Elite Migration and Urban Growth: the Rise of Wilkes-Barre in the Northern Anthracite Region, 1820-1880

EdwardJ. Davies II UNIVERSITY OF UTAH

ELITE MIGRATION AND URBAN GROWTH: THE RISE OF WILKES-BARRE IN THE NORTHERN ANTHRACITE REGION, 1820-1880

HISTORIANS HAVE recently begun to devote considerable attention to the study of urban elites. In particular, these scholars have examined elites during the rapid economic growth of early industrial America, and have attempted to gauge the impact of these economic changes on their character. For the most part, the upper class has been studied as an indicator of the fluidity in urban society. The upper class provides an effective means to investigate this issue both because of the elite's visibility and the high socio-economic status of its members in local society. Accordingly, historians have studied the ethnic composition of the elite as well as the class origins of urban leaders to determine to what degree birth or talent has influenced access to a city's upper class.'

1. Richard S. Alcorn, "Leadership and Stability in Mid-Nineteenth Century America: A Case Study of an Illinois Town," Journal of American History, 61 (1974): 685-702; E. Digby Baltzell, Philadelphia Gentlemen (Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1971); Stuart Blumin, "The Historical Study of Vertical Mobility," Historical Methods Newsletter, 1 (1968): 1-13; Gunther Barth, "Metropolitanism and Urban Elites in the Far West," in The Age of Industrialism in America, ed. Frederic C. Jahner (New York: The Free Press, 1968), pp. 158-87, Clyde and Sally Griffen, Natises and Newcomers: the Ordering of Opportunity in Mid-Nineteenth Century Poughkeepsie (Cambridge, Massa- chusetts: Harvard University Press, 1978), see Chapter 4, "Men at the Top."; Herbert Gutman, "The Reality of Rags to Riches Myth," in Nineteenth Century Cities, eds. Stephan Thernstrom and Richard Sennett (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1969), pp. 98-124; Michael Katz, "The Entrepreneurial Class in a Canadian City in the Mid-Nineteenth Century," Journal of Social History, 8 (1975): 1-29; Richard Jensen, "Metropolitan Elites in the Midwest, 1907-1929: A study in Multivariate Collective Biography," in The Rich, the Well Born, and the Powerful, ed. Frederic C. Jaher (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1973), pp. 285-303; Edward Pessen, Riches, Class, and Power Before the Cisil War (Lexington, Massachusetts: D.C. Heath and Company, 1973); Michael Weber, Social Change in an Industrial Town (State College, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1976).

291 292 EDWARD J. DAVIES II This overriding concern with the openness of urban society has led historians almost to ignore the role of elites in promoting economic development. Members of the elite are key in establishing industry, incorporating banks, and reinvesting profits to diversify the economic base. Equally as important, and certainly less studied, is the impact of elite migration on the rise and fall of urban centers. The migration pattern of urban leaders serves as a good indicator of shifts in population and economic growth as cities compete for the scarce resources of talent and capital. Communities which are unable to hold these resources inevitably stagnate while cities which attract leaders and their capital usually experience vigorous development. Despite its importance this migration and its relationship to urban growth remains virtually unexplored. 2 The purpose of this essay is to examine the success of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania in attracting talent and capital and its impact on the city's growth. Located in the northern anthracite coal region of northeastern Pennsylvania, Wilkes-Barre became the largest and the dominant city in the region by the 1880s. To a great extent this success was a product of the city's ability to draw in new talent and drain leaders away from competing cities in the region. Wilkes-Barre's ability to attract these critical resources was closely linked with the character of the city and its elite before and during early industrialization. Wilkes-Barre's location on the Susquehanna River (see Map I), combined with an aggressive trading elite, made the community an early commercial center for towns within the Wyoming Valley and along the eastern branch of the Susquehanna River to the north. This trading network was tied to agriculture. Its commerce consisted of hauling and marketing farm produce from the Wyoming Valley and the northern Susquehanna basin throughout eastern Pennsylvania. Within the Valley, the elite was actively involved in organizing and promoting farming. Leading families such as the Conynghams, Hollenbacks, and Lanings built grist and flour mills throughout the Wyoming Valley, formed county agricultural societies and sponsored annual county fairs.3

2. Edward J. Davies, II, "The Urbanizing Region: Leadership and Urban Growth in the Anthracite Coal Regions," (Ph. D. dissertation, University of Pittsburgh, 1977); Davies, "Wilkes-Barre, 1870-1920: The Evolution of Urban Leadership During Industrialization," (Seminar paper, University of Pittsburgh, 1972). 3. Ralph Hazeltine, "Victor Piollet: Portrait of a Country Politician," Pennsylvania History, 60 (1973): 1-18; Stewart Pearce, Annals of Luzerne County, 2 ed. (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott and Company, 1866), pp. 346-50; W. W. Munsell and Company, History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming Counties, Pennsylvania with Illustrations and 00 0c

