Portrait and biographical record of Wyoming and Lackawanna counties, Pennsylvania : containing portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the counties, Part 100

Author: Chapman Publishing Company (NY)
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: New York ; Chicago : Chapman Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1068

USA > Pennsylvania > Lackawanna County > Portrait and biographical record of Wyoming and Lackawanna counties, Pennsylvania : containing portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the counties > Part 100
USA > Pennsylvania > Wyoming County > Portrait and biographical record of Wyoming and Lackawanna counties, Pennsylvania : containing portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the counties > Part 100

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uary 3, 1894, to Miss Lizzie Mahon, who was born in this city, her father, James Mahon, now deceased, having been an early settler here. They have one child, Joseph.

The parents of Mrs. Walsh, James and Norah (Kennedy) Mahon, of Scranton, had three sons and eight daughters, namely: Thomas, who is engaged in the general insurance business as agent for this and other counties; Bernard, a prospector for several of the leading coal com- panies; James, who is engaged in newspaper work; Anna; Laura; Katherine, Mrs. T. H. Langan, of Philadelphia, who died August 22, 1896; Elizabeth, wife of Dr. J. J. Walsh; Mary, Nellie, Josephine and Alice. Mrs. Walsh is a refined and educated lady and was formerly pre- ceptress in the Olyphant schools. She was also organist at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Oly- phant and later a member of the Cathedral choir in Scranton.

M ARION DAVID SNYDER, M. D., who is engaged in the practice of medicine in Dunmore, was born in East Clifford, Susquehanna County, May 27, 1871. His great- grandfather, who was of an old Pennsylvania family, engaged in farming and carpentering, and died in Scott Township, this county. His son, Elias, was born in that township and died there at nearly ninety years of age. David N., the next in line of descent and the father of our subject, was also born in Scott Township, but when a young man bought a farm in East Clif- ford and is still engaged in operating it there, and has served as supervisor, etc. He married Mary J. Snyder, who though of the same name was no relation, and her family were also old settlers in Scott Township. She died in East Clifford, having had five children, four of whom are living. Abraham E., a graduate of Jefferson College of Philadelphia, is now practising medi- cine in New Milford, Susquehanna County; Ella M. is a professional nurse in New York City; Myrtie B., who also graduated as a nurse in New York City, is now the wife of C. T. Marvine, of that city. David N. Snyder served three years in the Civil War and is now a member of the Grand

WILLIAM SCHOLL.

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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Army Post at Clifford. Socially he is a member of the Masonic order, and in religious connections is a member of the Free Will Baptist Church.

Marion D. Snyder spent his childhood on the farm and attended public school and later the Keystone Academy. He taught school for one year in Susquehanna County, then took up the study of medicine, having a natural inclination for the life of a physician. In 1893 he entered Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia, from which he graduated in 1896 with the degree of M. D. He also graduated from the Philadelphia Lying-In Charity Hospital, and received his di- ploma the same year. After his graduation he was engaged in the practice in connection with his brother until January 1, 1897. At that date, having decided to open an office for himself, he came to Dunmore, where he has a fine location on the corner of Third and Cherry Streets, and is engaged in the general practice of medicine and surgery. He is a fellow of the Parvin Obstetri- cal Society of Philadelphia.

W ILLIAM SCHOLL is one of the oldest men in the employ of the Lacka- wanna Iron & Steel Company at Scran- ton. He is a most skillful machinist and a genius in his line. His improvements have been invaluable to the company and he continually brings to bear upon his work unusual care and rare devotion to his superiors' best interests. Among his most noticeable inventions is one whereby rails are rolled into smaller sizes. Of this he is the patentee, the patent being issued in the name of Scholl and T. G. Wolf. Another idea of his was to supplant the old system of belts by a new process of gearing. He has seen the little town of Slocum's Hollow develop into the large, progressive city of a hundred thousand or more inhabitants, now known as Scranton.

The parents of William Scholl were Matthias and Charlotte (Roth) Scholl. The father, a na- tive of Prussia, Germany, followed agricultural pursuits, and from 1813 to 1815 was in the Ger- man army under the command of Louis Napo- leon. With his family he came to Scranton in 1857 and here both he and his faithful helpmate

died. At the time of her death she was ninety years old lacking a month, while he also attained a good old age, being in his eighty-sixth year at the time of his demise. Of their seven children, Catherine, Maria, Charlotte and Lena reside in Scranton; Sophia is in Germany; and Daniel, who was in the German revolution of 1848, is now in his brother's department in the Lackawanna Iron & Steel Company.

