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 76
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In the Autumn of 1756 John Jennings "set up for the Sheriff's office of Northampton County, being then, according to Major Parsons of Easton, a sober, well-behaved young man ; much the fittest of the candidates, having had some experience of the office." He was defeated, however ; but, in the Autumn of 1762, and again in 1768, he was elected to the office-"approving himself an efficient officer and a inan of good metal." At that period he was residing on his farin on the left bank of the Lehigh, nearly opposite liis father's old place. Further mention of him is made in succeeding pages.
COL. CHARLES STEWART. From a portrait in the possession of one of his descendants.
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Į CHARLES STEWART was born March 9, 1729, at Gortlea (near Londonderry), in the county of Donegal and province of Ulster, Ireland. He was the son of Robert Stewart, whose father, Charles, was a native of Scotland, of the Galloway Stewarts, and was an officer of dragoons in the army of William and Mary. Charles Stewart, last mentioned, distinguished himself and was wounded at the battle of the Boyne in 1690, and after the victorious royal army was disbanded he received the estate of Gortlea as the reward for his services. Puritan ideas and a love of liberty impelled his grandson, Charles, to immigrate to America in 1750, and he landed at Philadelphia shortly after his twenty-first birthday. His mother's brother, Dr. John Ewing, had, but a short time before, settled in this country.
Young Stewart, not long after his arrival in Philadelphia, removed to Hunterdon County, New Jersey. Some years before 1768 he was appointed by Daniel Smith, Surveyor General of New Jersey, Deputy Surveyor for the West Division of the Province; and later, by appointment of Governor Colden of New York, he assisted in surveying a portion of the New York-Pennsylvania boundary-line. It was he who made the detached surveys in the Wappasening Valley before the Revolution. At a meeting of Gover- nor Penn and the Pennsylvania Council in February, 1769, a special commission was issued appointing Charles Stewart a "Justice of the Peace and Justice of the County Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace in and for the County of Northampton, Pettisylvania." This was shortly after he had identified himself with the Proprietaries' affairs at Wyoming-which locality was considered to be within the bounds of Northampton County. That he endeavored to perform the duties of this double-barreled office in Wyo- ming Valley, as occasion offered, is shown in the following pages.
The Provincial Congress of New Jersey, composed of many of the leading citizens of the Province, met at Trenton in August, 1775. The delegates from Hunterdon County were Charles Stewart (who resided at Lansdown, near Hampden) and Daniel Hunt. The members of this Congress took a bold and decided stand against the Crown, and upon Stewart's return home he called a meeting of his fellow-citizens at Abram Bonnel's tavern, when and where a regiment of minute-men was raised-probably the first in the Province. In 1775-'76 he was a member of the New Jersey Council of Safety. Many distinguished Loyalists were among his friends, who made every effort to retain him on the King's side, but in vain.
On the commencement of hostilities the command of the 2d Regiment of the New Jersey Line was tendered to Charles Stewart-that of the Ist being given to Lord Stirling (mentioned on page 288) .. February 15, 1776, the former was appointed and commissioned Colonel of a battalion of New Jersey minute-men. June 18, 1777, Colonel Stewart was commissioned by the American Congress Commissary General of Issues of the Continental army, with the rank of Colonel, to succeed Col. Joseph Trumbull; and in this position he served till the end of the war. He was much of the time at General Washing- ton's headquarters-at Monmouth, Yorktown, and other places. After the war Colonel Stewart returned to Lansdown, where he owned a valuable estate, including a handsome mansion-which was still stand- ing a few years ago. General Washington and his wife, during their residence in Philadelphia, frequently visited Colonel Stewart and his family at Lansdown. October 29, 1784, Colonel Stewart was appointed by the Governor of New Jersey a delegate to the General Congress of the United States, and served in that body in 1784-'85. Upon the organization of the General Government he was offered by President Washington the office of Surveyor General of the United States; but he declined the appointment, chiefly because of his desire and intention to occupy his time in prosecuting what he believed to be the legal and equitable claims of himself and his friends to large tracts of valuable lands in the Wyo- ming region.
A few years before his death Colonel Stewart removed to Flemington, Hunterdon County, New Jersey, where he owned a large farm which extended to Coxe's Hill. There he died June 24, 1800, in the seventy-second year of his age, and was buried in the church-yard of Bethlehem Presbyterian Church. His life-long friend, Chief Justice Smith of Trenton, wrote his epitaph in these words : "He was an early and decided friend to the American Revolution, and bore the important office of Commissary General of Issues to universal acceptance. His friendships were fervid and lasting, and commanded both his purse and his services. His hospitality was extensive and bountiful ; the friend and the stranger were almost compelled to come in."
