History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming counties, Pa.; with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers, Part 125

Author: Munsell, W.W., & Co., New York
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: New York, W.W. Munsell & co.
Number of Pages: 900

USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming counties, Pa.; with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers > Part 125
USA > Pennsylvania > Lackawanna County > History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming counties, Pa.; with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers > Part 125
USA > Pennsylvania > Wyoming County > History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming counties, Pa.; with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers > Part 125

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The act of incorporation provided for the division of the city into twelve wards, constituted as follows: 1st ward, that part of the borough of Providence lying north- east of East Market street and the old road leading to Scranton; 2nd ward, the remaining portion of the borough of Providence, lying southwest of said street and road; 3d ward, the remaining portion of the township of Provi- dence; 4th ward, that part of the borough of Hyde Park lying northeast of Jackson street and the road leading to Scranton; 5th ward, that portion of Hyde Park borough lying southwest of the said street and road and west of the Lackawanna and Bloomsburg Railroad track; 6th ward, the remaining portions of the borough of Hyde Park, lying east of said railway and south of the road to Scranton; 7th ward, all that portion of Scranton borough lying north of Pine brook; 8th ward, that portion of the said borough lying south of Pine brook and north of Roaring brook between the Lackawanna river and Wash- ington avenue; 9th ward, that portion of the said borough lying north of Roaring brook and between Washington avenue and the southeasterly borough line, except so

much of said territory as was included in the tenth ward; roth ward, that portion of the said borough bounded on the southwest by Olive street, on the northwest by Clay avenue, on the northeast by the borough line and the boundary line of said borough on the southeast; 11th ward, that portion of the said borough lying south of Roaring brook, between the Lackawanna river and Pitts- ton avenue; r2th ward; the remaining portion of the said borough lying southwest of Roaring brook and southeast of Pittston avenue. In 1875 the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 8th and 9th wards were divided, creating the 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th wards. The 13th was formed from a part of the second and a small portion of the borough of Dunmore; the 14th was taken from the 4th, the 15th from the 5th. the 16th from the 8th and the 17th from the 9th. In 1876 the 6th and 12th wards were divided, creating the 18th from the former and the 19th and 20th wards from the latter. The 3d ward was divided in 1877, forming the 21st.

Under the act of April 23d, 1866, each of the wards was entitled to one member in the select and two mem- bers in the common council, to be elected at the annual municipal elections, held on the first Tuesday of June. An act supplementary to that above referred to was passed March 30th, 1867, reducing the number of members of the common council so that each ward should have only one representative in that branch. This apportionment continued in force until April 4th, 1877, when the new charter, under the act of May 23d, 1874, was adopted, by authority of which each ward was again entitled to two members of the common council and an additional member for every four hundred taxable inhabitants and fraction thereof exceeding three hundred.

The successive mayors, with their terms of service under the first charter, were as follows: E. S. M. Hill, 1866-69; William N. Monies, 1869-72; M. W. Loftus, 1872-75; R. H McKune, 1875-78.

The first select council was organized June 9th, 1866, at the office of Hand & Post. S. G. Oram was unani- mously chosen chairman and E. N. Willard secretary. The following were the members of the council: Ist ward, Henry Roberts; 2nd, Frank B. Marsh; 3d, S. G. Oram; 4th, A. B. Stevens; 5th, Edmund Heermans; 6th, Patrick Mahon; 7th, Patrick Scanlon; 8th, Samuel Shopland; 9th, Alfred Hand; roth, Maurice Taner; 11th, Jacob Robinson; 12th, Darby Melvin.

The first common council was organized at Washing- ton Hall, June 23d, 1866. J. H. Gunster was chosen chairman and Charles Du Pont Breck secretary. The members were T. F. Hunt, George Græber, George Griffin, D. Evans, James Brogan, John Waller, H. O. Silkman, Walter Phillips, Joseph Westhausen, William P. Connell, Thomas Watkins, Patrick Walsh, Paul Jones, Michael Corbett, Charles Schlager, Thomas E. Geddis, 1 .. Toomey, Peter Gallagher, F. W. Watson, Adam Koch, George Hartman, John Walsh, J. H. Gunster and J. T. Walsh.

