History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 125

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

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On the opening of the U. S. Naval Hospital, Washington, 1866, his good friend, Dr. Maxwell, who had been fleet surgeon of the Pacific Station, and was then in charge, asked the Navy Department to give him, as first assistant, Dr. Payne, and he was on duty here until 1868, when he was placed on waiting orders, and given a long leave of absence ; but in July, following, was again ordered to the Pacific Station, via Panama, to the U. S. Steamer " Saranac," at Mare Island. In January, 1869, the officers and crew were transferred to the "Jamestown," and ordered to cruise among the Pacific islands. Hardly had the vessel left port, when the small-pox broke out, and forty cases were reported, with but one death. They touched at Mazatlan, Mex- ico, and surveyed the Gulf of California, especially the Bay of Topolo- bampo, in the hope of finding a harbor of outlet to the great Arizona Valley; then proceeded to Panama, where they received orders to pro- ceed to the Fiji Islands, and Dr. Payne was appointed a member of a board to consider all unadjusted claims between citizens of the United States and residents at Fiji, and the natives. The board discharged its duties, and January 21, 1870, the ship returned to San Francisco, from which station she sailed, in March, for Honolulu, and was anchored in the beautiful bay of these fairy islands about a month, when she was again sent cruising among the Pacific islands, and returned, in a few months, to Honolulu. In March, 1871, she arrived at Panama, and there received mail, which brought Dr. Payne the intelligence of · seri- ous illness in his family. His three years' cruise being nearly com- pleted, he asked for orders to return home, and received the same. In September, he received orders as senior assistant to the Naval Hospital, at New York, and hoped to remain here some time, but circumstances

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caused him to go to the Boston Naval Hospital, as senior assistant. November 7 of that year, he received his promotion to surgeon, and while on duty there, he contracted the disabilities which resulted in his being placed on the list of retired officers of the Navy. During his hard service in Mobile Bay, he had been infected with malarial poison, and duty on the Mexican coasts and the Pacific had intensified it, as had his three years' cruise, mostly in the tropics; and with his thin blood of the extreme South, he was transferred to the rigors of New England. During his service at Boston, 1872-73, contagious diseases broke out in the hospital; a portion of the medical staff was sent to other points, and the remainder were severely overworked. The small- pox was followed by malignant typhus, and now Dr. Payne was left alone as surgeon; he applied for assistance in vain, and in May, his physical condition was such that he was compelled to ask a short leave of absence, but returned, after three weeks. Within ten days, while on duty, from exposure to a hot sun, he was completely prostrated, and a proper medical examination pronounced him totally unfit for duty; so he was sent home; in the fall, he went to Philadelphia, and the eminent diagnostician, Dr. DaCosta, pronounced the case one of blood- poisoning, from attendance on a case of typhus fever, and partial sun- stroke. In January, 1875, he was ordered before the Retiring Board, at Washington, but he pleaded so strongly for an extension that it was granted, and, again anxious to try duty, he requested to be sent again to sea, and was ordered, January 10, 1876, to report as surgeon of the U. S. Steamer " Vandalia." the vessel detailed to attend Gen. Grant around the world. This trip he greatly desired to make, but almost at the moment of starting, he was prostrated by his old malady, and was compelled to ask to be placed on the retired list, and, April 13, follow- ing, was retired. Thus, though a young man, the Doctor found his active labors of life ended, and his professional labors restricted, and the truth came as a terrible realization ; yet his active nature com- pelled him to work on, and he opened his office in Towanda.

In May, 1871, he married a daughter of the late T. M. Wilson, at that time a resident of Illinois. To bless this union, one child, a daughter, was born, October 7, 1878.

Dr. Payne is a member of the Bradford County Medical Society, of which he has served as secretary and president, and is also a member of the State Medical Society of Pennsylvania. Upon the organization of the Pennsylvania State Board of Health, he was appointed inspector of the Lycoming district, composed of the counties of Lycoming, Tioga, Potter, Bradford and Sullivan, which office he still holds. In politics, as have all naval officers, he has given respect and obedience to admin- istrations, regardless of partisan politics, but, at all times, maintains tenaciously all rights of citizenship. He is a member of the Presby- terian Church, and was ordained presiding elder, in January, 1886 ; he has frequently been a delegate to the Presbytery, and was one of the commissioners to the Centennial General Assembly, in Philadelphia, in 1888.

