USA > Pennsylvania > Northampton County > History of Northampton County [Pennsylvania] and the grand valley of the Lehigh, Volume III > Part 22
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55
Judge Laury was a representative of the militia when such military organizations were important factors in every. State government, and he held various commissions, beginning as captain and passing through all ranks to that of major-general. He cast his first presidential vote for Andrew Jackson, and was a leader in the Demoeratie party until his death. In 1838, with Robert MeDowell, he established the Slate Quarry Sunday school, the first Sunday school in Lehigh county outside of Allentown. For years he was superintendent of the St. John Lutheran Church Sunday school at Laury's Station, and was a member of the committee which built the church edifice. He was also associated with the Slate system of publie education.
Judge Laury married, August 12, 1827, Maria Kline, daughter of Jacob Kline, of Louhill township, Lehigh eounty. Mrs. Laury died March 12, 1878, their married life covering a period somewhat in excess of half a century. Judge and Mrs. Laury were the parents of ten children: Mary, married Thomas Newhard; Henry Kline; Caroline, married Adam Laubach ; Lewis Kline, deceased; Maria, married Dr. Stephen Ruch, of Elmira, New York; Josephine, married George F. Kimball; Leah, deceased; Rebecca, married Joseph Bibighaus; David John Jacob, deceased; Alexander Charles Peter, sueeeeded his father as postmaster and station agent at Laury's Station.
The career of David Laury was one of usefulness, activity, honor and interest. There was probably no man of his time in Lehigh county whose influence in publie affairs was more widely extended or more beneficial. His intelligenee, sagaeity and force of eharaeter did much in moulding and shap- ing the Democratic party of the county, and for many years he gave the full force of his splendid powers to advancing the principles of his party. He was a man of strong convictions, never hesitated between two opinions, and always courageously supported every principle he believed in. He supported his religious convictions as strongly as he did his politieal opinions, and during a long period in the public eye he was ever found faultless in honor. fearless in conduct, and stainless in reputation.
THE ADAMS FAMILY-Among the earliest members of the Adams family who emigrated to America were Henry Adams, of Braintree, Massa- chusetts, Robert Adams, of Oxford township, Philadelphia county, and Wal- ter Adams, his brother, all of whom it is said were descended from Lord John Ap Adams, son of Ap Adams, who "came out of the Marches" of Wales. Thomas Adams, brother of Henry Adams, of. Braintree, Massachusetts, was one of the grantees named in the charter of Charles I in 1629. He was high sheriff and lord mayor of London.
432
NORTHAMPTON COUNTY
Henry Adams, with his eight sons, settled at Mount Wollaston, in Brain- tree, and Walter and Robert Adams were his brothers. It is thought, how- ever, that they came to this country at a later date. They settled in Penn- sylvania and, like the majority of the early colonists of that State, Walter Adams was a Quaker.
The earliest record of the English branch of the Adams family is that of John Ap Adams, of Charlton Adams, in Somersetshire, who married Eliza- beth, daughter and heiress to Lord Gowrney, of Beviston and Tidenham county, Gloucester, who was summoned to parliament as baron of the realm, 1226 to 1307. In the upper part of a Gothic window on the southeast side of Tidenham Church, near Chopston, the name of John Ap Adams is still to be found, together with arms: Argent in a cross gules, five mullets or, of Lord Ap Adams. The design is probably executed on stained glass of great thick- ness and is in perfect preservation. This church originally stood within the boundary of Wales, but at a later period the boundary line was changed so that it is now upon English soil. The arms and crest borne by the family are described as follows :
Arms-Argent in a cross gules; five mullets or, out of a ducal coronet a demi-lion.
The legend is: Loyal au mort; and a motto commonly used by this branch of the family is : Aspire, persevere and indulgence, all other, Sub cruce veritas.
