USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Wilkes-Barre > A history of Lodge no. 61, F. and A. M., Wilkesbarr?, Pa. with a collection of masonic addresses > Part 15
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* The Trumbull was sold by the U. S. Government in May, 1801, for $26,500.
Somerset Lodge No. 34, F. and A. M., was constituted at Norwich in 1794, with elaborate ceremonies. The services were held at the Meeting House in the town plot, and the Right Rev. Bro. Samuel Seabury, D. D., (the first Episcopal Bishop in America) preached a sermon from Hebrews iii., 4. The Lodge still flourishes.
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Lodge, supplied with whatever he needed, and placed to board in the family of Diah Manning, a member of the Lodge, all expenses being defrayed by the Lodge.
During Boyer's stay in Norwich he frequently attended the meetings of Somerset Lodge. He was a young man of superior natural abilities, and his mind was very considerably cultivated and improved by education. " Most of his leisure time at Norwich he employed in perfecting himself in the English language, and at his departure from the town he cut from a piece of linen his name, marked at full length, and gave it to one of the young members of the family that had assisted him in his lessons. 'Keep this,' he said, 'and perhaps some day you may send it to me in a letter, and I will remember you.'"
In April, 1800, negotiations for the settlement of existing difficulties had begun at Paris between envoys of the United States and France, and on the 3d of September a " Conven- tion " was signed. Among other things provision was made for the protection of the commerce of the United States against such depredations as had been made upon it by French privateers, under sanction of the French Govern- ment, and which had led to the rupture between the nations. In February, 1801, the "Convention," with the exception of two of its articles, was sanctioned and ratified by the U. S. Government, but it was not until March 18th that President Jefferson sent Representative Dawson to France with the ratification.
In the latter part of April intelligence was received in the United States that France had ratified the treaty.
Early in May the prisoners of war at Norwich, Hartford, and New London were sent to New York City and thence to Guadeloupe. This island was then in possession of the French, and during the years 1799 and 1800 a number of American seaman, who had been captured by French vessels, were imprisioned in the dungeons of Guadeloupe.
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Boyer made his way to France where he was well received by Napoleon, then First Consul, and from whom he obtained a commission in General Le Clerc's expedition, which sailed for St. Domingo in January, 1802.
After the annihilation of the French authority in St. Do- mingo the island remained in the hands of the blacks, and the political struggles amongst them, which followed that event, ended in the establishment of an arbitrary regal gov- ernment (styled imperial) with Christophe-King Henry I .-. at the head, at Cape François in the northern part of the island ; and an elective or republican form at Port-au-Prince, in the south, under President Petion. Boyer was an adhe- rent of Pétion, and on the death of the latter, in 1818, he was named President of the Haytian Republic. In 1820 Chris- tophe, having become involved in differences with his sub- jects, shot himself, and the two parts of the island were then reunited under the general name of the Republic of Hayti, and Jean Pierre Boyer was made President.
He carried on his government until 1842, when a violent insurrection overthrew his power and compelled him to take refuge in Jamaica. He died in Paris in 1850.
In 1819 President Boyer sent a handsome gratuity, $400, to each of the two families in Norwich, in which he had been treated with especial kindness while a prisoner of war ; and at the same time he presented £500 sterling to "The Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society."
General Boyer-Bazelais, an accomplished politician and writer, and a nephew of President Boyer, was the leader of the insurgents in the rebellion against the government which prevailed in Hayti in 1883.
Colonel Bulkeley retained the " Boyer" Charter in his possession until a short time before his death when he trans- ferred it to the Hon. David Scott of Wilkesbarré, Penn'a.
Early in 1821 the circumstances under which La Ven- geance was captured, the treatment of the crew, and the
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disappearance of the Masonic Charter, etc., were the subjects of considerable speculation in the newspapers of Baltimore, Hartford, Philadelphia, and other places. The matter was discussed in LODGE 61,* and Brother Scott informed the Lodge that the Warrant was in his possession, having been given to him by Brother Bulkeley some years before.
