History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming counties, Pa.; with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers, Part 52

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 52
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 52
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 52

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 WILKES-BARRE FERRY AND BRIDGE.

The early settlers were too poor to build a bridge be- tween the settlements of Wilkes-Barre and Kingston, but they had recourse to a cheap and convenient means of crossing in the way of a ferry. When the borough of

RESIDENCE OF M! ANDREW LEE, WILKES-BARRE, Pa.

View of WILKES BARRE about 1830 -; from an old painting

LUZERNE COUNTY COURT HOUSE , WILKES-BARRE, PA.

199

BRIDGES AT WILKES-BARRE-OLD COURT-HOUSE-EARLY MAILS.

Wilkes- Barre was incorporated the borough authorities were granted the exclusive right to maintain a ferry be- tween the two localities, and until it was superseded by the bridge it was let annually to enterprising parties, who paid certain rentals into the borough treasury.

The Wilkes-Barre Bridge Company was incorporated in 1807. The bridge was completed in 1818, at a cost of $49,000. The builders were Messrs. Wernwag & Powell, and they were two years engaged in its construction. In 1819 the pier nearest to Wilkes-Barre was undermined and two reaches of the bridge lost. The damage was repaired by the State, at an expense of $13,000. In 1824 the entire bridge was lifted from the piers by a hur- ricane and deposited on the ice several feet distant from its original location; $15,000 to be devoted to its repair was appropriated by the State, which by this added sum became possessed of $28,000 stock in the concern, which was subsequently sold. The architect in charge of these repairs was Reuben Fields. The bridge, with occasional repairs and renewals of certain portions, has since ex- isted, and has been a source of profit to the stockholders. Upon the introduction of the street railway between Kingston and Wilkes-Barre, the bridge became the means by which the track crosses the river, though its use as a foot and wagon bridge is in no way interfered with. Ef- forts have been made from time to time, but unsuccessfully thus far, to obtain authority from the court instructing the county commissioners to take possession of the bridge, with a view to its being maintained by taxation for the public benefit, and it seems not unlikely that such a measure may be carried in the future.

REMINISCENCES OF THE OLD COURT-HOUSE.

The bell on the old court-house was cast by George Hedderly, in Philadelphia, in 1805, and during the years that followed served to summon the inhabitants of the town to meetings of every kind common to such a com- munity. It called the criminal to receive his sentence, and the man who had not been proven guilty to receive his acquittal; it summoned the people to hear the preach- ing of the gospel and the eloquence of political advo- cates; if the people were to be assembled for any purpose the old court-house bell was generally brought into requi- sition. Various were the uses to which the court-house was put, serving for all judicial and deliberative proceed- ings, and as a public or town hall. It is said to have been utilized as a dancing academy and as a church, and it is authoritatively stated that a meat market was kept in the basement at one time-as Mistress Tuttle had, before its time, sold cakes and beer in the lower story of the old log building. June 11th, 1810, an ordinance was passed by the council of Wilkes-Barre ordaining that until a suit- able market house could be erected the eellar of the courthouse should be used as a market place "on and after July 13th next." Two days in the week were set apart as market days, Wednesday and Saturday being so distinguished, and the place was ordered to be kept open from five to ten A. M., and the clerk of the market was authorized to erect one or more stalls, benches and blocks,

and provide scales and other articles necessary to the traffic of the place.

MAIL FACILITIES AND THE POST-OFFICE.

In 1777 a post route was opened between Hartford, Connecticut, and Wyoming, in the benefits of which the residents of Wilkes-Barre, the chief settlement, largely participated. Previous to that date what little mail passed between that point and the outside world had been carried by private messengers. The post-rider was. Prince Bryant, who made the trip once in two weeks. During the period of the continued struggle between Pennsylvania and Connecticut for supremacy over Wyo- ming, regular mail communication was interrupted and messages were carried to and fro by men employed by the settlers for that purpose.

A post-office was established at Wilkes-Barre in 1794, with Lord Butler as postmaster. It may easily be con- ceived that his official labor must have been the reverse of arduous, and that his office, at the corner of River and Northampton streets, must have contrasted unfavorably with the elegant, well arranged and commodious city post-office of the present day in Music Hall block. But it was not until after the close of the Revolution, and the organization of Luzerne county in 1786, that provision was made for a weekly mail be- tween Wilkes-Barre and Easton. Clark Behee was the post-rider, but whether the first over the route does not appear, though there is evidence that he filled that posi- tion in 1797, during which year weekly mails were carried from Wilkes-Barre to Berwick via Nanticoke, Newport and Nescopeck, the return route being via Huntington and Plymouth. At this time Wilkes-Barre enjoyed the distinction of being the only regularly established post- town in the county, and mail for residents of the town- ships mentioned was left at certain houses within their limits chosen by the post-master at Wilkes-Barre.

