History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 67

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 67
USA > Pennsylvania > Pike County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 67
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 67

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Third Generation .- Benjamin Parmenter, fourth child of Joseph and Mary, born in Braintree, September 9, 1680. He married Hannah Newtown, daughter of Ephraim New- town, of Milton, Mass.

Fourth Generation. - Benjamin Parmenter, son of Benja- min and Hannah, born in Braintree, December 16, 1712. Married, May 25, 1747, Hannah Bigelow, of Weston, Mass.

Fifth Generation .- John Newton Parmenter, son of the last Benjamin and Hannah, born in Newport, R. I., in 1742. Married, first, October 25, 1764, Lydia Baldwin, daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth Baldwin, of Winchen- den, Mass. She was born January 16, 1746, died Novem- ber 29, 1773. Second marriage, September 27, 1774, Han- nah Abbot, of Chester, She died March 2, 1802. Third marriage, February 19, 1806, Dolly Blair, of Blandford. lle died December 6, 1828.

Sixth Generation .- Arethusa Parmenter, daughter of John N. and llannalı Abbot, his second wife, and Wm. Penniman, the second. She was born February 13, 1778 ; married December 6, 1801 ; died, August 17, 1837.

Seventh Generation .- Francis B. Penniman, fourth son of Arethusa Parmenter and William Penniman, her husband.

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engaged for a number of years mainly in book and job printing. The Oberlin Evangelist, (organ of the Oberlin Institute), the Ohio Ob- server (organ of the Presbyterian Synod of the Western Reserve) and The Agitator (one of the earliest anti-slavery newspapers), were, low- ever, for a considerable period, issued simul- tancously from his presses.

In 1844 he came to Honesdale and, as we have already seen, established the Democrat, which was an advocate of Whig doctrines and principles, and was ultimately rechristened the Citizen. Mr. Penniman soon became an active and aggressive force in politics and although only the editor of a small weekly paper in an unimportant town, his ability and zeal won recognition and commanded respect in far wider circles than those which limit the in- fluence of the majority of men similarly sit- uated. He became a factor successively in county, Congressional and State affairs, merely through the natural expansion of the circle of his public acquaintance and a constantly in- creasing knowledge of his convictions, com- prehensive grasp of leading public questions, and his general intellectual strength. To the influence lie exerted through his journal-and many of its issues during the momentous years preceding and during the great Civil War con- tained editorials no whit below those of the metropolitan press, in form or thought-he added that of a popular public speaker, and one who, unlike many, had thoughts to pro- mulgate as well as words to utter. Notwith- standing his intimacy with politics and politi- cians, his constant activity, the power he ex- erted through his journal and from the plat- form, he never held, and probably never de- sired to hold, political office, unless that of the associate judgeship of Wayne County, to which he was appointed by Governor Pollock, on May 15, 1856, might, by a stretch of propriety, so be denominated. But he was frequently called upon to fill positions of trust and honor, some of them involving difficult and delicate duties. Thus he was appointed by Governor Johnson, in January, 1851, a member of the committee for Pennsylvania, to facilitate the International Exhibition at London ; was appointed by Gov-

ernor Curtin, on March 6, 1862, a trustee of the State Lunatic Hospital, at Harrisburg, and reappointed by Governor Curtin in 1865, and by Governor Geary in 1868; upon the crea- tion of the Board of Public Charities, was made a member thereof, in December, 1869, and held various other similar stations. He was a dele- gate to the Whig National Convention in 1852, and to the first Republican National Conven- tion in 1856. He was on the Republican Electoral Ticket in 1860, and helped to cast the vote of Pennsylvania for Abraham Lin- coln.

Just after the close of the war, in 1865, he entered upon a period of greater activity, and a work involving more labor and responsibility, than lie had before experienced. He then be- came one of the owners and the editor-in-chief of the Pittsburgh Gazette, which, under his able management, absorbed the rival Commercial and achieved a higher reputation than it had ever before or has ever since enjoyed. While pre- siding over the editorial interests of the Ga- zette he was unquestionably one of the leading forces in the politics of Pennsylvania. He per- formed a tremendous work, journalistically and as a platform speaker, and under the strain, too great to be borne by any man, his health became so impaired that he found it necessary to relinquish all employments in which he was engaged. This he did in October, 1870, and since then he has lived in Honesdale, in com- fortable retirement, relieved by occasional exer- cise of pen and voice, as inclination suggests.