William Scholl was born in the village of Werschweiler, Kriesbarn-Cassel, Prussia, Ger- many, September 19, 1830. He attended the na- tional schools and worked on the old farm until 1851, when he decided to come to America. At Havre de Grace he took passage in the sailing vessel "Danube," which was nineteen days in crossing the ocean. From New York he came to Scranton, going by rail to Morristown, by wagon road to Honesdale and from there to this city. Very soon he became an employe with the com- pany he is still with, first in the blacksmith de- partment, later in the foundry, then in the roll turning shop. In the foundry he was advanced to be blacksmith and after a time was transferred to the machine shop. Two years later he was promoted to the roll turning department and in 1856 was placed in charge of the same. From that time until October, 1894, he had all of the roll turning in the company's three mills under his supervision, and at the date just given he was also placed in charge of the steel mill. Rolls of every size and weight can be manufactured here and rolls weighing as high as twenty-nine thou- sand pounds are sometimes turned out. There are ten lathes used for the purpose.

The comfortable and tasteful home of Mr. Scholl is situated at No. 346 Birch Street. His faithful wife was before their marriage Miss Maria Rosar, a daughter of Philip Rosar, who came to Scranton in 1853 and lived here the rest of his days. Mrs. Scholl did not come to America until her father had been here a year. The following children were born to our worthy subject and wife: William, who died in March, 1888, when thirty years of age and who had been a roll turner by occupation; Joseph, in charge of a roll turning department in Laramie, Wyo .; John, foreman under his father; Maria, Mrs. Jacob

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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Klein, of Scranton; Katie, at home; Lena, Mrs. H. W. Siebecker, of Scranton; Henry and Robert, at home; and Anna, wife of William Pfeffer, of Olyphant. Mr. Scholl is interested in political matters, as befits a good citizen; he votes for the nominees of the Republican party, but has never been prevailed upon to accept an office of any kind. He is a member of the Lutheran Church of Peace.

I SAAC F. MEGARGEL. The firm of Me- gargel & Connell, the oldest wholesale gro- cers of Scranton, are well known throughout eastern Pennsylvania and southern New York, and have a large trade in the line of specialties in many states. Their store, situated at Nos. 115- 117 Franklin Avenue, is 50x132 feet in dimen- sions and four and six stories in height, aside from basement, also containing an "L" of three stories, 17x25, the latter especially for spice mills, coffee roasters, elevators and machinery. The six-story addition and two elevators were erected in 1888, to accommodate the increased business of the house. The firm manufacture their own extracts, Jadwin's tar sirup, United States bak- ing powder, all their spices, and other spe- cialties. While this business demands much of his attention, Mr. Megargel has other important interests. He is vice-president and a director of the Scranton Packing Company, in which he is a charter member; a charter member and director of the Lackawanna Lumber Company ; vice-presi- dent and a director of the Allegheny Lumber Company ; president of the Consumers' Ice Com- pany, and vice-president and a director of the Clark & Snover Company; also interested in sev- eral other corporations in and about the city.

Mr. Megargel was born in Sterling, Wayne County, Pa., in August, 1841, the son of Isaac and Calista (Dayton) Megargel, natives of Phila- delphia, Pa., and Massachusetts, respectively. His grandfather, Allen Megargel, who was born in Philadelphia and owned a farm in what is now a part of that city, removed with his family to Pike County, where he built the first mills in that lo- cality and became the owner of a large tract of land. He died there at the age of sixty-eight.

The paternal great-great-grandfather came from Scotland and was well known among the pioneer Quakers of Philadelphia. When a young man our subject's father went west and traveled through Indiana and other states, seeking a suit- able location, but finding nothing satisfactory he returned to Pennsylvania and settled in Sterling, where he engaged in farming. For about a quar- ter of a century he held the office of justice of the peace, and his decisions were so just that they were never reversed by higher courts. He died in 1883 at the age of eighty.

The Dayton family was of Puritan origin. Our subject's great-grandfather, Milo Dayton, served in a Massachusetts regiment during the Revolu- tion, carrying a rifle that weighed forty pounds. The grandfather, Giles Dayton, was born in the Bay State, thence brought his family to Wayne County, Pa., and built a sawmill at Sterling and a woolen mill at Salem. After some years he went back to Massachusetts and there died. He in- vented a number of useful articles and also built the first factory for the manufacture of cording rolls for woolen mills. He was an earnest Chris- tian and a local minister in the Methodist Episco- pal Church. His wife was of Puritan stock and the daughter of a soldier of the Revolution. Our subject's mother passed away in 1889, aged eighty-six years. Her four sons are still living : Giles A., a retired business man of Peckville, this county; Justus A. and Orlando, both members of a Pennsylvania regiment during the war, and both now engaged in business in Vineland, N. J., and Isaac F.