A mail route was established between Wilkes-Barre . and Great Bend in 1798, and another between Wilkes- Barre and Owego, New York. The mails were received by the former route once a fortnight and by the latter once a week. Both were sustained by private contribu- tions chiefly, if not entirely, like those of the early set- tlers before the war. It is said that subscribers to news- papers had to pay at the rate of $2 a year to the mail carrier for the privilege of receiving them. In 1800 Jonathan Hancoek was a post-rider between Wilkes- Barre and Berwick. In 1803 Charles Mowery and a man named Peck carried the mails on foot between Wilkes- Barre and Tioga, N. Y., making the trip once in two weeks.

The history of the advance in mail facilities from this time forward is coincident with that of "staging," nearly all the stages having carried the mails. With the first railroad came added mail convenienees, which have been increased from year to year since, until the residents of the city in 1880 can have but a faint conception of the difficulties under which their forefathers labored in this respect one hundred or seventy-five or even fifty years ago.

200

HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

Lord Butler was the postmaster until 1802, when he was succeeded by John Hollenback. The names of those who have been appointed since that time are as follows: Ezekiel Hyde, 1805; Jonathan Hancock, 1805; Jacob Cist, 1808; A. Beaumont, 1826; William Ross, 1832; Daniel Collings, 1835; A. O. Chahoon, 1841; J. P. Le- Clerc, 1844; E. B. Collings, 1845; Steuben Butler, 1849; John Reichard, 1853; Jacob Sorber, 1854; E. B. Col- lings, 1858; S. M. Barton, 1861; E. H. Chase, 1865; Peter Pursel, 1867; Stewart Pearce, 1869; Douglass Smith, 1877.

The number of letters of all classes, including postal cards, sent from Wilkes-Barre post-office during the first week of November, 1879, was 15,765; number of regular newspapers sent, 11,232; transient newspapers, 1, 129; packages of merchandise, 183; total pieces of mail mat- ter sent, 28,309.

EDUCATIONAL HISTORY.

The educational history of Wilkes Barre begins with the arrival of the emigrants from Connecticut in 1769. under the auspices of the Susquehanna Land Company, This company granted to the first settlers of Wyoming large bodies of land in each township as an incentive to immigration. This land was designated as a foundation for a permanent school fund for all time to come. If the school fund had been properly managed the citizens of the township would undoubtedly have long since been free from taxation for educational purposes. The town of Wilkes-Barre has no separate school history from old Westmoreland until 1773, when an effort was made to support the schools by taxation; but it was a failure, and if there were any schools in Wilkes-Barre at that period they must have been supported by private subscriptions or tuition fees up to the time when the borough accepted the provisions of the common school law.

EARLY SCHOOLS.

On the organization of Luzerne county Wilkes-Barre had her school-houses, which had previously been built by the proprietors as the trustees of the bounty of the Susquehanna Land Company, but no free school was ever based upon this educational fund.

As early as 1790 there was a school-house-the only one in the town plot-standing upon the east side of the pub- lic square just in front of where now is William H. Spor- ring's grocery store, which was usually occupied about nine months during the year. At a later period there was another on the plains near the residence of Henry Courtright, and another on the hill, on Dr. Covell's farm, just below the site of the depot of the passenger railroad in South Wilkes-Barre.

Among early teachers was Godlove Nicholas Lutyens, a graduate of Gottingen University. He was succeeded in 1802 by Asher Miner, the printer and editor of the Wilkes-Barre Gazette and afterwards of the Luzerne Fed- eralist. Previous to 1806 or 1807 several select schools were opened at various times, among which was one by a Mr. Parmaly, a regular Yankee schoolmaster, in the old

still-house on Main street, just at the foot of Bowman hill. There was another on East Union street, conducted for many years by William Wright, an educated Irish- man. This school had a high reputation, and continued to flourish up to the time of Mr. Wright's death in 1816. There were also summer schools under the lead of old- fashioned schoolmistresses, and a Mrs. Jabez Fish's juve- nile academy on the bank of the river, at the lower end of the Common, where was taught for years the West- minster Catechism from the John Rogers primer.

The Constitution of 1790 required legislative provi- sions for the education of the poor; and in pursuance thereof, by the act of 1809 and its supplement, the assessors of every township were required to make return of all children whose parents were unable to pay for their tuition to the county commissioners, who were required to pay the respective teachers their bills for these charity scholars. This law was a dead letter practically. Very few parents cared to put their children on the list of paupers, even for the purposes of education, and for ten years after 1824 but $3,500 was paid by the county on that account, and Wilkes-Barre's was the least amount in proportion to its population.