The Warrant remained in the possession of Brother Scott until his death in 1839, when it passed into the hands of his daughter, Mrs. Marietta Watson. With her it remained nearly forty-four years, and then was presented to the writer of this.
* See page 50, ante.
ARNOLD COLT, ESQ.
ARNOLD COLT, ESQ.
Sir John Coult, or Colt, an English peer, it is believed was the remote ancestor of the Colts of New England. The name of the family was spelled Coult as late as the year 1760.
Deacon Benjamin Coult early settled in Lyme, New Lon- don county, Conn. His wife was Miriam Harris. Their eldest son, Capt. Harris Coult (born February 19th, 1731), lived in Lyme, where he carried on farming and the manufac- ture of scythes. He married Elizabeth Turner, who bore him eleven children. He died at Lyme March 5th, 1797.
ARNOLD COLT, the subject of this memoir, was the second son and child of Captain Harris and Elizabeth (Turner) Colt, and was born at Lyme, Conn., September 10th, 1760. He learned the trade of a blacksmith and of a general worker in iron, and in the year 1786 immigrated to the Wyoming Valley. His elder brother, Harris, was at Wyoming as early as 1774, at least, where he acted as Surveyor and Agent in laying out lands of the Susquehanna proprietors under the direction of Zebulon Butler, Obadiah Gore, Jr., and Nathan Denison, Committee. Captain Colt, the father, owned a " right" of land in Wilkesbarré, which, in April, 1772, was " manned " by one Aaron Wilder.
In February, 1788, "in consideration of that natural love and affection " which he bore to his " beloved son Arnold," Captain Colt granted and confirmed unto him the "right" of land in Wilkesbarré, aforesaid. Just a month previously to this Arnold had married Lucinda Yarrington, daughter of Abel Yarrington, one of the early Wyoming settlers .*
* ABEL YARRINGTON came to Wyoming from Stonington, Conn., in 1772, with his wife and three children-Lucinda, John, and Peter.
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Early in March, 1790, Mr. Colt was chosen Town Clerk of Wilkesbarré, and on the 24th of the same month he was appointed, by the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsyl- vania, Collector of Excise for Luzerne county, to hold the office until the appointment should be legally revoked. A new Constitution for Pennsylvania being adopted in 1790,
Here he passed through the severe trials of subduing the wilderness, maintaining the eagerly contested right of settlement, and encountering the subsequent horrors of British and Indian invasion.
The Westmoreland records of 1778, associating his name with the Denisons and Gores, the Jamesons and Franklins, of the day, note his appointment to two offices at the same town-meeting, viz. : Col- lector of taxes, and keeper of the Wilkesbarré and Kingston ferry.
The ferry was kept opposite Northampton street, and the old ferry- house stood on the western or Kingston bank of the river, some seven or eight rods below the present bridge ; the road to the ferry running through the " flats," on the line between Kingston and Plymouth town- ships. In Wilkesbarré and Kingston were situated the two main forts that defended the Valley, hence it was of the utmost importance that the ferry between these two townships should be in the care of an experienced and prudent man, with skill to guide his craft by night or day, amid ice or floods, and all the alarms and incidents of war. At the time of the invasion the duty was in an especial degree arduous and responsible. Mr. Yarrington remained at his post on the day of the massacre to the latest hour he could be useful, and until the yell of the approaching savages sounded in his ears. He then took his family in the ferry-boat, descended the river, and found welcome and safety among the benevolent inhabitants at Sunbury.
Subsequently Mr. Yarrington kept a house of entertainment-pro- bably the first one in Wilkesbarré-on River street, below Market, where now stands the old Conyngham homestead.
From 1790 to 1793, and 1795 to 1801, he was Coroner of Luzerne county ; and for several years he was Treasurer of the county. He was generally known or addressed as " Deacon." He was a Free Mason, but not a member of LODGE 61.
