History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming counties, Pa.; with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers, Part 136

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 136
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 136
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 136

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).

In politics the major is Republican. In 1879 he received the nomina- tion of his party for the office of county treasurer, and the ability, honesty and fidelity with which he has fulfilled the trusts of his life were fully attested by the fact that the voters of Lackawanna county, by a striking majority, elected him to that responsible position. It has been well written of him : " In civil life he has demonstrated an ability for running, of which his military career gave neither promise or prophecy."

The major has been an active member of the First Presbyterian Church of Scranton since 1871. He married, April 22nd, 1844, Sarah H., daughter of Richard M. and Susan Hackett, of Scranton. Mrs. Ripple was born in Nesquehoning, Carbon county, Pa., November 13th, 1843. Their chil- dren are: Mary M., born February 3d, 1875, died February 6th, 1879; Hannah, born January 6th, 1877, and Ezra H., born January 31st, 1879.

DR. SILAS B. ROBINSON.

Dr. Silas B. Robinson was born February 25th, 1795, in Ilartwick, Ot- sego county, N. Y. Ilis father, a farmer in moderate circumstances, was able to give him only an ordinary cducation; yet by the aid of an industry that never deserted him during a long life he attained a gen- eral medieal knowledge under the tuition of Dr. Stephen Wilson, of Lawrence, N. Y., sufficient to entitle him to a diploma from the Otsego County Medical Society in March, 1821. In November of the same year he located in Abington, Pa., and practiced his profession there until the following March. He then removed to Providence, living two years with Stephen Tripp, near Ilyde Park. At this time no other practitioner save Davis and Giddings lived in the valley, nor was the wild region knowu as Driuker's Beach trodden by a physician until long after this time.

On a knoll just below the village of Providence now stands the low brown cottage where Dr. Robinson commenced practice in 1823. His practice embraced a large, sparsely settled territory,he making his visits always on foot. The doctor would make jour neys into Wayne county,

GENEALOGICAL AND PERSONAL RECORD.

438 E

crossing Cobb mountain at midnight with a single messenger, while the pursuing wolves were howling buta few rods behind his shivering foot- steps. For this three days and nights of profession il labor, and often fraught with peril, his usual charge was three dollars, and this amount he sometimes received in goose feathers.

DR. SILAS B. ROBINSON.

Dr. Robinson made no pretension at surgery, of which there was eom- paratively none in the country, yet, as a man who contributed very muehr toward amcliorating the infirmities of age or the sorrows of the younger wayfarer, who by his kind nursing, his continued and cheering presenee in the siek room, and his ready willingness to do and endure for others, he held in his deelining years more of the real love and kind- lier feelings of the older settlers than any physician ever before or since in the Lackwanna valley.

Everybody knew Dr. Robinson, and he knew everybody, and yet no man ever lived in the county who knew and cared so little about his neighbors' business and dissensious. He was emphatically the poor man's friend, attending all patients far and near regardless of fee or re- ward ; a matter of fact man, a prominent mason, and oue who brought no diseredit upon a character adorned by a long life of sobriety, indus- try and nsefulness.

Dr. Robinson died suddenly, January 10th, 1860, of congestion of the lungs. During the day he had attended to the duties of his profession as usual, visiting patients within two hours of his death; returned home in the evening, retired to his bed in apparent health and in thirty minutes was dead. He was twice married, and his excellent lady sur- vived him only three years.

U. G. SCHOONMAKER.

U. G. Schoonmaker, proprietor of the Forest House, Seranton, was born in Rosendale, Ulster county, N. Y., January 31st, 1845. His wife was Louise J. Reed, of Binghamton, N. Y. Mr. Schoonmaker has been a member of the select council of the city.

JOSEPH SLOCUM.

The history of any loeality could be written and many family names left ont without doing them or the reader any great injustice. There are others, however, who have left so indelibly the impress of their lives upon the communities of which they formed a part that no history would be complete that did not make mention of them. To the latter elass belongs, pre-eminently, the name that heads this sketch. An ex-

tended genealogy of the Slocum family, with record of dates of births, marriages aud deaths, and notices of some of its prominent members, appears on another page of this volume, to which the reader is referred.

Of its members who still survive none ocenpies a higher position in the esteem of his fellow men than does " Unele " Joseph Sloenm. He was born in Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne county. Pa., July 15th, 1800. He has thus for upwards of eighty years been identified with the communities of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, of which it may well be said of him, as of Aeneas of old, "he has himself formed a conspicuous part."

