USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Nanticoke > History of Hanover Township : including Sugar Notch, Ashley, and Nanticoke boroughs : and also a history of Wyoming Valley, in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania > Part 1
USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Ashley > History of Hanover Township : including Sugar Notch, Ashley, and Nanticoke boroughs : and also a history of Wyoming Valley, in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania > Part 1
USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Sugar Notch > History of Hanover Township : including Sugar Notch, Ashley, and Nanticoke boroughs : and also a history of Wyoming Valley, in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania > Part 1
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40
HISTORY OF HANOVER TOWNSHIP AND
WYOMING VALLEY
CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
SVEZIA
BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND GIVEN IN 1891 BY - HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE
Cornell University Library F 159H2 P73 History of Hanover Township : including
3 1924 028 863 375 olin
Date Due
NOV $ 1960 G Z
# 16'90
JAN
1 9 1998
PRINTED IN U. S. A. CAT, NO. 23299
230 Wry
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1865
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Cornell University Library
The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library.
There are no known copyright restrictions in · the United States on the use of the text.
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http://archive.org/details/cu31924028863375
1
50
HISTORY
- OF -
HANOVER TOWNSHIP
INCLUDING
SUGAR NOTCH, ASHLEY, AND NANTICOKE BOROUGHS,
AND ALSO A
HISTORY OF WYOMING VALLEY
IN LUZERNE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
BY
HENRY BLACKMAN PLUMB, SUGAR NOTCH, PA.
WILKES-BARRE, PA. ROBERT BAUR, PRINTER AND STATIONER, 3 SOUTH MAIN STREET.
1885. 70
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1885, by HENRY BLACKMAN PLUMB, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
174 37213 1413 S
J. W. RAEDER, BINDER, 7 & 9 MARKET ST., WILKES-BARRE, PA.
4
PREFACE.
N presenting this book, especially to the descendants of the old Hanover settlers, and to the public in general, I deem it proper to say : I was born in the house of one of the old veterans of the Wyoming Massacre and the Revolutionary War. He was eighteen years old at the time of the massacre, 1778, and he died in 1845, nearly eighty-six years old. I was fifteen at the time of his death, and had always lived with him. Strangers as well as neighbors frequently came to his house to hear him relate the incidents of those times that "tried men's souls," in which he was an actor, and, with his father's family, a sufferer. This was Elisha Blackman. He resided in Wilkes-Barre from 1772 to 1791, after which he resided in Hanover till his death in 1845. I listened with my young ears, and frequently with bated breath, to his recital of Indian and Tory raids and murders, and the pursuit by some party of settlers hastily got together, and sometimes a meeting of these hostile parties and a des- perate fight; and his stories of the early settlement, the building of the log cabin, dignified by the name of house, the construction of furniture, the clearing of the farm of woods and brush and the building of protect- ing shelter for domestic animals from wild animals-in short, the industry, frugality, hardship, suffering, exposure, perseverance, trials, troubles, arrests, expulsions, imprisonments, escapes, hunger, hopes, fears and final peace. It seemed fitting therefore that I-if no one else better quali- . . fied-should write out the plain and simple story of those times, that the descendants of those early patriots might preserve some faint idea of what their progenitors passed through, and how they discharged their responsi- bilities. It then seemed necessary that the history of the township should be continued down to the present time-and this book is the result.
The endeavor has been made to write this history in the plainest Anglo- Saxon-the common, every-day speech of the people. Another endeavor has been made, viz: to leave out everything of a personal nature so far as the story could be told without mentioning names. I have come across several incidents while writing this book, where I have been sorely tempted to break over the second of these rules that I had set for myself, but I passed those incidents by and left that work for some other pen than mine.
Nearly all the local historians I have ever read have expressed a desire to furnish genealogical tables of the old families, but they have all
4
PREFACE.
shunned or shirked the task. I have attempted it in this book, and have found it a very interesting work indeed; but there is a greater liability to make errors in this than in any other part of the work. I almost fcar the criticisms that will be showered upon me for the mistakes I have made in this part of my work. I found it impossible to obtain a very great degree of correctness. Even the families, or members of the families that I could find, frequently did not know. The record, if one had been kept, was in the possession of some other member or branch of the family, and the one inquired of had no copy. The most of these tables, however, have been constructed from information obtained from members of the families, and any mistakes in these cases-and there are doubtless many-must be laid to the want of correct information on the part of that member of the family who gave the information. Sometimes there were two or three consulted, and not together or at the same time, and in these cases the information became mixed. In some cases there was not a single relative of the family to be found anywhere. By the word family, I do not mean the members of a household, but I mean all of the name, however far they may have to go back to meet a common ancestor-provided they meet at all.