Peter Yarrington, the youngest child of Abel Yarrington, was born in 1770. In early manhood he was an agent for Matthias Hollenback in trading with the Indians in the vicinity of Tioga Point. He was once captured by them, and retained a prisoner four years. Subse-
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Governor Mifflin, in September, 1791, re-appointed Mr. Colt Excise Officer, to collect "sundry sums of money due to the Commonwealth for arrearages of excise, and sundry forfeitures not yet exacted." On the same day that he was appointed Excise Officer he received from the Governor the appointment of Justice of the Peace for Wilkesbarré town- ship, to hold office during good behavior.
He served as Ensign in the company of infantry com- manded by Capt. Samuel Bowman which was sent into western Pennsylvania in 1794 to assist in quelling the " Whisky Insurrection."*
In December, 1795, he removed with his family to Tioga Point, Luzerne county (now Athens, Bradford county), where he kept tavern for nearly three years, and at the same time performed the duties of Justice of the Peace. While residing there he was elected (November, 1798,) Sheriff of Luzerne county for the term of three years, and soon thereafter he returned to Wilkesbarré.
In 1799 he was United States Assessor for Luzerne county.
In May, 1801, he gave notice to the public, through the columns of The Wilkesbarre Gazette, that on the first of June
quently he learned the trade of a blacksmith, and for many years kept his shop in Wilkesbarré, where Franklin street now intersects South street.
In 1794 he was fifer in Capt. Samuel Bowman's company sent to aid in quelling the " Whisky Insurrection " in western Pennsylvania.
He was Constable of Wilkesbarré borough and township in 1810. He was a member of LODGE 61, having been initiated June Ist, 1801.
Abel Yarrington died at Wilkesbarré June 27th, 1824, aged 84 years and 6 months, and Peter Yarrington died November 26th, 1826, aged 56 years and 9 months.
Mr. Dilton Yarrington, a well-known citizen of Carbondale, Lacka- wanna county, Penn'a, is a son of Peter Yarrington. He was born in Wilkesbarré in 1803.
*See page 151, ante.
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following he would " open a house of entertainment on the banks of the Susquehanna, in the house lately occupied by Thomas Wright, Esq." This was on the spot where the Wyoming Valley Hotel now stands. The tavern was duly opened by Sheriff Colt, and was kept by him for several years.
From 1801 to 1804 he was one of the Commissioners of Luzerne county.
For years the only way in which merchandise could be transported from Philadelphia to Wilkesbarré was by land to Middletown, ninety-eight miles, or to Harrisburg, over one hundred miles, and then by boats up the Susquehanna about one hundred and twenty miles. In April, 1787, Col. Timothy Pickering wrote to Gen. Peter Muhlenberg, Phila- delphia, the following letter :
* Since I saw you this afternoon I have consulted with Colonel Denison on the subject of a road to Wyoming, and we are clearly of the opinion that it will not be expedient to open one until the country is further explored. We have such information as to induce us to believe that a road may be cut from the Water Gap of Lehigh to Wilkesbarré, without ascending or descending a single mountain. * * * A road through a swamp or morass, when once well made, will last an age, and is passed with loaded teams with per- fect ease. But what is called the Great Swamp is generally hard ground ; and all the miry parts on the present route (being what is called Sullivan's road), which is by no means deemed an eligible one, would not together exceed two miles. * * * "
The old road, known as "the Sullivan road," was so exe- crable that language could not describe it. In 1802 the turnpike was projected from Wilkesbarré-through the " Shades of Death " and the " Great Swamp "-to Easton, on the Delaware, sixty miles away. In the then situation of the country-the whole population poor-the undertak- ing was bold and hazardous. Arnold Colt, however, with courageous enterprise, took the heaviest contracts and pro- ceeded to the work with determined energy. It was chiefly through his exertions that the first twenty-nine miles of the
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road, reckoning from Wilkesbarré, were completed in 1806. Soon thereafter the whole distance from Wilkesbarré to the Wind Gap, forty-six miles, was finished at a cost of $75,000.
