USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > Honesdale > History of the First Presbyterian society of Honesdale > Part 9
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Stephen Genung Cory was born in Mendham, Morris Co., N. J., January 16, 1814. He came to Wayne county in 1822, and lived with his uncle, Ira Genung, in Dyberry, removing to Honesdale in 1830, where he learned the wagon makers' trade of Elkanah Patmor. He was in partnership in the wagon making business with William T. Estabrook for a number of years after which he carried on the trade alone until 1870,
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when he retired. His shop was on the corner of Church and Twelfth streets and is now occupied by Otto Keltz and E. T. Smith. He was the eighty-eighth member of the church and was a useful member for fifty-six years. He was an efficient Sunday school teacher, a most careful and painstaking trustee, and a devoted and conscientious elder. He was sexton of the church for many years until he was a familiar figure about the church. He was an industrious, honest citizen and died as the good man dies, April 7, 1889, aged 75. He married Phebe, daughter of David Beers, in 1837. She died in April, 1898, aged 76. S. Frank Cory is their only son.
Rev. Stephen Torrey was born at Bethany, November 9, 1808. The county was then largely a wilderness and he and his brothers and sisters were inured to the hardships incident to pioneer life. He was educated at the district schools and Harford Academy, having attended the latter school in the years 1819-20. He was converted at the age of 12 and joined the Presbyterian church at Bethany. At this time he desired to enter the ministry but his father had other plans for him. He took charge of his father's real estate and in this connection came down to Dyberry Forks, and helped clear the land where Honesdale now stands. September 18, 1833, he married Mary Chapman, of Durham, Greene county, N. Y., and like her sisters, Mrs. Hand and Mrs. Kirtland, she was an excellent woman. She died August 4, 1870. Of his three children, Jason only, grew to manhood and he died in 1868, aged about 30. After Mr. Torrey was married his mind again turned to the ministry, and to that end he went to Harford to study Greek, but his health failed and he returned to Honesdale, entered his brother John's land office and engaged in surveying. In this connec- tion he and Edward Weston surveyed the lands along the Del- aware & Hudson Canal and made carefully prepared maps of the same, which were bound and preserved by the company. Subsequently they surveyed the lands belonging to the com- pany in Lackawanna valley. They also surveyed many tracts in Wayne county, and Mr. Torrey was remembered for years
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afterwards, by those who carried the axe and chain, for his great pedestrian vigor. Mr. Torrey was an extensive traveler, his journeyings extending from California to the Holy Land and Egypt. During these extended visits he observed the moral and religious condition of the people with reference to establish- ing missions, for the world was his field as he never lost sight of the Christianization of the people. Mr. Torrey's religious life was very pronounced. He early became a member of the Sunday school at Bethany, from which he was considered a graduate, according to the Sunday school idea of the times, after he had repeated scripture verses enough to entitle him to receive a Bible. He became a Sunday School teacher in the old Glass factory school when he was 16 years of age; from that time forth he may be said to have had a mission and a parish. He taught in the schools of Honesdale and vicinity until his knowledge of the Bible was wonderful. He was one of the organizers of the first Sunday school in Honesdale, which is still continued as the Presbyterian Sunday school. He also had Sunday schools at Smith Hill, Prompton, Paupack Eddy, now Hawley, and Indian Orchard. After Sunday school at these places he talked to the people or in other words he preached to them, and many persons, years afterwards, some of them in the far west, made Mr. Torrey's heart glad by as- cribing their conversion to his disinterested labors. In 1872 the Presbytery, being aware of his zeal in the Sunday school and missionary cause, made him Home Missionary of Lack- awanna Presbytery to look after the feeble churches within its bounds, and as he was a man of some means he expended yearly much more than his nominal salary. Presbytery re- newed his license from year to year and finally November 9, 1885, on his 77th birthday, as a tardy act of justice, this old veteran in the service was regularly ordained to the gospel ministry in the Honesdale Presbyterian church. He was greatly appreciated among the small country churches whose cause he so ably championed in Presbytery, and whose interests were so carefully looked after by him. He lived a strenuous
