Encyclopaedia of Contemporary Biography of Pennsylvania, Volume II

It may be mentioned here that accompanying John Smith and his wife Susanna on their voyage to America, was Mary Smith, the sister of the first named, who later married Alexander Fulton, and became the mother of Robert Fulton, "who has indissolubly linked his name with the history of steam navigation." Edward Payson Darling, the subject of this sketch, enjoyed in his youth all the advantages which usually fall to the son of a wealthy man. Next to religion his parents esteemed education, and they carefully superintended that of all their children. Edward received his preparatory training at New London Cross Roads Academy--founded in 1743--and when about sixteen years of age entered Amherst College, where he received his degree in 1851. Deciding upon the profession of law as a life vocation, he began a course of legal study in Reading, in the office of Hon. William Strong and John S. Richards, Esq., and was admitted to the bar of Berks County, November 10, 1853. After practicing at Reading two years he removed to and was duly admitted to the Luzerne County bar, August 13, 1855. Polished in manners, possessing many accomplishments, and well trained in his profession, he rose rapidly to a prominent place at the bar. The personal qualities for which he was distinguished attracted acquaintances and these soon ripened into friends. It is said that when he first announced to his father his intention of studying law the latter said:--"Edward, do you think you are honest enough to be a lawyer?" The reply made to the worthy Judge is not recorded, but every act of the young lawyer's professional life went to show that no man could be more firmly intrenched in the principles of true honesty. That he inspired confidence was one of the secrets of his success. Everybody trusted him. He never even seemed to think of himself in his professional work, and, unlike most of those who rise in his profession, he rarely stipulated that his services were to command a certain price. It could truthfully be said of him that he was an ideal lawyer, since it is a fact that he was the friend and adviser of his clients wholly irrespective of any personal profit. For years, perhaps during his whole professional career, he never sent a client a bill for services rendered. He extended to those who consulted him the same degree of confidence they reposed in him, and he was always willing to accept their estimate of his services to them. It seldom happened that any one took advantage of this, for the income he received was ample to permit of his amassing a comfortable fortune. Mr. Darling was devoted to his profession and its duties were always a delight to him and never a burden, even when they overtaxed his physical strength. The civil branch of his profession attracted him most, and on all phases of the law of estates, of the status of corporations, of the validity of titles and of civil law generally, he was an authority. He made it a matter of principle to keep his clients out of litigation and he had rare success in doing so, as his advice and suggestion were highly respected by all. Once having undertaken a case he was unremitting in his services, giving his personal attention to the minutest details and never leaving a stone unturned that might conceal some knowledge or indication of value to his client. In 1874 he formed a partnership in the law with his younger brother, J. Vaughan Darling. As the senior member of this firm he assumed charge of the consulting portion of the business, leaving to his junior partner the business of attending the courts. This allotment of labor was entirely to the liking of Mr. Darling notwithstanding the constant, and at times, inordinate demands it made upon him, and despite the fact that in time it began to undermine his health. A large portion of Mr. Darling's business lay in the administration of estates, for which his services were greatly in demand. At the time of his death nearly forty distinct properties were under his management, many of them of large extent, including the Hollenback and Laning estates. Many widows and orphans looked to him with implicit confidence and depended entirely upon his suggestions in the management of their property. These very talents made him a most desirable corporation lawyer, and for many years his firm had a large portion of the business in that section of such powerful organizations as the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, the New York Central and Hudson River Company, the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company and the coal interests of numerous other corporations. But for every corporation he represented, it is said he watched the interests of fifty individuals, many of them widows and orphans. For at least twenty years preceding his death there was no man of law in the State whose advice was esteemed more valuable than his. His offices were constantly thronged with students, who acquired therein not only a thorough knowledge of the law, but many charming graces of conversation and deportment, for, to use the language of one of his ablest colleagues at the bar, "he combined the manners of a Chesterfield with the learning of a Coke." Mr. Darling possessed a fine knowledge of monetary affairs, which was highly valued in Wilkes-Barre and very largely depended upon by at least three prominent financial institutions. He was a partner until his death in the banking-house of Messrs. F. V. Rockafellow & Co., and Vice-President of the Wyoming National Bank and of the Miners' Savings Bank. He was also, for a number of years, a Director of the Wilkes-Barre Gas Company. Besides holding these business positions he was a Trustee of the Wilkes-Barre Academy, a Trustee of the Wilkes-Barre Female Institute, and a Trustee, under the will of the late Isaac S. Osterhout, of the Osterhout Free Library. At the time of his death he was also one of the Trustees of the Young Men's Christian Association building fund, "out of which is projected the early erection of a commodious and convenient structure on Main Street." In all these various trusts and projects, his integrity and judgment proved of the highest value to his associates. Mr. Darling was an Episcopalian in religious belief and a regular attendant at St. Stephen's church, of which in his youth he was a valued member of the choir. He was a man of true religious feeling, and was much given privately to works of charity. He had a sympathetic heart and responded feelingly to the sufferings and misfortunes of others. Those who knew him well, declare that no deserving person ever left his hearing withont having received material assistance. He took the greatest pleasure in the refinements of life and was very fond of art, music and literature; and encouraged all three in his own modest way. He possessed critical tastes of a high order and exercised them frequently with happy effect in the purchase of works of art for the ornamentation of his home or of institutions with which he was connected. Mr. Darling's death was hastened in all probability by his conscientious discharge of duty, particularly in the period of depression between the years 1876 and 1880, when the troubles of his clients--which he sympathetically made his own, --weighed upon him heavily and seriously affected his health. During the last ten years of his life he was more or less of an invalid, but always gentle and uncomplaining, and ever at work. In that period he sustained two paralytic strokes; and what physicians have called neuralgia of the heart, caused him great suffering in his later years. His death was sudden--due, it is supposed, to "heart clot." The news of his demise produced a great and profound sensation of sorrow among his fellow-citizens, for not only was he a leading light in his profession, but he possessed the respect and confidence of the entire community, and was associated with most of its public acts and enterprises. The various bodies with which he had been connected met to give formal expression to their grief at his loss. At the meeting of the members of the Luzerne bar, A. T. McClintock, Esq., presiding, brief addresses eulogistic of the deceased were made by many persons present, and the following series of resolutions, drafted by Mr. Alexander Farnham, were unanimously adopted: