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 83
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* See "Map of a Part of Pennsylvania," in Chapter XI.
+ See "Transactions of the Moravian Historical Society," I : 202.
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age and others for fifteen tracts of land-averaging about 300 acres each -on Abraham's Plains (see page 50); to David Frazier for 277 acres near Tunkhannock ; to John Maxwell, Sr., for a tract north of Abraham's Plains; to Samuel Johnston (Charles Stewart's father-in-law) for 326 acres at Capouse Meadows; to Elizabeth Gardey for 357 acres on the Lacka- wanna River, and to a number of other persons for tracts in different localities in and near Wyoming. In addition, Stewart, Ogden and Jen- nings, in pursuance of their agreement with Governor Penn, had been diligently disposing of leasehold interests in Stoke and Sunbury to a number of prospective settlers. By the 10th of May the surveys of nearly all the tracts of land just mentioned-as well as the division of Stoke and Sunbury into lots-had been accomplished by Charles Stewart aided by Philip Johnston (his brother-in-law), Daniel Leet, Jacob Ten Eyck and Robert Willson ; the last named a young man then about eighteen years of age, who, a few years later, became Stewart's son-in-law.
In the morning of Friday, May 12, 1769, Major Durkee and his company broke camp at Capouse Meadows and took up their line of march down along the Lackawanna and the left bank of the Susque- hanna, past the settlement of the Pennsylvanians at Mill Creek, to the locality where stood the deserted store-house of Captain Ogden, which was (as mentioned on page 445) near the bend of the river. There they encamped. Later in the day Charles Stewart wrote and despatched to Governor Penn at Philadelphia a letter reading in part as follows* :
"This afternoon about three o'clock 146 New England men and others, chiefly on horseback, passed by our houses and are now encamped on the east side of the river. Among them is Benjamin Shoemaker and John McDowell, with several of their neigh- bors. I spoke to McDowell, who informs me that at least as many more are on their way and will be here to-morrow, and I have other intelligence that they will in a few days be 500 strong. If this be true, we can only act defensively until reinforced. At present we are but twenty-four men. On my way up the river from Shamokin, on Wednesday even- ing last, I was hailed by a man at the mouth of Fishing Creek, named James McClure, who told me that he and four others was an advance party of 100 going to join the New England men, and that they would chiefly be from Lancaster County, and that he would be at Wyoming as soon as us ; but he is not yet come.
"From the view I had of those gentry, in their procession by our houses, they ap- pear to be-at least an equal number of them-of the very lowest class, but are almost all armed and fit for mischief. I am of opinion that, unless a party of His Majesty's forces are sent up to remove them, it will be difficult for the Sheriff to raise men enough in North- ampton County to effect it ; and every day will add to their strength and give them more spirits to persevere in mischief. On conversing with Captain [Samuel] Hunter, Doctor [William] Plunket and others at Shamokin, they declared their willingness to come here, if wanted, and bring a party to assist us. Your Honor will consider whether this will be of service. I think it would at least put a stop to the people of Lancaster County, &c., to join the Yankys, t and prevent their getting to the West Branch-which is their design, as soon as they can establish a possession here. I have enclosed a list of the names of as many of them as I could possibly collect in so short a time."
The list referred to by Mr. Stewart contained the following thirty- six names : Benjamin Shoemaker, Benjamin Shoemaker, Jr., John McDowell, John McDowell, Jr., Samuel Weyburn, John Lee, Stephen Lee, Joseph Lee, Daniel Haines, Asher Harrod, William Leonard, John Leonard, Elijah Holloway, Thomas Bennet, Samuel Marvin, David Marvin, Reuben Hurlbut, Benjamin Follett, John Comstock, Samuel Clark, John Gardner, John De Long, John Smith, Esq., Timothy Smith, Abel Smitlı, Joseph Morse, Ezra Dean, John Wheet, John Wharburt, * See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," IX : 583.
+ This is the first time, in all the correspondence and other documents, records, etc., relating to the New Englanders in Wyoming, that the latter are referred to as Yankees. This sobriquet, soon after this date, came into general use among the New Englanders as well as the Pennsylvanians-who, by the way, were called by the former, Pennamites.
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Jacob Welch, Jabez Cooke, Ebenezer Northrop, - Chambers, Oba- dialı Gore, Jr., Elisha Babcock and - Wright.
A few days after the arrival at Wyoming of Major Durkee's party they were joined by another detachment of settlers from New England, numbering nearly 150 men, who brought with them a few head of cattle, and some pack-horses loaded with provisions, farming utensils, etc.
To Charles Stewart's letter Governor Penn replied on the 16th of May, in part as follows* :
"I received yours of the 12th instant by express, and am sorry to hear those rash and inconsiderate people of New England still persist in their design of settling on the Susquehanna, and that their numbers are such as nothing less than a military force can remove. As to any attempts to remove them immediately by civil authority, it seems im- practicable, and I would not have you attempt it. The most you can do for the present is to keep your possessions as well as you can. I have wrote to the Sheriff of North- ampton to proceed to Wyoming. * * I have also wrote to Colonel Francis, and the officers on the Susquehanna, to give you their aid, if necessary, to secure your settle- ments. * * At the same time that I approve of your intentions of holding your pos- sessions, by all lawful and prudent measures, I would not have you attempt impossibili- ties or expose your persons in resisting even a lawless superior force, who may be niad and wicked enough to remove you at all events."
