USA > Pennsylvania > Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania Vol. I > Part 18
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widely scattered, and among them are many who have won success in various lines of business, manufacturing, and in the professions.
NATHAN D. CORTRIGHT, SR., was born at Beach Grove, Salem township, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, February II, 1817. His ancestors originally emigrated from England, settling in New York state, on the Hudson, from where they moved to the Wyoming Valley, being among the first settlers of that rich and inviting soil. His maternal great-grandfather, Thomas Dodson, was a soldier and lived in the time of the Revolu- tionary and Indian wars. In one of their engage- ments he was taken prisoner by the British sol- diers and carried into Canada. Some time after- ward he was exchanged or released. He endured great hardships during his captivity, having to re- turn to his home through hostile Indian lands, traveling the whole distance on foot by the Indian path.
Soon after peace was restored, his son, Thomas Dodson, volunteered the hazardous task of going to Canada on horseback to bring home Miss Abigail Dodson, who was held captive by an Indian chieftain, having been taken prisoner along with the Gilbert family from Gnadenhutten during the Indian wars. He succeeded in rescu- ing her and brought her safely to her family and friends. This was considered a daring feat, and her relations ever held him in high esteem for this act of humanity. Mr. Cortright's paternal grandfather, Elisha Cortright, was among the pioneer settlers of the Wyoming Valley, and dur- ing the trying scenes of the Revolution and In- dian wars endured the hardships incident to that period. Being sick with a prevalent fever at the time of the battle of Wyoming, or which is more popularly known as the "Wyoming Massacre," July 3, 1778, his brother, John Cortright, served in his stead, and was killed. His name is in- scribed on the monument at Wyoming, placed in memory of those who fell at that perilous time.
After the struggle between the Pennsylvania settlers and the Connecticut claimants, Elisha Cortright moved to Beach Grove, bought lands, and made a settlement. He married Huldah,
N.D . fortight
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GENEALOGICAL AND PERSONAL MEMOIRS.
daughter of Andrew Dingman, of Dingman's Ferry, Pike county, Pennsylvania. His son, Isaac Cortright, father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Hanover, Luzerne county, in 1776, and removing with his parents to Beach Grove, Salem township, in the same county, in 1786, grew to manhood's years at that place.
He subsequently married Mary, daughter of Thomas Dodson, and engaged in farming pur- suits through a long and active life. For fifty- two years his wife and he lived together in the same house, surrounded by many friends, in a Christian community, with good schools, and in a neighborhood where peace and social content- ment reigned, his farm bordering on the west side of the beautiful and historic Susquehanna. They were blessed with eight children, namely: Elisha D., Mabel D., Nancy A., Thomas D., Huldah D., Nathan D., Abram D., Rachel B.
Nathan D., the sixth in succession, passed his early life upon his father's farm, enjoying at the same time the benefits of such education as was imparted at the Cortright school house, which was located upon a plot of ground donated by Elisha Cortright for educational and church pur- poses. At the age of nineteen he removed to Beaver Meadow, Carbon county, and in the spring of 1836 secured a position in the corps of engineers of A. Pardee and J. G. Fell, civil en- gineers, who were engaged in building the Beaver Meadow, Hazleton & Summit railroads. In the winter of 1838-39 he was appointed the general shipping and boat agent of the Hazleton Coal Company, and in 1842 was made superin- tendent of the same company, under the direction of Dr. Samuel Moore, president, holding that im- portant position continuously until 1857. This company during that period was one of the strongest coal organizations in the state. Its transactions, though numerous and varied, were carried on with the strictest integrity, even amid the most threatening financial storms, and it may be truthfully said that some portion of this suc- cess and prosperity were due to the fidelity, ex- ecutive ability and excellent business judgment of Mr. Cortright. In 1857 he engaged in the coal business for himself, and later admitted his son,
N. D. Cortright, Jr. He had witnessed the grad- ual and successful development of the great coal and iron interests of the Lehigh and Wyoming regions, and occasionally participated in such de- velopment. From 1847 to 1852 he was interested with others in driving the old tunnel at Hackle- bernie through about twelve hundred feet of rock and coal, at the east end of the basin of the coal lands of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Com- pany. Since 1845 up to the time of his death he resided on the same premises, having built a new house in 1860 in Mauch Chunk, where he was recognized as a useful and valuable citizen, of modest tastes and inclinations, and actively identi- fied with the various institutions in the locality. He was a member of the board of directors of the Second National Bank of Mauch Chunk, and was one of the leading members of the Methodist Episcopal Society since 1854, holding official relation with the same for many years, and in active sympathy with the temperance, Sabbath school and Bible causes. In 1851 he was ap- pointed by Governor William F. Johnson one of his aides-de-camp with the rank of lieutenant- colonel. On February 6, 1845, he was married to Margaretta L., daughter of Ezekiel W. and Margaret Harlan, who were of Quaker origin. They came to Mauch Chunk from Chester county in 1826. Mr. Harlan was one of the early employes of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, and afterwards became a partner of the late Asa Packer. This firm, Packer & Harlan, contracted for and rebuilt a portion of the Le- high Canal, after which they operated the Nesquehoning mines.