His father, Ebenezer Sloeum, fourth chill of Jonathan and Ruth (Tripp) Slocum, was born in Portsmouth, R. I., January 10th, 1265, and married Sarah, daughter of Joseph and Obedience (Sperry) Davis, Decem- ber 31, 1790. She was born August Bist, 1771. To this worthy couple were born thirteen children, as follows:

Ruth, born September 13th, 1791, married Elisha Hitchcock July 24th, 1811, an account of whose family will be found elsewhere in this volune. Sidney, born Mareh 17th, 1794, married (July Ist, 1813) Jane La France, by whom he had six children, two of whom are living. He was killed in a grist-mill at Providence January 20th, 1825. Ebenezer, jr., born June 6th, 1796, married Sally Mills. Benjatuin, boru July 19th, 1798, married Matilda Griffin, August 1st, 1819. They had six children, three of whom are living. He died October 19th, 1832. Joseph was born July 15th, 1800. Samnel, born May 13th, 1802, married Polly Dings May 13th, 1830. They had six children, three of whom are living. He died August 18th, 1851. Thomas, born May 21st, 1801, married Sarah S. Jenkins December 14th, 1837. They had six children, three of whom are living. He died Decem- ber 26th, 1879. Sarah. born December 24th, 1805, married Alva Hermans September 5th, 1832. They had six children, four of whom are living. She died November 28th, 1878. Charles M., born December 24th, 1808, died August 27th, 1877. William, born September 20th, 1810, married Jane Lockwood March 30th, 1843. They had ten children, seven of whom are living. He is still living in Abington, Lackawanna county. Mary, boru Deeember 3d, 1812, died January 2nd. 1875. Esther, born Mareh 30th, 1816, married Lester Bristle. They had four children, three of whom are living. He is living in Hoboken, N. J. Giles, born Deeember 11th, 1820, married Sarah Deeker, by whom he had oue child. He is a resident of Scranton. Ebenezer Slocum moved from Wilkes-Barre and settled in what was then ealled Unionville, now a part of the city of Scranton, in 1798, and lived in a log house situated on the bank of Roar- ing Brook near the spot where the Seranton grist-mill now stands. In company with his brother Benjamin he built a grist and saw-mill, a forge, a still house and smith shop. These, with five log houses, made up the village of Unionville. The "Old Sloeum Red House," a land- mark for many years in Scranton, was built by him in 1805. It was still standing in 1875, but has given place to the retaining wall of the Seran- ton steel works. He subsequently built a second still house. Whiskey, Inmber, iron, flour and feed were manufactured in sueh quantities as to bring the settlement before the county as one of prominence and importance. A detailed account of the business operations of the Slo- euins appears elsewhere. Ebenezer Slocum died of appoplexy in Wilkes-Barre, July 25th, 1832. His wife survived him more thau ten years. She died November 1st, 184 ?.

Mr. Slocum left an estate of 1,800 acres of land, all lying withiu the limits of the present city of Scranton, which was divided into four lots or parcels, and assigned by the administrator to his several heirs. Joseph Slocum, during his minority, was employed in the different en- terprises carried on by his father. In all departments of the mechanic art, he was an expert. He could make anything, from a horseshoe to the most complicated piece of machinery required for the times. He made the shoes and boots for the family, and was an excellent horse shoer. For many years he ran the saw-mill.

In 1826, in order to effect a settlement of business between his father and his uncle Benjamin,all enterprises were stopped, and Joseph went to work on the Delaware and Hudson Canal, remaining four months at $12 per month. He afterward worked eighteen months for Rodolphus Bingham. A division of property having in the mean time been effected, he returned home, and in April, 1828, in company with his brother Samuel, assumed the management of his father's estate, and was so em- ployed to the time of his father's death, in 1832.

December 2nd, 1830, he married Edikda, daughter of Redolphins and Sally (Kimball) Binghaun. Mrs. Slocum was born in the town of Palmyra, Pike county, Pa., December 24th, 1805. Mr. Sloeum had made her ae- quaintance while at work for her father. For nearly two years after their marriage both lived at their own homes. Angust. 18th, 1832, they commenced house-keeping in a new framne house, near the old stone still house. They afterwards moved into the "old red Slocum house," his brother Samuel occupying also a part of it. In about one year they moved into the "old possession " log house, on what was known as the Griffin lot, and afterward into a frame house, which was subsequently burned. Mr. Sloeuin built his present residence in 1859 and moved mto it in January, 1860. Upon the division of his father's estate lot No. 4, or the Grillin lot, consisting of 595 acres, fell to him, conjointly with his brother Samuel. By subsequent purchases from his brother and others, he became the owner of 626% ueres; which, being located in the heart of the city und on account of the coal underlying it, became of great value.

