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 33
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The writer of this is indebted to Judge Wheeler, and to Mrs. Sidney Miner of New London, Conn., for important data relative to the Miners of early days.
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report to the General Court." In 1676 he was a member of the committee appointed to treat with the Pequot, Narra- gansett, and Mohegan Indians; and in March of that year the Council of War decreed that such soldiers as should go forth under the command of Captains Denison and Avery, Lieutenant Miner, and Ensign Leffingwell, "shall have all such plunder as they shall seize, both of persons, or corn, or other estate." In January, 1677, the Council directed that all captives and plunder taken from the enemy should be first tried and condemned by a court martial, and Lieu- tenant Miner was appointed a member of the court estab- lished for New London county.
From 1653 to 1684 Lieutenant Miner kept a diary, which is now in the possession of one of his descendants. The writer hereof has seen a copy of it (unpublished), and the following are extracts from it :
"This 24th of Aprill 1669 I Thomas Minor am by my accounte sixtie one yeares ould. I was by the Towne and this yeare chosen to be a select man the Townes Tresurer The Townes Recorder The brander of horses by the generale Courte. Recorded the head officer of the Traine band by the same Court one of the ffouer that have the charge of the Milishcia of the whole countie and chossen and sworne Commissioner and one to assist in keeping the countie courte."
"3 November 1675. I was ordayned Leeftenant of the dragoonors : and under pay for that service."
"From the 8 of December [1675] to the 8 of ffebruarie I was Im- ployed in the Countries service about the Indean warr besides 8 days in the sumer hors and man and my white hors Ten days being prest for John Gallop."
"1682 .- The second moneth is April hath .30. days | the ffirst is saterday Samuell at New London. My wife Tooke phisicke. This day Captaine Averie was heare | the .6. day the lecter | the .7. day I sowed garden. saterday the 8 day | the 10 day a trayneing | sater- day the 15. I rode young horse to the Meeting | the .16. day Mrs. Noyse was delivered | the .18. day we gelt the 2 horses | the 20 day we met at Steephen Richsons | saterday the 22. day we lost 8 lams with the storme | saterday 22: | sabath day the 23 ; I begun my . 74 :
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yeare of my age | sabath day the : 30th we had 5 children baptized by Mr. Noyse 2 John Gallops 2 of peter Crarie and one Moses palmers."
Lieutenant Miner died at Stonington October 23d, 1690, and his wife Grace died the same month. A long stone of rough granite (which had been selected by Lieutenant Miner from his own fields for his grave) in the burial-ground at Wequetquoc, bears the following inscription: "Here lyeth the body of Lieutenant Thomas Minor, aged 83 years. De- parted 1690."
He was the father of eleven children, and Manasseh,* his
* REV. MANASSEH MINER YORK, well known as a school-teacher and minister of the gospel for twenty years in Luzerne and Bradford counties, Penn'a, and Tompkins county, N. Y., was a descendant, of the fifth generation, of "Deacon" Manasseh Miner. He was the eighth child, and only son who grew to maturity, of Amos and Lucretia (Miner) York.
Amos York was a native of Stonington, Conn., but upon his mar- riage to Lucretia Miner, daughter of Manasseh and Kezia (Geer) Miner of Voluntown, Windham (now New London) county, Conn., and great-granddaughter of "Deacon" Manasseh, he settled in Voluntown. In 1773 he removed with his family to Wyoming, and the next year located upon a tract of land near the mouth of Wyalusing creek, in what is now Bradford county. In February, 1777, he was captured by a band of Indians and taken to Canada, where he was detained a prisoner for nearly a year and a-half. Having been exchanged he returned to his old home in Connecticut, where, hearing of the dis- astrous battle at Wyoming, and learning nothing of his family, he fell sick of a fever and died nine days before his wife and children, refugees from Wyoming, reached Voluntown.
In 1779 Mrs. York and her children returned to Wyoming, and took up their abode on a tract of 600 acres of land near Wyalusing which had been conveyed to them in December, 1778, by Manasseh Miner, who was one of the original shareholders in the Susquehanna Land Company, and was named as one of the grantees in the Indian deed of July 11th, 1754.
MANASSEH MINER YORK was born at Voluntown, Conn., October 11th, 1768. He was married in the Fall of 1792 to Betsey Arnold, and in 1808, at the age of forty years, began his studies for the Christian ministry under the direction of the Rev. Ard Hoyt. He completed
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sixth child (born April 28th, 1647 ; died August 22d, 1728), was the first male white child born in New London after the settlement of the town. He was a deacon of the church in New London for many years. Clement, second child of Lieut. Thomas and Grace (Palmer) Miner, was born in Hing- ham, Mass., and baptized March 4th, 1638. In the Autumn of 1662 he married Frances, daughter of Edward Burcham of Lynn, Mass., and widow of Isaac Willey, Jr., of New Lon- don, whose death had occurred in the preceding August. Clement died at New London November 8th, 1700. His wife died January 6th, 1673.
