History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 108

Author: Bradsby, H. C. (Henry C.)
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago, S. B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1340

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JAMES KINNEY, wholesale liquor dealer, Towanda, was born in County Mayo, Ireland, June 29, 1848, and was reared in his native country until fifteen years of age, when he came to America (in 1863) and in 1865 settled in Barclay, this county, where he engaged in min- ing, which he followed for twenty-four years. In the spring of 1889 he settled in Towanda, where he has since been successfully engaged in the wholesale liquor trade. In 1865 Mr. Kinney married Margaret, daughter of John and Catherine (Haley) Fraine, of Mayo, Ireland. Mrs. Kinney died March 31, 1889, leaving seven children, viz .: Michael, Kate, John, Margaret, James, Thomas, and Mary A. Mr. Kinney is a member of the Catholic Church, and his loyalty to the Democratic party is unquestionable.

JOHN D. KINNEY, merchant, Warren, was born in Warren town- ship, this county, September 20, 1840; a son of William and Harriet (Gray) Kinney. His father, a native of Massachusetts, was born in 1791 of Scotch-Irish extraction. He was twice married, the first time to Polly Severin, a native of Vermont; they came to Pennsylvania in 1832, and settled in Warren township, this county ; she died in 1838 leaving three children, viz .: John, who was killed by a falling tree, same year his mother died; William, who married Jane James, and died in 1870; Polly (Mrs. Albert Tyrell), who died in 1849. His second wife was Harriet Gray, to whom he was married in 1839, and by her had two children : John D., who is the subject of this sketch, and Sarah (Mrs. Caleb Allew) who died in 1873. William Kinney, the father, who was a farmer and shoemaker, died in 1869, his widow surviving him. John D. Kinney was reared an industrious and frugal farmer's

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

boy, having had but moderate school advantages, and soon after his majority he engaged in merchandising, which he has always followed successfully, and from the smallest beginnings now has an extensive and profitable establishment. He enjoys an extensive trade, and has a branch store at Birchardsville, and is proprietor of an excellent farm of 300 acres, highly improved and thoroughly cultivated. He was married in Warren township, in 1867, to Amy A., daughter of Orville and Amy A. (Lyon) Chaffee, natives of Rhode Island, of Eng- lish origin ; her father was born in 1802, her mother in 1809, and they were married in 1828, and at once came to Warren township, this county ; Mr. Chaffee died in. 1887; his wife died in 1879; they had nine children of whom Mrs. Kinney is the eighth, and had lost two. Mr. and Mrs. John D. Kinney have had three children as follows : . Viola, born November 27, 1870; Bradley R., born March 21, 1873, and Dudley D., born September 11, 1875.

DR. HIRAM T. KINSMAN, physician, Smithfield township, P. O. East Smithfield, born in Chemung county, N. Y., April 6, 1841, is a son of George and Mary (Eaton) Kinsman, natives of Vermont. They came to this county in early life, and settled in the wilderness ; then after several years moved to New York State, where our subject was born. His grandfather, Kinsman, was a Revolutionary soldier, all of whose sons were in the War of 1812. The Doctor was reared on the farm, educated in the schools of his native town, and was graduated, March 28, 1887, at the Bennett Medical College, Chicago. He first practiced at VanEttenville, N. Y., came to this county, in 1874, and commenced the practice of his profession in Athens township. He has been at East Smithfield eight years, where he has an extensive practice." Dr. Kinsman is the youngest of a family of twelve children; one brother, Loomis, went through the Mexican War under Gen. Scott. Dr. Kinsman was married, September 18, 1883, to Sibyl N., daughter of Hiram and Mahale (Tompkins) Russell, natives of this county (she was born in Rome, February 24, 1854). They have one son, Charles M., born July 3, 1884. Mrs. Kinsman's father was a soldier in the Mexican War; was in the Civil War from August, 1861, until the close, and was in thirty-two hard-fought battles. Dr. and Mrs. Kinsman are members of the Disciple Church ; he is a Republi- can in politics, and a member of the I. O. O. F.

