Portrait and biographical record of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 82

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

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H ENRY F. FERBER, ex-chief of the Scranton fire department, has been con- nected with our system of dealing with the destructive element most of the time for the past thirty years. He made a most efficient chief and instituted reforms and improvements of great value while in power. Many years ago he be- came interested in a drayage business which was recently reorganized under the title of the Union Transfer Company, with himself as the manager.

Christian Ferber, grandfather of our subject, was a wine manufacturer on the Rhine, Germany, and met his death in a flood which swept down the river at one time. Augustus C., the father of Henry F., was born in Baden, Germany, in August, 1824, and was a baker by trade. He was the first of his family to emigrate to the New World, coming in 1848, and his brothers Jacob and David with their five sisters and mother fol- lowed some time afterwards. He assisted in opening the first coal mines in Scranton, at Roar- ing Brook, for the Lackawanna Iron & Steel Company, and then went into the employ of the Wilkesbarre Coal & Iron Company as foreman. About this time he married Mary, daughter of Chester Frain, formerly from Kentucky, but then

of Nanticoke, Pa. Subsequent to his marriage he settled in Scranton, being a watchman at the Diamond mine; then was in the freight depart- ment of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western until he embarked in the transfer business. To the emergency call of 1863 he responded and served until honorably discharged. In 1869 he was appointed chief of police and was reappoint- ed by the two succeeding mayors, Loftus and Mc- Cune. During these six years the city and vi- cinity passed through a local reign of terror, as the famous Molly Maguires held things in their own hands to a certain extent. Thus the chief of police had all he could well attend to in keeping them in check and in protecting the lives and property of citizens. He was a member of Penn Avenue Baptist Church and of Schiller Lodge, A. F. & A. M. His death occurred May 6, 1893. His wife is still living, a resident of this city.

Henry Ferber is one of fourteen children, of whom eight survive. They are Mrs. Christine Rutkins, of Laramie, Wyo .; Mrs. Martha Holde- man, of Susquehanna County, Pa .; Henry F .; Emma, Mrs. John P. Jones, of Scranton; Mrs. Libbie Wood, of San Diego, Cal .; Ella, wife of M. Williams, foreman of the Dickson works; Edward A., locomotive engineer, of Scranton; and Jennie, Mrs. James, of this city. Our sub- ject was born in Pittston, April 1, 1853, and was a school-boy in Scranton. His first employment was in the drug store of Richard Matthews and then being apprenticed to learn the moulder's trade in the Scranton Stove Works, was in their employ nine years.

It was in 1877 that Mr. Ferber was elected chief of the fire department by the old volunteer corps, and he acted as such for a year. In 1883 he was called upon to fill the vacancy in the office of chief and was twice re-elected for a year each time. Then after a vacation of several years he was appointed chief by Mayor John H. Fellows, this action being confirmed by the council, who at the same time raised the salary of the position from $600 to $1,200 a year. During the three years' administration of Mayor Connell he was kept in the chiefship. As long ago as 1867 Mr. Ferber joined the fire department, being torch-

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boy of the Lady Washington Hose Company. He was a charter member of the Goodwell Hook and Ladder Company and became assistant fore- man. In 1873 he helped organize Crystal Hose Company No. 4, of which he was assistant fore- man until he was made chief. In 1885 he or- ganized the Scranton Hook and Ladder Com- pany and was foreman of same. In company with ex-Chief Page he was the instigator of our present fire alarm system, and from the small force of men and fire equipments which were all the department could boast when he first knew it, it has grown to be one of the finest for a city of this size in the state. Then there were only four paid men and five horses; now there are twenty-five men and thirty-six horses. A chemical engine has been added, also a steamer, several engine houses, etc. He has attended many meetings of firemen, and was present at the International Board of Fire-chiefs' Conventions at Montreal and Augusta, Ga.

