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 66
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"Voted, That all [of the 200] shall have three months from this date to begin the settlements ; and that Col. Eliphalet Dyer, Col. Eleazar Fitch and Joseph Chew be a committee to wait on Sir William Johnson to lay before him the case of our Susquehanna Purchase, make application to him for what intelligence can be had from him relating to said affair, and, if possible, gain his friendship and interest so far as is consistent with the general good."
As soon as possible the "committee to direct and inspect the settle- ments to be made on the Susquehanna land"-the Directing Committee we shall call it-entered upon its work, and by the middle of August, 1762, had enlisted a company of ninety-three capable and resolute men, who, in conjunction with the sixteen "pioneers" who had already gone forward, forined a body of 119 prospective settlers eager to occupy and open up the Wyoming lands in pursuance of the resolutions adopted by The Susquehanna Company, as previously mentioned. Some of these men were residents of New York (chiefly in Orange County), others were of Rhode Island, of Pennsylvania and of New Jersey, but the large majority hailed from Connecticut. Those who lived in Rhode Island and eastern Connecticut rendezvoused at Windham, and near the end of August they set out thence on horseback for Wyoming Valley, led by John Smith, Stephen Gardner and John Jenkins of the Directing Com- mittee. This nucleus received daily accessions as the party moved slowly through southern Connecticut into New York-crossing the Hudson River at or near Fishkill, and proceeding through Orange County to the Delaware River. Pennsylvania was entered near the month of Lackawaxen Creek, t and in tliat locality were met the six- teen "pioneers" whom we left, about the middle of June, encamped at the confluence of the Lackawanna and the Susquehanna. When Tee- dyuscung and his followers had returned to Wyoming from the Easton conference, about the 20th of June, they repaired without delay to the encampment of the New Englanders at the mouth of the Lacka- wanna to remonstrate against the coming of those "intruders" and to warn them to retire from the valley.§ In the circumstances the "pioneers" deemed it advisable to remove to the banks of the Dela- ware, in the neighborhood of the Cushetunk settlement, there to await the coming of the main body of the Susquehanna settlers, with whom they would unite.
During the first week in September this combined company of 119 settlers arrived on the eastern bank of the Susquehanna, at the month of the Lackawanna. There were neither women nor children in the cara- van; nor were there any carts or wagons. The journey from the Delaware to the Susquehanna could be made only over a rough and narrow trail, or
* See page 187.
+ See page 106.
# See map in Chapter XI.
$ See Stone's "Poetry and History of Wyoming" (Third Edition), page 141.
403
patlı, and so the travelers came hitler, some on horseback and some on foot, bringing with them only such necessaries-including firearms, axes and a few simple agricultural implements-as they could easily carry. They moved down the river to the north, or right, bank of Beaver Brook-later known as Mill Creek||-and there, near the river, just beyond the present northern boundary of the city of Wilkes-Barré, within the limits of what was afterwards the township of Wilkes-Barré and is now the township of Plains, they began the first settlement by white people in Wyoming Valley.
Unfortunately the names of all those first settlers have not been preserved. Neither Chapman nor Miner gives even a partial list of them ; but the latter writer, in explanation of the omission, makes the following statement ("History of Wyoming," page 54): "Strange to say, although my inquiries have been faithfully pursued, wherever the least prospect existed of obtaining information, they have proved fruit- less, and I am unable to state from what towns in Connecticut they came, or who were their principal leaders."
One of those first settlers was Parshall Terry, I and in April, 1794, he made an affidavit for use in the case of Vanhorne's Lessee vs. John Dorrance, in the Circuit Court of the United States. In that affidavit is given a very brief account of the first settlement at Wyoming, accom- panied by a list of fifty-seven of the settlers. The original affidavit is now in the custody of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, but a copy of it, containing several errors, is printed on page 136 of Henry M. Hoyt's "Brief of a Title in the Seventeen Townships in the County of Luzerne," published in 1879. Fifty-five of the fifty-seven names con- tained in that affidavit are printed, also, on page 535 of Pearce's "Annals of Luzerne County," edition of 1866. In April, 1783, in response to a request made by a committee representing the Pennsylvania Assembly (see Chapter XXI, post), Zebulon Butler, Nathan Denison, John Jenkins, Obadialı Gore and others at Wilkes-Barré prepared a list of sixty-nine + of the original Wyoming settlers of 1762. A contemporaneous copy of that list, in what appears to be the handwriting of Zebulon Butler, is preserved among thie unpublished "Trumbull Papers," mentioned on page 29, ante. From that list, the "Terry" list and other authentic sources we have been able to compile the following list of seventy-three names of the original Wyoming settlers.
