History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 194

Author: Mathews, Alfred, 1852-1904. 4n
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co.
Number of Pages: 1438

USA > Pennsylvania > Monroe County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 194
USA > Pennsylvania > Pike County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 194
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 194

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).

carried the paper along for a little more than three years, and then, for lack of funds, was compelled to sell the office, which he did in 1881 to E. M. Fenner, a practical printer from the State of New York. Mr. Fenner changed the name of the paper to the Express and en- larged it to eight columns to the page, leaving the subscription price at one dollar a year. The Express office did a fair business for about two years, when, on October 5, 1883, he sold the material, good will, etc., to Col. A. E. Lewis, of Milford, Pike County. ' Col. C. N. Pine, an old and experienced newspaper man, was placed in charge, and under his supervision and direc- tions the business flourished. Throughi some disagreement between Mr. Lewis and Mr. Pine, however, the latter retired from his posi- tion as publisher before the close of the year 1884. At the beginning of 1885 the general make-up of the Express was changed from a seven-column folio to a five-column quarto, and a new publisher was placed in charge about as often as the seasons would come and go. Be- tween January 1 and October 1, 1885, we learn that the following-named gentlemen were in- stalled as publishers : Samuel Y. Glessner, James P. Zabriskie, W. T. Doty and Thomas J. Alleger.

On October 15, 1885, Col. Lewis sold the office to Messrs. H. P. Woodward and Arthur K. Stone, of Hawley, Wayne County. The new proprietors changed the name of the paper to The Monroe News, and left the subscription price as it was-one dollar a year. Local county correspondences were inserted ; portraits of prominent men and women were published ; the legal aud court news printed gratuitously, and, within four months from the time the new proprietors took possession, The News had be- come so popular with the people that its circu- lation had doubled from what it was when they took charge of the office.

One sad thing might be written in connection with this paper, which is the fact that the first proprietor, Mr. White, became insane soon af- ter selling to Mr. Fenner, and was placed in the insane asylum at Norristown, in this State. After remaining in this institution for a few years he became so much improved in mind

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that he was removed to the home of his son, at Manchester, N. J., at which place he is cared for at the time of writing this sketch.

EAST STROUDSBURG METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH .- In 1871 religious services were held in private houses among the Methodist residents in East Stroudsburg. During the pastorate of Rev. J. S. J. McConnell, of Stroudsburg, a class was formed separate from the mother- church, and measures taken to secure a pastor. Accordingly, in the spring of 1872, Rev. Daniel Young was sent by the Annual Conference to preside over the young flock, Rev. William Cooper being presiding elder. The church was duly organized in the spring of 1872, with Levi Smith, Michael Ransberry, Charles F. Houser, George W. Gross, William S. Barger, Wilson Pierson, Charles I. Rhodes, George Cramer and Thomas Stemple as the board of trustees. Worship was conducted in a rented building- now known as the "Academy of Music." In March, 1873, at the close of Mr. Young's pas- torate, seventy-six members and twenty-eight probationers were reported to the Annual Con- ference. From March, 1873, to 1876, Rev. B. H. Sanderlin was pastor. During his pastorate the present church building and parsonage were erected. The corner-stone of the church was laid in the spring of 1874. On the first Sun- day in November, 1874, the lecture-room was dedicated with appropriate services. In the summer of 1875 the church building was com- pleted, the dimensions of which are forty-two feet by seventy, with spire one hundred and twenty-five feet from foundation. On July 25, 1875, the church proper was dedicated, Bishop E. G. Andrews, Rev. R. L. Dashiel, missionary secretary, and other ministers assisting in the services. At the close of Mr. Sanderlin's pas- torate one hundred and eighty-one members were reported. Then followed, from 1876 to 1878, Rev. W. P. Howell ; 1878 to 1879, Rev. W. C. Johnson; 1879 to 1882, Rev. John O'Neill; 1882 to 1885, Rev. William Major ; from 1885 to this writing (1886), Rev. Ravil Smith has been pastor. During the year 1885 a church debt of three thousand one hundred and seventy-three dollars and eighty-three cents has been paid, and the lecture and class-rooms

painted and refitted. A revival resulting in the conversion of seventy-six persons has occur- red during the past year.