The third child of Clement and Frances (Burcham) (Wil- ley) Miner was Clement, born in New London October 6th, 1668; died July 17th, 1747. He had a son Hugh, born April 12th, 1710; married Damaris Champlin in 1731 ; died in 1753. He was a blacksmith, and was killed by the kick of a horse.
Seth Miner, born in New London in 1742, was the sixth
them under the Rev. Joel T. Benedict of Catskill, N. Y., in September, 1809, when he was licensed to preach the gospel and was ordained a Congregational minister. He was pastor of the Church at Wyalusing from 1809 to 1818; and at Trumansburg, N. Y., from 1818 to 1825, when he returned to Bradford county and labored there until his death at Wysox January 2d, 1830.
At this time he occupied an extensive field, preaching regularly at Towanda, Wysox, Wyalusing, and other stations. "What he endured in the prosecution of his work, we at this day can hardly imagine, and what are the fruits of these labors eternity alone can reveal. His name is still spoken with respect and veneration, and his memory is blessed." In 1790-'91 he was a member of the Ist Company (com- manded by Capt. Justus Gaylord), 2d Battalion of Luzerne county, Penn'a Militia.
The minutes of LODGE 61 show that at a regular meeting held April 6th, 1807, "Miner York applied for admission to the Lodge, was elected and initiated." He remained a member until April 15, 1822, when the minutes show that "the Rev. M. Miner York resigned from the Lodge"-having removed to the State of New York.
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and youngest child of Hugh and Damaris (Champlin) Miner. He removed to Norwich, New London county, Conn., where, in 1767, he married Anne Charlton (born 1744 ; died 1804), daughter of Richard and Sarah (Grist) Charlton .* He was by trade a house carpenter, and for a number of years was keeper of the Norwich jail, which stood near his house. During the Revolutionary War he performed several tours of military duty, his first being in the Spring of 1776, when he was Orderly to Capt. (afterwards Brig. Gen'1) Jedidiah Huntington at Dorchester Heights during the siege of Bos- ton. He died at Doylestown, Penn'a, January 15th, 1822. CHARLES MINER, the youngest of the four children of Seth and Anna (Charlton) Miner, was born February Ist, 1780, "under the shadow of Meeting-house hill," Norwich, where he passed the early years of his life. His education, which was obtained at "the Lathrop school on the Plain," was that afforded to every boy by the common schools of New Eng- land-the mere rudiments of learning. His school-days ended when he was seventeen years old, and then he went to New London and served two years as an apprentice in the office of The Connecticut Gazette and Commercial In- telligencer, published by Col. Samuel Green, who was one of a long line of New London printers named Green, descended from Timothy Green of Cambridge, Mass., who came to New London about 1714.
In February, 1799, young Miner came to Pennsylvania to take charge of certain lands, held by his father under a Con- necticut title, in what is now Jessup township, Susquehanna
* RICHARD CHARLTON, born in England about 1715; removed to Norwich, Conn., before 1741 ; married in 1742 Sarah, daughter of Thomas and Ann (Birchard) Grist, and had six children. In 1756 he prefaced his will with the declaration that he was "about being bound to a voige to sea." This was probably a reference to the then con- templated Havana expedition, as it is recorded that he was blown up in a vessel during the rejoicings at the capture of Havana in 1757.
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county, but then a part of Luzerne county, and called by the Connecticut landholders "Usher" township. So far as is known, the section of country now comprehended in Susquehanna county had not, until 1787, a civilized inhabi- tant. In the Autumn of that year there were three families living at Great Bend on the Susquehanna river. In 1798 there was established a "post," once a fortnight, between Wilkesbarré and Great Bend.