* Benjamin Aslıley, # Job Comstock,
* Stephen Gardner,
t James Atherton, John Comstock,
+ Daniel Gore,
į Daniel Baldwin,
Benajah Davis,
+ Obadiah Gore, Jr .. .
* Isaac Bennet,
* Ezra Dean,
į Gershom Hinkley,
+ Isaac Hollister,
+ Thomas Bennet,
§ John Dorrance,
Į Nathan Hollister,
Thomas Breed,
Simeon Draper,
* Benjamin Follet, Timothy Hollister,
+ William Buck, Nathaniel Chapman,
* Elkanalı Fuller, Timothy Hollister, Jr ..
David Colton,
++* ++* **** * **
* Rodolphus Fuller, David Honeywell.
I See pages 57 and 5s.
" He was a native of New London County, Connecticut, having been born near the town of New London August 8, 1734. He died at Palmyra, New York, May 15, 1811.
* Was dead in April, 1783, bitt, according to a memorandum made by the Wilkes-Barré committee on its list, previously mentioned, certain of his heirs were then residing in Wyoming and were "personally present" at that time.
+ Was alive in April, 1783, and, according to a memorandum on the list of the Wilkes-Barré committee, then resided in Wyoming and was "personally present."
Į We know that many of those whose names are thus marked had died, or been killed, prior to 1783. "The greater part of these," wrote the Wilkes-Barré committee in April, 1783, "are represented by persons who are now absent. It is not in our power, at present, to inform [you] of their respective cases."
§ In the "Terry" list of 1794, but not in the list made up by the Wilkes-Barré committee in 1783. At that time he was either dead ( without heirs or legal representatives) or was out of the valley.
404
* Emanuel Hower,
¿ George Minor, ».
Wright Smith,
į Austin Hunt,
Silas Park,
* Amos Stafford,
į Nathan Hurlbut,
+ Abel Peirce,
¿ Eliphalet Stevens,
¿ Simeon Hurlbut,
* Ezekiel Peirce,
Uriah Stevens,
William Stevens,
¿ Daniel Strait,
§ Nathaniel Terry,
+ Parshall Terry,
+ Job Tripp,
* Ephraim Tyler,
+ Ephraim Tyler, Jr ,
+ Isaac Underwood,
¿ Jonathan Weeks,
į Matthew Smith,
* Jonathan Weeks, Jr.,
t Oliver Smith.
Philip Weeks.
Within a day or two after the arrival of the New Englanders at Mill Creek the Six Nation and other New York Indians returning from the Lancaster conference (see page 400) arrived at Wyoming. Learning from the Indians here of the presence of white men in the valley, with the intent of making a settlement, Thomas King, the Oneidan, and some of the other Six Nation chiefs went up to Mill Creek and had a conference with John Smith, Stephen Gardner and Jolın Jenkins, the members of the Directing Committee then on the ground. The Indians protested against the intrusion of the settlers into the valley and insisted that they should withdraw. After con- siderable discussion the settlers agreed that within the course of a few days they would return to their homes, and that early in the next Spring they would send their representatives to Albany, New York, to meet the chiefs of the Six Nations in a conference relative to the Wyo- ining lands. A formal invitation to such a conference was then drawn up by John Smith and placed in the hands of Thomas King, who promised to deliver it to the Great Council at Onondaga. || Having spent about ten days in the valley all the settlers set out for their homes -except about twenty-five, who remained behind to break up several acres of ground on Jacob's Plains and sow some wheat. About the middle of October these men also departed from the valley. The following paragraph, from the affidavit of Parshall Terry previously referred to, relates to the doings of these first settlers :
"On their arrival at Wyoming they encamped at the mouth of Mill Creek, on the banks of the Susquehanna, where they built several huts for shelter ; that they cut grass and made hay on Jacob's Plains ; that they were shortly after joined by many others ; that their whole company on the ground were 150, or upwards ; that they continued on the ground, according to his best recollection, about ten days ; that the season being far advanced, and finding that it would be difficult to procure provisions at so great distance from any inhabited country, the Committee of the settlers, viz., John Jenkins, John Smith and Stephen Gardner, thought proper and advised us to return, which was agreed to, and the greatest part of the company withdrew-the deponent being one. That a small number were left on the ground, who tarried some time longer, as the deponent understood. The deponent further saith that at the time they withdrew they secured their farming utensils on the ground, to be ready for the Spring following, as they expected to return at that time."
