USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > Honesdale > History of the First Presbyterian society of Honesdale > Part 17
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Nathaniel Beers was born on Morris Plains, N. J. He married Sarepta Tompkins and came to Honesdale in 1837.
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His children were Deacon Elias T. Beers, Nancy E., wife of Daniel Tillou, and Caroline A., wife of U. V. Wheeler. He was a Christian man and a member of the church, known as father Beers in his time,
David Beers, a brother of the foregoing and kuown as Gen- eral Beers from the fact that he was in the war of 1812, came here about the time that his brother did and resided on Beers' Hill, now known as High street. His children were Phebe Ann, wife of S. G. Cory, Elizabeth, wife of Jackson Bassett, and Simeon Cory Beers.
David Cory was a wagon maker. He had his shop on the corner of Main and Fourth streets. Of his large family Stephen G. Cory is the only one that remained in Honesdale. He and his wife, Catharine, are numbers sixty and sixty-one on the church roll. They united with the church in 1832.
Jabez Rockwell was born in Fairfield county, Conn., Oc- tober 3, 1761. He was of the sixth generation from Rev. Wil- liam Rockwell, a Baptist minister, who came to Massachusetts in 1630. His ancestors were all Baptists but when he came to Milford he united with the Presbyterian church there from whence he took his letter to the Honesdale Presbyterian church in 1838. He enlisted in the Seventh Connecticut Regiment in the Revolutionary army and fought at Germantown, Monmouth and Stony Point, under General Wayne. He wintered with Washington's army amid the privations of Valley Forge. He was twice married and had seven children by each marriage. His first wife was Sarah Rundell and his second wife was Eliza- beth, daughter of Abram Mulford, the third sheriff of Wayne county. He was a faithful Christian, his faith being of the un- limited kind that recognized the hand of the Lord in every- thing along the way of life. As he stood in prayer with up- turned face, long white hair and clasped hands his pastor said that he would have made a fine subject for the artist's canvas. He was a fifer and at his request the "Masonic Adieu" was played on the fife by P. G. Goodrich all the way from his home in Leonardsville to Honesdale when he was buried. He died
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in 1847 aged 86. One of his daughters, Phebe Gainsfort, is a centenarian still living in 1905. John B. Rockwell, a son of Jabez Rockwell, and his wife, were members of the Presbyterian church at Milford, where Charles F. Rockwell was born in 1825. C. F. Rockwell was a merchant and postmaster at Equinunk in 1861-66, removing to Honesdale in 1866, since which time he has been a pewholder in the Presbyterian church. He was county treasurer one term and express agent until 1885. In 1855 he married Harriet S., daughter of Isaiah Scudder, an in- telligent woman and member of the church. Their children, Harriet, a school teacher, and Harry, are also members of the church.
John I. Allen was born at Pittstown, Rensselaer county, N. Y., August 26, 1804. He read law in Schoharie county and came to Wayne county about 1839 when he was admitted to the bar. He took an active interest in politics and January 1, 1842, became editor and proprietor of the Wayne County Her- ald, the Democratic organ of the county. About this time he became one of the trustees of the church. In December, 1845, he sold the Herald to Hon. W. H. Dimmick, then State Senator, and went to Easton and was connected with the Easton Senti- nel about two years. He was accidentally drowned by falling from the towpath bridge into the Lackawaxen, June 5, 1859.
