Research - Alfred H. Shopland

THE SHOPLAND FAMILY ASSOCIATION Research - America

A Portrait and Biographical Record of Alfred H. Shopland

Alfred Shopland was the son of Samuel Shopland (1817-1872) and Susan Hore. He arrived in America with his parents on 15 June 1849 on the ship "Wellington" and disembarked in New York.

The following article was from a book, Portrait and Biographical Record of Lackawanna County Pennsylvania, Chapman Publishing 1897, and has been contributed by Cathy Mott who descends from Samuel's sister, Marianne Shopland.

Alfred H. Shopland is the representative of his family in Lackawanna County and has been identified with the advancement and growing prosperity of Scranton since his boyhood. He is now retired from active business and employs his time chiefly in looking after his large property interests. In the church, fraternal and social circles of this city he enjoys the friendship of a host of acquaintances, and to all worthy enterprises which come beneath his notice he is very liberal.

Samuel, father of A. H. Shopland, born in Bradstow (Bridestowe), Devonshire, England, September 25, 1817, and was a son of Hugh Shopland. In his youth Samuel learned the carpenter's trade in London and in 1849 he came to America with his family, and located in Honesdale, Pa. About 1851 he came to Scranton, and in 1854 brought his family and settled here. He was very active and industrious, and a man of great business talent. From time to time he invested in real estate, which he improved and sold, and thus he became very well-to-do. Amoung the numerous houses and blocks put up by him were the row on Mifflin Avenue, Lackawanna Avenue, four buildings known as the Shopland Block, and eight modern residences on Wyoming Avenue known as Shopland Terrace. Though many of these buildings were erected during the war they were so well constructed that few modern dwellings and stores compare favorably with them. He was one of the leading contractors and builders of the city in that day. He took commendable pride in his chosen city, and was a select councilman about four years, having been elected from the eighth ward on the Republican ticket. Until his death he was a faithful member of St. Luke's Episcopal Church and served as a vestry-man. He officiated in the same capacity when the chapel was on the site of the present St. Charles Hotel, on Penn Avenue. On several occasions he went to the continent and England and while absent on one of these trips, in Torquay, Devonshire, Engliand, received the death summons, July 15, 1872. He remains were brought home for burial in beautiful Forest Hill were tenderly placed to await the resurrection morning. His first wife, Susan, died in Honesdale about 1849, and subsequently he married Lydia, sister of Richard Henwood, of Scranton. She was born April 21, 1807, in Cornwall, England, and died in this city July 11, 1891.

Alfred H. Shopland was his father's only child. His birth occurred in London, England, September 28, 1843, and when he was but six years old he was brought to the United States. The next great change in his life was when his devoted mother died and afterward, in 1854, he came to Scranton and entered the public schools here. Later he attended the Poughkeepsie (N. Y.) Military School. On beginning his business career he opened a drug store in Hyde Park, but a better opportunity presenting itself for the rapid acquisition of wealth, as he thought, he became interested in the wood and willow-ware business, on Lackawanna Avenue. In 1874 he removed to Westfield, N. J., where he conducted a drug business some nine years, but in all this time he kept in touch with everything transpiring in Scranton and never lost his interest in the place. About 1880 he again became a resident of Scranton, where he still resides. At present he is not engaged in any particular line of business.

The marriage of Mr. Shopland and Eugenie M. Moore was solomnized in 1873. The lady is a native of Waymart, Wayne County, Pa., and daughter of Lewis and Eleanor (Morgan) Moore, who were born in the same county. Mr. Moore is still living, his home being in Hollisterville, Pa., where he is passing his declining days in the enjoyment of the fruits of his years of toil on his old farm. He is a son of James Moore, of Goshen, N. Y., who was a pioneer farmer in Wayne County, and died there. On the Morgan side we find that the progenitor of the family in America was James Morgan, born in Glamorganshire, Wales, in 1607. In company with two brothers he arrived in Boston, Mass., in the spring of 1636, and soon became noted for the part which he took in the government of the colonies. He married Margery Hill, of Roxbury, Mass., where he first settled. As a selectman of New London, Conn., a magistrate, one of the first deputies to the general assembly with General Winthrop, where he was subsequently returned nine times, in the Congregational Church and in every walk of his active life he was very prominent, earnet and zealous. He owned large tracts of land and was a surveyor, in addition to all of his other undertakings. This worthy man was of the tenth generation back from Mrs. Shopland. Her great-grandfather, Samuel Morgan, was a leader in the little society of Salem, Conn., and six of her forefathers fought in the war of the Revolution, while others participated in the French and Indian Wars, the War of 1812 and the Mexican War. Samuel Morgan, father of Eleanor Moore, was born in Salem, Conn., and moved into Wayne County, Pa., when it was a wilderness. He settled near Lake Ariel on Morgan Hill, noted for its scenery. The first American steamship to ever enter Chinese waters, the "Empress of China", was owned and commanded by a Morgan. The grand Morgan art collection was sold by Mrs Mary J. Morgan, widow of Charles Morgan, the collector, and was the greatest art sale that has occurred in the United States, the famous peach blow vase being part of this collection. The collection then passed out of the Morgan family. The last Charles Morgan was proprietor of a line of steamships plying between New York and points along the Gulf of Mexico. The Morgan Iron Works are owned by members of the family. Amoung those who have distinguished themselves in the professions are Edwin D. Morgan, ex-governor of New York State; Rev. Ferdinand Morgan, D. D., of St. Thomas' Church, New York City, and Lewis H. Morgan of Rochester, N. Y.

Mr. Shopland joined the Masonic order in 1878 while living in Westfield, N. J., and is now identified with Peter Williamson Lodge No. 323, F. & A. M., Lackawanna Chapter No. 185, R. A. M., and Melita Commandery No. 68, K. T., of the latter he is the recorder. His father was also connected with the Masonic fraternity of Scranton. Both Mr. and Mrs. Shopland are members of the Second Memorial Presbyterian Church and active in its various departments of usefulness. Politically he is a true blue Republican.