When seventeen years of age, in 1858, our sub- ject began in the lumber business near Elmhurst, this county, and had a store there and a mill for the manufacture of lumber. Returning to Sterling in 1862, he became interested in the mercantile business. In 1865 he sold out and came to Scran- ton, where he carried on a retail grocery business in Lackawanna Avenue, near Franklin, but in the spring of 1868 removed to New York city, where he was similarly engaged in Grand Street until the fall of 1869. On his return to Scranton he had a retail establishment on the corner of Washington and Lackawanna Avenues. In 1870 he began in the wholesale business, in Lacka-

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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

wanna above Franklin Avenue, as a member of the firm of A. G. Gilmore & Co., consisting of that gentleman, William Connell and himself. In 1877 his business was sold to Mr. Gilmore, and our subject and James L. Connell went to Des Moines, Iowa, where they were wholesale gro- cers. Coming back to Scranton in 1878 they bought the old business, and the firm of Megar- gel, Connell & Co. was established, consisting of our subject, James L. and Alexander Connell. The death of Alexander Connell in 1882 caused a change in the firm, which has since been Megar- gel & Connell. In 1881 they built and located at their present place, where they have since built up an extensive and profitable business.

In Stamford, Conn., Mr. Megargel married Miss Gertrude Jones, who was born near that city. They are the parents of three sons: Percy F., a graduate of the military school at Aurora, N. Y .; Roy C., a student in Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn., and Ralph G., who is attend- ing the School of the Lackawanna. A Republican in politics, Mr. Megargel is identified with the Central Republican Club. He is a member of the board of trade and actively interested in financial matters in this city. In religious belief he is connected with the Elm Park Methodist Episcopal Church, and is one of the trustees of the congregation.

C HARLES C. ROSE, general superinten- dent of the coal department of the Dela- ware & Hudson Canal Company, and one of the successful civil engineers of Scranton, is a descendant of substantial New England ances- tors, who for successive generations were honor- ably identified with the history of the country. His paternal grandfather, Rufus Rose, was born in Massachusetts and some years after his mar- riage removed from there to Sherburne, Che- nango County, N. Y., where he engaged in farm pursuits until his death at a very advanced age.

The father of our subject, William C. Rose, was born in Massachusetts, accompanied the family to New York and was reared near Sherburne. When a young man he was employed on Erie Canal and afterward was made superintendent

on the Delaware & Hudson Canal, continuing there for forty years. The village of Rose Point, in which he resided, was named in his honor. From there he moved to Port Jervis, some fifteen years before his death, and there passed away at sixty-seven years.

The marriage of William C. Rose united him with Lovina Shimer, who was born in Montague, N. J., and died in Port Jervis at the age of eighty- two. She was a daughter of Abraham Shimer, a farmer and early settler of Montague. Of her six children, three sons and two daughters are living. Lyman O., who resides at Honesdale, is superintendent of the Delaware & Hudson Canal; William R. is a merchant in Phillipsport, Sulli- van County, N. Y. Our subject, who was the youngest of the family, spent the first fourteen years in his native place in the town of Deer Park, Orange County, N. Y. He was educated in the public schools near Rose Point, Wallkill Acad- emy at Middletown, N. Y., and the Norwalk (Conn.) Academy.

For one year Mr. Rose was with the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company, after which he was employed in the office of the superintendent of the Erie Railroad in Port Jervis, and then was engaged as civil engineer in an engineering corps near Monticello. Afterward he was with the New Jersey Midland, and then for five years was em- ployed in work for the Delaware & Hudson along Lake Champlain on their railroad. For two years he was a civil engineer and surveyor on Staten Island for the water company, and also held the position of assistant city engineer. For one year he was with the Erie as a civil engineer, and later built the reservoir for the Port Jervis Water Com- pany. His next position was with the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western in the construction of a new road between Binghamton and Buffalo. On the completion of the contract, in 1882, he came to Scranton and was made assistant chief engi- neer by the same company, being selected from a corps of thirty. In January, 1896, he resigned and took a position with the Delaware & Hudson as assistant superintendent of the coal depart- ment. January 1, 1897, he was made superin- tendent.