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life in the service of his Master. An estimate of the work and character of this robust Christian is given elsewhere. And it must not be forgotten that while he did so much outside work he was a true man to his own church. As elder he represented the church frequently in Presbytery, Synod and General As- sembly, where his influence was felt. Always a liberal con- tributor to all the benevolent causes and missions of the church, at his death he left a large portion of his fortune to be distrib- uted to the same purposes by his executors. He was the last of the charter members of the church and one of the grandest men that was ever connected with it in any capacity. His kindly Christian character and pleasing reminiscences* will never be forgotten by the author of this book. "On Monday
*Note. Stephen Torrey, in his old age, sometimes grew reminiscent, and his experiences showed the roughness of the pioneer characters that he had to deal with. Mr. Kimble invited him to preach at White Mills or Indian Orchard, and the men sat around the door of the school house talking and laughing. Mr. Kimble was angry and stepped up and told Mr. Torrey that be would talk to the men awhile. He talked to them, in the language of the backwoodsman, interlarded with more or less profauity. He gave them to understand that Mr. Torrey was there by his invitation, and that he should receive a respectful hearing. They gave Mr. Torrey attention after that. In connection with his secular employment he caught Mr. B., of Sterling, just after he had felled a fine pine, on lands for which his father was agent. This was about twenty miles from Honesdale. He told the man not to move the tree and went home. About two weeks afterward Mr. Torrey was down that way again and whom should he meet but Mr. B. with a pine log from this tree hauling it to his mill. Mr. Torrey recognized the log and ordered him to throw it off by the side of the road, which he did. Sometime afterwards Mr. Torrey went down that way again and he caught the thunderstruck timber thief just as he was in the act of rolling this log on to the logway of his saw mill. Mr. B. concluded that that log was hoodooed or bewitched and he settled with Mr. Torrey in some way for the timber.
Mr. Torrey worked the ground very thoroughly as Presbyterial Mis- sionary. Churches that have been a long time without a pastor are not always easily aroused. I remember one time when he came to Salem. He went to see Elder Cook, two miles in one direction, from the church. He then went to see Elder J. T. Stocker two miles in another direction, then came down into the back lots eighty rods from the road, where he found the writer hoeing corn. In this careful way he canvassed the field to as- certain if it would be possible to hire a student to preach in the church during the summer. Mr. Torrey understood the people in the country districts, and he represented their needs with great enthusiasm and power before Presbytery. Perhaps Mr. Torrey had a special interest in Salem church, owing to the fact that his brother-in-law, Elijah Weston, was one of its first elders, but his indomitable perseverance and energy were felt throughout the whole Presbytery, and more than one feeble church re- ceived substantial aid from his purse.
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morning, June 17, 1889, after a brief illness, God's aged ser- vant gently fell asleep." "He walked with God: and was not; for God took him."
Hon. Henry Maurice Seely, Son of R. L. Seely, was born at Seelyville, Wayne county, Pa., September 18, 1835. He graduated at Yale in 1857 and read law with Hon. F. M. Crane, one of the foremost lawyers at the Wayne county bar, supple- mented by attendance at Albany Law school. He was admit- ted to the bar in New York in May, 1859, and in September of that year he was admitted to the bar of Wayne county, where he commenced to practice in 1861. In due time his ability commanded attention, and upon the death of Judge Waller in 1882, he was appointed to fill the vacancy, his commission ex- tending until the first Monday of January, 1884. He was nominated by the Republicans and elected to the full term of ten years succeeding the time of his appointment. He rented an office and made arrangements to practice in Scranton when he was prostrated by sickness, dying Christmas eve, 1894. While at the bar he made exhaustive preparation and thoroughly tried every case that he undertook. His arguments were sin- cere and impressive and bore the marks of sincere and positive conviction. As a judge he was conspicuous for his breadth of view and comprehensive grasp of the questions involved. A marked conscientiousness also pervaded his juridical work. He was elected elder in 1870 and served until his death in 1894. Mr. Swift said of him: "Most clearly did his sincerity reveal itself in his religious life. He was fortunate in his ancestry. From his father he inherited that genial, generous, openhanded, large souled, sympathetic, helpful nature, that made him be- loved by the unfortunate, the sin stained, the heavy ladened, under whose burdens he put his own heart, and for whose re- lief his purse was always open; and from father and mother he inherited a rich religious nature, unbending integrity, love of the church and unremitting activity and fidelity in Christian work. He never felt that his position relieved him from the responsibility of church membership." "He was clerk of the