438 F

HISTORY OF LACKAWANNA COUNTY.

By the sale of these lands Mr. Slocum has realized a handsome fortune. Inheriting a vigorous constitution, few men could endure more long continued physical exertion than Mr. Slocum. The following incident in his life, related by him to the writer, occurred m the year of his reaching his majority : Meeting in Philadelphia Erastus Hill and another gentleman, residents of Kingston, he was offered by theinn seat in their carriage and a ride to Wilkes-Barre. He jokingly replied, " Lean beat your horse home." The race for Wilkes-Barre was speedily arranged, each agreeing to keep an accurate account of the time they were on the road, not including stops. The result was Mr. S. reached Wilkes- Barre two hours ahead of the horse, his walking and running time being 20 hours, finimites and 30 seconds.

The distance was 120 miles, It was a common thing with him to walk from Seranton to Wilkes-Barre and back. a distance of thirty-six miles, between breakfast and dinner. Mr. Slocum has experienced a succession of more serious accidents than often fall to the lot of one man. He has had the thumb of his left hand ent off' three times. In 1810 he bad two ribs broken by being thrown from a horse. May 8th, 1825, several of his ribs were broken by his being thrown from a wagon. In the winter of 1831, by an accident in the mill, four of his ribs were broken. In 1827 his collar-bone was broken by a handspike. August 18th, 1851, while, in company with his son, looking for a cow in the woods, he fell from a high ledge of rocks, which crashed in his breastbone and broke several more of his ribs. From the effect of the latter accident he has never fully recovered. That he survived it at all demonstrated his remarkable power of endurance. Though crippled in body by these and other accidents not detailed, age seems to have wrought no change in his mental vigor. llis memory of events and dates is remarkable. Any one in search of statistics, especially of the carly times of the Lacka- wanna valley, would be quite certain of obtaining them by calling on Mr. Slocum, He has always been a man of strictly temperate habits. Though engaged in the distiling of whiskey, at a time when its manu- facture was considered legitimate, he has never himself been a user of ardent spirits or of tobacco.

In politics he has been identified with the Whig and Republican par- ties. Though not a seeker of office, he has filled several of the local offices. He was collector in 1833 and the first burgess of Scranton borough, and has been city auditor.

Of Mrs. Slocum, his faithful and devoted companion, with whom he bas journeyed for nearly a half century, it is but just to say she has played well her part in all the relations of life, as wife, mother, friend. If spared to the 22nd of December, 1880, this worthy couple will celebrate their golden wedding.

The record of their children is as follows: Joseph Warren Slocum, born July 23d, 1833, married Hannah M. Collins, February 21st, 1856. His ehil- dren were: Florence, born April 3d, 1858; Frank H., born June 20th, 1861 ; Kate, born July 22nd, 1865 ; Joseph, born November 21st, 1867; Ida, born May 7th, 1870, died October 17th, 1870; Bessie, born October 16th, 1871, died October 8th, 1877, and George W., born May 25th, 1876. For a num- ber of years Joseph W. Slocum has been deputy United States marshal. He lives with his family at the homestead. Rodolphus Bingham Slocum, born May 4th, 1845, married Annie Lloyd, by whom he had three chil- dren, Edilda, Joseph B. and a babe not named. He is a farmer, living near Janesville, Wis.

EDWARD SPENCER,

son of Edward and Mary (Finch) Spencer, was born in what is now Scranton, October 3d, 1805. Ile is of English extraction, being a lineal descendant of Edward Spencer, who came from England at an early date, and settled in Connecticut.

1Fe is the fifth in a family of seven children, as follows: Sarah, wife of Julius Bailey, of Granville Center, Bradford county, Pa., now living at the advanced age of eighty-three years, born May 7th, 1797; Mehitabel Griffin (late Broome), of Scranton, born March 5th, 1799 ; Eliphas, born December 18th, 1802, died in Texas in 1860; Maria, born August 13th, 1804, now (1880) residing in Dunmore ; Edward Ambrose, born March 9th, 1809, died in June, 1834 ; Calvin, born March 11th, 1810, died in Maryland, September 21st, 1866.

Edward, the father of onr subject, was born in Connecticut, May 7th, 1753, and was among the earliest settlers of the Wyoming valley. He wasa farmer by occupation. During the carly Indian trou- bles he fled to Sunbury; after Sullivan's army had driven the Indians from the valley he returned to his home, to find his house burned, and for six weeks he and his sister lived in the hollow of a fallen button- wood tree.

He was a volunteer soldier in the Revolutionary war. He died in Providence, Pa., December 29th, 1829; and his mother, born in Orange county, N. Y., May 2nd, 1774, died in Dunmore, October 22nd, 1849.