In 1879 Mr. Rose married Emma K. Watson,

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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

of Port Kent, N. Y., daughter of Col. C. M. Wat- son and granddaughter of the celebrated Elkanah Watson. By that union one son was born, now living, Emmason C. The wife died a few days after the birth of her son. In Scranton Mr. Rose married Miss Emma Vandling, who was born in Kingston, N. Y., a daughter of A. H. Vandling, former superintendent of the coal department of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company. They are the parents of one child, Vandling D. Mrs. Rose is a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Scranton and is popular among the best people of the city. While never aspiring to political office, our subject is a firm Republican and is interested in the success of his party. In the Engineers' Club of Scranton he held for a time the office of vice-president, and is also con- nected with the American Society of Civil Engi- neers. He is connected with the New England Society of Scranton and is justly proud of the fact that his forefathers were among the true and tried men to whose courage and lofty principle our country owes much of its progress and ad- vancement.

J OHN B. BOGART is one of the enterpris- ing and prosperous citizens of Scranton and occupies the responsible position of general yardmaster with the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western. He possesses the happy faculty of read- ily making friends, and by his genial manner and sterling manhood is quite as apt to retain such friends for a lifetime. In all his relations with his fellowmen his conduct is invariably actuated by strictly honorable principles, and both his su- periors and inferiors in office know that they can depend upon him to always pursue a manly course.

A son of Cornelius and Catherine (Remsen) Bogart, John B. was born in Blauvelt, Rockland County, N. Y., in January, 1856. (For an account of the parents see the biography of Garrett Bo- gart, which appears on another page of this vol- ume.) Our subject was reared in the town of his birth and when he had received a good general education in the public schools he decided to be- come a telegraph operator. In 1874 he began

learning the art under the instruction of his broth- er Frank at Hick's Ferry, Pa., and at the expira- tion of a year was made an operator at Mt. Poca- no with the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western, and was then at the Forks until 1876. His next promotion was to be the agent and operator at Nay-Aug (formerly Greenville), Pa., and this place he retained for twelve months. The next step upward was when he became baggage- master between Scranton and Northumberland, and the succeeding eight years he ran as a con- ductor from Scranton to Northumberland. At the close of this period he was made night yard- master at Scranton, and at length, in 1888, was raised to his present position of general yard- master. He has four day and four night assis- tants.

While so frequently going to Northumberland on his business for the railroad, Mr. Bogart made the acquaintance of Miss Mary Renner and in time their marriage was celebrated, the event tak- ing place in 1881. She is a daughter of Samuel Renner, an engineer, and is a native of Northum- berland. They have one child, Melvin. Mr. Bo- gart is a member of the Order of Railway Con- ductors, belonging to Lackawanna Division No. 12. In matters of political moment, he is always sure to be found supporting the men and meas- ures of the Republican party, and as a citizen he endeavors to discharge his duty at all times and under all circumstances.

S ILAS L. STANTON was born in 1839 upon the farm in Scott Township, where he now makes his home. Here the days of boy- hood and youth were passed, in a manner similar to other farmer boys the world around. When not assisting in the tilling of the soil, he attended the neighboring public school and there laid the foundation of his education, afterward extended by observation and experience. He was a young man when the nation became plunged in a ter- rible civil strife that threatened the existence of the federal government and the perpetuity of the Union. With all the enthusiasm and ardor of youth, he resolved to offer his services-his life, if need be -- to aid the country in her hour of need.

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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Shortly after President Lincoln had issued his first call for volunteers, the name of Silas L. Stan- ton was enrolled as a private in Company K, Eleventh Pennsylvania Cavalry, the date of his enlistment being August 26, 1861. He was mus- tered into service at Philadelphia August 31, 1861, and his first engagement was at Blackwater, Va. Afterward he took part in the battle of Deserted House and the siege of Suffolk, May II to June II, 1863. July 13 the company was ordered into camp near Suffolk. The next engagement was at Jackson, Va., after which the regiment was stationed at Williamsburg and then went on a raid toward Richmond. With others he took part in the siege of Petersburg and later was at Bermuda Hundred, Va. From May 28 until June 9, 1864, he was at Petersburg, and from June 21 to June 30 took part in the attack against that place. He participated in all the raids by his regiment, never being off duty. He was dis- charged, with the rank of corporal, August 30, 1864, at the expiration of three years of service.

