USA > Pennsylvania > Lackawanna County > The Wyoming Valley, upper waters of the Susquehanna, and the Lackawanna coal-region : including views of the natural scenery of northern Pennsylvania : from the Indian occupancy to the year 1875 > Part 30
USA > Pennsylvania > Susquehanna County > Susquehanna > The Wyoming Valley, upper waters of the Susquehanna, and the Lackawanna coal-region : including views of the natural scenery of northern Pennsylvania : from the Indian occupancy to the year 1875 > Part 30
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While teaching at Danville he married Cathe- rine Heermans, the eldest daughter of Henry Heermans, deeeased, once a prominent merchant of Providence, and a sturdy Whig of those days. As a school teacher he won the lasting esteem of parents and pupils, inculeating in the minds of the youths many sterling lessons of strict in- tegrity, sobriety, virtue and honor, for which they now hold him in grateful remembrance. and often remark that " his adviee as a teacher, and since as a friend, has and will be of perma- nent benefit."
In November, 1812, he opened a store at Wallsville, in Luzerne County, with A. B. Dun- ning as elerk. In December of the following
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THE LACKAWANNA VALLEY.
year he bought out the stock of goods of Harry Heermans, and C. J. Atwater acted as clerk in that store, then kept in a building next to the Hermans' mansion house. In 1844 Wallsville store was transferred to Abington Centre, and in 1845 the Providence store was moved to the corners in the N. Cotrill stand, and Chas. J. At- water became his partner, the business being conducted under the firm name of Winton & Atwater until about 1848, when Mr. Winton became associated with the Hon. A. B. Dunning, under the firm name of Winton & Dunning, at Providence.
In 1850 he moved with his family to New York city, where he was engaged in merchan- dising opposite the Merchants' Hotel, and also on Broadway, until about 1858, when he return- ed to Providence, and soon became largely inter- ested in coal operations and banking.
As a merchant-when Providence was the Icading village, and Slocum Hollow but little known, depending for its mail upon the former place-he soon became acquainted with all the leading farmers of the townships of Newton, Ransom, Abington, Benton, Greenfield and Seott, as the inhabitants of each traded at his store, and by his strict honesty and fair dealing he soon won their estecm and confidence, and has since held it, so that among the residents of the adjacent townships aud elsewhere his name has become a synonym for all that is upright, pure and honorable. They left their savings in his hands for safe-keeping and went to him for friendly advice, and his kind suggestions and personal efforts have saved many a neighborhood lawsuit.
His banking career commenced in Scranton, two doors below the St. Charles' Hotel, on Penn Avenue, where a business as a private banking house was carried on successfully, until it was merged in the present Second National Bank, of which he is and for many years has been the president. This was the first national bank or- ganized in Scranton, and its founders exhibited a confidence in the national government, for they started at the momentous period when the Confederates, in fierce battle array, stood with bristling bayonets and frowning cannon threat-
cning the capitol, and while great consternation prevailed at Harrisburg and Philadelphia.
In 1865 he organized the First National Bank of Providence, and ultimately consolidated it with the Second National Bank of Scranton, thereby increasing the capital of the latter to meet the business wants of the people; but desiring to furnish the people of Providence some privileges he continued a private bank at that place, under the name of Winton, Clark & Co., which in time was merged into the Citizens' and Miners' Savings Bank of Scranton, whereof Mr. Winton is president.
As a banker his untiring industry, his watch- ful guardianship of interests confided to his care, his pleasant smile, his kind heart, his sympa- thetic disposition, his high character for integ- rity, have made him a favorite with our business men, and gained the respect and confidence of all. During the trying times of one year, when a " run" was feared upon all our banks, he was commissioned by several of our city banking in- stitutions to go to New York, from whence he brought such a volume of currency that all the banks were able to stem the tide, quiet all appre- hension, and go on without fear.
He is a director of the Scranton Trust Com- pany and Savings Bank, and late its treasurer ; a director of the People's Street Railway Com- pany ; has been treasurer of the Directors of the Poor of Providence for a number of years ; late a director of the Pittston Bank ; treasurer of the commissioners appointed to adjust and settle the indebtedness of the late township of Providence, treasurer of the Roaring Brook Turnpike Com- pany, besides holding many other offices of high trust.