It would be useless to go into the particulars of disap- pointments which human prudence could not guard against, and misfortunes which no wisdom could avert,-but when the road was finished Mr. Colt had lost all the accumulations of his early life, and a large sum of money was still due from the turnpike company to him. He was, in that (then) great undertaking, a public benefactor far beyond the general acknowledgment or impression. He was a member of the first Board of Managers of the road, and continued in the Board for about fifteen years. The Easton and Wilkesbarré turnpike was for many years the main, almost the exclusive, thoroughfare between the entire Wyoming region and south- eastern Pennsylvania.
Mr. Colt was a member of the first Borough Council of Wilkesbarré, elected in May, 1806.
From 1807 to 1811 he was a Trustee of the Wilkesbarré Academy.
In the Summer of 1809 he moved into Monroe county, Penn'a, and began keeping a tavern near Stoddartsville, on the Easton and Wilkesbarré Turnpike. He continued there three or four years at least.
In October, 1813, he was nominated for the office of Sheriff of Luzerne county, but on election day there were six candidates in the field, and Elijah Shoemaker was the successful one.
In April, 1814, Mr. Colt again turned his attention to tavern-keeping, and opened a " boarding house and tavern" in Wilkesbarré in a building which stood where the Exchange Hotel now stands. He remained there only two or three years-being succeeded by Archippus Parrish-
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and then moved to the house now occupied by Dr. C. F. Ingham, on the corner of Union and River streets, Wilkes- barré, where he resided until his death.
In 1816 he was the candidate of the Federal Republicans of Luzerne county for Sheriff, but was defeated by Stephen Van Loon, the Democratic candidate.
He was Clerk to the County Commissioners for a number of years, and was succeeded in January, 1819, by Jesse Fell.
From May, 1826, to May, 1827, and from May, IS28, to May, 1829, he was President of the Borough Council of Wilkesbaré. From 1825 to 1828 he was again County Commissioner.
Arnold Colt was a public-spirited man, active and pro- gressive in all the undertakings with which he identified himself. In the period of his forty-six years' residence in Luzerne county he did much to cause himself to be re- spected, and his name to be remembered, by the citizens of the county, with whom he was very popular.
" Manly in form, his features regular and agreeable, the expression pleasing, his manner frank, his mind naturally bright, and rendered intelligent by an excellent New Eng- land education, he would have made a decidedly favorable impression in any community. But another trait rendered him a peculiar favorite. Mingled with his fine flow of spirit there was a vein of humor rarely equalled. It was peren- nial, never affected, but ever (at proper times) flowing, and often sparkling into wit, yet so kindly as always to afford pleasure to innocence. Hence Arnold Colt was always a favorite, universally beloved.
" In a remarkable degree was he hospitable and generous, so much so it would have been almost impossible for him to have accumulated a large fortune. Yet health, enterprise and industry always crowned his board with plenty; and, with- out intimating the least extravagance, it may be averred that few tables in the Valley were so uniformly invitingly
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spread, or to which visiting friends were made more cor- dially welcome."
Having been made a Mason in a Connecticut Lodge, Arnold Colt became one of the Charter members of LODGE 61, and was its first Secretary, serving as such until Decem- ber, 1794, when he was elected and installed Senior Warden of the Lodge for the ensuing Masonic year. On the 2d of November, 1795, he withdrew from the Lodge, "being about to remove to a distance from Wilkesbarré," to Tioga Point.