The following is the line of the direct descent of the Adams family of the Lehigh Valley. (1) Ap Adams "came out of the Marches" of Wales. Lords of the Marches were noblemen who in the early ages secured and inhabited the Marches of Wales and Scotland, living there as if they were petty kings, having their own private laws. These laws, however, were subsequently abolished. (2) Sir Ap Adam, knight, lord of Ap Adam, married Elizabeth, daughter of Lord Gowrney. (3) Sir Thomas Ap Adam. (4) William Ap Adam. (5) Sir John Ap Adam. (6) Thomas Ap Adam. (7) Sir John Ap Adam, knight. (8) Sir John Ap Adam, who was the first to attach the letter "s" to his name. (9) Roger Adams. (10) Thomas Adams. (II) John Adams. (12) John Adams. (13) Nicholas Adams. (14) Richard Adams. (15) Williams Adams. (16) Henry Adams, who is said to have emigrated about 1634. In February, 1641, he was granted forty acres of land near Boston, of which Braintree is a part. His brothers were: Robert, Thomas and Walter. The last named came to America by way of the Barbadoes, West Indies, and after living there for a time took up his abode in Penn- sylvania.
(I) Walter Adams married Elizabeth Their children were: Richard, Anne, William and Robert. Walter Adams was the brother of Robert Adams, of Oxford township, Philadelphia, who died in 1719, leaving no children; he devised the estate of his nephews and nieces, the children of his brother Walter, and Elizabeth, his wife.
(2) Richard Adams, of New Providence township, now Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, died in 1748. His first wife's name is not known. His second wife was Alice or Aishe Withers, and they were married in 1726. His children were as follows: Abraham, married Alse ; William, of Braken township, Lancaster county; Isaac, of Coventry township, Chester county ; Susanna, married Conrad Custard, or Kistard; Catharine, married John Morris; Mary, married Israel Morris; Margaret; married Paul Cassel- berry; Elizabeth, married Thomas Bull; Ann, married Jacob Umstadt; Han- nah, married Owen Evans.
(3) Abraham Adams died in 1738, and letters were granted to Rachel, his daughter, a spinster. There is mention of two children: Ann and Abigail.
Walter Adams and his brother were brothers of Henry Adams, who came to New England and was a founder of the Adams family there, at Braintree, Massachusetts. Walter, his son Richard, and his son Abraham were Quakers.
433
BIOGRAPHICAL
Conrad Custard, husband of Susanna 'Adams (daughter of Richard Adams), owned a large tract of land immediately adjoining the tract surveyed to Ensign John Adams, of Nockamixon township, in 1763.
John Adams and James Adams, possibly and probably brothers, lived in Nockamixon township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. There are few records
at Doylestown, Pennsylvania, which bear James Adams's signature. He was also an ensign in the Provincial Service, Associated Companies of Bucks County, in 1747. (See Colonial Records, vol. v., p. 209; also Pennsylvania Archives, second series, vol. ii, p. 505.) This was nine years before John Adams held a like commission in the Provincial Service in the Associated Companies of Bucks County. There is nothing to establish that James Adams and John Adams were related, neither can be found any data of their former residence or whose children they were. The only solution is that they were both possibly sons of Abraham Adams; the latter having died intestate, no list of his children is obtainable. The fact that John Adams held land adjoin- ing that of Conrad Custard is a possible solution, he having been raised by his Aunt Susanna.
Richard Adams, of Providence township, Philadelphia, whose will is dated February 1, 1747-48, and probated March 24, 1747-48, mentions son Abraham's children, Ann and Abigail, then letters were granted to Abraham's daughter Rachel. There at once seems to be some discrepancy, which is most difficult to explain.
James Adams's commission in the Provincial Service, as above stated, was dated in 1747, which tends to show that he might have been disinherited by his grandfather. Then again there is a possibility that James and John Adams are one and the same man, but this is very doubtful, as their names are mentioned distinctly and separately in the old records.
