Portrait and biographical record of Wyoming and Lackawanna counties, Pennsylvania : containing portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the counties, Part 120

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 120
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 120

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At the age of thirteen our subject began to work in a store at Oxford, Nova Scotia, and for three years was interested in telegraphy and mer- chandising. Afterward he went to Country Harbor to teach telegraphy on a new line on the southern coast, now owned by the Western Union Company. Three months were spent in instructing the party who afterward took the po- sition of operator. He then went to Antigon- ish, Nova Scotia, where he secured employment as salesman in the general store of L. C. Archi- bald & Co. Three years later he joined his brother, Richard T., who had preceded him to `Hazleton, Pa., and about the same time (1882) first saw Scranton, visiting his cousin, Rev. S. C. Fulton, the pastor of a Methodist Church here. Instead of resuming mercantile work, he accept- ed a position as station agent on the Boston and Maine Railway at Malden, Mass., and while there, in 1884, he was appointed postmaster, holding the position for two years. His appoint- ment was made by President Cleveland, though he himself held pronounced Republican views. While there his former employer, L. C. Archi- bald, offered to double his former salary and give him a one-fourth interest in the business if he would return, which he did, and managed the business very successfully for five years.

Selling out in 1890, Mr. Fulton went to Colo-

rado and with his brother, Richard T., engaged in the real estate and investment business, with office in Denver, Pueblo and Boulder, and he still retains an interest in the firm of Fulton Brothers, of which his brother is manager. April 4, 1894, he married Miss Annie A., youngest daughter of Hon. William Connell, M. C., their wedding being the first solemnized in the new Elm Park Methodist Church. Returning to Colorado with his wife, he remained there until December of the same year, and then returned to Scranton. He became connected with the Hunt & Connell Co., of which he has been treasurer since January, 1896. The firm deals in heavy hardware, both wholesale and retail, and also has a complete stock of plumbing and heating ap- paratus. While in Colorado he was identified with the Odd Fellows at Boulder and was past officer of the encampment there. Politically he affiliates with the Republicans. He and his wife are the parents of one son, Russell Connell. In religious connections they are identified with the Elm Park Methodist Episcopal Church.

O B. SCHREIFER, president of the board of school control in Scranton,

· has risen step by step in the employ of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Com- pany since he first became connected with this corporation, over a quarter of a century ago. The qualities which command success at the hands of the goddess Fortune we find are the same the world over, strict attention to business, the neglect of no detail, however small, punc- tuality, perseverance and industry. The man who wishes to rise to a place where he will be esteemed and honored must not scorn these hard yet sterling virtues, and in the history of the gen- tleman whose name stands at the head of this record we can clearly see that he did not "de- spise the day of small things."

Christopher Schreifer, father of the above, was born in Germany, but, having faith in what he believed the New World held out to him in the way of better opportunities for making a home and fortune, he determined to come to America.

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He was unmarried at the time, but subsequently in New York City wedded Augusta Lange, who now survives her husband. They began house- keeping in Honesdale, Pa., where they remained until 1867. They then came to Scranton, Mr. Schreifer being employed by a wholesale grocery firm. After some time had elapsed he embarked in business for himself, as a member of the whole- sale commission firm of Kemmerer & Schreifer, their location being on Pennsylvania Avenue. He died in 1878, when fifty-four years of age. His widow is still living, and a resident of this city, her home being on Madison Avenue.

O. B. Schreifer was born in Honesdale, Octo- ber II, 1855, and was next to the eldest in a fam- ily of six children, two of whom are deceased. He was fortunate in being given the chance of obtaining a good education, and was not slow to avail himself of it. After leaving the common school he was admitted to the old high school, where the fine new high school now stands in its place. He has lived in Scranton since 1867 and has taken great interest in everything pertaining to its development. In 1870 he entered the rail- road employ as junior clerk in the way bill office, from that worked his way up, until he was ap- pointed chief clerk in 1880, and this position he has since held most creditably.

The marriage of our subject and Cornelia Langstaff took place at the home of the lady's father, Daniel Langstaff, in Scranton, in 1875. Mrs. Schreifer was born in Scranton and here grew to womanhood. To Mr. and. Mrs. Schrei- fer were born one daughter, Cornelia, and a son, deceased. The family residence is at No. 412 Mifflin Avenue.