He was the founder of the Presbyterian Church of Providence, gave the lot for the church build- ing, and has always been a large contributor to it and all its laudable enterprises. His well- known charity and generous liberality is prover- bial, and his name always appears among the first, at the head of subscriptions, for any and every good purpose. Were there nothing else to keep his name in the minds of our people, they will read and remember it many years in their titlo papers as they peruse conveyances of
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WILLIAM W. WINTON.
lots laid out upon various large tracts of land about us, known as Winton's addition to Scran- ton ; Winton's addition to Providence; Winton's addition to Hyde Park; Winton's & Dolph's addition to Peckville.
Many a poor man started in life by the sale of a lot to him for a home, and without any pay- ment being required at the outset, owes his pros perity to this kind-hearted man, who never yet was known to press a man in distress, and we know of many cases where his liberality has per- mitted vendees in his many land contracts to go undisturbed even ten years without a payment, during the most pinching times, when he needed the money the most to carry on his various eu- terprises.
At present he is a lessor to the Oak Hill Coal Company, operating his traets of land below Scranton ; also lessor to the Green Ridge Col- liery, operated by Mr. J. P. W. Riley; also to the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Rail- road Company, of the lands in Scrauton, late the estate of P. C. Griffin, deceased, whereon the Brisbin Shaft is erected; also to the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, of the traet of 440 aeres of land in the warrantee name of David Brown, in the townsnip of Blakely, and part owner of the adjacent traets of valuable coal land where the new and enterprising village bearing his name is located, and which promises soon to be one of our most thriving towns in the county. The branch railroad of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, running to this new village, is also named after him. A more perfect description of the village of Winton will be found below.
His enterprise has led him to invest in oil operations at Oil City ; he has also purchased twenty thousand acres of valuable timber and mineral lands in Western Virginia.
It is our wish that he may be spared long to this community to enjoy the high and honorable destinetion his upright and successful course has won for him, and that many future enterprises shall receive the stamp and imprint of his sue. cess. One of his latest acts as a public ben- efactor, was the erection in the square at Provi- dence, of an elegant drinking fountain for mau
and beast, at an expense of more than $1,009.00, which he cheerfully gave from his own purse.
The thrifty village of Winton owes its origin entirely to its founder of that name. Its exist- ence may be said to have been begun by the opening of the Winton Breaker, which occurred July 9th, 1874. Space is given to these details in order that people outside of the coal regions may learn how a coal village is ushered into rank with neighboring towns.
About one hundred and fifty ladies and gen- tlemen assembled and embarked on the train over the Delaware and Hudson Road to Winton, there to witness the formal opening of the new breaker which has just been constructed at that point. The party, among which were several of the most prominent business men of Scranton. together with a large number of gentlemen direet- ly interested in the eoal departments of the Lack- awanna Valley, was in the best of spirits, and was augmented by reinforcements at all the sta- tions along the line. Among those present were: WV. R. Storrs, R. Manville, George L. Dickson, W. B. Culver, Dr. Hollister, W. W. Winton, A. Mulley, E. Dolph, E. A. Coray, Hon. Lewis Pughe, R. W. Luee, Walter W. Winton, Rev. A. Barker, Rev. A. A. Marple, Dr. Bedford, J. T. Fellows, Isane Deau, A. J. Norrman, James Sloeum, George Griffin, James Archbald, O. P. Clark, Joseph Gunster, Ziba Knapp, W. O. Silk- man, Mr. Filer, Mr. Livy, R. H. MeKune, A. H. Winton, George Coray, Judge Merrifield, S. M. Nash, J. F. Snyder, J. Post, R. B. Brock - way, C. E. Judson, Dr. Gardner, George Breek, J. Barrowman, L. S. Fuller, John Zeidler, John B. Collings, Sidney Broadbent, II. K. Grant, J. Raymond, J. Jones, Mrs. W. W. Winton, Mrs. Nash, Mrs. Silkman, Mrs. O. P. Clark, Mrs. R. W. Luce, Mrs. A. H. Winton, Mrs. R. W. Win- ton, Mrs. L. Gaff, Mrs. Weston, Mrs. Pieree, Mrs. Filer, the Misses Dean, Filer, and many others.