Mr. Harlan's family consisted of twelve chil- dren. Margaretta L. was born October 8, 1826. Their married life proved a happy and prosperous one, the issue of their union being six children, four sons and two daughters. The eldest, Harlan W., who married Eliza LeFevre, of Hurdtown, New Jersey, was superintendent for the Ogden Mine Railroad Company, near Dover, New Jer- sey, for sixteen years ; he is now engaged in the coal business. Nathan D., who married Maggie Kennedy, of Port Kennedy, Pennsylvania, has been engaged in the coal business for the past
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eighteen years; he is the junior member of the firm of N. D. Cortright & Son, and has been post- master of Mauch Chunk for the past five years. Gertrude M. is living at home with her parents. Samuel M., late superintendent of the Pennsyl- vania Telephone Company, married Maggie Weyhenshimer, of Allentown. William S., after attending Lafayette College at Easton, Pennsyl- vania, graduated from Wyoming Commercial College, at Kingston, Pennsylvania, and gradu- ated from the College of Dental Surgery in 1879; he has been a successful practitioner of his pro- fession at Mauch Chunk ever since. On June 5, 1883, he married Miss Jennie Rawling, of Min- eral Point, Wisconsin. Emma L., youngest daughter, was married to Edwin F. Keen, whole- sale merchant of Philadelphia, November 21, 1883.
Nathan D. Cortright passed away October II, 1902. His death was sincerely mourned, not only by his immediate relatives but by a wide circle of personal friends and business acquaint- ances who esteemed him for his many estimable traits of character. He was a faithful husband, a kind and loving father, and a generous friend, ever ready to respond with wise counsel or ma- terial aid. His life work was such as to make it well worthy of emulation.
NATHAN D. CORTRIGHT, JR., an ex- tensive coal operator and man of affairs in Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, is a representative of one of the pioneer families of the Wyoming Valley, and of early appearance in the New Netherland. The Cortrights originated in the old town of Kortryk, in Flanders, which village is famous in history, for not far from its walls was fought the celebrated "Battle of the Spurs," in which the flower of the French nobility was overthrown by the Flemish army, which was composed in large part of the weavers of Ghent and Bruges. After the battle the victors gathered up from the corpse-strewn field some four thousand golden spurs, hence the name which designates the bloody conflict. During the early part of the seventeenth century, civil wars and persecutions devastated the land, and the village of Kortryk
several times changed hands. Among those who for safety emigrated to America was Sebastian Van Kortright, who embarked April 16, 1663, in the ship "Brindle Cow." He brought with him his family, and it cost him for their passage some- thing upwards of 204 florins, the charge being thirty-nine florins for each adult and half that sum for children of ten years and under. Among his children were two sons, Michael and Jan Bastian. He settled in Harlem, New York, and became one of the wealthiest men of that time and place. From this stock came Nathan D. Cortright, Sr., a sketch of whom precedes this.
Nathan Dodson Cortright, having attended the public schools of Mauch Chunk, his native city, continued his education in Dickinson Semi- nary, and subsequently entered his father's em- ploy, and was connected with the business until 1873, when he was admitted to a partnership under the firm style of N. D. Cortright & Son. This relationship was maintained until the death of the father, October 11, 1902, when the son suc- ceeded to the business, which he still conducts under the old firm name. He is interested in the development of coal mines as well as conducting an extensive business as a wholesale coal dealer, and is president of the Beaver Run Coal Com- pany and a director of the Mauch Chunk Trust Company.
