Portrait and biographical record of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 131

Author:
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: New York : Chapman Publishing co.
Number of Pages: 1068

USA > Pennsylvania > Lackawanna County > Portrait and biographical record of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, Volume I > Part 131

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).

In order to locate in this country Prof. Hem- berger was obliged to cancel an engagement as concert-master of an opera house in Weimar, Germany. He is acquainted with the leading violinists, composers and musicians of the world and has traveled extensively. Soon after his ar- rival here he opened an office at No. 415 Adams. Avenue and gives lessons in theory and composi- tion, piano and violin. Two days of each week he spends in Kingston, Pa., where he is principal of the violin department of Wyoming Seminary. Many of his compositions have been published in Germany and a few in this land.

While thus taken up with his art he yet found time to consider other subjects of as great im- portance, for after meeting Miss Emma Conrad,

1058

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

daughter of our citizen, Andrew Conrad, he de- termined to win her for his wife. She is devoted to music, had the privilege of making it a study for seven years at the Conservatory of Stuttgart, Germany, and subsequently was for a year one of the first sopranos in an opera at Strausburg. Mr. and Mrs. Hemberger were united in marriage in Scranton, June 28, 1894. They have two sons.

C HARLES WAGNER. Scranton may well be proud of the amount of brains and energy possessed by her representative business men, for, taken as a whole, there are in the state none more energetic or more capable than they. One of this class is Mr. Wagner, who has spent his entire life here and is well known as a contracting painter. He is of German parent- age, his father, Peter Wagner, having been born in the city of Drahboch, Germany, where he was reared and married. About 1853 he started to America with his wife and little daughter, but the latter died during the voyage and was buried at sea. Coming to Scranton, he became an em- ploye of the Lackawanna Iron & Coal Company and continued a resident of this city until his death in 1864. During the Civil War he took part as a member of a Pennsylvania regiment, but was discharged on account of physical disability and returned home, where he died a year after- ward. In religious belief he was a Lutheran. His wife reared the three sons and one daughter born of their marriage, of whom the daughter is now deceased. After Mr. Wagner died she be- came the wife of A. Wohlers and now resides in Dunmore.

The subject of this sketch was born in Peters- burg, Scranton, July 28, 1855, and received a district and high school education. When only eleven years of age he began to work, in order to assist his mother in supporting the family, his first situation being that of slate picker for the Lackawanna Iron & Coal Company. After a few years with them, he was employed for three years as a machinist with the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad, and was then apprenticed to the painter's trade under Alexander Hay, with whom he learned painting, decorating and sign

work. In 1888 he began as a contracting painter, and has been thus engaged since, having his shop at No. 337 North Washington Avenue, where he retails ready mixed paints. Among his con- tracts were those for the Congregational Church at Taylor, First Presbyterian Church in Scran- ton, Wyoming House, and numerous residences here and in adjoining villages and cities. In ad- dition he does a large amount of sign work.

In the Liederkranz, of which he is an active member, Mr. Wagner is serving as a trustee. He clings to the religious faith of his ancestors, be- ing a member of the German Lutheran Church. In Scranton he married Miss Adella Hay, who was born in Cologne, Germany, being a daugh- ter of his old preceptor, Alexander Hay. They are the parents of four children, Anna, Carl, Alex- ander and Adella.

S AMUEL SEWARD, foreman of the con- struction department of the Lackawanna Iron & Steel Company, of Scranton, is one of the oldest employes of this large concern, hav- ing been with them for nearly thirty years. As a soldier and citizen, employe and business man and in all the many relations of life, he has al- ways acted in a most worthy, upright and con- scientious manner, striving to do his duty to- ward all with whom he comes in contact.

Born in Fairmount Springs, Luzerne County, January 20, 1838, Mr. Seward is a son of David and Rebecca (Schaum) Seward. His paternal grandfather, Gad Seward, came from an old Con- necticut family, of English descent. He was a native of Connecticut and early settled in Lu- zerne County, Pa., where he engaged in farming, and lived to be over eighty years of age. The maternal grandfather, Christian Schaum, was born and was a farmer near Wind Gap, North- ampton County, Pa. David Seward was, like his son, a native of Fairmount Springs and when he reached maturity engaged in various pursuits. At one time he owned a saw mill at the head of the Schuylkill River and supplied timber for the mines of the locality, and at other periods he was employed in farming and teaming, his home be- ing then near Brockville, Pa. His death oc- curred in 1859, when he was but fifty-two years

1059

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

of age. His wife, Rebecca, was born in her father's old homestead near Wind Gap and was reared in the faith of the Reformed Church. She was summoned to her reward at the good old age of seventy-four years.

