USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Wilkes-Barre > A history of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, from its first beginnings to the present time; including chapters of newly-discovered, Vol. I > Part 27
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 (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103
Four years later (in the latter part of September, 1736) these same chiefs, authorized by a "Great Council" that had been held at Onondaga a short time previously, came down the Susquehanna to Wyoming, accompanied by many other Indians, on their way to Philadelphia to
* The map here shown was constructed largely from data gathered by Evans during an exploring tour made in 1743-as noted on the map. He went as far to the north as Oswego, New York, going up the West Branch of the Susquehanna from Shamokin to French Town ( then the home of "Madame" Mon- tonr) at the mouth of Ostwagn (now Loyalsock) Creek ; thence to the head-waters of Tiadaxton (now Lycoming) Creek ; thence to the head-waters of Tynandaung (now Towanda) Creek ; then along this creek to the North Branch of the Susquehanna, and then northward into New York. In 1748 Evans issued "proposals" for the publication of this map.
In the Spring of 1750 Evans was directed by the Proprietary Government to obtain at public expense and "minute down any intelligence you [he] can procure of metals or minerals in this or the neighboring Colonies. * * Observe also, with proper caution, what mines of iron, copper, lead and coal have been found ; what quarries of millstones, grindstones and limestones lye convenient for any future settle- ment." (See "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, II : 47.) About 1754 or '5 Evans published another map, upon which was printed a good deal of the information he had gathered in pursuance of the directions mentioned above.
...
"macht not j'te haps have porsches the I" will.
192
take part in a great treaty. The records tell us that "there were never before at any time so many Indians met in this Province," as upon the occasion of this conference and treaty. Each tribe of the Six Nations except the Mohawk was represented by its leading sachems-the Tus- carora deputies appearing for the Mohawk as well as their own tribe. This conference had been called mainly for the purpose of quieting the clamors of the Delawares, who had been for some time grumbling and complaining because their ancient lands at the "Forks"* of the Delaware, and thence northward to and including the Minisinks, had been settled upon here and there by whites. Various ineffectual attempts having been made by the then Proprietaries of Pennsylvania-John, Thomas and Richard Penn (William Penn, the original Proprietary, having died in 1718)-to compose and satisfy the Delawares, the former complained of the latter to the Six Nations. As a result, the conference of 1736 took place, and upon the eleventh day of October twenty-three chiefs of the Onondaga, Seneca, Oneida, Cayuga and Tuscarora tribes executed to the Proprietaries a deed granting them the right and claim of the Six Nations to the "River Susquehanna, with the lands lying on both sides thereof northward, up the same [river] to the hills or mountains called X % by the Delaware Indians the Kekachtanamin [Kittatinnyt] Hills."
On their way back to Onondaga-via Wyoming-the chiefs who had executed the conveyance just mentioned staid several days with Conrad Weiser at Tulpehocken, and there, under date of October 25, 1736, executed a second deed in favor of the Proprietaries. This deed recited in general terms the deed of October 11th, and then declared that the grantors' "true intent and meaning by the said writing was and is to release to the said Proprietors, &c., all the lands lying within the bounds and limits of the Government of Pennsylvania-beginning eastward on the river Delaware-as far northward as the said ridge or chain of Endless Mountains, as they cross the country of Pennsylvania from the eastward to the west; and they further engage never to sell any of their lands to any but the Proprietors, or children of William Penn."t
By referring to the maps on pages 33 and 188 and to the one on the preceding page it will be seen that the Kittatinny, or Blue, Moun- tains, described in the aforementioned deed as the "Endless Mountains," formed in fact only the south-eastern bulwark, or rampart, of what was, at about the period of which we now write, an almost unknown wilder- ness-denominated in one part "St. Anthony's Wilderness," in another part "Montes Inaccessi" or "The Impenetrable Mountains," and else- where "The Endless Mountains." The only part of the Province of Pennsylvania (as granted by King Charles) north-west of the Kittatinny Mountains that was really known at that time-and then not very thoroughly-to explorers and cartographers, was the valley of the Sus- quehanna.