The main part of the special history of Hanover is taken up by descrip- tions of the work of these early settlers- their houses, tools, trades, imple- ments, farms, fences, crops, manufactures, methods, industry and persever- ance. The older generation, not yet wholly passed away, knows all about these things without being told by me, but those coming on after us know nothing about it, except by hearsay, and in another generation there will be no one living who can tell the story from having actually seen these things. To these and their successors my book is hereby dedicated.
The facts recorded in the part especially devoted to Hanover are gener- ally new. They have rarely been culled from any other history. The original researches have generally been made by myself, but I must acknowledge my great indebtedness to Hon. Steuben Jenkins, of Wyoming, for information and documents furnished. His assistance has been invaluable. He furnished the key to unlock hidden mines of the most valuable information to a historian of Hanover. It seems to me now that without the list of ancient transfers of land (transfers previous to the Wyoming Massacre) I should have remained ignorant of some of the most important facts contained in this book-always providing any of the facts contained in it are important. It is understood that Mr. Jenkins is gathering materials for a copious and searching history of Wyoming to its minute particulars; and from what I have seen of his acquisitions in this respect, I have reason to think the work will be most thorough and valuable.
The first part-the History of Wyoming-has been drawn most largely from the "History of Wyoming" by the Hon. Charles Miner. Frequent credits to that source will be found in the body of the work. . He wrote his work previous to 1845 (the date of publication), and had special facilities for procuring correct information, as fifteen or twenty of the old vetcrans
5
PREFACE.
who participated in the events were living up to nearly that time and in the full possession of their faculties. He conferred with them personally, as I myself know from being present at some of these conferences. His statements are, therefore, worthy of the most thorough reliance in matters thus procured, and are now, in most cases, the only source from which the information can be derived. I have also quoted from Dr. Egle's "History of Pennsylvania," 1883.
In documentary and record matters new materials are being constantly discovered. In this history I am the first to publish anything from the ancient Hanover records. The old Hanover Town Record is supposed to be the only book of the kind still in existence in Wyoming Valley. The authorities of Hanover placed it in the keeping of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society in 1864, and it may be said, that they keep it with a little too strict care.
Chapman's "History of Wyoming" has been drawn upon for informa- tion; also Gov. Hoyt's "Brief of Title of Seventcen Townships;" Col. H. B. Wright's "Sketches of Plymouth;" Col. Stone's "History of Wyoming;" Rev. Dr. Peck's "History of Wyoming;" Elias Johnson's (the English name of a Tuscarora Indian chicf) "History of the Six Nations;" Stewart Pierce's "Annals of Luzerne;" "Historical Collections of Pennsylvania, 1843;"' Goodrich's "History of the U. S .; " Hollister's " History of the Lackawanna Valley;" "Events in Indian History, 1842;"' Henry's "History of the Lehigh Valley, 1860;" Johnson's "Wyoming Memorial;" Mrs. Perkins' "Ancient Times," Bradford County, 1870; " Rupp's 30,000 Names" of Immigrants to Pennsylvania; the original census returns, Washington, D. C .; ancient account books of Elisha Blackman, Sr., 1779 to 1804; Elisha Blackman, Jr., 1795 to 1820; modern account books to '1884; ancient deeds, letters, papers, assessment books, county records, Clerk of the Courts, Orphan's Court, Prothonotary's office, Recorder's office, newspapers, and personal conferences with most of the older inhabitants of the township, and visits to and correspondence by mail with many former citizens, but not now residents of the township. The "old soldier" and "old settler " and "veteran" mentioned in the body of the work was Elisha Blackman, Jr., of Hanover.
Quotations have not been changed, even when the punctuations seemed to be all wrong. The orthography has been followed unless it was a mani- fest case of "misprint." The names of persons and places in the old histories, and written documents, seem to have been spelled according to the writer's notion of it at the moment, as they are not always spelled in the same way by the same writer. When any such matter has been intro- duced here the orthography has not been intentionally changed. Various errors have been made in printing which the proof-reader (myself ), from inexperience probably, failed to discover until too late for correction. I have therefore introduced here a page of errata, showing the true reading.
November 19, 1885.
H. B. PLUMB.
..
ERRATA.
Page 21, 19th line from top, in place of Alligewe
read Alligewi.
26, 16th
bottom,
Rivers
Riveres.