Benjamin B. Smith was born in Franklin township, Sus- quehanna county, Pa., in 1815, and was educated at Harford Academy and Union College. He worked on the farm in his youth and taught district school and after he came to Hones- dale he was principal of the academy from 1841 to 1851; then he had a book store, on Main street in the Foster block for a time, and finally in the block between Eighth and Ninth streets where Neilsen now has his store. Mr. Smith and his son Henry were largely self-educated and their conversation was instruct- ive and uplifting. It has been remarked that one could not go into B. B. Smith's store and enter into conversation with him for any length of time without coming away with some good thought. Unlike many stores, where only that which is vulgar
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holds sway, the thoughts advanced in Mr. Smith's store were pure and ennobling. Mr. Smith was a reformer, and he suffered in his business as such men always do, for advocating that which was in advance of his time. He was an anti-slavery and temperance advocate, being the leader of the Prohibition party for many years. He studied evolution and heredity, writing a number of articles which were published in one of the county newspapers, on the latter subject. His scientific studies did not cause him to abandon his faith in God nor his belief in the life beyond the grave. He thought that the church did not take as deep an interest in temperance work as it should and he did not always measure up to the standard in doing church work, but he was an honest outspoken man always ready to per- form his part in promoting civic righteousness *. In 1841 he married Betsey H. Brush, daughter of Elder Brush, and of his children, Carrie A. is the widow of L. L. Deming, and lives at Wilkesbarre, and Henry A. died at Whitney's Point, N. Y., where he was engaged in teaching school. Mr. Smith died in 1885,
Charles S. Minor was born in Washington, Conn., January 11, 1817. He graduated from Yale in 1841 and came to Hones- dale where he was admitted to the bar in 1841. In 1862 Gov- ernor Curtin commissioned him to make the first draft in Wayne county for troops for the Civil War, and in 1869 he became a trustee of Danville Insane Asylum, a position which he held until his death in May 1900. His first wife, Miss Harriet I. Bach, died in 1846. In 1848 he married Miss Nancy P. Brown who together with his daughters Harriet E., and Katharine B., occupy his late residence. Mr. Minor in scholarly attainments
*B. B. Smith belonged to the celebrated Smith family mentioned in Rev. A. R. Raymond's sketch. His independence was hereditary and he illustrated in his own life the truthfulness of the doctrine of heredity. Off- spring receive traits from ancestors that are many times controlling on the life, but these influences are sometimes overcome by other influences. If we were absolutely governed by the dispositions and powers that we in- herit from our ancestors and our environment, as some contend, then re- sponsibility would be at an end.
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and years of experience was regarded as the Nestor of the bar for many years. He was a courtly gentleman of the old school whose conversation was entertaining and whose reminiscences were worth remembering, and he was the last of that literary coterie of gentlemen who for many years had charge of all the literary entertainments that came to Honesdale. His kindness of heart was ever manifest in his home, his office or on the streets. He occasionally wrote poetry and his mind was spirit- ual as opposed to the low and sensual. He devoted more or less of his time for thirty years to the study of all religions, and his mind like that of many others was lost in the vastness of those infinite problems which no man by his unaided reason has ever been able to fathom or solve. In course of time Mr. Minor adopted the view that many things in the Bible were al- legorical and not historical and holding these views, November 6, 1879, he sent the following communication to the session:
Gentlemen :- In the course of my investigations upon the origin of religions my opinions have undergone a great change, to the extent of be- lieving that the accounts in the Bible, that have generally been regarded as historical by the churches are allegorical, not historical. Believing this, while I still regard love and reverence to God and charity to man as the great fundamental duties of life, I deem it best to withdraw my connection with the church and request you to take such action as may be necessary to dissolve the connection.
Very respectfully,
C. S. Minor.
The session in their preamble set forth that they knew of no charge whatever against the moral character and upright conduct of the said Charles S. Minor but after careful delibera- tion they were of the opinion that the views of said Charles S. Minor, as expressed by him, are at variance with the word of God and the belief of the Presbyterian church and are incon- sistent with his membership in the church. It is usual in such cases to have a church trial but Mr. Minor's honest statement of his views rendered it unnecessary in his case and the action of the church in permitting his name to be cut off from com- munion with the church was publicly announced from the pulpit. This voluntary severing of his connection with the church was
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conducted in a spirit of charity and kindliness on the part of both Mr. Minor and the session, and the kindest of feelings prevailed between Mr. Minor and the session ever afterwards. Mr. Minor acknowledged his faith in God and love to man and the writer will not attempt to judge him. The God in whom he admitted that he believed, will judge righteously.