In political affairs Mr. Schreifer takes great interest, and, as is well known, is active in the ranks of the Republican party. He has fre- quently served on city and county committees, and in 1887 he was appointed a member of the board of school control. In 1891 he was regu- larly nominated to a similar office from the six- teenth ward and was elected. He entered upon his duties March I, and served until March, 1894, when he was re-elected for four years more, and in November, 1896, he was promoted to be the president of the board, to succeed George Mitch-

ell, resigned. For two years he was chairman of the supply committee, and at other times he acted on the teachers', building and text book committees and was chairman of the committee on insurance. When the question of the erec- tion of a new high school came before the board he took great interest in the matter and later be- came one of the building committee. To the good management of the members of this com- mittee we owe our fine and commodious new school for advanced pupils. In short, whatever Mr. Schreifer has been able to do to promote the cause of education here he has done with all his might, for he realizes that in the proper solving of the problem lies the cure for many evils aris- ing from ignorance and superstition, evils which sometimes seem to threaten the very foundations of our republic.

M ORRIS D. BROWN, vice-president of the Green Ridge Lumber Company and one of the active business men of Scran- ton, was born in the town of Pharsalia, Chenan- go County, N. Y., in 1839, being the son of Wil- liam S. and Catherine (Weaver) Brown, also na- tives of that county. His father, who was born in 1812, was reared amid pioneer influences and adopted for his life work the occupation of a farmer, though in addition he for some years was proprietor of a store located at country cross- roads in Pharsalia. He died at sixty-seven years of age, and is survived by his widow, who makes her home in Scranton. Of their five children, Ann Eliza died in this city, where now reside the three surviving children, Morris D., George D. and Harriet. The paternal grandfather of our subject, a descendant of English ancestry, re- moved from Stonington, Conn., to Chenango County, N. Y., where he was a pioneer farmer. During the Revolution he served in the navy and later was captain of the state militia. The maternal grandfather, Davis Weaver, was also a native of Connecticut and an early settler of Che- nango County.

The education of our subject was obtained in the district schools and Cincinnatus Academy, Cortland County, N. Y. From early boyhood

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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

he assisted his father in the store and upon at- taining his majority took entire charge of the business, continuing it under the name of M. D. Brown. Afterward his brother was taken into partnership, the firm name becoming Brown Brothers. While engaged in merchandising, he was also postmaster at Pharsalia for more than twelve years. In 1877 he went to Norwich, N. Y., and with his brother embarked in the manu- facture and sale of lumber, continuing there for some years. The spring of 1884 found him in Scranton and soon afterward he began the lum- ber business, which he has since conducted. The Green Ridge Lumber Company, of which he is vice-president, is engaged in the sale of lumber and also takes contracts for residences and pub- lic buildings. In 1890, as senior member of the firm of M. D. Brown & Co., he started a lumber and contracting business in Olyphant, and car- ried it on until the fall of 1896, when he sold his interest.

At No. 1620 Sanderson Avenue Mr. Brown built the comfortable residence where he makes his home. He was married, while in New York, to Miss Minerva E., daughter of J. B. Packer, both natives of Chenango County. While Mr. Brown has never actively identified himself with politics, he is interested in public questions and votes the Democratic ticket. He served for one term as a member of the select council, to which he was elected from the thirteenth ward. In re- ligious belief he is identified with the Presby- terian Church, and fraternally is a member of the Masonic lodge at Norwich and the Green Ridge Lodge of Odd Fellows. He has contrib- uted to the upbuilding and advancement of the north end of Scranton and many of its improve- ments are traceable to his energy and persever- ance.

F ERDINAND VON STORCH was born December 4, 1810, in Providence Town- ship, Luzerne County, Pa., near what is now Providence Square, Scranton. His birth- place was the log house occupied for some years by his father, Henry Ludwig Christopher von Storch, which was later replaced by a more im-

posing frame structure across the way. His father's death left Ferdinand at the age of fifteen years with the responsibility of caring for the widow and six younger children and tilling the broad acres of the homestead, thus rendering ef- ficient aid for a number of years.

January 17, 1833, the house was gladdened by a young bride, Ferdinand having chosen Caro- line, daughter of Sidney and Jane (La France) Slocum to rule his domestic affairs on the home- stead, which in the settlement of his father's es- tate, with one hundred acres of excellent land, came into his possession. Miss Slocum was born in Providence, April 29, 1814, being thus about four years his junior.