(I) John Adams, ensign, Provincial Service, of Nockamixon township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, died in Nockamixon township, May 22, 1807, and was buried in the old Nockamixon church graveyard. He married Mary His will, dated March 21, 1807, proved June 8 same year, is recorded in Will Book No. 7, p. 278, in the register of wills office, Doylestown, Pennsylvania.
John Adams, of Nockamixon, served in the Provincial Service in 1756. He held a commission as ensign in one of the companies of the Associated Companies of Bucks County. (See Pennsylvania Archives, second series, vol. ii, p. 531.) Capt. William Ramsey was captain of the company in which John Adams served and held his commission as ensign in 1756, and was also from Nockamixon township, Bucks county. John Johnson was the lieutenant of the company. John Adams, of Nockamixon, and Mary, his wife, had the following children: Mary, Elizabeth, Margaret, George, Henry, John, of whom further; Jacob. George and Henry, sons of John Adams, of Nocka- mixon, served in the Nockamixon Company of Associators in 1775. George was sergeant of the company, and the son John was a soldier in the Continen- tal Army during the Revolutionary War.
The first record that we have of John Adams, of Nockamixon, owning any land is a warrant that was granted March 26, 1754, to John Adams, for land in Nockamixon township, Bucks county, upon which a survey was returned for fifty-four acres and one hundred and thirteen perches. A patent for this same land was granted April 26, 1726, to Abraham Frvling. John Adams had some trouble with this land, for on May 19, 1763, he entered a caveat against the acceptance of a survey made for Archibald Merrin, which took in the above mentioned land and improvements. (See Pennsylvania Archives, third series, vol. ii, p. 275.) The above land was surveyed by J. Hart, for which he gave a receipt, June 26, 1763, which is recorded in Doyles- town, Pennsylvania, in Deed Book No. 32, p. 169. This receipt also mentions the date of the wararnt, March 26, 1754.
N. H. BIOG .- 28
434
NORTHAMPTON COUNTY
(II) John (2) Adams, private in Capt. Samuel Watson's company, of Durham township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, was a son of John (I) Adams, of Nockamixon township, Bucks county, Penns lvania, born in Nockamixon township, November 3, 1759, died in Durham township, November 12, 1826. He married Christina Klinker, December 15, 1789, at the Tohickon German Reformed Church. Some time after the Revolutionary War he moved into Durham township, where he lived until his death. He is buried in the old Durham church graveyard. Christina Klinker, the wife of John Adams, of Durham, was born in Nockamixon township, October 2, 1747, and is buried in the old Durham church graveyard. She was the daughter of John and Mary Klinker, of Nockamixon township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania.
John Adams, of Durham township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, was a soldier in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. He served as a private in Capt. Samuel Watson's company of the Second Pennsylvania Battalion under Col. Arthur St. Clair. He enlisted February 12, 1776. (See Pennsylvania Archives, second series, vol. x, p. 98.) Several of the members of his company were from upper Bucks county. Captain Watson died at Three Rivers and was succeeded by Thomas L. Moore, who was promoted to major of the Ninth Regiment, May 12, 1779, and was succeeded as captain by John Henderson. The company was transferred or became part of the Third Battalion, Twelfth Regiment, July 1, 1778, and thus became associated with other companies of Bucks county. For his services he received from the State of Pennsylvania two hundred acres of "donation land" in Robinson township, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, which was returned for pat- ent, October 9, 1786. (See Pennsylvania Archives, third series, vol. vii, p. 723.) This land he sold to Hugh Hamill, November 4, 1786, for thirty-seven (37) pounds and ten (10) shillings. The witnesses to this deed were Thomas Delap (Dunlap), John Donnell and Jacob Glassmyer, all residents of Nockamixon township at that date. (Recorder's office, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Deed Book No. D-47, p. 322.) John K. Adams, son of John Adams, of Durham, was a soldier for some time during the War of 1812-14, private in Capt. John Dornblaser's companv. (Pennsylvania Archives, second series, vol. xii, p. 105.)
