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 29
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June 23d, 1780, occurred the battle of Springfield, N. J. Major Lee with his cavalry-including Capt. Andrew Lee's company-supported by the regiment of Colonel Ogden,* opposed one column of the enemy. After a severe engage- ment, during which the British forced the bridge over the Rahway, the invaders were defeated and driven back ; but when they began their retreat to Staten Island they set fire to and destroyed the village of Springfield. The British were 3000 strong and lost about 300 men; the Americans were 1500 in number and lost less than 100. It was in this battle that certain New Jersey militia were inspired by the presence and example of their chaplain, Caldwell, whose wife had been shot by the enemy only a few days before. When the men were in want of wadding for their guns, he distributed hymn-books among them, with the exhortation, "Put Watts into them, boys !"
* See note, page 155, ante.
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Captain Lee was shot during the battle, and had his thigh broken. He was conveyed to the Baskingridge hospital, New Jersey, where he had to pay all of his own expenses. Later he was transferred to the hospital at Albany, where Lord Stirling was in command, and by him Captain Lee was subsequently appointed superintendent of the hospital; which post he held until after the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, October 19th, 1781, which was virtually the end of the war.
Owing to some misunderstanding or carelessness the death of Captain Lee was reported as having taken place June 22d, 1781, while he was at the Albany hospital, and the fact was recorded upon the rolls of his regiment and at the War Office .*
"Congress' Own" passed the Winter of 1780-'81 at Fish- kill, N. Y. Thence it removed to West Point, and then down the Hudson to join the army en route to Yorktown, where it took part in the siege. Returning up the Chesa- peake in the latter part of October the regiment was ordered to proceed to Lancaster, Penn'a, to guard the prisoners of war in custody at that post, York and Reading. Acting under orders from headquarters, Captain Lee repaired to Lancaster from Albany and joined the regiment.
The American authorities found much difficulty in dis- posing of their prisoners of war. There were no posts re- gularly fitted for the detention of prisoners, and no better means for securing them was suggested than to place them under guard in a thickly settled part of the country, where the inhabitants were most decidedly hostile to the English. The town of Lancaster was one of those selected for that purpose.
A very interesting episode, relative to Captain Lee and the Lancaster prisoners of that period, was published many
*See Heitman's "Historical Register of Officers of the Cont. Army."
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years ago in The New England Magazine. In 1869 it was republished in Dr. Mombert's "Authentic History of Lan- caster County," and in 1894 it appeared in Dr. Egle's "Notes and Queries," Vol. I. (First Series).
In September, 1782, "Congress' Own" was ordered from Lancaster to a point on the Hudson River near Washing- ton's headquarters at Newburg. By direction of Washing- ton Captain Lee took command at that time of the "three years' men" in Hazen's regiment, and in that capacity he continued until New York City was evacuated and the Americans marched in, November 25th, 1782. Hostilities being at an end, Captain Lee and the men under his com- mand petitioned for their discharges, which in a short time were granted, and Captain Lee returned to his old home in Pennsylvania. "Congress' Own" was finally disbanded at White Plains, N. Y., in November, 1783.
In a letter to the Hon. Timothy Pickering, dated Novem- ber Ioth, 1807, Captain Lee wrote: [General Washington] "afterwards recommended me to Congress for a pension, which I declined applying for, conceiving it to be unneces- sary provided I could get arrearages of pay and the amount of my expenses while recruiting ; to do which I attended at the sitting of Congress in New York three months, for the purpose of having those accounts adjusted, but [was] un- able to obtain my object through the absence of Mr. Pierce the paymaster. I attended likewise in Philadelphia, where Colonel Hartley and Mr. Kittera, Members of Congress, ad- vised me to petition anew. I accordingly returned home, and received a letter from Mr. Montgomery men- tioning that my claims were just, but could not be allowed owing to the enormity of [the] demands on Congress-for all would have an equal right to be allowed their demands with me."
A year or two after his return to civil life Captain Lee rescued from the hands of a tribe of northern Indians three
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of his cousins, who had been held in captivity for about four years. Capt. John Lee, an uncle of Capt. Andrew, resided near Freeland's Mills on the West Branch of the Susque- hanna some miles above Sunbury. His home was stock- aded, and "in the Winter of 1779-'80 the dwellers in the vicinity fled to this stockade for security from an attack of savages. The home of Capt. John Lee was visited by the attacking party, and he, his wife and three children were slain. Four other children-two girls and two boys, none of them above twelve years old-were led away captive, and held in Indian bondage till 1784-'85. * * Capt. An- drew Lee made three journeys into the country of the Sen- ecas in search of his uncle's children. The first journey produced the recovery of Rebecca, whom he brought to Albany, clothed, and furnished with money. He retrod his way from Albany, and by a considerable ransom redeemed another of the children. A third voyage throughout the extent of the Mohawk River, Oneida, Ontario, and Erie Lakes, in pursuit of the wandering owner of the captives, at a great charge, obtained a third of these orphans. Thomas, the youngest and last, came in a few years later."-Penn- sylvania Magazine, III .: 167.
