History of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 185

Author: Bradsby, H. C. (Henry C.)
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Chicago : S. B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1532

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HARPER N. PETTEBONE, farmer, Dorranceton, was born March 14, 1857, a son of Noah and Margaret (Speece) Pettebone, natives of Pennsylvania and of French and German origin, respectively. Our subject was reared on the farm, educated in the common schools and Wyoming Seminary, and at the age of twenty began work for his brother, Noah Pettebone, on the farm, where he remained three years; then engaged with Legrand Speece, an uncle, to learn the brick-laying trade, which he followed four years, after which he settled, as a farmer, on a part of the Pettebone homestead where he now resides. In 1883 he built his splendid home, and in Sep- tember of the same year was married to Miss Rhoda, daughter of Thomas and Rhoda (Gunton) Smith, natives of Pennsylvania and of English origin. This union has been blessed with one son, Warren, now a student at Dorranceton High School. Mrs. Pettebone died July 23, 1884, and our subject was afterward married, Jan- uary 14, 1886, to Augusta, daughter of Barnes and Elizabeth (Stroh) Bonham, natives of Pennsylvania, the father a miller by trade. Mrs. Pettebone is a member of the M. E. Church of Forty Fort. Mr. Pettebone is a strong Democrat, and is tax collector of the borough of Dorranceton.

NOAH PETTEBONE, farmer, Dorranceton borough, was born August 5, 1838, in Kingston township, a son of Noah (a farmer) and Sarah (Sharps) Pettebone, natives, respectively, of Pennsylvania and New Jersey and of French and English origin. They reared a family of ten children, seven of whom are living. Our subject was educated in the common schools and Wyoming Seminary, and began life for himself at the age of twenty-five, farming on the Meyers farm, in Forty Fort borough, where he remained one year. He then worked the Raub farm in Kingston three years, and the Church farm, owned by Col. Dorrance, for eight years, after which he moved on a portion of the old Pettebone homestead farm, where he now resides. On January 14, 1864, he was united in marriage with Jane, daughter of George and Sarah (White) Renard, natives of Pennsylvania, and, respectively, of German and English origin. This happy union was blessed with five bright children, four of whom are now living: Erastus, born January 26, 1866, working on the home farm; Harriet, born January 4, 1869, at home; Benjamin N., born September 7, 1871, attending school at the Keystone Academy, Factoryville, Pa., and Cora J., born October 20, 1876, now attending the Dorranceton high school. Mr. and Mrs. Pettebone and their daughters Harriet and Cora are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Forty Fort. Mr. Pettebone has been assessor and school director of Kingston township; he has also held the same offices in Dor- ranceton borough, and is at the present time a member of the borough council. In politics, he is a Democrat, though at present his sympathies are principally with the Prohibition party. He is one of the sound men of his borough, and commands the respect of all who know him.

STEPHEN H. PETTEBONE, farmer, Dorranceton, was born August 11, 1829, a son of Noah and Sarah (Sharps) Pettebone, of Pennsylvania, being the fourth child in a family of ten, seven of whom are still living. He is of English and German origin, and was reared on a farm, receiving his education in the common schools

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and Wyoming Seminary. At the age of twenty-six Mr. Pettebone rented a farm and engaged in agriculture for a few years, then bought property at Orangeville, Columbia County, where he spent five years, after which he moved to Kingston, thence, four years ago, to Dorranceton, where he now resides, in the pleasant old homestead. He was married January 24, 1854, to Lucinda, daughter of Joshua and Elenor (Gay) Pettebone, natives of Connecticut and of English descent. The result of this marriage was seven children, of whom five are now living: William T., bookkeeper . for the Lehigh Valley Coal Company, married to Jane Bonham; Margaret E., married to James Johnson, a farmer; Annie M., married to Harry P. Streeter, a farmer; Edgar R., a civil engineer in the employ of the Wilkes-Barre Coal Company, married to Isabel Hughs; and Jacob S., a student at Cornell Uni- versity. Mrs. Pettebone is an estimable lady, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Pettebone in politics is a Democrat; he was school director for three years at Orangeville and supervisor for Kingston township two years.