"Colonel Stewart was of medium height, spare in flesh, with keen, blue eyes, expressing intelligence, kindness, bravery and firmness." In 1755 he was married to Mary Oakley Johnston, one of the seven children of the Hon. Samuel Johnston of Sidney, Hunterdon County. She is said to have been "the best read woman in the Province of New Jersey." Samuel Johnston, who was a native of Scotland, settled about 1740 at what is now Clinton, Hunterdon County. He owned there a tract of 1,200 acres of land, and for thirty years prior to the Revolution he held the office of county magistrate. His house was the most stately mansion in the northern part of West Jersey, and on Monday morning of each week court was held in its broad hall. Judge Johnston's eldest son, Col. Philip Jolinston, was associated with his brother-in-law, Colonel Stewart, in many patriotic measures during the Revolutionary period, and was a conspicuous man.
Colonel Stewart's eldest daughter, Martha, became the wife of Robert Willson, a young Irishman of education who came to this country and, soon after the battle of Lexington, volunteered in the Conti- mental army. He attained the rank of Captain, and was wounded and taken prisoner at the battle of Germantown, Pennsylvania. He died at his home in Hackettstown, New Jersey, in 1779, at the age of twenty-eight years. Mrs. Martha (Stewart) Willson was distinguished for beauty and for a brilliant and cultured mind. Mrs. Ellet, in her "Women of the American Revolution," devoted a chapter to Mrs. Willson. At the session of the Pennsylvania Legislature held in January, 1808, the Hon. John Sergeant, a Member of the Lower House from Philadelphia, presented a petition from Mrs. Martha (Stewart) Willson, administratrix of the estate of Col. Charles Stewart, deceased, "stating that said deceased, at the time of his death, was seized of four several tracts of land in the townships of Hanover and Newport, in the County of Luzerne, containing in the whole 1,282 acres; that the Commissioners under the Act of April, 1799, valued the said land ; that the said deceased released his title thereto, for which neither the petitioner nor the said deceased ever received any compensation-wherefore the petitioner prayed for relief." The petition was referred to a committee consisting of Representatives John Sergeant of Phila- delphia, Nathan Beach of Luzerne County and - Boileau of Northampton County. Up to the time of his death Colonel Stewart had been persistent in pushing his Wyoming land-claims.
Mrs. Martha (Stewart) Willson died some fifty years ago at the home of her daughter, Mrs. John M. Bowers, Sr., near Cooperstown, New York. John M. Bowers, a leading and well-known member of the- Bar in the city of New York at this time, is a grandson of Mrs. Willson and a great-grandson of Colonel Stewart.
Colonel Stewart left but one son to survive him-Samuel Robert Stewart, a resident of Flemington, New Jersey-and he died in 1802, leaving two sons. One of these sons, Charles, was graduated at Prince- ton College in 1815, in the same class with Charles Hodge-later eminent as a theologian, teacher and writer. Charles Stewart first studied law and afterwards theology, and then went as a missionary to the Sandwich Islands ; but from there he returned in 1825, on account of his wife's ill health. In 1828 he was appointed a Chaplain in the United States Navy, in which position he continued until 1862, visiting all parts of the world. He wrote and published several books relating to his foreign travels. He died at Cooperstown, New York, in 1870, at the age of seventy-five years. A son of his-Charles Seaforth Stewart-born at sea in 1825, was graduated at the West Point Military Academy in 1846, in the same class with George B. Mcclellan and "Stonewall" Jackson, and received a commission as Second Lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers. At the breaking out of the Civil War he held the rank of Captain, and during the war he served his country faithfully. March 3, 1863, he was promoted Major, and two years later was breveted Colonel. Having been promoted Colonel in the permanent establishment June 30, 1882, he was placed on the retired list September 16, 1886, at his own request, after forty years service. He is now residing at Cooperstown, New York.
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house on the land for the purpose of carrying on trade with the Indians. In addition they were to defend themselves and those who might go on the land under them-as well as their possessions-"against all enemies whatsoever." As we have previously shown (see page 444) Ogden had already been established for a number of years in Wyoming as a trader.