Under the act of April 23d, 1866, the select council exercised the functions of ex officio commissioners, and

406

HISTORY OF LACKAWANNA COUNTY.

as such had complete control of the city finances, making contracts, levying taxes and disbursing all public money. Under the act of Ma: 23d, 1874, the select and common councils have equal power in passing bills, enacting ordi- nances and the transaction of other business formerly belonging to the select council only. After claims are presented against the city they must pass both councils, and afterward the mayor and the controller must both approve them before they can be paid; and the controller is empowered to take legal evidence and demand that any claim shall be sworn to if he has any reason to sus- pect it.

The new charter was adopted by the council March 16th, 1877. The action of the councils was as soon as practicable reported to the governor of Pennsylvania, who approved the same and issued letters patent to the city April 4th following. Charles Du Pont Breck was elected first controller. He was succeeded by E. P. Kingsbury. The first mayor elected under the new charter, T. V. Powderly, was elected in 1878 and re- elected in 1880.

According to the report of the controller of the city, the following is the financial statement of the resources and indebtedness for the year ending March 31st, 1879: Bonded debt, $326,300; floating debt, represented by warrants outstanding, $18,797.43; unsettled claims to date, $8,001.69; total $353,099.09; less resources ($154,- 026.70), $199,072.39, the net debt; showing an actual decrease in the net debt of $47,789.39 since the control- ler's last annual report.

The following is a list of the aldermen elected in the different wards of the city:

First ward-G. W. Miller, 1870, 1875. Second-Ebenezer Leach, 1870, 1875; J. L. Lawrence, 1877. Third-Michael Gallagher, 1867, 1873 ; Thomas Dougherty, 1875. Fourth-David M. Jones, 1868, 1873; Richard K. Cran- field, 1877. Fifth-Benjamin Stoc'nin, 1866 ; John Levi, 1871; M. L. Blair, 1876. Sixth-Patrick Coroner, 1866; John Timlin, 1871; P. Mahon, 1875, 1876. Seventh-Matthew W. Loftus, 1866, 1871, 1877; John Barrett, 1873. Eighth-Benjamin Jay, 1871; Frederick Fuller, 1871; Francis E. Loomis, 1875; C. W. Roesler, 1876. Ninth-Lewis S. Watres, 1866, 1871, 1876. Tenth -John Butterman, 1867. Eleventh-Freeman Moore, 1869 ; Leopold Sehimpff, 1874. Twelfth-Thomas D. Kelly, 1871; Michael J. Mahon, 1874; James Hannon, 1875. Thirteenth-G. P. MeMillan. Fourteeth-John Cawley. Fifteenth-John Levi. Sixteenth-Frederick Fuller. Seven- teenth-Isaae L. Post. These last tive were commissioned March 21st, 1876. Eighteenth-James M. Brogan, 1876; John Kelly, 1877. Nineteenth -James Hannon, 1877. Twentieth -- Patrick Moore, 1877; Patrick Roach, 1878.

SCRANTON POOR DISTRICT.

In this district (formerly known as Providence town- ship), as elsewhere in the then county of Luzerne, the poor were before the incorporation of the district cared for by the township and were farmed out to the lowest bidder. This annual hiring or letting out of the paupers is said to have been the occasion of much competition, and inasmuch as they were awarded to the lowest bidder it usually happened that the price was low and the fare correspondingly meagre. As time went on greater atten- tion here as in other portions of the country was given to the subject of public charities, and the gradual develop- ment of the present and prospective facilities for the care of the poor is the result. In April, 1862, a law was en- acted by the legislature "to authorize the erection of a