EDGAR R. PETTEBONE, a mining engineer for the Lehigh & Wilkes-Barre Coal Company, was born November 24, 1863, at Kingston, and is a son of Stephen H. and Lucinda (Pettebone) Pettebone, natives of Pennsylvania and of French descent. Our subject was reared on a farm, educated in the common schools and Wyoming Seminary, and at the age of twenty-one began work as mining engineer with Ira Hartwell, of Wilkes-Barre, with whom he remained two years and six months; he then engaged with Harry S. Reets (successor to Irving Sterns), for six months, when he accepted his present position. Mr. Pettebone was married, September 27, 1885, to Miss Isabell E., daughter of Charles and Esther (Pettebone) Hughes, natives of Pennsylvania and of English and French origin, respectively, the former of whom is a farmer at Catawissa, Pa. This happy union was blessed with four children, three of whom are now living, viz. : Allen H., born July 18, 1887; Stephen C., born June 9, 1889, and Hazel, born September 9, 1891. Mr. and Mrs. Pette- bone are members of the Forty Fort Methodist Episcopal Church, and politically, he is a Republican.

J. N. PETTEBONE, butcher and dealer in all kinds of meat, Kingston, was born in Kingston, June 25, 1845, and is a son of Thomas and Anna (Reel) Pettebone, the former a native of Luzerne county, and of New England origin, the latter of Northumberland county, Pa., and of Holland lineage. Mr. Pettebone was educated in the common schools of Luzerne county, and at the age of twenty began life for himself in the butchering business, which he has since successfully conducted in Kingston. He was married December 25, 1865, to Miss Louise, daughter of Lewis Landmesser, of Wilkes-Barre, which union has been blessed with two chil- dren, Lewis L. and Margaret. Mr. Pettebone is a member of the F. & A. M. Polit- ically he is a Republican, and was postmaster at Kingston during President Ar- thur's administration.

PAYNE PETTEBONE. John Pettebone, of French extraction, emigrated from Eng- land during the turbulent times of Oliver Cromwell, and was registered as a land- holder in Windsor, Hartford Co., Conn., in 1658. On February 16, 1864, he married Sarah Eggleston, by whom he had nine children, three born at Windsor and six at Simsbury, in the same county, whither he removed at the time of the birth of his son Stephen, which occurred October 3, 1669, locating on lands in possession of some of his descendants. The name of Noah Pettebone is found at- tached to a petition to the Assembly of Connecticut dated March 29, 1753, for per- mission to buy land of the Indians on the Susquehanna at Wyoming. In 1745 he married Hulda Williams, by whom he had eight children, all born in Connecticut. He was first at Wyoming in 1769, with his three sons, Noah, Jr., Stephen and Oli- ver. In 1772 he settled on meadow lot No. 22, where his descendants have con- tinued in regular succession to the present, making considerable additions to the homestead. Some time after the massacre of July 3, 1778, he returned to Connecti- cut and Massachusetts, where his married daughters resided, but after a year or two returned to the homestead at Wyoming, where he died March 28, 1791. The chil-

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HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

dren of Noah Pettebone, all natives of Simsbury, Conn., were: Esther, born in June, 1747, married William Alworth; Huldah, born in August, 1749, married Benja- min Atwater; Noah, Jr., born in November, 1751, married Lucy Scott, May, 1778, and was killed in the battle of Wyoming July 3, 1778; Hannah, born in October, 1753, married Joseph Shaw; Stephen, born in September, 1775, was in Sullivan's army and honorably discharged, and after returning to Wyoming was killed by In- dians, February 10, 1779, on Kingston Flats; Dolly, born in June, 1757, married Timothy Stevens in 1777; Lydia, born in December, 1759, married John Vaugh; Oliver, born May, 13, 1762, married Martha Paine, December 21, 1783. All of the daughters settled in the Lackawanna region, and had considerable families.