JOSEPH K. PEASE, farmer, Pike township, P. O. LeRaysville, was born in Enfield, Conn., December 25, 1821, and is the youngest of

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

six children born to Alpheus and Prudence (Kingsbury) Pease, who were of English descent, and in 1825 settled on the farm where our subject now lives, then a dense forest. Joseph K. received his educa- tion by attending the district and LeRaysville borough schools, and by much persistent private study; he began teaching at twenty-one, and taught fourteen terms. He was married, in May, 1862, to Maria F., daughter of Daniel and Lydia (Buffington) Chaffee, of Warren, where they settled in 1827. Mr. and Mrs. Pease have two children: Flora L. and Orlo O., both living at home. Mr. Pease was in mercan- tile business at West Warren from 1868 until 1877, and deputy post- master at that place for three years; he engaged in farming at Potter- ville, in 1877, since then living on his present farm. The Pease and Kingsbury families both belong to the early colony at Plymouth, Mass. Mr. Pease is a member of the Congregational Church, Farmers' Alliance and Democratic party.

HON. BENJAMIN M. PECK, president judge of the Thirteenth Judicial District of Pennsylvania, of Towanda, is a son of Hezekiah M. Peck, who came with his father, Hezekiah Peck, from Warren, R. I., to Bradford county, in 1812, and first located on a farm in Smithfield township. He remained upon his farm until 1889, when he sold it, and bought a gristmill, a tannery, wagon and blacksmith shops, and a furni- ture factory of moderate capacity, all of which branches of business he was at one time carrying on together. On September 26, 1821, he was united in marriage with Ruth Hale, also from Warren, R. I., a daugh- ter of Benjamin Hale, and they had a family of three sons and three daughters, all living, except William A., who died in 1875, the others being as follows: Mrs. Mary W. Stanley, of Clifton Springs, N. Y .; George S., of Wysox; Mrs. Sophia C. Shoemaker, of Waverly, N. Y .; Benjamin M., the subject of this sketch, and Mrs. Frances C. White, of Dakota. The mother departed this life in 1867, and the father died at the residence of Mrs. White, in Barclay township, in 1872.

Judge Peck was born in this county, October 5, 1838, and was in attendance at the public schools, also the Smithfield Academy, and was then a student for a short time at the Collegiate Institute at Towanda. In 1858 he entered the office of Col. Elhanan Smith, Towanda, as a law student, and was admitted to the bar as an attorney and counselor at law, in September, 1860, opening at once his law office, and was act- ively in the practice until August 13, 1862, when he enlisted as a pri- vate in Company B, One Hundred and Forty-first Regiment P. V. I., and at the organization thereof was made first sergeant of the company; in a short time he became second lieutenant, and May 23, 1863, he became captain of Company B; he was with his command without interruption until October 8, 1864, when he was detailed to command the First Regiment, United States Sharpshooters, and he continued in this com- mand until that regiment was mustered out of the service, in January, 1865. He was then appointed, by Maj .- Gen. Humphreys (subject to the approval of the Secretary of War), assistant commissary of musters of the Third Division, Second Army Corps, on the staff of Maj .- Gen. Mott, and remained in this position until mustered out at the close of the war, May 28, 1865. He was severely wounded at the battle of Chancellors-

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

ville, at a place known as Hazel Grove, May 3, 1863, a ball passing through his neck and shoulder, just missing the spinal column and the jugular vein. His wound necessitated his being sent to hospital, and he was only able to resume duty July 7, 1863, after two months and four days' absence. When the war was over, and Capt. Peck was mus- tered out, still a young man, but a veteran soldier, he returned to his home, and opened his law office and was soon deeply engaged in the practice. All three of the brothers in the family were in the war. William A. Peck was surgeon of the One Hundred and fourth Regi- ment, Pennsylvania Volunteers; was promoted to surgeon-in-charge of Casey's Division, and was then medical director of Perkins' Division, Fourth Army Corps, and afterward medical purveyor of the Depart- ment of Susquehanna on Maj-Gen. Couch's staff. At the time of his death he was a leading lawyer of the Towanda bar. Capt. George S. Peck was with his company in the Fifty-seventh Pennsylvania Regi- ment, and among the earliest to respond to his country's call to arms.

In 1872 Benjamin M. Peck was elected to the office of prothonotary, and was re-elected, serving six years. On retiring from office he resumed the practice of his profession. Upon the organization of the Citizens National Bank, in 1876, he was elected director and vice-president, and president in 1887. In 1890 he resigned his official connection with the bank upon his election to the position of president judge of the courts of this district, a position he is now filling with distinguished eminence. Judge Benjamin M. Peck and Miss Sarah H. Watkins were joined in wedlock, April 9, 1863; she is the daughter of Mr. John Watkins, of Athens, this county, one of the prominent families of the county, of English descent. The children of Judge and Mrs. Peck are Guy W. Peck (a civil engineer, in Denver, Colo.) and Mary A. (Mrs. Charles J. Califf). The family worship at the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which Judge Peck is a trustee, class-leader and Sunday-school superin- tendent. He is a member of G. A. R., Watkins Post, No. 68, and trustee of the Susquehanna Collegiate Institute, Towanda.