In May, 1796, Brother Colt and a number of other Breth- ren residing at and near Tioga Point, presented a petition to the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, praying that a War- rant might be granted for holding a Lodge at Tioga Point. On the 6th of July, 1796, the Grand Lodge granted the prayer of the petitioners, and a Warrant was issued to " Brethren Arnold Colt, Master; Stephen Hopkins, Senior Warden ; and Ira Stephens, Junior Warden, of a new Lodge, No. 70, to be held at Tyoga Point, in the county of Luzerne, in the State of Pennsylvania, or within five miles of the same."*
The following is an extract from the minutes of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania: "Special Grand Lodge, Philada., Ist Feby., 1798, A. L. 5798. The R. W. Grand Master informed the members of the Grand Lodge that he had convened them for the purpose of installing the Master of Lodge No. 70, under a Warrant granted July 6th, 1796; which installation, by reason of the sickness of Arnold Colt, the Master named in the Warrant, and other intervening circumstances, had not yet taken place. Brother Colt was then brought forward and Brother Irving, by direction of the R. W. Grand Master, proceeded to the installation,
* Subsequently the Lodge adopted the name Rural Amity No. 70,, by which it is known at this day.
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which ceremony being performed and Brother Colt placed in the chair, he was recognized as Master of said Lodge No. 70, and saluted accordingly."
On the 21st of May, 1798, Lodge No. 70 was organized at the house of Mr. George Welles, Tioga Point, and Brother Colt installed Dr. Stephen Hopkins as Senior Warden, and Capt. Ira Stephens as Junior Warden. Brother Colt served as Worshipful Master of Lodge No. 70 until December, 1798, when he removed to Wilkesbarré, but he continued his membership in the Lodge until February, 1802, when he took his demit, and was made an honorary member. In subsequent years he often visited the Lodge.
For several years after his return to Wilkesbarré he was a frequent visitor at the meetings of LODGE 61, but it was not until June 2Ist, 1814, that he made application for re-ad- mittance to membership. His application was granted, and he again became an active member of "61." He served as Secretary of the Lodge during the year 1831, and in 1832 until about a month before his death, which occurred September 2Ist.
His wife died at Wilkesbarré December 28th, 1830, aged 65 years. They had seven children-four sons and three daughters.
TEMPERANCE COLT, the eldest child, married February 3d, 1818, Pierce Butler, eldest son of Gen. Lord Butler, and grandson of Col. Zebulon Butler .*
JULIA A. COLT, the second child, married the Hon. Andrew Beaumont.t
HENRY COLT, the oldest son and third child, was by pro- fession a surveyor, and at the time of his death was Deputy Surveyor General for Luzerne county. He was made a Free Mason sometime previous to June, 1821, but when, or in
* See note appended to sketch of Judge Conyngham, post.
¡ See page 143, ante.
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what Lodge, is not now known. He attended the meetings of LODGE 61 very regularly from 1830 to 1833; in 1843 was one of the petitioners to the Grand Lodge for the res- toration of the Warrant of "61," and assisted in re-organ- izing the Lodge. He was Secretary from December, 1843, to December, 1846.
He died at Wilkesbarré April 6th, 1850, aged 53 years.
MARY B. COLT, the youngest daughter and sixth child, married Sharp D. Lewis, Esq .*
CHESTER A. COLT, the youngest child, was for a time con- nected with one of the Wilkesbarré newspapers. Subse- quently he removed to Washington, D. C., where for a number of years he held a government appointment. He died in Washington August 27th, 1863, aged 51 years.
* See biography of S. D. Lewis, post.
HON. JOHN N. CONYNGHAM, LL. D.
The Conynghams originally went from England to Scot- land with King Malcolm. One of their number in later years was William Conyngham, Bishop of Argyll, A. D. 1539.
The first of the family who settled in America was Red- mond Conyngham, a native of Letterkenny, Ireland, and a descendant of Bishop Conyngham. He was a large landed proprietor, and about the year 1749 emigrated to America and settled in Philadelphia, where he engaged in mercan- tile pursuits. Some years later he became a member of the firm of J. M. Nesbitt & Company, of Philadelphia. He was connected with old Christ Church of Philadelphia, and, with William Shippen, Elias Boudinot, Charles Meredith, and others, aided that church substantially when it was deemed advisable to provide it with a steeple and a set of bells. Subsequently he was elected Vestryman and War- den of Christ Church, and in 1758 was one of the foremost to assist in the erection of St. Peter's Church, at Third and Pine streets, Philadelphia.