W. H. KINTNER, agent for the Lehigh Valley Railroad, Wyalusing, was born in Meshoppen, Wyoming Co., Pa., August 18, 1843, and is a son of Benjamin and Elizabeth (Winans) Kintner, also natives of Pennsylvania. The father was a farmer and spent the larger portion of his life in Mehoopany, where he died in February, 1890, in his sev- enty-eighth year; the mother died in 1859, aged forty-nine; they had seven children, viz .: M. S., a merchant miller, of Mehoopany ; Col. J. C. Kintner, one of the best-known and most prominent of Mehoopany's business men (he enlisted August 30, 1861, in the Fifty-Second Regi- ment P. V. I; was transferred to the Signal Corps in August, 1863, promoted to captain in June, 1864, and was discharged from the United States service, March 4, 1866, having risen from private to colonel; returning home he embarked in mercantile pursuits, and

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

became an acknowledged leader in his political party; he was a member of Gov. Hoyt's staff, and deputy revenue collector under E. H. Chase ; was a prominent member of the I. O. O. F. and G. A. R .; he died March 26, 1886, leaving a void which no other could fill); James M., who was a member of the One Hundred and Forty-Third P. V. I. (was promoted from private to captain ; he resides in Sanborn county, So. Dak., and has been twice elected to the office of recorder of deeds); W. H .; Mary Jane, married to Oliver Easton, a prominent farmer and ex-sheriff of Wyoming county; Sarah E., married to Frank Jennings, of Mehoopany, and E. D., a miller of Mehoopany. W. H. Kintner, the subject of this sketch, passed his boyhood in Mehoopany, and was educated in the schools of that place; when twenty years old he enlisted in the First Division, Battalion Sharp-Shooters, with the First Army Corps, and afterward consolidated with the Fifth Corps, participating in the following engagements: Wilderness, Spottsyl- vania, North Anna, Chickahominy, Poplar Grove Church, Petersburg, Weldon Railroad, Pamunky River, Cold Harbor, Siege of Petersburg and the three fights at Hatcher's Run; he was with his command from the date of his enlistment until June 12, 1865, when he was dis- discharged with his regiment. On his return home he resumed the carpenter's trade, which he had learned prior to his enlistment, and followed same until July 1, 1870, when he was appointed agent for the Lehigh Valley Railroad, at Mehoopany, remaining there eight years, and then came to Wyalusing, to take charge of the railroad interests at that place, where he has since remained ; he has been in the employ of the company twenty-one years. In 1883 he built his present ele- gant residence. He was united in wedlock, December 31, 1863, with Olive G. Ross, a daughter of Benjamin Ross, of Mehoopany, and to them have been born two children : Lottie J. and Fannie C. Mr. Kintner is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, is steward of same, and for the past thirteen years has been superintendent of Sab- bath-schools; he is a member of the I. O. O. F., White Lilly Lodge, No. 808, Wyalusing ; has passed all degrees, and has twice filled the position of N. G .; for the past five years he has been treasurer of the Lodge. He is a member of Jackson Post, No. 74, G. A. R., and past commander of the same ; in politics he has always been identified with the Republican party, and was the first justice of the peace elected in the borough of Wyalusing, which office he still holds, and has also held various offices in the town. He is recognized as one of the lead- ers in all matters of reform for the public good ; in society he and his family stand among the foremost.