Mr. Cortright votes with the Republican party, having endorsed its principles since he attained his majority, and he served as a post- master of Mauch Chunk under the successive administrations of Hayes, Garfield, Arthur and Cleveland. He attends the First Presbyterian church of Mauch Chunk, and is now one of its. trustees.
Mr. Cortright was married, October 22, 1874, to Miss Margaret S. Kennedy, of Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, a daughter of John and Margaret S. (Connell) Kennedy. By this union there have been six children: Charles Homer, who is now in business with his father; Frank Barton, a coal dealer of Altoona, Pennsylvania ; Harry Kennedy, a business man of Philadelphia ; Edgar Maurice ; Donald Nathan, and Margaret Kennedy Cortright.
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HON. WILLIAM SEBRING KIRKPAT- RICK, ex-congressman, and one of the most capable lawyers of the Lehigh Valley bar, was born in Easton, Pennsylvania, April 21, 1844.
The ancestral home of the family was at Wat- ties Neach, in Dumfrieshire, Scotland, and the first of the family of whom we have record was the great-great-great-grandfather, who removed from Dumfrieshire with his family to Belfast, Ire- land, during the reign of George I, about the year 1725. In the spring of 1736 he embarked at Belfast for America, and after a stormy voy- age of thirteen weeks reached the American har- bor. He crossed the Delaware river at Phila- delphia, and made his way up the state of New Jersey until he reached Bound Brook. Thence he proceeded across the mountains until he came to a spring of water which has since been called Mine Brook. There he settled with his family, built a log cabin, and began the development of a farm in the midst of a wilderness. He died June 3, 1758. His son, David Kirkpatrick, who was born in Watties Neach, Dumfrieshire, Scotland, February 17, 1724, accompanied his parents and family on their emigration to America. For many years he remained a resident of Mine Brook, where his death occurred in 1814. He was married, March 31, 1748, to Mary MacEowen, who was born in Argylshire, Scotland, August 1, 1728, and died at Mine Brook, November 2, 1795. They had four sons and four daughters, includ- ing Alexander Kirkpatrick, the great-grandfather of William Sebring Kirkpatrick. He was born September 13, 1751, at Mine Brook, and died September 24, 1827. His wife was a daughter of Judge John Carle, of Long Hill, Morris county, New Jersey, and they had thirteen children.
Rev. Jacob Kirkpatrick, of this family, the grandfather of William S. Kirkpatrick, was born in New Jersey, August 8, 1785, and died at Ringoes, Hunterdon county, that state. The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him, and for more than a half century he was a prominent Presbyterian minister of Ringoes. He wedded Mary Burroughs Howell, a daughter of John Sutfin, of Freehold, Monmouth county, New
Jersey, and their family also numbered thirteen children. Newton Kirkpatrick, the father, was born in Somerset county, New Jersey, and mar- ried Miss Sebring.
Their son, Hon. William Sebring Kirkpatrick, began his education in the public schools of Easton, and continued his studies until he had completed the high school course by graduation in 1859. The same year, although only fifteen years of age, he entered Lafayette College, and was graduated in that institution with the class of 1863. On completing his literary course he took up the study of law under the late Judge Henry D. Maxwell, who directed his reading until he was admitted to the bar, October 7, 1865, within five months after he had attained his ma- jority. No dreary novitiate awaited him. Almost at once he gained prominence as a lawyer, and has since maintained a leading position at the bar of the Lehigh Valley.
A few years after entering upon practice, he was appointed borough solicitor of Easton, and served in that position in a most capable manner. Northampton county having become a separate judicial district in accordance with a provision of the constitution of 1873, and a vacancy occurring on the bench of the district, Mr. Kirkpatrick was appointed, in April, 1874, president judge of the third judicial district, by Governor Hartranft, upon the unanimous recommendation of the board of Northampton county. This was indeed a tri- bute to his personal worth and legal attainments, for he had not then reached the age of thirty years. At the ensuing election he received the Republican nomination for the office, and al- though the usual Democratic majority was thirty- six hundred, he succeeded in reducing the oppo- sition vote so that his opponent received a ma- jority of only three hundred. On the expiration of his term of service by the appointment of the governor, Judge Kirkpatrick resumed the active practice of his profession, and rapidly acquired a large and important clientage. He was retained as counsel, either for the prosecution or defense in nearly all of the important cases tried in the courts of the district, and his power at the bar was soon widely recognized by the profession and
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the general public. His practice extended to the courts of neighboring districts and to the federal courts as well. He has been remarkable among lawyers for the wide research and provident care with which he prepares his cases. His legal learning, his analytical mind, and the readiness with which he grasps the points in an argument, all combine to make him one of the most capable lawyers at the bar of Easton, Pennsylvania.
