USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Wilkes-Barre > Wilkes-Barre (the "Diamond city") Luzerne County, Pennsylvania; its history, its natural resources, its industries, 1769-1906 > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10
每一件
IVI. L.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
L
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
3 1833 02227 3905
ZA Souvenir
of the
Centennial Celebration
of the erection of
Wilkes-Barre
into a borough.
906
RIVER FRONT, NORTH OF MARKET STREET BRIDGE.
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016
https://archive.org/details/wilkesbarrethedi00wilk
Wilkes- Barre
( The "Diamond City")
Luzerne County, ennsylvania
Its History Its Natural Resources Its Industries
1769 -- 1906
"To this. we have searched it, so it is : hear it. and know thou it for the good." 45848
1681271
" Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days ? "-Isaiah, XXIII : 7.
"Say not thou, 'What is the cause that the former days were better than these ?' for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this." -Ecclesiastes, VII : 10.
CENTENNIAL JUBILEE AND OLD HOME WEEK MAY 10, 11 AND 12,1906
AM
CITY
WILK
NNEO
S-B
OFFICIAL SOUVENIR & PROGRAM
Published by the
Committee on Souvenir and Program.
A. Jay Flich, Chairman,
5. Adolph Baur. Oscar J. Harvey. George A. Edwards. Thad. 3. Ryman. J. Barton Cheyney.
"When This, Our Land, Was New."
[Written for, and read at, a meeting of the Pioneer Historical Association of the Susquehanna Valley, February 22, 1855.]
"We'll wake a plain, old-fashioned muse Upon this festal-day, And sing of scenes and talk of times Which long since passed away ; * *
And note what changes have been wrought Since this, our land, was new.
"Ours was a brave and gallant band, Well fitted for each toil, And soon we let the sunbeams in Upon the generous soil. Strong were the hands and strong the hearts Of that widely-gathered few, Who conquered here old forests grand When this, our land, was new.
"War's storm swept past, and gentle Peace With silent blessings came, Filling with cheerfulness our hearts That long had known but pain ; And neighbor then to'rd neighbor In friendship closely drew- So we lived a band of brothers When this, our land, was new. .
"The girls all learnt to bake good bread, While, like their spinning-wheels, Right merry ran their sinless songs Without piano peals ; And blithely did they dance at night, E'en when they staid till two (Such were the only stays they made), When this, our land, was new.
"Most wore a linsey-woolsey dress Their own sweet hands had made, With a blue and white checked apron That would'nt tear or fade. The rich brocades and rustling silks Were seldom brought to view, Except to go to meetin' in, When this, our land, was new.
"Five yards were ample for a dress- Few ever asked for more, And never trailed their skirts along The dirty streets or floor. They looked as neat and tidy then As any one of you, Who scorn the homespun that was worn When this, our land, was new.
-
"Good, wholesome and substantial food Our festive-tables crowned, No French knick-knacks or luxuries In our bills of fare were found ; But labor sweetened every dish, And, what was better, too, We needed no 'Maine Liquor Law' When this, our land, was new.
"Millions are blest and blessing now Where, sixty years agone, The poor, untutored Indian roamed A monarch and alone ; And the 'iron horse', with fire and fright, Whirls quick the country through, Where we wagged many a weary foot When this, our land, was new.
"God rest them ! in their last, low homes, With all their brave compeers, Who fought and bled, or toiled and strove, Through weary, lingering years, That thus their sons, in prosp'rous peace, Could pleasantly review The many changes Time has wrought Since this, our land, was new."
A A Z
Wilkes- Barre's History
Briefly told by
Oscar Jewell Harvey. (ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY THE AUTHOR.)
"WYOMING! In thy mountain scenery yet, All we adore of Nature in her wild And frolic hour of infancy is met ; And never has a Summer's morning smiled Upon a lovelier scene than the full eye Of the enthusiast revels on, when high Amid thy mountain solitudes he climbs, And knows that sense of beauty which sublimes."
"War's wildest blast once rang between these hills, And poured its savage legions like a flood Down the green mountains. Bloody were the rills That flow in silver now along the wood ; And the rough battle-ax was none too rude To cleave the fairest bosoms, while the bright sky Echoed the war-whoops of the hellish brood."
O-DAY, just as from its first beginnings, Wilkes-Barre-this "ancient town of unique name and notable life"-is the business and social center of Wyoming Valley and certain territory adja- cent to it (in earlier days commonly known as the "Wyoming region"), now overspread from end to end with towns, villages and hamlets. Therefore it is difficult to tell satisfactorily, and impossible to appreciate fully, the story of Wilkes-Barre without, at the same time, dwelling more or less on many events in the remarkably interesting history of Wyoming-a region that is widely known and has been celebrated often in prose and in poetry. In a word, the history of early Wilkes-Barre is, in a wide sense, the history of Wyoming for the same period.