Captain Lee, after his marriage in 1785, resided in East Hanover township,* Dauphin county, Penn'a, until 1791, when he removed to Harrisburg. There, for some time, he kept a tavern on the spot where the "Jones House" was built at a later time. In December, 1789, he purchased of Capt. John Paul Schott of Wilkesbarré, for £150, 226 acres of land in Newport township, Luzerne county, adjoining lands of Prince and Mason Fitch Alden. Previous to Jan- uary, 1777, Mason Fitch Alden, Nathaniel Chapman, and Joseph Beach had built a bloomery forge on the creek in Newport township, a few rods below the Hanover line.
* See Luzerne County Deed Books I .: 207, 273, 274, and 329; and II. : 206 and 208.
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This forge was operated for several years. In 1789 the property was owned by Beach and Chapman, and in April, 1790, Captain Lee bought Beach's one-half interest. In March, 1790, he bought land in Hanover township of Wal- ter Spencer ; in the following June, land in Newport of Na- thaniel and Hannah Chapman; and in December of the same year, land in Newport of James Campbell of Hanover, Luzerne county.
In 1793 William Stewart of Hanover, Dauphin county, who owned lot 27, Ist division of Hanover township, Lu- zerne county, had the same surveyed and plotted into streets and lots, and sold 36 lots. He named the town Nanticoke. Thither, in 1804, came Capt. Andrew Lee with his wife and two of his children-his eldest son remaining in Harrisburg to pursue his law studies. He erected a house on a high bank a few rods west of the mouth of Nanticoke Creek, about one-half mile above Nanticoke Falls, and with only the road and the river bank between the house and the Susquehanna. There he lived until his death.
November 10th, 1779, Lodge No. 21, F. and A. M., was constituted in Lower Paxtang township, Lancaster county. Some years later its location was changed to Harrisburg, where it has continued to "work" and flourish to the pres- ent time, and is now the fifth Lodge, in age, in Pennsylvania. In 1802 the name "Perseverance" was given to it, which it still retains.
Owing to the fact that the early records of that Lodge are very meagre, and that many years ago some of the records of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania were destroyed by fire, it is impossible to learn when and where Captain Lee was made a Mason. I think, without doubt, that he received his degrees in an Army Lodge, of which he subsequently be- came W. Master. Existing records show that he was ad- mitted to membership in Lodge 21 as a Past Master April
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4th, 1792, and that he was Treasurer of the Lodge in 1796, 1800 and 1802.
After his removal to Nanticoke he became a frequent at- tendant at the meetings of LODGE 61. He never regularly joined the Lodge, but was regarded and treated in all respects by the Brethren thereof as though he were one of their number as long as he lived; and when he died they buried him with the full honors and impressive rites of the Fra- ternity.
Captain Lee was married in 1785 to Priscilla (Espy) Stewart, the widow of James Stewart of Hanover, Lancaster county, Penn'a, who was a younger brother of Capt. Lazarus Stewart, hereinbefore mentioned. He had resided in Wyo- ming, but left there before the massacre of July 3d, 1778, and returned to Lancaster county, where he married Pris- cilla Espy in 1780, and died in 1783. Priscilla Espy was the seventh child of Josiah and Elizabeth (Crain) Espy, of Hanover, Lancaster county, and was born in 1751. Her sister Martha married Capt. Lazarus Stewart.
Mrs. Priscilla (Espy) Lee died at Nanticoke on Thursday, March 9th, 1815, in the 64th year of her age. She was survived by her husband, Captain Lee; a son of her first marriage-Lazarus Stewart (born 1781; died January 7th, 1839) ;* and two sons and one daughter, children of her second marriage. The daughter, Priscilla, who had just reached early womanhood, died at Nanticoke nine months after her mother's death.
Captain Lee died at his home in Nanticoke on Friday, June 15th, 1821, in the 82d year of his age. The following account of his funeral was written a few weeks after its
* LEE W. STEWART (born 1821; died August 19th, 1886), son of this Lazarus Stewart and his wife, Elizabeth Crisman, of Hanover (born 1786 ; married January 12th, 1817; died November 19th, 1845), was a member of LODGE 61 ; having been initiated September 22d, 1858.