The family of David and Rebecca Seward num- bered eleven children, all of whom grew to ma- turity, but now only four sons and three daugh- ters survive. John volunteered for three months' service when the war came on and re-enlisted for three years in the Forty-eighth Pennsylvania Volunteers. At the battle of Antietam, where he was acting as first duty sergeant of Company E, one of his legs was shot off by a shell, which did further terrible work as it plowed through the ranks, killing the first lieutenant, and the corporal of Company K, taking off one hand from the fifth duty sergeant, wounding a corporal of Company E and killing a private in the same company. John Seward was otherwise wounded and received an honorable discharge; he died in Scranton, in 1889. Christian, another son, was in the same regiment, but in Company I, which he joined on the organization of the regi- ment in July, 1861, and served until the close of the war. He was slightly wounded in the engage- ment at Knoxville, Tenn., and is now a resident of Scranton.

The boyhood of Samuel Seward passed in the usual uneventful manner common to farmers' sons and when he was about nine years old his parents removed to Schuylkill County. He was given a general education, such as was afforded by the district schools of the day and when he was old enough he began learning the details of the lumber business. About 1853 he started to work as a carpenter under a Mr. Williams of Mauch Chunk and was thus occupied when the war came on. September 9, 1861, he enlisted from Wilkesbarre, but was credited to Schuylkill County, and was assigned to Company E, Forty- eighth Pennsylvania Infantry and was mustered in as a private at Harrisburg. He was first sent to Fortress Monroe, where he worked some six weeks, then being transferred to Hatteras Island, N. C., where he built forts, etc., until the follow- ing spring. The regiment was then divided, part being left to do garrison duty and the others or-

dered to help to take Newbern; afterward the two divisions came together again. He re- mained on the island until July, when he went to Newbern, N. C. Going next to reinforce the troops of General Banks at Cedar Moun- tain he joined in their retreat and later was in the second battle of Bull Run, where his company lost heavily, some thirty-nine out of sixty-three men. After the battle of Chantilly he was sent on to Washington, but participated in the encounter with the enemy at South Moun- tain and Antietam. Owing to severe illness he was sent to the hospital and was honorably dis- charged April 10, 1863.

After Mr. Seward had somewhat recovered from his long and arduous campaign in the south he re-embarked in the carpenter's trade and in 1869, coming to Scranton, entered the construc- tion department of the Lackawanna Iron & Coal Company. When the south mill was being erected he was made general foreman of the work and has ever since held the office of head of the construction corps. He has the entire charge of all carpenter work and repairs in the mills and super- vises a large force of men. In politics he is a stanch Republican. In 1863 he married Miss Rosanna Faust, who was born in Schuylkill County and is a daughter of George Faust, a cabinetmaker. Their eldest daughter is the wife of John Mc- Connell, and the other two, Nellie and Florence, are at home. The pretty and tastefully furnished home of the family is situated at No. 620 Mill Street.

M ISS EVA M. HETSEL. In this pro- gressive age it is no longer a matter of surprise to find women successfully con- ducting large business enterprises and at the head of important concerns. The life of such a one will bring a valuable lesson to other wom- en, especially to the bright and quick-witted girls entering upon their separate paths of work, where their resources will be taxed to win the place that a laudable ambition tells them is theirs by right divine. The lesson of another life shows them the broad perspective ahead and teaches them to work where their deft hands and quick brains can accomplish the greatest good.

1060

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

In her chosen business Miss Hetsel has been successful, and her manicuring, chiropody and hair dressing parlors in Scranton are considered equal to the metropolitan parlors of Philadel- phia or New York. She has studied manicuring and chiropody under the best instructors, and in the same way has attained proficiency in the art of hair dressing. In addition to these, she is well known as a complexion specialist, having prepared remedies for blemishes of the skin and also cosmetics that are guaranteed to be abso- lutely effective and harmless. Among her prepa- rations are Superior Face Bleach, Benzoin Com- plexion Soap, Azaleine Cream, Fairy Bloom, Azalea Face Powder, Enamilene Liquid Cos- metic, Cherryine, Ruby Tint Liquid Rouge, Dandriline and Thrixogene.

