Item 36: Booklet by Samuel Fletcher Weyburn, titled “A Story of Lackawanna County and Lackawanna Historical Society”, 1928

Item — Box: 18, Folder: 9

Staff Only

Dates

Created: 1928

Disclaimer for Name and Subject Authorities

Some of the name and subject authority tags have been assigned by educated guessing and estimation of persons and subjects by region, age, profession, and familial relationships. They have been thoroughly researched by using primary and secondary sources available digitally, and named in each description, or in some cases linked directly to the person tag.

Access:

All series and subseries within this collection are open for research, with the exception of a few files within the Academia series that are restricted. The Academia series contains financial and sensitive institutional records from Wilkes College, and financial report records from Princeton University that will remain restricted for 80 years upon creation.

Extent

1 items

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Additional Description

Type of Material:

Booklet

Condition Note:

Good.

Measurements:

9 in. x 6 in. (closed); 12 in. x 9 in. (open)

Title:

A Story of Lackawanna County and Lackawanna Historical Society

Description:

This booklet provides a chronological history and two poems on Lackawanna County.It discusses a chronological history of Lackawanna county from its settlement, to the development of the coal and steel industries, to the county’s formation, and some of the early political history. This booklet begins with listing members of the Lackawanna Historical Society. The President in 1928 was Hon, Louis A. Watres. Watres was on the Pennsylvania State Senate from 1883 to 1890 and from 1891 to 1895 he was Lieutenant Governor. They also included Honorary trustee George H. Catlin, who the booklet was dedicated to. George H. Catlin was an artist from Wilkes-Barre who lived from 1796 to 1872. Then they included a list of other publications the Lackawanna Historical Society published. The first poem included is “The Vale of Lackawanna”. This poem is about the landscape and first settlers of Lackawanna. There is no author listed, it is signed Republican, August 10, 1928. The next section is “A Story Of Lackawanna County” which gives a brief description of the founding of the county. It starts with the formation of the Susquehanna Company, a group that purchased Wyoming for Connecticut settlers. Weyburn includes a list of people who were the first settlers of Slocum Hollow, Hyde Park, Dunmore, and Abington. Settlers of Slocum Hollow include Philip Abbott, John Howe, Ebenezer Slocum, Benjamin Slocum, and Reuben Taylor. At Hyde Park there were Joseph Fellows, William Bishop, A. Heermans, Dolphs and Merrifields. Dumore settlers included William Allsworth, Asa Cobb, A. Coursen, Philip Swartz and Isaac Dolph. Finally the early settlers of Abington were Ephraim Leach, John Miller, William Clark, Jonathan Hall, George Bailey, John Briggs, Samuel Hall, Robert Reynolds, Capwell Brothers, Ezra Dean, Tellinghasts, and James Stone. Early postmasters are also included in the booklet. This includes Benjamin Slocum, John Vaughan, Jr., John Miller, and William Merrifield. Local burgesses in Providence included N.D. Green, A.B. Dunning, Sanford Grant, E. Leach, Daniel Silkman, Theodore Von Storch. In Hyde Park there were Joseph Fellows, A.P. Finch, William Smith, Joseph Fellows II, E. Heermans, J.T. Fellows, Thomas Howell. Finally the burgesses of Scranton include Joseph Slocum, George Sanderson 1957, George W. Scranton, William H. Pior, L.S. Fuller, Frederick Fuller, A.L. Horn, George Sanderson 1864, James Rutheven, and J. W. Gregory. George W. Scranton was one of the founders of the city of Scranton. He earned his fortune by establishing the Iron & Coal Company with his brother Selden T. Scranton. Scranton is also included with a list of industrialists who came to Lackawanna County in 1841. Early industrialists in the area included Selden T. Scranton, William Henry, Philip H. Mattes, Simon Ward, William W. Manners, D. F. Mattes, and Sanford Grant. The most well known business in the area was Scrantons & Platt, an iron company owned by Joseph C. Platt, Shelden T. Scranton, George W. Scranton, and Joseph H. Scranton. In 1884 the Lackawanna County Courthouse opened, and from 1878 to 1886 225 lawyers were admitted to the Lackawanna County Bar. Some lawyers that Weyburn listed were H.H. Coston, H.A. Knapp, S.B. Price, T.E. Wells, H.N. Patrick, L.A. Watres, W. Gaylord Thomas, Isaac Platt Hand, W. A. Wilcox, P. W. Partridge, E. C. Newcomb, E. F. Chamberlin, A. L. Baker, C.H. Soper, W. W. Mulholland, M. G. Munley, R. L. Burnett, T. B. Hoban, T. F. Penman, R. H. Holgate, W. B. Gritman, B. F. Killam, John P. Kelly, Cornelius Comegys, M. F. Sando, James J. O’Neill, J. W. Allworth, Joseph O’Brien, and R. H. Patterson. In the middle of two passages of the county’s history the poem “The Roaring Brook” was included, but an author was not listed. Then the biographies of the first four presidents of the Lackawanna Historical Society were included. The first President of the society was Col. John Aiman Price who was president from 1886-1892. Col. Price was also the president of the Scranton Board of Trade and a member of the American Society of Mechanics, the Engineers Society of Inventors, and International Geological Society. The second president was Frank Elbert Platt, who served as president from 1894 to 1897. Platt was the son of Scranton industrialist Joseph C. Platt, who was also one of the organizers of the Lackawanna Institute of History and Science. Frank Platt was asked to be the society president after the death of Col. John Aiman Price. From 1898 to 1918 Edward Merrifield, ESQ. was president. He was a celebrated lawyer of Scranton and wrote many historical articles about the area. The final biography is Col. Frederick L. Hitchcock. Hitchcock served as president from 1918 to 1924. Col. Hitchcock was promoted to Colonel during the Civil War, where he was severely injured. He was a lawyer, Director of Public Works, City Treasurer, President of the Building and Savings Union, and a Freemason.