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 75
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§ See Halsey's "The Old New York Frontier," page 101.
| Mentioned in the note on page 257, ante.
{ Mentioned in the notes on pages 239 and 421.
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the ground from the beginning to the close of the congress-busied themselves in carrying out a plan for the purchase of the Wyoming region from the Six Nations by the Proprietaries. "This object", says Stone, "was of no difficult attainment, as the Indians might doubtless have been persuaded to sell that, or almost any other portion of disputed territory, as many times over as white purchasers could be found to make payment." The Pennsylvanians were successful, and on the very day that the Fort Stanwix treaty was signed six sachems of the Six Nations-one from each of the several tribes-executed to Thomnas and Richard Penn a deed for all the lands within the bounds of their Province not theretofore purchased from the Indians, and so far as the general boundary with the King had then been settled. This purchase included most of the lands claimed by The Susquehanna Company and The Delaware Company, under their respective deeds from the Indians. The consideration paid by the Penns for the Fort Stanwix deed was 10,000 dollars, and two of the signers of the deed were Tyanhasare, or Abraham, of the Mohawk tribe, and Senosies, of the Oneida tribe, who had signed in July, 1754, the deed to The Susquehanna Company-as shown on pages 277 and 279.
April 24, 1793, before the Hon. Matthew Clarkson, Mayor of Phil- adelphia, the Rev. Jacob Johnson (previously mentioned) made affidavit relative to certain matters which had transpired at Fort Stanwix at the time of the treaty. That affidavit was filed in the case of Van Horne's lessees vs. Dorrance (referred to on page 290), and is now in the custody of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Garbled extracts from it were printed in a pamphlet entitled "The Susquehannah Title Stated and Ex- amined," published in 1796 at Catskill, New York. Those extracts were reprinted in "The Susquehanna Controversy Examined," a pam- phlet written by Samuel Avery and printed by Messrs. Asher and Charles Miner at Wilkes-Barré in 1803. When Charles Miner wrote his "History of Wyoming" he transferred to it (page 97)-without doubt from Avery's little pamphlet-the erroneous and, in a measure, inislead- ing extracts alluded to above. The following paragraphs are accurate copies (save in punctuation, and the spelling of certain words other than proper names) of those parts of the original affidavit which are pertinent to the subject now treated of.
"Jacob Johnson* of Wilkesbarre in the County of Luzerne and State of Pennsyl- vania, a witness produced on the part of the defendant, being duly sworn, deposeth and saith : That in the month of November in the year 1768 he was present at a treaty held at Fort Stanwix with the Indians of the Six Nations ; and that Sir William Johnson, Superintendent of the Indians of the Six Nations, John Penn, Governor of Pennsylvania, Governor Franklin of the State of New Jersey, Col. Eleazar Fitch of Windham, the chiefs of the Six Nations, Seaquarratheet a Tuscarora chief and chief speaker, and many other persons, were also present. * * That Gov. John Penn at this time, by the agency of Sir William Johnson, endeavored to obtain from those Indians a deed for the lands on the Susquehanna. That several private consultations were held with the said chiefs,
* In 1768 Mr. Johnson appears to have signed his name "Jacob Ws. Johnson," as is evident in the doc- ument printed on page 449, as well as in other documents.
+ This was SAY-EN-QUE-RAGH-TA, the chief sachem of the Senecas, mentioned on page 437. The writer of the Johnson affidavit not being familiar, it is probable, with the name of this chief, spelled it "Se-a- quar-ra-thee"-attempting, no doubt, to indicate, as nearly as possible, the pronunciation of the name as given by Mr. Johnson. It will be noticed, further, that the latter, in his affidavit, refers to this chief as being of the Tuscarora tribe. When that affidavit was made twenty-five years, nearly, had passed since the Fort Stanwix treaty. It is quite reasonable to suppose, therefore, that in that time Mr. Johnson had forgotten what nation Sayenqueraghta represented ; although he did recollect that the sachem named had been the "chief speaker" of the congress. It is possible, indeed, that Mr. Johnson did not know in 1768 what the tribal connection of this chief was, for his knowledge of the Six Nations was confined chiefly to the Oneidas. The Tuscarora, as we have indicated on page 116, was the least important tribe of the Six Nations, and no chief of that tribe ever attained to the dignity of "chief speaker" at any Indian congress or council held at the period now under consideration.