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occurrence by Bro. Charles Miner, who was then on a visit to Wyoming from his home in West Chester, Penn'a :
"THE FUNERAL, OR A SABBATH IN WYOMING."
"On Saturday afternoon, the 16th of June [ 1821] a messenger came to Wilkesbarré with the information of the decease of Capt. Andrew Lee, and that he would be interred on the day following at 2 o'clock in the afternoon.
"Besides the general obligation to pay the last rites of sepulture to a departed friend, there was on my part a higher duty on this occasion, for many years ago the old gentleman took me by the hand with several other of his Masonic Brethren, told us that in the course of nature he had not long to continue here, and expressed a wish, which he had always felt, that when it should please his Maker to call him hence, his Brethren of the Masonic Fraternity would attend, and take charge of his funeral.
"Previous preparations having been made, on Sabbath morning, at IO o'clock, LODGE No. 61, under the direction of Andrew Beaumont, Esq., Worshipful Master, clothed, the officers wearing the insignia of their stations, and all carrying branches of evergreen, formed in pro- cession and rode to the late residence of the deceased. The distance from Wilkesbarrè was about ten miles, and one of the most wild and romantic of all the situations in that charming valley. Wyoming must be familiar to every reader.
* * * At I o'clock the Brethren, and a very large concourse of people, having assembled, the usual ceremonies are performed ; the roll is deposited in the cof- fin ; the procession now moves in solemn order. It is four miles to the place of interment, and so great is the assemblage that the proces- sion extends half a mile in length. The most perfect order prevails.
"But who was Captain Lee, to whom these honors were paid ? They were justly paid, reader. He was a benevolent man-a more gener- ous heart never beat in human bosom! In early life he entered into the service of his country, and was in the battle with Braddock when he was defeated ; from thence he escaped with Washington. In the Revolutionary War he held a commission in the army, and was with Montgomery in his arduous and unfortunate campaign to Quebec. He continued in the service until the Independence for which he had drawn his sword was achieved, and then he retired to the peaceful pursuits of civil life, to enjoy the liberty and prosperity of his country, which he had fought to obtain.
"The name of Washington was held by him in the highest venera-
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tion, and whenever mentioned, awakened an enthusiasm to the latest hour, that made his eyes sparkle with the lustre of youth. He had lived to a good old age, having reached four score years, and had fallen asleep with his fathers, entertaining a lively hope of a blessed resurrection.
"Arriving at the meeting-house in Hanover the procession halted, the coffin was placed in front of the pulpit, and a sermon was de- livered by the Rev. Mr. Gildersleeve. The purport of his discourse was, the certainty of death-its origin from sin-the necessity of re- pentance-and concluding with some suitable remarks upon the character of the deceased, topics sufficiently obvious, yet appropriate. But his chaste and elegant language, his earnest, solemn, and impres- sive manner, mark him as a superior man.
"It is impossible at this distance of time to give, from memory, much of his language, but I well recollect the emphatic remark : ' Death is so powerful that the strongest man cannot resist him ; so determinate of purpose that gold cannot bribe him ; nor can the art of the most eloquent tongue persuade him to pass by.'
After the service the Lodge prepared to commit the remains of their deceased Brother to their native earth. The solemn service prescrib- ed by the Masonic discipline was read, upon the coffin was dropped the evergreen, which, beside a Masonic allusion which I must not ex- plain, is at once a mark of respect and an emblem of hope that the spirit of our departed Brother -- though the winter of death may now rest upon him-shall spring again green and fresh in renewed life, and flourish in realms where decay shall be no more known.
The solemnity of feeling was heightened by the consideration that we were committing the remains of a soldier of the Revolution, and of a Mason, to the tomb on the anniversary of the battle of Bunker's Hill, where Warren, distinguished as the Grand Master of the Lodges in Massachusetts, as well as for his zeal and gallantry in the defence of his country, offered up his life a sacrifice to her cause.
The burial-ground was on the summit of a hill, commanding a wide view of the river, its islands, and the surrounding scenery, and the soul must have been cold and inanimate that, at such a moment, did not expand with the sublimest feelings which are known to our nature. The ground was closed, and the heart responded
'How sleep the brave, who sink to rest
By all their country's wishes blest.'"