About 1875 Mr. Ferber started in the express and drayage business, and though interrupted at intervals, he still kept up his interest in the en- terprise. When he removed to the west side in 1879 and joined the Franklin Company, he used his own team of horses to draw the engine. The Union Transfer Company is the largest concern of the kind in Scranton, and he was made its manager in 1896. The establishment is at the corner of Franklin and Lackawanna Avenues, and a line of vans and express wagons run every day, also making special trips to Wilkesbarre, Carbondale and suburban towns. A specialty is made of accommodating the theatrical people and a fine line of carriages, coupes, etc., in ad- dition to the vans and wagons, are kept on hand. 1

In Plymouth, Mr. Ferber was united in mar- riage with Mary Jones, a native of Pittston. Her father, John O. Jones, who was a shoemaker there, went to the gold fields of California in 1865 and remained there engaged in prospecting and min- ing for thirty years. He then came back to Scran- ton. Two sons and a daughter have been born to our subject and wife: Harry, who is a clerk in the Union Transfer Company; Augustus, a fine youth of seventeen, who died in May, 1896, and Marian. Since 1877 Mr. Ferber has be-

longed to Union Lodge, F. & A. M., and the oth- er societies with which he is identified are the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Honor and the Firemen's Union of Scranton, of the latter being a charter member. He is a straightforward Republican. In manner he is genial and pleasant, readily acquir- ing friends.

C APT. JOHN HORN. Among the first to respond to the call for volunteers in the Civil War was the subject of this article who, though he had been in America less than ten years, was as loyal to the government as any native-born citizen. He served in the army with valor until, receiving a serious wound on the battle field, he was obliged to retire from the service. At the close of the war he settled in Scranton, where he has since resided, being at present the owner of the Green Ridge House, No. 1536 Dickson Avenue.

A native of Mussbach, Bavaria, Germany, born in 1837, the subject of this sketch is a son of George and Mary (Miller) Horn, natives of the same village as himself. His father, who was en- gaged in the hotel business, remained a resident of Germany until his death. There were but two children in the family, John and Mrs. Catherine Farnholt, both of Scranton. The former was ed- ucated in the public schools of Mussbach and was early obliged to earn his own livelihood, as his father died when he was a boy of twelve. Re- solving to come to America, in 1852 he took pas- sage at Havre on a sailing vessel and after a monotonous voyage of fifty-three days landed in New York City, alone and with but little money. For one year he was employed on an omnibus line in New York, after which he went to White- haven, Luzerne County, Pa., but was ill there for three months. On recovering his health, he re- moved to Jerseytown, this state, where he was employed in a hotel for six months, and later was similarly engaged in Catawissa and Danville. He saved his earnings, which he invested, together with his large stock of experience, in the hotel business at Danville, remaining there until he enlisted in the army.

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In April, 1861, our subject raised a company for the war and was commissioned by the gov- ernor, Andrew G. Curtin, captain of Company E, Sixth Pennsylvania Infantry, this being the first regiment in the state that was sworn in for three years. Immediately after the first battle of Bull Run the company was sent south to protect Washington and remained in that city all winter, but in the spring of 1862 went to Virginia. The captain led his company at Trainsville, the first battle gained by the Union army. He also took part in the seven days' fight at Chancellorsville and the second battle of Bull Run. At Antietam, while in the midst of the hot fire of bullets from rebel guns, he was hit by a piece of shell that shattered the bone of his left limb. His recovery was slow and the wound so seriously incapaci- tated him that he was honorably discharged from the service in 1863. Through all the years that have since passed, he has been a sufferer from the wound. In 1891 four loose pieces of bone were removed in a hospital in New York, and three years later he had four more taken out.

Selling out in Danville in 1865, Captain Horn came to Scranton and opened a hotel in Penn Avenue. Afterward he was connected with differ- ent hotels until 1891, when he opened the Green Ridge House opposite the Delaware & Hudson depot. In 1893 he built a large addition to the building, which is commodious and modern in its improvements, conveniently situated and contains everything necessary for the comfort of the trav- eling public. Since the spring of 1896 it has been run by his son, William H. The captain, wishing to renew the associations of his youth and visit his relatives in the old country, in the summer of 1896 went to Europe, taking passage June 6 at New York and landing in Hamburg after a pleas- ant voyage of thirteen days. After spending a short time at his old home he visited other parts of Europe, including Switzerland, Italy and France, saw the catacombs, the coliseum, and many relics of the far-distant past. He returned on the steamer, "Victoria," arriving at home Oc- tober 4, 1896, much benefited in health by the ocean voyage and travel.

