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 65
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"Mr. Dyer was a home man. He rarely for many years went abroad. Occasionally he had been accustomed to attend the sittings of the Supreme Court, and became well acquainted with the old Judges on the Bench, and they, we know, honored the honesty of his character and the depth of his legal learil- ing. * * A disease of the eyes, brought on by his continued reading many years since, finally ended in his total blindness. He was so deaf, too, that nothing but the accustomed voice of warm affection could be heard-yet he complained not. His burden was lightened and his affliction lessened by the constant care and devoted affection of an adopted daughter, who, with singular devotedness, in connexion with her husband, ministered unto the aged and soothed the weary and declining days of an old man's pilgrimage."
* See his letter in The Connecticut Courant. March 15, 1774.
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July 29, 1761, Governor Hamilton informed the Provincial Council that some time previously he had received belts from a very large num- ber of Indians of the Six Nations and their dependents who, at the time they despatched their messenger to him with the belts, had progressed as far as "Wyomink" on their way to Easton to hold a treaty, "in con- sequence of an invitation from this Government." The Indians desired that the Governor should meet them at Easton, but that, first, he should send them "wagons, provisions and paint." The Governor further in- formed the Council that he had just been notified that these Indians had arrived at Easton. Within the next day or two the Governor, certain members of the Council and a number of citizens proceeded from Phil- adelphia to Easton, where, on Monday, August 3d, a conference was begun-and was continued, with various adjournments, till August 12th -with deputies from the Onondaga, Cayuga, Oneida, Mohegan, Tutelo, Delaware and Nanticoke-Conoy tribes-men, women and children to the number of about 400, increased later to near 500 .* Teedyuscung was there with an imposing retinue of 100 Wyoming Delawares. The principal speaker of the conference was "Seneca George," who repre- sented himself as speaking "in behalf of seven nations, and all their cousins, captains and warriors." Tokahaion, a Cayuga chief, was also one of the speakers. Referring to the land on the Susquehanna River the latter said :
"We have heard that this land has been sold, but we do not know for certain by
whom. The Six Nations have not sold it, and never intended it as yet. Whoever has sold the land stole it from us, and only did it to fill their pockets with money. We have heard that two Tuscaroras, one Oneida and one Mohawk-four straggling Indians- have sold it, unknown to the Six Nations. Thomas King, an Oneidan, was one of those who sold the land."t
When it came the turn of Teedyuscung to speak he said :
"My uncles, the Seven Nations, that sit here now, desire me to leave Wyomink, for fear. I answer I will not leave it so suddenly ; but if I should see any danger I will endeavor to jump out of the way of that danger. My uncles have now put some tobacco in my pouch. They tell me I must steadily look towards the mountains, and if I see English brethren coming over the mountains I must light my pipe and come to them (the Mingoes), and they will receive me. It is about three years ago that I desired my uncles would give me a deed for the lands at Wyomink, but as they have not done so I believe I shall get up and leave. Uncles, you may remember some years ago at our council-fire you took me by the hairs of my head and shook me and told me to go and live at Wyomink, for you gave me the land there, where I might raise iny bread and get my living .¿ Now again yon desire me to move off from thence, and would place me somewhere else. The reason why I complied with your first request was because I thought you would give me the lands at Wyomink in the room of some of our lands you liad sold the English."
To Teedyuscung's speech the Governor responded :
"I shall be very sorry if you remove from Wyomink. This Province has cheer- fully and at considerable expense assisted you to build houses and make your settlements there commodious to you as long as you live. There you will always find us disposed to assist you."
From Easton Teedyuscung and five other Delawares, King "Last Night" and six others of the Nanticoke-Conoys, "Seneca George," and a dozen or more Indians went to Philadelphia, where, on the 26th of August, they had a conference with the Governor. Among other things they asked that Joe Peepy and Isaac Still should be stationed at Wyo- ining, in order that they could, at any time, accompany messengers sent by the Government to the Six Nations. Various other requests were
* See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," VIII : 629. + See pages 392 and 400.
# Teedyuscung here spoke of himself in a representative capacity-he, the King, standing for his tribe. It was not he who was taken by the hair of the head and shaken at the Indian conference of 1742, but Nutimns, the then principal chief of the eastern Wanamies. See page 199, ante.