As the years passed the fond heart of Grandma von Storch, who had removed meantime to an- other house, was gladdened by the prattle of nine boys and three girls, the fruit of this most happy union, whom we name in order of birth: Henry, Ellen V., Corrington S., Leander, George, Henry Ferdinand, Alexander J., Robert, Cas- sius M., Caroline Jane, Frederick, and Hannah M.

The von Storch family have always been a hardy race and for many years death was almost unknownamong them, these children all reaching maturity except the first, Henry, who died in in- fancy. However, February 21, 1855, death en- tered Ferdinand's home and removed the partner of his joys and sorrows, and seven years later the good old grandmother was taken at the ripe age of seventy-nine years and six months.

The early settlers found the hillsides clothed with virgin forests of pine and oak, consequently Ferdinand and his stalwart sons had spent many a weary day clearing up his farm, which was so soon to develop far greater wealth from the once despised "black rock," so plentifully stored in rich seams beneath the surface.

In 1855 the von Storch Coal Company, of which he was the chief promoter, was organized and after having successfully founded this cor- poration and leased his coal at an advantageous figure for those times, his health having become seriously impaired, he retired from active busi- ness. His death occurred November 21, 1868, and his remains were finally laid at rest in the

GARRETT SMITH.

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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

von Storch family burying ground, located on North Main Avenue, Providence, Scranton.

This sketch would not be complete should we fail to mention his open-hearted liberality to the poor and needy. None could be more free in helping the unfortunate. More than one minis- ter of the gospel has been heard to express his appreciation of the many kind offices and liberal- ity of Ferdinand von Storch in assisting him per- sonally. In fact, until the final accounting is made, none can tell the number of his' good deeds. "Requiescat in pace."

G ARRETT SMITH, foreman of the mill of the Lackawanna Store Association and a resident of Scranton since 1849, was born near Belvidere, Warren County N. J., September 17, 1831. The family of which he is a member originated in England. His grand- father, Peter Smith, was born in New Jersey and engaged in farming in Warren County, near Oxford Furnace, where he owned two hundred and six acres of well-cultivated land. On his death the property fell to one of his sons, and when the latter died our subject bought the land from the heirs, and still has it in his possession, with the exception of a few lots that have been platted in the village of Oxford Furnace. Peter Smith died at Belvidere at the age of eighty- five.

The father of our subject, Jacob Smith, was born in Warren County, N. J., and engaged in farming near Belvidere for a time, thence re- moved to the vicinity of Oxford Furnace. In 1855 he went to Michigan and bought a farm near Pontiac, Oakland County, where he re- mained until his death at seventy-five years. He married Caroline Axford, a native of New Jer- sey and a daughter of John Axford, a farmer, who removed from that state to Oakland Coun- ty, Mich., in 1829, when southern Michigan was a vast wilderness. He purchased six hundred and forty acres in the oak openings and erected a. log house near the center of the section. Soon he gained many friends among the other pio- neers of the county and was regarded as an effi- cient farmer and a man of keen business fore- sight. His father, a descendant of English an-

cestors, was a soldier in the Revolution and a farmer in New Jersey. Mrs. Caroline Smith was born in 1810 and died in 1848. Seven of her children attained maturity and four sons and two daughters are still living, three in Michigan (John A. in Oakland County, engaged in farm- ing); Samuel T., at Rockaway, N. J., and P. J. in Rochelle Park, N. J. Samuel T. and P. J. were soldiers in the Union army, the former in a New Jersey regiment and the latter a lieu- tenant of a Pennsylvania company. The two daughters, Miss Eliza Smith and Mrs. Caroline Cole, live in Michigan1.