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X5 a...... z Q) 00 294 EDWARD J. DAVIES II A common heritage aided the Wilkes-Barre elite in its efforts to gain control of the trade in the agricultural regions to the north. The Connecticut Yankees who settled the Wyoming Valley had also pioneered the rural communities in the northern Susquehanna basin. The resulting cultural and institutional commonality reinforced strong economic ties and facilitated reciprocal trade between Wilkes-Barre and these communities. The towns along this branch of the Susquehanna at first shipped only farm goods such as corn, oats, and fertilizer in exchange for agricultural implements and household goods. When mining began in the Wyoming Valley during the 1830s and 1840s, the towns north of Wilkes-Barre, such as Wyalusing, purchased anthracite coal as a home heating fuel. By the 1850s coal operators in Wilkes-Barre were buying large quantities of hemlock lumber needed for construction of mining collieries and housing for a rapidly growing population.4 Mathias Hollenback of Wilkes-Barre helped pioneer this commercial and marketing network. Acting as a middle-man for goods from Philadelphia, he established country stores to sell these items in towns such as Towanda, Wyalusing, Meshoppen, Athens and Braintrim. In addition his stores also operated in southern New York around the Elmira-Owego area and in southeastern Pennsylvania near Harrisburg and Middletown. The trading network became stronger as these agricultural communities became more dependent on the market for a greater variety of goods. The kinship ties between the leading families in Wilkes-Barre, particularly the Hollen- back group, and those in the towns north along the river reinforced these economic and cultural bonds. The commercial and marketing system created a basis for geographic and capital mobility which would channel talent and wealth to Wilkes-Barre.`

Biographical Sketches of Some of Their Prominent Men and Pioneers (New York: W. W. Munsell and Company, 1880), pp. 94 6; J. H. Plumb, Histori of Hanover Township, Including Nanticoke, Ashley, and Sugar Notch and also a History of Wyrming Valley (Wilkes- Barre: R. Baller, 1885), pp. 230-33. 4. Hazeltine, "Victor Piollet," pp. 1-15. 5. Hazeltine, "Victor Piollet," pp. 1-18; H. C. Bradsby, ed., History of Bradford, Pennsylvania with Biographical Selections (Chicago: S. B. Nelson and Company, Pub- lishers, 1891), pp. 396-99, 411-13, 418-19, 572-75; The Biographical Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania of the Nineteenth Century (Philacielphia: Galaxy Publishing Company, 1874), pp. 554-55; Horace C. Hayden, Alfred Hand, and John Jordan, Genealogical and Family History of the Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys, Pennsylvania, 2 vols. (New York: Lewis Publishing Company, 1916), 1:353, 357 58; History of Bradford County, Pennsyl- vania (Philadelphia: L. H. Everts and Company, 1878), pp. 448-49; Munsell, History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming Counties, pp. 496-97, 503, 505, 516A-16B. ELITE MIGRATION 295 The case of Wyalusing, a small marketing town, demonstrates the nature of these ties and the manner in which they facilitated the flow of wealth and talent into Wilkes-Barre. In 1801 Mathias Hollen- back sent his nephew, John, to Wyalusing to open a new general store. Hollenback relied on goods shipped north by Mathias from Philadelphia. These stocks formed the basis for commercial activity in the area. Within a short period, the younger Hollenback had become a leading citizen of Wyalusing. He subsequently formed a partnership with Charles F. Wells, son of a prominent local family. By the 1840s Wells would rank as one of the wealthiest men in the Susquehanna County. Wells' marriage to Hollenback's daughter cemented the ties with the main family in Wilkes-Barre. Most of the Wells family eventually moved to Wilkes-Barre where they became prominent economic and political leaders.' Wilkes-Barre's position as the county seat enabled it to become the administrative center for the Luzerne County by the 1820's. Strong legal and political institutions such as the Wilkes-Barre Law and Library Association and the County courts acted as a powerful magnet for ambitious young throughout the Valley and even in neighboring counties. The large number of resident lawyers an outgrowth of the city's function as county seat-made Wilkes-Barre the center for all legal training in Luzerne County. Young men with aspirations for a career in law were compelled to come to the city for their internship. This insured a steady supply of talented young men from the leading families in the area who sought skills in law. Many of these would-be lawyers went on to combine their legal knowledge with business acumen and became leading coal entrepreneurs and bankers.' As a county seat Wilkes-Barre also held considerable political power. County chairmen of the Democratic, Whig, and later the Republican parties usually came from the city. Men such as Henrick B. Wright, Democratic party state chairman and U.S. Congressman, and Henry Hoyt, Governor of Pennsylvania, both in-migrants, used their political power to benefit Wilkes-Barre. Wright, for instance, used his authority as chairman of the State Canal Com- mission to appoint George Hollenback to that group. Both pushed