THE EAST STROUDSBURG PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH .- " The East Stroudsburg Presbyte- rian Church " was incorporated by charter is- sued from the Court of Common Pleas of Mon- roe County, September 27, 1876, composed of Samuel S. Dreher, president judge; Peter Grover and Charles W. Decker, associate judges. By the charter, John Leslie, Miles L. Hutchinson, Peter Empy, Alexander W. Loder and Samuel P. Smith were constituted the trustees until such time as their lawful successors were selected. Services were held with some irregularity as a constituted congregation under the charter until November 9, 1881. A committee of three ministers and two elders from Lehigh Presby- tery organized a church according to the Form of Government of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, consisting of twenty-three members, of which William F. Bush, Miles L. Hutchinson and John M. Wyckoff were appointed elders, and the church was admitted to membership and enrolled in Lehigh Presbytery. At a meeting of Presby- tery in September, 1882, a unanimous call from the church being extended to Rev. J. R. Wood- ward, of Newton Presbytery, and accepted, he was installed pastor November 23d of the same vear, and so continues to present date.

CATHOLIC CHURCH .- St. Matthew's Catho- lie Church, East Stroudsburg, Monroe County, Pa., was built in 1870 ; dedicated August 28, 1870, by Rev. Father McManus, assisted by Father O'Brien, of Dunmore, Luzerne County, Pa. Father O'Brien succeeded Father Mc- Manus, Father Burns succceded Father O'Brien, Father Hurst succeeded Father Burns, Father McManus succeeded Father Hurst, Father Brod- erick succeeded Father McManns, Father Cu- sick succeeded Father Broderick, Father Manly (present pastor) succeeded Father Cusick. Until January, 1885, St. Matthew's Church belonged to the parish of Dunmore, Luzerne County, Pa., at which date it was separated from Dnn- more, and now comprises Moscow, Tobyhanna, Gouldsborough and East Stroudsburg, with Father Manly as pastor, whose residence is at

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Moscow, Lackawanna County, Pa. St. Mat- thew's Church has about eighty communicants. A cemetery is attached to the church.

MICHAEL RANSBERRY. - The Ransberry family were among the early settlers of Stroud township, and Michael, grandfather of our subject, is believed to be the progenitor of the family in Monroe County, and owned lands near the line between Stroud township and Smithfield. His eldest son, John (1759-1830),

says, in the instrument of sale, that he had pur- chased the same of the heirs of his late grand- father (maternal), George Solladay, and the signatures of Jacob D. Stroud and John P. Robeson are affixed to the paper as witnesses. This property was granted by the common- wealth of Pennsylvania to Mannel Solladay, and by him to George Solladay, his son. This Manuel Solladay's wife was Margaret, and his will is dated Jnne 28, 1805. John Ransberry

Michael Ransberry

was taxed for one hundred acres of land in [ had dealings with John Penn in real estate, and Smithfield in 1786, and was a large real es- a mortgage dated 1803, with other papers of value now in possession of Mrs. Michael Rans- tate owner in Strond. He was a bachelor, and by the conditions of his will, dated 1830, he .berry, of East Stroudsburg, was given by him bequeathed his property to his brothers, Michael to Penn and witnessed by Jacob Stroud and Dan Stroud. John Ransberry bought other real estate of Charrick Van Vliet in 1796. He was well educated for his day, possessed large busi- ness ability and served as justice of the peace, according to his docket, from 1801-18. Henry, above mentioned, married Sarah Bowman (1762-1833), Henry (1768-1866) and sisters, Maria born 1765, Elizabeth born 1767, and several of his nephews and nieces. In a sale of two hundred and ten acres of land to his brother Michael, December 29, 1827, partly in Stroud and partly in Smithfield townships, he