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made. "Last Night" asked that a deed might "be drawn for the lands [at Wyoming] to Joe Peepy and Isaac Still, not for themselves, but for the Delawares, that they may take it and get it signed by the Six Nations ; for we are afraid those lands may be taken from us by the New England people lately come to Cushetunk."
In a report made to the Provincial Assembly relative to the Easton conference just referred to, Governor Hamilton stated* :
"Being conscious that no sneh invitation [to attend a treaty ] had been given them by me, I was uncertain what to do. But, on considering the ticklish situation of our affairs with those people, together with an information I had just before received that a dissatisfaction was prevailing among them on account of some supposed negleet from the English, * * I decided to meet them."
In a lettert dated Philadelphia, August 15, 1761, Secretary Richard Peters gave General Monckton a brief account of the "grand meeting" at Easton at which Governor Hamilton and the authorities of Pennsyl- vania had been "amusing themselves" with an assemblage of Indians. Peters then continued as follows :
"The Connecticut settlement was spoken of, and the Pennsylvania dignitaries gave to the Indians their views in reference to that settlement. This was related to them in its naked truth ; and they were, moreover, told that those vagrants settled those lands under color of Indian purchases, and they were asked if they had sold the lands to the New England people. They denied it, and mentioned that some private Indians had taken upon them to sell it. A string was given them to carry to the Onondaga Council, and to request that, in full Council, they would reprove their young men and declare those sales void. In short, presents were made as usual, and a large number of Quakers attended and were as busy as ever."
Under date of September 16, 1761, Governor Hamilton issued a second proclamation against the New England settlers at Cushetunk, enjoining upon them to "immediately depart and move away from said lands" ; and setting forth that Teedyuscung had "made a very earnest and formal complaint and remonstrance" against the intruders. Also, that "the chiefs of the Six Nations who where present at the treaty held at Easton did, in the most earnest manner, renew the said complaint and remonstrance, and insist that this Government should afford them its aid in obliging the said intruders to remove."
October 1, 1761, Teedyuscung, "Nimeham, or Nunetiam, Chief of the Opies,"$ Gootamneek (the Mohegan sachem mentioned on page 373) and Isaac Still (acting as interpreter) had a conference with Governor Hamilton at his residence, "Bnslı Hill," in Philadelphia. Nunetiam claimed to be Chief of the Wapings, and produced a certificate issued by Governor Clinton of New York relative to the good behavior of those Indians towards the English in 1745 ; also another document (on parcli- ment) of the same character issued in 1756 by Sir Charles Hardy, then Governor of New York. Teedyuscung, addressing Governor Hamil- ton, said| :
"These Chiefs of the Mohickons and Opies are come to settle at Wyoming, and I have taken them by the hand. * * They are willing to live at Wyoming, and I have told them not to mind any disturbances which have happened of late, for it often happens that when children play together they fall out and quarrel !"
Ten days later the Governor received the abovementioned company of Indians at "Bush Hill" again, when he gave them an answer to their speeches delivered at the previous interview. He said“ :
* See "Pennsylvania Archives," Fourth Series, III : 107.
+ See "Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society," Fourth Series, IX : 300- 440.
Į See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," VIII : 663.
$ The Wapings, or Wappingers, mentioned on page 384.
| See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," VIII : 668.
" See "Pennsylvania Archives," Fourth Series, III : 112.
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"You tell me that the Chiefs of the Opies and Mohickons, with many of their nations, hearing of the kindness of this Government to all the Indians, are desirous to come and settle at Wyoming, where you have taken them by the hand and bid them welcome. I have heard a good character of the Opies and Mohickons, and am, therefore, well pleased at their coming to settle with you at Wyoming, and I bid them welcome. * * * Brother Nunetiam, you tell me that you are come to join yourself to Teedyus- cung, and place yourself with him at Wyoming, and will agree to all that he and I shall agree upon. I am glad to hear that you will settle at Wyoming. I therefore take you by the hand and bid you heartily a welcome, and you may be assured of being always used with kindness by this Government while you behave well. Having seen your cer- tificate from the Governor of New York, I acknowledge you to be Chief of the Opies."