6. Bradsby, History of Bradford County, pp. 572 74; BiographicalEncyclopedia, pp. 554-55; Harvey, History of Miners' National Bank, pp. 92-5, Harvey and Smith A Histori of Wilkes-Barre, 5:190-91, 304; Hayden et al., Genealogical and Family History, 1:353-54, 357-58, 382; History of Bradford County, pp. 448-49; Munsell, History of Lu~enie, Lacka- wanna, and Wyoming Counties, pp. 236D, 2361-J; Pearce, Annals, pp. 447, 470-75. 7. Munsell, History of Luzerne, Lackawanna and Wyominig Counities, pp. 205-6. 296 EDWARD J. DAVIES II vigorously and successfully for the construction of the North Branch Canal from New York to the Pennsylvania Main Line Canal. As in law, those young men seeking a future in politics usually came to Wilkes-Barre.' Wilkes-Barre's ability to draw talent and capital both from her hinterland and the surrounding towns in the Wyoming Valley was further strengthened by a powerful set of social, religious, economic, and educational institutions. The elite had established these as the dominant institutions in the Wyoming Valley and their pulling power extended into the Susquehanna basin. Wilkes-Barre's financial institutions such as banks, drew investors from all over the county. At the same time, directors and incorporators of Wilkes-Barre-based coal companies represented elites from almost every community in the Wyoming Valley. This same drawing power was also apparent in the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society and Lodge 61 F&AM memberships, the leading social organizations until the 1870s. In that decade, Wilkes-Barre's leaders founded the Malt Club which quickly became the center of all social activity in the Valley until the 1890s when it was replaced by the Westmoreland Club.9 The local leadership also maintained private academies to educate their children. Many prominent families from towns all over northeastern Pennsylvania sent their sons and daughters to Wilkes-Barre for their early schooling. Often the early associations established at the Wilkes-Barre academies drew these newcomers back to the city after reaching adulthood. These educational institutions included the Wyoming Seminary, the Wilkes-Barre Academy, and the Wilkes-Barre Female Institute, all of which were founded and sup- ported by the city's elite from the 1820s through the 1930s. " 8. Bradsby, History of Bradford County, pp. 573-75; Harvey and Smith, A History of Wilkes-Barre, 5:190-91; Hayden et al., Genealogical and Family History, pp. 85-8, 353, 357-58, 382; George B. Kulp, Families of the Wyoming Valley, 3 vols. (Wilkes-Barre: Wyoming Historical and Genealogical Society, 1885), 1:1-3; History of Bradford County, pp. 448-49; Munsell, History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming Counties, pp. 2361-J, 236S; S. R. Smith, The Wyoming Valley in the Nineteenth Century (Wilkes-Barre: Wilkes- Barre Leader, Printer, 1894), p. 70. 9. Bradsby, History of Bradford County, pp. 573-75; Harvey and Smith, A History of Wilkes-Barre, 5:190-91; Hayden et al., Genealogical and Family History, pp. 85-8, 353, 357-58, 382; Kulp, Families of the Wyoming Valley, 1:1-3; History of Bradford County, pp. 448-49; Munsell, History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming Counties, pp. 236I-J; Smith, The Wyoming Valley, p. 70. 10. Davies, "Wilkes-Barre 1870-1920," Chapters II and III; Frederick C. Johnson, comp., The Historical Record of Wilkes-Barre, 16 vols. (Wilkes-Barre : The Wilkes-Barre Record, 1909), 10:165-66; Bradsby, History of Bradford County, pp. 346-48; Pearce, Annals, pp. 268-73; Munsell, History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming Counties, p. 207. ELITE MIGRATION 297 A series of marital and family ties reinforced strong internal co- hesion of the elite and often served to draw relatives and kin of successful migrants to Wilkes-Barre. An examination of the city's leadership in the late 1860s showed that almost ninety-five percent of its elite were related by marriage or blood. The same study also demon- strated that economic relationships usually reflected familial ties. The kinship network which had been developing from the early 1820s was an amazingly flexible and useful tool that helped cement ties to the city. Many future leaders who came to Wilkes-Barre to attend school, train as lawyers, or serve an apprenticeship under one of the city's leading merchants quickly married into a prominent family after acquiring their skills and making some social contacts. Frequently brothers of successful newcomers married the daughter of a leading family on the basis of associations established through their kin. This rapid assimilation was often facilitated by the cultural similarity common among those migrants from northeastern Pennsylvania. " Wilkes-Barre's promise of success in coal mining and its rapid growth after 1850 drew enterpreneurs and rising young men from other, and often distant, communities. Frequently, these migrants who were successful businessmen in their native towns, transferred this elite status into Wilkes-Barre. Their similarity in education, religion, and ethnic affiliation facilitated their marriage into prominent Wilkes-Barre families. Some young entrepreneurs established themselves and secured their elite status through membership in the social clubs. At this point the younger brothers and nephews of the newly recognized leader migrated to the city where they used their kinsman's elite status to build a career and marry the daughter of some wealthy Wilkes-Barrean. These newcomers became solid members of the elite who were well integrated into the social fabric of leadership. The permanence of commitment on the part of the migrants and the native elite, as well as the size of investment, and the strength of attachments pro- duced by institutional ties created a long term interest in the future of the region. This commitment was important in helping to stimu- late Wilkes-Barre's rapid growth from a small commercial town in 1850 to a major industrial center by 1870. This commitment was also a vital ingredient in the city's rise to dominance in the northern coal region by that decade. 2 11. Davies, "Wilkes-Barre 1870-1920," Chapters 11 and 111. 12. Davies, "Wilkes-Barre 1870-1920," Chapter 11. 298 EDWARD J. DAVIES II

TABLE 1 ORIGINS OF MIGRANTS TO WILKEs-BARRE WHO ACHIEVED ELITE STATUS, 1800-1880

LOCATION PERCENTAGE

Wyoming Valley 40% Hinterland 23 Areas Outside the Coal Regions 37 Total 100% N=76