The north-western boundary of the territory purchased by the Pro- prietaries from the Six Nations, as defined in the two deeds of 1736 just
* "The 'Forks of the Delaware' was the name long given to that triangular tract of country included between the Delaware and its West Branch, the Lehigh, on the east, south and west, and the Blue, or Kittatinny, Mountains on the north ; including, therefore, all of present Northampton County (except- ing the townships of Saucon and Williams) and Hanover Township in Lehigh County. In a more restricted application, the site of Easton and its immediate vicinity were designated as the 'Forks.'"-Egle's "Penn- sylvania." page 367.
+ See page 45. # See Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania, XIII : 306.
19:
mentioned, is indicated in part on the map on page 191. It is shown also, in part, on the map on page 188. Nearly all the territory described and granted in these two Six Nation deeds had previously, at one time and another, been purchased by the Proprietaries from the Delaware and Conestoga Indians, and had been paid for.
Late in February, 1737, at the urgent request of the Governor of Vir- ginia, Conrad Weiser was selected by the Pennsylvania Government to go on an important mission to the Six Nations relative to Indian affairs in Virginia .* He immediately started on foot for Onondaga, taking the route mentioned in the foot-note on page 191. Arriving at "Diaogo" (Tioga Point, mentioned on page 34) he found the Indians there on the verge of starvation. All the able-bodied inen were away, vainly searching for game, while the old men, squaws and children had been living for weeks upon maple-sap and sugar. With all his trinkets Weiser could buy no corn-meal. On his homeward journey Weiser went down the North Branch of the Susquehanna, arriving in Wyoming Valley April 26, 1737. Under this date he wrote in his journalt : "We reached Skehandowana [see page 60, ante], where a number of Indians live-Shawanos and Mahickanders.# Found there two traders from New York, and three men from the Maqua [Mohawk] country who
* See "Conrad Weiser and the Indian Policy of Colonial Pennsylvania, " page 34 et seq.
+ See Reichel's "Memorials of the Moravian Church," page 69.
¿ Mohegans, mentioned on pages 101 and 178. At the time (1609) Henry Hudson first ascended the waters of the river to which he gave his name the country along both banks of the river, from what is now Albany to a point below the Catskills, and along the upper waters of the river "for two days' journey west," was inhabited by an aboriginal tribe of Algonkian lineage. Saratoga, and the region thereabout, had formerly been in the territory of this tribe, but had been wrested from them by the Mohawks. The tribe referred to became known to the English colonists by the generic name of Mohican or Mohegan ("Mo-hee-con-neu, 'the good canoe-men'," according to Catlin). The Dutch, however, generally called the Mohegans Mahikans, or Mahickanders.
As previously mentioned, these Indians removed to the valley of the Housatonic about the year 1630, and, about 1673 or '74, of the five principal tribes of New England the Mohegans and the Pequots-the two being considered really as one nation, however-were tribes of considerable influence and strength of numbers, claiming authority over all the Indians of the valleys of the Housatonic and the Connecticut. In 1637 the Pequots were considered the most warlike as well as the most numerous of the Indians in New England, and it was by members of this tribe, to the number of 700, that the Indian fort at Groton, Connecticut, was occupied when, in May, 1637, it was attacked by the forces under command of Capt. John Mason and all the occupants of the fort save fourteen were ruthlessly slain by the whites.
The Rev. Jonathan Edwards stated that the language of the Mohegans was spoken throughout New England. Nearly every tribe had a different dialect, but the language was radically the same. Eliot's translation of the Bible is in a particular dialect of the Mohegan tongue. Prior to 1700 the Mohegans in- habiting the Housatonic Valley had come to be known as the Housatonic tribe, and about 1730 the majority of the tribe were located in what are now the townships of Great Barrington and Stockbridge, Berkshire County, Massachusetts.
In 1734 the Rev. Samuel Hopkins of West Springfield, Massachusetts, became interested in the relig- ious condition of the fast-disappearing Housatonic tribe, and proposed to gather these Indians together in one locality and maintain in their midst a mission, together with a school for training Indian boys and girls and giving them something of an industrial education. The consent of the Indians having been assured, the "Boston Commissioners of the Society in Scotland for Propagating the Gospel" took up the matter of establishing the mission and the school, and in July, 1735, the work was begun at Great Barring- ton under the personal direction and management of the Rev. John Sergeant. In this same year the Legislature of Massachusetts granted for the use and benefit of the mission and school a township six miles square. To this township Sergeant removed his establishment in the Spring of 1736, and here the Indians scattered along the Housatonic River in Massachusetts were colonized. In 1739 the township was incorporated under the name of Stockbridge. The colony at Stockbridge was gradually increased by additions from northern Connecticut and western New York until it numbered, in 1748, about 400 souls.