John Adams, of Durham, and Christina, his wife, had the following chil- dren: Elizabeth, Mary, Margaret, John K., Henry, of whom further; Jacob, Samuel, Susan, married Joseph Retschlin, and Daniel.
John Adams, of Durham, was quite a large land owner. In 1706 he owned one hundred acres of land and a grist and saw-mill in Nockamixon township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. On April 20, 1799, he bought of Solomon Lightcap two hundred and sixty-three acres of land. (Bucks County Deed Book No. 30, p. 310.) On April 1I, 1808, he bought two tracts, one of one hundred and fifty-five acres and the other of twelve acres. (Bucks County Deed Book No. 39, p. 135.) John Adams, of Durham, died without making a will. It is impossible to give the date when John Adams was mus- tered out of the service, for the muster rolls of the Twelfth Regiment have practically never been found.
Tax list of Nockamixon township shows the holdings of John Adams, the father of the above John Adams, and his sons, George and Henry, elder brothers of John. John Adams appears as a "single man" first in the year 1785, notwithstanding that he was of age in 1780. He therefore served, in all probability, up to about that date (1784-85) in the Twelfth Pennsylvania Regi- ment. Capt. Samuel Watson's company records date to November 25, 1776, only.
(III) Henry Adams, of Durham township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, son of John (2) Adams, was born in Durham township, June 17, 1806, died there December 15, 1838, and is buried in the old Durham church graveyard. He married Elizabeth Bitz. August 25, 1828, at her home in Springfield town- ship, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. Elizabeth Bitz, of Durham, was born
435
BIOGRAPHICAL
September 18, 1811, in Springfield township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and died March 28, 1878, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. She was the daughter of John and Susan (Riegel) Bitz, of Springfield, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. Henry Adams' will is recorded in Do, lestown, Pennsylvania. It is dated April 28, 1838, and proved December 22, 1838. Henry Adams, of Dur- ham, and Elizabeth, his wife, had the following children: John, Hannah, Catharine, Samuel, of whom further. After the death of Henry Adams in 1840, Elizabeth Bitz was married a second time to Christian K. Nicholas. She had no children by this union. Christian K. Nicholas was born in Nocka- mixon township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, January 23, 1817, and died in Upper Saucon township, Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, November 3, 1893, and was buried in Friedensville, November 7, 1893, and body removed to Nisky Hill Cemetery, Bethlehem, December 16, 1899.
(IV) Samuel Adams, of South Bethlehem, Northampton county, Penn- sylvania, son of Henry Adams, of Durham township, Bucks county, Pennsyl- vania, was born in Durham township, July 25, 1837, died in South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, February 22, 1902, and is buried at Nisky Hill Cemetery, Beth- lehem, Pennsylvania. He married Susie Weaver, September 14, 1865, at her home in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Susie Weaver was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, May 5, 1847. She was a daughter of Joseph and Salome Weaver, of Allentown, Pennsylvania. Samuel and Susie (Weaver) Adams had the following children: John, Joseph W., of whom further; Henry, of whom further ; and Susie.