The following interesting paragraphs, copied from an original document among the "Penn Manuscripts," folio 69 (see page 30, ante), is now printed for the first time. It is a report from Stephen Sayre to Lord , and was written in the latter part of the Summer of 1762.
* * * "Upon a meeting with the Iroquois in the year 1754 they [The Susquehanna Company] endeavored to effect a purchase of those lands with Hendrick their Chief, but
Daniel Robins,
Minor Robins,
į Moses Kimball,
* Daniel Lawrence,
¿ Gideon Lawrence,
Noalı Lee,
Stephen Lee,
į Thomas Marslı,
¿ Rev. Willianı Marsh,
David Marvin,
+ Ebenezer Searle,
¿ Ephraini Seeley,
* Benjamin Sheppard,
* Benjamin Shoemaker, ,
* Jonathan Slocum,
* John Smith,
* Timothy Smith,
¿ Samuel Richards,
+ John Jenkins,
Joshua Jewett,
* Oliver Jewett,
I See Stone's "Poetry and History of Wyoming" (Third Edition), page 393.
105
were disappointed by the false insinuations of Sir William Johnson. Nevertheless they did effect it the same year, and obtained a firm deed for a tract on the Susquehanna, * * for which tract they gave a large sum of money. * * *
"Mr. Gray, Clerk of the Company assembled May 19, 1762, declares that the busi- 11ess of the meeting was to determine if possible to throw in a settlement upon the said lands, and they have accordingly obtained votes of above one hundred families who promise to proceed immediately, and in defiance of Mr. Penn and his emissaries to plant themselves down on the said lands. * * * The said committee have formed another committee, who are to take care that proper and wealthy persons only are admit- ted to make this first settlement, as well as to give them proper directions in what manner to govern themselves in this critical affair. Their last resolve was to endeavor to get this ratified at home [in England], as soon as it can demand the attention of the Ministry ; and they are of the opinion that the speedy settlement of some part will have great weight to determine it in their favor. Another circumstance, from which they promise themselves great advantage, is that their Province [Connecticut] has supported the present as well as the late war with a truly British spirit and vigor, while, on the other hand, the inhabitants of a certain Proprietary Government [Pennsylvania] are stained with infamy by the ravages of dastardly wretchies, merely because it was Proprietary.
"Mr. Edwards, * another of the said committee, told me candidly that Mr. Inger- sollt had in faet presented the resolve, or memorial, made by the [Connecticut] Govern- ment in their favor, to Mr. Pitt; and many others, who gave him great encouragement that it should be duly considered in its proper season ; and for this end Mr. Ingersoll has engaged a friend to give him timely advice, upon which Col. Eliphalet Dyer is to embark immediately for England, invested with the above armor. I find it is the opinion of the committee that the said one hundred men cannot proceed until next Spring, as the season is now too far spent to plant and sow."
The following is a copy of an original document preserved among the "Penn Manuscripts" (folio 63), previously mentioned, and is 110w printed in full§ for the first time. It is a report made by Daniel Brod- head|| to Governor Hamilton of Pennsylvania, is dated "Philadelphia, September 27, 1762," and was sworn to by Mr. Brodhead before the Hon. Benjamin Chew, Recorder of Philadelphia, as being a statement of what the "deponent saw and heard in a late journey, made by him from Easton to an Indian town or settlement on the River Susquehanna, called by the name of Wyoming."
"May it please Your Honor : On Thursday [September 9, 1762], about nine o'clock at night, I received your Honor's orders by John Moore, Esq., to go up the River Dela- ware and to use my best endeavors to discover the pretenses and intentions of the Con- necticut people, who were then employed in cutting a road from the upper part of Mini- sinks to Wyoming. Accordingly got ready on Friday and went to John McDowell's in Lower Smithfield Township, where I tarried all night. On Saturday employed myself to gain what intelligence I could of the inhabitants-how the people of that township were affected, to wit : Who were concerned with the Connecticut people in lands ; who were to supply them with provisions ; who were gone with them; and to take the names of the persons who were purchasers in that township-and found that Benjamin Shoemaker, Daniel Shoemaker, Samuel Dupue, Samuel Drakes, Joseph Wheeler, William Clark, Sr., Nicholas Dupue, Jr., John McDowell, Hugh Pugh, William Smith, Sr., Joseph Hains, John Fish, Charles Holmes and James Lawson were the persons [in Lower Smithfield] that had purchased Rights. But that the Connecticut people were refused assistance by each of them except Daniel Shoemaker, Joseph Wheeler, Charles Holmes and James Lawson, they having gone with them to Wyoming.