Mr. Miner first worked in a sugar-camp, in what is now Lathrop township, for a man named Sprague ; "made sugar with him on shares, took a horse-load of it to Tunkhannock, peddled it out-a pound of sugar for a pound of pork, 71/2 pounds for one bushel of wheat, 5 pounds for one bushel of corn ; saw the Susquehanna, got a grist ground, and then took the bridle-path to Mr. Parke's, and thence fifteen miles to the forks of the Wyalusing [in Usher]." It was then April, and Mr. Miner began clearing up his land. First he cleared off a lot of four acres, and sowed it with wheat. Then, while waiting for his wheat to grow and ripen, he built upon another lot a bark cabin, and, with the assistance of John Chase, who had come with him, began chopping trees in the forest that covered what is now the most beauti- ful and populous part of Susquehanna county. But, being unaccustomed to the work, he made slow progress. After a while he had the misfortune to cut his foot. When he got well, his wheat was ready to be harvested ; but, just as soon as it had been cradled and stacked, some bears came along and destroyed it. After this catastrophe his taste for farm- ing subsided, and he began to think that he had mistaken his calling.
The following paragraphs, referring to his life at that period, are from the original draft (in the possession of the writer of this) of a "letter of reminiscences" written by Mr. Miner, and read at a "Pioneer Festival" held at Montrose, Susquehanna county, in June, 1858 :
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"Mr. Brownson guided us to Lot No. 39 in Usher, where I com- menced my improvement. A hill descending gently to the south for half a mile-a spring gushing from its side, running through groves of sugar-maple, beech, cherry and white-wood-the swales now green with the springing grass. We covered our cabin with bark, made a bed of hemlock boughs, built a fire against a huge log in front, which was open, and here took up our quarters for the Summer. This, if my memory is correct, was about two miles west of where Montrose was afterwards located.
"That Summer population poured in rapidly, under the auspices of Col. Ezekiel Hyde* our Yankee leader. From Wilson's down the east branch of the Wyalusing were Maine, Lathrop, Whipple, Smith, Griffis, Tupper, Pickett, Beaumont. On the middle branch, at the great salt lick, the Birchards. On the north branch, Canfield and Brister. It was a time - of suffering ? No ! of pleasurable excite- ment. Hope and health gilded the scene. Our Sunday home we made at Mr. Whipple's, whose residence was a mile south of us. He was a capital hunter. * * Not an instance of dishonesty or un- kindness do I remember.
* EZEKIEL HYDE was born at Norwich, New London county, Conn., April 16th, 1771, the second son of Ezekiel and Rachel (Tracy) Hyde of Norwich West Farms, now Franklin, Conn. He was a lawyer by profession, and through his connection, for a time, with the Connecti- cut Militia, acquired the title of "Colonel."
About the year 1796 he became very active in the affairs of the "Connecticut Delaware First Company," and soon possessed the un- bounded confidence of the shareholders. In 1797 he became Super_ intendent of Surveys of their lands in Pennsylvania ; and in 1799 he headed a considerable company of Connecticut settlers who estab- lished themselves at Rindan, now Rush township, Susquehanna county, Penn'a.
In 1801 or '2 Colonel Hyde removed to Wilkesbarré. From 1803 to 1805 he was a member of the Board of Luzerne County Commis- sioners, and served as clerk of the Board in 1803. For some months in 1803-'4 he was Deputy Recorder of Deeds of Luzerne county. July Ist, 1804, he was appointed Post Master of Wilkesbarré, which office he held until his death, and was succeeded by Jonathan Hancock.
Colonel Hyde was a member of Somerset Lodge No. 34, F. and A. M., Norwich, Conn., having been initiated therein February 17th, 1796. He died at Wilkesbarré February 10th, 1805, unmarried, and was buried with Masonic ceremonies two days later. (See page 38, ante.)
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"Grain was scarce, mills distant. A maple stump was burned hol- low to make a mortar ; early corn was pounded, the good Mrs. Whip- ple stewed pumpkins, and of the mixture made excellent bread. The rifle of Mr. Whipple furnished abundance of venison, occasionally relished by a young bear. Deer were plenty ; a few elk remained.
* * I used to run over by the lot lines from Usher to the settle- ment of my good friends the Birchards, in Ruby, and spend a day of pleasure with them. It was at the deer-lick, from their door, I shot my first buck.
"Returning to Norwich, in the Fall I accompanied Mr. John Rey- nolds to Long Island; became acquainted with Capt. Bartlet Hinds* and his intelligent family. They, in 1800, removed and made the first settlement at what is now Montrose. The captain, a gallant soldier in the Revolutionary War, had been left a widower with a charming little daughter. He had married a widow lady, intelligent and of remarkably pleasing manners-Mrs. Post, with two active boys, who are amply able to speak for themselves."