WASHINGTON LEE, the eldest child of Capt. Andrew Lee, was born in East Hanover township, Dauphin county, Penn'a,
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June 18th, 1786. He was educated in the Latin School of John Downey, Harrisburg, and in March, 1803, entered the law office of George Fisher. Having been admitted to the Bar of Dauphin county March 3d, 1806, he removed to the Wyoming Valley and was admitted to the Bar of Luzerne county April 25th, 1806, being the thirty-sixth attorney ad- mitted to that Bar. "He had determined, however, that a mili- tary career would be more to his taste, and he early sought the influence of his friends to aid him in gaining a position in the army. Judge Henry, then presiding on the Bench of Dauphin county, had been an early and a warm friend of his father, and his influence and that of Senator Andrew Gregg, another warm personal friend of Capt. A. Lee, secured him the appointment of 2d Lieutenant in the United States Army, March 3d, 1808. He was commissioned Ist Lieutenant of the 5th Regiment of Infantry April Ist, 18II. He had already served as Judge Advocate of the Southern army under Gen. Wade Hampton from February 19th, 1810, and continued so to act until appointed Assist- ant Adjutant General June 24th, 1812. The following July (23d) he was commissioned Captain of the IIth Infantry, and March 3, 1813, received his majority. In June of this year he was appointed Deputy Paymaster General of the United States forces, and he received his commission as Lieutenant Colonel of the 11th Infantry January Ist, 1815. May 3, 1816, he resigned the service ; purchased a farm of 1000 acres at Nanticoke, and removed thither." [Egle's "Notes and Queries," Vol. I., Third Series, 170.]
He engaged in iron making on the Newport branch of the Nanticoke Creek before the canal was built, and afterwards in coal mining for many years. In May, 1869, he removed to Wilkesbarré and occupied the residence which he had built on South Franklin street, nearly opposite St. Stephen's P. E. Church, and which is now owned and occupied by Mr. Law- rence Myers. Here he died September 10th, 1871.
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Colonel Lee was married June 16th, 1817, to Elizabeth, daughter of the Rev. John Campbell, D. D., Rector of St. John's P. E. Church, Carlisle, Penn'a. She died at Nanti- coke December 8th, 1865, aged 75 years. They had no children.
JAMES STEWART LEE, the second child of Captain Lee, was born in East Hanover township, Dauphin county, Penn'a, January 3d, 1789. He came to Nanticoke with his parents in 1804, and having married, in 1814, Martha Campbell (born April 3d, 1792; died October 21st, 1851), eldest daughter of James and Margaret (Stewart) Campbell,* he settled on a large farm on the river road near Lee's Creek in Hanover, about one mile above the village of Nanticoke. There he lived until his death, July 2Ist, 1851.
Washington Lee, Jr. (born May 8th, 1821 ; died March 26th, 1883), a son of James S. Lee, was educated at Dick- inson College, Penn'a, and was admitted to the Bar of Lu- zerne county August 4th, 1845. He was initiated a mem- ber of LODGE 61 November 22d, 1847. He was one of the charter members of Shekinah R. A. Chapter No. 182 in 1855, and in 1858 was its High Priest.
Mrs. Priscilla Lee Bennett, of Wilkesbarré, widow of the late Hon. Ziba Bennett, is the only child of James S. Lee now living.
* JAMES CAMPBELL was born in Lancaster county, Penn'a, in 1765. He removed to Hanover township, Luzerne county, before 1788, and married there Margaret Stewart, sixth child of Capt. Lazarus Stewart. In 1790 he was elected one of the Justices of the Peace for the second district of Luzerne county (Wilkesbarré, Hanover and Newport town- ships); and in 1795 he was one of the Commissioners of Luzerne county.
He was initiated a member of LODGE 61 April 4th, 1796, and was Junior Warden of the Lodge in 1798, and Treasurer from December, 1798, to December, 1803.
He died at Hanover in December, 1821, and his wife died there in November, 1832, in the 63d year of her age.
Their second daughter married Jameson Harvey, of Plymouth town- ship, and later of Wilkesbarré; and their youngest daughter married James Dilley, of Hanover.
SHARP DELANY LEWIS, ESQ.
[For a good deal of the material from which the follow- ing sketch was prepared, the writer is indebted to the kind- ness and courtesy of Mr. George C. Lewis of Wilkesbarré, a great-grandson of Judge William Lewis and a nephew of the subject of this sketch. Mr. Lewis has in his possession many rare and interesting pamphlets, documents, letters, etc., relating to the lives and works of his paternal ancestors.]
Ralph Lewis, and Mary his wife, who were members of the Society of Friends, came from Glamorganshire, Wales, and settled in Haverford township, Chester county, Penn'a, about the year 1683. They were the parents of several children, one of whom was Samuel, born May 11th, 1687, who married Phoebe Taylor and had a son Josiah.