Samuel Adams, when quite a young man, started out in farming, and then in iron ore mining. He entered the employ of the Thomas Iron Company of Catasauqua, Pennsylvania, and was given charge of their mining interests. Mr. John Fritz induced him to come to Bethlehem and accept the position as his assistant in the Bethlehem Iron Company. Here he remained for nearly thirty years, and then had to resign on account of his health. He then organ- ized the Ponupo Mining & Transportation Company, Ltd., and went to San- tiago de Cuba as general manager of the Company. Here he bought a rail- road for the company, the Ferro-Carril de Santiago de Cuba, and became its president, and also built an extension to the railroad to connect with the company's manganese mines. He remained in Cuba with his family for over two years, when he resigned and returned North. He was in Cuba part of the year 1892, all of 1893, and part of 1894. After returning from Cuba he assisted in forming the Sheffield Coal, Iron & Steel Company of Sheffield, Alabama. He stayed in Sheffield with his family one year, then sold out his interest and came North. While with the Sheffield Coal, Iron & Steel Com- pany he held the positions of general superintendent and assistant treasurer, and also director of the company. He then retired from active business and devoted himself to farming, having a tract of one hundred acres near Friedens- ville, Pennsylvania, about one hundred and thirty acres above Bingen, Penn- sylvania, and a tract of woodland along the Pennsylvania & Reading railroad of forty acres, above Bingen, Pennsylvania. He was also interested in and a director of the following companies at the time of his death: Ponupo Mining & Transportation Company, Cuban Mining Company, Jones & Bixler Manu- facturing Company, and South Bethlehem National Bank.
(V) Joseph W. Adams, of South Bethlehem, Northampton county, Penn- sylvania, son of Samuel Adams, was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Janu- ary 19, 1872. He married Reba Thomas, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, daugh- ter of David J. and Susannah (Edwards) Thomas, of Pittsburgh, June 14, 1899, at her home. Reba Thomas was born in Pittsburgh, November II, 1877.
Joseph W. Adams was educated at the Moravian Parochial School of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the Hill School of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, and the Lehigh University of South Pennsylvania, where he joined the Delta Upsilon fraternity. He started to work in the drawing rooms of the Bethle-
436
NORTHAMPTON COUNTY
hem Iron Company. He went to Cuba with his father, and was treasurer of the Ferro-Carril de Santiago de Cuba, 1892-93. He was in Alabama as assist- ant to the general superintendent of the Sheffield Coal, Iron & Steel Com- pany in 1895, and part of 1896. He returned home and took up his studies again at Lehigh University in metallurgy and mineralogy, and then read law for over a year. In 1899 he and his brother Henry formed the Cuban Mining Company, and he was elected secretary and treasurer of the company, and also a director. He is connected with the following companies: Director and vice-president of the South Bethlehem National Bank; director and president of La Paz Mining Company ; director, secretary and treasurer of the Cuban Mining Company ; director and executive committeeman of Delaware Forge & Steel Company ; director and committeeman of Guerber Engineering Com- pany ; director of Lehigh Valley Cold Storage Company ; director, secretary and treasurer of the Roepper Mining Company ; director of Valentine Fibre Ware Company ; acting trustee of the estate of Samuel Adams. He is a mem- ber of the following clubs and societies; Society of Colonial Wars in the State of New York; Empire State Society ; Sons of the American Revolution ; Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution; Pennsylvania German So- ciety ; and the local town and country clubs; and of Masonic bodies : Bethle- hem Lodge, Zinzendorf Chapter, Bethlehem Council, Allen Commandery, Caldwell Consistory, and Rajah Temple. He is captain of commissary, Fourth Regiment Infantry, National Guard of Pennsylvania. His children were: John, born January 23, 1901 ; David Samuel, born March 15, 1903.
(V) Henry Adams, son of Samuel Adams, of South Bethlehem, North- ampton county, Pennsylvania, was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Novem- ber 2, 1873. He married Annette Talbot Belcher, of New London, Connecti- cut, July 9, 1902.
Henry Adams, mining engineer, was educated at the Moravian Parochial Day School of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the Hill School of Pottstown, Penn- sylvania, and the Lehigh University of South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where he joined the Delta Upsilon fraternity. He started to work with Thomas Edison at Edison, New Jersey. He went to Cuba, was assistant superintend- ent, and then superintendent of the Ferro-Carril de Santiago de Cuba. He went South to Alabama and was in charge of the coal and coke department of the Sheffield Coal, Iron & Steel Company at Jasper, Alabama. He went to Mexico and erected an electric light plant for the Mexican National rail- road, and then was supervisor of a division of that road. He resigned and was made constructing engineer for Tumer Nunn & Company, of Mexico, with headquarters in Pueblo. In December of 1897 and January of 1898 he was in Cuba, in the city of Santiago and the surrounding country, and visited the insurgents several times.