The beautiful and historie valley of Wyoming -- a long oval, or elliptical, basin, some sixteen miles in length, with an average breadth of three miles- is situated in north-eastern Pennsylvania; its upper, or north-eastern. end
lying in latitude 41° 21' north, and in longitude 75° 47' west from Greenwich. Through the whole length of the valley the North, or Main, Branch of the Susquehanna River flows a serpentine course of seventeen and one-half miles. On both sides of the river, for nearly this whole distance, lie rich and fertile alluvial bottom-lands, forming plains, or flats; at some points narrow and restricted in breadth, but at others stretching out towards the hills or moun- tains for at least a mile. These flats contain several thousand acres, nearly all of which are well enltivated, and have been for more than a hundred years.
On the left, or eastern, bank of the river, nearly in the center of the valley, lies Wilkes-Barre, chiefly on an oblong plain elevated from twenty-five to thirty-five feet above the surface of the river at, its lowest level, and from 531 to 541 feet above mean sea-level.
From the earliest historie times the valley of Wyoming was known to the
VIEW OF WILKES-BARRE FROM ROSS HILL. IN 1859.
Indians of the Iroquois Confederacy, or the Five Nations (later the Six Nations), as "Ske-han-to-wra-na," signifying "the great plain, or field;" while the Lenni Lenape, or Delaware, Indians applied the name "Maugh-wau-wa-me" to the valley-which name being compounded of the words maugh-wau, meaning "large, or extensive," and wa-me, meaning "plains, or meadows," may be trans- lated "the large plains." This Lenni Lenape name was corrupted by the early Moravian missionaries (whose native tongue was German) into "M'chweu-wu- mi," and subsequently it was changed into "Mechayomy." and then into "Qui-wau-much" and "Chi-vau-much." Later it was transmogrified into "Wy-wa-mick", which in turn was transformed by English-speaking men into "Weyomin", "Woyumok" and "Wyomink", and finally into "Wyoming"- which name the valley has borne now for more than a century and a-third. This is, of course, the original Wyoming-all other localities, places and objects in North America which bear the same name having derived it either primarily
8
or secondarily from that of the fair vale "on Susquehanna's side."
Undoubtedly the aboriginal inhabitants of Wyoming were the Indians known indiscrimi- nately as Minquas, Gandas- togues, Andastes and Susque- hannocks*, forming a branch of the great Huron-Iroquois fam- ily; and they seem to have been in almost continnous warfare with the Iroquois for a number of years prior to 1675, when they were overthrown by the latter. Thenceforward, till near the last quarter of the eigh- teenth century, the Iroquois, or Five Nations, dominated the Wyoming region.
In 1701 or 1702 a small FROM OSCAP J. HARVEY'S FORTHCOMING "HISTORY OF WILKES-BARRE. .. COPYRIGHTED. band of Shawanese Indians es- tablished themselves in Wyo- LOOKING DOWN THE RIVER FROM THE SITE OF THE PRESENT CITY CEMETERY, ABOUT 1868. ming Valley by invitation of the Five Nations, "who were confident that they could place no custodians more reliable than the ferocious Shawanese in charge of that lovely valley among the hills, which they designed to keep for themselves and their children forever." These Shawanese immigrated from Pequehan -on Pequea Creek, within the present limits of Lancaster County, Penn- sylvania-and set up their wigwams at the eastern end of the flats, at the sharp bend of the river, within the present limits of the borough of Plymouth. This Shawanese village continued in existence until the Spring of 1749, when it was abandoned and a new site was selected on the bank of the river within the present limits of the Second Ward of Plymouth. Pack-sha-nos, or Paxinosa, was at that time the chief of the band.
In the meantime, early in 1728, a band of Minsi, or Monsey. Indians (a clan of the Delaware nation ), under the chieftainship of K'indassowa. had settled near the junction of the rivers Susquehanna and Lackawanna, at the head of Wyoming Valley, and their village was known for a number of years as Asse- rughney.
About 1735 or 1736 a small band of Mohegan Indians-presumably from the Housatonic Valley in Massachusetts-settled near the Susquehanna, on the
· It is now the generally accepted opinion that the Susquehannock Indians were thus styled from the name of the river along which they lived. Ever since the Susquehanna River first became known to white men it has been called by that name-slightly modified in its spelling, however, at different periods. as for example : "Sasquehannock," "Saosquahanunk." "Sasquahan," "Susquehannock " and "Susquehannah." The name Is derived from an Indian word, "suckahanne," meaning " water," and its full import is " brook stream" or "spring-water-stream."