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(1776-1812), a near relative of the Methodist Bishop Bowman, on January 23, 1794, and settled on the Solladay farm, at High Bridge, in Stroud township, from Berwick, Pa., in 1811, where he resided until his death, at the age of ninety-seven years. Both himself and wife were members of the Methodist Church. Their children were Jesse B. (1795-1860), married Jane Gilpin, a member of one of the oldest families of Wayne County, and resided in Sterling township, that county ; Susan B. (1797- 1870), was the wife of Francis JJ. Smith, who resided and died on the old Brodhead home- stead in East Strondsburg, owned in 1886 by his son, Jesse R. Smith ; John (1799-1874), a farmer in Stroud township, married, in 1821, Ann, a sister of John S. Van Vliet ; George (1802-65), a farmer in Stroud township, mar- ried Ann, a sister of Dr. Philip Bush ; Elenor (1805-58), was the wife of Drial Gibbs, of Portsmouth, Ohio, and one of her sons, Frank, was an officer in the late Civil War; Michael (July 10, 1807-January 31, 1883) ; and Sally Ann (1809-11).

Michael Ransberry, son of Henry and Sarah (Bowman) Ransberry, was born at Berwick, Pa., and removed with his parents to their future home at High Bridge, Monroe County, when he was only four years of age. He was in boy- hood apprenticed to one John Brown, a tanner on the Milford road, in Smithfield township, where he remained until he learned the trade, receiving therefor twenty dollars per annum for three years. His own mother having died when he was five years old, he often related the kindness of Mrs. Brown, who bccanie a mother to him and cared for him during his years of apprenticeship. Upon reaching his majority he returned home and conducted the farm for his father for some time. He subsequently worked at his trade at Buffalo, N. Y., and in other places, but finally returned home and again en- gaged in farming until the death of his father, in 1866, wlien he became owner of the farm, by the conditions of the will of his late uncle, John Ransberry.

In 1867 he settled in East Stroudsburg, and in 1872 erected a brick residence on Cortland Street, in which he resided until his death. He

served as deputy marshal in the enrollment of soldiers for the late war; was a consistent mem- ber of the Methodist Church with which he was officially connected; was a man of correct habits, sterling integrity, and seemed to live for a pur- pose in life : to fulfill the full duties of the citi- zen, husband and father. He married, in 1835, Katharine Overpeck, who died May 6, 1846, by whom he had one son, who died in infancy. In 1864 he married for his second wife Sarah Rowe, who was born Jnly 10, 1840, and sur- vives him, residing on the home property before mentioned. She is a daughter of Peter (1806- 85) and Susan (Foust) Rowe (1806-78), who were farmers in Stroud and Smithfield town- ships, and members of the Methodist Church. Peter Rowe's children were Charles, a farmer in Paradise township ; Catherine, wife of Abram Brotzman, of Rushville, Susquehanna County ; Jacob, died in 1873 at East Stroudsburg ; Philip, a farmer at Millard, Nebraska ; Eliza- beth, wife of Amos Lee, a farmer in Stroud township; Peter, died in 1873, served three years and nine months in the late Civil War and was a lieutenant ; Sarah, widow of the sub- ject of this sketch ; Hannah, wife of Charles Dibble, of Vosburg, Wyoming County ; Mary Emma, wife of Caleb Walter, of Middle Smithfield; Lydia Ann, wife of John Custer, of Stroud township.

Henry, father of Peter Rowe, married Cathe- rine Beninger in 1804, by whom he had children,-Jacob ; Peter ; Susan; Daniel ; Mary ; Margaret ; John, of Wyoming County, Pa. ; Charles, of Hawley, Pa. ; William and Joseph reside in Wisconsin ; Henry, a merchant at Eau Claire, Wisconsin ; Katie, the twin sister of Henry, is the wife of Austin Blaek, of Spencer- ville, Md.