W. M. KINTNER, farmer and stock-grower, of Wyalusing town- ship, P. O. Camptown, was born in Monroe county, Pa., November 10, 1842, and is a son of Michael and Catherine (Mosier) Kintner, both of whom were born in Monroe county, and were of German origin. His grandfather, Rudolph Kintner, was twice married, having children by both marriages : by the first there were three boys, viz .: George, Jonas and Daniel, all deceased; by his second wife there were the follow- ing: Rudolph, Courod, Joseph, Henry, Michael, Delilah, Mary and Elizabeth. Michael was a shoemaker by trade, and also owned and

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

cultivated a small farm; he lived his entire life in Monroe and Sul- livan counties, and had the following children : W. M., the eldest ; Charles, of Sullivan county; Philip, of Stroudsburg; Morris, of Stronds- burg ; Mahaley, married to Jacob Mosier, of Monroe county ; Frank deceased), John (deceased), Milo (deceased), and Amanda. W. M. was educated in the common schools of his neighborhood, and Janu- ary 24, 1862, enlisted in Company I, Seventy-first P. V. I., and partici- pated in the following engagements: Cedar Mountain, Rappahan- nock Station, South Mountain, Bull Run and Antietam, at which latter battle he received a shell-wound in the lower portion of his right leg, and was ordered to the hospital, but, instead of going, joined the wagon-train, and drove a team for about two months; rejoined his company at Petersburg, and was through the siege there. He was discharged March +, 1865, by expiration of his term of enlistment, and after his return home, located at Pittston, where he engaged in the manufacture of brick for about two years, then returned to Monroe county, and for three years farmed, then in Wyoming four years and Monroe county seven ; he next removed to Bradford county, where he has since resided; has occupied his present farm of 100 acres of fine land for four years, and has it well stocked. He was united in wed- lock March 16, 1865, with Ellen, a daughter of Samuel Walter, of Mon- roe county, and their union has been blessed with eight children : Harry (residing at Lime Hill, and married to Alice Rumsey), Clara, Sarah, Joseph, Hattie, George, Samuel and Nellie, who, with the exception of the eldest, reside with their parents. Mr. Kintner is a Democrat, and an active worker for his party's interests. He has been a successful farmer, and has always commanded the esteem of all who knew him.

JOHN W. KLINE, a prominent butcher of Towanda, and whole- sale and retail dealer in meats, etc., was born in Baden, Germany, February 4, 1840, and is a son of Jacob and Caroline (Geyer) Kline, who came to America in 1850, settling in Reading, Pa., where the mother of our subject still resides. John W. Kline received a common-school education in Syracuse, N. Y., where he also served an apprenticeship of three years at the butcher's trade. For sixteen years he worked as a journeyman. He settled in Towanda in 1867, and in 1876 embarked in business for himself: has built upa successful trade, and conducts the largest market in Towanda. He married March 16, 1862, Hannah, daughter of John and Eliza (Dreisbach) Hankey, of Luzerne county, Pa., and has five children, as follows: John W., Jr., Minnie E. (Mrs. A. T. Stark), Jessie M., Frank J. and Walter F. During the Civil War Mr. Kline was in the Government employ, as butcher, at Elmira, N. Y. He is a member of the Presby- terian Church, and in politics is a Democrat.

BENJAMIN F. KNAPP, undertaker, Troy, was born in LeRoy township, this county, March 23, 1833, a son of Amos and Electa (Barnes) Knapp. His paternal grandfather, John Knapp, formerly of Orange county, N. Y., settled near West Franklin, this county, in 1796, and was a manufacturer of wooden mould board plows, with one han- dle; he spent most of his life in LeRoy township, and was postmaster of LeRoy for some years; he died in Springfield township in 1836. He