THE WILKES-BARRE ACADEMY.

In 1807 the Wilkes-Barre Academy was incorporated with a donation of $2,000 from the State. Ebenezer Bowman, Lord Butler, Matthias Hollenback, William Ross, Jesse Fell, Joseph Suiton, Joseph Slocum and others were the trustees. Ebenezer Bowman was presi- dent of the board up to the day of his death. What memories are recalled by the mention of this institution, where many of the most influential men of the Wyoming valley received their education, and from which others have gone out to win names and fame in the outside world! It was the first and for some time the only insti- tution of learning above the grade of common school in old Luzerne. The board of trustees obtained from the county the old court-house and jail, which they improv- ed and converted into their school-rooms, and opened a kind of school as an apology for a classical institute. The first teacher was Samuel Jackson. He was suc- ceeded by a Mr. Root. Then David Scott took charge of the concern and organized an English grammar class. He wrote the text-book, and each pupil had to make his own copy in manuscript, until "Murray's " was introduc- ed in 1809. This year the trustees enlarged their build- ing and imported from Yale Garrick Mallery (just then graduated) as principal, at a salary of $1,000 per annum; and now Wilkes-Barre began to be looked upon as the educational center of all northern Pennsylvania and southern New York. The institution was fairly opened with Garrick Mallery as principal, Edward Chapman and Thomas Bartlett as assistants, and Jacob Taylor as writ- ing master.

The little town was crowded with students from abroad. The catalogue embraced some seventy-five non-resident pupils. The school flourished as long as Mr. Mallery re- mained at its head. At the end of the year he retired to

Char Phallen

CHARLES P. WALLER.

Charles P. Waller, son of Phineas and Elizabeth Jewett Waller, was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., August 7th, 1819, and is the sixth in a family of seven children, six of whom are now (1880) living, viz .: Abram B., Na- than P., William L., Rev. David J., of Bloomsburg, Har- riet M. (wife of Rev. Dr. S. M. Andrews, of Doylestown, Pa.), and George G., a lawyer of Honesdale, Pa. Phineas, a native of Massachusetts, moved into the Wyoming val- ley in 1774, with his father's family. He was a farmer by occupation, and lived to the advanced age of eighty-six years. Nathan, his father, a farmer, settled in the Wyo- ming valley when Phineas was a young man, where he died in 1832.

Charles P. spent his youth at home and in the schools of Wilkes-Barre from eleven years of age, and in 1838 he entered Williams College, where he was a student for two years, when through weakness of his eyes he was obliged to discontinue his studies. During the winters of 1839 and 1840 he was principal of the Bloomsburg Acad-

emy, and was the first to organize a classical school there. In 184t he commenced the study of law with Judge Col- lins, of Wilkes-Barre. He was admitted to the bar in the winter of 1843, and immediately entered upon the practice of his profession, which he successfully and continuously carried on until 1874, when he was elected president judge of Wayne county, Pa., which office. he still (1880) holds. As a proof of his popularity he was elected on the Republican ticket in a district which is Democratic by 2,000 majority. On April 3d, 1845, he married Har- riet W., daughter of Henry W. Stone, of Mt. Pleasant, Wayne county, Pa. She was born June 15th, 1826. The result of this union is two children-Lizzie J. (wife of William H. Stanton, of Honesdale) and Mary S. All of the family have been for several years members of the Presbyterian church. Future generations will remember Mr. Waller as a genial companion, an able counsellor and an honest man.

John. . Lampman

JOHN S. LAMPMAN, OCULIST AND AURIST.

The subject of this sketch was born in Pittston, Pa., December 20th, 1838, and is a son of Norman and Phebe Lampman. His father was skillful in treating diseases of the eye, and John early manifested great talent in locating them and in applying proper remedies. He ap- plied himself to make discoveries and succeeded in bring- ing into use remedies unknown to any other oculist in the world, rendering his mode of treatment entirely orig- inal. He began his practice in his own family by treat- ing and curing an afflicted sister in 1863. During that year the elder Lampman died and John assumed his practice, residing at Pleasant Valley, near Pittston, until 1876, when he removed to Wilkes-Barre, where, at 405 and 407 Northampton street, he has (September, 1880,) . more than 500 patients under his care, with the number constantly increasing.

