History of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 200

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

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SAMUEL P. SEELY, farmer, P. O., Beach Haven, was born in Salem township, thi county, April 28, 1833, and is a son of Jacob and Leah (Keen) Seely. [See sketch of Philip H. Seely. ] He was reared in Salem township, where, with the exception of six years, he has always resided, and has been principally engaged in farming During the Civil war he was a member of Company F, Que Hundred and Forty-nint] P. V., joining in August, 1862, as second lieutenant; was wounded at the battl of Gettysburg, and in December, 1863, was honorably discharged on account of dis ability, by special order of the War Department. On March 10, 1872, he married Mary E., daughter of William and Anna C. (Kline) Patterson, of Columbia county Pa., and has four children: Millie, Mary, Leslie B. and Belva. Mr. Seely is representative farmer of Salem township. He is a member of the Presbyteria: Church, and of the F. & A. M .; in politics he is a Republican.

GEORGE SEIWELL, foreman on the Reading Railroad, Hazleton division, Hazleton

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This competent and experienced railroad man was born at the beautiful and pictur- esque " Switzerland of America," Mauch Chunk, Pa., September 17, 1837, and is a son of Michael and Mary (Warner) Seiwell, natives of Carbon county. There were nine children born to Michael and Mary (Warner) Seiwell, George being the eldest. He was reared and educated in the Tomhicken Valley, and when yet a young man was engaged by the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company as foreman of a grading gang at Tomhicken, where he was employed for two years. He then became section- boss for the same company, continuing with them in that capacity for eleven years. In 1880 he removed to Unionville, Mich., where he engaged in farming, which occu- pation he followed there seven years, after which he came to Hazleton and took charge of the floating gang for the Lehigh Valley Railroad, where he has since been employed. In 1861 Mr. Seiwell enlisted for three months in the Forty-eighth Penn- sylvania Volunteers, and, at the expiration of his term, re-enlisted in what was known as the "Bucktail regiment," serving there two years, during which time he was engaged in the fiercest battles of the Rebellion, such as Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Drainesville, and the Seven Days' Fight before Richmond. At the fierce battle of Fredericksburg he was taken prisoner, and was never exchanged. Mr. Seiwell has been twice wedded, his first wife being Miss Sarah E., daughter of Michael and Catherine Clark, natives of Schuylkill county, Pa., and to this union were born seven children, viz. : Gertrude (deceased), William, Calvin, Robert H., Franklin, Jennie and Stanley. This wife dying, he was married, the second time, in 1890 to Catharine Zacharias, of Stroudsburg, Pa. In political matters our sub- ject is a stanch Democrat; the family attend the Methodist Episcopal Church.

VALENTINE SEIWELL was born in Black Creek township, this county, November 2, 1844, a son of Michael and Mary Ann (Warner) Seiwell, who settled in Black Creek township about 1840, cleared and improved a farm and there died. Their children were George, Charles, Martin, Valentine, William, Jacob, Michael, Tobias and James. Of these, Jacob was scalded in a railroad wreck about eighteen years ago, and died a day or so after the accident. Our subject was reared in Black Creek township; spent twenty years at Leighton, Carbon Co., Pa., and in 1887 returned to Black Creek, where he passed the rest of his days. On October 2, 1892, he departed this life, his death being caused by an accident. He was loading a stone when he was struck with an iron bar with fatal results. His wife, Violetta, was a daughter of Daniel and Mary (Koehler) Rex, of Carbon county, Pa., and he had nine children, Mary, George, Lillie, Almira, Harry, Oliver, Laura, Howard and Garrett. Mr. Seiwell had been supervisor of Black Creek township, and at the time of his death was township treasurer. In politics he was a Democrat.

JAMES M. SENN, farmer, P. O. Conyngham, was born in Sugar Loaf township, this county, July 27, 1848, and is a son of John and Mary (Smith) Senn. The father, who was a native of Germany, came to America when about twelve years of age, and spent nine years at Beaver Meadows in the employ of a coal company. About 1845 he settled in Sugar Loaf township, where he engaged in farming, and died there August 18, 1870. His children were: James M., Amanda, Jane (Mrs. Miles Hufford), John S., Annie (Mrs. Charles Helt), Cyrus Y. and Ida (Mrs. Miles Shelheimer), Our subject was reared in Sugar Loaf township, where he has always resided. His wife was Marietta, daughter of John and Lydia (Musselman) Keim, of the same township, and he has two daughters, Caroline and Mary F. Mr. Senn is a prominent and enterprising farmer. In politics he is a Republican, and held the office of school director several terms.