January 13th, 1750, Redmond Conyngham married Mar- tha, daughter of Robert Ellis, Esq., of Philadelphia .* They
* Mary Conyngham, sister of Redmond, married the Rev. Thomas Plunket. Their son, William-Conyngham Plunket (born 1765) hav- ing attained the highest eminence at the Bar, and filled successively the offices of Solicitor and Attorney General in Ireland, was created a Baron by patent dated June Ist, 1827, upon his advancement to the Chief Justiceship of the Court of Common Pleas. He was constituted, in 1830, Lord Chancellor of Ireland, which high office he held almost uninterruptedly till 1841. He was one of the greatest of Irish orators.
The present Lord Plunket, grandson of the first Baron, was conse- crated, in 1876, Bishop of Meath, Province of Armagh, Ireland, and in 1885 he was translated Lord Archbishop of Dublin, Primate of Ire-
PHOTOTYPE
F GUTEKUNST
PH.LAD+A.
MON. JOHN N. CONYNGHAM, L.L. D.
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had six children, of whom the eldest was David Hayfield Conyngham, born March 21st, 1756, in the North of Ire- land, where his parents were then temporarily residing. About the year 1775, Redmond Conyngham left Philadel- phia and returned to Ireland, where he died in 1784.
David H. Conyngham remained in this country, and took his father's place in the house of J. M. Nesbitt & Company, then, and for many years afterwards, one of the most extensive mercantile establishments in Philadelphia. After the War of the Revolution the name of the firm was changed to Conyngham & Nesbitt.
David H. Conyngham was an original member of "The Light Horse of the City of Philadelphia" (subsequently the " First Philadelphia Troop of Horse," and now the "First City Troop"), organized in November, 1774, under Capt. Abraham Markoe. It was the first organization of volun- teers in the Colonies for the purpose of armed resistance to British oppression.
In 1777, while in France, Mr. Conyngham was engaged, in connection with William Hodge-a merchant of the same class-in fitting out an armed vessel to cruise against the British, under the command of his cousin, Capt. Gusta- vus Conyngham. At the request of Lord Stornmount Mr. Hodge was thrown into the Bastile, and Mr. Conyngham only escaped similar misfortune by the management of his father's great friend, Dr. Benjamin Franklin, who sent him off with dispatches. Returning to America, Mr. Conyng- ham devoted largely of his means and personal services in aid of his country in the struggle for independence.
land and Metropolitan-succeeding the celebrated scholar, Archbishop Trench.
For a further account of the Conyngham family of early days, see a work in course of preparation by the Rev. Horace Edwin Hayden, of Wilkesbarré, Penn'a, to be entitled " Reminiscences of David Hayfield Conyngham."
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In 1780 so great was the distress of the American army that Washington was apprehensive they would not be able to keep the field. He wrote to Richard Peters, Esq., giving him full information of the state of affairs, and that gentle- man immediately called on J. M. Nesbitt, and explained to him the distress of the army, and the wishes of the General. Mr. Nesbitt replied that a Mr. Howe had offered to put up pork for the firm of Nesbitt & Company if he could be paid in hard money. The firm had contracted with Howe to put up all the pork and beef he could possibly obtain, for which he should be paid in gold. Mr. Howe having per- formed his engagements, and been paid as stipulated, Nes- bitt & Company informed Mr. Peters that he might have this beef and pork, and in addition a valuable prize, just arrived to Bunner, Murray & Company, loaded with val- uable stores. These provisions were sent forward in time, and the army was saved. In addition to this relief, Nesbitt & Company subscribed £5000 for the use of the Govern- ment during the war. Both General Washington and Robert Morris, the financier, gratefully acknowledged their obligations for this generous aid.
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