Although Judge Kirkpatrick failed of election at the time he was a candidate for the bench, be- cause of the strong Democratic majority in the district, he was in the same year elected president of the Alumni Association of Lafayette College, and in 1875 he was appointed dean of the law department of that college, which in that year was established. He continued to fill the position un- til financial reasons caused the suspension of the department. Although his time has been assidu- ously employed in the pursuit of his chosen pro- fession, he has given some attention to politics, remaining ever a stanch and unfaltering advocate of Republican principles. Frequently he has served as a delegate to the state conventions of his party, and in 1882 was elected to preside over the temporary organization. In 1884 he was elected one of the delegates from his district to the Re- publican national convention in Chicago, and upon the accession of Governor Beaver to the highest office within the gift of the common- wealth, on the 18th of January, 1887, Judge Kirk- patrick was appointed by him to the position of attorney general of Pennsylvania, and the courts of Northampton county in that year ordered that official record be made of the fact of their grati- fication of the public honor thus bestowed upon their colleague. Judge Kirkpatrick assumed the office on the date mentioned, and brought to the important duties which devolved upon him not only thorough preparation for his work, but also a well defined determination to introduce noted re- forms in the administration of the office. It had grown to be the custom for the chief to leave the work of the position largely to his deputy. This course Judge Kirkpatrick no longer honored, but gave his personal supervision to all of the im- portant cases in which the commonwealth was
concerned, and in his preparation of them showed signal care. The result proved of great advantage to the public service, and he won notable victories for the commonwealth. Patiently persevering, possessed of an analytical mind, and one that is readily receptive and retentive of the funda- mental principles and intricacies of the law, gifted with a spirited devotion to the wearisome details, quick to comprehend the most subtle problems, and logical in his conclusions, fearless in the ad- vocacy of any cause he might espouse, he took to his office rare qualifications for success, and his course during the four years of his service as attorney general was one which awakened the highest commendation of the best citizens of Pennsylvania.
On the expiration of his term of office, Judge Kirkpatrick returned to Easton, where he re- sumed the private practice of law. In 1894 he was unanimously nominated for congress by the Republican party in the eighth congressional dis- trict, and reduced the usual large Democratic ma- jority to less than two hundred votes. In 1896 he was again nominated, and after a hotly con- tested conflict was elected by a majority of three hundred and twenty-nine over his competitor, Laird H. Barber, the Democratic nominee, carry- ing his own county by an increased majority. He took a prominent part in the session of the fifty- fifth congress, and delivered a number of speeches on the momentous questions of the day that at- tracted widespread interest. He was an ardent supporter of the administration of President Mc- Kinley, and his congressional record won for him the admiration and support of his constituents throughout the district. The good of the nation he places before partisanship, and the welfare of his constituents before personal aggrandizement. He commanded the respect of the members of congress, and at home-in the state of his na- tivity where he is best known-he inspires per- sonal friendships of unusual strength.
Judge Kirkpatrick was married, November 20, 1873, to Miss Elizabeth H. Jones, a daughter of Mathew Hale Jones, and their children are two in number, William Huntingdon, and Donald Kirkpatrick.
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MATHEW HALE JONES, of Easton, was during his long and honorable career an accom- plished and leading member of the bar of North- ampton county. Born at Coventry, Connecticut, of Puritan ancestry, he inherited in a marked de- gree the firmness of character and sterling virtues of that religious race. During boyhood his family removed to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, where he fitted himself for Rutgers College, and was graduated from that institution with high rank in the class of 1830.