Arrived at Winton the cxeursionists were con- dueted to the new breaker, headed by the Dun- more citizens' band, which discoursed several patriotie and enlivening airs. The Winton Breaker is situated a short distance from the Delaware and Hudsou track, on a gentle decliv-
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THE LACKAWANNA VALLEY.
ity to the left bank of the Lackawanna River, and commanding a splendid view of the romantie seenery stretehing north and south. It is sep- arated by a charming intervale, from ridges of undulating hills, rising behind each other in sue- eession, and adorned with the primeval pines beneath whose friendly shades the dusky child- ren of the forest often reclined before the foot of the pale-face pressed the emerald banks of the gurgling river. Through this delightful in- tervale the Lackawanna flows, fertilizing the country in its course, and receiving the numer-" ous sparkling and tiny tributaries that run laugh- ingly from their mountain sourecs to lose their individuality in the bosom of the murky stream. To the right and left of the river a few shattered and deserted homesteads stand, where in other days, peaee and plenty were enjoyed amid the mountain solitude. The locality was then known as Mount Vernon.
Experienced men, whose opinions on eoal mat- ters were not to be gainsayed, condemned the eoal resources of Mount Vernon ; its business inter- ests languished; its homesteads, one by one be- came deserted, and it could find no purehaser until the year 1870, when the entire tract of land, comprising some 425 acres, was purchased by Messrs. Winton, Dolph & Company, for $31,- 000. An adjoining traet of 420 aeres, was pur-
chased by the same party. Its history since then, the construction of the Winton branch of D. L. & W. Railroad, the changing of the name from Mount Vernon to Winton, are matters too well known to need recapitulation. It may be well, however, to state that Messrs. Filer and Livey, who have been instrumental in the ereetion of the new breaker, have leased the coal for thirty- six years from Winton, Dolph & Co.
After the exeusionists had thoroughly in- speeted every intricate piece of machinery, ex- plored every chute and poeket, and aseended every stairway leading to the main landing it was well night noon, and the commissary depart- ment, which was amply eared for, was ealled into requisition. The good things were hoisted on a car up the slope to the landing and arranged on large tables, which were admirably presided over by Mrs. W. W. Winton, Mrs. J. Livey, Mrs. B. M. Winton and Mrs. A. H. Winton. While par- taking of luneh, a car filled with dusky diamonds was hoisted up and dumped into the chute. This was the first ever introduced to the breaker, and it was necessary to commemorate the event with an appropriate address, the Rev. Abel Barker, of Wyoming being called upon to make some remarks. He was followed by other speakers, and the day was finished by musie and daneing.
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W. W. WINTON.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
LEWIS WATRES.
Following in the train of thought suggested by the thrifty improvements of the town of Winton, one is impelled to cast a glanee in the retrospective, and live over again the quiet scenes of a rural life which onee graced the then noiseless glades of Mount Vernon, so named by Lewis S. Watres, an old citizen, and one of the pioneers of the Lackawanna Valley. He located at a point ten miles above where Seranton now stands, and chose the above classie name for his quiet re- treat. Here he earried on an extensive lumber- ing business for many years, owning a traet of eoal land of 400 acres, and the timber on 2,000 aeres adjoining. He employed a large force of men to manufacture lumber, which he sent to Carbondale and Honesdale, whence it was rafted into the Delaware river, finding a market in Philadelphia, which paid handsomely for the in- vestment.
He was born at Phoenixville, on the Schuyl- kill, twenty six miles above Philadelphia, where his father, Lewis Watres, owned and worked the Phoenixville Nail Factories, until the war of 1812 set in with an embargo upon business that pros- trated the business. The father died, leaving his son, but four years of age. The boy lived among his relations in the state of New York, at Oak Hill, about midway between Utica and Syra- cuse, until he arrived at twenty one years of age, when he went to Philadelphia to sce his unele Charles, who, having been reared under the elder brother, was driving a prosperous business.
About this time Pottsville began to come into
notiee, and Lewis S. went there and rented coal mines, worked them, and sent the product to the Philadelphia market. He worked mines in con- nection with a store in Pottsville, until the elec- tion of Governor Ritner, who was a warm friend and admirer of our subject. The Governor of- fered young Watres the choice of many positions in the state, which, under the old Constitution, were at his disposal. While Watres was halting in consideration, his uncle offered an interest in his business on Market Street, Philadelphia, and while waiting for an inventory of the stock to be taken, Hon. Philander Stevens was brought to his notice, as a member of Congress from Sus- quehanna county, and well known as the inti- mate friend of Gen. Andrew Jackson, and to whom President Jackson let the contraet to build a bridge over the Potomac, at Washington, which had been recommended in the President's mes- sage, but failing to meet the approbation of the next Congress, Stevens was pursuaded to abandon the stipulated contraet.