SOURCES: The above data is drawn from the following sources. The hinterland in the tables refers to those series of communities such as Meshoppen, Mehoopany, Wyalusing, Tunkhannock, Braintrim, and Athens which stretch up along the Susque- hanna River's eastern branch and towns in northeastern counties such as Dundaff in Wayne County. The Biographical Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania of the Nineteenth Century (Philadelphia: Galaxy Publishing Company, 1874); J. H. Battle, ed., History of Columbia and Montour Counties, Pennsylvania (Chicago: Brown, Runk and Company, 1887); H. C. Bradsby, ed., History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania with BiographicalSelections (Chicago: S. B. Nelson and Company, Publishers, 1891); William Brewster, History ofthe Certified Township ofKingston, Pennsylvania 1769-1927 (Wilkes-Barre: The School District of the Borough of Kingston, 1930); Oscar J. Harvey, A History of the Miners' National Bank of Wilkes- Barre, Pennsylvania (Wilkes-Barre: Board of Directors of the Bank, 1918); Oscar J. Harvey and Ernest G. Smith, A History of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, 6 vols. (Wilkes-Barre: Rader Publishing House, 1909-1930); Oscar J. Harvey, The Harvey Book (Wilkes-Barre: E. B. Yordy and Company, Printer, 1894); Horace C. Hayden, Alfred Hand, and John W. Jordan, Genealogical and Family History of the Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys, 2 vols. (New York: Lewis Publishing Company, 1906); History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: L. H. Everts and Com- pany, 1878); Historical and BiographicalAnnals of Columbia and Montour Counties, Pennsyl- vania, 2 vols. (Chicago: J. H. Beers, 1915); Frederick C. Johnson, comp., The Historical Record of Wilkes-Barre, 16 vols. (Wilkes-Barre: The Wilkes-Barre Record, 1909); George B. Kulp, Families of the Wyoming Valley, 3 vols. (Wilkes-Barre: Wyoming Histori- cal and Geological Society, 1885); W. W. Munsell and Company, History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming Counties, Pennsylvania, with Illustrationsand BiographicalSketches of Some of Their Prominent Men and Pioneers (New York: W. W. Munsell and Company, 1880); Edward Phillips, "History of Wyoming Valley," 10 vols., unpublished manuscript, Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania; S. R. Smith, The Wyoming Valley in the Nineteenth Century (Wilkes-Barre: Wilkes-Barre Leader, Printer, 1894); Hendrick B. Wright, HistoricalSketches of Plymouth, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: r. B. Patterson and Brothers, 1873). ELITE MIGRATION 299 The data in table 1 roughly demarcates the areas where the seventy-six migrants to Wilkes-Barre who achieved elite status were born. The greatest number, fifty-nine of the seventy-six, came from the city's hinterland and the Wyoming Valley. Wilkes-Barre's ability to attract leaders from outlying portions of northeastern Pennsyl- vania was diminished considerably by the emergence of Scranton in the 1850s and 1860s. However, its pulling strength remained fairly constant in the Wyoming Valley. Approximately thirty-seven percent of the newcomers to Wilkes-Barre came from communities outside the northern coal region. Many of these men were from Montgomery, Carbon, Bucks, and Lancaster Counties, and a large number had pre-existing kinship ties with the Wilkes-Barre elite.

TABLE 2 ORIGINS OF MIGRANTS TO WILKEs-BARRE WHO ACHIEVED ELITE STATUS BY STIMULUS FOR MIGRATION, 1800-1880

BIRTHPLACE OF MIGRANTS

WYOMING AREAS OUTSIDE STIMULUS VALLEY HINTERLAND COAL REGION Law and Education 50% 44% 32% Kinship and Marital Ties 40 55 25 Economic and Institu- tional Ties 10 0 0 Economic Opportuni- ties 0 0 35 Commercial Affilia- tions 0 1 8 Total 100% 100% 100% N = 76 (30) (18) (28)

SOURCE: See table 1.

Table 2 identifies the geographic origins of three groups of migrants who achieved elite status as well as the specific stimuli for migration. For example, among the migrants from the Wyoming Valley, fifty percent were drawn to the city by its educational and legal institutions. Wilkes-Barre's private academies attracted many of the city's future leaders from all over northern Pennsylvania. The absence of formal law schools in early and mid-nineteenth II

HFA.avY M. HOYT. From Hayden. Horaer Edwin. Et Al., Editors. Gnealogical and Famil) Ilbtiara (J the IWroming and Larkanwnna i'aIey W.Pmnnslyhnja. 2 vols. (New York: lxwis Publishing Co4., '106y. ELITE MIGRATION 301 century America also meant that the prospective lawyer trained under an established attorney for a period of two years, and then, after taking a county administered examination began practicing law. Frequently, many of those who attended school in the city returned to begin legal apprenticeship under an association developed while at the local academy. A substantial percentage of migrants frorn all three geographic categories came to the city as a result of kinship ties with a member of the elite. This kinship often helped a young man launch his career based on the preestablished contacts of his relatives. Ten percent of the migrants from the Wyoming Valley had well developed economic and institutional bonds with Wilkes-Barre's leadership. These bonds drew prominent men from neighboring communities. The promise of a fortune in coal mining induced many young entrepreneurs from outside the coal region to try their luck in the Wyoming Valley. Thirty-five percent of all the men in this group came to Wilkes-Barre because of economic opportunities. A small eight percent of the migrants from outside the coal region came from the towns located in Wilkes-Barre's old commercial network in the Susquehanna basin and migrated on the basis of economic relationships with the city's leaders. The data in tables 3 and 4 describe the relationships between the age and timing of migration with stimulus for migration. It is sig- nificant that a majority of the migrants arrived after 1850; and that at least that proportion were under thirty years of age when migrating to Wilkes-Barre. The greatest influx of migrants occurred between 1850 and 1870 corresponding to the rise of Wilkes-Barre as a regional center. The city's first decade of major growth occurred in the 1850s which can be attributed, in part, to the activities of the native elite. The decades of the most rapid increase in the city's population came in the 1870s (+ 139%) and the 1880s (+ 129%) when these young entrepreneurs were exercising their talent and newly acquired skills. No doubt their economic contribution, which will be detailed later, promoted the city's economic development and population growth. The fact that seventy-six percent of all migrants were in their teens and twenties, table 4, also indicates certain things about the pattern of migration, skill formation, and the attraction of Wilkes-Barre. A recent study of mobility has suggested a theory of life cycle and migration. The theory holds that during the nineteenth century a man's early years, roughly fifteen to thirty, were often spent seeking 0 n n 0 0 00 0 N~ CN 'r)