MRS. ANGELINE SERFASS, P. O. Orange, was born March 9, 1833, in Franklin township, where she was reared and educated. She is a daughter of Stephen and Phebe Ann (Hallock) Lord, natives of this county, the former born in Franklin. The maternal grandfather of our subject was Peter Hallock, a captain in command of a band of soldiers who enlisted in the Wyoming Valley, he taking them to Quebec, in Canada; his wife (the maternal grandmother of Mrs. Angeline Serfass) was Miss Lavina Vail, who lived in Rochester and Poughkeepsie, N. Y., prior to coming to

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HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

Pennsylvania. Peter Hallock died in 1838, his wife thirty years later. Stepher was a son of Alexander Lord, who was a soldier in the war of 1812, and did good service as a drummer. He was one of the early settlers of Franklin township reared eight children, and lived to a good old age. His son Stephen lived on his father's farm at Flat Rock until after his majority, when he moved to the farm, con- taining 116 acres, now occupied by his two sons, J. D. and Lyman, to which property he added ninety-four acres before he died. He was a skillful carpenter. and a successful man of business. He was married twice: First time to Miss Phebe Ann Hallock, by whom he had six children, and, secondly, to Miss Elizabeth De Witt, by whom he had five children; eight of his children are yet living. He died March 21, 1891, aged eighty years. Mrs. Phebe Ann Lord had passed away August 7, 1848. The subject proper of this sketch, when a young lady, was married to James Randall, by whom she had four children, all yet living: Amos, Rose, Morti- more and George. For her second husband she married Jonas Serfass, who was born May 18, 1824, in Polk township, Monroe Co., Pa., where he was reared and educated. In early life he learned the blacksmith's trade, at which he worked for about fourteen years. In 1851 he moved to this county, locating in Franklin town- ship on a farm of 172 acres. This he sold to his son William, by a former marriage, and now residing on a small farm adjoining. Mr. Serfass made many improvements on his former place in buildings, fences, etc. In 1868 his house was accidentally burned down, but he soon replaced it with another of greater dimensions. Mr. Serfass first settled at Mt. Zion, in 1861, and in 1865 removed to Franklin township, on his farm; then, in 1885, came on his present place. He had married, for his first wife, Miss Catherine Christman, by whom he had nine children, five of whom are yet living. He is a member of the Lutheran Church, his wife of the M. E. Church, both in full fellowship.

A. D. SERFASS, farmer, P. O. Pittston, was born in Monroe county, Pa., February 14, 1847, a son of Jonas and Kate (Christman) Serfass, also natives of Monroe county, and who were prosperous farming people. They removed to this county in 1860, locating in Exeter township, where Jonas bought a farm on which he lived four years, when he sold out and removed to Franklin township, there purchasing another tract of 180 acres of improved land, the property on which his son William now resides. Mr. Serfass is now residing in Franklin township on a small farm adjoining that of his son William. His family consisted of eight children, six of whom are now living. Mrs. Serfass departed this life in 1883, and Mr. Serfass has since married again. A. D. Serfass, the subject of this sketch, was reared and educated in the county in which he was born, and always confined himself to agri- cultural pursuits, at which he has proven himself to be an adept. He worked at home with his father till he reached the age of twenty-five years, when he married, in February, 1872, Miss Amanda, daughter of Aaron and Susan Driesbach, to which union have been born seven children, all of whom are living: Charles F., Archie F., Llewellyn, Lena M., Lily, Gerty and Ida. Mrs. Amanda (Driesbach) Serfass was born in Carbon county in 1848. In 1868 Mr. Serfass moved to his present farm, consisting of 135 acres of land. He has been engaged in the milk business since 1872, at one time as a retail, now as a wholesale dealer. He is a practical farmer, his farm being principally devoted to "truck" and grass crops. He is also an extensive apiarist, having as many as 130 hives. He has held several township offices with much credit; he is a member of the Lutheran Church, in good standing. Mr. Serfass owns and operates a diamond drill, his services being in great demand, making test holes in coal regions. It is supposed that there is coal on his farm, though at considerable depth.