9
FROW OSCAR J. HARVEY'S FORTHCOMING "HISTORY OF WILKES-BARRE." COPYRIGHTED.
banks of the stream later known as Abraham's Creek, in what is now Kingston Township. Subsequently they re- moved to what is now the Second Ward of the borough of Plymouth.
Early in the Spring of 1743 a considerable company of Delawares belonging to the Unami, or Wanamie, clan removed from the "Forks" of the Delaware River, by order of the Six Nations, and settled in the locality of what is now known as the "Firwood" tract, within the present limits of the Fifteenth Ward of Wilkes-Barre. These were the first Indians to establish themselves, in historic times, within the territory now covered by the city of Wilkes-Barre. However, they did not remain here long, for, owing to an epidemic disease which car- ried off a large number of the clan shortly after their arrival here, they removed later in the year to a point some six miles farther up and on the same side of the Susquehanna, in what is now Plains Township. There they established a village which at that time, or a few years later, received the name "Matchasaung."
In June, 1748, the population of Wyoming Valley was increased by the arrival of a band of Nanticoke Indians, numbering eighty persons, who had come up the Susquehanna in ten canoes from the mouth of the Juniata River, where they had been living since 1742. These Nanticokes erected their wig- wams on the left, or south, bank of the Susquehanna, near the mouth of what is now known as Sugar Notch Creek, within the limits of the present township of Hanover.
In 1748 there was also a small band of Chickasaws, or "Flat-heads", located in the upper end of the present Plymouth Township. During many years the Iroquois carried on a fierce warfare against the Chickasaws, Chero- kees, Catawbas and other southern Indians, and there is no doubt but that the Chickasaws who were dwelling in Wyoming Valley in 1748-some of whom had been here then at least six years-had been brought here as prisoners of war by Iroquois warriors on their return from a marauding expedition against the Chickasaws.
In April, 1754, some seventy so-called Christian Indians (Mohegans and Delawares) from Gnadenhutten, the Moravian Indian settlement on the Lehigh River in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, accompanied by a considerable number of heathen Delawares from the Minisinks, immigrated to Wyoming Valley under the leadership, or "kingship", of a certain Tee-dy-us-cung, and established themselves on the south bank of the Susquehanna, within the limits of the present Tenth Ward of Wilkes-Barre. Teedyuscung, who belonged to the Wanamie clan of the Delawares, was a native of New Jersey, but about 1730 he had emigrated with other members of his clan to the wild Indian country north-west of the Kittatinny Mountains, in what is now Monroe County, Pennsylvania. Teedyuscung, who was generally known among the
IO
whites as "Honest John," was converted to Christianity and baptized under the name of "Gideon" by the Moravian Brethren in 1750. Prior to his removal to Wyoming he was con- sidered by the Brethren as a member of the Ginadenhutten community, but he did not spend all his time there. He was a lusty, raw-boned Indian, haughty, and very desir- ons of respect and consideration, and, accord- ing to contemporary chroniclers, was capable of drinking from three quarts to one gallon of rum a day without getting drunk.
The acquisition of Pennsylvania by the great and illustrious founder of the Common- wealth dates back but two hundred and twenty-five years. In 1680 what is now Pennsylvania was a wilderness, a scene of wild, grand and beautiful nature in its pris- tine garb, fresh and fair as it came from the hand of the Creator. But the white man emne! Penn's charter was granted by King Charles II in 1681, and the next year the new Province of Pennsylvania came into exist- ence. So inconsiderable were the wealth and settlements of the prov- ince in the year 1712 that William Penn offered the whole of his right to Queen Anne for £12.000. In 1753, a little more than a century and a-half ago, and nearly three-quarters of a century after its foundation, the whole Commonwealth (including the three counties now comprising the State of Delaware, which were then owned by the Pennsylvania Proprietaries) numbered only about 250,000 souls-being less than the present population of Luzerne, the third largest county of the State. Pennsylvania was hardly spoken of and but little known in England. Commerce and manufactures were unheard of within her borders but in name. The New England Colonies being older, were somewhat in advance; although the population of Connecti- rut at that period was only about 100.000.