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u - C~1 z HZ 0') C 0 0') 0' 0') 0') m' 0') Cf) C U: C: o I oI I I I I -) C' C O C0(0 -cc 304 EDWARD J. DAVIES II and acquiring skills before settling down. During his teens and twenties, a young man gained the prerequisite for success but seldom acquired wealth or standing since these required both time and experience. Having acquired the necessary training, such as education or the equivalent of a modern-day law degree, the migrant next began the long process of achieving economic power and social standing. Subsequent moves were intended to improve one's economic position and occurred by transferring status, rather than beginning all over again. While the leaders in Wilkes-Barre usually made no more than one or two moves, the pattern and timing of migration still corresponds to the general trend of mobility in mid- nineteenth century America, as the ages of the newcomers in table 4 indicate.'3 A closer look at the specifics of this movement will demonstrate the applicability of the theory and substantiate claims about Wilkes- Barre's attraction. The city's pull as a legal and educational center was strong and persistent in the early and mid-nineteenth century as shown in table 5. The economic leaders represented by this data constituted forty-two percent of all successful newcomers to Wilkes- Barre. All of the migrants but one were younger than thirty years of age upon arrival. This pattern suggests that the stimulus to come to Wilkes-Barre was a desire to acquire skills, particularly since all of them became immediately involved in a law apprenticeship or academy training. More than half of the new arrivals represented in table 5 had some pre-existing kinship or institutional ties with the city's leadership. The Sturdevant family of Braintrim township illustrates several of these points. The first Sturdevant to leave Wyoming County, Ebenezer, arrived in Wilkes-Barre during the 1820s where he attended the city's private academy for boys. His decision to go to Wilkes-Barre was no doubt shaped by his father's commercial ties with the Hollenback family. After finishing his secondary schooling, Sturdevant enrolled at Union College in Schenectady, New York, an alma mater of many Wilkes-Barre leaders. Upon graduation he returned to Wilkes-Barre where he studied law under Garrick Mallery, a prominent member of the city's elite. At the end of his legal training, Sturdevant married Mary Denison, daughter of a first family. As in so many other instances, Sturdevant used his

13. Robert Doherty, Society and Power in New England 1800-1860: A Comparative Study of Five New England Towns in Massachusetts (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1977), pp. 70-74. 0 CDC Co O

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H 0 C4 C/) z Ec 0 Ej 0 C-) 0 m ol CO 'I C c,) 306 EDWARD J. DAVIES II experience in law to launch a business career that would span fifty years. Sturdevant held numerous positions in locally owned companies and banks such as the Wilkes-Barre Bridge Company and the First National Bank as well as a directorship on the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad. Three nephews followed Ebenezer to Wilkes- Barre where they also attended local academies and eventually established themselves as successful entrepreneurs.1 4 The relationship between age and migration for those migrants who were attracted to Wilkes-Barre by kinship, institutional and commercial ties, and economic opportunity is shown in table 6. The majority of these forty-four migrants who arrived between 1800 and 1870 were under thirty years of age. Twenty-seven of these migrants had kinship ties with the Wilkes-Barre elite prior to migration. The Lee family demonstrates the specific roles these familial bonds played in this pattern of migration. Washington Lee was the first of his family to move to the Wyoming Valley in 1817. His connection with the early Wilkes-Barre leaders came first through his father, Andrew. Andrew Lee and Mathias Hollenback were both members of the "Paxtang Boys," a political group in Lancaster County. Andrew's brother, James, mined and shipped coal to Philadelphia with George Hollenback, Mathias' son. Shortly after settling in Nanticoke, near Wilkes-Barre, Washington Lee began mining and tried to sell coal in towns south along the Susquehanna River. Eventually, Lee became one of the wealthiest men in Luzerne County. Lee moved from Nanticoke to Wilkes-Barre in the late 1860s. His nephew, Washington Lee, Jr., his niece, Priscilla Lee, (wife of Ziba Bennet, the third richest man in the city) and his nephew through marriage, Lewis Paine, all resided in Wilkes-Barre and persuaded him to join them. 15 Lewis Paine, husband of Mary Lee had moved to Wilkes-Barre in 1857 for similar reasons. Barely thirty years old, Paine left Nanti- coke, where he and Andrew Lee had made a considerable fortune