In the Summer of 1800 Charles Miner came to Wilkes- barré, where his elder brother Asher lived, and with whom he made his home. In the Fall he began to teach school in a small log house on the hill (in later years called Hib- ler's) near where the Vulcan Iron Works are now located, about a mile and a-half below the Public Square. He car- ried with him each day his dinner in a basket, and his copy of "Homer" under his arm, and at noon he spent a little time over the one and much time with the other. Speaking many years afterwards of his first year at Wilkesbarré Mr. Miner said: "An excellent friend-Ebenezer Bowman,
* "In 1800 Capt. Bartlet Hinds, originally from Boston, came to Montrose as agent of ex-Governor Huntington of Connecticut, under the title of that State. He had in his company his step-son, Isaac Post, then sixteen years old, and seven other men. Colonel Picker- ing convincing Captain Hinds of the validity of the Pennsylvania title, he was the first in that locality to yield to its claims. This brought upon him the indignation of others, and he was twice mobbed in consequence.
"Isaac Post had the first framed house in Montrose, and was the first postmaster of the town-in 1808."
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Esq .- opened his library freely to my use. That year I learned more from books than in the preceding twenty years of my life. A taste for literature was awakened and im- proved."
From 1797 to 1800 there was published at Wilkesbarré a weekly newspaper named The Wilkesbarré Gazette. It was owned by Thomas Wright,* a large landed proprietor
* THOMAS WRIGHT was born in county Down, Ireland, in 1748, and immigrated to America about 1763 with his brothers Joseph and Wil- liam. He settled in Doylestown, Penn'a, where he married Mary Dyer, and about 1785 removed to Wilkesbarré. He located his home about two miles north-east of the village, and later he built a mill there. The settlement became known as Wrightsville, but many years later the name of the place was changed to Miner's Mills. Thomas Wright died at Wrightsville March 25th, 1820. He was the father of one daughter-Mary, the wife of Asher Miner-and two sons, Joseph and Josiah, all born in Berks county, Penn'a.
Joseph Wright was made a Mason in LODGE 61 December 21st, 1801, and was Secretary of the Lodge in 1803 and 1804. He was for a number of years, about 1814, a Justice of the Peace in Wilkesbarré. Josiah Wright was initiated into LODGE 61 July 22d, 1799. He was a remarkable mathematician, and a fine penman, and for some time followed the business of Scrivener and Conveyancer in Wilkesbarré. In 1820 his office was on Northampton street.
William Wright, the youngest brother of Thomas Wright, was a soldier in the Revolutionary army, and after the war married Sarah Ann Osborne, of Philadelphia, and settled in Wilkesbarré, where he taught school. He lived at the north-west corner of Main and Union streets. He had four sons and five daughters. The eldest son was Thomas Wright, who was commissioned Ensign in the U. S. Army April 9th, 1812. Ultimately he became Paymaster, with the rank of Major. He was made a Mason in LODGE 61 May 2d, 1814. He died November 9th, 1834.
Benjamin Drake Wright, born in Wilkesbarré January 23d, 1799, was the third son of Thomas and Sarah A. (Osborne) Wright. He was admitted to the Bar of Luzerne county April 7th, 1820, and was initiated into LODGE 61 the 21st of the same month. About five years later he removed to Florida, where he held various important offices
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and merchant in Luzerne county, and was published by his second son, Josiah. Asher Miner married the only daugh- ter of Thomas Wright, and in December, 1800, purchased from his father-in-law the Gazette, and established in its stead The Luzerne County Federalist. The first number of the new paper was issued Monday, January 5th, 1801, and was a single sheet of very moderate dimensions. In Octo- ber following the word "County" was dropped from the name.
It was in the Federalist that the first literary efforts of Charles Miner were published. Speaking of these "first efforts" in later years he said : "My first attempt at writing was in my brother's paper. He published my essay with a good deal of distrust; but I well remember the pride and satisfaction excited by the article being promptly copied by The United States Gazette of Philadelphia."
Having taught school six months, or two terms, Mr.
and finally became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the State. He was married in 1826, and died April 28th, 1875.
Joseph J. B. Wright, born in Wilkesbarré April 27th, 1800, was the fourth son of Thomas and Sarah A. Wright. He was for many years a surgeon of ability and distinction in the U. S. Army ; was brevetted Brigadier General March 13th, 1865, and retired from active service December 31st, 1876. He died at Carlisle, Penn'a, May 14th, 1878. His eldest son, Thomas Jefferson Wright, was graduated from West Point in 1854, and served with much credit as an officer in the army until his death in 1857 ; and his second son, Joseph Payson Wright, is now Assistant Surgeon General, U. S. A., with the rank of Colonel.
Susan, the eldest child of William and Sarah A. Wright, was mar- ried January 23d, 1799, to Benjamin Drake, a blacksmith and mer- chant in Wilkesbarré from 1782 to 1857. She died in 1813, and March 2d, 1817, he married Nancy S. Ely, daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth Ely, originally of Montgomery county, Penn'a.