=
32, 12th
top,
sepentine = serpentine.
35, 4th
top,
within
with.
44, 20th =
top,
bottom,
Wequtank
= Wequetank.
67, 13th
bottom,
top, bottom,
=
Ezkiel
Ezekiel.
101, 9th
top,
bottom,
Gershone ·
Gershom.
144, 3d
top,
first hundred"
first two hundred.
151, 7th
top,
1782
1772.
154, 17th
bottom,
16
Alexader 17
=
14.
164, 5th
=
top,
top,
(No. 18)
= (No. 28.)
230, 4th
=
bottom,
dying
dyeing.
223, 11th
16
bottom,
a large
large.
=
239, 6th
16
top, top,
16
flour
= bread.
66
239, 14th
16
bottom,
$150
$15.
246, 13th 249, 6th
16
bottom,
Preslon
=
.Preston.
252, 18th
top,
Ashoel
Ashbel.
"
263, 17th
top,
Conestaga
Conestoga.
=
265, 20th
bottom,
Backman
Barkman.
279, 15th
top,
Jones, all,
Jones and their
father John, all deceased, the father and brothers of Richard, etc. Page 285, 11th line from bot., in place of Honnis read Hannis.
320, 19th
bottom,
31.7
= 326, 4th
= 328, 7th
top, omit the word "up."
337, 2d line from bot., in place of removals
read renewals.
.354, 10-11th"
top,
16
1825
1855.
370, 10th
bottom,
150
1,500.
378, over third column of figures from the left, in place of Luzerne and Lackawanna read Luzerne and Lycoming.
Page 384, 9th line from top, in place of Windson read Windsor.
398, 5th
=
top,
16
1750
1748.
16
399, 3
16
bottom,
Ann
Anna.
408, 13th
66
bottom,
Amor
Anor.
427, 12th
bottom,
Asseneth
Asenath.
428, 1st
bottom,
Asseneth
Asenath.
429, 10th 66
top,
446, 14th
66
top,
446, 4th
bottom,
448, 11th
top,
= Sydia
Lydia.
=
469, 2d
=
bottom,
= Eleanor = Hellen.
163,
1st
bottom, top,
=
John'
= said John.
bottom,
Peley
Peleg.
167, 1st
over
ever.
182, 17th
224, 14th
treading
threshing.
top,
place and
place of and.
38.7.
bottom,
turnpike roads "
roads.
= per bbl. " flour per bbl.
370, 5th 16
top,
Tedeusung
Tedeuscung.
78, 6th
vension
= venison.
84, 16th
Ranson
Ransom.
105, 10th
Alexander.
16 159, 3d
even
ever.
46, 8th
Asseneth V. V. E.
Asenath. E.
=
PRELIMINARY CHAPTER.
ANCIENT TRADITIONS OF A .WESTERN CONTINENT.
"THEO HEOPOMPUS, a learned historian and orator, who flour- ished in the time of Alexander the Great, 331 years before Christ, in a book entitled 'Thoumasia,' gives a sort of dialogue between Midas, the Phrygian, and Silenus. After much con- versation, Silenus said to Midas, that Europe, Asia and Africa were but islands surrounded by the sea; but that there was a continent situated beyond these, which was of immense dimensions, even without limits ; and that it was so luxuriant as to produce animals of prodigious magnitude, and men grew to double the height of themselves, and that they lived to a far greater age ; that they had many great cities, and their usages and laws were different from ours; that in one city there were more than a million of inhabit- ants ; that gold and silver were there in vast quantities."
This is all of Theopompus that can be said to refer to a country west of Europe and Africa.
"Diodorus Siculus says that some 'Phoenicians were cast upon a most fertile island opposite to Africa. Of this he says they kept the most studied secrecy, which was doubtless occasioned by their jealousy of the advantage the discovery might be to the neighbor- ing nations, and which they wished to secure wholly to them- selves.'" Diodorus Siculus lived about one hundred years before Christ. Islands lying west of Africa are certainly mentioned by Homer and Horace. They were called Atlantides, and were sup- posed to be about 10,000 furlongs from Africa. Here existed the poets' fabled Elysian fields. Let Diodorus speak for himself: "After having passed the islands which lie beyond the Herculean Straits, we speak of those which lie much farther into the ocean.
IO
HISTORY OF HANOVER.
Towards Africa, and to the west of it, is an immense island in the broad sea, many days' sail from Lybia. Its soil is very fertile, and its surface variegated with mountains and valleys. Its coasts are indented with many navigable rivers, and its fields are well cul- tivated ; delicious gardens, and various kinds of plants and trees." This corresponds very well, at all events, with the accounts given by the Spaniards of the Mexicans when first discovered.