14. Harvey and Smith, A History of Wilkes-Barre 5:242; Hayden et at., Genealogical and Family History, 1:233-34, 535-37; Johnson, The Historical Record of Wilkes-Barre, 7:1083; Munsell, History ofLuzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming Counties, pp. 236F, 236J-R, 516B; Smith, The Wyoming Valley, pp. 31, 70. 15. Manuscript Census Returns, Eighth Census of the United States, 1860, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, National Archives Microfilm Series, M-650, Rolls 1132-33; Manuscript Census Returns, Ninth Census of the United States, 1870, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, M-593, Rolls 1365, 1366, 1367; Harvey, History of the Miners National Bank, pp. 18-19: Hayden et al., Genealogical and Family History, 1:81-82, 357-58; Johnson, The Historical Record of Wilkes-Barre, 3:181 -84; Munsell, History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming Counties, pp. 236F, 236M, 236R-S; Smith, The Wyoming Valley, p. 142. 0 O I- 00 U-) 0 0 CN! 0 C\' - Cl) CN --

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- n c" Icn 1- c C/) 308 EDWARD J. DAVIES II in coal, to join relatives in Wilkes-Barre. He also had well developed social ties with the city's elite as a member of Lodge 61. Paine later prevailed upon Andrew Lee to join the family in Wilkes-Barre. Both transferred their status as leaders in the anthracite industry to the regional center where they immediately became solid members of a rapidly expanding elite.16 A successful newcomer often brought other members of his family into Wilkes-Barre. The Sterling family demonstrates this point. Walter Sterling began working as a clerk in George Hollenback's Wyalusing store. In 1835, at age fourteen, he moved from his native community to Wilkes-Barre, and, by the 1850s he was serving as director of the Wyoming National Bank of which Hollenback was president. Within twenty years Sterling had become the wealthiest man in the city. At this date (c. 1870) his nephew, Addison Sterling who had just turned thirty, moved to Wilkes-Barre from Meshoppen where he had been a successful merchant, banker, and entrepreneur. A decade after his arrival, the younger Sterling held over sixteen directorships and officers' posts. Sterling's decision to migrate to Wilkes-Barre was influenced by the rapid economic development and population growth that the city experienced during the 1860s. His diverse and far ranging economic activities of the 1870s and 1880s also contributed substantially to the accelerated pace of Wilkes-Barre and its emergence as the economic center of the Luzerne coal fields.'7 Wilkes-Barre's ability to draw talent from its hinterland was equally as strong within the region itself. The city's elite used kinship and institutional ties to attract leaders from communities all over the Wyoming Valley. Approximately forty percent of all migrants came from towns within the Wyoming Valley as previously shown in table 1. The Harvey family of Plymouth provides a typical example of this pattern of intraregional migration. The first Harvey, Elisha, who arrived in Wilkes-Barre, came to study law at age twenty- six. After completing his training in 1847, he then proceeded to

16. Harvey, History of the Miner's National Bank, p. 18; Hayden et al., Genealogical and Family History, 1:81-2, 542-44; Johnson, The HistoricalRecord of Wilkes-Barre, 1:181-84; Munsell, History of Luzerne, Lackawanna and Wyoming Counties, pp. 236A, 236F, 236M-N, 236R-S; Smith, The Wyoming Valley, p. 142. 17. Manuscript Census Returns, Ninth Census of the United States, 1870, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, M-593, Rolls 1365, 1366, 1367; Harvey, History of the Miners' National Bank, pp. 18-9, 100-1; Harvey and Smith, A History of Wilkes-Barre, 6:606; Hayden et al., Genealogical and Family History, 1:348-51; Munsell, History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming Counties, pp. 236E-F. ELITE MIGRATION 309 TABLE 7 POSITIONS OF ECONOMIC POWER HELD BY MIGRANTS TO WILKEs-BARRE WHO ACHIEVED ELITE' STATUS BY TYPE OF INDUSTRY, 1850-1880

POSITIONS OF ECONOMIC POWER

ECONOMIC % OF % OF ACTIVITIES DIRECTORSHIPS EXECUTIVE POSTS Services 36% 13% Anthracite Coal 17 38 Manufacturing 14 10 Banking 26 36 Transportation 7 3 Total 100% 100% N = 229 (170) (59)