About the first of January, 1769, Governor Penn addressed to Messrs. Stewart, Ogden and Jennings, aforementioned, the following communication (see "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, XII : 51):
"There being occasion, as soon as may be, to settle the Proprietary manors at Wyo- ming, on both sides the East Branch of the Susquehanna-which you have signified your inclination to undertake-you may give such settlers, as you may think proper to invite there, the strongest assurances that each shall have a lease for seven years of 100 acres of bottom-land, with wood-land sufficient to support their plantation, upon paying the acknowledgment of an ear of Indian corn per annum-if the same be demanded. And at the end of the term, if the Proprietaries incline to sell the lands, the settlers shall have the refusal-in case they incline to give as much as other people ; and if the Proprietaries do not incline to sell, but to rent, the said settlers shall have the preference of others-in case they will give as good a rent as others offer.
"And the said settlers, on their parts, must undertake to defend their possessions against all persons as shall unlawfully and without authority intrude upon the said manors or any other of the Proprietary lands in their neighborhood ; and shall do their utmost, and give their best assistance to magistrates and others, in a lawful manner to exclude and remove such unlawful intruders or settlers from off the lands of the Proprie- taries, or others, on which they shall so unlawfully intrude or settle. That they shall build upon, and improve in the best manner they are capable, their said plantations ; and at the end of the term shall deliver up their plantations to the said Proprietaries, their officers or agents, in good repair."
Captain Ogden, who was already on the ground in Wyoming, at his trading-house, was soon joined here by Charles Stewart and John Jen- nings, accompanied by a number of men from the south-eastern part of Northampton County and the Province of New Jersey whose intention it was to become lessees, or tenants, of some of the Proprietary lands at Wyoming. Stewart, Ogden and Jennings selected their 100 acres (which they were to occupy and improve under a Proprietary lease, as previously noted) at the mouth of Mill Creek-lying within the Manor of Stoke, at its north corner, and being a part of the land occupied and im- proved by the settlers under The Susquehanna Company in 1762 and 1763. There-on, or very near, the site of the block-house which had been erected by the New Englanders and destroyed by either the Indi- ans or the troops under Major Clayton, as we have previously shown- these men proceeded to erect a small block-house, which was soon ready for occupancy, and to which, from the old store-house near the bend of the river (see page 445), Captain Ogden removed his goods and other belongings.
Preparations were then made, as expeditiously as possible, to survey and lease, to the various persons deemed desirable and "proper," liundred- acre lots on the flats, or plains (see pages 49 and 50), in what are now the townships of Wilkes-Barré, Hanover, Kingston and Plymouth ; to- gether with "wood-lots" in other localities within the bounds of "Stoke" and "Sunbury"-according to the regulations and terins laid down by Governor Penn in his letter to Stewart, Ogden and Jennings. And, in order that the business of land-lotting at Wyoming might be facilitated, Charles Stewart was soon appointed by Surveyor General Lukens a Deputy Surveyor of the Province. There were many applicants for the rich and fertile Wyoming lands, and by the end of January, 1769, a con- siderable number of leases had been duly executed, and the lessees had "manned their rights." Col. Timothy Pickering stated in 1798 (see
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Miner's "Wyoming," page 106) that he had "seen among the Proprie- taries' papers a list of forty or fifty [men] who purchased on the express condition of defending, in arms, the possession of these [Wyoming] lands from the Connecticut claimants."
In Chapter XI, in connection with the events of the years 1770 and 1771, will be found the names of a number of those to whom lands in "Stoke" and "Sunbury" were either leased or sold, in 1769 and the years mentioned above, by the authorized agents of the Proprietaries.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE SETTLEMENT AT WYOMING RENEWED BY THE SUSQUEHANNA COM- PANY-MAJ. JOHN DURKEE AND THE "SONS OF LIBERTY"-FORT DURKEE ERECTED-THE FIVE "SETTLING-TOWNS "- WILKES-BARRÉ LAID OUT AND NAMED-SOME FACTS RELATIVE TO THE WRITING AND PRONUNCIA- TION OF THE NAME OF THE TOWN.
"And who were they, our fathers? In their veins Ran the best blood of England's gentlemen ; Her bravest in the strife on battle-plains, Her wisest in the strife of voice and pen ; Her holiest, teaching, in her holiest fanes, The lore that led to martyrdom ; and when On this side ocean slept their wearied sails, And their toil-bells woke up our thousand hills and dales,
"Shamed they their fathers? Ask the village spires Above their Sabbath-homes of praise and prayer ; Ask of their children's happy household-fires, And happier harvest noons ; ask Summer's air, Made merry by young voices, when the wires Of their school-cages are unloosed, and dare Their slanderers' breath to blight the memory That o'er their graves is 'growing green to see' !" -Fitz-Greene Halleck's "Connecticut."