CAPT. GEORGE S. PECK, mill-wright, machinist and pattern- maker, Wysox township, was born in Smithfield, this county, July 24, 1825, and is the second in the family of six children of Hezekiah M. and Ruth (Hale) Peck. He was reared on a farm and educated in the com- mon schools, and, at twenty-one, entered into partnership with his father in his gristmill, at Smithfield, where he remained twelve years, during which time he spent two years in Wisconsin. He studied dentistry two years with Dr. L. B. Hyatt, of Smithfield, and then located in Towanda, in the practice of dentistry. On September 12, 1861, he joined, as cap- tain, Company G, Fifty-seventh P. V. I., and resigned his commission September 2, 1862; then returned to Towanda, and for two years was engineer on the Barclay Railroad; then engaged in the machinist business, which he has since followed ; was superintendent in Carman's foundry, at Towanda, four years, and since that time has constructed a great many mills in Bradford and Wyoming.counties ; he had charge of the machinery in the cabinet department, in the base of the Treas- ury building at Washington, from April, 1888, until May, 1889. He recently remodeled and adjusted all the machinery in the Elmira and

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Athens Bridge Works ; in his branch of mechanics Mr. Peck is without a peer. He was married, December 31, 1847, to Celestia M., daughter of Dr. Seth and Lydia (Hill) Salsbury. Mrs. Peck, who was a second cousin of the illustrious David B. Hill, of New York, died in 1867. Mr. and Mrs. Peck had five children, four of whom are living: George S., Jr., assistant superintendent in the Athens Bridge Works ; Kincade H., foreman in the Elmira Bridge Works; Clarence Peck, a machinist, and Ellen S., who resides in Athens. Mr. Peck is a mem- ber of the Masonic Lodge at Athens, and in politics is a most loyal, life-long Democrat.

FRED ALBERT PENDLETON (deceased) was born in Warren township, this county, February 18, 1866, a son of James and Nancy (Abell) Pendleton, natives of Rhode Island and of English stock. His father was a farmer, born January 2, 1831, and is a resident of Little Meadows, N. Y .; his mother died October 5, 1888. Their only children were twins: Fred Albert and Frank Adelbert. The former was reared on the father's farm in Warren township, and, when he commenced life on his own account, he engaged in merchandising, and followed this successfully till toward the close of his life, when he closed out his store, and purchased a farm of eighty acres, where he spent the remainder of his days. He married, May 14, 1887, Lettie, daughter of Hamilton and Jane (Walker) Morrow, the father a native of Ireland and the mother of New York. They reared a family of seven children, of whom Lettie, the youngest, was reared, educated and married in Herrick township. Fred Albert Pendleton, the subject of this sketch, though young when he died, was one of the promising men of the county; his death occurred November 17, 1889. His only child died March 15, 1889. Through his mother, who was an Abell. Fred was one of the heirs to the great Abell estate of Baltimore, and his widow is now the owner of the estate.

RAYMOND PEPPER, farmer, West Burlington township, P. O. Troy, was born in Towanda, this county, September 11, 1824, a son of William and Amy (Bagley) Pepper, farmers of Towanda town- ship, of German origin. The subject of this memoir was reared on the farm, educated in the schools of his native town, and has followed agricultural pursuits. He was a soldier in the Civil War, having enlisted in Company K, Second New York Cavalry, and experienced great hardships by which his health was undermined ; was honorably discharged at the end of the war, being present at Lee's surrender, and he is a pensioner. Mr. Pepper was married November 21, 1850, to Emily E. Landon, of Canton. She was born of English descent March 14, 1829, daughter of David S. and Lucy (Case) Landon, natives of Bradford county. Her grandfather Landon was a soldier in the War of the Revolution seven and one-half years; was one of the body- guards of General Washington, and became a pensioner. To Mr. and Mrs. Pepper have been born six children, viz .: David, born September 10, 1851, married to Odessa Baxter; Frank, born December 1, 1853, married to Marilla Clark; Clara B., born January 24, 1859, wife of Albert Bailey ; James V., born December 21, 1862 ; Jennie May, born May 5, 1867, wife of Fred Allen; Raymond D., born April 16, 1869,

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a farmer on the homestead farm, which consists of ninety acres of fine land. Mr. Pepper is a member of the G. A. R., and he and his sons are Republicans. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he is one of the most respected men in the community.