BARNET SERFASS, farmer and stock-raiser, Bear Creek township, P. O. Bear Creek, was born November 19, 1841, in Chestnut Hill township, Monroe county, and is a son of David (a shoemaker) and Sarah (Everette) Serfass, both natives of this State, of German descent. They reared a family of nine children, seven of whom are living, Barnet being the sixth eldest. When our subject was nine years

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old, his father died, and as the family was large the widowed mother could not support all, so Barnet was obliged to eke out a living for himself. He secured employment from a farmer in his native county to work for his board and clothing, with a chance to go to school for a couple of months during the winter, and with him he stayed till he was fifteen years old. He then went to work in the old Picket Mill, on Mud run, Monroe county, saving his money during the summer, and attending school in the winter. This he did for three years, and then hired out as a farm hand, working as such until 1862. Though he never spent his "time " at the trade, yet he hired as a carpenter on the building of the old Pittston bridge, on which he worked for about a year. Giving up the trade, he went to work in a saw- mill in White Haven, and followed same for twelve years between there and Spring Brook. During this time he saved enough money to build a property in Pittston, but in 1874 he sold it, and with the proceeds purchased the place he now lives on. It was then known as "Seven Mile Jakes," and was a wild, uncultivated tract of 700 acres with nothing on it but an old log hut and barn. Now he has over a hundred acres under cultivation, and has built a large hotel equipped with all the modern improvements, also two large barns. Mr. Serfass was married February 28, 1869, to Johanna, daughter of Adam and Elizabeth (Dorshumer) Kresge, both natives of Pennsylvania, of German descent. Mr. and Mrs. Serfass have had four children, three of whom are living: Sarah J., Augusta E. and Lyman, all at home. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and his wife and children of the Lutheran Church. In politics Mr. Serfass is a Democrat, and has held the office of secretary of the school board, five years; auditor, four years; and has been overseer of the poor ten years.

DELANSON SEWARD, a prominent merchant and lumberman of Huntington town- ship, P. O. Harveyville, was born in that township August 9, 1845, a son of Freeman and Lucinda (Baily) Seward, natives of Pennsylvania, and of English origin. Free- man Seward, who was a farmer and foundryman, died February 20, 1869. He was a son of Levi and Thankful (Wilkinson) Seward, the former of whom was a native of Connecticut, born April 13, 1778, and came to Luzerne county with his parents Enos and Sarah (Goss) Seward, about the year 1793. Sarah Goss was a daughter of Philip Goss, Sr., of Huntington township, who built near where the home of the late Nathaniel Goss now stands, where he (Philip) and family lived. At the time of the Indian and Tory invasion of 1778, two of his sons, Solomon and Com- fort, went with Capt. John Franklin's company to Forty Fort, and were detained in the fort as prisoners of war on the memorable third of July, having reached the fort too late to march further to the battle (or massacre). Enos Seward and Sarah Goss were married, and had a large family before they moved to Huntington town- ship. Our subject is the second in a family of seven children, three of whom are now living. He was reared on a farm, educated in the common schools and at Columbus Academy, and at the death of his father, May 10, 1869, opened the store he is now owner and proprietor of. He also acted as administrator of his father's estate, and conducted the homestead farm for two years. Mr. Seward was married February 16, 1868, to Sarah A., daughter of Merril and Sallie (Edwards) Harrison, which union has been blessed with two children, John F., born August 29, 1869, who operates, and is interested with his father in, a planing-mill in Dorranceton (he married Minnie Fitzgerald); and Florence Virginia, born June 20, 1871, the pride and joy of her parents. Mr. and Mrs. Seward and daughter are members of the M. E. Church. Mr. Seward has held the offices of school director and auditor, and is now a justice of the peace for his second term. He is one of the sound men of his section, doing a fine mercantile business and dealing largely in lumber. His home is a model of comfort, and his store is the headquarters for all the surround- ing farmers in need of supplies. Mr. Seward, by fair dealing and close attention to business, has won for himself and family the comforts of this life, and a host of warm and admiring friends.

HIRAM SHAFFER, farmer and dairyman, P. O. Nescopeck, was born in Briar Creek

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township, Columbia Co., Pa., February 23, 1838, a son of David and Maria (Feste] Shaffer. His paternal grandfather, Henry Shaffer, a pioneer of Briar Creek, cleare a farm and died there, as did also the father of our subject. David reared a famil of seven children: Polly (Mrs. Daniel Kleintop), Dietrick, Levi, David, Lena (Mr Levi Fester), Hiram, and Sarah (Mrs. Daniel Kelkner). Hiram Shaffer was reare in Briar Creek township, removing to Nescopeck township in 1857, and locating o the farm where he now resides. He married, March 24, 1860, Elizabeth, daughte of Philip and Mary (Creasey) Hetler, of Mifflin township, Columbia Co., Pa., an has two children living: Elmer F. and Mary V. Mr. Shaffer is a member of th Lutheran Church; in politics he is a Democrat, and has served as school directc three terms.