When Mr. Penniman retired from the Pitts- burgh Gazette, it was written of him in that journal :

" Among the eminent journalists of this State none have been more deservedly prominent for intellectual power or dignified courtesy, and none more dis- tinguished for the range and compass of subjects with which he was conversant, and the fullness and accuracy with which he discussed them."

A competent critic at that juncture wrote of him :

"When writing he concentrated his whole mind on his subject, and in his treatment of it explored its profoundest depths, with every possible aspect avail- able and familiar to him. He was always ready to discuss all topics with the pen of a master."

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Both as writer and speaker Mr. Penniman seems to possess that peculiar facility and felicity of expressing his thoughts which is happily characterized in the homely colloquial saying, " he can say anything that he wants to," -- whether treating of the simplest facts or dis- coursing in realms of abstract thought, either with tongue or pen his command of language- of exactly the right language-is really phenom- enal. And he has usually had things to say which were worthy of going forth on the wings of the best words.

Mr Penniman was married early in life --- May 11, 1835-to Jane W. Broadwell, daugh- ter of Ara Broadwell, of Utica, N. Y., who is still living. Their children are Edward A. (one of the owners and' editors of the Honesdale Citizen), Francis B. Penniman, Jr., and Mary (wife of W. K. Dimock).

The next in order of succession of the papers started in Honesdale was the Tribune, a small, four-page weekly, each page being about eight by ten inches. It was edited by Peter H. Miller (colored), and the first number issued on 14th February, 1847. Its publication was con- tinued but a short time. Peter H. Miller af- terwards went to Port Jervis, and in January, 1850, started the Port Jervis Express, a small sheet, which was the first newspaper published in that town.

In April, 1848, George M. Reynolds and Francis Drake issued a prospectus for publish- ing in Honesdale a paper to be called The Weekly Cutter and Wayne County Reformer. The first number was issued on June 1, 1848, and entitled The National Reformer. In politics it advo- cated the election of Van Buren for President in opposition to Cass, the regular Democratic nominee, and in opposition to General Taylor, the Whig nominee. They had their own type, etc., but the press-work was done in the office of the Democrat. It was published until after the Presidential election, and discontinued in De- cember, 1848.

Mr. Reynolds removed the type and other materials to Carbondale and started a Whig paper, then called the Lackawanna Journal, the first number of which was issued on the 19th of January, 1849. Mr. Drake died in Honesdale

in 1849 or 1850. Mr. Reynolds removed West, and died in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1880.

The New Dawn was a weekly newspaper started in Honesdale in 1852 and was edited and published by M. H. Cobb. The first num- ber was issued December 1, 1852. Mr. Cobb had his own type, etc., but the press-work was done in the office of the Herald.

When started it claimed to be independent, or neutral, in politics, and was so conducted until after the Democratic nominations were made for the election in 1853. It then became the advocate of the election of James M. Porter as president judge, in opposition to M. M. Dim- mick, the regular candidate of the Democrats. It was during that campaign a spirited paper and efficient as a party organ. Soon after the election (at the close of its first volume) it was discontinued, and Mr. Cobb removed the type to Wellsboro', in Tioga County, and started the Tioga Agitator.

In February, 1859, a German paper was started in Honesdale, entitled the Honesdale Wochenblatt. It was edited by Carl Schmidt, and the first number was issued on the 26th of February, 1859. The size of the sheet was twenty-eight by thirty-eight inches.

The fourteenth number of the paper stated that the late editor (C. Schmidt) had run away, and that his real name was Christian Nonnen- macher.

L. Grambs, C. Petersen, F. Schuller, J. Ap- pert and W. Seaman were made a committee to arrange for continuing the publication. Charles K. Beardslee, of Texas, was put in charge as editor and publisher. No. 26 contained his valedictory.

Charles Kolbe then became its manager, and it was continued under his supervision a little more than a year. The eighty-sixth number informed its readers that as the paper liad suf- fcred greatly from the neglect of Mr. Kolbe, it would thereafter appear under the management of Morris M. Wiseman. It was continued under his charge to number 103.

After this it was edited and managed by A. Ludwig for a few months, and theu, for want of support, in 1861, publication was finally sus- pended, and Mr. Ludwig removed to Scranton

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to conduct a German paper therc. The paper was printed by or under the supervision of Charles R. Beardslee. In September, 1863, the press and other printing materials were removed by Mr. Beardslee to Hawley to be used in start- ing the Hawley Free Press.