JESSE RANSBERRY SMITH .- His paternal grandfather, Dr. Francis Joseph Smith (Jose- phus Jacobus Acrts), a native of Brussels, cap- ital city of the Austrian Netherlands, came to America in 1777, and served in the struggle for the independence of the colonies, under General Lafayette. After the close of the war he settled in Lower Smithfield township, Wayne County, where he purchased a large tract of land, and where he resided, practicing his profession, until

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his death, about 1802. A further sketch of his life may be found in the medical chapter of Monroe County, in this volume. His first wife was a European, by whom he had one son, Dr. Francis Al. Smith, who practiced medicine at Milford until his death. His second wife was Betsey Brodhead, a sister of Judge Richard Brodhead, whose home was at East Stroudsburg, where Jesse R. Smith now resides, and in the house now occupied by Mr. Smith, which was

of Milford ; Sally, wife of John Shoemaker, of Elmira, N. Y .; and Rachel, who married Jacob De La Barre, of Smithfield township, and had a daughter, Mrs. Stroud J. Hollinshead, a resi- dent of Stroudsburg, Pa.

Dan Dimmick came to Stroudsburg in the year 1800, and after his admission to the bar practiced lawat Milford until his death, in 1825. The eldest daughter of Dan and Jane Dimmick, Lucinda (1802-24), was the first wife of

DR. Smith

the first frame house built in the, place and in which the Brodhead family resided, located on the property upon which the family first settled when the country was a wilderness. She died in 1834, and by her husband, Dr. Smith, had children,-Francis J. Smith (1789-1857), father of our subject ; Jane (1791-1842), the wife of Dan Dimmick, of Milford ; Elizabeth, wife of James Wallace, a merchant of Milford ; Julia Ann, was the wife of John T. Cross, a lawyer

Judge Nathaniel B. Eldred (one son, Franklin Eldred, died while a student at Princeton Col- lege) ; Sally (1806-24) was the wife of C. C. D. Pinchot ; Oliver S., born in 1804; Dan, born 1808, a resident of Pike County ; Milo Melancthon, born 1811; Milan, born 1813, died in Pike County in 1861; William H., born in 1813, read law with Hon. N. B. Eldred. and practiced his profession at Bethany and Honesdale with great success, and died at the

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latter place in 1861 (he was State Senator and member of Congress) ; Milton, born 1816 ; La- vina E. (1820-84), never married.

Francis J. Smith, son of Dr. Francis J. Smith, married, May 20, 1812, Susan B. Ransberry (1797-1870), a daughter of Henry Ransberry, who settled in Stroud township, from Berwick, l'a., where he died, at the advanced age of ninety- seven years, September 28, 1866. He resided on the homestead where he was born, in Lower Smithfield township, until 1835, when he re- moved to the Brodhead homestead, at East Stroudsburg, heretofore alluded to in this sketch. His general occupation was farming. He was an influential member of the Democratic party, held the office of justice of the peace in Lower Smithfield and East Stroudsburg nearly all of his active business life, and served one term as commissioner of old Northampton County, be- fore the erection of Monroe County. Both him- self and wife were members of the Methodist Church. Their children are Oliver Dimmick (1813-70), kept a public-house at Forks Sta- tion, on the Delaware, Lackawanna and West- ern Railroad ; Dr. Daniel D., born in 1817, is a doctor of dental surgery at Norristown, Pa .; Jesse Ransberry, subject of this sketch ; George R. (1821-73), was a merchant at Forks Station; Theodore (1824-81), kept a hotel at White Haven, Pa .; Franklin D. (1827-52), read law with M. M. Dimmick, of Stroudsburg, where he practiced for some time, removed to Jacksonville, Florida, where he continued in the practice of his profes- sion until his death ; Francis J., Jr. (1829- 57), was a farmer on the old homestead ; Sally Ann, was first the wife of a Mr. Coleman, of New York, and after his death married Sam- uel S. Deitrick, of East Stroudsburg; Michael R. (1835-74), died at Moscow, Pa .; Auna Maria (1838-51) ; and Henry R., born in 1841, resides near Scranton, Pa., and is a conductor on the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad.