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

married Eunice Wilcox, by whom he had the following children : Samuel, Aaron, Mary (Mrs. Jesse Robart), Eunice (Mrs. Rinearson), Amos, John, Prudy (Mrs. A. Teeter), Betsey (Mrs. Stone), William, Jane (Mrs. B. Elliott) and Mahala (Mrs. T. Beardsley). The father of our subject was reared in Susquehanna county, but, after attaining his major- ity, spent most of his life in LeRoy and Springfield townships, this county, engaged in farming, and was also a veterinary surgeon ; his wife was a daughter of David Burns, of Susquehanna county, by whom he had thirteen children, twelve of whom grew to maturity : Clarissa (Mrs. Jeremiah Baker), Eunice (Mrs. Alvin Bailey), Almira (Mrs. Rufus Millspaugh), Dennis B., Elisha, David, John (chief of police of Elmira for twenty five years), Amos, Laura (Mrs. George Nichols), Dimmis (Mrs. Addison Grace), Benjamin F. and Martha (Mrs. P. C. Slade). Our subject was reared in Springfield township, and educated in the common schools. When twenty-two years of age he settled in Columbia township, and engaged in farming, and for seven years was also engaged in the undertaking business there. In 1877 he located in Troy, where he has since been conducting an undertaking establishment. June 1, 1856, he married Lydia A., daughter of Philip and Laura (Walkins) Slade, of Columbia township, the latter of whom was the first white child born in that township, a daughter of David Walkins, one of the first settlers. The issue of this union was one daughter, Cora (Mrs. Dr. P. M. Barber, who died leaving one son, Frank Stewart). Mr. and Mrs. Knapp have also one adopted son, Guy Lewis. Mr. Knapp is a member of the I. O. O. F., which he joined in 1865 ; he served as jury commissioner of Bradford county one term of three years; politically he is a Republican.

EDSON R. KNAPP, of Columbia township, farmer, P. O. Aspin- wall, was born in Wells township, this county, April 24, 1850, and is a son of John and Maria (Ayres) Knapp, natives of Beaversville, Sussex Co., N. J., who settled in Wells township in 1848. In 1852 they removed to Steuben county, N. Y., and died there ; their children were seven, as follows : William, Hannah, Catherine, Edson R., Frank- lin P., Charles and Samuel A. Edson R. was reared in New Jersey from seven years of age, educated at Newton Seminary, Newton, N. J., and after attaining his majority engaged in farming in Wautaga township, Sussex Co., N. J., until 1870, when he returned to his native town, Wells, this county, and remained there until 1881, when he removed to Columbia township, where he still resides. He married, November 24, 1875, Harriet, daughter of Owen and Amanda (Parce)) Wright, of Columbia township and has five children, viz .: Owen, George P., Lillian. Bertha and Lewis. Mr. Knapp resides on the old homestead, cleared by his wife's father, and originally settled by his grandfather, Thomas Wright. He is a charter member of Pulaski Lodge, I. O. O. F., No. 103, of Deckertown, N. J. In 1889 he was elected assessor of Columbia township for a term of three years; he is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and in politics is a Republican.

ROBERT M. KNAPP, farmer, of Burlington township, P. O. Luther's Mills, was born, August 4, 1824, in Burlington township. this county, on the adjoining farm to where he now resides, a son of

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

William and Nancy (Smith) Knapp, the former of whom was born in Goshen, Orange Co., N. Y., of English origin; when a boy he removed to Bradford county, settling in Ulster township, and worked at farm- ing. experiencing all the privations of pioneer life, as most of the county was then a wilderness. In about the year 1827, he settled on the farm where our subject now lives, and died at the age of eighty- four years; his father was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and lost his life then. Robert M. Knapp, who is the youngest in a family of twelve children, was reared on a farm, and has been a man of great perseverance and integrity. He has accumulated a fine property, and now owns a farm of 150 acres, under a fine state of cultivation. He was married, in September, 1848, to Adelaide Nichols, a sister of James W. Nichols, of Burlington, and there have been born to them five children, three of whom are living, as follows: Maholon, married to Leuretta Bennett; Earl A., married to Carrie Pelton; and Lettie, wife of Eugene Decker, of Towanda, a commercial traveler for agricultural implements. Mr. Knapp is a Republican in politics, and is considered one of the substantial and representative men of the town.