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from which this deponent was secluded ; and there was no agent present at the said treaty to represent the State [sic] of Connecticut or The Susquehanna Company.
"That this deponent, during the treaty, was informed by several of the Indians present that Governor Penn wanted the Indians to give him a deed for the lands on the Susquehanna, and that they replied to him that they had given the New England white people a deed of the same lands, had received their pay for the same and could not sell the same lands again. But they said they had finally agreed to give Governor Penn a deed of that land, because Sir William Johnson had told them that their former con- veyance to the New England white people was unlawful-that they [the New Englanders] had no right to purchase that land, which was within Penn's Charter, and Penn alone had the right of purchasing the same. That near the close of the same treaty the depo- nent well recollects to have heard Seaquarrathee (chief speaker), in a public speech, declare the same reasons as above said for their selling said land the second time, which was publicly interpreted by Sir William Johnson.
"That the deponent held a conference with the Indians at the Oneida Upper Castle, and advised them not to sell their lands-not referring, however, to the Susquehanna lands. That Sir William Johnson had heard of this, and sent to the deponent informing him that he had orders from the King to hold a treaty, and asked why the deponent pre- vented them from assembling, and ordered him to repair to Fort Stanwix. That the deponent knows not what was transacted while he was secluded, except from some of the Indians, but believes that the purchase by Mr. Penn was not the only business then transacted. That a Mr. Johnson was his principal informer as to the treaty carrying on by Mr. Penn ; that Colonel Fitch of Windham, Connecticut, was the person who desired the deponent to go out of the room when the treaty was to be proceeded upon ; that the deponent knows not what was the business of the said Colonel Fitch at the said treaty, or at whose request lie attended." * *
The following affidavit, made at some time prior to 1796 by the Rev. Samuel Kirkland, previously mentioned, is taken from "The S11s- quehannah Title Stated and Examined," referred to on page 452.
"That he attended the treaty with the Five Nations, held at Fort Stanwix in the year 1768, for several of the last days of the treaty, and that on his arrival on the ground the Rev. Jacob Johnson, then a missionary to the Oneidas, told the deponent that he had been forbidden by Sir William Johnson to sit in council with the Indians ; and that Colonel Butler and several others had given him the same information. That several Indian chiefs told the deponent, at that time, that they had sold the Susquehannah land to the Pennsylvanians, and that they were finally induced to do it by the counsel and advice of the Commissioners-urging that the Connecticut people had done wrong in coming over the line of Pennsylvania to buy land of the Indians. It was, however, not effected without great difficulty. At the close of the business the Indians were called upon to execute the writings, which were not publicly read in the English language, but one of the Mohawk chiefs gave a brief statement of their general purport in the Indian language. And the deponent further saith that one of the Christian Indians of the Oneida nation, by name Theondintha, or Thomas, some months after said treaty voluntarily, and of his own mere motion, told the deponent that some undue influence had been made use of at said treaty respecting said land, and that he, hinself-namely, Thomas-had been the subject of this undue influence, and nine or ten more Indian chiefs were in the same predicament, and that he felt much troubled in his mind about it."
The Proprietaries of Pennsylvania having effected a purchase of the Wyoming and other lands as described, took immediate measures to get possession of the territory, in order to defeat the intentions of The Susquehanna Company. First, the people were publicly notified that existing improvements on the newly-purchased lands would give tliose who had made them no advantage whatever. Next, preparations were inade to have the lands surveyed and plotted into (1) large bodies, or tracts, called manors, to be located here and tliere in desirable sections of the new territory for the particular and sole use and behoof of the Proprietaries, and (2) smaller tracts, or lots, containing from 100 to 400 or 500 acres, to be taken up on warrants by such inhabitants as should apply for the same and comply with the land laws of the Province in force at that time.