Within a very short time after the signing of the Fort Stanwix Treaty the fact that some of the Six Nation chiefs had, concurrently, executed a deed for the Wyoming lands in favor of the Pennsylvania Proprietaries, became known to the Executive Committee of The Sus- quehanna Company. A majority of the committee got together as soon as it was convenient for them to do so, and, after discussing the situa- tion, prepared the following "advertisement," which was published in The New London Gazette December 2, 1768, in the Connecticut Courant (Hartford) some days later, and in the Pennsylvania Chronicle and Universal Advertiser (Philadelphia) December 19, 1768.
"WHEREAS, the lands formerly purchased by the New England people and others (commonly called THE SUSQUEHANNA COMPANY) of the Six Nations of Indians, and lying on Susquehanna River, are within the grant made to the Governor and Company of the Colony of Connecticut, in the most plain and legal construction thereof ; and His Majesty's prohibition as to the settling of those lands pointing out the dissatisfaction and disturbance that such settlement might occasion to those Indians as the only reason of such prohibition ; and, as in consequence of His Majesty's order at the late congress at Fort Stanwix, such precautions have been taken as to obviate any fresh troubles with the Indians ; and the Indians being now quieted and satisfied-it appears that nothing reason- able lies in the way against the Susquehanna purchasers going on and settling those lands, purchased by them (lying within the line settled with the Indians at said congress),
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as soon as conveniently may be. These are therefore to give notice to the said SUSQUE- HANNA COMPANY to meet at Hartford, in the Colony of Connecticut, on the 28th day of December next, then and there to consult and act what they see fit and convenient as to carrying on such settlement-and any other business that may be thought proper to be done at said meeting.
"Windham, November 28, 1768.
[Signed]
"ELIPHALET DYER, "JEDIDIAH ELDERKIN,*
"SAMUEL GRAY, "JOHN SMITH, Committee."
* JEDIDIAH ELDERKIN was born at Norwich, New London County, Connecticut, in 1717, the second child and eldest son of John and Susanna ( Baker) Elderkin. John Elderkin-the third of the name-was the grandson of John Elderkin the first, who was born in 1616 (presumably in England) and became the progenitor of all who bear that surname in this country. John Elderkin, Ist, was settled at I.y1111, Massa- chusetts, in1 1637 ; but before 1650 he had removed to New London, Connecticut, IIe ultimately settled in Norwich, where a grant of land was made to him in 1667. He was a carpenter and mill-wright, and built the first meeting-house at New London and the first grist-mill at Norwich. He was twice married-his second wife, to whom he was married about 1660, being Elizabeth, widow of William Gaylord of Windsor, Connecticut. John Elderkin, 1st, died at Norwich June 23, 1687.
Jedidiah Elderkin became a lawyer about 1740, and August 31, 1741, was married to Anne Wood of Norwich. In 1744 they removed to the town of Windham (mentioned on page 249), taking up their resi- dence at the "Green," where they were next-door neighbors to Eliphalet Dyer. There Mr. Elderkin con- tinued to practise law, and in the course of a few years had acquired, for that period, an extensive client- age. "Elderkin and Dyer were unquestionably the leading lawyers of eastern Connecticut, and their fame was not confined to their own section. Elderkin was about four years the senior of Dyer."
In May, 1751, Jedidiah Elderkin first sat in the General Assembly of Connecticut as one of the two Deputies from the town of Windliam. He was also in attendance at the October session of that year, and thereafter he represented his town in the Assembly for sixteen years-although not continuously. In May, 1755, he was appointed and commissioned by the General Assembly a Justice of the Peace in and for the County of Windham, and in that office he was continued, by successive appointments, for a period of thirty years. He was, as previously noted, one of the organizers of The Susquehanna Company in 1754. In 1774, and perhaps earlier, he was King's Attorney in and for Windham County. In October, 1754, he was "established" and commissioned Ensign of the 1st Company, or Train-band, in the 5th Regiment, Connecticut Militia, and in October, 1759, was promoted Major of the regiment. In October, 1774, he was commissioned by the General Assembly Lieutenant Colonel of the 5th Regiment, "to succeed Eliphalet Dyer, promoted," and in the following March was promoted Colonel of the regiment "in room of Eliph- alet Dyer, resigned." The 5th Regiment, at that time, was composed of companies located in the towns of Windham, Mansfield and Ashford. In January, 1776, Colonel Elderkin was appointed by the General Assembly to go to Salisbury to procure the casting of cannon for the State ; and in May, 1776, as previously noted (on page 283), he was appointed a member of the Connecticut "Council of Safety." Of that body he remained a member during the continuance of the war, rendering important services to his country and his State in their hours of greatest need and peril. He was an ardent patriot.