Upon leaving college he began the study of the law with Hon. Chester Butler, at Wilkes- Barre, and in 1833 was admitted to the bar of Northampton county, at Easton, where his brother, the late Judge Joel Jones, then resided, and was engaged in the active practice of the law. From that time until his death (June I, 1883), the subject of this sketch actively followed his profession, and in the early part of his career served as district attorney, at which time his as- siduous and efficient devotion to official duties presaged the high and masterful qualities so em- inently characterized in him in the subsequent practice of his profession, and stamped him as one of the leaders of the bar of Northampton county. Associated with such distinguished lawyers as Hon. Andrew H. Reeder, Hon. James Madison Porter, Alexander E. Brown, and others of their rank, at the bar of Northeastern Pennsylvania, in the trial of many important causes in that sec- tion of the state, he bore a prominent part in many cases notcd in the annals of the profession, memorable among which the Miller will case stands as a cause celebre in that part of Pennsyl- vania. This case involved large pecuniary in- terests as well as many difficult and delicate legal questions, and it was largely due to his thorough mastery of the intricacies of the controversy and his careful and elaborate preparation that the heirs whom he represented against the will were entirely successful in the litigation. He was re- markable for a well balanced and thoroughly trained intellect, and as a lawyer he was con- spicuous for his comprehensive and exact knowl- edge of the principles of the law, a sound and
careful judgment, and a high and delicate sense of professional honor.
He sought no political advancement, yet was deeply interested in current public questions, and became identified with important local enterprises which had for their end the welfare of the com- munity in which he lived. He was one of the founders of the Easton Gas Company, and served as president from its organization in 1850 until his death. He was also for many years a trustee of Lafayette College, a director of the Easton Cemetery Company, and an elder in the First Presbyterian church of Easton.
Distinguished for a wonderfully retentive memory which enabled him to store and have at command the treasures of the great masters of prose and poetry in our language and the classics, in his social relations he was always ready to entertain and instruct, and his rare conversational powers, cnlivcned by apt anecdote and genial humor, rendered him most attractive and enter- taining in the environment of congenial compan- ionship. Possessing deep religious feeling and well versed in theology, the study of the Bible and the works of the sacred writers were cxceedingly attractive to him and emphasized the convictions of a pure life by strict integrity and a conscien- tious performance of cvery duty. By his earnest manly character, his unostentatious charities, and his interest in the advancement of the people among whom he lived, he commanded universal respect and confidence. His was a well ordered life, and in him we may behold a fine type of the high-minded, cultured lawyer and public-spirited citizen.
Mr. Jones was descended from an ancestry which was notable in English and American his- tory. He was a lineal descendant of Colonel John Jones, a native of the Isle of Anglesey, North Wales, born in 1580. In 1623 Colonel Jones marricd Henrietta, second sister of the Pro- tector, Oliver Cromwell. Hc was a man of abil- ity and position, one of the judges who tricd Charles I, was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1650 to 1659, and was put to death, October 17. 1660. William, his son, born in London in 1624,
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married Hannah Eaton in 1659; she was the youngest daughter of Hon. Theophilus Eaton, founder and first governor of the New Haven colony ; she was born in London in 1633, and died May 4, 1697. William was a lawyer at West- minster, and resided at Fields of St. Martin's, Middlesex. He emigrated to America and set- tled in Connecticut, where he was soon made deputy governor of the colony of New Haven and- Connecticut, which office he held for several years, besides other positions of honor and trust. He resigned in 1698, and died in New Haven, October 17, 1706, aged eighty-two years. The direct descendants of the ancestors before named were resident in Connecticut, where prior to and during the Revolutionary war their patriotism, ability and integrity won for them the respect of their fellows, and various of their number were called to important public positions.
Amasa Jones, father of Mathew Hale Jones, was born at Hebron, Connecticut, October 17, 1771, and died November 5, 1842. He was the seventh child and fourth son of Joel Jones, born in Saybrook, Connecticut, April 16, 1733, died at Hebron, June 17, 1792. He was the son of Isaac Jones, born in New Haven, December 23, 1702, and was a resident of Saybrook, where he died. He was the son of Isaac, son of William and Han- nah (Eaton) Jones, born June 21, 1671, in New Haven. He was married to Deborah Clark, of Stratford, Connecticut, by Hon. William Jones, deputy governor, November 25, 1692. He died at New Haven, 1741, aged seventy years, and his wife died at the same place, May 28, 1735, aged sixty-three years. Amasa Jones married, Decem- ber 7, 1794, Elizabeth Huntington, of Coventry, Connecticut, and they became the parents of eight children :
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