SOURCE: See table 1. build a career in politics, anthracite mining, and banking. Within fifteen years he owned considerable coal lands, held a directorship on the Wyoming National Bank, and had also served in two county offices. His brother, Jameson, who was one of the top ten wealth holders in Plymouth from 1850 to 1860, moved to Wilkes-Barre in 1863. By 1873 his sons, William Jameson and Harrison Harvey, both wealthy residents of Plymouth, had joined their father. Between them the younger brothers accounted for twenty-two directorships in companies whose operations spanned the entire region. In addition, William Jameson Harvey had married into one of Wilkes-Barre's leading families. 1 Many of the newcomers had direct economic ties with the Wilkes- Barre leadership before their migration. William C. Reynolds was typical of these men. Unlike the greater percentage of migrants, Reynolds was over fifty when he finally moved to Wilkes-Barre. A descendant of a Wyoming Valley first family, Reynolds began his days in Kingston; but all his schooling occurred in Wilkes-Barre's private academy. This experience was his first formal contact with the city and helped develop associations with many of the city's future leaders. After finishing his studies, Reynolds entered into a business partnership with Henderson Gaylord of Plymouth, also 18. Harvey, The Hanvey Book, pp. 735, 739-40, 782, 790, 807, 810, 815-19; 832: Hayden et al., Genealogical and Family History, 1: 162-65; Munsell, Historic o/ of crze. Lmklvan naiii, and Wyoming Counties, pp. 236D-E. 310 EDWARD J. DAVIES II a scion of a Connecticut pioneer family. The two were profitably engaged in the mining and lumber industries. They also bought and sold grains and other farm products. Gaylord became one of the wealthiest men in Plymouth while Reynolds achieved a similar ranking in Kingston. Reynolds later met and married Jane Smith whose father and nephew were successful anthracite coal operators in Plymouth. Reynolds developed social ties with the Wilkes-Barre leaders through memberships in Lodge 61 F&AM and the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, the two most prestigious social organizations in both Wilkes-Barre and the Wyoming Valley. He was also an incorporator and investor in the Hillside Coal and Iron Company and the Wyoming National Bank. He eventually moved to Wilkes-Barre in the 1850s. The move was symbolic of his already well entrenched position among the city's elite. The marriages of his two sons to daughters of elite families in Wilkes-Barre solidified the Reynolds' commitment to the city."9 The activities of migrants made an important contribution to Wilkes-Barre's rapid industrial growth and to its emergence as the dominant city in the northern anthracite region. Table 7 outlines the distribution of these activities among the various industries. The first category, services, included traction, utility, hotel, and mercantile companies where these leaders held sixty-five directorships. The migrants invested most heavily in the street railway industry. The transit companies controlled by many of these men operated over the entire Wyoming Valley from Nanticoke to Pittston along the Susquehanna River and Harvey's Lake and Dallas in the moun- tains. After the traction industry, coal companies ranked second among the entrepreneurial interests of the newcomers. The migrants held twenty-two officers' posts including presidencies of the largest coal companies in the Luzerne coal fields. Moreover, these operations touched almost every patch town and colliery in the anthracite region. The results of this activity were particularly crucial in giving Wilkes-Barre partial control of its main export, coal. Migrants were extremely active in banking as indicated by the sixty-eight positions they held. These positions represented a considerable investment of capital and effort and helped make Wilkes- Barre the financial center of all region-wide economic operations. Manufacturing also commanded the attention of the migrants. 19. Bradsby, History of Luzerne Count), p. 1280; Harvey and Smith, A History of Wilkes- Barre, 6:604; Hayden et al., Genealogical and Family History, 1:36; Wright, Historical Sketches, pp. 365-67. ELITE MIGRATION 311

TABLE 8 PROPORTION OF RESIDENTS IN WILKEs-BARRE HOLDING ABOVE $10,000 IN 1850, $30,000 IN 1860, AND $50,000 IN 1870 ACCORDING TO THE U.S. CENSUS REPRESENTED BY MIGRANTS WHO ACHIEVED ELITE STATUS

MIGRANT PROPORTION AMONG YEAR Top WEALTH HOLDERS

1850 18% 1860 50% 1870 40%

SOURCES: Manuscript Census Returns, Seventh Census of The United States, 1850, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, National Archives Microfilm Series, M-432, Rolls 793, 794; Manu- script Census Returns, Eighth Census ofthe United States, 1860, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, National Archives Microfilm Series, M-650, Rolls 1132-1133, M-653, Roll 1135; Manuscript Census Returns, iVinth Census of the United States, 1870, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, National Archives Microfilm Series, M-593, Rolls 1365, 1366, 1367.

Most of their capital and time went into the lumber industry which supplied the needed materials for deep coal mining and housing construction. Last, the migrants recognized the overwhelming importance of major transportation. As a result they joined local enter- prises aimed at establishing railroad companies. These entrepreneurial activities described above were definitely reflected in the wealth holdings of the migrants. In 1850 migrants accounted for eighteen percent of the richest men in Wilkes-Barre. Within ten years this proportion had risen to fifty percent (table 8). Although the percentage dropped in the 1870 census, the migrants still constituted a large portion of the top wealth holders in the city. While the newcomers accumulated vast sums of money through their activities in Wilkes-Barre, many were ranked among the top wealth holders in their native communities before migrating or had close relatives in the wealthy groups. Eighty-five such cases were found in the census data (table 9). This flow of capital represented a tremendous drain of money from the native towns of newcomers and a welcome addition to Wilkes-Barre's growing capital pool. For example, six of the leading ten wealth holders in Plymouth and four of the leading ten in Plains Township in 1850 moved to Wilkes- Barre by 1860. A similar pattern appeared in the hinterland communities where Wilkes-Barre's commercial network was active. 312 EDWARD J. DAVIES II TABLE 9 NUMBER OF MIGRANTS TO WILKEs-BARRE AND THEIR RELATIVES WHO DID NOT MIGRATE RANKED AMONG Top WEALTH HOLDERS* IN THEIR NATIVE COMMUNITIES IN 1850, 1860, OR 1870

YEAR NUMBER AMONG Top WEALTH HOLDERS 1850 33 1860 28 1870 24 Total 85 *Criteria for'inclusion among top wealth holders same as in Table 8. SOURCES: Manuscript Census Returns, Seventh Census of The United States, 1850, Bradford County, Wyoming County, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, National Archives Microfilm Series, M-432, Roll 757; M-432, Roll 769; M-432, Rolls 838, 793,794; Manuscript Census Returns, Eighth Census of The United States, 1860, Bradford County, Wyoming County, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, National Archives Microfilm Series, M-653, Roll 1079; M-653, Roll 1197; M-650, Rolls 1133, 1135; Manuscript Census Returns, Ninth Census of The United States, 1870, Columbia County, Wyoming County, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, National Archives Microfilm Series, M-593; Roll 1329; M-593, Rolls 1365, 1366, 1367.