poor house by the borough of Dunmore, borough of Scranton and township of Providence." The corporators and first commissioners were Edward Spencer, of Dan- more; Joseph Slocum and David K. Kressler, of Scran- ton; and Henry Griffin, of Providence. On the 30th of June, 1862, the district purchased a farm (now known as the " Hillside farm ") in the township of Newton, about nine miles from Scranton. Additions to this have since been made and it now consists of about 148 acres, the original cost of which was $9,020.50. The farm house was first used as a poor house, but later another was erected. It was a wooden building 30 by 60 feet, two stories in height above the basement, and the farm house has since been used as the superintendent's residence. The insane hospital, 30 feet square, two stories in height, stands 60 feet in the rear of the old poor-house. In 1878 a new poor-house was completed. It is of brick, 50 by 100 feet and four stories in height. The dining room, kitchen, etc., are in the basement and the dormitories and other rooms in the other stories. It is heated by steam and each floor is supplied with both cold and hot water. Throughout it is well finished and it is capable of accommodating 250 paupers. The cost of the build- ing and fixtures was $18,000. It is intended to build a central administrative building of brick, 56 by 64 feet, 2 stories in height above the basement, with a wing on each side, of the same height, 45 by 50 fost, for the insane, one for females, the other for males, each with a capacity for 50 patients. These are to be placed at one side of the present poor house. On the other side of these another poor house is to be built, like the present one, and when completed one will be used for males and the other for females.

THE POST-OFFICE, PAST AND PRESENT.

The post-office in Providence township was originally established at Slocum Hollow in 1811, with Benjamin Slocum as the first postmaster. In 1829 the office was removed to Providence and John Vaughn was appointed postmaster. An office was established at Hyde Park in 1832. William Merrifield was postmaster there. The mail was carried weekly on horseback from Easton to Bethany, by Zephaniah Knapp, via Wilkes-Barre and Providence. It has been stated that all of the mail sent to the Lackawanna settlement at that time was a small package in comparison with the amount now received daily by any one of a number of the leading business firms of Scranton. In 1850 a post-office was established at the Hollow with John W. Moore as postmaster. The receipts for the ensuing year were $901.27. A striking contrast between the amount of postal business at that time and that of the present will be observed by reference to the following exhibit of the amount of mail matter handled at the three post-offices within the city limits during the first seven days of November, 1879:

Seranton. Hyde Park. Providence. Total.

Letters and postals sent,

13,380

1,180

1,057

15,617

Regular papers sent,

10,639

none

433

11,072

3,381

105

109

3,595

Papers, books, circulars, &c., Merchandise,

250

6 269

A. H. WINTON.

A. H. Winton was born November 17th, 1838, at Scranton. Pa. Ile re- ceived his preparation for college at Wyoming Seminary, Kingston, Pa .. Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass,, and Williston Seminary, East Hampton, Mass. He graduated at Mount Wash- ington College, the valedictorian of his class. During this period his father was engaged in mercantile pursuits in New York, aud having returned to Scranton, Pa., became a leading banker, and for many years was president of the Second National Bank.

After graduation our subject read law with David R. Randall, Esq., and on the 2ud of August, 1860, was admitted to practice in the several courts of Luzerne county, and in due time to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and the various courts of the United States. He became an accurate short-hand reporter, but never practiced it for remuneration, and declined the appointment of court reporter when tendered to him by the Hon. John N. Conyngham. His system- atie business habits, and arrangement and care of papers and dockets, won the admiration of clients and fellow attorneys, and he devised the present admirable arrangement of keeping the dockets, issue-lists, etc., in the Protho- notaries' offices at Wilkes-Barre and Seranton. He prepared and published the Luzerne Legal Journal, now con- tinued under the name of the Luzerne Legal Register, and was long connected with the Scranton Lawe Times, the legal official organ of the courts of the county of Lackawanna. Immediately after his achimission to the bar he entered into a business partnership with Hou. Garrick M. Harding, late president judge of Luzerne connty ; and in the first three months of his law practice he was en- gaged in the famous Corwin urder trial, and in his maiden speech, in this case, at once gained renown as a talent- ed, gifted and powerful debater and orator. Since then he has been engaged in very many of the most prominent criminal and civil cases, where he was associated with or opposed to many of the erininal lawyers, judges and states- men of Pennsylvania.