(For further references to the Stockbridge mission and school see the foot-note on page 195 relating to the Rev. John Sergeant, and, farther ou, the paragraphs relating to Timothy Woodbridge.)
In due time the Indians settled at Stockbridge became generally known as the "Stockbridge Indians," or "Stockbridges." About 1785 several hundred Stockbridges removed from Massachusetts to a tract of land in the counties of Madison and Oneida, New York, granted to them by the Oneida nation. The name of New Stockbridge was given to this settlement, and here the Stockbridges remained until 1821, when, having sold their lands in New York to the State, they removed with the "Brothertown" Indians (who were also Mohegans) to a tract of land on the rivers Wisconsin and Fox in Wisconsin. Here, hav- ing good lands, they rapidly developed fine farmns and were becoming worthy of citizenship, when they were removed in 1857 to a reservation near Green Bay, Wisconsin. Here they now live in conjunction with a remnant of the Monsey clan of the Delaware tribe-the two bands numbering 538 souls in 1902.
In July, 1902, the United States Indian Agent at Green Bay Agency wrote : "The Stockbridge Indians are an intelligent and industrious tribe, and the Department [of the Interior] has long since been satis- fied that they have reached the stage where they should pass out of existence as a tribe and become citizens. However, the tribe consists of numerous factions, each one of which wants the whole of the tribal property, so that up to the present time it has been impossible to effect any settlement with them."
The Stockbridge Indians are in very truth "the last of the Mohicans" ! Of their former occupancy of Stockbridge, Massachusetts, about the only evidence now to be found there is in the old Indian burial- ground of the town, where lies the dust of many red men. Upon a rough granite boulder are carved these words : "The ancient burial-place of the Stockbridge Indians-the friends of our fathers."
194
were hunting land. Their names are Ludwig Rasselnan, Martin Dillen- bach and Piet de Niger. Here there is a large body of land, the like of which is not to be found on the river."
Weiser makes no mention in his journal of the Monsey Indians at Asserughney, although, without doubt, some of the clan were still there. His reference to the Mohegan Indians, however, conveys the first information we have relative to the presence at Wyoming of mem- bers of that tribe: Whence and at what time they had come to Wyo- ining, and who was their leader or chief, it is impossible now to state with any degree of certainty. They were, without doubt, few in number, and it is quite probable that they had removed to Wyoming from the Housatonic Valley in 1735 or '36, about the time the Stock- bridge mission was being organized there. It is possible that they inay have been urged to settle at Wyoming by their "relatives," the Shaw- anese, already well and satisfactorily established here. We have already alluded (on page 178) to the supposed relationship of the Mohegans and Shawanese, and in this connection it may be stated that in the opinion of Dr. Brinton "the Shawanese dialect was more akin to the Mohegan than to the Delaware."
The Mohegans inade their settlement here on the Upper Kingston Flats (see page 50), at some distance back from the river, on the left bank of the stream later known as Abraham's Creek. Pearce states ("Annals of Luzerne County," page 28) : "They [the Mohegans] came to Wyoming with the Delawares in 1742, and under their chief Abram built a village above Forty Fort, on the plain known as Abrani's Plains." Other writers, following Pearce, have repeated this statement- which, however, is erroneous in two particulars: (1) There were Mohegans settled here at least five years earlier than 1742, and (2) Chief Abraham did not remove to Wyoming until a number of years later, as will be shown hereinafter.
In September, 1737, occurred the so-called "Walking Purchase," a well-known event in Pennsylvania history,* by which there passed from the hands of the original holders (the Delaware Indians) into those of the Proprietaries-past all claim forever on the part of the Delawares- the upper portion of Bucks County, fully nine-tenths of the present Northampton County, a large slice of Carbon County, and of Monroe and Pike, one-fourth each ; containing in the aggregate, at the lowest estimate, an area of 1,200 square miles. The "walk" upon which this purchase was based, and which caused great dissatisfaction among the Delawares, extended, it is said, about thirty miles beyond the Lehigh Hills, through the Blue Mountains at the Lehigh Gap, and included the best lands at the "Forks" of the Delaware and at the Minisinks. The matter of the "Walking Purchase" having come to the knowledge of the Six Nations, certain authorized chiefs of the Confederacy addressed a letter to the Pennsylvania Proprietaries, which, together with the "deed of release and quit-claim" upon which the purchase was based, was read at a meeting of the Provincial Council March 26, 1741. The letter of the chiefs declared that "their cousins the Delawares have [had] no lands to dispose of," and prayed the Proprietaries "not to buy or accept of any grant of lands from them."