Coe F. Young was born at Mount Hope, Orange county, N. Y., May 15, 1824. He was educated in the public schools and private academies and when 13 years old he was a driver boy on the Delaware & Hudson Canal, next he clerked for Thomas W. Cornell & Co. at Eddyville, N. Y., and later he opened trade at Barryville, N. Y., in connection with Calvin P. Fuller. In 1852 the freight line of Thomas Cornell & Co. was organized, and Mr. Young removed to Honesdale, Pa., where he resided until his death in 1889. In 1864 Mr. Young en- tered the service of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company as superintendent of the canal department and in 1869 he was made general superintendent, and after three years he became general manager. After the death of Thomas Dickson in July, 1884, he was elected vice president and general manager of the company. He was also president of the Albany & Sus- quehanna railroad and vice president of the Cherry Valley & Susquehanna railroad and president of the Honesdale National Bank for a time. During the time he was managing the Del- aware & Hudson Canal Company its output of coal increased from 800,000 tons to 4,500,000. He managed the affairs of the company with integrity and was a liberal supporter of churches and schools. He had a pew in the Presbyterian church, of which his wife was a member, and he was for a number of years one of the board of trustees. He married in 1849 Mary A., daughter of Peter Cornell. Of his children, Cornelia Alice is the wife of George W. Barnes, Horace G. was for a time vice president of the Delaware & Hudson railroad, Edward, a law- yer, is dead and Mary A. married Joseph B. Dickson.
Francis B. Penniman was born at Utica, N. Y., November 13, 1812. In 1826, when 14 years of age, he entered a print-
GEO. G. WALLER COE F. YOUNG
HON. CHAS P. WALLER
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ing office in his native town and began in the humblest way to learn the printer's trade. In 1834 he was in Cleveland, O., working on the Oberlin Evangelist, Ohio Observer, organ of the Presbyterian Synod of the Western Reserve, and the Agitator, one of the first anti-slavery papers published. He was in Binghamton, N. Y., thence removed to Honesdale in 1844 where he founded the Democrat, a Whig paper. This paper was published in the building now occupied by J. Adam Reite- nauer as a furniture store. H. A. Woodhouse came with him and took the first paper from the press. Mr. Penniman edited the Democrat about twenty years and in 1865 he took editorial charge of the Pittsburg Gazette. In 1870 he returned home broken in health and undoubtedly disappointed in his political aspirations. He was a forceful writer and did much service for his party, which signally failed to honor him with office. He was Associate Judge by appointment for a short time and presidential elector in 1860 and helped to elect Abraham Liu- coln to the presidency. He had a comprehensive and critical knowledge of the public men of his time and his accuracy in drawing pen pictures of them; his fearlessness in delineating individuals; or to give a summation of a man's life and an esti- mate of his character in a few chosen words that gave a good idea of the man, were strong characteristics of Mr. Penniman. Strongly Calvinistic in his theology, a genuine Dissenter, he had been priest in his own family, as he observed to a friend a short time before he died, for the last forty years. His independ- ence isolated him both in his party and in his church relations and largely destroyed his influence and efficiency in the later years of his life. He had lived long enough to see the vanity of worldly hopes and expectations and expressed himself as willing to go whenever the Supreme Ruler saw fit to summon him away. In 1835 Mr. Penniman married Jane W. Broad- well, of Utica, N. Y., who is still living, aged 95. His children are Edward A., Francis B., now deceased, and Mary, wife of W. K. Dimmock.
Hon. Charles P. Waller was a trustee of the church for a
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time and a Sunday school teacher for many years. During the controversy with Dr. Skinner he was one of the leaders in championing the cause of his pastor against the elders. He was born at Wilkesbarre, Pa., August 7, 1819, and was educated at Wilkesbarre and Williams College. He taught school at Bloomsburg, Pa., for three years, and in 1841 entered the office of Judge Collins as a law student and was admitted to the bar in 1843. He located in Honesdale in 1844 and soon took a leading position as a lawyer. In 1850 his brother George was taken into partnership with him. He was a good real estate lawyer and being an affable gentleman, as he traveled about in connection with other ventures he became well acquainted throughout the county. After Monroe and Carbon counties were placed in the Forty-third district, Judge Dreher chose to preside over his home district and in a three cornered contest between Waller, Crane and VanAuken Mr. Waller was elected Presiding Judge. He served from 1874 until his death, August 18, 1882. April 3, 1845, he married Harriet Ward Stone, daughter of Henry W. Stone. She died May 24, 1884. Their children were Lizzie and Mary S. Lizzie was the wife of W. H. Stanton. Mr. and Mrs. Stanton are both dead. Mary S. was the wife of Henry M. Crowell, who died in 1904. Mr. and Mrs. Stanton had two daughters: Harriet, wife of Ralph F. Martin, who is connected with the Honesdale Shoe Company, and Kate, who married J. E. Barbour, of Paterson, N. J.