In Danville Captain Horn married Miss Sophia Wagler, who was born in Germany and died in

Danville. The two sons born of this union were John, who died at the age of twenty-three, and William H., who is engaged in the hotel busi- ness with his father. The second wife of Captain Horn, whom he married in Scranton, was Eliza- beth Heblich, who died in this city, leaving a son, Frank. In addition to serving as captain in the war, he held the same position in Company A, Ninth Pennsylvania National Guard, for four years, until the reorganization of the Thirteenth, when the Ninth was disbanded. Fraternally he is connected with Schiller Lodge No. 345, F. & A. M., Lackawanna Chapter No. 185, R. A. M., and Coeur de Lion Commandery No. 17, K. T. He was at one time actively identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, but is now demitted. Among the associations with which he is identified are the Scranton Liederkranz and Turn Verein. He was the original organizer of Col. William N. Monies Post No. 319 and is its present vice-commander. In religious belief he is identified with the Lutheran Church.

J AMES LENOX REA, M. D., of Scranton, was born in Loysville, Perry County, Pa., in 1855, and is a son of Rev.George Scott Rea, a native of New Bloomfield, Perry County, and for many years a minister in the Presbyter- ian Church, with pastorates in Pennsylvania and Indiana. He was a graduate of Miami Univers- ity, the president of which was his cousin, John Scott, D. D., father of the first wife of ex-Presi- dent Harrison. He was a man of honorable char- acter and Christian life, and his death, which occurred in December, 1864, was mourned not only by his family, but by his parishioners and all with whom he was acquainted.

The mother of our subject, Sarah Kistler, was born in Loysville, where her father, John Kist- ler, was engaged in farm pursuits. Both her pa- ternal and maternal ancestors were prominent in the Revolutionary War. After the death of her husband, she reared the children, devoting her attention to fitting them for positions of useful- ness in the world. Her death occurred in 1885, when she was visiting in Waterloo, N. Y. Of her seven children five attained years of matur-

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ity and four are now living, James Lenox being next to the eldest. He received his education principally in the New Bloomfield Academy, af- ter which he was employed in a drug store in Harrisburg. In 1874 he entered the medical de- partment of the University of Michigan, where he studied for one year, and then became a stu- dent in the Jefferson Medical College of Phila- delphia, graduating in 1876 with the degree of M. D. For about two years he engaged in prac- tice in Harrisburg, whence in 1878 he came to Scranton, opening an office on the corner of Dickson Avenue and Green Ridge Street, one- half block from his present location. In March, 1896, he moved his office to No. 1635 Sanderson Avenue, where he now is. He is the oldest phy- sician in this part of the city and has been success- ful in his practice. In 1878 he opened a drug store in Green Ridge and in 1883 took in a part- ner, the firm of Rea & Jones continuing until 1896, when Dr. Rea sold out. He has been twice married, first in East Berlin to Miss Gulie Deat- rick, who died in Scranton, leaving a son, James Lenox, Jr. His second marriage, which also took place in East Berlin, united him with Miss Ora Deatrick, of that place.

To Dr. Rea belongs the distinction of having been the first physician to locate permanently in Green Ridge, and he has witnessed the substan- tial growth of this locality with no little interest. The number of voters in this ward, when he came here, was one hundred, now it is over eight hun- dred. There has been a corresponding increase in the amount of business transacted and the im- portance of the industrial arts. Real estate has been improved, houses built, streets paved and city improvements introduced, in all of which he has taken a warm interest. For a year he held the position of member of the board of health. Politically he always votes the Republic- an ticket, but has never been induced to accept city offices, preferring to give his attention un- dividedly to his professional duties. From 1880 until 1892 he was a member of the staff of Lacka- wanna Hospital, both as physician and surgeon, and is still a member of the medical staff. He is identified with the Physicians Club of Scranton; the Lackawanna County Medical Society, of

which he was president in 1890; the State and American Medical Societies, to which he has been delegate; the Order of Foresters, in which he is examining physician; Green Ridge Lodge No. 597, F. & A. M., in which he was among the first members; and Green Ridge Lodge No. 603, I. O. O.F., in which he was a charter member. In religious belief he is a Presbyterian and holds the office of trustee of the Green Ridge Church. He is a member of the Preston Park Association, which has a club house surrounded by a fine lake and splendid hunting grounds in Wayne County, and is known as one of the finest hunting clubs in the state.