* See Egle's "History of Pennsylvania, " pages 443 and 966.
195
In 1738 Wyoming was visited again by Conrad Weiser, who was accompanied by William Parsons-of whom further mention is made hereinafter.
In June, 1741, the Rev. John Sergeant,* accompanied by several Stockbridge Indians, came from Massachusetts to Wyoming to preach the gospel to the Mohegans and Shawanese residing here. This mis- sionary band was kindly received, but the Indians refused to embrace Christianity. Mr. Sergeant preached only one brief sermon, in which he alluded to "the brothers who had seen so many mornings at Mukh- har-wau-muk [Wyoming]." He then offered to instruct the Wyoming Indians further in the Christian religion, "but they rejected his offer with disdain. They reproached Christianity. They told him the traders would lie, cheat, and debauch their young women, and even their wives if their husbands were not at home. They said further that the Senecas had given them their country, but charged them withal never to receive Christianity from the English." After a very short sojourn Mr. Sergeant departed from Wyoming, discouraged, pitying the ignorance of the Indians and praying God to open their eyes. In a letter dated June 23, 1741, he wrote : "I am just returned from Susquahannah, where, according to my design, I have been in order to open the way for the propagation of the gospel among the Shawanoos."
In the last days of September, 1741, two of the principal chiefs of the Cayuga nation accompanied by several other Cayugas arrived at Wyoming, where they spent several days awaiting the coming of certain chiefs from each of the other nations of the Confederacy. It had been agreed that all should ineet here and proceed hence to Philadelphia, "to see Onas [Penn, or the Proprietaries] and receive payment for certain lands." The representatives of the other nations not putting in an appearance, the Cayugas proceeded alone to Philadelphia. At this time the lands at the "Forks" of the Delaware and at the Minisinks were still in the occupancy of the Delawares ; and notwithstanding the fact that their chief men had executed the "deed of release" previously mentioned, and the tribe had been informed of the letter received from the Six Nations by the Proprietaries, they refused to give up possession
* JOHN SERGEANT, son of Jonathan Sergeant, Jr., originally of Branford, Connecticut, but later of Newark, New Jersey, was born at Newark in 1710. He was graduated at Yale College in 1729, and in September, 1731, having been elected a tutor in the college, he entered upon his duties-meanwhile pur- suing his theological studies. "As a tutor he was one of the most successful holders of that office in the early history of the college." He continued in this work, and in his theological studies, until the Autumn of 1734, when, having stated "that he had rather be employed as a missionary to the natives, if a door should open for it, than accept a call any English parish might give him," he was appointed to the posi- tion of preacher and director at the Indian mission and school about to be established at Great Barring- ton, Massachusetts. (See foot-note on page 193, and references hereinafter to Timothy Woodbridge.)
In July, 1735, Mr. Sergeant settled in his new field, and in the following month was ordained to the ministry at Deerfield, Massachusetts. He changed his residence from Great Barrington to Stockbridge when the mission was removed to the latter place in the Spring of 1736. In the Summer of 1737 he began to use the Indian language in his preaching. His general success in winning the regard of the Indians and in christianizing and civilizing them was very gratifying. "He was possessed of a bright and strong mind, of a catholic temper ; was calm and serious, but never melancholy, and was surprisingly laborious and faithful." In 1743 he published a pamphlet entitled "A Proposal of a Method for the Education of Indian Children." He translated into the Mohegan tongue Dr. Watts' "Shorter Catechismn" and several prayers, which were published.