Jesse Ransberry, a son of Francis J. and Su- san B. (Ransberry) Smith, was born in Lower Smithfield township, then Northampton, now Monroe County, Pa., December 15, 1819. At the age of seven years he left home, and for

seven years thereafter resided with his uncle, Jesse B. Ransberry, a farmer of Sterling town- ship, Wayne County, where he became inured to farm-work, but had little opportunity for an education from books. After spending two years at home, in 1835 he went to Easton, Pa., where for three years he was engaged in learn- ing the trade of a blacksmith, which he followed for five years thereafter at Wyalusing, Bradford County. It was at this place he met Mr. George H. Wells, a man of large business capacity, to whom he feels largely indebted for changing his business relations in his early life, and for his success in carving out a fair competence, under his direction,-with whom he engaged for some two years in building the North Branch Canal, then in process of construction, at that place. He was superintendent, under Contractor Wells, in building twelve miles of double track of the Erie Railroad, from Otisville to Port Jervis, in 1853-54, and in 1854-55 superintended the con- struction of nineteen miles of the Delaware, Lack- awanna and Western Railroad, from High Bridge to Tobyhanna, Monroe County. Immediately after the completion of these public works he purchased the homestead property, containing one hundred and fifty acres of land, at East Stroudsburg, where he has since engaged in farming. At the time of his settlement here, in 1857, he relates that there were only three houses on the site of what is now a thriving borough, located on the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad through line from Buf- falo to New York. Mr. Smith has avoided po- litical preferment and sought the quiet of an agricultural life ; yet he has not shrunk from duty, and has served for several terms as school director and in other minor official places. He has been a deacon in the Presbyterian Church at Stroudsburg for many years, of which also his wife is a member. He married for his first wife, in 1857, Sarah L. (1828-74), a danghi- ter of Rev. George and Abigail (Baldwin) Tay- lor. The former, a Presbyterian minister, died at Moravia, N. Y., June 30, 1842; the latter was a resident of Bloomfield, Essex County, N. J. His children by this union are Edward Taylor, Burton F. and Mary E. Smith. For his second wife he married, in 1878, Sarah Elizabeth, a

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daughter of A. A. Bishop, of Wysocking, Pa. The other children of Rev. George and Abigail Taylor are Mary E., wife of Washington Ing- ham, of Sugar Run, Bradford County, Pa., and James R. Taylor, a farmer of Wyalusing, Pa. Rev. George Taylor's father was Major John Taylor, one of the pioneer settlers of Wyalusing.

ALEXANDER W. LODER, merchant of East Stroudsburg, was born in Stroud township, on the homestead farm, March 14, 1828, where he i company since 1870; Laura P., wife of Dr.

tive of Mount Bethel, Northampton County, who lived to a great age, a son of Peter La Bar, who came to Penn's colony from France in 1730. John S. Van Vliet was the son of Der- rick Van Vliet, an carly settler in Stroud town- ship. Their children are Achilles C., ticket . agent and telegraph operator at East Strouds- burg for the Deleware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad Company, and in the employ of that

A. M. Loder

learned farming and obtained a fair education from books in the neighborhood school. In 1851 he married Emily Van Vliet, who was

Horace Bush, of Wyalusing, Pa .; Vinton S., clerk in his father's store; and William H. Loder. Following his marriage Mr. Loder born in the same township, November 27, for four years farmed a part of the homestead, 1834.

She is the daughter of Jolm S. and Susan ; (La Bar) Van Vliet,-the former born in 1808, a farmer during his active business life, but in 1886 retired and living with his children ; the latter born in 1807, died in 1861, was the daughter of George La Bar (1863-76), a na-

sold his farm and for one year was a confec- tionery merchant at Stroudsburg. He then purchased a farm in the same township and for eight years more engaged in farming, when he disposed of his farm and in 1868 bought prop- erty and built the store which Dr. Lesh owns, in 1886, in East Stroudsburg. He occupied