J. O. SHANNON, farmer, P. O. Harding, was born in Susquehanna county, Pa. January 1, 1845, a son of George and Electa (Chamberlain) Shannon, both of whor were born in Montrose, N. Y. George Shannon was a carpenter of some repute, follow ing his trade in his younger years. In 1849 he removed to Archbald, where he als worked at his trade, residing there till 1877, when he removed to Wilkes-Barre where he lived for about seven years. During this time he accumulated some prof erty and erected several buildings, one of which he exchanged for a farm near Mub lenburg, to which he removed, remaining thereon until his death, which occurre in October, 1890, when he was aged seventy-three years. His family consisted c eight children, four of whom grew to maturity, and are now living. J. O. is th third in the family, and was reared and educated in Archbald. He learned th profession of engineer, which he followed up to 1890, and he worked for Parrish { Co., in Wilkes-Barre, for a few years. At the opening of the Civil war he serve his country for nine months in the State Militia, from which he was honorably dis charged. In 1864 he again showed his patriotism in offering his services, and wit. them his life on the altar of his country, as a member of Company F, Fifty-firs P. V. I., for the term of three years. He participated in several severe battles, dis playing courage, valor and coolness that might be envied by an old veteran. H served to the close of the war, and was honorably discharged, again entering on hi chosen vocation in the service of the "Iron Coal Company" in Wilkes-Barre, wher he remained till 1867, in which year he removed to Scranton, where he remaine three years. He next moved to Pittston, where he remained till 1890, when h removed to his farm of seventy acres in Exeter township, about one mile from Hard ing postoffice, on the Susquehanna river, on which he has erected a magnificen mansion, and made many other visible improvements. He and his wife have thre fine buildings in Pittston, also one in Scranton. They also own valuable propert in Georgia and Alabama. In 1867 he married Miss Anna C., daughter of Elish and Sherlina Hitchcock, and to them were born two daughters, one of whom (Ida is now living; she is the wife of C. C. Roselle. Mr. Shannon is a pleasant man, o mild temper and amiable disposition. He is a member of the I. O. O. F., and il politics votes the Republican ticket.

JOSEPH SHARP, miner in the Pine Ridge Colliery, Miners Mills, was born in Mon mouthshire, England, August 8, 1849, and is a son of Joseph Sharp; the father wa twice married, the first family consisting of seven children, five in Australia and tw (who are shepherds) in England; in the second family there were also seven childrer viz. : George, a puddler in Pittsburgh, Pa .; Lucy (Mrs. Jacob Woodward), in England Samuel, a miner in Ashley, Pa. ; William, who died in England at the age of twenty eight; Joseph; Jane (Mrs. Samuel Smith, in England); and Sarah, who is also mar ried and living in England. Our subject came to America in 1880, and located i: Miners Mills, resuming his former vocation of mining, which he has since followed he built his present residence in 1888. Mr. Sharp was married, October 5, 1869. t Miss Margaret, daughter of George and Mary (Davis) Pullin, of English and Wels. lineage, respectively, and they have one child, William, who is engaged in loadin; coal at the Pine Ridge Breaker. Our subject and family are members of the Prim itive Methodist Church, he and his son both being local preachers; he is a membe 77

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of the I. O. O. F. and the Sons of St. George, and is in sympathy with the prin- ciples of the Republican party.