When Gov. John Penn returned home to Philadelphia from Fort Stanwix, before the formal opening of the Indian congress, lie was evidently well satisfied that the men he had left behind, to look after the Proprietaries' interests, would be able to secure from the Indians the
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much-desired deed for the Pennsylvania lands. Consequently, on the 29th of October-eight days before the "Fort Stanwix Treaty Line" was established and the deed to Thomas and Richard Penn was executed -he began to issue warrants for the survey of certain manors and other tracts of land lying within the disputed territory. Among the warrants issued on the date mentioned, and directed to John Lukens, Esq., Sur- veyor General of the Province, were the following : One for a tract of 4,766 acres, to be located at Shamokin and to be known as the "Manor of Poinfret."* One for a tract of 20,000 acres, to be located in and adjoining Wyoming Valley and to be known as the "Manor of Sun- bury." One for 9,800 acres, to be located in Wyoming Valley and to be known as the "Manor of Stoke."t Among the warrants issued by Governor Penn within the next few weeks was one directing the survey of a tract of 1,615 acres at Muncy, on the West Branch of the Susque- hanna, to be called "Job's Discovery" in honor of Job Chillaway (the Indian mentioned on page 422), who had pointed out this locality as a desirable place for a settlement or plantation.
The warrant issued for the survey of the "Manor of Sunbury" was in the following words :
"BY THE PROPRIETARIES.
"Pennsylvania, ss. These are to authorize and require you to survey and lay out for our use-in right and as part of our tenths-the quantity of twenty thousand acres of land on the north-west side of the River Susquehannah, opposite to Wioming, to include all the low lands ; and make return thereof into our Secretary's office-for which this shall be your sufficient warrant.
"Witness JOHN PENN, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor of the said Province, who, by virtue of certain powers from the said Proprietaries, hath hereunto set his hand and caused the seal of the Land Office to be affixed this 29th day of October, A. D. 1768."
[SEAL]
[Signed] "JOHN PENN."
The warrant for the survey of the "Manor of Stoke" was similar in form to the foregoing, and directed that the manor be laid out "at Wioming." In pursuance of the directions contained in the two last- mentioned warrants William Scull, a Deputy Surveyor of the Province, proceeded to Wyoming with his assistants, and, under the guidance and supervision of Charles Stewart (a duly authorized agent of the Proprie- taries, as well as a skilled surveyor), surveyed on the 8th and 9th days of December, 1768, on the north-west side of the Susquehanna, the Manor of Sunbury ; and on the 9th and 10th of the month surveyed the Manor of Stoke on the south-east side of the river.
The survey of "Sunbury" was begun near the mouth of Abrahamn's Creek (described on page 52), and thence a line was run about three and one-third miles in a north-westerly direction ; thence, nearly nine miles in a south-westerly direction ; thence, in a south-easterly direction, two iniles to the mouth of Head's Creek, now Harvey's Creek (described on page 54), and thence, along the river's margin, to the place of beginning. Parts of the present townships of Kingston, Jackson and Plymouth were comprehended in the Manor of Sunbury.
The survey of "Stoke" was begun at a point close to "Wyoming Falls" (described on page 36), and thence a line was run in a south- easterly direction-over the hill where the "Prospect" Colliery now stands-two miles to a point on the stream later known as Coal Brook, about one-half mile south-east of the face of the hill where subsequently
* Named for the Earl of Pomfret, father-in-law of Thomas Penn, one of the Proprietaries.
+ Derived from Stoke-Poges, in Buckinghamshire, England, where Thomas Penn owned a valuable estate, and where, at his death, he was buried.
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THE "OLD OPENING" OF THE BALTIMORE COAL COMPANY.
From a photograph taken in 1867.
the "Old Opening" of the Baltimore Coal Company was located. From this point the line ran seven miles and sixty rods in a south- westerly direction- along the foot-hills lying at the base of Wilkes-Barré Moun- tain, passing (about one- half inile to the soutli- west) the present site of the "Empire" Colliery, and then on through the present Borough of Ashley to a point in what is now Hanover Township, about three- quarters of a mile west of Warrior Gap (shown in the illustrationfacing page 232). Thence the line ran, north-west,
two and a-half miles to a point on the river bank nearly opposite the lower extremity of the "Shawnee" Flats (described on page 50), and thence along the south-eastern margin of the river to the place of begin- ning. Parts of the present townships of Wilkes-Barré and Hanover and a very small corner of Plains lie within the old bounds of the Manor of Stoke. The approximate location of the boundary-lines of "Stoke," with reference to the pres- ent bounds of the city of Wilkes-Barré, is shown, in part, on the map of "Wilkes- Barré City and Township in 1873," facing page 456.