R. N. PERRY, insurance agent, Canton, is a native of Owego, N. Y., born July 13, 1848, a son of Hiram and Mary (Merrill) Perry, natives of Connecticut and Schoharie county, N. Y., respectively. His father, who was a farmer, was born July 12, 1800, and died February 22, 1886 ; his mother was born September 29, 1803, and died November 2, 1865. R. N. Perry, who is the youngest in a family of nine children, of whom six are now living, was reared on the farm in his native home until twenty-two years of age, and received his education in the public schools and in the Commercial College, Williamsport. He worked on a sawmill about five years, and then was a lumber shipper in Will- iamsport two years ; was in the insurance business two years. Removing to Alba, this county, he purchased an insurance agency, and there remained one year; then came to Canton, where he has since been engaged in the insurance and job-printing business. He was married in Owego, N. Y., in 1870, to Mary Neal, daughter of John and Lucy (Clements) Fenderson, natives of Maine; her father was a lumberman, drowned in the Susquehanna at Hyatt's Ferry, N. Y., in 1877, in his sixty-seventh year; her mother resides in Sayre. Mrs. Perry is the twelfth in order of birth in a family of fourteen children, eight of whom are now living, and was born in Owego, N. Y., February 18, 1853. To Mr. and Mrs. Perry were born four children, as follows : Willis R., William Armstrong (now publisher of the Cantonian), Jen- nie E. (deceased) and Lorena Neal. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Perry is a member of the I. O. O. F., Canton Lodge, No. 321, also Canton Encampment, and has passed all the chairs in both Orders; is also a member of the Equitable Aid Union ; politically he is a Republican.

JOHN F. PETTES, of Pettes & Ballard, grocers and crockery dealers, Troy, was born in Ulster township, this county, July 12, 1847, and is a son of Benjamin A. and Sarah (Moore) Pettes, the former a native of Wheeling, West Va., of Connecticutstock, a pioneer of Ulster township, where he cleared and improved a farm, and was also, for many years, engaged in the dry-goods business in Towanda, where he . died in 1889, at the age of sixty-nine years; the latter was a daughter of Robert and Mary (Grafius) Moore, of Moore's Hill, Ulster township, this county. They had three sons : Robert, of Williamsport, Pa .; John F., our subject, and William E., of San Francisco .. John F. was reared in Towanda, educated at Susquehanna Collegiate Institute, and Eastman's Business College, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. In the spring of 1870 he settled in Troy, where, with the exception of three and one-half years spent in Chicago, he has since resided; for thirteen years he served as clerk in general stores of Troy, and in 1887 embarked in his present business, and two years later took a partner, in the person of Mr. C. W. Ballard. In 1882 he married Frank, the daughter of Edwin and Charlotte

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(Reynolds) Porter, of Troy. Mr. Pettes is one of the popular business men of Troy; in politics he is a Republican.

DITON PHELPS, butcher and proprietor of a meat-market, East Smithfield, was born March 5, 1840, a son of Henry and Phoebe (Wheeler) Phelps, the former of whom was born in Becket, Mass., and came to this county, with his parents, in 1805. Jared Phelps, the grandfather of our subject, was a drum-major in the Revolutionary War, and one of the first members of the Congregational Church at Smithfield ; he was the original owner of all the land where the village now stands, comprising over 200 acres; gave the church society the land where the church now stands, also the public square and the land for the cemetery (a daughter of his was the first person buried there). Diton Phelps, who was the only son in a family of four children, was educated at the old academy at Smithfield, and, in 1861, he enlisted in Company F, Sixth Pennsylvania Reserve. He was discharged, June 14, 1864, after three years' service. Mr. Phelps was twice married : the first time, December 27, 1864, with Jane E. Gerould (daughter of Ziba and Eliza Gerould, of East Smithfield), who died in Kansas, July 21, 1873; Mr. Phelps' second wife, whom he married, May 3, 1875, was Alice, daughter of James and Polly Gorton, of Tioga county, Pa. There have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Phelps three children, as follows: George M., born February 8, 1876; Rosa, born June 30, 1878, and Mary Jane, born March 9, 1882. Mr. Phelps is a Republican ; has been elected by his party to the offices of con- stable and school director, and is at present justice of the peace; he is a member of the G. A. R. and the Knights of Honor.