In Marchi, 1866, the press and types, which had been returned to Hawley to publish the Hawley Free Press, were removed to Honesdale and again put to use there in starting the Eleventh District Monitor. It was edited and published by F. A. Dony and J. H. Dony, and in politics claimed to be Democratic. The first number was issued March 24, 1866, and it was continued until December 13, 1867. It was folio in form, each page being sixteen by twenty- one inches. F. A. Dony is now a preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and J. H. Dony a clerk in the War Department in Wash- ton.

The Semi- Weekly Democrat was started in Honesdale by Leroy Bonesteel in 1869. The first number was published on May 28th, and it was thus continued until 22d October, 1869. It was a four-page paper, each page measuring thirteen by twenty inches. In October, 1869, directly after election, it was changed to a weekly publication, and its size enlarged to twenty by twenty-six inches per page, being just double its previous size.

Mr. Bonestcel continued as its manager until December 20, 1870, when he sold out to A. P. Childs. It was continued under Mr. Childs' management until April 28, 1871, when Rich- ard Sandy became associated with him, and under their joint names it was published until 25th of August, 1871, when Mr. Childs with- drew. From that date to the end of 1871 it seems to liave been published anonymously.

On the 5th of January, 1872, the name of Mr. Sandy again appeared at its head, and was thus continued to May 3, 1872, when its last number was issued.

The Honesdale Morning Chronicle was the first, last and only venture in the way of a daily newspaper ever attempted in Honesdale. E. H. Mott, now of the New York Sun and the talented teller of its widely-quoted and pictur- esque Pike County lies, was the editor and pro-

prietor. The size of each printed page was nine and one-half by twelve inches. The type- setting and press-work were done in the Herald office, the first number being issued September 5, 1876, and the last December 20th of the same year, making just one hundred numbers. No- vember 6th the name of the paper was abbrevia- ted to the Morning Chronicle. It was a newsy and sprightly journal, but its owner was com- pelled to abandon its publication owing to a lack of support and encouragement by the citi- zens of Honesdale.

THE WAYNE INDEPENDENT .- In the au- tumn of 1877 very many of the citizens of Wayne County were greatly dissatisfied with the decision of the county commissioners to proceed at once to the erection of a new court- house, especially upon so large and expensive a plan as they had adopted. The people thus dissatisfied, which comprised nearly all of the people of Wayne County, outside of the bor- ough of Honesdale, and many within the bor- ough, after consultation on the subject, decided to oppose and, if practicable, prevent, the erec- tion of so costly a building, unless the matter was first submitted to, and approved by, a vote of the people ; and to enable them more easily to keep informed of the state of the case, and to encourage them to persevere in their opposition, it was concluded to issue a weekly newspaper, that should give voice to the people in this and in other matters pertaining to the general wel- fare of the county, wherein the farmers and others dwelling in the rural districts might be heard in relation to all matters affecting their interests as members of the body politic of Wayne County, with especial reference to the appropriation of the moneys drawn from them by taxation. To this end arrangements were made with B. F. Haines, who was then pub- lishing the Herald at Hancock, N. Y., to re- move to Honesdale, and publish a paper to be called The Wayne Independent. Rooms for a printing-office were engaged in the brick store building of J. M. Bauman, and the first num- ber of the paper was issued on the 7th of Feb- ruary, 1878, as a seven-column folio, each page being fifteen and one-half by twenty-one and one-half inches.

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WAYNE COUNTY.

Its office of publication was soon afterward removed to the building erected by A. B. Mil- ler for a hotel, and in 1882 the office was again removed to the Peterson & Smith building, where it now remains.

Miles Beardsley, of Cold Spring, N. Y., be- came associated with Mr. Haines in February, 1879, and so continned until January, 1881, when he left, and the entire management has since devolved upon Mr. Haincs. After the

English ancestry. His earliest paternal an- cestor to emigrate to this side of the Atlantic settled at Salem, Mass., in the seventeenth century.