In 1866 he removed from Wilkes-Barre to Scranton, and at once took rank among the foremost pleaders at that bar. He conducted the pros- ecution and seeured the conviction of the Carbondale Bank robbers, who, being well disguised, on the 14th of January, 1875, entered the First National Bank of Carbondale, Pa., at noon, and after gagging the cashier succeeded in escaping with many thousand dollars. In connec- tion with detective Robert Pinkerton, as counsel for the bank, Mr. Win- tou went to work with scarcely a shadow of a clue to begin with, and eventually enmeshed all the robbers and their accomplices in the net of the law, and recovered most of the stolen funds.

On the 12th of December, 1874, four young men from Binghamton ar- rived in Scranton and began to buy all the oil barrels that could be ob- tained from about forty of the leading merchants in Seranton, Dun- more and adjacent villages, paying in many places nearly double price, they claiming that they needed them immediately for a Binghamton oil refinery. Suspicions were aroused at their strange and hasty con- duet, and it was discovered that there was a sharp law in Pennsylvania fixing a penalty of $300 for selling any barret withont removing the brand of the inspector, and very many of these oil barrels were so sold. These audacions young men from another State at once began to teach Pennsylvanians their own law by bringing several suits for many thousand dollars as lines and penalties. Great consternation seized upon the merchants and they at once retained Mr. Winton, who forth- with caused the arrest of the young men upon a criminal charge, which was so vigorously prosecuted that they were at length glad to settle, and withdraw their suits for penalties and escape over the line, to feast their eyes upon their expensive oil barrels; and they have never since attempted to operate in such a " corner."

Mr. Winton appeared in the defense of F. A. Beamish in the celebrat- ed Free Press libel snit, prosecuted by Judge All'red Hand, growing out of the publication of an article entitled the "School Board Middle;" and after a three days struggle, wherein he was pitted againstattorney gen- erat H. W. Palmer and other distinguished counsel, he bore his client through all difficulties and on the 27th of May, 1875, secured the coveted prize of a verdict of acquittal.

The court rules of Luzerne county, by reason of various amendments, having reached a somewhat chaotic condition, the court on the 4th of January, 1878, appointed a committee to revise the same. Mr. Winton as chairman of this committee reported a complete set of rules, which were promptly approved by the rest of the committee and were soon almost entirely adopted by the court, and subsequently formed the basis for the rules of the court of Lackawanna county.

In many other important causes than those named, notably that of the State rs. F. S. Panli, in which he made the closing argument for the commonwealth Mr. Winton hms taken a leading part as attorney

Addition

for prosecution or defense. In the lat- ter case he was opposed by Daniel Dougherty, the noted and eloquent lawyer of Philadelphia.

Mr. Winton is often called upon for speeches on other occasions than in arguments before juries. Upon the same day he won his verdict in the last case named above, on the occasion of the opening of the armory of the Seran- ton City Guards, on behalf of the citi- zens he made the presentation speech. Ile was selected to make the Decoration Day address at the Academy of Music on the 30th of May, 1878, before the Veteran Association. He has had the honor upon several occasions to deliver addresses at the request of the lady managers of the Home for the Friendless, at large assem- blies, and upon several excursions had in their behalf. He also greatly aided the Father Matthew Society by fre- quently delivering addresses and recita- tions for them. The Robert Burns Lodge of Odd Fellows had him as their orator on one or two of their anniver- sary festivals.

The struggle for a division of Luzerne county, reaching baek to a time before his birth, engaged his attention for years up to 1878; when with purse, pen and tongue he became one of the most active new county advocates, daily writing editorials and nightly speaking in its behalf until the election of the 17th of Angust, 1878, crowned the efforts of its friends with Lackawanna county as an established fact.

