Forty Fort Cemetery's more notable persons

He was the 18th Governor of Pennsylvania from 1879 to 1883, as well as a general in the Union army during the American Civil War. 

Hoyt was born in Kingston, Pennsylvania and attended Wyoming Seminary. He initially attended Lafayette College before moving on to Williams College where he graduated in 1849, with Phi Beta Kappa honors, as a member of The Kappa Alpha Society. From 1851 to 1853 he taught Mathematics at Wyoming Seminary and then studied law. Hoyt first held elected office as a district attorney. 

He served as Solicitor General of the United States from 1903 to 1909. His father, also named Henry Martyn Hoyt, served as governor of Pennsylvania from 1879 to 1883.

Hoyt was born in Wilkes-Barre and graduated from Yale University in 1878 and the law school of the University of Pennsylvania in 1881. After a career spent in private practice as a lawyer in Pennsylvania, starting in Pittsburgh and then in banking he became an assistant attorney general in 1897 and then, in 1903, was appointed Solicitor General by Theodore Roosevelt. After the end of Roosevelt's term in office he became a counselor to Secretary of State Philander C. Knox.

A Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.

C. Murray Turpin was born in Kingston, Pennsylvania. He attended Wyoming Seminary in Kingston. He served as a corporal in the United States Army during the Spanish-American War in Company F, Ninth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and was a member of the Pennsylvania National Guard from 1896 to 1901, rising to the rank of captain. He was employed as a carpenter, grocery clerk, and a steamboat captain before graduating from the dental department of the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1904. After graduation he commenced the practice of dentistry in Kingston in 1905. He served as a member of the board of education from 1916 to 1922, burgess of Kingston from 1922 to 1926, and prothonotary of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania from 1926 to 1929.

Turpin was elected as a Republican to the Seventy-first Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of John J. Casey. He was reelected to the Seventy-second, Seventy-third, and Seventy-fourth Congresses. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1936. He was appointed assistant chief clerk of the Luzerne County Assessor’s Office in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania

An American poet and novelist popular in the 1920s and 1930s. "She was famous during her life almost as much for her ethereal beauty and personality as for her melodious, sensuous poetry."

Elinor Wylie was born Elinor Morton Hoyt in Somerville, New Jersey, into a socially prominent family. Her grandfather, Henry M. Hoyt, was a governor of Pennsylvania. Her aunt was Helen Hoyt, a minor poet. Her parents were Henry Martyn Hoyt, Jr., who would be United States Solicitor General from 1903 to 1909; and Anne Morton McMichael (born July 31, 1861 in Pa.)

Nathan Denison, born in Windham, Connecticut, September 17, 1740, came to Wyoming Valley in February, 1769. The Susquehanna Land Company had offered townships five miles square to any groups who would settle there, establish a colony for Connecticut, and prevent the Pennamites from taking ownership. Nathan was one of the first 40 to accept the challenge.

The conflict that resulted, known as the Yankee-Pennamite Wars, lasted on-and-off from 1769 to

1786. It was finally settled in favor of Pennsylvania, but the Connecticut settlers were permitted to retain ownership of their property. Denison played a large part in helping to determine land titles.

Nathan served as lieutenant colonel and then colonel in the 24th Connecticut Militia Regiment which had been established by the Connecticut Legislature. As such, he was second in command under Colonel Zebulon Butler, continental army, at the Battle of Wyoming on July 3, 1778, against the Tories and the Indians. The colonial forces were hopelessly outnumbered, and the battle become known as the Wyoming Massacre. It was Colonel Denison's duty to sign the Articles of Capitulation which took place in the Fort of the Forty the next day.

Nathan married Elizabeth (Betsy) Sill (1750-1812) at her brother's home in Wilkes-Barre in November of 1772. They had 7 children: Lazarus (1773), Elizabeth (1777), Mary (1779), Ann (1783), John (1787), George (1790), and Sarah (1795). Denison's original home was a simple log cabin on the banks of Abraham's Creek. His almost 70 acres included a barn, distillery, and grazing land for the cattle he raised.

In 1790 he built a much larger home on the same property on what is now Denison Street in Forty Fort to accommodate his growing family and from where he could conduct his agricultural and legal businesses.

Nathan lived there until his death on January 25, 1809.

Throughout his life, Nathan held many positions of responsibility: director of Kingston Township, Justice of the Peace, representative to Connecticut General Court, Judge of Luzerne County General Court, Judge of Probate Court, and member of Pennsylvania Supreme Executive Council, the forerunner of the state senate. Known for his integrity, he served the area as a man of law and social responsibility.

In recognition of his contributions to the formation of Luzerne County, Denison's image is depicted on the ceiling of the east entrance of the Luzerne County Courthouse along with other prominent people important to local history

Hannah Tiffany, born April 8, 1738 (d.1809), spent her formative years in Kent, Litchfield County, Connecticut.

On April 1, 1762, she married Luke Swetland (1729-1823), originally from Lebanon, Connecticut, and moved to nearby Sharon.