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this an Ar pre Sin ger

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this property as a merchant only three years, and bought the lot on the corner of Crystal and Analomink Streets, on which he erected his present store building and dwelling in 1871. Since 1873 he has carried on a successful and general mercantile business. In 1872 he was elected a justice of the peace for the borough of East Stroudsburg and by re-election held the office continuously until he resigned it to accept a position under the government as postmaster of the borough, appointed by President Cleve- land in July, 1885. Upon taking this office, Mr. Loder fitted up the building adjoining his store for the post-office, with the newest designs, neatness and elegance, for the best accommoda- tion of the people, and it may be said that this office will vie with any in the State of its size for its beautiful appointments. He was a mem- ber of the first school board after the erection of the borough of East Stroudsburg, and also a member of its first Couneil, and he has served for several terms in the former capacity, and is, in 1886, a member of the Council. Mr. Loder is a thoroughgoing business man and possesses such integrity and conscientious regard in busi- ness matters as to win the confidence of all who have business relations with him.

The family of Loder were among the earliest settlers in what is now Oxford township, War- ren County, N. J., and one " Loder " is men- tioned in the history of that county, published by Everts & Peck in 1881, along with others, as following in the settlement of that locality soon after John Axford, who was the first settler there from England, in 1730. William Loder, great-grandfather of our subject, was born in Oxford township in 1740, and married, in 1764, Catherine -, who was born in 1745. They resided near Oxford Furnace. Their children were Jane, born 1764; Sarah, 1766; Anna, 1768; John, 1770 ; Isaac, 1772-1854; and William Loder, born in 1774.

Isaac, second son of William, resided about three miles below Belvidere, down the river. His wife was Sarah Hummer (1774-1839), wlio bore him children as follows : Hannah, born in 1795 ; William H., 1797; Mary, 1799; Isaac, 1801 ; Alexander W., 1805, removed to Kel- larsville, Hamilton township, where he kept a 121

store for several years, then went to Philadel- phia, where he died ; Samuel, 1807; James D., 1810, resides in Belvidere, N. J .: Sally Ann, 1813 ; Jacob Alfred, 1815, was a hat manufac- turer and dealer in Philadelphia; and John Loder, born in 1817.

William H. Loder, eldest son of Isaac and Sarah Loder, was born near Oxford Furnace, and, in 1819, married Elizabeth Ann Kinney (1797-1848), a daughter of Frederick and Mar- garet (Snover) Kinney, of Walnut Valley, Warren County, N. J. In 1826 he removed to Stroud township, Monroe County, Pa., and purchased a small farm, to which he made additions from time to time, until he had one hundred and sixty acres. He was a carpenter by trade, and followed tliis occupation nearly ' all of his active business life. He retired from his farm and other business in 1860, took up his residence in Stroudsburg, where he resided until his death, in 1872. He had no pecu- niary assistance in starting out in life for him- self, but acquired a fair competence, the result of honest industry. He was a man of exem- plary habits, good judgment and both himself and wife were members of the Presbyterian Church at Stroudsburg, following in the same line of religious persuasion as their ancestors. Their children are Frederick K. (1823-85), married and settled near Albion, Jackson Coun- ty, Michigan, where he died, leaving a family ; Isaac H. (1826-83), married and removed to Kansas about 1856, where he resided until his death ; Alexander W. Loder, subject of this sketch ; Sarah Maria, born in 1833, is the wife of Melchior Smith, a wheelwright of Strouds- burg ; Rachel E., born in 1835, wife of David Miller, a blacksmith of East Stroudsburg ; Wil- liam M., born in 1839, went to Kansas, where he enlisted at the breaking out of the late Civil War and served in Missouri under General Sigel. He returned to Stroudsburg, and at the time of the draft, in 1862, again entered the service as a substitute, was made lieutenant and served in the Army of the Potomac for nine months more. After his return from the war he married, and, soon afterward, settled in Albion, Michigan, where he has acquired a large competency as a contractor and lumber merchant.

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History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 194

Author: Mathews, Alfred, 1852-1904. 4n Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co. Number of Pages: 1438

Author: Mathews, Alfred, 1852-1904. 4n
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co.
Number of Pages: 1438