coins and Indian relics. The latter, which was entirely local, grad- mally assumed considerable size and value, and

was after his death presented to the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society.

Jemima Ellen (Sax) Griffith, wife of Andrew Jackson Griffith, was born in Kingston, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, December 20, 1829. Her parents were John and Rebecca Wright ( Parrish ) Sax, married in Kingston, September 15, 1824, the former being the son of Conrad and Mary Sax (or Sox) who kept the tavern on the Wilkes- Barre and Eastern Tunpike, near Sox Pond, sev- eral miles eastward of Wilkes-Barre. Conrad Sax was born in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, and married Mary Beers, June 27, 1787, his ancestors immigrating from Germany. Rebecca Wright Parrishi was the daughter of Abram and Jemima Wright Parrish, married March 15, 1801, and came to this valley from Connecticut. (See Par -- rish family.) Mrs. A. J. Griffith is an honorary" member of the Wyoming Historical and Geolog- ical Society.

Andrew Jackson and Jemima (Sax) Griffith had five children : 1. William Griffith, born Janu- ary 12, 1855. 2. Jacob K. Griffith, born August 9, 1857; he was educated at public and private- schools in West Pittston, and graduated at La- fayette College, Easton, as analytical chemist, in 1878. Shortly after became chemist for the Mid- ville Steel Works, Philadelphia, was later pro- moted to superintendent of the melting depart- ment and in 1889 assisted in the organization of the Latrobe Steel Works, of which he was made superintendent. He is a member of the board of trustees of the International Text Book Company, which conducts the widely known Correspondence Schools of Scranton, Pennsylvania. In October, 1883, he married Winifred Kerr, of Philadelphia, and they are the parents of three children : Mary Frances, Andrew Jackson and Winifred Van Rouckendorff. Reside in Latrobe. 3. Gertrude N. Griffith, married Charles D. Sanderson, of Scranton, where they now reside; they have Charles Dudley, Jr., Lucy Griffith, and Clarence Marsellus. Two other children of Andrew and Jemima (Sax) Griffith died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Griffith reared a niece and foster daughter, Lois Merrill, who married Charles H. Cutler, of Pittston, and they now reside in West Pittston, and have Helen Potter, Jemima Griffith, Gert- rude, Louis, Sarah.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 66

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