About the same time his first maternal ancestor in this country, a sea-captain, settled on Gardiner's Island, near New York. About 1735 several of the descendants of these early families removed to Orange County, N. Y., where they were among the pioneers of that now

Benji 7. Haines

first volume the paper was enlarged to an eight- column folio, and in 1882 it was again enlarged to a nine-column folio. The paper has been progressive in every way since its first estab- lishment in the county, and has so faithfully and ably represented the cause of the people that it has constantly increased in circulation and public favor. It now has a circulation of two thousand four hundred copies weekly.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN HAINES, the editor of the Wayne Independent, is descended from an

populous and interesting section of country. Among these early settlers were the ancestors of the subject of this sketch. His father, R. R. Haines, was a Quaker, and a hard-working and industrious farmer, a great reader, intelligent, pious, gentle in disposition, but possessed of great firmness of character. He married, in April, 1844, Mary F. Goldsmith, of Colden- ham, N. Y., and immediately removed to Mary- land, where he purchased a farm in Montgomery County, in that State, twenty miles up the

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Potomac River, from Washington, D. C. His wife, who accompanied him, was an intelligent Christian woman, possessing an exceedingly cheerful disposition, and a heart filled with kindliness and affection. Her presence in the liome ever cast a bright halo around it, and no matter how dark the cloud was that hovered over the family, she always saw the sun shining behind it, exposing to view the silver lining of hope and bright anticipation. There were born to her two children,-a daughter, Susie A. Haines, and Benjamin F. Haines, to whom this sketch is inscribed.

The elder Haines continued to engage in agricultural pursuits in Maryland until the breaking out of the late Civil War, at which time the strong feelings incited by the conflict compelled him to leave the scene of violence and disorder. During the summer of 1861 the Union troops entered the neighborhood, and in November of that year General Banks, with forty thousand men, encamped between the Potomac River and Mr. Haines' farm. After remaining about two weeks the army moved up the river on the Maryland side, leaving the neighborhood behind exposed to the incursions of the Virginia guerrillas. Mr. Haines, being a pronounced. anti-slavery man, and known to entertain strong Union sentiments, thereupon disposed of his horses, cattle and grain to General Banks' quartermasters, and packing his most valuable goods in boxes, aided by two friendly neighbors, started on the night of De- cember 12, 1861, on his journey northward, in two wagons, one conveying his household goods and the other his family. After thirty miles of travel by this method a station on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was reached, whence the family left for the North in safety, and there spent the remaining years of the war. In May, 1866, the father died, and was buried in the Goodwill Church Cemetery, Orange County, N. Y., three miles from the place where he was born. Not wishing to return to Maryland, the members of the family disposed of the farm there after the close of the war, and remained in the North.

Benjamin F. Haines, as has been intimated, was born in Darnestown, Montgomery County,

Md., October 2, 1849. He was early inured to a life of labor and hard work, and from the time he was able to handle a hoe was com- pelled to labor industriously on the paternal farm. His early schooling advantages were ex- ceedingly limited, but careful educational train- ing at home, supplemented by attendance at a private school, taught by a Massachusetts lady, named Merriam, in connection with the planta- tion of John L. Dufief, a wealthy planter of his neighborhood, put him in possession of the fundamental principles of a sound English education prior to the removal of his father to the North. In the autumn of 1866 he entered the academy at Montgomery, N. Y., and in 1868 was graduated from that institution, passing an examination by and receiving a diploma from the regents of the Albany University. After teaching school a short time in the town of Hamptonburg, Orange County, N. Y., he was tendered and accepted a situation as purser on a passenger and freighting steamer, the " Isaac P. Smith," running between Savannah, Ga., and Jacksonville, Fla. In 1870 the steamer was taken off the route, and the owner secured places for nearly all the members of the crew, the position of assistant purser on a transat -: lantic steamer being offered to Mr. Haines. But, owing to the solicitation of his mother, he determined to abandon a sea-faring life, and re- turning home, decided to adopt the profession of journalism as his life-work. He served a three years' apprenticeship at the printer's trade in the Republican and Standard office, at Montgom- ery, N. Y., and in 1874, having contributed articles to various journals, in the mean time be- came editor of the Hancock. (N. Y.) Herald, at that time owned by an association. After successfully managing the paper for a year he became its owner by purchase, and continued its publication until January, 1878. At that time, being urged by many prominent citizens of Wayne County, Pa., among them being Hon, W. M. Nelson and George S. Purdy, Esq., to establish a paper at Honesdale, the county-seat, in opposition to the project of building a new court-house at that place, he removed there, and in the middle of January, 1878, he issued the prospectus of the new paper, and on the-

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morning of February 7, 1878, just at the break of day, the force, editor and all, having worked all night, the first copy of the Wayne Independ- ent was given to the world. It was a small, seven-column quarto, but what it lacked in size it made up in force, piquancy and enthusiasm. The paper began with a subscription list of nine hundred, and its career has since been marked by a healthy, steady growth. In 1879 it was increased in size to eight columns, and in 1884 to a nine-column quarto, its present size. The circulation in 1886 is a little over twenty-four hundred copies.