George G. Waller was born at Wilkesbarre, May 3, 1821. He was graduated from Williams College in 1844 and read law with Judge Collins. He was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county in 1846, and commenced practice in Bloomsburg, Co- lumbia county, where his brother Rev. David Waller resided. In 1849 he came to assist his brother Charles who had been practicing here since 1844 and in 1850 they formed a partner- ship which continued until Charles was elevated to the bench. George F. Bentley his brother-in-law was in partnership with him for a number of years and after his death A. T. Searle be- came his partner. Mr. Waller was one of the ablest and hardest
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working lawyers at the bar at the time of his death in 1888. Without any of the grace of oratory he was still a very effective speaker before a jury. His very hesitancy of manner seemed to lend candor to his statements. He never seemed to present his cases in any regular order but just sprang right into the center of the subject and struck right and left until he had touched upon every important point in the case, "bringing out its most telling features while masking its weak points by an ingenious construction of ambiguous testimony that developed its strongest aspect," and riveted the attention of the jury upon the points most favorable to his client. These qualities made him a powerful advocate before a jury. He was probably the greatest trial lawyer that was ever at Honesdale bar. No mem- ber of the bar ever tried so many cases as he did. He was an active member of the church, Sunday school teacher, superin- tendent, and trustee. One characteristic of Mr. Waller was his humility, which manifested itself particularly in prayer meeting where he always supplicated the Supreme Judge of the Uni- verse as one who realized the awful majesty of the Divine presence. In 1854 he married Lizzie J., daughter of Hon. B. S. Bentley. Their daughter Bessie married Alexander Neely, of Philadelphia.
James H. Sutton was born near Snake Creek in Susque- hanna county, Pa., April 28, 1817. He was early thrown on his own resources and in 1834 he walked and caught rides from Montrose to Honesdale, following the old Milford and Owego turnpike. He came to Honesdale for the purpose of learning the printer's trade of his brother-in-law Isaac Fuller who at that time was publisher and E. Kingsbury editor of the Wayne County Herald, which was printed in the building now occupied by Henry Roe as an office. The paper was printed in long primer and owing to the sparsely settled new country had only a limited circulation. He went back to Montrose and worked at the tin trade; returning to Honesdale in 1837 he was employed by Baldwin, Bliss & Co. who had a store in the build- ing now occupied by Mr. Schuerholz, which firm was succeeded
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by Baldwin & Aldridge. M. B. Bennett, of Vermont, came here in 1842 and the firm of Bennett & Sutton, hardware mer- chants, occcupied the corner where Buel Dodge now has a drug store. In 1851 Mr. Sutton sold his interest in the firm and bought out Charles Salmon who was successor of Mr. Sutton's old employer. His stove and tinware business extended from Barryville to Hancock along the Delaware Valley and westward to Carbondale, and they sold goods at wholesale in Slocum Hollow, now Scranton. For many years he was superintendent of the Honesdale Gas Company. He married in 1846 Abigail C. daughter of Sheldon Norton and their children were Hattie S., Clara T., now deceased, and Ella F., wife of E. C. Mumford, Charles W., of Duluth, Minn., and Annie, wife of Daniel A. Noble, of San Antonio, Tex. Mr. Sutton was a member of the Presbyterian church for many years. He died April 30, 1902, at an advanced age. Clara T. Sutton died a short time after her father's death. She was educated in Honesdale High school and by continuous home study she became a good scholar. Her whole active life was that of a teacher in Hones- dale High school with the exception of one year in Hawley school. She found her mission in work in the school and church only a few hundred feet from where she was born and reared, and where she died, and yet her influence was not cir- cumscribed; it extended wherever her pupils roamed, and that influence was wholesome and uplifting. Prof. March said that she aimed at nothing less than character building in her teach- ing, and that had she taught in a school whose graduates give fame to its teachers, she would have taken rank among the great teachers. She did personal work among her pupils and by studying their capabilities succeeded in directing them to higher and better developement. A teacher has exceptional opportunities to mould the lives and characters of her pupils and Miss Sutton improved her opportunities with unusual ability and power. She had taught so long and so successfully that "she seemed to belong to the town," as one lady said at the time of her death, when her pupils and friends of all nation-
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alities and religions assembled in the church to hear tributes to her worth on the part of the School Board, the school and the church. The estimate of her worth by the Sunday school is given elsewhere. "If you want a mission, you can find it anywhere." This modest woman, without ostentation or dis- play exerted a quiet and extended influence, because she did her work honestly, sincerely, truthfully and thoroughly.