Oliver Pettebone, the youngest son of Noah, born May 13, 1762, was a boy six- teen years old at the time of the massacre, and with others was in Forty Fort. The second day after the massacre he returned to Connecticut, but subsequently re- moved to Amenia, Dutchess Co., N. Y., December 21, 1783, where he married Mar- tha, daughter of Dr. Barnabus Paine [the family name is now spelled with a y ]. He settled on Livingston manor, where three children were born, Oliver, Jr., Esther and Payne. In April, 1788, he returned to Wyoming and purchased the lot adjoin- ing his father's homestead, both of which lots, with added acres, are owned and occupied by his descendants. After his return to Wyoming ten additional children were born to him, and all except two, who died young, raised quite large families. He was a prudent, industrious, systematic farmer, and kept everything in perfect order till his death, March 17, 1832. His wife died December 25, 1833. Their children were: Oliver, Jr., born September 9, 1784; Esther, September 15, 1785; Payne, January 24, 1787; Joshua, August 31, 1788; Marcia, November 3, 1790; Lncy, September 12, 1792; Mary, October 21, 1794; Nancy, November 13, 1796; Noah, July 27, 1798; Huldah, February 14, 1801; Henry, October 5, 1802; Martha, December 30, 1804, and Stephen, February 23, 1807.

Marrying Sarah Tuttle, Payne, son of Oliver Pettebone, was the immediate an- cestor of Stoughton Pettebone, a prominent paper manufacturer residing at Niagara Falls, N. Y., born April 9, 1812, and Payne Pettebone, of Wyoming, born Decem- ber 23, 1813, in Kingston, where Payne Pettebone, Sr., had located with his family, his father-in-law (Joseph Tuttle) with his family, having settled on Abraham's creek at the point since known as Tuttle's Mills, where the settlers on their way to the battle of Wyoming stopped for deliberation. When Payne Pettebone was only eight months of age, his father died, and he was left to the care of his maternal grandfather, Joseph Tuttle, where he remained until fourteen, doing the varied and almost ceaseless work of a farmer's boy, and attending the winter schools in the old schoolhouse with slab benches, located near the residence of the late Col. Elijah Shoemaker, hisstudies being limited to Webster's spelling book, Daboll's arithmetic, the old English reader, and the rudimentary principles of Murray's grammar. For a time succeeding his fifteenth year, he was a tavern boy-of-all-work; but so firmly grounded were his principles of right and propriety that he did not suffer any in consequence of the contaminating influences by which he was surrounded. . He was subsequently clerk in a store at Tunkhannock, Wyoming county, from 1828 to 1831, at a pittance of from $5 to $10 per month, where, amid adverse circumstances and in bad society, he preserved his character unblemished; and, when his employer at Tunkhannock failed in business, declined an offer to enter mercantile life as a prin- cipal in partnership with Colonel Montanye before he was eighteen. Returning to his former agricultural employments with his grandfather, he was soon offered an opportunity to engage on trial for two weeks as a clerk in the store of Swetland & Baldwin, of Wyoming. This position he occupied and gave such satisfaction to his employers that his services were retained by this firm, and subsequently by William Swetland, at $175 to $200 per annum and board; and as evidence that he had early learned to appreciate the value of money saved, it is only necessary to state that out of his meager salary he laid up about $100 a year. After the dissolution of the firm of Swetland & Baldwin, in July, 1832, young Pettebone was offered service by