Edward. the grandfather, a native of Connecticut, born March 4th, 1711, moved to Pennsylvania and settled in Shawnee, Luzerne county, and wasalso a fariner He died in 1800.

Edward Spencer, whose portrait is the subject of one of our plates, spent his youth at home until he was fourteen years of age, when he went to live with Joseph Hutchings, a cooper of Old Providence, with whom he remained one winter and attended school. lle paid his board

by working in the shop nights and mornings and chopping wood Satur- days. At the age of fifteen he was engaged for one season on his brother Eliphas's farm at $10 per month, and the following winter (1821) was employed in hauling coal from Carbondale to the Dyberry river. The two following years he was a peddler with horse and wagon, pur- chasing the goods of his brother Eliphas, who had engaged in trade in connection with his farming. During 1833 he was engaged as teamster in hauling goods from Newburg, N. Y., to his brother's store in Provi- dence and on his return trips taking wheat to the former place to be sent to market ; and the following year he was clerk in his brother's store at Brown's, near Wurtsboro, on the Delaware and Hudson Canal. In 1825 he built a small store at Lockport, Sullivan county, N. Y., and engaged in trade. In January, 1827, he removed to Providence, Pa., and continued in the mercantile business there for several years. While engaged in trade in Providence he purchased his father's farm and saw-mill and grist-mill, which business wasalso carried on by him until 182, when he sold out and removed to Dunmore, and settled upon a farm which he purchased of Stoddard Judd. Here he opened a coal mine for his own use, which is now the Roaring Brook mine, it having been leased of Mr. Spencer in 1863. In 1865 be purchased the John Bris- bin residence, No. 123 Wyoming avenue, Scranton, where he now resides. Since he became a resident of Scranton, he, with his family, has spent fourteen months in traveling through Colorado and Texas, camping out most of this time.

On November 10th, 1825, he married Elizabeth, daughter of Andrew Deved, of Mammakating, Sullivan county, N. Y., who was born October 30th, 1807, and died December 8th, 1846. The children by this marriage were : Calviu A., born August 27th, 1826 ; Sarah Ann, born January 9tli, 1829, died March 12th, 1870; Gustavus C., born April 14th, 1830, died when fourteen months old; Mary Elizabeth, born February 11th, 1832, died August 28th, 1858; Phebe Ann, born January 15th, 1834, died December 2Ist, 1870; Mchitabel M., born February 29th, 1836; Andrew D., born October 5th, 1838; and Edward B., born April 14th, 1842. Mr. Spencer married for his second wife Susan, daughter of George Hines, of Dun- more, Lackawanna county, Pa. She was born Mareh 18th, 1829. The children of this union are : Ambrose L., born August 18th, 1850; Charles W., born July 25th, 1855; Elsie Bell, born April 25th, 1853; and Frank M., born September 20th, 1859.

ASA B. STEVENS.

Asa B., a son of William and Marion (Piper) Stevens, of New England parentage, was born in Broome county, N. Y., in 1834.

His grandfather, Reuben, a native of Connecticut, was for fifty years a Methodist elergyman, and his great-grandfather, Samuel Stevens, born in 1731, in Conuecticut, was a Revolutionary soldier. His maternal grandfather (Piper), of German parentage, was born in Massachusetts, in 1769, and his maternal grandmother, Jerusha (Lyon), was born in Boston, Mass., in 1767.

Mr. Stevens's boyhood days were spent working on his father's farin in summer. and attending the district school in winter. He completed his school days at the Binghamton academy. At the age of eighteen he was apprenticed to J. N. Congdon, of Binghamton, N. Y., and there learned the trade of marble-cutter. In 1856 he moved to Abington, Lackawanna county, Pa., and entered into copartnership with D. N. & L. R. Green in the marble business, and remained there for five years. In March, 1861, he removed to Scranton and engaged in business as a marble dealer, which he carried on successfully for six years.

In August, 1864, Mr. Stevens enlisted as a private in Company C of the 23d regiment Pennsylvania volunteers (Burnic's sharp-shooters), and in less than two months he was promoted to the rank of first lienteuant, and served as such until the end of the war. Notwithstanding the fact that he was examined and recommended as major of colored troops, he declined to leave the men that he had induced to enlist. Lieutenant Stevens was in every battle in which his regiment engaged, as follows: Deep Bottom, Fort Harrison, second battle of Fair Oaks, Fort Fisher and Wilmington, N. C. At Cape Fear and Fort Fisher he received hon- orable mention from the officers of his regiment, and complimentary resolutions were passed by the members of his company, who declared that they did not desire to follow any better or braver soldier, whose courage nobly stood the test of that terrible fight. He was in command of the color company at Fort Fisher, and his colors were the first to enter the fort.