The 24th of October, 1877, was a red letter day in the history of Seranton, the occasion being an inspection and review of the City Guard and the first regiment of the State militia by Gover- nor J. F. Hartranft and staff. A colla- tion was tendered by the prominent citizens at noon in the Lackawanna Val- ley House. General Morron, field and staff, of the regular army; Colonel Howard, field and staff, N. G. Pa., and other prominent national and State officers and military men, who had been on active duty during the late riots, were assembled. Of Mr. Winton's after dinner speech made on this occasion the Scranton Republican of the next day said : " Mr. Winton's effort was replete with eloquence, beanty, wit and fun, and he was greeted with long applause."

In the temperance work Mr. Winton has manifested ability, earnest- ness and talent. When on his summer vacation in Massachusetts the papers of that State spoke of him as an "eloquent, powerful and very bril- liant temperance speaker." In July, 1877, he was the orator on the occasion of a large temperance meeting at. Plymonth, Pa. ,and theSeroton Erening Star, in reporting the meeting, said: " Mr. Winton was the principal speaker of the evening, and in his eloquent style spoke for an hour, holding his audience spell-bound by his remarkable oratorical powers, apt qnotationsand wonderful brillianey in describing the evils of intem. perance." Other city papers of Seranton and Wilkes-Barre have noticed his temperance addresses in the most glowing terms.

At the convention of the reform party, which met at Harrisburg on the 12th of September, 1877. he was unanimously placed in nomination as candidate for the high office of judge of the Supreme Court of Pen- sylvania. The Philadelphia Times in noticing his nomination says: " A. I[. Winton, the candidate for supreme judge, isa prominent, accom- plished and highly respected lawyer of Seranton, in the prime of life. Hle is not a politician in the generally accepted sense of the term, but possesses all the necessary qualifications for his office. A more worthy and snitable person could not be found in our State, and the convention may be considered fortunate in this selection."

A few years since he became largely interested in several tracts of coal land, whereon is situated the thriving village of Winton, recently incorporated as a borough and as a mark of honor given his name, For the ten years previons to ist he had been director of the poor of Seran- ton, and most of the time acting secretary. His urbanity of manner, systematic habits of business, and clear judgment have won the esteem of the needy and hearty commendation of his fellow citizens.

At the organization of the Law and Library Association he was made treasurer, and has ever since retained that position; and for many years has also been treasurer of the Cenr de Lion Commandery, of Scranton. He married on the 9th of May, 1865, Alice M. Collings, of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., a danghter of the late Hon. Samuel P. Collings, former U. S. consul at Tangier, and a granddaughter of Hon. Andrew Beaumont, deceased, former member of Congress from this district, whose honored sons, Colonel E. B. Beaumont, C. S. A. cavalry instructor at West Point, and Commodore J. C. Beaumont, U. S. navy, commandant of navy yard al Portsmouth, N. IL., are among the most distinguished officers now serv- ing our country. Among her other relatives are Jacob S. Dillinger, attorney and late prothonotary at Allentown. Pa .; Henry C. Smith, cashier of the First National Bank of Wilkes-Barre ; Lieutenant E. %. Steever, mathematical instructor at West Point, and John B. Collings, attorney-at-law at Scranton.

WILLIAM S. JONES.