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HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

each of the partners, and upon considering the advisability of going into another line of business was proffered an interest in the store of Mr. Swetland; and in Sep- tember, 1834, entered as an equal partner with him under a contract drawn up by himself, covering less than one page of foolscap, which limited the partnership to such a length of time as the two could agree. This was in September, 1834, before Payne Pettebone had attained his majority. The partnership was so mutually satis- factory that it was dissolved only by the death of Mr. Swetland, September 27, 1864. During the early years of their partnership, they were familiar by every-day labor with all of the details of duties which subsequently devolved on porters and junior clerks. To the ties of mutual interest which united Mr. Swetland and Mr. Pette- bone were added those of family relationship when, October 3, 1837, Payne Pette- bone married Caroline M., daughter of William Swetland, who has borne him six children, two of whom are living. These are Kate, who married A. H. Dickson, an attorney, residing in Wilkes-Barre, and Robert Treat, owner and proprietor of the Wyoming Shovel Works. By the will of Mr. Swetland, the surviving partner was made executor of his estate, which he managed for fifteen years, greatly increasing its value. With the various local interests of the town in which he lived Mr. Pette- bone had always been closely identified, and all enterprises having in view the edu- cation, evangelization and general advancement of his fellow men had always found in him a willing and liberal supporter. He had never held public office except local township offices, having repeatedly refused the use of his name in nominating con- ventions when his party was largely in the majority; but with such marked success had he conducted his private business that he had from time to time been burdened with the cares of enterprises of a public character. In 1844 he was appointed a member of a committee with Gen. William S. Ross and Jonathan J. Slocum, by the State authorities for the sale of the Delaware division of the Pennsylvania Canal, and aided to effect the sale of the same at Philadelphia. From 1854 to 1863 he was treasurer of the Lackawanna & Bloomsburg Railroad Company, during the trying years of the financial embarrassment of that corporation and the construction of the road. During that period occurred the severest strain and pressure of his business life, and he retired from the position only when safety from loss was assured to the managers of the road, who were chiefly friends and neighbors of his. He was sub- sequently elected a director of the railroad company, and continued in that office until the Lackawanna & Bloomsburg Railroad was consolidated with the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad. Mr. Pettebone has been prominently concerned in various other business and many benevolent, scientific and educational enter- prises, representing several as president.

Among these may be mentioned the old Pittston Bank; the Wyoming Shovel Works (of which himself and son were sole pro- prietors); the Wyoming Terra Cotta Works; board of trustees of Wyoming Seminary; Wyoming Bible Society; Wyoming Camp Meeting Association; Forty Fort Cemetery Association, and Wyoming Historical and Geological Society. He was director of the Washington Life Insurance Company, of New York; the First National Bank of Pittston; Wyoming National Bank, and the Miners Savings Bank of Wilkes-Barre, and was president and director of the Wilkes-Barre Savings Bank. He was trus- tee of Wyoming Seminary and the Drew Theological Seminary, and resigned the trusteeship of the Wesleyan University of Middletown, Conn., from inability to at- tend the meetings of the board. Until 1864, the Wyoming monument grounds re- mained in a neglected condition. At a meeting of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society that year, it was resolved "that Payne Pettebone, Hon. William S. Ross and Col. Charles Dorrance be a committee to collect funds to defray the expense of finishing Wyoming monument, enclosing and improving the grounds of the same." His duties on such committee Mr. Pettebone discharged with his accus- tomed ability, energy and success. In 1878 he was chairman of the committee on finances of the Centennial Memorial Association, and to his management was the success of the enterprise in no small measure due. A pleasant incident connected with this event was the entertainment at the residence of Mr. Pettebone of Presi-