Early in March, 1762, David Zeisberger (see page 220) was em- ployed to carry certain letters from Sir William Johnson and Governor Hamilton to Teedyuscung at Wyoming, informing the latter that Sir William proposed to hold a conference at Easton, Pennsylvania, in the coming Summer with Teedyuscung and other chiefs living on the Sus- quehanna. Zeisberger set out from Christiansbrunn on horseback March 16th, and by nightfall had reached the north side of the Blue Moun- tains, where he found a large encampment of Delawares and Nanticokes. "His heart was strangely stirred as he sat again by a camp-fire in the wilderness, with members of that race around him to convert whom was the exalted mission of his life." The next morning he proceeded on his journey, but was obliged to employ one of the Delawares at this encampment "to show him the way to Wyomink, as the whole country was covered with snow, and the weather was the severest he
ever knew."* After three days of hard and perilous riding in forests obstructed by great drifts and through snow banks from which it was almost impossible to extricate the horses, Zeisberger and his guide arrived at Teedyuscung's house in Wyoming. Having delivered the letters which he bore to the King, he turned his attention to the former Moravian converts whom he found at Wyoming. The most of them had not heard the gospel preached since the breaking out of the war. More than one backslider was reclaimed-among them George Rex, or Augustus (previously mentioned), Teedyuscung's brother-in-law, who, on the occasion of a subsequent visit to Nain, near Bethlehemn, was re- admitted to the Church. While at Wyoming Zeisberger mnet, also, ten Onondaga warriors on their way south to resume hostilities against the Cherokees-the prosecution of which had been interrupted by the Frenchi and Indian War. Teedyuscung complained to Zeisberger of the con- siderable expense he was under at Wyoming in "entertaining passing Indians." He said they "ate him out of house and home, and that he thought of leaving and settling at Wapwallopen." Zeisberger returned to Bethlehem March 24th, and went thence to Philadelphia with Tee- dyuscung's answer-receiving £10 for his services. He passed through Wyoming again, and made short visits here, twice in May, once in June and once in July, 1762, on his way to and from Papoonhank's town at Wyalusing-mentioned on page 389.
In May, 1762, Teedyuscung went to Philadelphia, where he was told that if he would withdraw his charges against the Proprietaries relative to fraud in connection with the "Walking Purchase," there "was £400 in it for him. Teedyuscung then came into conference, say- ing what lie had been saying for five years-that he did not want Sir
* See the "Documentary History of New York," IV: 200. Further, we read in the "Pennsylvania Colonial Records" that March 28, 1762, a party of Cayuga Indians arrived in Philadelphia, having come from their town in New York by way of Wyoming and Bethlehem, and they reported to Governor Hamilton that they had "found the road very bad, on account of deep snow, cold weather," etc.
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William Johnson to arbitrate the dispute. Teedyuscung further said that he had never charged 'the Proprietaries with fraud, but had only said that the French had informed them [the Delawares] that the English had cheated them of their lands ; and his young men desired him to mention it at the treaty of Easton, and that he did it to please them and was sorry it had reached their hearts.' The Governor told him that if he would acknowledge this in public he would make him a present, not on account of the lands (which had been bought and paid for), but on account of his needy circumstances."* Thereupon, Teedyuscung having made a public acknowledgment as desired, Governor Hamilton presented him with £400+; upon which Isaac Still, the interpreter, remarked that this was, indeed, a trifling sumn about which to have had such a great dispute. "The Governor, then, to quiet their dissatisfaction with the smallness of the bribe, said that the dispute should go before Sir William Johnson"; when, if it were found that the Proprietaries had not cheated the Indians in the matter of the "Walking Purchase" the Governor would not be under obligations to pay Teedyuscung a single farthing.
June 15, 1762, Sir William Johnson, accompanied by Col. George Croghan and others, together with Governor Hamilton and various officials of the Pennsylvania Government, met Teedyuscung and a number of chiefs of the Monseys, Wanamies and Mohegans in conference at Easton. Apparently the most important business transacted was the securing from Teedyuscung an admission that he had been in error in charging that forgery had been committed in connection with certain land con- veyances. During the progress of this conference the following authen- tic information was received by Governor Hamilton relative to the settlement at Cushetunk : "Sixteen families are settled on the river, and their whole settlement extends seven miles. There are in all forty inen holding lands under New England. Some have got four or five acres of Indian corn, some three, some two. No wheat. They live in pretty good log houses, covered with white pine shingles or boards."
Among the "Physick Papers" in the collections of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania are certain documents relating to the Easton conference of 1762. The following extracts from some of them are interesting.