From Susquehanna County, Pa., the place of her birth, Miss Hetsel came to Scranton in 1873. She received her education in Wyoming Semi- nary, Kingston, after which, at an early age, she began the study of the specialties in which she now engages, being for a time under a talented French preceptor in New York City. In 1890 she opened parlors in Scranton and has since gradually enlarged her business. She makes a specialty of facial massage treatment and is an experienced dermatologist, having a thorough knowledge of skin diseases. She manufactures about twelve preparations for the complexion and toilet, which she sells at wholesale and retail. Her parlors at No. 330 Lackawanna Avenue are the finest in the city, an entire floor being occu- pied by the salesroom and private apartments. Among her patients have been a number of the most famous actresses in the United States, as well as ladies high in society, whose commenda- tion proves their confidence in her superior knowledge.

OSEPH E. LOVELAND is one of the pros- perous business men of Moscow, where he is successfully engaged as merchant, miller and lumberman. He was born in this village November 16, 1857, the son of Joseph and Elsie (Potter) Loveland, natives respectively of New Hartford, Conn., and Susquehanna County, Pa. His father came to Madison Township, Lacka-

wanna County, with his parents at the age of about fourteen years and for several years worked in the employ of Col. Henry Drinker, in the real estate and lumber business in Moscow. After- ward he purchased a farm adjoining the village and for several years engaged in its cultivation. From that he turned his attention to merchan- dising, in which he was interested about eigh- teen years. Meantime he became the owner of large tracts of land and engaged extensively in the manufacture and sale of lumber. Unfortun- ately, he lost the larger portion of his property through investments that proved disastrous. Ac- tive in the ranks of the Democratic party, he, however, always refused to accept office, prefer- ring to give his attention to business matters. He was one of the pioneer merchants of the vil- lage and contributed his quota to its advance- ment. He died at the age of sixty-four.

The grandfather of our subject was Joseph Loveland, who was born near Hartford, Conn., and there married and engaged in farming. On coming to Lackawanna County he settled upon land adjoining the village of Moscow, where he spent the balance of his life. In the summer he cultivated his farm, and during the winter months taught school for several years. The family of which our subject is a member consisted of eight children, namely: Effie, wife of J. S. Miller, of Scranton; John, Ida, Joseph E .; Mrs. Malintha Elizabeth Wingert, of Hazelton, Pa .; Etta P., wife of George Bingham, of Scranton; Minnie, Mrs. Albert Hathrall, of Moscow, and George, who died in infancy.

The common schools of Moscow gave our sub- ject a fair education. After his marriage he pur- chased his father's farm and has since resided upon the old homestead, where he is engaged in farming and the dairy business. About 1889 he became interested in the lumber business and in 1892 began milling in company with two other parties. In January of 1894 he purchased a saw mill and six hundred acres of timber land in Delaware County, N. Y., and has since engaged in manufacturing lumber from the native woods, shipping the product to New York and Philadel- phia. In August, 1894, he bought the mill which he still owns and operates.

I061

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

The marriage of Mr. Loveland, September 23, 1885, united him with Miss Effie M. Wardell of Daleville. They have four children, Mary, Ern- est, Elsie and Henry Wardell. The family are identified with the Methodist Church, of which Mr. Loveland has been trustee for several years, member of the official board and its treasurer, and a teacher in the Sunday-school. Believing firm- ly in the principles of prohibition, he gives his vote to the party pledged to this principle. In local affairs he casts his ballots for the men who he thinks will best represent the people, and nev- er, knowingly, votes for the corrupt demagogues that seek success to gratify their own unprinci- pled ends. He has served as auditor of the town- ship and in other local positions of trust. A por- tion of his farm he has laid off into lots and dur- ing the past twelve years has erected about a dozen dwelling houses, and besides this he has im- proved his mill property. Fraternally he has filled all the chairs in Moscow Lodge No. 703, I. O. O.F., is a charter member of the Patriotic Order Sons of America and was the first presi- dent of Moscow Camp No. 248.

C APT. WILLIAM KELLOW. During the period of the Civil War, among the brave men who went forth from Pennsyl- vania to assist in defending the Union, was a youth of seventeen years, filled with patriotic am- bition to serve his country in her hour of need. Becoming a member of the Thirteenth Pennsyl- vania Reserves he served with meritorious brav- ery for three years, his valor winning him a com- mission. He participated in thirty-two battles, some of them among the most important of the war, and the others equally dangerous to life, though less vital in results. On one occasion he was taken prisoner by the Confederate forces, but succeeded in effecting his escape within twenty- four hours.