January 23d, 1872, he married Margaret Shales, who proved to be well fitted for the charge of her department in the infirmary. Affable and courteous, it became an easy task for her to provide for the comfort and pleasure of the afflicted, even children placed under her care hav- ing remained with perfect contentment. Dr. Lampman has been particularly successful in the treatment of am- aurosis, using no instruments, but curing with medicines cases thought to be incurable without surgical operations. For the treatment of this disease he prepared a cooling wash for the head which he discovered was useful in restoring lost hair, and his " celebrated Neuralgic Cure and Universal Hair Producer " will, in time, be thrown into market as the only safe preparation for the use for which it is designed. Besides treating all diseases of the

eye, he has carefully studied and successfully treated the ear, an organ peculiarly liable to disease and accident. He has never been an extensive advertiser, has never traveled as an oculist and has always lived and practiced within ten miles of the place of his birth, relying upon his cures to bring him patients, who have come to his infirmary in large numbers from every State in the union. His terms are less than one-half the usual charges of oculists, and render his treatment available to the afflicted poor.

Did such endorsement form a proper part of a biogra- phical sketch many testimonials might be presented of the skill of Dr. Lampman and innumerable cases of his successful treatment of disease cited. To those who have been treated by him no such endorsement is neces- sary; and they, themselves, are his strongest recommend- ation to the afflicted in all parts of the country. Where he is best known his treatment is most highly spoken of, and no laudations are necessary in a work which must be restricted in its circulation to that portion of the State of Pennsylvania contiguous to the locality of his life and successful professional career. Inviting rigid scrutiny, he has, in the midst of many difficulties and beset by the petty jealousies of rival practitioners, established an ex- tensive and lucrative practice in the county of his nativity and among the people who have known him from childhood. This has been accomplished only by the exercise of indomitable energy, great skill and rare judg- ment and a rigid integrity that has made every patient his friend and endorser.

201

WILKES-BARRE ACADEMY AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

pursue his law studies, and was afterward president judge of the State courts, and as an able lawyer he won a na- tional reputation. During the administration of Mr. Mallery Andrew Beaumont, then a new comer, and an active young man of much promise, who has since been a representative in the State Assembly and in Con- gress, and held other important official positions, was em- ployed as his assistant. Under their management Greek, Latin, mathematics and the higher English branches were taught. Their successor was Rev. Mr. Thayer, a Con- gregational minister of the Old School and a graduate of Harvard University, who retired at the end of a year. He was succeeded by Mr. Janeson and then Rev. Wil- liam Woodbridge and others conducted the institution up to about 1818, when Joel Jones, a graduate of Harvard college, became the principal and remained two or three years. Upon his retirement his brother Jo- seph H. Jones took charge of the institution, and con- ducted it with great ability for several years. He was followed by Messrs. Woodbridge, Baldwin, Granger, Or- ton, Miner, Talcott, Ullman, Hubbard and Dana. After the erection of the second court-house the old building was converted to the uses of the academy, having been removed to a point within the public square, a little west of the present court-house. After many years' use the old edifice was sold to Colonel H. F. Lamb, and a portion of it was removed to Franklin street and constituted a part of a dwelling.

Among the students of the old academy we may men- tion the following, who have gained distinction in their chosen careers; Lieutenant J. C. Beaumont, of the United States navy; Major A. H. Bowman, of the United States army; Major E. W. Morgan, who served his coun- try in Mexico and later was principal of the Newport, Ky., military school; Hon. Hendrick B. Wright, a well known lawyer and politician of Luzerne county and the State at the present time; Hon. B. A. Bidlack, who rep- resented his district in Congress, and later was sent as United States minister to New Granada, where he died; Hon. George W. Woodward, one of the most eminent legal lights of the commonwealth; Judge Luther Kidder; Dr. S. D. Gross, an eminent professor of surgery in the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia; Rev. Samuel Bowman, D. D., at one time acting bishop of the Protest- ant Episcopal church in Pennsylvania; ex-Attorney Gen- eral Ovid F. Johnson; George Catlin, the well known American artist; Rev. Zebulon Butler, D. D., of Missis- sippi, and Prof. J. S. White, at one time a prominent educator of Philadelphia. With such results the older citizens of Wilkes-Barre have just reason for pride in memory of the old academy.

OTHER ACADEMIC SCHOOLS.

About 1840 Mr. Dana had erected a building on Acad- emy street and organized a classical school, which in a measure took the position previously occupied by the old academy in the public square. A brick building was erected in 1842 on the site of the old structure, and under the direction of Messrs. Owen and Jackson a high school

had a successful existence in it for a number of years; but in consequence of various causes in time it lost much of its prestige and became only an ordinary day school. E. B. Harvey, Esq., purchased this building in 1848, and moved it to Union street and converted it into a dwelling.