Besides doing the entire work of his own paper, he is a regular contributor to the columns of the New York Herald and Philadelphia Times.

Mr. Haines is still the owner and editor of the Independent, and one of the representative newspaper men of Northeastern Pennsylvania. He wields a graceful and facile pen, making his points with force and precision, and managing the executive or business part of his paper with rare skill. He lays no claim to brilliant endow- ments, gifted literary talents or superior abilities in any direction, but has achieved his present place in life by persistent labor and close appli- cation. He rejoices in his early home-training, and in the fact that his success is due to the rigid industry to which he was early inured, and to the guidance of scrupulously devout and thoroughly practical Christian parents. He has not abandoned the industrious habits of carlier years, but may be found in his office, surrounded by his assistants, early and late. He is a man of abstemious habits, regular and systematic in all that he does, of strict integrity and of wide influence in the place in which he has established his home.

May 25, 1875, Mr. Haines was united in marriage to Mrs. Dr. James Low, née Margaret Eager Millspaugh, of Montgomery, N. Y., a woman of superior qualities, a most careful housekeeper and admirable home-maker. The economy and systematic routine of her manage- ment are the foundations on which the beauty and serenity of her home rest, and in it the simplest and most spontaneous hospitality dwells.

VARIOUS WRITERS OF POETRY AND FIC- TION .- Wayne County has been prolific of writers out of all proportion to population, educational advantages and literary stimulus or " literary atmosphere." They have, as a rule, been writers of poetry of the minor class, and several of them have displayed a very high order of merit. One of these writers (Emma May Buckingham) says,-

" AUTHORS OF OLD WAYNE.

"There is something in the sterile soil of old Wayne which favors the growth of talent and literary cul- ture, judging from the number of authors who have been raised in this county.

"' Stella, of Lackawanna,' née Harriet Hollister, now the widow of the late L. Watres, of Scranton, was born and educated in Hollisterville. She ranks high as a poetess, and is a contributor to several newspapers and periodicals. (She was born January 27, 1821, in Salem, and is the daughter of Alanson Hollister.)

"Dr. H. Hollister, her brother, and author of the history of Luzerne and Lackawanna Counties, is a native of Wayne. David W. Belisle, of Camden, N. J., and editor of the Saturday Evening Express, also author of 'The Parterre,' a volume of poems, a novel and 'The History of Independence Hall and Its Signers,' published in Philadelphia in 1859, and other works written conjointly with his gifted wife (née Orvilla Gleason, of Wayne County), was a resi- dent of Paupack township, this county.

"Hon. Truman H. Purdy, of Sunbury, Pa., a law- yer of note and ex-member of the State Legislature, the author of a two-hundred page poem, entitled 'Doubter,' and many short poems, is a native of Pau- pack, Wayne County. Mr. Purdy was educated at Lewisburgh, Pa. This University conferred upon him the title of A.M. Mrs. Harriet Purdy Cochrane, of 925 Melon Street, Philadelphia, née Harriet Purdy, was raised and educated in Purdytown, Paupack township, and is one of Wayne County's most gifted children. She is the author of a beautifully written book en- titled ' Drift from the Shore of the Hereafter,' a work issued in pamphlet form by Anvil & Co., Philadel- phia, in 1883, who writes under the nom de plume of 'Amaranth.' Alma Calder (now Mrs. Johnson, of New York City), of Equinunk. Alma Calder is a talented as well as popular writer, and indisputably one of the authors of the 'Saxe Holm Stories.' She is the daughter of the Rev. Alexander Calder."

Besides the writers mentioned in the forego- ing remarks, there are quite a number of others. Mary Ashby Townsend has sung sweetly of the " Hills of Wayne," and written a most plaintive lyric, entitled " A Woman's Wish," both of

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History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 67

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