Mr. Sergeant was married in August, 1739, to a daughter of Col. Ephraim Williams, who had removed to Stockbridge from Newton, Massachusetts, in 1737. The founder of Williams College, Massachusetts, was a son of Colonel Williams. Mr. Sergeant had two sons -one of whom, the Rev. John Sergeant, Jr., became the missionary at Stockbridge quite a number of years after the death of his father, and sub- sequently accompanied the Stockbridges to New York as their preacher and spiritual guide. A daughter of the Rev. Mr. Sergeant, Sr., was married to Col. Mark Hopkins, and became the grandmother of Mark Hopkins, President of Williams College. The Rev. John Sergeant, Sr., died at Stockbridge July 27, 1749, and two years later the Rev. Jonathan Edwards was appointed to the position left vacant by Sergeant. Edwards continued at Stockbridge, doing "effective work among the Indians," until January, 1758, when he was chosen President of Princeton College.
t See Munsell's "History of Luzerne, Lackawanna and Wyoming Counties," page 32, and "Early Western Travels," II : 67.
196
of the lands at the "Forks" to the whites who had gone there to take up those lands and make a settlement. Nutimus, or Notamaes, the chief of the "Forks" Indians (who were principally of the Wanamie clan), although he was one of those who had executed the "deed of release," was particularly strenuous in expressing dissatisfaction with the state of affairs, and loudly declared that he and his followers would main- tain possession of their lands by force of arms. Therefore, in October, 1741, when the Cayuga deputation returned to their country from Philadelphia, they bore with them to. the "Long House" of the Six Nations a message from the Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania urg- ing the Six Nations "to come down and force the Delawares to quit the 'Forks.'">
In response to this appeal some 230 Indians of the Six Nations, including a number of their principal chiefs and sachems, came down from New York in June, 1742-the majority of them via Wyoming- bound for Philadelphia, to take part in a conference that had been arranged for. They arrived at Philadelphia on the 30th of June, and found awaiting them a number of Pennsylvania Indians, including Shi- kellimy, the vicegerent of the Six Nations ; Allummapees, King of the Delawares, accompanied by a number of his nation from Shamokin, representing the different clans ; Nutimus, chief of the "Forks" Indians (Wanamies of the Delaware nation), accompanied by a number of his followers ; several Nanticoke Indians and certain chiefs and tribesmen of the Shawanese. All the tribes of the Six Nations were represented except the Mohawk ; of the Senecas, however, only two or three chiefs were present, their other deputies having been detained on account of sickness and a famine that had prevailed in their country.
In a message to the Provincial Assembly Lieutenant Governor Thomas stated that the coming down of the deputies of the Six Nations at this time was "not only necessary for the present peace of the Province, in regard to some Indians who had threatened to maintain by force their possession of lands which had been long ago purchased of thein, and since conveyed by the Proprietaries to some of our own inhabitants ; but for its [the Province's] future security, likewise, in case of a rupture with the French, who will leave no methods unessayed to cor- rupt their [the Six Nations'] fidelity and to persuade them to turn their arms against us."* At this time there was alinost daily expectation of news that war between England and France had been declared.
The conference, between the Lieutenant Governor and the Council of the Province on the one side, and the various Indian representatives on the other, was opened on the 2d of July and lasted till the 12th, in which time seven or eight sessions were held. The conference convened first at the house of the Hon. James Logan (mentioned on page 179) ; subsequently at "the Meeting-house," and then at "the Great Meeting- house," where the final meeting was held in the presence of "a great number of the inhabitants of Philadelphia." As interpreters, Conrad Weiser represented the Government and the Six Nations, and Cornelius Spring and Nicholas Scull appeared for the Delawares.
In opening the conference the Lieutenant Governor referred to the fact that the Six Nations, at the time they had released their claim to all lands on both sides of the Susquehanna as far north as the Kittatinny
* Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania, XIII : 307.
197
Mountains, had declined to take their pay for the lands on the west side of the river-preferring to receive the same at some future time. He then an- nounced that the goods to be given in payment for those lands were ready for delivery to the Indians. In replying to the Lieutenant Governor Canassatego,* chief of the Onondagas and principal speaker of the Indians at the conference, said, among other thingst :
"The Six Nations have obliged themselves to sell none of the land that falls within the Province of Pennsylvania to any but our Brother Onas, and that to sell lands to any other is an high breach of tlie league of friendship."
At another time during the conference Canassatego said :
"We know our lands are now become more valu- able. The white people think we don't know their value, but we are sensible that the land is everlasting, and the few goods we receive for it are soon worn out and gone. For the future we will sell no lands but when Brother Onas is in the country, and we will know beforehand the quantity of goods we are to receive."
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.