The oldest of the surviving members of the family and the only one of them in Scranton is Garrett. In boyhood he learned the miller's trade. In 1849 he came to Scranton with Mr. Landis, making the journey by wagon and team. This now prosperous city was then in its embryo, with a very few houses and these small and un- desirable. He well remembers hunting rabbits where the court house now stands. The im- provements that have since been made were un- dreamed of by the few residents of those days, and had any one prophesied that Scranton would now be a city of one hundred thousand inhabi- tants he would have been laughed at as an idle visionary. From spring until fall he worked on a farm where now stand the Delaware, Lacka- wanna & Western depot and shops. He then took a position in the old Slocum mill, run by the Lackawanna Iron & Coal Company. After one year, this mill being built, he took charge of it and has since been its foreman, a period of forty-seven years. The mill was built by Thomas P. Harper and for thirty years was run by water power, but finally steam power was introduced from the Lackawanna Iron & Steel Company's rolling mill. The shafting and machinery remain about the same as when the mill was built and are still in excellent operative condition. For a number of years the mill ground all the flour sold by the company, but by the present process rye, buckwheat and feed are manufactured. The fact that the mill has been in constant use since 1850 shows the substantial manner in which it was built and the durability of its ma- chinery.

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Mr. Smith resides on one of the old Delaware, Lackawanna & Western farms near Bellevue Heights, where he superintends the two hundred acres comprising the place. In the house where he now resides he married Miss Mary H. Landis, daughter of John Landis, in whose company Mr. Smith came from New Jersey to Scranton in 1849, and who farmed the land upon which Gar- rett Smith worked. Mrs. Smith was born in Warren County, N. J., and died in Scranton Oc- tober 9, 1891, leaving three children: S. I., a farmer of Lackawanna Township; Lizzie B., wife of Frank H. Freeman, of the Freeman Pant and Overall Company, Scranton, and Marvin C., who is in charge of the rail shipping department of the south steel mill of the Lackawanna Iron & Steel Company. Though rocked in the cradle of Democracy, Mr. Smith is a stanch Republican. He is a member of the Washburn Street. Presby- terian Church.

R EV. THOMAS M. CANN, A. M., LL.D. Side by side in their responsibility for the proper training of the young stand the home and the school. The fact being univers- ally acknowledged that the moral and intellect- ual status of men depends upon the influences thrown around them in youth, it is therefore of prime importance that the instructors of our land be men and women of large hearts and grand characters, as well as of mental culture and intel- lectual development. It is saying no little to the credit of Dr. Cann to assert that he is in every way worthy of the high vocation he has chosen. As founder and president of The School of the Lackawanna, he is well known in educational circles and by the general public. This institu- tion, now a quarter of a century old, is the lead- ing preparatory school of northeastern Pennsyl- vania and numbers nearly one-fourth of its pu- pils from out of the city of Scranton. The in- fluence it has wielded and its steady growth are due largely to the tact with which Dr. Cann has always selected his assistants and to the prestige of his honorable name.

The first of the Cann family to settle in Ameri- ca came from Bristol, England, and in 1684 set-

tled on White Clay Creek, Newcastle County, Del., where he had a land patent from William Penn, with deeds executed by John Penn and a Mr. Claypole. This property still remains in possession of his descendants. In 1685 he was made justice of the peace and served with Wil- liam Geist in Philadelphia. He had two sons, John and William. The latter had a son, John, who was the founder of the Cann family in Ken- tucky and Indiana. The former, who was a prominent merchant and justice of the peace in Philadelphia, had three sons, of whom Robert, the direct ancestor of Dr. Cann, was a merchant in Newcastle County, Del., and served during the Revolution in what was called the Bucktail brigade. Of his sons, William, Dr. Cann's grandfather, was born in 1775 and died in 1834.

During the War of 1812 William Cann, our subject's father, served in the cavalry as an offi- cer, and afterward engaged in farming and mer- chandising in Delaware until his death, when fifty-six years of age. His wife was Mary McMul- len, a lady of Scotch-Irish descent. Their young- est son, Thomas McMullen, was born in Glasgow, Del., in 1819, and received excellent educational advantages, graduating, in 1842, from Delaware College, as valedictorian of his class. The de- gree of A. B. was then conferred upon him, and three years later the degree of A. M., and in June, 1896, his alma mater tendered him the degree of LL.D., the first degree of the kind given in the history of the college, and it is a noteworthy fact that at the time he was the oldest living valedic- torian.