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session for years. Day and night his duties on the bench might have been most exacting, but Sabbath morning found him in place in church; then he taught his large Bible class in the Sabbath school; then superintended the Tracyville Sunday school. He loved to solve the hard problems presented by complicated law questions. He would discuss them with keenest zest, then turn with keener zest to the study of God's infallible Word to find truth to strengthen his own spiritual life and feed the souls of others. However hard pressed and driven with work, however tired or exhausted he might be, his place in the Wednesday night prayer meeting service was always filled and his part contributed to the helpfulness of the meeting. Profoundly intellectual was his prayer and yet so simple that a child could grasp it." "He said to me in his last sickness, 'All my judicial honors seem to me valueless.' 'Only that seems of worth which has had its inspiration in the life and atoning death of Jesus Christ.' 'I would give all I have in the world,' he said, for the assurance that one life had been made nobler, purer, truer, through my influence.'" He married Kate Tracy, daughter of Thomas H. R. Tracy. She was a true companion to him as well as a valuable worker in the Sunday school where she had charge of the infant class for many years. Judge Seely was a temperance man advocating the constitutional prohibitory amendment along with his classmate and friend Justice Hand. During his law practice he never made appli- cation for a license. Altogether Judge Seely was one of the ablest men that has held the office of elder in the Honesdale Presbyterian church. His opinions justly carried great weight while he was a member of the session.
Elder William Butler Holmes was born in the town of Binghamton, N. Y., April 17, 1837, of New England ancestry. His boyhood was that of a farmer's son working hard in the fields summers with the privilege of attending public school in winter. And like many another farmer's boy, being ambitious to rise in the world, he had a great desire to obtain a thorough education; to that end he prepared at the best schools of Bing-
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hamton to enter the sophomore class in college, but the exhaust- ing labors of the day, and close application to study far into the night, overtaxed his strength and he was compelled to relinquish his cherished plans. Having an older brother in the mercantile business he entered his store, where he acquired a thorough knowledge of business. In 1863 he married Miss Mattie K. Conklin and with his young bride came to Hones- dale, with a small amount of capital and a large amount of faith in the future prospects of the town and in his ability to succeed here. In arriving at a decision to locate here he and his talented wife were not unmindful of the moral, intellectual and social advantages of the place. Mr. Holmes immediately after coming to Honesdale engaged in the wholesale and retail gro- cery business, first occupying a store on the site of the present Independent building and five years later purchasing the Tracy property on Main street between Eighth and Ninth streets. The building which he occupied for a time was burned in 1872, and his present three story brick structure was erected. That a man should succeed in the wholesale grocery business, with such transportation facilities as there have been at Honesdale has been a marvel to Mr. Holmes' friends; but, like most men who are the architects of their own fortune, he has found a way out of all these difficulties and has built up a paying business. Mr. Holmes has been a director in the Wayne County Savings Bank for a number of years and he is recognized as one of Honesdale's brightest business men. For a number of years Mr. Holmes was on the School Board and he has also been a member of the Town Council, and in whatever position he is placed he is the same liberal spirited, progressive man. Mr. Holmes and his wife when they came here brought their letters with them and they identified themselves with the Presbyterian church as active, efficient working members in the Sunday school, social meetings and every department of church work. Mr. Holmes was elected an elder in the church September 22, 1874, and since the death of Judge Seely he has been clerk of the session. He has represented the church in Presbytery and
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General Assembly. He was superintendent of the Sunday school a number of years, and in all matters pertaining to the church work his counsel is sought. Mr. Holmes is a thought- ful man of others' needs, and he does things that all can see ought to have been done after he has done them. He is a liberal man, contributing to the advancement of good causes. Since its organization he has been one of the directors of the East Stroudsburg Normal school. Of his children, Daisy M. died at the age of 26. Helen B. is the wife of E. C. Mills, of Brookline, Mass., and has a family of four daughters. Mrs. Holmes is active in church work and a teacher in the Sun- day school.