When war broke out with Spain in 1898 he raised the first company of volunteers in the State, with the assistance of Colonel Wilson and Captain Juett, of Bethlehem. He and his company were mustered into the United States service, and he received his commission as captain of volunteers on July 6, 1898. His company was attached to the Ninth Pennsylvania Regi- ment, United States Volunteer Infantry, as Company K, to help complete the Third Battalion. The regiment was in the Third Division, Third Brigade, First Army Corps. Company K, of the Ninth Pennsylvania Regiment of United States Volunteer Infantry, is mentioned in the "Record of Events which may be Necessary or Useful for Future Reference at the War Depart- ment." This company was organized in July, 1898, at South Bethlehem, and mustered in at South Bethlehem, July 6, 1898, which company left by rail for Chickamauga Park, July 7, 1898, arriving in camp, July 19, 1898. Re- mained in camp until August 26, 1898, when the company left by rail for Camp Hamilton, Lexington, Kentucky, arriving in camp, August 28, 1898. Left Camp Hamilton for regimental headquarters at Wilkes-Barre, Septem-
437
BIOGRAPHICAL
ber 19, 1898. Company left by rail for home station, September 20, 1898, arriving same day, when company was verbally furloughed for thirty days.
The above is taken from the muster-out roll of the company. The com- pany was mustered into service on July 6, 1898, and was mustered out of the service October 29, 1898. It was the first volunteer company formed in the State of Pennsylvania, and was taken to help fill out the Third Battalion of the Ninth Pennsylvania Regiment. The other companies were Captain Green's, of Reading ; Captain Mercer's, of Summit Hill, above Mauch Chunk : and Captain Moor's, of Towanda.
On Friday evening, April 22, 1898, there was a meeting held in the Foun- tain Hill Opera House, and a call for volunteers made. These met in Doxon's Hall afterward, and elected Henry Adams, captain; Leighton N. D. Mixsell, first lieutenant; and Dick Enright, second lieutenant. Mr. Enright failed to pass his physical examination and was re-elected. A. Alison Mitchell, of Wilkes-Barre, was appointed in his place. The South Bethlehem Market Hall was used as an armory by the company.
Henry Adams is a member of the Pennsylvania German Society, 1899; a member of the Society of Foreign Wars, Pennsylvania Commandery, 1899; general manager of the Cuban Mining Company at Neuvitas, Cuba, 1899- 1902, and the mines of this company were discovered by him; a member of the Empire State Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, and was presented a medal of honor by the society for service in the Spanish-American War; and of Masonic bodies: Fernwood Lodge No. 543, Philadelphia, and Caldwell Consistory, thirty-second degree. He was vice-president and gen- eral manager of the San Domingo Exploration Company and San Domingo Southern Railway Company, San Domingo, R. D., West Indies, 1902.
JOSEPH GEORGE WOODRING-As the leading exclusive hat dealer in Easton, Mr. Woodring is reaping the reward of a life of earnest, well directed business effort, and in civil life occupies equally honorable position. He is a descendant of French Huguenot ancestry, the earliest member of the line to come to America being Abraham Vautrin (the name in almost every instance having become Woodring in this country), a native of Finstingen, in Lorraine, who sailed from Rotterdam in the brigantine Richard and Elizabeth, commanded by Christopher Clymer, arriving at Philadelphia, September 28, 1733. Abraham Vautrin was accompanied by his wife and son, Hans Peter, aged nine years, and three daughters, the youngest of whom was two years old. One of these daughters, Maria Magdalena, became the wife of Paulus Balliet, representative of another ancient Huguenot line which endured ter- rible religious persecution, and the mother of Col. Stephen Balliet, the re- nowned soldier and statesman of the Lehigh Valley.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.