William S. Jones was born in Booneville, Oneida county, N. Y., July 31st, 1832, of poor but respectable pareuts, who emigrated to the United States from Angleseashire, North Wales, in 1830, and located in Oneida county. In February, 1839, his parents emigrated from that place and settled in Carbondale, Luzerne (now Lackawauna) county, where his father died, October 21st, 1841, leaving his mother with five children. In 1849 his mother contracted a second marriage, with Mr. William D. Thomas, who[died November 19th, 1862, leaving her a widow for the second time. She died April 24th, 1871. Nine children were born to them, four in Wales and the other five in this country, of whom only three are living. The subject of our sketch was the first of the family born in America. When his father died he was obliged to go out into the world to earn his own living, and for two years was hired out to farmers iu Susquehanna county, the first year for his board and a suit of clothes and a quarter of schooling in the winter. He received his board and the suit of [clothes, but he was denied the privilege of even as much as seeing the inside of a school-house. Thesecond year his pay was $I per month and board. From this time forward he was obliged to toil hard to assist his mother to support the family. In the winter of 1845-6 he drifted into the coal mines, and the first work he did was that of loading coal; which for the time ended January 12th, 1846, when the mine in which he was working caved in, killing fifteen persons and imprisoning about sixty others. Our miner boy toiled in the mines until he grew to manhood, performing every kind of work connected with mining. By his own exertion, by study at night often extending into the early hours of the morning, and without a tutor, he acquired a good English education.

--- -

In December, 1839, he left the anthracite coal regions of Pennsylvania and settled in West Springfield, Mass. In his new home, among entire strangers, he was engaged to take charge of a large farin, consisting of 310 acres, within about three miles of the city of Springfield. He fol- lowed this new avocation until the Rebellion broke out, in the spring of 1861, when he enlisted for three years in Company 1 of the 10th Mass. volunteer infantry, serving his full term of enlistment in the Army of the Potomac. The regiment was mustered into the United States ser- vice June 21st, 1861, and mustered out July 1st, 1864. He took part iu nearly all the battles fought by the Army of the Potomac, from the first battle of Bull Run, July 2Ist, 1861, until and including the battle of Spottsylvania Court-house, at which, May 18th, 1864, he was wounded. Before he recovered from his wounds, his term of enlistment having expired, he was honorably discharged, and his soldier life ended.

In November, 1864, after returning from the army, he was induced to return to Pennsylvania by the entreaties of his aged mother, and on reaching his old home in Hyde Park he was again employed as a miner until his health failed, in March, 1869. On the 9th of August of the same

year he was engaged by the " Baner America Company " as managing editor of " Bauer America," a Welsh weekly newspaper. After five years' experience as an editor he resigned that position, and devoted himself for two years to the study of mining and mechanical engineer- ing, the chemistry of gases found in coal mines, the science of ventila- tion and other scientific and philosophical subjects, with the view of entering a competitive examination for an appointment to the position of "inspector of coal mines," under an act of Assembly entitled " an act providing for the health and safety of persons employed in coal mines," approved March 3d, 1870. He was appointed to this responsible position on the recommendation of a board of examiners by Governor Hartranft, October 4th, 1876, for the term of five years. Nearly all the corporations and operators engaged in mining coal exerted their whole influence in opposition to his appointment. In relation to this he said : " I am not conscious of ever having done anything to justify the oppo- sition of these parties. Their reasons for opposing my appointment are best known by themselves." He has held this important office now for four years, and has endeavered to perform his duties conscientiously, and with as much moderation and forbearance to all parties con- cerned as the health and safety of the 16,000 to 17,000 persons for whose benefit the office was created would permit. Great improve- ments have been effected in the condition of the colleries under his charge, and the ventilation of the miues has been vastly improved under his direction, thus inproving the sanitary condition of the mines to a great extent. Evidently he has never sought for the commendation or approbation of any class, high or low, rich or poor, only when it comes to him in the path of right and justice. He has never been known to do an unjust or dishonorable act for policy's sake, and never could believe that it is ever justifiable to "do evil that good may come." At present Mr. Jones is president of the Welsh Philosophical Society and Free Library Association, of Hyde Park.

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History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming counties, Pa.; with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers, Part 125

Author: Munsell, W.W., & Co., New York Publication date: 1880 Publisher: New York, W.W. Munsell & co. Number of Pages: 900

Author: Munsell, W.W., & Co., New York
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: New York, W.W. Munsell & co.
Number of Pages: 900