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dent Hayes and his family and cabinet, Governor Hartranft, of Pennsylvania, and his wife and suite, and many other prominent men of the State and nation. Mrs. Hayes, in giving expression to her pleasant recollection of the visit, sent Mrs. Pettebone the following spring a case of rare flowers. To the varied employments above mentioned, which have demanded his time, personal attention and financial support, from time to time have been added the care of interests in coal mines, farming operations and an extensive sugar plantation in Louisiana, where the ex- periment is being tried of keeping negro laborers in contentment by prompt pay and fair treatment. At the altar of prayer in the old Forty Fort church, at the age of twelve or thirteen, as a seeker after salvation, Mr. Pettebone received lasting im- pressions for good; impressions which sustained him through the critical period of boyhood and young manhood, and left indelibly upon his mind those principles of in- tegrity which marked his whole career and contributed in no small degree to his suc- cess in life, though for years thereafter he was not a professor of religion. The most interesting and highly cherished event of his life was his conversion to God in March, 1848, at the great revival in the Methodist Episcopal church at Wyoming, under the pastorate of Rev. Thomas N. Pearne, assisted by Rev. R. Nelson. As a member of the church since that time, he has been continually in the official board, serving in the several departments as leader, steward, trustee, Sunday-school super- intendent and delegate to the General Conference. It was a source of pleasure to Mr. Pettebone to recall the fact that in his younger and less prosperous days he was never ashamed of any kind of honest labor. Work of any kind was acceptable to him so long as it soiled his hands only, and not his character. On the solid founda- tion of industry, perseverance, integrity and respect for his fellow creatures, and reverence for sacred things, he built, and built surely. A marked trait of his char- acter was gratitude to those who aided him with a helping hand, or cheered him with a friendly word during the rough experiences of his boyhood. The influences of kind deeds rendered him in childhood had so impressed him that as he approached the close of life he had a smile and a pleasant word for boys and girls entering upon its checkered experiences, and in grateful remembrance he held the friends of his youth and the wise counselors of his young manhood.

GEORGE D. PETTIT, farmer, P. O. Sybertsville, was born in Mifflin township, Columbia Co., Pa., January 25, 1846, a son of Isaac and Lydia (Hutchins) Pettit. His paternal grandfather, Henry Pettit, a native of New Jersey, was a pioneer farmer of Mifflin township, where he lived and died; he was drafted during the war of 1812, but was not required to serve. His wife was a Miss Croll, and he was the father of three sons and four daughters. Isaac, father of our subject, was born in Columbia county, and in 1850 settled in Black Creek township, this county. In 1862 he removed to Sugar Loaf township, where he died in 1868 at the age of sixty-four. His children were: William, Eliza (Mrs. William Minnich), Henry, George D., Mary C. (Mrs. Henry Seiwell) and Harriet (Mrs. Robert Fogle). Our subject was reared in Luzerne county from four years of age; was educated in the common schools, and in early manhood worked at the carpenter's trade, since which time he has been engaged in farming, and he has resided in Sugar Loaf township since 1862. He was twice married, his first wife being Louisa Horn; his second wife was Lucella Miller, daughter of Abraham and Mary (Yost) Miller, of Sugar Loaf township, and by her he has two children: Harry D. and Lula A. Mr. Pettit is a member of the English Lutheran Church; in politics he is a Democrat, and served as school director of Sugar Loaf township six years.

SAMUEL M. PETTY, farmer, P. O. Berwick, was born in South Wilkes-Barre, April 26, 1865, and is a son of Matthias and Mary (Pell) Petty. His paternal grand- father, William Petty, a native of Germany, was an early settler of South Wilkes- Barre, and erected the gristmill now operated by Morris & Walsh. His wife was Lydia Stroh, by whom he had four children: Peter, Matthias, Levi and Amy (Mrs. Peter Wagner), all born in South Wilkes-Barre. Matthias was reared in his native city, for nine years was a resident of Salem township, and now resides in Briar

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Creek, Columbia Co., Pa. His wife was a daughter of Samuel Pell, of Nanticoke, and by her he has ten children: Hattie (Mrs. James Smith), Amy, Samuel M., William, Charles, Margaret, Mary, Louise, Edith and Emily. Our subject was reared in Salem township from nine years of age, and married, February 27, 1884, Mattie, daughter of Isaac and Jenetta (Heavne) Martz, of Briar Creek, Columbia Co., Pa., and has three children: Mary, Edna and Charles. Mr. Petty in politics is a Democrat, and has held the office of supervisor of Salem township for two terms.