Mr. Stevens has been three times elected to the office of select council- man of the city of Scranton, and has served as such for more than six years. In 1869 he was elected marshal of the mayor's court for the city of Seranton, on the Republican ticket, by a large majority, and he made a faithful and energetic officer. Mr. Stevens cast his first vote for John C. Fremont for President, and has ever been an earnest, hard-working Republican. For the years 1876, 1877 and 1878 he was secretary and treasurer of the School Fund Co.il Association and of the Miners' and Mechanics' Loan and Banking Association.

In August, 1878, Mr. Stevens was appointed by the governor the first sheriff of the new county of Lackawanna. In November, 1879, Mr. Stevens was elected to the same office by a handsome majority over all other parties (three) combined, and he has to the present time (October,

Godward Spencer

GENEALOGICAL AND PERSONAL RECORD.

438 G

1880), discharged the dutie : of the position to which he has been called with fidelity to the trust repased in him, with honor to himself, and with satisfaction to the public.

Mr. Stevens's affable anl courteous manner, sound learning, good judgment and candor hive wani for him in a remarkable degree the esteem and confidence of his fellow citizens. In 158 he married Elvira A., daughter of Jason P. and Osena Colvin, of Abington, Lackawanna county, Pa. Their family consists of two children. Julian G., born in 1859, and Pred. R., born in IS'.

chat abtwing med.

CHARLES A. STEVENS, M. D.

Charles A .. son of Samuel and Betsey ( Sykes) Stevens, was born in Harpersfield, Delaware county, N. Y., January 19th, 1818. He was the youngest in a family of sixteen children, only three of whom are now living. Hle spent his boyhood on his father's farm and in the district school of his native town, completing his edneation at Homer Acade- my, N. Y. He determined upon the study of medicine, and for this pur- pose in 1838 he entered the office of Dr. H. P. Burdick, of Preble, Cort- land county, N. Y., with whout he remained one year, when he became a private student of Dr. John Stevens, a prominent practitioner of Ithaca, N. Y.

Under the recommendation of Dr. Stevens he matriculated at Geneva Medical College, and after having completed the curriculum of study in that institution he graduated with the degree of M. D. in 1811. During his stay at college his ambition led him to investigate the different sys- tems and schools of medicine, past and present, and their merits and weakness claimed his earnest attention. Naturally he was led to the examination of the comparatively new system of homeopathy. The ef- feet of his studies in this direction may be divined,from his subsequent course; for, though remaining to finish his conrse and receive his di- ploma at Geneva college, he had obtained ideas which rendered it im- possible for him to practice under the doctrines of the allopathie school, and in March following his graduation he went to Senden Falls, N. Y., where, in company with Edward Bayard, then a lawyer, now a success- ful homeopathie physician of New York city, he pursued still further his investigations of homeopathy.

At that time, sneh a course required considerable nerve and firmness, for the adherents of the then new system had to contend against the obloquy, ridicule and persecutions of the old school fraternity, as well as the prejudice of the public. In 1842 Dr. Stevens went to Pal- myra, N. Y., where he remained hut two years, after which he removed to Buttalo, being the first homeopathie physician in that city. In 1850 he went to New Orleans, chiefly for pleasure and travel, and on his re- turn spel one year in Cortland, N. Y., after which he removed to Cox- sackie, and in 1855 he settled in Hudson, N. Y., where he was quite sue- cessful. In 1862 he received indneements to take up his residence in Scranton, where he has since remained. He is in the enjoyment of it large practice, and ranks among the most eminent practitioners of that. section. June 2nd, 1812, Dr. Stevens married Emily M., daughter of

Julius M. and Martha Dunning, of New York city. Their children are : Estelle, born September 30th, 18# (wife of Prof. Charles B. Derman, of Seranton .; Sammel IL, born March 19th, 185; Julius D., born October 9th, ISIS: and Emily M., born November 27th, 1850. Dr. Stevens is a gentle- man well and favorably known, and one who is very highly respected and esteemed.

BENJAMIN IL. THROOP, M. D.,

our of Seranton's early settlers, was born in Oxford, Chenango county, N. Y., November 9th, ISIt, to which place his parents had emigrated Trom Connecticut in 1800. At the age of twelve, by the death of his father, he was left to the care of a good mother, of Puritan ancestry, whose only care was for him, he being the youngest and the only one that remained of six children to comfort her in her declining years. She died in ISE, aged seventy-three.

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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 136

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