FROM OSCAR J. HARVEY'S FORTHCOMING " HISTORY OF WILKES-BARRE ." COPYRIGHTED
In the Summer of the year last mentioned (1753) "The Susquehanna Company" was organized in Connecticut by some 250 of the inhabitants of that Colony ( chiefly residents of the rocky and unfertile counties of New Lon- don and Windham), together with a few people belonging to Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania. Among these men were a num- ler who were of considerable prominence and influence in public affairs. The objects of the organizers of the company-as set forth in the "Articles of Agreement" which they signed-were: To enlarge the "English settlements in North America" belonging to His Majesty the King of Great Britain, "further to spread Christianity," and-primarily and principally-to pro- mote the "temporal interests" of the members of the Company by securing
II
RIVER FRONT, SOUTH OF MARKET STREET BRIDGE.
,
possession of a large "tract of land lying on Susquehanna River at or near a place called Chi-wau-muck [Wyoming], an island in said river."
The island thus referred to is the one whose upper end lies opposite the south-west corner of Wilkes-Barre. It is the largest island in the Susquehanna in Wyoming Valley, and as early as 1787 contained fifty acres and was called Fuller's Island. Later it was known as Richards' Island. A short distance be- low this island, on the east bank of the river, stood, in the Summer of 1753, the "new" Shawanese village occupied by Paxinosa and his followers, as pre- viously noted.
At that time the only villages in the valley were, as hereinbefore described. Paxinosa's ; the one in the upper end of Plymouth Township occupied by a few families of Mohegans and Chickasaws; Matchasaung, on "Jacob's Plains," now in Plains Township, occupied by a small band of Wanamies, and Asserughney, the little Monsey village near the mouth of the Lacka- wanna. The entire population of the Nanticoke village, on the Hanover , flats, had removed to the Province of New York in May, 1753. Of the several villages above mentioned Paxinosa's was by far the largest and most import- ant, and to it, as early as 1749, the name "Wyoming" had been specifically ap- plied by the few adventurous missionaries, traders and explorers who, from time to time during a number of years, had passed up and down the Susque- hanna. This fact is evidenced, in part, by certain maps of Pennsylvania which were published in 1749 and later years.
It is quite probable that the fertile and treeless island lying near the vil- lage of the Shawanese, as previously mentioned, was cultivatd by those In- dians; and thus it came about that the island, being an appartenance of the village, was called "Chi-wau-muck." [Wyoming] by the organizers of The Sus- quehanna Company.
There were not, of course, any white people living in the Wyoming region in 1753; but the marvelous richness and beauty of the region had become pretty well known to white men in various localities through reports made by the explorers and missionaries previously referred to. Firmly believing that the Wyoming region lay within the limits of Connecticut as defined and described in its charter and grant from Charles II, King of England, the organizers of The Susquehanna Company determined to plant a colony there, and thus bring the territory within the actual jurisdiction of Connecticut. Therefore. at Albany, New York, July 11. 1754, the representatives of the Company, upon payment of £2,000 in New York currency to fourteen representative sachens. or chiefs, of the Six Nations, obtained from the latter a deed for "a large tract of land on, about and adjacent to the River Susquehanna, between the 41st and 43d degrees of north latitude, and being within the limits and bounds of the Charter and Grant of his late Majesty Charles II to the Colony of Connect- icut."
The Susquehanna Company, having completed their purchase of the soil from the acknowledged proprietors of the territory, proceeded to make arrange- ments for establishing settlements at Wyoming; possession only being neces- sary, in the estimation of the Company, to render their title complete. It was
13
MARKET STREET BRIDGE, HOTEL STERLING, HOLLENBACK COAL EXCHANGE BUILDING AND WYOMING VALLEY HOTEL, FROM THE KINGSTON SHORE OF THE RIVER.
not until late in the Summer of 1762, however, that any immigrants under the auspices of The Susquehanna Company arrived in Wyoming, and then 119 came-chiefly from Connecticut-bringing a few tools and agricultural imple- ments. At that time the only Indians occupying the valley were the Delawares under Teedyuseung, whose village, as previously mentioned, was located within the present limits of the Tenth Ward of Wilkes-Barre, near the bend of the river. Living among these Delawares were a number of Wappingers and Mo- hegans, all acknowledging Teedvuscung as the head-man, or "king," of the community. The Shawanese village, Wyoming, being no longer in existence, Teedyuscung's village was known as Wyoming. It consisted chiefly of a num- ber of substantial log houses which had been built a few years previously by the Government of Pennsylvania for Teedvuscung and his followers. The greater part of the valley was vet covered with trees and undergrowth, except for short distances around the then Wyoming, the site of the earlier Wyoming of the Shawanese, and the village of Matchasaung on Jacob's Plains, where clear- ings had been made in the trivial progress of Indian husbandry.