B URTON E. KINGSLEY. One of the most important industries of Lackawanna County is the development of coal mines, where veins of the imprisoned sunshine await the pick of the hardy men who bring to the upper world this great agent for heating purposes. To carry on this industry with greatest success, three qualities are necessary, good judgment, energy and experience, and as Mr. Kingsley possesses these attributes, he has naturally been successful in this work. He is superintendent of the West Ridge Coal Company in Scranton, but still re- tains his residence in Blakely (P. O. Olyphant).

The father of our subject, S. D. Kingsley, was born in Montrose, Susquehanna County, Pa., to which place his parents had come from Connec- ticut. At the age of eighteen he went to New London, Conn., and learned the carpenter's trade, after which he located in Scranton. He built his first coal breaker at Jessup, and afterward con- tinued in that line, building almost all of the breakers used by the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western road. Since 1874 he has continued the work for himself, his residence being in Blakely. The lady whom he married, Eliza Kenyon, was born in Blakely, a daughter of J. B. and Rhoda (Callender) Kenyon, and is still living, as is also her mother, the latter being eighty years of age. Her grandfather, Rev. Mr. Callender, was the son of a Revolutionary hero and was a minister in the Baptist Church, both in Virginia and Lackawanna County.

The family of S. D. Kingsley consists of three

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sons: George, who is superintendent of O. S. Johnson's colliery at Priceburg; B. E .; and Ed- win, a bookkeeper employed with his father. Our subject was born in Blakely August 8, 1860, and was taken to Plymouth at the age of six years, but in 1867 accompanied his parents to Hyde Park, where he attended the public and high schools. For two years he was a student in the Keystone Academy at Factoryville. In 1879 he became weighmaster for the Delaware & Hud- son road at Olyphant, his home meantime being removed to Blakely. He continued as weigh- master at colliery No. 2 and Eddy Creek colliery until 1890, but in the latter year was made fore- man at Eddy Creek. February 1, 1896, he ac- cepted a position as superintendent of the West Ridge mine and has since had charge of the work in the colliery.

In Blakely Mr. Kingsley married Miss Eliza- beth Edwards, who was born in Olyphant, be- ing a daughter of the late John C. Edwards, a merchant there. They are the parents of two children, Achsah E. and John B. In 1882 he was made a member of the council of Blakely, of which he was secretary for a year. In 1886 he was elected a school director at Blakely, and served for three years, being secretary of the board. Fraternally he is connected with the Heptasophs and in political adherence is a mem- ber of the Republican party.

A LEXANDER SIMPSON, superintendent of the repair shops of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company, and formerly city treasurer of Scranton, was born in Pottsville, Pa., February 8, 1835, and is a son of Thomas A. and Rebecca (Richell) Simpson, natives re- spectively of Trenton, N. J., and Hamburg, N. Y. His grandfather, John T. Simpson, was born in the north of England and after his marriage came to America, settling in Trenton, N. J., where he was a school teacher. Later removing to Pottsville, Pa., he engaged in the mercantile bus- inesss in the adjoining borough of Port Car- bon. At the time of his death he was eighty- three years of age. In religious belief he was a Presbyterian,

For some years Thomas A. Simpson ran a stage line between Reading and Pottsville and from Pottsville to Matchchunk, being manager of the Pottsville terminus of both lines. The in- troduction of the railroad put an end to the old stage coach, and he afterward engaged in the hotel business at Pottsville, being proprietor of the Mansion House. He died in 1853, when about fifty-five years of age. His wife, who sur- vived him three years, passing away in 1856, was a member of an old Pennsylvania German fam- ily. They were the parents of ten children, name- ly: Elizabeth, who resides in Pottsville; John T., member of a Pennsylvania regiment in the Mex- ican and Civil Wars, and now stationary engineer with the Delaware & Hudson Company in Scranton; Thomas A., also a veteran of the Mexican and Civil Wars, and an employe of the Delaware & Hudson Railroad Company; Sam- uel, who died in infancy; William T., who passed away in Pottsville in 1893; Alexander; Mary, who died in infancy; Frank W., who enlisted as a private in the Union army, received severe wounds in battle, was honorably discharged, as captain, and is now an engineer for the Dela- ware & Hudson at Olyphant; Sarah, whose home is in Erie, Pa .; and Enoch, who died in infancy.