The four richest men in Braintrim Township in the 1860 census, representing over $300,000 in assets, were Sturdevants or their kin. Two of these subsequently migrated to Wilkes-Barre. The migration of talent and capital found among Wilkes-Barre's leaders was characteristic of elites in other emerging regional centers. Both Scranton and Bethlehem depended heavily on the in-migration of leaders from other cities and towns for their growth and dominance in their respective regions. Scranton drained the top wealth holders and their relatives from towns scattered over northeastern Pennsylvania. Communities such as Honesdale, Montrose, Athens, Bethany, and Towanda, all contributed significantly to Scranton's rise. Almost all of the top leaders from these small marketing towns who moved to the Lackawanna Valley were numbered among their native town's richest ten percent. Once in Scranton, these migrants became involved in manufacturing, banking, and mercantile operations which helped to give the city the most diversified industrial base of any city in the area from Reading in Montgomery County to the New York border near Binghamton.20

20. See Burton W. Folsom II, "Urban Networks: The Economic and Social Order of the Lackawanna and Lehigh Valleys during Early Industrialization, 1850 1880," (Ph.D. dissertation: University of Pittsburgh, 1976). ELITE MIGRATION 313 For example, Edward Weston, originally from Towanda, was director of the First National Bank of Scranton, vice president and board member of the Dickson Manufacturing Company, and operated a large flour mill. Scranton also used the talent of many successful newcomers from Ireland, Germany, Scotland, and En- gland. These foreign-born migrants appeared in much greater num- bers among the city's leaders because of Scranton's infancy and its extremely rapid growth. The city's institutional structure was just forming as Scranton industrialized unlike Wilkes-Barre where many of the institutions were already fifty and seventy-five years old by 1850.21 The rise of Bethlehem as the major city in the Lehigh Valley depended upon a similar migration of talent and capital. In the 1850s and 1860s, the entire Mauch Chunk elite moved to Bethlehem. This migration reoriented the Lehigh Valley south to Bethlehem. The arrival of enormous amounts of capital held by powerful Mauch Chunk leaders such as Asa Packer ($16,000,000 in 1870), established the basis of the Bethlehem Iron and Steel Company and the Lehigh Valley Railroad. These primarily migrant owned operations trans- formed Bethlehem from a sleepy farm town into a burgeoning steel town and the economic center for manufacturing in the Lehigh Valley.22 The migration of talent and capital constitutes an important factor in shaping the process of urban growth. Clearly the flow of these resources from one community to the next influences the rate of growth. In the case of Wilkes-Barre, this migration helped stimu- late rapid economic development thus enabling the city to become the primary urban center in the northern anthracite region. This pattern also held for Scranton and Bethlehem. In fact, none of the towns in the hinterland of Scranton and Wilkes-Barre ever grew in population beyond a few thousand because these two cities robbed them of the vital resources of growth, i.e. talent and capital. This migration can also partly explain why many communities never experienced rapid growth or rates comparable to major cities. For example, Kingston, across the river from Wilkes-Barre lost most of its talent and capital to that city and as a result, never surpassed 1500 in population throughout the nineteenth century. Plymouth, down the river from Wilkes-Barre, saw over half of its top wealth

21. See Folsom, "Urban Networks," Chapters 11 and Ill. 22. See Folsom, "Urban Networks," Chapters VI and VII. 314 EDWARD J. DAVIES II holders move to the emerging regional center. This drain of important resources slowed Plymouth's growth rate and kept the city substantially smaller than Wilkes-Barre. This migration obviously constituted a vital ingredient in the urbanization process. Equally as important, it points out the specific link between leaders and the urban growth. This relationship between elite migration and urban growth has wider applicability than just Wilkes-Barre and eastern Pennsylvania. Metropolitan centers such as Chicago and New York duplicated this success on a broader scale. Biographical sketches which appear in E. D. Baltzel's PhiladelphiaGentlemen suggest that many of the city's entrepreneurs were migrants from regions which Philadelphia eventually came to dominate. This movement of capital and talent can add significantly to our understanding of the process of urban growth and identify the critical part elites played in this process.

STICKS AND STONES ...

An Affray.-A German paper printed at Lebanon, (Pa.) gives an account of an affray that took place there, on the 22nd ultimo. It being fair day, the bands employed to work on the canal, assembled at a tavern to have a little sport, when a quarrel ensued, and a number of young men interfering, it ended in a bloody "Dutch and Irish fight." The Irishmen, finding themselves too weak with their fists, began to use stones pretty freely, and succeeded in driving the Dutchmen from the field of battle. The stones flew so thick, that no one was secure on the streets. An appeal to arms became necessary. Capt. Weidman's Guards, with the assistance of some members of the light dragoons, succeeded in taking fifteen of the rioters, who were confined in jail, when peace was restored. This affair put an end to the fair. [Westmoreland Republican (Greensburg, Pa.), 7 June 1822.]

CONTRIBUTED BY ROBERT M. BLACKSON, THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY AT ALTOONA.