Plato's account has more weight than any other of the ancients. He lived about 400 years before Christ. Part of his account is as follows: "In those first times, the Atlantic was a most broad island, and there were extant most powerful kings in it, who, with joint forces, were appointed to occupy Asia and Europe ; and so a most grievous war was carried on, in which the Athenians, with the common consent of the Greeks, opposed themselves, and they became the conquerors. But that Atlantic island, by a flood and earthquake, was indeed suddenly destroyed, and so that warlike peo- ple were swallowed up." "An island.in the mouth of the sea, in the passage to those straits, called the Pillars of Hercules, did exist ; and that island was greater and larger than Lybia and Asia ; from which there was an easy passage over to other islands, and from those islands to that continent which is situated out of that region. Neptune settled in this island, from 'whose son, Atlas, its name was derived, and divided it among his ten sons. To the youngest fell the ex- tremity of the island, called Gadir, which, in the language of the country, signifies fertile, or abounding in sheep. The descendants of Neptune reigned here, from father to son, for a great number of generations in the order of primogeniture, during the space of 9,000 years. They also possessed several other islands ; and, pass- ing into Europe and Africa, subdued all Lybia as far as Egypt, and all Europe to Asia Minor. At length the island sunk under; and for a long time afterwards the sea thereabouts was full of rocks and shoals."
Aristotle, to whom it is attributed, says : "Some say that beyond the Pillars of Hercules, the Carthagenians have found a very fertile island, but without inhabitants, full of forests, navigable rivers, and fruit in abundance. It is several days' voyage from the main land. Some Carthagenians, charmed by the fertility of the country, thought to marry and settle there ; but some say the government
II
PRELIMINARY CHAPTER.
of Carthage forbid the settlement upon pain of death, from the fear that it would increase in power so as to deprive the mother country of her possessions there."
The actual discovery of America we will not relate, except in the shortest style: That Columbus sailed with three small ships from Spain in 1492; that the same year by sailing continually westward he discovered the Bahama and West Indian islands ; that Spaniards settled them, and exterminated the natives; and, in 128 years we come to the first settlement of the English in New England-1620.
THE NEW ENGLAND PILGRIMS AND PURITANS.
In 1607 a congregation fled from England into Holland, and in 1608, were joined by others, and a church was established there, according, as they believed, to the principles of the primitive church of Christ. Their removal was attended with great difficulties. There was a large company of them at Boston in Lincolnshire, which hired a ship to meet them at a particular place convenient for taking aboard their goods, they to be there in readiness at a time agreed upon. The master of the ship did not call there for some time after the time agreed upon ; but finally he came and took them on board, and then betrayed them. He had plotted with officers of the government, who came and took them out of the ship, rifled and ransacked their clothing, searching them, both men and women, to their shirts for money and valua- bles, and after robbing them, carried them back to the town before the magistrates, and had them locked up. After a month's im- prisonment the greater part were dismissed and sent to the places they came from, but seven of the principal men were still kept in prison and bound over to the assizes. The next spring there was another attempt made.
These heard of a Dutchman at Hull, having a ship of his own, belonging to Zealand. They made an arrangement with him. He was to take them in between Grindstone and Hull, where there was a large common, a good ways distant, the story goes, from any town. The people hired a small "bark" to take the women and children there, but went by land themselves. When the boat
12
HISTORY OF HANOVER.
got there the day before the time fixed for the ship to be there, the sea was rough, and the bark was run into a creek close by. The. next day when the ship came the bark was aground, it being low water. The shipmaster saw how the matter stood, but sent his boats and brought on board the men, who had arrived and were walking about on the shore, but after he got the first boat-load on board, he saw a large company of armed men, both horse and foot, coming to arrest them, or, as the story goes, coming "to take them," "for the country was raised." The Dutchman, having a fair wind, weighed anchor, hoisted sail and away. Some of the men on the beach escaped, but all the women and children were cap- tured. They were hurried from one place to another, women and children crying and suffering for food, till in the end the authorities did not know what to do with them. To imprison so many women and innocent children for no other cause than that they wanted to go to their husbands and fathers seemed unreasonable, and now to send them home was impossible, for they had no homes to go to, having sold them. After bothering a good while with them the authorities were glad to get rid of them at any terms. Well, they were let go, and they got to Holland and established their Congre- gational church ; but after a few years they began to fear that their church would be lost by their connection with the Dutch. Some of the young men had taken Dutch wives and some of the young women had taken Dutch husbands. These things cause grief to the pious forefathers, and turned their thoughts towards America.