In the primitive schoolhouse with its meager furnishings, Mr. Simpson gained the mastery over the rule of three and became familiar with Cobb's spelling book and the United States Reader. At the age of seventeen he was appren- ticed to the machinist's trade in New York City, under the Novelty Manufacturing Company, with whom he remained from 1852 to 1855. On his return to Pennsylvania he became locomotive engineer for the Trevorton Coal & Railroad Company, but in the spring of 1862 resigned that position and came to Scranton, where he se- cured work with the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company. Times were very dull then and he was glad to get work even at a salary of only eighty-two cents a day; however, he proved so efficient that in August of the same year he was made stationary engineer. After twelve months he was employed in superintending the building of machinery and putting up engines for coal

HIRAM STARK.

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breakers. Since 1864 he has been master me- chanic in the coal department of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company. Inquiry in regard to the repair shops here develops the fact that he founded the business, starting it "with a monkey wrench" as he is accustomed to say, and gradu- ally building up the enterprise and enlarging the buildings until there is now a foundry, machine and carpenter shop, and other needed depart- ments of work. Though he has a residence on the hill in Providence, he lives in East Market Street, adjoining his shop.

In Trevorton Mr. Simpson married Miss Jane, daughter of Thomas Foulds, who emigrated from England to Pennsylvania and became mine superintendent of the Trevorton Coal Com- pany. Mrs. Simpson was born in Derbyshire, England, and was about six years of age when the family settled in Trevorton, where she resid- ed until her marriage. Of her union with our subject eight children were born, five of whom attained years of maturity, namely: Thomas A., who died in 1893 at the age of thirty-five; Ellis R., who is in the employ of the Scranton Supply & Machinery Company; Alexander F., a pat- ternmaker with the Pennsylvania Coal Company; Walter W., a machinist in the Delaware & Hud- son shops; and Lillie May, a member of the class of 1898, Scranton high school.

In former years Mr. Simpson was active in the Odd Fellows Order and was a charter member of Lincoln Lodge. Since 1864 he has been con- nected with Hiram Lodge No. 261, F. & A. M. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church in Providence, of which he has been a trustee. A Republican politically, he is an active worker in the Central Republican Club, and at different times has been a member of the county and city committees, having been connected with the lat- ter organization at the time of the election of John H. Fellows to the mayoralty. Upon the or- ganization of the school board when the school district was consolidated, he was made a member of the board of control and was appointed to serve on the building committee, but the pressure of other duties forced him to resign before the expiration of his term. In 1887 he was elected city treasurer on the Republican ticket, his oppo-

nent being Patrick J. Ruane, then the incumbent of the office. After serving one term, he de- clined renomination in the spring of 1889, pre- ferring to give his attention wholly to business affairs.

H IRAM STARK. There are few of the residents of Lackawanna County who have been identified with its interests for a longer period than has the venerable Squire Stark, of Scranton. He is one of the oldest sur- viving settlers of the county, to which he came in 1836, and has witnessed its growth, the de- velopment of its mining and commercial inter- ests and the rapid increase of its population until it now ranks as the sixth county in the state. The position of influence it now holds is due to the efforts of such men as he, who have been unwearied in their labors for its advancement.

February 9, 1817, the subject of this sketch was born at Mill Creek, near Wilkesbarre, in the neighboring county of Luzerne, of which Lackawanna then formed a part. His grandfa- ther, Henry Stark, came in an early day from another eastern state to Pennsylvania and en- gaged in farming in Luzerne County, where he died suddenly. The father, John, a native of Luzerne County and a farmer by occupation, enlisted in the War of 1812 and served his com- munity as a justice of the peace. His death oc- curred when he was eighty-three years of age. He married Cornelia Wilcox, who was born in Dutchess County, N. Y., and died in Luzerne County at the age of eighty-seven. Of their nine children seven are living, Hiram being the eld- est.

The educational advantages offered by the schools of this section during the early part of the century were decidedly meager, and the knowledge gained by our subject is the result of observation rather than study of text books. At the age of seventeen he left the farm and was apprenticed to the carpenter's trade, which he followed for about ten years after coming to Lackawanna Township (now county) in 1836. He then engaged in farming in Taylorville, clearing the land and improving a place, which

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Portrait and biographical record of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 82

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