Thomas Wright, a bright, young educated Irishman, landed in Philadelphia in 1763, and soon after was in charge of a school at Dyerstown, near Doylestown, where he married Mary Dyer. A few years after, he removed to Wilkes-Barre and became the founder of Wrightsville, now the borough of Miner’s Mills. He built a mill at that place in 1795, which has since remained in the possession of his descendants – to Asher Miner (his son-in-law); to Robert Miner; to C.A. Miner; four generations. From 1795 to 1801, Thomas Wright was one of the commissioners of Luzerne County. The mill was burned in the latter part of 1825; rebuilt by Robert Miner for his father. It is now the firm of Charles A. Miner & Co., making the fifth change and always in the same family. Thus has come into existence one of the important and prosperous outlying suburban towns of Wilkes-Barre, that is connected with the city by the electric street railway. As related elsewhere, Asher and Charles Miner each married a Wright. The name of the place is its history. The great mill is still the most important plant of the kind in the county. The Miners were men of varied talents and strong characters. They established newspapers, were important factors in developing the coal of this region, leaders in statesmanship and advanced manufactures successfully. In all these they were philosophical and practical; making money and expending it freely in aid of the growth of this region, and losing much money in some of their enterprises, simply, however, in each case because they were much in advance of their age and time. Charles Miner wrote and published articles concerning anthracite coal that were truly prophetic, and he backed those ideas with his patient toil and fortune only to fail because life was too short for him to educate the world to his advanced ideas. Now every child in the land practically knows what he then found it so difficult to impress upon the wisest in the community.

The borough of Miner’s Mills was organized December 12, 1883. The meeting place in all preliminaries was at Michael Athey’s hotel. The first officers: Burgess, Joseph Moore; council: Evan T. Morgan, secretary; John Gallagher, treasurer; George Ayers, Bernard Burke, president; Gavin Burt and Thomas Borland.

Present officers: Burgess, John Ross; council: William Coon, president; Joseph Moore, secretary; George Burt, treasurer; Gavin Burt, John Maycock, John Ayers, William Simons and Charles Mugan; assessor, John Hogan; collector, Thomas E. Jones; high constable, William McDonald.

The business interests in the place: 3 blacksmiths, 5 carpenters, 1 drug store, 7 general stores, 3 grocers, 1 hardware dealer, 3 hotels, 1 livery, 1 meat market, 2 newsdealers and the great commercial mill.

© 1997-2010 by Mary Ann Lubinsky for the PAGenWeb Project, and by Individual Contributors

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