"The Proprietaries of Pennsylvania to Robert Levers, Dr. For sundries sent up by waggon to Easton for the use of the Governor and his Company, to wit : June 14, 1762. } cask Madeira wine, £16, 5s .; 10 galls. Jamaica spirit @ 7,6, £3,.15s .; a cagg, 3s. 9d .; 1 c. Hyson tea, £1, 10s .; a cannister, Is. 2d .; 4 loaves double refined sugar-27 1bs. 15 oz. @ 1,8, £2, 6s. Sd .; 4 1bs. ground coffee, 8s .; 1 box of lemons, £4; 15,850 grains of wampum (@) 30s., £23, 15s. 6d .; 7,000 do. @ 40s., £14. Total, £66, 5s. 1d. July 7, 1762, received payment of the foregoing account from Richard Peters. [Signed] Robert Levers."
Under date of Saturday, June 12, 1762, George Armstrong-who seems to have been an agent of the Government-wrote and delivered the following paper to John Hays, who was an inn-keeper in Northamp- ton County, not far from Fort Allen. Hays was probably the father of John Hays mentioned on page 388, and at this time Armstrong was at his house, having arrived there June 11th with Teedyuscung and his retinne of thirteen Indians, en route from Wyoming to Easton.
"You are to give the Indians who are coming to the treaty provisions until they set off for Easton ; and if any of them are very tyr'd or sick, give theni a Gill of rum per
* See Walton's "Conrad Weiser and the Indian Policy of Colonial Pennsylvania," page 380.
+ Undoubtedly in Pennsylvania currency, equivalent to 1,06623 Spanish milled dollars. See *, page 252.
400
Day, as no syder or Beer is to be got, and you must keep a true account and you imust be careful not to exceed the quantity of rum lest the Indians shon'd be Drunk & perhaps commit some Mischief. You must not entertain the Indians longer than Mon- day morning, or till the last of them comes this length."
Hays had-according to his account, duly rendered-fourteen Indi- ans at breakfast and forty-three at dinner on Saturday, June 12th, and forty-three at breakfast the next inorning. Some of these, evidently, were "very tyr'd or sick," as thirty-eight half-gills of rum were dealt out on Saturday and thirty-nine on Sunday.
About the 1st of August, 1762, there came down the Susquehanna to Wyoming a fleet of canoes containing 381 Indians-Oneidas, Senecas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Tuscaroras, Nanticokes and Conoys-and their belongings. Tokalıaion, the Cayugan (mentioned on page 396), seems to have been the leader of this large company, who were on their way to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to attend a conference arranged for by Governor Hamilton. These Indians from the north remained at Wyo- ining a few days and then continued their voyage down the river, ac- companied by Teedyuscung, Tapescawen, Augustus, Joe Peepy and 172 other Delawares from Wyoming .*
They reached Lancaster August 13th, and found that the confer- ence had been begun on the previous day by the Governor with a large number of Indians from beyond the Ohio-Delawares, Tuscaroras, Shaw- anese, Kickapoos, Twightwees and others-of whom King Beaver (mentioned on pages 326 and 328) was the principal speaker. These western Indians delivered into the hands of the Governor seventeen white prisoners, who had been captured principally in south-eastern Pennsylvania. Early in the conference-after the New York and Wyo- ming Indians had been received-Governor Hamilton formally stated that in June Sir William Johnson had gone to Easton, "by order of the King," to inquire into Teedyuscung's complaint that the Proprietaries had "defrauded the Delawares of a tract of land lying on the Delaware between Tohiccon Creek and the Kittatinny Hills" ; and that, Sir Wil- liam having examined certain writings and records then produced, "Teedyuscung was convinced of his error and acknowledged that he had been mistaken, and desired that all further disputes about land should be buried underground." A few days after this announcement had been made Teedyuscung arose in the conference and saidt :
"Before all these Allegheny Indians here present I do now assure you that I am ready and willing to sign a release to all the lands we have been disputing about, as I told you I would at Easton."
Two or three days before the close of the conference Thomas King, the Oneidan (whose naine is frequently mentioned hereinbefore), referred in open conference to the sale of the Wyoming lands to The Susquehanna Company. He said, among other things) :
"It is very well known that the land was sold by the Six Nations. Some are here now that sold that land. It was sold for 2,000 dollars, but was not sold by our consent in public council. It was, as it were, stolen from us. Some people said that my name was to its ; on which I went down immediately to Connecticut to see whether it was or not, and found it was not. I brought a paper back from Connecticut which I will show to the . Governor. Had I not gone down to Connecticut the lands would have been all settled up to Wyomink as far as Awicka [Owego], twelve miles on this side Chenango [Otsiningo]."