In Lexington, Miss., January 9, 1846, Dr. Cann married Miss Sarah S. Goodnow, of Fram- ingham, Mass. She was the daughter of Josiah and Mary (Sanger) Goodnow, and connected with families of colonial note, and was born at Petersham, Mass., in 1821. They have five living children: Judge George Wade Cann, a prominent attorney and manufacturer, of Brooklyn; Mrs. Mary S. Plumley, wife of Rev. W. E. Plumley, A. M., of Scranton; Mrs. Alberta S. McSherry, wife of Gen. E. C. McSherry, of Maryland; Mrs. Louise H. Buell, wife of Dr. Cann's associate in the school; and Marion Stuart Cann, an attor- ney, teacher and writer, of Scranton,

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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Entering into the Presbyterian ministry in 1846, Dr. Cann has devoted his life to educa- tional and ministerial work. In 1857 he was one of the founders and the first treasurer of the Na- tional Teachers' Association, at Philadelphia, and has always been interested in this and similar or- ganizations. He taught at Easton, Pa., Wil- mington, Del., and was president of the Freder- ick Female Seminary, from which institution he resigned to found The School of the Lackawan- na, the success of which has so fully repaid his energies. On coming to Scranton, in 1873, he became specially interested in the Young Men's Christian Association, and was for many years a prominent worker for its success. For several years he worked each Sunday in the Cedar Street Mission, and his ministrations held together the worshipers who formed the nucleus of the pres- ent well-organized and thriving Sunday-school branch of the First Presbyterian Church. He is pre-eminently a man with the courage of his con- victions, but, though firm in his own opinions, he has always been tolerant of the views of oth- ers, and concedes to them the same liberty of thought which he demands for himself. For that reason his school has always been non-sec- tarian, but eminently Christian in the broadest and most catholic sense, and those of every creed and faith have been among its patrons and en- dorsers.

H ENRY SMITH, foreman of the passen- ger car department of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad, and a resident of Scranton throughout the principal part of his life, was born in Wedzlar, Prussia, April 22, 1849. His father, J. George Smith, was born in Prussia, the son of a farmer, and in his native land learned the horse-shoer's trade, which he followed there. Having been encour- aged to come to America by his brother, Philip, who had preceded him to this country, in 1865, accompanied by his wife and seven children, he took passage on a steamer that landed them in New York. Thence he at once proceeded to Scranton and began work at his trade, but sub- sequently he became disabled by rheumatism

and was obliged to abandon his chosen occupa- tion. He was then given employment by the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Company as car oiler, and continued to do that work until he retired from active labors. He still resides in Scranton and is about eighty-two years of age. In religious belief a Lutheran, he assisted in the organization of the Petersburg Lutheran Church and was one of its charter members. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Anna E. Henrich, was born in Germany, and died in Scranton at the age of forty-nine. They were the parents of five daughters and three sons, namely: Henry; Lizzie, who is married and lives in Texas; Min- nie, who died in Omaha, Neb .; Philip, of Scran- ton; Mrs. Susie Butler, of this city; Christian, who died in Texas; Leonora, who died in Ger- many in infancy; and Mrs. Lena Youngblood, of Scranton.

Reared in Germany, the subject of this sketch attended the public schools of his native place until fourteen years of age, after which he at- tended a private school to prepare for college. His father's resolution to come to America caused a change in his plans. He accompanied the family to Scranton and at once began to learn the cabinet-maker's trade, at which he worked for nine months. In February, 1866, he took a po- sition in the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western car shops, where he continued under different foremen. In June, 1883, he was made foreman of the passenger car department, a very responsi- ble position, which he has since filled with the greatest efficiency. At times he has been in- spector of cars in various places. The depart- ment with which he is connected is a most in- teresting one, for new coaches are built here, and as a proof of his able service it may be stated that the new mail cars, after inspection, were said to be the best of the kind in the country.

Aside from his business connections, Mr. Smith has other interests. He assisted in the organization of the new Schiller Building & Loan Association. He especially co-operates in plans for the benefit of Dunmore, where he makes his home on William Street and Clay Avenue. In Residenz Lodge No. 513, I. O. O. F., of which he is a member, he has officiated as

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secretary. He is a member of the Lackawanna Beneficial Society and of Petersburg Evangelical Lutheran Church. While he has not cared to identify himself with politics, he has firm convic- tions on the subject and is ardently in favor of Republican principles. In this city he married Miss Annie Wellner, who was born in New York City, and is the daughter of Julius Wellner, a hotel man and painter. Six children were born to their union, namely: Mrs. Annie Robertson, of Scranton; Henry, a pattern maker with the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Company; Julius, deceased; Minnie, Laura and Robert.

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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 120

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