Mary, another daughter of William and Sarah A. Wright, was the second wife of Jonathan Hancock, to whom she was married February 22d, 1814. (See sketch of Judge David Scott, post, for further men- tion of Jonathan Hancock).
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1
Miner determined to devote the whole of his time and atten- tion to journalism, and began to assist his brother in editing and publishing the Federalist. In a short time he became a partner in the business, and May 3d, 1802, the paper appeared "printed by A. and C. Miner, Editors and Proprietors." The partnership was dissolved in May, 1804, Charles becoming sole proprietor of the establishment, and changing the name of the paper to The Luzerne Federalist and Susquehannah Intelligencer.
In May, 1806, Mr. Miner was elected a member of the first Borough Council of Wilkesbarré. He was one of the incorporators of the Wilkesbarré Academy in 1807, and served one year as a member of the original Board of Trus- tees. In October, 1807, he was elected, with Nathan Beach, to represent Luzerne county in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. In 1808 he and Benjamin 'Dorrance were the Representatives from Luzerne-the Assembly then con- vening at Lancaster ; and again in 1812 he served with Mr. Dorrance, the Legislature meeting at Harrisburg.
When Mr. Miner was first elected to the Legislature he announced that the columns of his newspaper (then the only one in the county) were free to his opponents to "taunt my [his] faults with such full license as truth and malice have power to utter." In the Legislature he early became a cham- pion of the rights and liberties of the people. He was a zealous advocate for American manufactures, and introduced resolutions with a view to promote them. He also intro- duced the first resolution to exclude from circulation, in Pennsylvania, bank notes of a small denomination from other States, which imposed so heavy a tax on the poorer classes of the community .*
* In July, 1857, Mr. Miner wrote to his friend Eli K. Price in refer- ence to this matter, as follows : "It is long since the subject of banks, and their bills, as a medium of exchange, engaged my attention. In 1808, being then honored with a seat in the Legislature from Luzerne,
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Vaccination was then in its infancy. Beyond the limits of Philadelphia little effort had been made in Pennsylvania to extend its blessings. Mr. Miner thought that by making the subject a matter of legislative notice, public attention throughout the State might be attracted to it, with benefi- cial results. In pursuance of a resolution offered by him a committee was appointed to investigate the subject. They collected numerous interesting facts, many of which were new even to the medical profession, and these they embodied in a report. Besides being incorporated in the journal of the Legislature, the report was printed and extensively cir- culated throughout the Commonwealth, producing salutary effects.
Mr. Miner advocated the encouragement of wool growing, he being at the time attired in a suit of homespun. He boldly supported, and it may be said almost originated, that scheme for internal improvement which, at a later period, through the instrumentality of George Denison, Garrick Mallery, and David Scott, terminated in the building of the North Branch Canal. He was the author of, and introduced, a bill entitled "An Act to Promote the Comfort of the Poor," which, becoming a law, exempted " from levy or sale on any execution, or other legal process, which may be issued against any debtor for debts (rent excepted) the follow- ing articles owned by, or in possession of, such debtor :
I introduced a proposition to prohibit the circulation of bills less in amount than $5. The report made by me, as chairman of the com- mittee to whom the resolution was referred, I yet look upon with pleas- ure, though not perfect, yet as embracing the main and strongest reasons for the measure. It is too long, or I would quote it here.
"Afterwards, for several years, a member of the Board of Directors of the Philadelphia Branch Bank in Wilkesbarre, the subject became more familiar. Recently-that is within ten or twelve years-the in- flux of small bills from distant banks having become a nuisance, I have endeavored (so far wholly in vain) through the press to awaken public attention to the injurious enormity."
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household utensils not exceeding in value $15, the necessary tools of a tradesman not exceeding in value $20, all wearing apparel, two beds and the necessary bedding, one cow, and a spinning-wheel." This was the first "exemption law" on the statute books of Pennsylvania.
Forseeing the growth of the coal trade at a very early day, Mr. Miner advocated the improvement of the descend- ing navigation of the Susquehanna and Lehigh rivers, pre- dicting the connection of their waters by a railroad long be- fore such roads were generally known or thought of. In fact, there was not then a railway in existence-save the "tram-roads" in and about the mines of Newcastle, Eng- land-and to those who understood this, how much like the merest vagaries of the imagination must Mr. Miner's confident hopes have seemed. And yet he lived to see them realized !
While Mr. Miner was a member of the Legislature the Hon. John Sergeant* was a Representative from Philadel-
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