"Hearing at the same time that the New England people were already got to Wyoming, I was obliged to get a person to go with me to help me on the road, which was attended with some difficulty, it being a busy time with the farmers. I did, how- ever, prevail on my brother Garret to go with me, and agreed to pay him 7sh. 6d. per day. That night lodged at Samuel Dupue's. Early on Sunday morning went up the [Delaware] River, and when I came to Upper Smithfield Township found the inhabitants very close to the interest of the Connecticut people, and that they seemed very anxious to know my opinion respecting or relating to the claim of the Connecticut
* Judge Daniel Edwards. See page 282, ante. + Jared Ingersoll, Esq., mentioned on page 39.5.
Į The Hon. William Pitt, later the Earl of Chathant. From 1757 till 1761 he was British Secretary of State.
¿ A portion of the document is printed on pages 17 and 18 of Hoyt's "Brief of Title in the Seventeen Townships in the County of Luzerne."
" DANIEL BRODHEAD, JR., mentioned on page 258, ante.
' In what is now Pike County, Pennsylvania. See "Map of a Part of Pennsylvania," in Chapter XI.
406
people. But I never inade any other reply than that I had heard the Indians request of Sir William Johnson and His Honor our Governor that, if the white people came to settle on the lands at Wyoming, they should be removed. They then told me that the Connecticut people had lately sold a number of Rights to the inhabitants at £48 each, and that they had given out that they were determined to hold the lands by strong hands. That night I staid at Andrew Dingman's, who informed me that four men that had been with the New England people to Wyoming were returned ; that they told him that when the Connecticut people came to Wyoming the few Indians there (not exceeding seven men) were very angry, and had met them with their guns and tomahawks-which was afterwards confirmed by the Indians themselves-and demand- ed to know their business, their [the Indian] women and children having fled to the woods, not knowing anything of the approach of such a number of armed men into their country.
"On Monday morning set out early and lodged within five miles of Lachawacksink Creek .* On Tuesday, as soon as we could see to travel, set out on our journey, and that night lodged within thirty miles of Wyoming. On Wednesday morning set out early, and after traveling about five miles met seven men. Two of them said they were going to New England to conduct 200 families to their quiet possession at Wyoming. The other five said they were going to Minisink for flour, and that the Indians were well pleased with their new neighbors. Soon after we parted with these men we came to a very fine creek called by the Indians Laghawagheneah,t which we followed to its con- fluence with the River Susquehanna, about twelve [sic] miles distant from Wyoming town. About four miles distant from the New England people's encampment met twelve men with their arms and accouterments, and they told me that a great num- ber of ill-looking fellows of the Six Nations had a few minutes before ordered them to leave that place, which they had agreed to ; and that the rest would go on the inorn- ing following.
"At five o'clock we came to the encampment ( consisting of upwards of seventy men, having guns) where they had cut about fifteen tons of grass. I tarried there till night, endeavoring among other things to get their names-but soon found them on their guard as to that. I was, however, directed to Gardner and Smith, two of their Commissioners, who, they said, would sell me as much land as I might choose. Mr. Smith, looking on me to be a purchaser, began to tell me that the Pennsylvania line was settled by the Indians at the treaty lately held at Lancaster, and that it did not extend farther up the River Delaware than Dupue's, and that he did intend to have cut a road to Benjamin Shoemaker's mill from Wyoming, who would better supply them. I asked them how they claimed the lands there. They answered, by their Charter and their Indian pur- chase. Then I asked them by whom they were abetted and encouraged. They answered, by all the power of their Government of Connecticut, and added that they had seen a proclamation published by their Governor which, they said, contained nothing but what they could prove to be false and absurd ; that himself (meaning the Governor) and his two sons were privy to their undertaking, and were concerned with them; that they were to hold a treaty with the Indians at Albany this [coming] Winter, and would settle the lands next Spring with 1,000 armed men and two pieces of artillery ! They had begun to build three block-houses, and the Indians afterwards told me that they were determined to have built three miles in length upon the bank of the river, had they not prevented them.