The last named married Martha Allen, and their eldest child was William Lewis, who was born at Edgemont, Ches- ter county, February 2d, 1751. He attended the Friends' Seminary at Willistown, and Robert Proud's school in Phil- adelphia, and in 1770 commenced the study of law under the direction of Nicholas Waln, Esq., Philadelphia.
November 25th, 1771, he married Rosanna Lort.
He was admitted to the Bar of Philadelphia September 4th, 1773, and practiced his profession there until 1777, when he removed to Chester county. There he remained until the British had evacuated Philadelphia, when he returned thither.
He was elected to the Pennsylvania Legislature in 1787, '88, and '89, and was a member of the Convention which framed the State Constitution of 1790. September 26tl1, 1789, he was commissioned by President Washington United States Attorney for the District of Pennsylvania ; and July 14th, 1791, upon the death of Judge Hopkinson, the Presi-
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dent, without solicitation, conferred upon Mr. Lewis the office of Judge of the United States District Court in and for the Pennsylvania District. This office he held only about a year, and then resigned and returned to the Bar.
March Ist, 1780, the Pennsylvania Assembly passed an act for the abolition of slavery in the State. "It was the first act or edict ever passed or issued by any legislative body or autocrat, which abolished slavery." Its author was William Lewis, and the Society of Friends presented him a service of plate as a tribute of respect for his exertions in the cause of freedom. The merit of first abolishing slavery has been claimed by Massachusets ; the claim being based upon the State Constitution which was adopted March 2d, 1780, and which declared that all men are born free and equal. Substantially the same language is to be found in the Declaration of Independence of July 4th, 1776; but it has never been supposed that either was intended to or actually did abolish slavery in the old thirteen United States.
The Legislature of Pennsylvania, on March 27th, 1787, passed what was called the "Confirming Law"-"an act for ascertaining and confirming to certain persons, called Connec- ticut claimants, the lands by them claimed within the county of Luzerne." On April Ist, 1790, while William Lewis was a member of the Assembly, this act was repealed. "Its repeal was fought and resisted most strenuously by the members from Philadelphia-lawyers living in the very home of Penn-and many eminent men in and out of the Assembly," says Governor Hoyt in his "Brief of Title" (see page 353, ante). Fourteen members of the Assembly voted against the repeal-among them being William Rawle and William Lewis, who prepared and filed elaborate and lumin- ous dissentients from the vote.
In 1859 the Hon. Horace Binney, LL. D., wrote and pub- lished his little book entitled " The Leaders of the Old Bar of Philadelphia," in which thirty-seven pages are devoted to
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Judge Lewis. The following paragraphs have been taken therefrom :
* * * " During the whole of the Revolution, and for years afterwards, Mr. Lewis was engaged in nearly all of the important causes, and especially in cases of high treason, for which he had a special vocation and capacity, and of which there was a plentiful crop in our City of Brotherly Love, up to the advent of peace. * * *
"The prominence of the city of Philadelphia as the seat of the Con- gress of the Confederation, and her superiority in population and com- merce, up to the removal of the seat of the Federal Government to the city of Washington in 1801, may account in some degree for the diffusion of Mr. Lewis' celebrity, which partook of the distinction awarded to the city. But it was not in criminal law alone that he was deemed by other cities to be the most able man at the Bar. He was a person of great intellectual ardor, and of strong grasp of mind; and both in law and politics, and other matters too, he took firm hold of whatever interested him. His great devotion was, of course, to pro- fessional studies. * * *
"In February, 1794, he was counsel for the petitioners against the election of Albert Gallatin to the Senate of the United States by the Legislature of Pennsylvania, and was heard before the Senate; the first occasion on which the Senate opened its doors to professional counsel, or to the public.
* * * " He achieved a great victory at the Bar and also in the Legislature of Pennsylvania in the year 1788, when a spirit of factious jealousy, under the lead of a very ardent and determined man, aspired to deprive the Supreme Court of the State of one of its most ancient and necessary powers-the right of the Court to punish by fine and imprisonment, without trial by jury, for a contempt of court, in the columns of a newspaper. * **
"When fully engaged in argument, he saw nothing and thought of nothing but his cause ; and, in that, would sometimes rise to the fervor and energy of a sybil. He was about six feet in height as he stood, and would have been more if he had been bent back to a perpendicu- lar from the curve in which he habitually inclined forward. At the same time he was very spare of flesh, and destitute of almost all dimensions but length. His countenance was intellectual, but its gen- eral effect was hurt by his spectacles, and by the altitude and length of his nose, of which, nevertheless, he was immensely proud. * * *
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