HENRY L. PHELPS, farmer, in Herrick township, P. O. Her- rickville, was born in Hartford county, Conn , September 22, 1819, a son of David L. and Sarah (Matson) Phelps, the former of whom died in Connecticut in 1822. The grandfather, Asa Matson, took him after his father's death, and they came to this county in 1823, first stopping on Wyalusing creek, where they remained about two years, and then came to the farm he now occupies; his grandfather had with him one son, wife and daughter with three children-Henry L. and two sisters. At this time there was a cabin near the house he now occupies. The grandfather settled on this land, purchased the title from Col. Kings- bury, and had about 150 acres, of which he cleared about thirty acres; he died in 1833. The house Mr. Phelps occupies was built by his uncle Asa B. Matson, in 1836. He now owns about 100 acres, and still leads an active life. His eldest sister married Mr. O. Stevens; his sister Emily married L. M. Stevens, now deceased. Mr. Phelps was married, October 23, 1845, to Sarah E., daughter of Ira and Betsy (Pierce) Brister, and they had one child, Burton H., who was educa- ted in the public schools and at the Collegiate Institute; he was a farmer; he married Anne Bolles, adopted daughter of John and Rachel (Marsh) Bolles, of Pike township, both now deceased; they had a family of five children, two now living-Mrs. Phelps and another; she was born September 13, 1854, and has one child Walter H., who was born May 4, 1882; He worships at the Methodist Episcopal Church,

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and is a Republican, but has acted with the Prohibition party about five years.

WILLIAM H. PHELPS, farmer, P. O. East Smithfield, was born in Smithfield township, December 21, 1824, a son of Augustus and Abigail (Hackett) Phelps, natives of Massachusetts. Augustus Phelps was a son of Jared and Rowena (Fuller) Phelps, who came to this town in the fall of 1811, with a large family, one of whom, a daughter of fifteen, died in the early winter, and was the first to be buried in this part of what was then a dense wilderness. A little church was soon built near the lonely grave, which decided the location of the village. The rest of the family all settled in this vicinity. Jared Phelps enlisted, and served during the Revolutionary War.

William H. Phelps is the third in a family of eleven children, and still resides on the homestead settled by his grandfather, Jared Phelps. He was married, March 11, 1866, to Mary D., daughter of Don M. and Elizabeth (Harrison) Bacon, and was born April 8, 1829. Mr. and Mrs. Phelps had one child, who died at the age of two years. In politics, Mr. Phelps is a Republican, in religion, a Congregationalist, and has been a deacon in the church for many years.

H. F. PHILLIPS, of the Red Front Shoe Store, Athens, is a native of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., having been born December 13, 1863, and is the fifth in the family of thirteen children of William and Ellen (Court- right) Phillips, natives of Luzerne county, Pa. His father, who was a canal-boat builder, died in Wilkes-Barre, January 2, 1884, in his sixty- third year. Mr. Phillips' mother died June 26, 1891, aged sixty-two years. He has been in the shoe business since he was eleven years old. At the age of seventeen, he was manager of a shoe store in Wilkes- Barre, continuing in that position for some time. Leaving there, he went to Scranton for about two years, where he had charge of a shoe jobbing house for F. E. Nettelton, one of the largest in the city of Scranton. Coming again to his native town, he embarked in business for himself, forming a partnership with Morgan Weller, under the name of Phillips & Weller, Albany Red Front Boot and Shoe Store. Mr. Phillips is the originator of the celebrated three-dollar Anchor Kip and Calf Boots. He is a genial, whole-souled, active, energetic business man. In the spring of 1890, he opened a shoe store in Athens, Pa., where he carries the largest and best line of shoes in the city. He was married, September 5, 1888, to Ada, eldest in a family of nine children of Leonard Roll, and born in Beach Haven, Pa., October 17, 1866. By this union there are two children : Charles and Ruth. Mr. Phillips is a member of the I. O. O. F., Wyoming Lodge, No. 39, also of Otalessa Camp, No. 39, and is a member of The Royal Society of Good Fellows, and K. of G. E. He is one of the prime movers in starting a Y. M. C. A. in his town.

ISRAEL PHILLIPS, farmer, Smithfield township, P. O. Hoblet, was born in Broome county, N. Y., July 15, 1822, and is a son of James and Anna (Lockwood) Phillips, natives of New York, of Welch descent, and who came to this county fifty-six years ago, settling in Burlington, then a dense wilderness. William Phillips, great-grand- father of Israel Phillips, was one of the party that boarded the vessels

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History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 125

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