Very shortly. after re- turns of the surveys of "Sunbury" and "Stoke" had been filed in the Pro- vincial Land Office, Gov- ernor Penn executed a lease THE "EMPIRE" COLLIERY. From a photograph taken by the author in October, 1901. for a terin of seven years to Capt. Amnos Ogden,* John Jenningst and Charles Stewart (all previously mentioned) for one hundred acres of land, lying within the bounds of the Manor of Stoke at Wyoming, upon condition that the lessees should establish a trading-
* AMOS OGDEN was born in 1732 (see "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," IX : 674) in "East Jersey," or, what is now northern New Jersey, and was probably the son of John Ogden. At that time, and for many years later, the Ogden family of New Jersey was an extensive one, and many of its members were promi-
458
nent and influential citizens. During either the French and Indian War or Pontiac's War (both previ- ously referred to) Amos Ogden served in the English Colonial forces and attained the rank of Captain. After the last war he became an Indian trader, and when (1765) he set np his trading-house in Wyoming Valley he was only thirty-three years of age. In 1768 or 1769 he was married to Margaret, daughter of Samuel and Margaret (Thomas) Treadwell. At that time Captaiu Ogden's domicile was in Morris County, New Jersey, and it continued to be there until his death. In February, 1769, he was commis- sioned by Governor Penn, by and with the advice of the Provincial Council, a "Justice of the Peace and Justice of the County Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace in and for the County of Northampton, Pennsylvania," and the duties of this office he exercised-so far as possible-for the next two or three years, during his several sojourns in Wyoming Valley.
In the Summer of 1763 a number of gentlemen-chiefly New Englanders-"dissatisfied at the expla- nation of the King's proclamation granting tracts of land to the officers and soldiers that served His Majesty in the late American War," met at Hartford, Connecticut, and organized "The Company of Military Adventurers." The members each paid two dollars into the treasury of the organization at that time, and the next year three dollars each. At the first meeting Maj. Gen. Phineas Lyman (mentioned on page 281) was desired to "repair forthwith to the Court of Great Britain to solicit a grant of lands from the Crown, in some part of the conquered lands in America." A few weeks later General Lyman went to London (see page 440). Early in Angust, 1764, the "Military Adventurers" received intelligence from General Lyman that he had "the greatest assurance of success in behalf of said Company." Whereupon, in response to public notice, a meeting of the Company was held at Hartford, Connecticut, on the 22d of August, and it was voted "that any persons" in Connecticut or any of the neighboring Colonies who "incline to become 'Adventurers,' may avail themselves by this opportunity of obtaining grants of land from the Crown." A number of collectors were then appointed, who were "to take in subscriptions at the usual rate of three dollars each subscriber." In The New London Gazette of Angust 31, 1764, there was printed a formal advertisement of the doings of the "Adventurers" at the meeting just referred to, which was signed by Nathan Whiting, Eleazar Fitch, David Baldwin, John Durkee and Moses Park. The "Adventurers" met again in September, 1764, and at long intervals during subsequent years. Gen- eral Lyman prolonged his stay in London, "where he tarried with close attention and application and very great expense, soliciting as aforesaid, under many and various fruitless promises and Ministerial disappointments, till the Spring of 1772, when the King saw fit to make, 'both to General Lyman and His Majesty's disbanded Provincial officers and soldiers,' a grant of a large tract of land, bounded west on the Mississippi River, north to the River Yazoo, between the 32º and 34º of North Latitude." (See The Con- necticut Courant, October 20, 1772.)