DR. WILLIAM H. H. SHARP, eldest son of Andrew and Marcia A. Sharp, and fourth in the order of birth of nine children-four boys and five girls- was born March 26, 1841, in the old farm-house upon the estate of the late Peter Baer, in Hunlock township, Luzerne Co., Pa. His parents were born, passed their childhood, and were married in Montgomery county, N. Y., near the village of Mapletown. In 1835 they emigrated to Pennsylvania, and the same year were followed by the families of the respective parties. Andrew Sharp purchased and settled upon the premises above mentioned. His father-in-law, William Hubbs, with his family, composed of Edrei, his wife, one single daughter and his aged father, Alexander, purchased the adjoining farm known as the " Hubbs Farm." Alexander Hubbs, the grandfather of Mrs. Sharp, died the year following their arrival in Pennsylvania-in 1836, aged ninety-three years. Mrs. Edrie, mother of Mrs. Sharp, died in 1848, aged seventy years; her husband died in 1858, aged about eighty years. The principal occupation of the families was that of agriculture. The ancestors of Andrew Sharp came from Holland early in the history of the New York settlements; those of Mrs. Sharp were of English extraction, having also emigrated to America several gener- ations before. Alexander Hubbs and family settled near Long Island, residing there at the time of the Revolution, and there he and those of his sons old enough entered the service of the Government, went out and took part in the war, during which their families suffered much at home from the attacks of the Indians and Tories. The poisoning of their wells and wheat stacks were among the atrocities performed. Later, after the close of the war, the sons and father removed to Montgomery county, and entered upon the entailed estate of the Clarks, clearing up portions of the then dense forest under lease, but which reverted to the estate with all improvements without recourse (or pay for improvements). Coming as they did, early in the progress of the county, and with little means with which to commence life, the struggles to secure a livelihood while clearing up homes were hard in the extreme. The facilities for obtaining money were so meager that to secure the amount needed for taxes was sometimes very difficult. Hard toil and plain living were the order of the day. As little employment could be gotten during the winter, every hour of available time needed to be husbanded during the producing part of the year. The winter sea- sons were occasions for such schools as could be supplied, " The master keeping" the school as often as teaching it, and enforcing his authority by the very potent influ- ence of athletic exercise. William vividly remembers the uncomfortable contiguity of his head to the brawny hand of the master because, from a kind of constitu- tional obtuseness, he was unable to keep pace with others of his class. The text books then in use were the "Cobbs Speller," " English Reader," " Kirkham's Gram- mar," etc., succeeded finally by the "National Readers," "Bullion's Grammar," and "Greenleaf's Arithmetic." The writer well remembers also the dread that the announcement of the commencement of school in his earliest schools days always brought; still with the latter series of books and an improved system of teaching and better informed teachers, who realized that explanation would be more success- ful than physical demonstration, the chances of the poor rural pupil somewhat brightened, so that by the aid of the pine torch in the old fireplace, young William was enabled to worry out his arithmetic and grammar lessons by taking a good part of the nights for its accomplishment. His father died September 10, 1852, after a life of the most incessant toil for the support of his large family, and William still recalls the grief of that occasion, and the years that followed while he toiled to try to obtain bread enough to supply his mother's family through the long winters; and how often he dreamed that his father had returned from a long absence, and would again resume his care of the duties at home and relieve his often heart-sick son. Thus matters went until unexpectedly the little farm was taken from his mother by a claim of ownership believed to have been entirely unjust and illegal; but the mother and her family, never having the least idea of legal defense, and frightened

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at the threats of legal costs and the sheriff setting her goods-what little she pos- sessed-out of doors, she was compelled to leave the old shelter and commence anew with her children-those that survived, two sisters and an infant brother having borne their part of life's battle and died before the ordeal came -- within a piece of unbroken forest, where William at the head, and two small brothers to assist, built a new barn and cleared several fields toward the new home, living meantime upon neighboring premises. Thus things were moving at the outbreak of the war, when partly through the prevailing enthusiasm and partly from a desire to obtain the much-needed army pay, William concluded to go to war. Two vivid and painful scenes-the one his mother's anguish when he announced his purpose to her, and the other, the grief of his dear brother John, who had toiled with him so willingly from infancy in the effort to obtain a livelihood-have always since remained indel- ibly impressed upon his memory, and for years he was loth to hear his brother's name mentioned. He entered the Fifty-eighth Infantry, and in 1863 died in Vir- ginia. In October, 1861, William entered the Ninth Pennsylvania Cavalry, and served until March 16, 1865. When in the battle of Averysboro, N. C., his left leg was shattered, and amputated upon the field. Thence he was sent to Davids Island, N. Y .; thence to Central Park to a hospital, now changed to the "St. Vincent Hotel," where he remained until August, 1868, when he was discharged. During his confinement in bed, and by the use of books procured by his dear hospital chap- lain, Rev. Robert Lowry, of New York City, he commenced the study of medicine, and thence devoted every energy to that profession, taking one year for the review- ing of his old studies in Kingston, and taking additionally such as came within the province of his intended profession. In the fall of 1866, he took his first medical lectures which he continued, each course successively until 1870, returning home to practice during the summer seasons. In 1870 he took the degree of M. D., having previously found it out of his power to bear the additional expense of a graduating fee, and having few friends willing to loan so unpromising an applicant. The student at one time asked a neighbor for a hundred-dollar loan, but not succeeding he never asked another. In these struggles, however, he had one friend, but did not make his acquaintance until he had been settled in practice. That friend was Dr. William Barret, of Cambra, Pa. The Doctor was a broad-minded, noble-hearted man, and kindly offered his council whenever needed. It has often been the lot of one to meet men who laid greater claim to philanthrophy, but rarely to find those possessed of more. Under his suggestion the Doctor's business grew until he could, as a rule, have done little more.

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History of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 200

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