At a special session of the General Assembly of Connecticut in December, 1775, it was enacted that a bounty of £30 should be paid by the Colony to the person who would erect the first powder-mill in the Colony and manufacture 500 pounds of good, merchantable gunpowder. At the same session liberty was given Colonel Elderkin and Nathaniel Wales, Jr. (hereinbefore mentioned), to erect a powder-mill in the town of Windham. The mill was built without delay, at what is now the city of Willimantic, then a hamlet of some half-dozen houses, and before May, 1776, Messrs. Elderkin and Wales had manufactured 1,000 pounds of powder-for which they were paid the promised bounty. This mill was totally destroyed by an explosion, December 13, 1777. November 2, 1775, Colonel Elderkin was directed by Governor Trum- bull and the Council of the Colony to proceed to New London, accompanied by Major Dawes, of Norwich, and such engineers of General Washington's army as the Governor would be able to engage, "in order to view the circumstances of the harbor and port of New London and neighboring places, and consider of the most proper places and manner of fortifying the same against the enemy-according to the Act of
Assembly." The harbor of New London was then (as it is now) not only one of the finest on the Atlantic coast of this country, but, next to New York and Philadelphia, was the most important. Major Dawes declined to perform the service desired of him, and no engineers could be procured ; consequently Colonel Elderkin went to New London alone to do the work. Accompanied by some of the principal gentlemen of the town he visited Mammicock Island, Winthrop's Point, Groton and other places, and viewed the old-time works of defense standing there. November 15, 1775, he made a lengthy and interesting report to the Governor, which is printed in full in "American Archives," Fourth Series, III : 1560-2. The closing paragraph reads as follows : "So far as I can judge it is of the utmost importance to secure the port and harbor of New London from falling into the hands of our enemies-which will be an asylum for ships, vessels of force, floating batteries, &c., that may be by the Continent, or any particular Government, built for the protection of our sea-coasts or country. If left destitute of protection, and should fall into the hands of our enemies, it would let them into the bowels of our country and give them great advantage against us."
Just one year later Colonel Elderkin and Nathaniel Wales, Jr., were directed by the Council of Safety to go to New London and do everything in their power "to send out the ship Oliver Cromwell on a cruise." December 9, 1776, the Council of Safety resolved that, "Colonel Elderkin not being in suitable circum- stances to march with the 5th Regiment in the present emergency, the command be given, for the emer- gency, to Major Brown." The last important public service performed by Colonel Elderkin was as a member of the Connecticut convention which met at Hartford in January, 1788, to ratify the Constitution of the United States. He died at Windham March 3, 1793, and his wife died there June 14, 1804, aged eighty-three years.
Col. Jedidiah and Anne ( Wood) Elderkin were the parents of nine children, the eldest of whom, Judith Elderkin (born March 2, 1743), became the wife of Jabez Huntington, at one time Sheriff of Wind- ham County. Another daughter, Anne Elderkin, was married to Jabez Clark (born November 2, 1753), son of Dr. John and Jerusha (Huntington) Clark, and grandson of Col. Jabez Huntington (mentioned on page 280) and his first wife, Elizabeth Edwards. Charlotte, a daughter of Jabez and Anne (Elderkin) Clark, became the wife of the Hon. Samuel Huntington Perkins of Philadelphia. Charlotte Elderkin (born October 23, 1764), eighth child of Colonel Elderkin, became the wife of Samuel Gray, Jr., as men- tioned on page 293.
Vine Elderkin, the second child and eldest son of Colonel Elderkin, was born at Windham September 11, 1745. At the age of eighteen he was graduated at Yale College as a Bachelor of Arts, in the same class (1763) with Ebenezer Gray, mentioned on page 292. In 1766 he received the degree of Master of Arts from his Alma Mater. He studied law with his father and located as a lawyer in his native town, where he was married November 23, 1767, to Lydia, third daughter of the Rev. Stephen and Mary (Dyer ) White and niece of Col. Eliphalet Dyer. (See page 393.) The Rev. Stephen White was a graduate of Yale College, and in 1767 had been for some years pastor of the Congregational Church at Windham. In 1769 Vine Elderkin was here in Wyoming Valley, taking an active part in attempting to establish The Susquehanna Company's settlements. At the breaking out of the Revolutionary War he was engaged in mercantile
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