Horace Chapman Hand was born May 15, 1830, at Wind- ham, Greene county, N. Y. He was brought to Honesdale by his parents the following year. He was educated at Hones- dale Academy, at Montrose and Bloomfield, N. J. After leav- ing school he clerked in his father's store a short time and in 1848 he went into the Honesdale Bank as clerk. March 17, 1864, the following record appears in Honesdale Bank history: "The cashier laid before the board, the resignation of Horace C. Hand, as teller of the bank, of a service as clerk and teller of nearly sixteen years, to take effect March 31, (1864,) to en- able him to enter into active business, which resignation was accepted with regret by the board, and with expressions of ap- preciation of the faithful and valuable service rendered by Mr. Hand." Mr. Hand purchased the Hand & Kirtland business and conducted it for a short time selling out to S. W. Powell. November 1, 1871, The Wayne County Savings Bank was started in the northern part of the Keystone Block, then owned by W. W. Weston, and Mr. Hand was made cashier. He was alone in the bank until H. S. Salmon came in as clerk in Jan- mary, 1873. Mr. Hand was cashier until January, 1898, since which time he has been president of the bank; and it is not too much to say that the prosperity of the bank is in a large meas- ure due to his progressive and liberal management. He was trustee and treasurer of the church for some thirty years, and
R. M. STOCKER
W. J. WARD
J. A. BODIE
J. A. REITENAUER
H. C. HAND
W. B. HOLMES
REV. W. H. SWIFT, D. D.
A. THOMPSON
J. T. BALL
CHURCH SESSION, 1906
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the systematic manner in which he kept the accounts and the conciliatory manner in which he looked after the pew holders, seeing that every one obtained a good sitting, has contributed in no small degree to the harmony and well being of the church. He has been a conscientious elder since 1876, and he taught in the Sunday school for thirty or forty years. He is the only person living that has been an officer in the Honesdale Water Company since its organization in 1863. In every position he has held there has been the same marked fidelity, integrity and continuity. He has never sought many positions but has held what he had for life. He has cheerfully and faithfully per- formed his duties to the entire satisfaction of those that have trusted him, and has apparently been contented and every one else has been satisfied with him. The world needs more men like Mr. Hand, who are contented with their lot, and who are willing, to serve their day and generation in some useful em- ployment with constancy. In 1854 he married Charlotte Niven Stone, and she is a most excellent woman. She has abounded in good works for the church as its records show. They had three children, Charles W., treasurer of the Foreign Mission Board of the Presbyterian church, Rev. Alfred C. Hand, de- ceased, and Henry S. Hand. This year, 1904, their numerous relatives and friends gathered at their residence and congratu- lated them on their golden wedding. At that time the county newspapers said many complimentary things of Mr. and Mrs. Hand.
John Thomas Ball was born in Orange, N. J., June 13, 1833, near the Brick Presbyterian church of which his parents were members. He moved with his parents to Centerville, Orange county, and when he was five years old the family moved to Huntsville, Luzerne county. In Lehman township his father purchased land several miles in the woods where he erected a house, during which time John and Charles carried provisions through the woods to the workmen. When 10 years of age he engaged with a farmer to work for his board and clothes and three months' schooling during winter, which he
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did not always get, as the farmer had work during winter and often needed help. When 15 he worked six months for $36 and it seemed like a great sum to him. His father moved to Honesdale about 1848, and he worked in the old Captain Hole brick yard near Bethany, for Beers & Tillon-Elias T. Beers and Daniel Tillou-here he drove two yoke of oxen and de- livered brick in Honesdale for the Armory Prescott house and other buildings; next he worked at carpentering summers and spent seven winters in Elk, Tioga, Clearfield and other western counties, cutting and driving logs. August 15, 1861, he mar- ried Mary F. Aunger, of Waymart, and located in Honesdale. He worked nine years on the dock for the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company under U. V. Wheeler, then succeeded him as foreman for nine years more when he resigned and went upon the road as an insurance solicitor. He was converted in 1865, when Rev. Dr. Kesler, of Brandt, was assisting Dr. Dunning in holding services. He was elected deacon in 1870 and ruling elder in 1878, a position which he still holds. He superin- tended the Indian Orchard Sunday school one year, then he organized the Seelyville Sunday school and was its superin- tendent for twenty-nine consecutive years. This is Elder Ball's most enduring monument. During those years he exercised almost a pastoral oversight over that field, visiting their sick and some times burying their dead. He talked to the people there Sunday nights more or less for a number of years. He has also been conspicuous in Sunday school convention work throughout the county, every township and borough of which he has often visited, in more recent years as Field Secretary. Altogether Mr. Ball's life has been an active one in doing good in many fields. He knows the people of the county and where they reside as well or better than any one else in Honesdale. John T. Ball is a practical hard sense man and without many ad- vantages for an education, he has accomplished much, especially among the working people. He was one of the first deacons in the church and has been a ruling elder since 1878, and has represented the church in Presbytery and Synod.