ORRIN A. KNIFFIN, farmer, P. O. East Smithfield, is a son of Andrew and Mary (Wilkinson) Kniffin. Andrew was a native of Rockland county, N. Y., of English descent, who came to Bradford in 1819; of his family of seven children, the subject of this sketch was the fifth ; the father had one brother, Benjamin, in the War of 1812. Mr. Kniffin was born in Dutchess county, N. Y., and was of English and German descent. The family lived in this county sixteen years, then moved to Tioga county, Pa., and cleared a large farm. Mr. Kniffin was reared on the farm, and lived in Tioga county, until 1870, then returned to Smithfield, and in 1871 bought the property where he now resides, and which contained 168 acres. His parents came here with them, and the mother died here in 1873; the father died in Maryland, August 28, 1887, while on a visit to his eldest daughter. Orrin A. has a small dairy, and does a general farming business. He married, May 16, 1859, Anna T., daughter of Stephen T. and Johanna V. (Harding) Gladding, of Smithfield, natives of Bristol, R. I. She was born, June 28, 1842, the fourth in a family of five children. Two of her brothers, John G. and Samuel, were in the Civil War, the former of whom died in the service, and the latter was in the One Hundred and Eighty-Seventh Regiment, P. V. I. The Gladding family trace their ancestry directly back eight generations, to a John Gladding, who was born in 1640, and came to this country in 1660, and lived in the Plymouth colony about twenty years, but after the. King Phillip War removed with his family, and assisted in founding the town of Bristol. Mr. and Mrs. Kniffin have had born to them seven children as follows: Josephine A., a teacher, born March 10, 1860, died February 5, 1891; Martha E., born August 30, 1861; Daniel O., born December 26, 1863, married to Bessie F. Lane ; Norman A., born May 31, 1869; Lydia E., born December 7, 1875; Samuel O., born November 17, 1877, and Arthur L., born October 21, 1881. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Kniffin is a Republican in political matters.

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

WILLIAM KRAM, farmer, Monroe township, P. O. Towanda, was born in Northampton county, Pa., July 21, 1822, and is a son of Jacob and Susan (Frankinfield) Kram, natives of Pennsylvania and of German origin. As soon as he embarked in life for himself he learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed until 1887, when he had the sad misfortune of being struck with total blindness, from which he has been unable to obtain any relief. He came to Bradford county in 1862, and located where Wilson Frutchey now resides. In 1873 he settled on the farm where he now lives. Mr. Kram was married, February 10, 1846, to Miss Margaret Fegles, of Muncy, Pa., who died May 9, 1855, and by her he had four children, one of whom is yet living, viz .: Isaiah M., born August 29, 1851, formerly a hardware merchant in Big Rapids, Mich., but now engaged in farming there. Mr. Kram was afterward married, November 17, 1856, to Miss Mary, daughter of David and Susanna (Arndt) Eilenberger, of Monroe county, born of German and Irish lineage. They had born to them six children : Francis H., born in Bloomsburg, Pa., June 20, 1858, a telegraph operator at Tunkhannock (married to Jennie Bardwell, daughter of H. W. Bardwell, of Tunkhannock, by whom he has one child, Gertrude, born January 31, 1887); Lina F., born April 7, 1860 (has taught fifteen years in the public schools of Bradford county, and is, unmistakably, one of the most successful teachers in the county, she is at present teaching in the Towanda high school); Susie E., born March 23, 1863, married to Frank H. Sechler, who is engaged in the creamery business in East Bridgewater, Pa .; David A., born April 24, 1866, and died June 16, 1871; Mary H., born August 25, 1868 (taught ten terms in Bradford county), married to Walter H. Scott, who is engaged in farming in Monroe township, and Jessie V., born April 29, 1871 (is also a teacher in Bradford county). Mrs. Kram died April 18, 1891. The family are Methodists and Republicans.