October 28, 1865, Mr. Stanton married Miss Celinda White, of Scott. They became the par- ents of three children: Ella, deceased; Emma, wife of G. Clarke and mother of a son, Henry; and Sterling, who is at home. In politics Mr. Stanton is a Republican of no uncertain tone, and has been a strong advocate of the principles of the party ever since attaining his majority.

J OHN L. STONE. North Abington Town- ship has its full quota of vigorous, enter- prising, thorough-going business men, whose popularity is based upon both their social qualities and their well known integrity and busi- ness activity. Mr. Stone is known especially as an importer of stock, in which line he has successfully engaged since 1882. The Lackawanna Breeders' Association, of which he is secretary, and of which L. W. Stone, E. G. and G. N. Carpenter and J. W. Miller are the other directors, owns a farm one mile from Clarks Summit Station, on the main line of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad, eight miles north of Scranton, and here has a fine grade of Holstein-Friesian cattle.

The Lackawanna herd of Holstein-Friesians now numbers about one hundred head of import- ed, or the direct descendants of imported, animals. The foundation stock was selected from some of the best herds of North Holland and Fries- land, that have long been acknowledged to be the greatest milk and cheese producers in the world, while as beef and veal producers they ex- cel other dairy breeds. Among their cattle are representatives of certain families as follows: The Mooie Aaggie, Netherland, Clothilde, Mech- thilde, Dekol, Princess of Wayne and Pauline Paul. Mooie Sjoerd gave nine thousand one hundred and seventy-five pounds of milk in one hundred and forty-eight days and made over seventy-three pounds of butter in twenty-eight days. Boukje has a record of twenty-one thous- and six hundred and seventy-nine pounds of milk in one year. The bag of one of the cows meas- ured five feet around and was considered a great curiosity.

At one time, besides the cattle on the stock farm there were more than seventy head of pure- bred Shropshire sheep. The foundation stock ,was mostly selected by the association from some of the best flocks of England. Among them were "Lackawanna," bred by the president of the Shropshire Flock Book Association of England; and "Major's Minton, No. 4633," bred in Canada, and weighing two hundred and thirty pounds when a yearling. Mr. Stone is well informed re- garding Shropshires and his address upon this subject, delivered at Scranton before the Penn- sylvania Board of Agriculture June 17, 1886, is replete with important facts, concisely stated.

On the place where he now resides, the subject of this sketch was born July 6, 1852. His father, Lora W. Stone, who was born on the same farm May 15, 1818, was a son of Lemuel and Anna (Colvin) Stone, the former a native of Coventry, R. I., but early in life removing to Pennsylvania, settling in Lackawanna County about 1807. There, in addition to following the carpenter's trade, he engaged in mixed farming, and gained some local note on account of being the first man in the neighborhood who worked through the haying season without any whisky. He was the first justice of the peace in this locality and

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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

superintended the first Sunday-school established here. He died at the age of ninety-one years and five months. His wife, who was born in Rhode Island, died on the old homestead at the age of sixty-four. Of her nine children only two are living.

The Stone family was founded in America by Hugh Stone, who emigrated to this country about 1655. Tradition says that he came from Wales, but this information is regarded as unauthentic, and the probabilities are that he was from Eng- land, the original home of the family. In 1665 he married Abigail Wescott, and from their union sprung the present representatives of the family in the United States. Our subject's father was reared on the home farm and educated in the dis- trict schools and an academy in Susquehanna County. At the age of twenty he began to teach and continued in that occupation for two years. February 24, 1842, he married Miss Delia Griffin, who died at the age of twenty-three; her only child died in infancy.

The second marriage of Mr. Stone, May 18, 1845, united him with Celinda Reynolds, who was born in Benton Township and died in 1848. The only child born of this union died when two years of age. Afterward he married Julia A. Gor- man, who was born in Benton Township, and died here January 14, 1894. Of their five children, two are living, our subject and Mrs. Hattie P. Stone, the latter being the mother of three children. John L. was reared here and re- ceived his education in Cornell University, from which he graduated in 1874. August 31, 1876, he married Jennie Parker, of whose parents men- tion is made in the sketch of her brother, R. P. Parker. To their union were born seven chil- dren, but two died in infancy and Ruth G. at the age of fourteen years. The surviving children are Delia May, Helen L., Mary Diana and Julia Ann.

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Portrait and biographical record of Wyoming and Lackawanna counties, Pennsylvania : containing portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the counties, Part 100

Author: Chapman Publishing Company (NY) Publication date: 1897 Publisher: New York ; Chicago : Chapman Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1068

Author: Chapman Publishing Company (NY)
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: New York ; Chicago : Chapman Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1068