"When I came to the Indian town Wyoming I saw there between forty and fifty men of the Indians, besides women, and most of them were of the Six Nations returning from the Lancaster treaty, and among them was an Indian called Thomas King. There was with them an Irishman named David Owen, and he and a Bethlehem Indian called Captain Augustus, § who talked English, told me that the Indians had ordered the Connecticut people to go away and quit the land ; and said if they had not done so forth- with the Indians would have killed every man of them before they could have got in to the inhabitants. I then told them that I came from His Honor, the Governor of Penn- sylvania, to see what the New England people were doing at Wyoming, and when I returned was to make a report of what I had seen. They desired me to thank Your Honor, in the most affectionate manner, for Your Honor's care over them, and desired I would stay with them two days and rest myself and horse ; for which I thanked them, and said that their brother, the Governor of Pennsylvania, was troubled to hear of the uneasiness the New England people were likely to give his friends and brethren, the Indians, and that he could not sleep easy until I returned with the good news of the New England people's return to their own country. Then they agreed that what I had said was right, and on Thursday, about ten o'clock in the morning, I set out for Fort Allen, and on Saturday about two o'clock arrived at Easton." *
November 19, 1762, a private conference took place between Governor Hamilton and Teedyuscung at "Bush Hill," Philadelphia,
* Lackawaxen Creek, mentioned on page 392.
+ Lackawanna River. See pages 34 and 187.
# See page 404.
Teedynscung's brother-in-law, mentioned on page 338.
407
the Governor's residence. Teedyuscung, having been desired, and liav- ing promised, "to speak nothing but what should be strictly true," said *:
"Brother, you may remember that some time ago I told you that I should be obliged to remove from Wyomink on account of the New England people, and I now again acquaint you that soon after I returned to Wyomink from Lancaster there came 150 of those people, furnished with all sorts of tools, as well for building as husbandry, and declared that they had bought those lands from the Six Nations and would settle them, and were actually going to build themselves houses and settle upon a creek called Lecha- wanock, about seven or eight miles above Wyomink.t I threatened them hard, and declared I would carry them to the Governor at Philadelphia ; and when they heard me threaten them in this manner they said they would go away and consult their own Governor, for if they were carried to Philadelphia they might be detained there seven years. And they said further, that since the Indians were uneasy at this purchase, if they would give them back the money it had cost them-which was one or two bushels of dollars-they would give them their land again.
"Brother, ten days after these were gone there came other fourteen ment and made us the same speeches, declaring that they expected above 3,000 would come and settle the Wyomink lands in the Spring ; and they had with thein a saw and saw-mill tools, purposing to go directly and build a saw-mill about a mile above where I live. But, upon my threatening those in the same manner I did the former company, they went away and, as I was told, buried their tools somewhere in the woods. These people desired me to assist them in surveying the lands, and told me they would reward me handsomely for my trouble-but I refused to have anything to do with them. Six days after these were gone there came other eight white men and a mulatto,¿ and said the very same things to me that the others had said, and immediately I got together my council, and as soon as we had finished our consultations I told these people that I would actually confine them and carry them to Philadelphia and deliver them to the Governor there ; upon which they went away, saying they would go to their own Governor and come again with great numbers in the Spring. Some of these people stole my horse that I bought at Easton, but they gave me another horse and £5 in money in satisfaction for my horse .¿
"Brother, though I threatened these people hard that I would confine them and carry them down to you, yet I did not mean actually to do it, remembering that you charged me not to strike any white men, though they should come, but to send you the earliest notice of their coming that was in iny power. * *
* Brother, before I got up to Wyomink from Lancaster there had come a great body of these New England people with intent actually to settle the land, but the Six Nations, passing by at that time from Lancaster, sent to let them know that they should not be permitted to settle any of those lands ; and on their expressing great resentment against them, and threatening them if they persisted, they went away. This I was told by Thomas King, who was left behind at Wyomink by the Six Nations to tell me that they intended to lay this whole matter before the Great Council at Onondaga, and that they would send for me and my Indians to come to Albany in the Spring, where they are to have a meeting with the New England people, and desired I would be quiet till I should receive their message, and then come to Albany.
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