JOHN M. KRAMER, locomotive engineer, Sayre, is a native of Luzerne county, and was born April 19, 1843. His parents were Albert M. and Caroline M. (Long) Kramer, natives of the same . place, the former a machinest and molder, born February 21, 1823, and died in Ulster, November 2, 1882 ; the latter was born October 27, 1817, and died, October 27, 1852. John M. is the eldest of a family of two sons and one daughter; his sister, Mary Jane, was born January 4, 1845, and died July 14, 1885. John came with the family to Towanda, when he was about six years of age, and received his education in the public schools of that place, where he remained until the war broke out, when he enlisted, April 14, 1861 in Company I, Sixth Pennsylvania Reserves, under Capt. W. H. H. H. Gore, and took part in twenty-three regular engagements, and was under fire over three hundred times. Some of the most important engagements he participated in were the battles of second Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Antietam, South Mountain, Gettys- burg, Wilderness, and was shot through the arm at Spottsylvania, May 10, 1864, and was sent to Satterlee Hospital, West Philadelphia. He rejoined his command in front of Petersburg, and from exposure con- tracted gangrene of the wound, and was sent to Lincoln General Hos- pital; was mustered out June 28, 1865, and returned home, and in a

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

short time removed to Athens, with his parents, and worked in the machine shops with his father until June, 1866. when he went to work as axeman for the engineer corps of the P. & N. Y. R. R., and was with them until the latter part of 1867, when he was employed on the road as fireman, and was promoted to engineer in 1871, and has filled that place since. In Athens, December 25, 1866, he married Kate, daughter of Thomas and Ellen (Foley) O'Connell, natives of County Waterford, Ireland, who came to Athens in 1852. Thomas O'Connell died in Ulster township, November 7, 1881, in his seventy-third year : his widow survives and resides in Athens. Mrs. Kramer is the second in a family of five children, and was born in County Waterford, Ireland, August 15, 1849. To Mr. and Mrs. Kramer were born the following children : Caroline E., Anna May, John Thomas, Theodore (deceased) and Albert Morris. Mrs. Kramer is an exemplary member of the Catholic Church. Mr. Kramer is a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, Sayre Division, No. 380; the A. O. U. W .; Golden Cycle ; G. A. R., Mallory Post, No. 285; the Union Veteran Legion, No. 28, and of the Veteran Union.

G. F. KRISE, insurance agent, Canton, is a native of Liberty, Tioga Co., Pa., and was born September 5, 1852, a son of Charles A. and Christena (Gleckner) Krise, the former a native of Germany and the latter of Tioga county, Pa. Our subject is the eldest in a family of four children. Of his brothers, Albert E. is cashier of the First National Bank, of Frostburg, Md., and William C. is engaged in the grain business at Red Wing, near Minneapolis. Mr. Krise came to Canton with his parents when he was five years of age; received his education in the borough schools, and learned the saddler's trade of his father, which occupation he followed until 1880, then engaged in the retail coal business, having one yard in Canton, and another in Troy. At the end of three years he sold his business, and accepted the position of general agent for J. Langdon & Co., of Elmira, for their coal on the Northern Central line, a position he still holds. He engaged in the insurance business with his brother Albert E. in the summer of 1888, and in 1890 C. E. Bullock became a partner, under the firm name of Krise & Bullock. In Canton, in 1877, Mr. Krise mar- ried H. M., daughter of James L. and Sally (Warren) Bothwell, na- tives of this county. James Bothwell is engaged in the insurance and coal business at Troy, Pa. Mrs. Krise is the elder of two children who grew to maturity; she was born in Canton township in 1856. To them was born one son, Charles R. Mrs. Krise is a member of the Disciple Church. Mr. Krise is a member of the Masonic Fraternity, Canton Lodge, No. 415; of Troy Chapter, No. 261, and of Canton Commandery, No. 64. He served as a member of the borough coun- cil four years, and three years was treasurer of the council; politi- cally he is a Democrat.

BENJAMIN KUYKENDALL, farmer. Towanda, who has long been one of the leading and influential agriculturists of the county, resides in the borough and carries on his extensive farming interests at the same time. His nativity was the Empire State, born in Sulli- van county, July 28, 1826, a son of Peter and Deborah (Vanduzen)

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History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 108

Author: Bradsby, H. C. (Henry C.) Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Chicago, S. B. Nelson Number of Pages: 1340

Author: Bradsby, H. C. (Henry C.)
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago, S. B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1340