This brave soldier, William Kellow, was born in Honesdale, Wayne County, Pa., in 1845, and in youth learned the carpenter's trade. Upon his return from the army he settled in Scranton, where he continued to reside until his death. For a year he was a workman in the wood depart-

ment of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western, then was promoted to be foreman of the shop, and afterward was made foreman of another de- partment, remaining in that position until his death in March, 1895. Faithful to his country, he was equally faithful to his employers, ever ready to do anything that would enhance their prosperity and promote the interests of the busi- ness.

In 1877 Captain Kellow assisted in organizing Company B, Thirteenth Regiment, N. G. P., in which he was first a lieutenant and then captain, holding the latter position at the time of his death. He was buried in Forest Hill cemetery with mili- tary honors, attended to the grave by his old com- rades with whom he had been so long and in- timately associated. Interested in Grand Army matters, he was connected with Lieut. Ezra S. Griffin Post No. 139. It is said that few men in the city were so well posted in military tactics as was he, and his efficiency in this line was well known. An active and prominent Republican, he was for fourteen years a member of the select council and was its president for several years. He was elected to the council from the sixteenth ward, where he made his home. At one time he was offered the party nomination for mayor, but refused to enter the race. As a citizen he was respected by all who were associated with him and it was his aim, at all times, to promote the measures best calculated to advance the interests of the city.

The lady who became the wife of Captain Kel- low and who now survives him, bore the maiden name of Frances A. Spangenbery, and was born in Honesdale, Wayne County, the descendant of German ancestors. Her grandfather, Thomas Spangenbery, was an old settler of Bethany, Wayne County, and engaged in the mercantile business there. Her father, Col. John S. Span- genbery, was also a merchant of Bethany for a time, but in the '50s came to Scranton and pur- chased property in Mulberry Street. When a young man he had learned the painting and dec- orating business and this he followed as a con- tractor in Scranton until his death, which occur- red at the age of sixty-nine years. His title of colonel was won during his service in the Mexi-

I062

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

can War. He was a man of some local promi- nence and while living in Wayne County held the office of sheriff, to which he was elected on the Republican ticket. His wife, who was a cousin of Col. Ira Tripp, was Susan A. Brown, a native of Slocum's Hollow, deceased here at seventy- one years. Of their two sons and one daughter, the latter alone survives. She was reared in Scranton from infancy and attended the public schools of this city and Wyoming Seminary at Kingston, after which she engaged in teaching for a time prior to her marriage. She makes her home at No. 214 Mulberry Street, where she is surrounded by every comfort that can enhance the pleasure of life, and has a host of friends among those with whom she has associated from girlhood.

G EORGE KINBACK. It is astonishing to witness the success of young men who have emigrated to America without capi- tal and from a position of comparative obscurity worked their way upward to a position of promi- nence. The readiness with which they adapt themselves to circumstances and take advantage of opportunities offered brings to them success and wins them a place among the leading men of the community in which they reside. To this class belongs the subject of this review, who is a prominent resident of Scranton and ex-county treasurer of Lackawanna County.

Mr. Kinback was born on the 6th of Decem- ber, 1850, in Schmisheim, Hesse-Darmstadt, Ger- many, a son of John and Katherine (Becker) Kin- back, who spent their entire lives in the Father- land, the former dying in 1854 and the latter in 1862. By occupation the father was a miller, and he owned the mill which he operated. Our sub- ject is next to the youngest in the family of elev- en children, of whom one son, John, came to the New World in 1854, and is now a resident of Car- bondale, Pa.

The childhood of George Kinback was passed in the land of his birth, where he attended the common schools until twelve years of age, when he started out to make his own way in the world and has since been dependent upon his own re-

sources for a livelihood. Resolved to try his for- tune in the United States, he crossed the Atlantic in 1866 on the steamer "Germania," which left the harbor of Hamburg and arrived at New York City in due time. Coming at once to Scranton, Pa., he secured employment in the hotel and bak- ery of Peter Groder, and later entered the ser- vice of Charles Schadt, Sr., who was then con- ducting a hotel on the corner of Wayne and Cen- tre. In 1874, in partnership with Mr. Schadt, he started the hotel called The Office on Wyoming Avenue, which was carried on under the name of Kinback & Co., until 1877, when our subject be- came sole proprietor. A genial popular landlord, he received a liberal share of the public patron- age, and successfully conducted the hotel until 1892, when he sold out, but the place is still known as The Office, a name that was originated by Mr. Kinback. He has been very successful in his business ventures, and is now the owner of two good brick blocks, which he erected at the foot of Lackawanna Street.