Horace A. Woodhouse was a Baptist, but he never affili- ated with that church in Honesdale. He was a pewholder in the Presbyterian church and regular attendant upon its preach- ing services. He was born at Montrose, Susquehanna county, in 1824, where he learned the printer's trade. He came to Honesdale in connection with F. B. Penniman and was foreman on the paper which he established. He was a man of advanced ideas on the slavery and temperance questions. He married Millicent, daughter of Isaac P. Foster, and was in full accord. with his father-in-law as an anti-slavery and temperance advo- cate. He gave his first vote for John P. Hale the Abolitionist candidate for president and afterwards voted with the Republi- can party until the organization of the Prohibition party of which party he was presidential elector and candidate for Asso- ciate Judge. He and B. B. Smith stood almost alone in their advocacy of Prohibition in Honesdale for many years. He met with much to discourage him from those that might have accorded him honesty and sincerity of purpose if nothing more, but he, like all reformers, soon learned to disregard the jeers of thoughtless men, and but few men had a happier way of turning the tables on their opponents than had Mr. Woodhouse. He was of such a genial, jovial disposition that even the liquor dealers could not say that he was personally offensive, although they detested his opinions. With all his radical views he could not be classed among the sour pessimists of this world. He was a ready writer, a good speaker and singer and alto- gether was one of the most genial and companionable men in town. He died in 1890. His wife joined the church in 1839. There are none living in Honesdale that now are members
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whose time of joining the church was prior to this.
Lewis S. Collins is a pewholder in the church. He was born at Bethany, May 18, 1828. In 1853 he was elected county surveyor. He farmed, had a store and postoffice at Cherry Ridge, and clerked at Robertson & Gale's tannery for a time and was Deputy Sheriff under J. B. Eldred in 1856. He clerked for Robertson again for six years, then retired to the homestead farm where he lived for twenty-seven years, during which time he was school director, assessor, auditor and justice of the peace. He was elected county surveyor in 1877 and has held the office continuously ever since. Mr. Collins is de- scended from Rev. Timothy Collins the first pastor of the Con- gregational church at Litchfield, Conn., in 1723. His grand- father Dr. Lewis Collins was the first doctor that located in Wayne county, and his father Lucius was twice Sheriff of the county, and he and his wife were members of the Presbyterian church at Bethany. His grandmother belonged to the cele- brated Huntington family. She was a good Presbyterian and died at the homestead in Cherry Ridge in 1858 in her 96th year. Mr. Collins is a resident of Honesdale now and he is the best authority we have on old land lines since John Torrey's death. Miss Bennett his adopted sister is an efficient worker in the church.
Ulysses Valentine Wheeler was born February 5, 1819, and he died in January, 1869. He was a grandson of Benjamin Wheeler, of Mount Pleasant. He married Caroline A. Beers daughter of Nathaniel Beers, April 27, 1843. He learned the blacksmith trade of his uncle Ambrose Wheeler and had his residence on the corner of Court and Eleventh streets. He was an ingenious man and attracted the attention of the Delaware & Hudson Canal managers who gave him charge of the horses and men on their road from Honesdale to Waymart. He had thirteen horses of his own and was foreman over three hundred men. His life was an active one and after his decease the work that he had charge of was divided up among four foremen. He took the Stourbridge
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Lion* apart and as it was largely composed of wrought iron, he forged it into bolts and other irons that were used on the track from Honesdale to Waymart. In his effort to save some- thing for the company he destroyed parts of a valuable relic. Notwithstanding his many temporal duties he found time to do a vast amount of personal work for the Master whom he served. He was a trusted helper of Dr. Dunning, who would say to him: "Have you spoken to Mr. A? I think he is under conviction." He was regular in his attendance at prayer meetings, and it was said that there were few persons among his associates that he had not spoken to on the subject of religion. He died when only 50 years of age but he left a name for personal work that is still remembered in the church. Of his five children one is living, Mrs. Jennie Goodwin, the well known singer, for many years of Green Ridge, but now of New York. Mrs. Wheeler still lives, cheerful and faithful at 80 years of age.
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