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Andrew Thompson was born at Mt. Hope, Orange county, N. Y., April 3, 1845. He is the son of Augustus P. Thomp- son and Clara A. Dodge Thompson, and the grandson of a Presbyterian minister, Rev. Andrew Thompson. His father was elected cashier of the bank of Port Jervis to which place he removed with his family in the spring of 1853. Andrew was educated in the private and public schools of Port Jervis, together with a three years' course at the Institute at Flushing, Long Island. In 1862 he entered Williston Seminary at East- hampton, Mass. The following summer he was compelled to relinquish his studies on account of ill health. From 1863 to 1865 he was employed in New York, then he returned to Port Jervis and clerked in the National Bank until 1871 when he came to Honesdale and entered the firm of Durland, Torrey & Co. in January, 1872. In 1873 he married Fanny R., youngest daughter of John Torrey. The new boot and shoe company was in competition with old and established houses whose goods were known, particularly from Binghamton, and it had a repu- tation to gain, and to add to their difficulties, the transporta- tion facilities were so bad that much business was lost through delays in delivery of goods that were sold. Mr. Thompson as sales agent traveled the counties of Wayne, Pike and Monroe, introducing these goods and through his candor and good judg- ment, which impressed the buyers as well as the character of the goods, he was enabled to help establish a good business in this vicinity. In 1887 R. N. Torrey died and John D. Weston succeeded to that interest and the firm became Durland, Thomp- son & Co., and in 1898 the concern was incorporated as Dur- land-Thompson Shoe Company. Mr. Thompson became vice president of the company and when Coe Durland died in 1902 he became president. Mr. Thompson is also a director and vice president of Honesdale National Bank. In addition to his business interests Mr. Thompson has been conspicuous in church work. He has been connected with the Sunday school of the church either as teacher or superintendent ever since he came to Honesdale, being superintendent some nineteen years. He
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was elected elder in the church in 1882. Since that time he has represented the church in Presbytery, Synod and the Gen- eral Assembly, where he is recognized as an influential man. Mr. Thompson bears a high reputation in this community where his probity and integrity is unquestioned. He is recog- nized as one of Honesdale's most reliable and substantial men. He is a leader in the church and his advice is sought in all im- portant matters. His candor and conservatism make him a valuable man in the session where matters requiring care and sound discretion sometimes have to be decided. He has a suf- ficiency for comfort and some of the luxuries of life, and he is a substantial contributor to the church and its benevolences. He occupies the John Torrey homestead and is a worthy suc- cessor of a family that has done so much for the church and community. The first time Honesdale church was represented in Presbytery, Elder Stephen Torrey was delegate and the min- utes were approved by Rev. Andrew Thompson, Moderator of Hudson Presbytery, at Bethlehem, Orange county. Rev. An- drew Thompson was grandfather of Elder Thompson. He was an old time minister and he reared a large family on his small salary and educated them well. Of Elder Thompson's three children, Augustus P. is engaged in the shoe business with his father, and Rebecca and Charles are home.
Joseph Alonzo Bodie was born in Dyberry township, June 20, 1852, and like most successful boys he was reared on a farm, during which time he attended the public school. At the age of 15 he entered the employ of H. B. Hamlin as clerk in his store on the corner of Main and Twelfth streets. While at Hamlin's he was associated with a number of other young men who were organized in a debating society, which culminated in a public library that was subsequently donated to the School Board. After spending five years clerking he began to learn photography of E. I. Stearns. In 1875 he purchased a half interest in the business and three years later became sole pro- prietor in the same place where he is now located. Here he has successfully conducted the business until his gallery is
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