The colonists from New England took up their quarters in a number of rude log huts which they erected on the north bank of Beaver Brook-later known as Mill Creek-just beyond the present northern boundary of the city of Wilkes-Barre. In other words, this pioneer settlement of white men in Wyoming Valley was made a short distance north of the present Hollenback Cemetery and City Hospital, not far from the mouth of Mill Creek. By the middle of October extensive fields of English grain had been sown in the vicinity of Mill Creek, and then the pioneers secreted their implements and tools and returned to their New England homes. Late in the following Spring (1763) they came back, bringing their families, horses, oxen, cows and house- hold utensils, prepared to establish themselves permanently in the valley which had been so long the object of their keen desires. The Spring and Summer seasons were favorable; the crops of Winter grain proved abundant, and were successfully garnered, and the brave and hardy pioneers-who had increased in number to near one hundred and fifty-were looking forward with hope to scenes of prosperity and happiness, although they knew that their little settle- ment was far removed from the marts of trade, and beyond the confines of civilization.
During the absence of the New Englanders from the valley in the Spring of 1763 several interesting and important changes in local conditions had taken place. Teedyuseung the King was dead. While lying in a drunken stupor in his house in the village of Wyoming, on April 19th, at dead of night, flames burst suddenly from the house, and soon it and all its contents-including the helpless King-were consumed. Less than a month later the conspiracy fo- mented by Pontiac, the Ottawa chieftain, was unmasked at Detroit (in what is now Michigan), and then was begun the war-far-reaching in its effects --- between the Indians and the whites, which continued till the Summer of 1764. About six weeks after the beginning of this war all the Indians in Wyoming Valley departed therefrom ; and with this exodus the red men's occupancy of the valley eame to an end.
15
Without any warning, at noondar on October 15, 1763, a large party of hostile Delawares, led by a son of the late King Teedyuseung, came into the valley from the eastern borders of Pennsylvania (where they had been com- mitting numerous depredations and murders) and fell upon the Mill Creek set- tlement while the men were scattered and engaged in the labors of the field. Unprepared for resistance about twenty men and women were slain, scalped, and otherwise mutilated, and a number of others were taken away captive. The rest of the people, taking with them such of their belongings as they could snatch in their excitement and haste, fled in fear and consternation to the mountains. As they turned back during their ascent to steal an occasional glance at the beautiful valley below, they beheld the savages driving their cattle away and plundering their houses of the goods that had been left. "At night- fall the torch was applied, and the darkness that hung over the vale was il- luminated by the lurid flames of their own dwellings-the abodes of happiness and peace in the morning."
Thomas and Richard Penn, the then Proprietaries of Pennsylvania, not only viewed with great disfavor this abortive attempt of The Susquehanna Company to establish a settlement in Wyoming, but, vigorously, and without delay, set up their own title in, and right of jurisdiction over, the territory in question. In order to strengthen their claim they sought during several years-more particularly after 1763-to effect a direct purchase of the disputed territory from the Six Nations. The purpose so persistently pursued was not finally accomplished, however, until November 5, 1768, when, at a grand In- dian council held at Fort Stanwix, New York, the Proprietaries obtained from certain chiefs of the Six Nations a deed for all that part of the Province of Pennsylvania which had not theretofore been purchased by the Proprietaries from the Indians, and which of course included the lands in the Wyoming region claimed by The Susquehanna Company to have been previously conveyed to them. In the meantime the Company's contest with the Pennsylvania Pro- prietaries had grown to such proportions that the case had been laid before King George III, who inhibited all entries by any party on these lands until proper inquiry into the matter should be made by the Home Government.
After the disastrous events at Mill Creek in October, 1763, five years inter- vened before The Susquehanna Company prepared to resume their operations in Wyoming Valley. Their agents and representatives had been fully cogni- zant during this period of the efforts being made by the Penns to secure a deed from the Six Nations, and some of the friends of the company were at Fort Stanwix in November, 1768, when the deed in question was executed. Seven weeks later the Company met at Hartford, Connecticut, and in view of the move made by the Penns, and for other reasons, resolved to "procced and set- tle" their Wyoming possessions. It was further resolved that "forty persons -- upwards of the age of twenty-one years, proprietors in said Purchase and approved by the committee to be nominated-proceed to enter upon and take possession of said land, for and in behalf of said Company, by the first day of February, 1769; and that two hundred more of said Company, of the age aforesaid, proceed and join said forty as early in the Spring as may be."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.