Charles Pemberton Wurts (1824-1892) a son of George and Abigail Petit Wurts was born in Montville, New Jersey. He married Laura Jay in 1854. She was the granddaughter of Peter Augustus Jay and the great-granddaughter of Supreme Court justice and diplomat John Jay. They had six children.

Wurts along with his brother Maurice and members of the Dickson and Pierson families went to Scranton from Carbondale in 1856 and erected a foundry and machine shops. Known as Dickson & Company, it manufactured and repaired mining machinery. Charles Pemberton Wurts also worked for the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company as superintendent of the railroad department and was named chief engineer in 1864. Upon the death of his aunt Martha Potts Haskins Wurts (widow of former Delaware & Hudson Canal Company president John Wurts) in 1871, Charles Pemberton Wurts was named the main beneficiary of her considerable estate, which caused some friction within the family. Wurts and his family moved to New Haven, Connecticut in the mid 1870s. He and his wife Laura and some of their children traveled to and throughout Europe from 1884 through 1886.