They left Connecticut in 1772 for the opportunities promised by the Susquehanna Land Company in the rich, fertile soil of Wyoming Valley. They arrived with their 5 sons: Belding (1763), Daniel (1764), Joseph (1767), Aretmas (1769), and Eli (1771). They would have 4 more children: twins William and Mary (1773), Seth (1775), and John (1777). Sadly, Mary died in infancy.

The family settled in an area of Kingston Township that is now Wyoming and proceeded to establish their homestead. After the American Revolution began, Luke enlisted in 1775 in the continental army as a private. Hannah was left to carry on alone with her young children. While Luke was fighting in the battles at Boundbrook and Brandywine, Hannah was dealing with the deaths of Eli, Seth, and John due to a small pox epidemic in 1777.

The day of the Battle of Wyoming, July 3, 1778. found the family sheltering in the Fort of the Forty as Luke had been sent home to help the colonists. His duty was to guard the women and children who had taken refuge in the fort.

Just a month later, Luke was captured by Indians and taken to Seneca Falls area in New York. After a year and 2 days, Luke escaped and joined General John Sullivan's army to serve as a guide through New York. Hannah knew nothing about what had happened to him and concluded that he had been captured and killed. She and her 5 sons returned to her family home in Kent, making the long journey on foot. When Luke got back to the Valley in 1779 and found them gone, he was given a horse and reunited with them there. Kent was their home for the next 15 years.

Hannah and Luke returned to the area in 1794 and stayed on their lands in Mehoopany until 1800.

They then moved to their Wyoming (called New Troy at that time) property which now encompassed

250 acres.

Hannah died January 8, 1809, at the home they shared with Belding and his family. Luke later followed her in 1823.

 Nathan Denison joined the First Forty at Windham, CT and built his cabin on the banks of Abraham's Creek, where in 1790, he erected his mansion house, modeled after the Denison family home in Stonington, CT. In 1772, he married Betsy Sill, their's being the first marriage in Wyoming. He served in the General Assembly of Connecticut, and was Colonel of the Regiment. He was second in command at the Battle of Wyoming, having relinquished command on the day of the battle to Zebulon Butler, who was a colonel in the Continental Army. Following the defeat of the settlers, he signed the Articles of Capitulation. He was a lawyer and served as judge of the Probate Court of Westmoreland, and later associate judge after the erection of Luzerne County. For forty years, he was by far the most prominent and influential citizen of the Wyoming Valley. 

Son of John Bird and Rebecca Montayne Bird, he served with distinction in the Battle of Lake Erie under Commodore Perry. Later, he left his command to join the Army at New Orleans. For this "desertion", he was condemned, shot and buried at Erie, PA on November 10, 1814. Honored as a hero and martyr In song and story by his countrymen, his body was exhumed and reinterred here through the efforts of the Wyoming Historical & Geological Society and the local chapter of The Daughters of 1812. His father, a Revolutionary veteran and his mother died in 1839 and 1818 respectively.

Born in Middlefield, NY to Luther Peck, a blacksmith, and Annis ńee Collar. He and his four brothers all became ministers in the Methodist Church. He is largely credited with convincing local farmers and businessmen to fund a Methodist Episcopal Seminary in Kingston, Pennsylvania, called Wyoming Seminary After several pastoral assignments he became editor of the Methodist Quarterly Review where he was responsible for several historical biographies in what was then the new style of historiography, drawing on the use of original documents. In 1819, he married Mary Myers of Forty Fort.

He settled in the Wyoming Valley in 1769 and was one of the original Forty who helped to build the Fort. Due to the land dispute claims between the Native Americans and Pennamites, he and his companions were arrested. Following an escape from jail, the family left the Wyoming Valley to return to New York before returning later that year. He participated and survived the Wyoming Massacre of July 3, 1778. Following the Massacre, he lived as a farmer with him family. Enjoying ears of growth and hardship, such as the ice flood in the Spring of 1784 which required hum to rebuild his homestead once again. 

Benjamin Reynolds (1780-1859) was the son of David Reynolds and Hannah Andrus Gaylord. David Reynolds was a shareholder in the Susquehannah Company of Connecticut and settled in Plymouth, one of the original five settling townships of he Wyoming Valley in 1769.

Benjamin Reynolds was raised on the family farm. In 1811, he formed a partnership with Joseph Wright and Joel Rogers of Plymouth to carry on a general mercantile business. Later, Reynolds would form another partnership with Henderson Gaylord and Abraham Fuller under the name of Reynolds, Gaylord & Company.

In January of 1832, owing to the death of the sheriff of Luzerne County, Governor George Wolf appointed Reynolds to fill the vacancy. He was defeated for re-election by James Nesbitt who ran on the anti-Masonic ticket. Reynolds, on the contrary, was a free mason and a member of Lodge No. 61. His sons, William C. Reynolds, Elijah Reynolds and great-grandson Dorrance Reynolds were also members of Lodge No. 61.

For many years, by appointment by the governor, Reynolds held the office of justice of the peace for Plymouth Township.

In 1801, Benjamin Reynolds married Lydia Fuller, daughter of Joshua and Sybil Champion Fuller, and together they had nine children.

This oil on canvas portrait was painted in 1857 by Samuel F. DuBois, a graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. From the collection of the Luzerne County Historical Society and hangs in the Westmoreland Club.