Early in the Autumn of 1772 a general meeting of the "Military Adventurers" was "warned" by Maj. Gen. Lyman, Col. Israel Putnanı (of Pomfret), Maj. David Baldwin (of Milford), Capt. Hugh Ledlie (of Hartford), Capt. Robert Durkee, Dr. Alexander Wolcott, Capt. Daniel Bull, Col. Ebenezer Silliman (of Fairfield), Capt. Roger Eno, Ralph Pomeroy, James Church, David Bull, Jonathan Wadsworth and others to take place at Hartford November 18, 1772. At that time and place a large number of the "Adventur- ers" assembled, and General Lyman was chosen moderator and Joseph Church, Jr., clerk of the meeting. Among other matters of business then transacted it was voted that Capt. Roger Eno, Lient. Samuel Hawkins, Maj. John Durkee, Col. Israel Putnam, Mr. Thaddeus Lyman, Lient. Rufus Putnam and Lieut. James Smith "be a committee to proceed to the River Mississippi and explore and reconnoitre the land contained in the grant obtained by General Lyman." The members of this committee were to be allowed eight shillings per day for their services, and "a vessel and a navigator," to convey the explorers to their destination, were to be provided at the expense of the Company. It was also voted that four "able and handy young men" be employed to go with the committee of explorers. It was further resolved "that Major Durkee, Captain Eno, Captain Wadkins and Lieutenant Smith, four of the com- mittee, be desired and directed to go to the Mississippi by land, by way of the Ohio; and that two of the young men to be employed as aforesaid, go with and assist them-the carriage and expense of this committee to be paid by the Company."
A schedule of fees to be paid by those desiring to join the Company was then adopted, as follows : "A field officer of the army to pay £10 on his becoming a proprietor in the Company ; a Captain, £6 * * and a private soldier three dollars. Those private gentlemen who were not in the army shall pay six dollars." Various "Receivers of money for The Company of Military Adventurers" were then appointed-among them, Capt. William Thomson of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, Joseph Clarkson and Clem -- ent Biddle of Philadelphia, and a number in Massachusetts, New York and Connecticut. Capt. Hugh Ledlie was elected Treasurer of the Company, and it was resolved that the transactions of the meeting be printed in six of the newspapers of Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New York and Massachusetts. This was duly done.
The New York City papers of January 18, 1773, printed the following : "Sunday [Jannary 17th], at eleven o'clock, sailed from this harbor the sloop Mississippi, having on board a committee appointed to explore all the lands lately granted by the King to Major General Lyman and The Company of Military Adventurers. * * The gentlemen of the Company who are gone to view, etc., are Col. Israel Putnam, Capt. Roger Eno, Thaddeus Lyman and Lient. Rufus Putnam. The vessel was armed with four brass cohorns and four swivel-guns and a good supply of small arms and ammunition. In her way to the Mississippi she is to tonch at Pensacola." On the return voyage the Mississippi lay to, for a short time (February 17, 1773), off the west end of the Island of Cuba.
Rufus Putnamı (who was a cousin of Israel) was the Surveyor of this expedition, and chiefly upon the favorable report made by him several hundred families emigrated from the North and settled in the new territory-within the bounds of which are the present cities of Vicksburg, Jackson and Yazoo City, Mississippi. General Lyman was one of those who went thither, late in 1773 or early in 1774; but he died soo11 afterwards near the present city of Natchez. Capt. Amos Ogden, attracted by the efforts being made to settle the territory lying along the Lower Mississippi, proceeded there from Morris County, New Jersey, with his brother John Ogden, about the time that General Lyman went down; and May 6, 1774, Captain Ogden was granted a patent for 3,000 acres of public lands lying on the River Homochitto, in the south-western corner of the present State of Mississippi. Leaving his brother there, Captain Ogden returned to his family in Morris County, where he died in the Autumn of 1774. He was survived by his wife, Margaret, and one son, John, who was born in 1770 and died in 1805.
+ JOHN JENNINGS was born about 1730, probably in the southern part of Bucks County, Pennsylvania. His parents were Solomon and Eleanor Jennings, who, in the Spring of 1736-before the Indian title to the Lehigh Valley was extinguished-settled on a 200-acre tract of land lying on the south bank of the Lehigh River (upwards of a mile west by south from the present borough of Bethlehem), then in Bucks, later in Northampton, but now in Lehigh County. In 1737 Solomon Jennings was one of the three mell employed by the agents of the Proprietaries to perform the walk preliminary to the "Walking Purchase" referred to on page 194. He was a man of powerful frame and great muscular strength, but he "and two of the Indian walkers gave out before the end of the first day, being unable to keep up with the others." In October, 1755, Solomon Jennings was elected one of the County Commissioners of Northampton County, and in 1755-'56, during the Indian depredations in eastern Pennsylvania, he was Captain of a company of Provincial volunteers in active service. He died at his home February 15, 1757.
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