As a stanch Democrat, Mr. Kinback takes an active and prominent part in political affairs, has served as a delegate to the state conventions, and has several times been an efficient member of county Democratic central committee, in which capacity he has done much to promote the inter- ests of his party. In the fall of 1882 he was elected county treasurer on the Democratic ticket, and on the first of the following year assumed the du- ties of the office, which he faithfully discharged until January, 1886, when he retired to private life. Under protest he again accepted the nomi- nation for that office in 1891, but this time was de- feated. He is widely and favorably known throughout the county, and has made hosts of warm friends in the land of his adoption.

S AMUEL MacEACHEN, president of the National Boring & Drilling Company, president of the Anthracite-Bituminous Fuel Company, secretary and treasurer of the Eureka Enamel Company, and secretary of the Clarks Summit Water Company, has resided in Scranton since 1875, and now has his business of- fice in the Commonwealth Building. He was born

1063

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

of Scotch parentage in Perth, Lanark County, Ontario, Canada, July 29, 1844. The family of which he is a member is descended from Hector MacDonald, of the clan MacDonald, who were once lords of the isle of Inverness and were among the last to be conquered in Scotland. The Gaelic for Hector is Eachen, so he took the name Mack Eachen, which was shortened by his de- scendants to MacEachen.

The grandfather of our subject, whose name was also Samuel, learned the machinist's trade in Glasgow, whither he had gone from his native isle of Inverness, and served an apprenticeship of seven years to the trade. On coming to America he settled at Glengarryan, on the St. Lawrence River, but afterward removed to Lanark County, Ontario, where he became the original proprie- tor of Perth, the county seat, and the owner of Cockburn Island. He had a machine shop, in which he did the mechanical work, while his brother-in-law, Hugh MacDonald, did the car- pentering. He had an interest in the steamer "Queenstown," the first steamer on Lake On- tario. His wife, who was a Miss MacDonald of Inverness, attained the great age of ninety-nine years. His ancestors, for seven generations back, had been iron workers. While on board the "Queenstown," the ship was wrecked and in his efforts to save his life and the lives of others, he caught a cold that resulted in his death before he reached home. He was then thirty-seven years of age.

John MacEachen, our subject's father, was born in the shire of Inverness, and devoted his active life to farming and lumbering, but is now living retired. His stepfather and brothers were McKinzie men and took part in the battle of the windmill. He married Eliza Morris, who was born in Perth, daughter of Joseph Morris, a na- tive of County Down, Ireland, and member of the Church of England; her mother was a daugh- ter of Rev. Mr. Stone, a Methodist minister who went from England to the north of Ireland. Mrs. Eliza MacEachen died in Canada, leaving two sons and three daughters: Samuel;, Sarah, who remains in Canada; Mary, living in Grand Forks, N. Dak .; Margaret, of Canada, and John, whose home is in New York.

Educated in the public and high schools of Perth, Mr. MacEachen left home at the age of eighteen, with the intention of learning the ma- chinist's trade in Kingston, but the fact he would be obliged to serve a long apprenticeship deter- red him from carrying out the plan. In 1863 he went to the oil regions recently opened in Frank- lin, Venango County, Pa., and began prospect- ing. In 1866 he was the youngest oil producer in the United States and owned a well in Warren County, five hundred feet deep. He became an extensive and successful contractor in wells, oper- ating in twelve counties. In 1875 he came to Scranton and has since continued in contract drilling. Originating and patenting a drill that worked by friction in the revolution of the pipe, thus forcing out the sediment, his new idea proved a success and was widely adopted. As soon as he had perfected it, in 1892 he organized the National Boring & Drilling Company and was its president from the first. He drilled an ar- tesian well, twenty-four hundred and five feet, the deepest in northeastern Pennsylvania, for the Pancoast Coal Company, and bored the deepest diamond drill in the state, twenty-three hundred and fifty-three feet, two inches in diameter.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Portrait and biographical record of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 131

Author: Publication date: 1897 Publisher: New York : Chapman Publishing co. Number of Pages: 1068

Author:
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: New York : Chapman Publishing co.
Number of Pages: 1068