They concluded to settle in North Virginia and they sent to the Virginia Company in England to obtain a grant of land, and to obtain from the king liberty of conscience there. The king would only agree to "connive at" it, "provided they should conduct peaceably." They made an arrangement with the Virginia Com- pany, and in 1620 sent a part of their people to prepare the way. Two ships were got ready, one named the Speedwell, of sixty tons, the other the Mayflower, of one hundred and eighty tons. They first went from Leyden to England, and on the fifth of August, 1620, they left Southampton for America; but they were twice forced to return by reason of the bad state of the lesser ship. They finally dismissed the Speedwell and all embarked on the Mayflower.
I3
-
PRELIMINARY CHAPTER.
They sailed, and after two months and three days they fell in with the land of Cape Cod, on the 9th of November. Finding themselves further north than they intended to settle, they stood to the southward; but soon finding themselves nearly encompassed by dangerous shoals, the captain took advantage of their fears and bore up again for the cape; and, on the 10th of November, anchored in Cape Cod harbor.
Observing their latitude, they found themselves out of the limits of the Virginia Company ; upon which it was hinted by some that they should now be under no laws, and every servant would have as much authority as his master. But the wisdom that had conducted them hither was sufficient to provide against this evil; therefore an instrument was drawn and signed, by which they unanimously formed themselves into a body politic. This instrument was ex- ecuted November IIth (old style) and signed by forty-one persons, that being the number of men qualified to act for themselves. Their whole number consisted of one hundred and one.
It will always be interesting to know the first form of govern- ment, ever drawn up on earth by the people themselves for the government of themselves. As this is believed to be the first, it is here introduced, together with the names of the persons that signed it. This is found in Mr. Prince's New England Chronology:
"In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are under- written, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign lord, King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, defender of the faith, etc .:
"Having undertaken, for the glory of God and the advance- ment of the Christian faith, and honor of our King and country, a voyage to plant the first colony, in the northern parts of Virginia, do, by these presents, solemnly, and mutually in the presence of God, and of one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation, and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof, to enact, constitute and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony. Unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names at
14
HISTORY OF HANOVER.
Cape Cod, the IIth of November, in the reign of our sovereign lord, King James, of England, France and Ireland, the XVIII, and of Scotland the LIV. Anno Domini 1620."
I. Mr. John Carver* 8 23. Francis Eaton* 3
2. William Bradford* 2 24. James Chilton § 3
3. Mr. Edward Winslow 5 25. John Crackston § 2
4. Mr. Wm. Brewster* 6 26. John Billington* 4
5. Mr. Isaac Allerton* 6 27. Moses Fletcher § I
6. Capt. Miles Standish 2
7. John Alden I 29. Digory Priest § I
8. Mr. Samuel Fuller t 2
9. Mr. Christopher Martin* § 4
IO. Mr. William Mullins* § . 5
II. Mr. Wm. White* § 5
12. Mr. Richard Warren t . I
13. John Howland (in Mr. Carver's family)
14. Mr. Stephen Hopkins 8 36. Richard Clark § I
15. Edward Tilly* § 2
16. John Tilly* § 4
17. Francis Cook t 2
18. Thomas Rogers § 2
19. Thomas Tinker* §
3
30. Thomas Williams § I
31. Gilbert Winslow I
32. Edmund Margesong I
33. Peter Brown I 34. Richard Britterige § I
35. George Soule (of Mr. Win- slow's family)
37. Richard Gardiner I
38. John Allerton § I
39. Thomas English § I
40. Edward Dorey
41. Edward Leister both of Mr. Hopkins' family . .
20. John Rigdale* § 2
21. Edward Fuller* 3
22. John Turner § 3 IOI
The above names having this mark * at the end brought their wives with them. Those with this t did not. Those with this § died before the end of March. The figures at the end of the names denote the number in each family. John Carver was chosen governor for one year.
The same day that this memorable instrument was signed, a party left the ship, and landed to explore the country and get wood, but returned without making any particular discovery. A few days after (Nov. 15) sixteen men under Captain Miles Standish, were permitted to go in search of a convenient place of settlement. They saw five Indians, whom they followed all day, but could not overtake them. The next day they discovered several Indian graves, one of which they opened, and found some rude imple- ments of war, a mortar, and an earthen pot; all which they took care to replace, being unwilling to disturb the sepulchres of the
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