Stevens had an interest with some twenty other persons in the lumber on the Lackawanna river, and he persuaded Watres to visit the valley. which resulted in the purchase by the latter of the whole tract of land and timber which has >o long been known as Mount Vernon, where he located in 1837. Here he lived through the vari- ous fluctuations of hard and flush time - ; son.e seasons he could not sell lumber for a priec that would pay the transportation, but he became a fixed citizen, and remained in spite of all adver. sity.
He was one of the prominent actors in trying to get the North Brauel Canal extended to
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THE LACKAWANNA VALLEY.
Scranton, and he was the principal actor in mak- ing the arrangement for the Delaware & Hudson Canal Co. to allow coal to be shipped on their canal to Hawley, from which arrangement grew the present Pennsylvania Coal Company's railroad from Hawley to Pittston, he having spent a whole winter in Harrisburg and New York to accom- plish the object.
He was elected a Justice of the Peace at his home, which he held for twenty-five years, and during twelve or fifteen years of the same time he held the office of Ruling Elder in the Presby- terian Church of Blakely, where he built a church at his own expense, except $12 50 that two of his employees would compel him to charge to their account.
At one time he knew every man living between Wilkes-Barre and Honesdale, a distance of fifty miles, where now a population of nearly 200,000 toil in poverty, flourish in business, or loll in the lap of luxury.
The fortune of his Uncle Charles melted away and Lewis S. having endorsed heavily for him at the Philadelphia Banks, the result was a total loss of the Mount Vernon estate, that now is rented to produce $70,000 per annum to its pre- sent owners.
He had been connected with a volunteer regi- ment as lieutenant colonel that belonged to that section, and generally paraded in Abington. When the war of the rebellion broke out, and volunteers were called for, he took fifty young men to Camp Curtin in Harrisburg, who entered service with the 52d Reg't. Pa. Inf'try. Re- turning, he collected another fifty recruits and placed them in the 56th Reg't. His health was not sufficient to the task of camp life and the rigors of war, and he returned again and moved his family to Scranton. The next year the city was chartered, when he was elected alderman. He is now serving out his second term, with 9,000 civil suits on his docket, and as much more commonwealth business. He has never had a person call the second time for money that had been collected. He has married as many as fifty couples in one year.
While located at Mount Vernon he married Miss Hollister, sister of the historian of the
Lackawanna Valley, Dr. Hollister, whose accom- plishments and grace have added much to his home and happiness. She is widely and favora. bly known as "Stella of Lackawanna," the poetess, and , her numbers have lent many a classic charm to the rugged spots of this coal section. In the earlier pages of this work is given a poem of intrinsic merit, written by her from Prospect Rock.
ITis children are merging into active life and bid fair to become useful and honorable citizens, and well worthy of their sire. He looks back over the past with a sort of satisfaction, feeling that his life has not been in vain. His church asso- ciations have always afforded pleasure, his men- bership having been in Lenox, New York, Potts- ville, Philadelphia, and now in Scranton. He fcels that he is willing to work on, or ready to depart.
As late as thirty years ago the village school of Mount Vernon was conducted by Dr. Hollis .. ter, and in those days the river swarmed with fish, the forest was full of all kinds of game, the people were happy :
"And every sound of life was full of glee, From merry mock-bird's song, or hum of men ; While harkening, fearing nought their revelry, The wild deer arched his neck from glades, and then, Unhunted, sought his woods and wilderness again."
But the development of the coal resources stripped the place of its primeval romance, and the then proprietor, Mr. Watres, projected for the dusky mineral, but was not successful.
HON. WILLIAM MERRIFIELD.
As one of the prominent men of Lackawanna Valley-perhaps the one most intimately con- neeted with its earliest history-is the subject of this sketch, Hon. Wm. Merrifield-intimately known among the inhabitants as the Judge. He was born in Dutchess county, New York, April 22, 1866. His grandfather, an Englishman, married into a German family, and in connection with farming was a school teacher. His parents followed farming life exclusively and emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1819, commencing at once to clear the forest in the vicinity of Hyde Park.
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHIES.
Young William's axe was busy in his boyhood in clearing away the gigantic trees which once tow- ered where now are hundreds of human habi- tations.