THE WILKES-BARRE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

The public schools of the city of Wilkes-Barre are em- braced in three districts. The provisions of the new constitution applying to cities of the fourth class having never been adopted by this city, the government of the schools remains the same as when the city was incorpor- ated, and the three school districts erected under an act of Assembly approved May 24th, 1871. These districts are under the supervision of the county superintendent, and are entirely independent of one another, being each governed by a separate board of directors.

The first school district is made up of the first, second, third, sixth and ninth wards of the city, and the remain- ing portion of the north district of Wilkes-Barre town- ship not included within the city limits at the time of in- corporation. . The school board consists of six members, one from each of the wards and one from the township. The board is now (1880) organized as follows: President, George N. Reichard: secretary, J. C. Williamson; treas- urer, Fred Roth. The statement of the school board of this district for 1878 was as follows: Whole number of schools, 19; number of months taught, 10; number of male teachers, 5; number of female teachers, 14; average salary of males per month, $65; average salary of females per month, $40; whole number of scholars, 2,072; aver- age number attending school, 949; percentage of attend- ance, 79; tax levy (number of mills) 20. Under the present principal, T. J. McConnor, the schools have been carefully graded, and now possess primary and grammar grades corresponding to a considerable extent to the same grades in the third district, to be described hereafter.

The second school district comprises the thirteenth and fourteenth wards of the city and the south district of Wilkes-Barre township, less what was taken into the city limits at the time of incorporation. There are five mem- bers in the school board-two from each of the wards and one from the township. The organization is as fol- lows: President, A. H. Van Horn; secretary, Michael Gibbons; treasurer, Joseph Hendler. The report for 1878 gives the following showing: Whole number of schools, 10; number of months taught, 9; number of male teach- ers, 6; number of female teachers, 4; average salary of males per month, $63.33; average salary of females per month, $40; whole number of scholars, 893; average number attending school, 525; percentage of attendance, 83; tax levy (number of mills) 18. Under the direction of Henry A. Reid as principal until within two years, and more recently of J. C. Bell, these schools have been partially graded.

The third school district is essentially the old borough of Wilkes-Barre. It embraces the fourth, fifth, seventh, eighth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth and fifteenth wards of the city.

202

HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

The history of the old borough schools is really the his- tory of the schools of this district. In 1834 this district in common with nearly all the districts of Luzerne county approved of the provisions of the common school law, and the school board levied a school tax and set the school in operation. For over thirty years the schools were de- void of anything to distinguish them-unless it might have been their general inefficiency. Teachers were paid very poor salaries ; the school term was very short ; the build- ings were either miserable old frame hulks, or rooms rented here and there over the town as necessity might determine for the accommodation of pupils. In the year 1850-51 there were nine teachers employed at an aver- age salary of $23.11 per month, and the length of the school term was five months. Nor did this state of things improve in some particulars for many years later. The statement of the school board for 1865.6 reveals the following facts : number of schools, 11 ; number of months taught, 4 ; number of female teachers, 14; male teachers, 3 ; average salary of male teachers per month, $50 ; average salary of female teachers per month, $35 ; whole number of pupils attending. school, 187. Is it to be wondered at that private and select schools were in a flourishing condition ? An old settle- ment like Wilkes-Barre, possessed of a high degree of culture, demanded education for its children, and the private schools furnished what the public schools could not. But a new era was dawning even in 1865. The revival of business and increase of values that followed the close of the war, with the free distribution of money that attended it, made it possible for better things in the way of education. As early as November 28th, 1863, at an adjourned meeting of the board over which C. F. Reets presided, L. C. Paine offered the following resolu- tion, which was adopted: "Resolved that the president be and is hereby directed and requested to enter into a contract with Ziba Bennett, Esq., for the purchase of a lot at the corner of Washington street and Butler alley, at a price not to exceed $1,800, * * * * and that he report his action on the same at the next meeting." At the next meeting, held December 5th, Mr. Reets reported that he had made the contract as directed; the report was accepted and adopted and an order drawn for the purchase money. At a meeting held March 19th, 1864, presided over by the same gentlemen, the building com- mittee was authorized to advertise for proposals for the new school building ("excavating cellar, building brick and stone walls, &c., &c."). This motion was renewed and carried at a meeting held June 12th, 1865, over which Rev. George D. Miles presided. At a meeting August ist, 1865 (Mr. Miles presiding), the size of the building was determined upon and a building committee appointed. September 19th, 1865, it was decided that the new building should be three stories high and that an addition three stories high should be added to the rear for recitation rooms. December 26, 1865, a contract was made with bricklayers for raising the walls of the building. The work of erection went on apace during the winter of 1865-6 and the spring and summer following.

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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 52

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