WILLIAM PETTY, M. D., Wilkes-Barre, was born in Hanover township, this county, March 11, 1861, and is a son of Matthias and Mary (Pell) Petty. His paternal grandparents were William and Lydia (Stroh) Petty, natives of Chester Hill, Philadelphia Co., Pa., and were among the early settlers of near Pittston, this county. They worked the Hollenback farm for several years; then removed to Hanover township, at the place now known as "Petty's Mills;" erected grist and flouring mills there, which they conducted many years, and later in life removed to Wilkes-Barre, where they died. Their children were four in number: Peter, Levi, Amy (Mrs. Peter Wagner) and Matthias H., the latter of whom was born in Pitts- ton, was reared in Hanover township, and has always followed the occupation of a farmer. He resided in Luzerne county until 1876, when he removed to Columbia county, where he still resides. His wife was a daughter of Samuel and Margaret, (Lines) Pell, of Hanover township, and by her he had ten children, all now living: Hat- tie (Mrs. James Smith), Amy, Samuel M., William, Charles, Margaret, Mary, Louise, Edith and Emily. Our subject was reared in Luzerne and Columbia counties, receiving a public and normal school education. He began the study of medicine in 1883, and was graduated from Long Island College Hospital in 1886, immediately after which he located in Wilks-Barre, where he has since been in the active practice of his profession. In 1887 the Doctor married Lesty, daughter of Rinehart and Maria (Oblosser) Bergen, of Columbia county, Pa. (formerly of Germany), and by her he has one daughter, Annie.

P. P. PFEIFFER, M. D., Butler township, P. O. Drum's. This well-known physician and surgeon, of Luzerne county, is a Frenchman by birth, a German by education, and an American by adoption. He was born in France, June 23, 1830, and is a son of Michael and Catherine (Stohm) Pfeiffer, also natives of France. His father was a commissioned officer under Napoleon I, and served with him fifteen years. He died when our subject was quite a small boy. Dr. Pfeiffer was educated in Bavaria, near Heidelberg, in the German Empire; during the Bavarian rebellion, he, with the other students of the institution, took an active part in behalf of the rebels, and when the government subdued the revolt, the Doctor was compelled to fly from the country in order to insure safety to his life and liberty. He sailed for America, landing in New York May 23, 1850, with the paltry capital of fifty cents. He there found a friend of his father, who secured for him a position in a hospital, where he worked eight years. He then went to the University of Philadelphia, from the medical department of which he was graduated, in the class of 1859. After remaining in Philadelphia three years he removed to Pottsville, where he was engaged in the practice of his profession about twenty-seven years. Then, after an extended tour through the United States, Canada and Mexico, the Doctor came to Butler township, this county, where he has since been engaged in his prac- tice. He has been twice married: For his first wife he wedded, immediately after landing in New York, Catherine Miller, of Bavaria, and she bore him eight children, viz. : Catherine, married to Louis Stores, of Pottsville; Philip, an engineer on the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad; Daniel, also an engineer en the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad; Franklin, a clerk in New York; George, a butler, in Terra Haute, Ind .; John, a heater, in Terra Haute, Ind. ; William, a foreman, in New York; and Jacob, who resides with his father. Mrs. Pfeiffer died August 1, 1875, and the Doctor married, for his second wife, Maria Beiselwas, by whom he has one child, Pearl. Dr. Pfeiffer and all his family are firm supporters of the Democratic party.

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History of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 185

Author: Bradsby, H. C. (Henry C.) Publication date: 1893 Publisher: Chicago : S. B. Nelson Number of Pages: 1532

Author: Bradsby, H. C. (Henry C.)
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Chicago : S. B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1532