His early education was obtained at district schools, but his mind was sufficiently stored to enable him to teach, and for five winters was en- gaged in this occupation ; the balance of the time being principally employed in working at the carpenter's trade. While teaching at Wyoming he married a sister of Wm. Swetland, and imme- diately afterwards engaged in the mercantile bus- iness which he followed until 1864. In the interim his thoughts had been directed to public improvements, and to this end we find him ener- getically at work to secure the first post office in his locality, in which he was ably seconded by A. Beanmont, Esq., and Hon. Philander Stevens, then a Member of Congress, from the district comprising Luzerne and Susquehanna counties. He is therefore the historical arst post-master of Hyde Park, having been appointed in 1833.
In 1843, he was elected to the State Legisla- ture, served during the terms 1844-5 6. While at the State Capital he held important positions, which indicates a very foreible mind. He was appointed chairman one season of the Committee on Banks, and again on the Committee of Inland Navigation and Publie Improvements. During the last session, in connection with others, he was a member of the Committee on Ways and Means. In 1856, he was elected Associate Judge of Luzerne county, serving on the Bench with the great and good Julge Conyngham, with whom he ever held the most intimate and pleasant relations. During the time that he officiated as Judge, he tried a case at Chambers, upon which he ruled adversely to eminent counsel , which oe- casioned an appeal and a review by the Supreme Court. In each ruling he was sustained, the ease being reported at length in 8 Cascy, Rep. In 1870, he was instrumental in bringing about the organization of the Hyde Park Bank, of which he was elected President, a position which he has held continuously to the present date. So effective has been his management that on several occasions the Board of Directors have presented him testimonials of their appreciation, among
which is an elegant portrait of himself in oil, which will adorn the walls of the bank for many a day, a silent yet eloquent witness of a self-made man.
His early struggles for the welfare of the Lack- awanna Valley stand out in legislative records as the boldest champion ever sent from this locality. This is particularly true, because of the intrigu- ing attempts made by other sections of the state to burden the Anthracite region with onerous taxation.
The debate was' had in April, 1846, and op- posing Mr. Merrifield were Colonel Victor E. Piolett, of Bradford, and nearly the great mass of the representatives. The state debt was hang- ing over the people with the ugliness of a night. mare, and in those days were found men enough to cry repudiation.
Mr. Merrifield's speech was reported in full in the Pennsylvania Reporter and Home Journal, of April 13, 1846, from which the following ex- tracts are taken, which will give a fair exhibit of the state of the coal regions at that time. After proceeding at some length on the injustice of the measure on historical grounds, setting forth in full, the struggles that had caused the world so much suffering because of these arbitrary meas- ures, he fell to the point of direct reply to Mr. Bartholomew, of Warren county.
"All I can say to the gentleman, for I could not find a single point, save one, to which he had arrived in his argument to sustain his position, and that was, 'that the God of nature had given us coal fields, and therefore we had a right to tax them.' What kind of argument is that to intro- duce here ? Has not the same ' God of Nature' given the rich soil of other portions of the Com- monwealth, by which we have been enabled to produce bushels of wheat ?"
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" I am therefore justified in saying that this great deposit of Anthracite coal is confined to three counties. Then why, Mr. Speaker, should it be singled out from among other articles equally meritorious, if expediency should direct the tax? Well, ean this coal bear the burdens of taxation ? I contend it cannot. Ten cents per ton is a profit, which, if it realizes that, will make a handsome profit on the business of mining eoal. A single operator mining and sending 50,000 tons of coal to market, netting ten cents per ton, would make handsome protit of $5,000 ;
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which would be a fair competence indeed for a gentleman who had the ability and capacity to carry 50,000 tons to market. And hence it is plain to see that a tax of one hundred per cent. on the article in question, is too onerous to be borne-iniquitous, unprincipled-and if imposed by the adoption of this section, my word for it, the commonwealth will never realize one dollar from it, unless other subjects of a like nature shall be made to bear their equal proportion."
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I will endeavor, in as few words as possible, to show the importance of this coal trade to Penn- sylvania, and that thousands are annually being thrown into the treasury under the fostering care of government. Look at what Philadelphia was a few years ago, before the introduction of coal commenced ; her commerce and trade were al- most annihilated. Since that time, I am told the commerce carried on in consequence of the Anthracite coal trade is immense. Her rivers are dotted with brigs and schooners, wafting over her silvery waters, the black treasure of the Schuylkill to the manufacturing towns of the east. Her population has increased within the last ten years over one hundred thousand. What, Mr. Speaker, is the cause of this? It is her manufacturing interests promoted in consequence of the facilities in getting Anthracite coal to market."
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