“Family is not an important thing, it’s everything.”
(Michael J. Fox)
Northeastern Pennsylvania has always been a hub of industrial activity. In its early years, coal was not the only manufacturing resource in this area. Iron foundries also dotted the region.
The production of everything from train rails and wheels to automotive parts took place in all corners of this valley. Touhill Iron, Scranton Pump Company, I.A. Finch, Dickson Manufacturing, and Lackawanna Iron and Steel provided the country with vital products that were used nationwide. One of those foundries, operated locally, was owned by John Wesley Pinnell.
Born in New York state and raised in Dunmore, John Wesley Pinnell began his career in Jersey City, NJ, as a partner with Edward Gibson in the Gibson and Pinnell Iron Works. This joint venture was short-lived. Following the dissolution of this partnership, Pinnell returned to Dunmore and partnered with his brother, Jones T., in Pinnell Brothers Foundry which was located on Apple Street.
John Wesley eventually went into the metalworks business for himself, establishing his business on Green Ridge Street. He finally relocated the foundry to 1200 Capouse Avenue and conducted business there until his death. Although Pinnell was a successful businessman, he is not noted here today for his manufacturing career. Pinnell and his family share an interesting trait that makes them unique in the Dunmore Cemetery for a numerical reason.
John Wesley Pinnell was born in July 1852. His future wife, Dunmorean Junia Dilley, was born in 1856. John Wesley Pinnell and Junia Dilley were united in marriage in 1876. Following their marriage the couple were blessed with the birth of three daughters: Lydia born in 1880; Hope, born in 1884, and Lucinda, born in 1892.
The birth and marriage years of John Wesley and Junia, combined with the birth years of their children, might not seem remarkable but they make the family distinctive in the Dunmore Cemetery. The family is a bisextile family. Special dates in the Pinnell family, birth years and marriage, occur in intercalary years or – leap years.
Junia Pinnell died from pernicious anemia at the age of 61 in July 1917. John Wesley died from coronary related health problems at the age of 74 in 1927. Along with their children, Lydia Pinnell Shaffer, and Lucinda Pinnell Osterhout the bissextile Pinnell family now rest peacefully in Section Nine of the Dunmore Cemetery.
The building that housed Pinnell’s Iron Foundry on Capouse Avenue remained for decades and served in a variety of manufacturing capacities. It was plagued by multiple fires and passed out of Pinnell family ownership in 1970. Despite the passing of John Wesley Pinnell and his iron works in the history of Northeastern Pennsylvania, evidence of his foundry remains and can still be found in wastewater covers and storm drains throughout the area.