King being asked whether the lands at Cushetunk were "a part of the lands stolen from the Six Nations," answered that they had nothing
* See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," VIII : 723, 730.
: See ibid., 765. % See page 396, ante.
+ Sec ibid., 740.
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to do with them-"those lands belonging to the Delawares." Then, addressing himself to Teedyuscung, King said :
"Cousins, as you have swallowed down your throats all your own country, and your uncles, the Six Nations, have made a fire for you at Wyomen, we desire you to go and sit by that fire and watch it and see that no people come there to steal our country ; and if any should come, we desire you will give us immediate notice, that we may take some measures to remove them."
The Lancaster conference came to a close on August 29th, when the New York Indians immediately proceeded homeward by way of the Susquehanna, and a few days later the Wyoming Indians set out from Lancaster for Wyoming.
Directing our attention towards Connecticut now we find that a largely-attended meeting of The Susquehanna Company was held at Hartford May 19, 1762, when, among other doings, the following reso- lution was adopted :
"Voted, That, for the promotion and encouragement of the speedy beginning a settlement of our Susquehanna Purchase, there be liberty for one hundred of the pur- chasers of the said Susquehanna Purchase, by themselves personally, and not by substi- tutes, to enter upon, and under the Company to hold and improve, a tract of land within said Purchase, ten miles square and easterly of and adjoining the Susquehanna River. * * * To be held and improved by them and their heirs as a gratuity from this * Company over and above their respective shares in the rest of the Purchase."
It was provided, further, that these pioneer settlers should hold the lands thus granted in equal shares ; "or, a like proportionable part thereof by any lesser number of said purchasers not under fifty." None of the said persons was to be permitted to enter upon and hold said lands except such as should be approved by a committee to be appointed by the Company. The entry upon the lands was to be made within four imonths from that time, and "the said one hundred men, or a lesser nuin ber not under fifty," were to "continue thereon, holding and improv- ing the same, for and during the term of five years." It being reported to the meeting that Colonel Dyer, who had been appointed the Com- pany's agent some thirteen months previously,* had not yet gone to England, and that the committee instructed to prepare the Company's case had not done so, it was thereupon
"Voted, That the committee take immediate steps to prepare the case and forward it to some competent person in England ; and that Timothy Woodbridge, John Smith, Stephen Gardner, Amos Stafford, John Jenkins, Thomas .Darling, Thomas Hill and Daniel Lawrence be a committee to direct and inspect the settlements to be made on the Susquehanna land."
Within a short time after this meeting was held some sixteen share- holders, or proprietors, of The Susquehanna Company proceeded to Wyo- mning Valley, arriving here while Teedyuscung was at Easton in con- ference with Sir William Johnson and Governor Hamiltont-as is shown by an original affidavit made by Col. George Croghan in 1764, and now to be seen among the "Penn Manuscripts" (folio 71 et seq.), previously mentioned. The matter is therein referred to by Colonel Croghan in these words :
"This deponent was present at a conference held by Sir William Johnson at Easton, Pennsylvania, with several tribes of the Delaware Indians, * * at which conference Teadiuscung, their Chief, acquainted Sir William Johnson and Governor Hamilton (then present ) that some of his young men was just come from Wyomen and informed him that several other white people from New England were come to settle upon their lands, and joined somet that had settled there before. That he [Teedyuscung] did not under- stand what the white people meant by settling in their country, unless they intended to steal it from them, for that neither they nor the Six Nations had sold it, and desired that Sir William Johnson would take some measures to have the white people removed."
* See page 393.
+ See page 400. * The settlers at Cushetunk are here referred to.
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This advance party of sixteen settlers selected the site of the old Indian town Asserughney,* at the mouth of the Lackawanna, f as the place at and near which the first ten-mile tract of the Company should be located ; and there the members of the party encamped, intending to await the arrival of the remaining settlers.
Another meeting of The Susquehanna Company was held July 27, 1762, when it was resolved that the number of the prospective pioneer settlers upon the Wyoming lands should be increased to 200- the additional hundred to occupy a ten-mile tract on the west side of the river, opposite the first tract, and upon the same terms ; and further, it was
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