On the same day the Governor wrote and despatched to Sheriff John Jennings, at his home near Bethlehem, the following communicationt :
"I suppose Mr. Stewart has wrote you the bad state of our affairs at Wyoming. You will receive herewith a proclamation, with which I desire you will immediately pro- ceed to Wyoming, with a few reputable people to accompany you, and there publish it to the Connecticut people in a peaceable and quiet manner. If they should carry the matter so far as to attempt removing our people by force, their numbers, I am afraid, are too great to resist, and that they will be obliged to give way for the present rather than run a hazard of shedding blood without a probability of success. I desire you will reduce all you know of the proceedings in the affair, from the beginning, to an affidavit. * * This will be necessary to send to England, in order to institute a proceeding there against these rash intruders, and to lay before General Gage."
The proclamation issued by Governor Penn, and referred to in the foregoing letter, was dated May 16, 1769, and was printed in the shape of a broadside. It set forth the fact that the New Englanders had in- truded upon the lands at Wyoming in violation of law and right, and closed by "strictly enjoining and requiring, in His Majesty's name, all and every person and persons already settled or residing on the said lands, without the license of the Proprietaries or authority from this [the Pennsylvania] Government, immediately to evacuate their settlements, and to depart and remove themselves off and from the said lands with- out delay."
A few days later Governor Penn wrote as follows§ to Col. Turbutt Francis,|| "at the Forks of the Susquehanna" (Shamokin) :
* See "Pennsylvania Archives," Fourth Series, III : 411. t See ibid., page 410.
# An original copy of this broadside is now in the possession of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
¿ See "Pennsylvania Archives," Fourth Series, III : 412.
| TURBUTT FRANCIS was the eighth and youngest child of Tench and Elizabeth (Turbutt) Francis. Tench Francis, though of English parentage, was born in Dublin, Ireland, and was the great-grandson of Philip Francis, royalist Mayor of Plymouth, England, in 1644, during the Civil War. Sir Philip Francis (born at Dublin in 1740), the author of the celebrated "Letters of Junius," was a son of Philip, brother of Tench, Francis. About the year 1700 Tench Francis immigrated to Maryland and established himself as a lawyer in Kent County. There, in 1724, he was married to Elizabeth Turbutt, and soon afterwards they removed to Philadelphia, where he became the leading lawyer of his time. He was counsel for the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania from 1740 to 1744; Attorney General of the Province from 1744 to 1752 and Recorder of Philadelphia from 1750 to 1754. He died at Philadelphia August 14, 1758.
Tench and Elizabeth ( Turbutt) Francis were the parents of eight children, some of whoin were : ii. Anne Francis (born in 1727), who became the wife of James Tilghman, Secretary of the Land Office of Pennsylvania in 1769 and other years. Two of their children were (1) Tench Tilghman, a Colonel on the staff of General Washington during the Revolutionary War, and (2) William Tilghman, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania from 1806 till 1827. iii .. Mary Francis (born in 1729), who became the wife of William Coxe. iv. Tench Francis (born in 1730; died in 1800). He was attorney in 1784 for John Penn and John Penn, Jr., "lately Proprietaries of Pennsylvania." His wife was Anne, daughter of Charles and Anne Willing of Philadelphia. vi. Margaret Francis (born in 1735), who became the wife of Edward Shippen, Jr., and the mother-in-law of Benedict Arnold-as mentioned on page 360.
TURBUTT FRANCIS was born at Philadelphia in 1740. During Pontiac's War he served as an officer in the Pennsylvania forces and rose to the rank of Colonel. In 1769 he seems to have been stationed at Fort
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Augusta, or Shamokin, in command of a small body of Provincial troops. During the next few years he made his home at or near Shamokin, and when the county of Northumberland was erected in March 1772, he was commissioned by the Governor one of the first Justices of the Courts of the new county. Turbutt Township in Northumberland County was named for him. In June, 1772, about one-half mile below the site of Fort Augusta, the town of Sunbury was laid out and named, and in January, 1773, Tur- butt Francis became the original warrantee of Lot No. 69 in the town-plot. Later, warrants were issued to him for several thousand acres of land surveyed in the townships of Muncy, Buffalo and Wyoming, in Northumberland County ; part of the lands lying within the territory claimed by The Susquehanna Com- pany. In 1773 Colonel Francis took up his residence in Philadelphia.
The Continental Congress resolved, July 12, 1775, "That the securing and preserving the friendship of the Indian nations appears to be a subject of the utmost moment to these Colonies ; * * that there be three Departments of Indian Affairs, * * the Northern to extend so far as to include the whole of the Indians known by the name of the Six Nations." Commissioners were to be appointed to look after the affairs of each Department, and it was resolved that these Commissioners should "have power to treat with the Indians in the name and on behalf of the United Colonies, in order to preserve peace and friendship with said Indians, and to prevent their taking any part in the present commotions." It was also resolved that the Commissioners should "have power to take to their assistance gentlemen of influence among the Indians, in whom they can [could] confide." As Commissioners in and for the Northern Department Congress appointed Col. Turbutt Francis and the other gentlemen named on page 285, ante. At the same time Congress also recommended that these Commissioners should "employ the Rev. Samuel Kirkland [mentioned on page 449, ante] among the Indians of the Six Nations, in order to secure their friendship."
About the middle of August, 1775, the Commissioners for the Northern Department held their first meeting at Albany, New York. All were present, and they were attended by the Rev. Samuel Kirkland, Thomas Fulmer, of German Flats, Tryon County, New York, an Indian interpreter, and - Dean, another Indian interpreter. A large delegation of Six Nation Indians visited Albany at this time in response to an invitation from the Commissioners, and spent several days in holding conferences with the latter. Under date of September 4, 1775, at Albany, Colonel Wolcott wrote to General Schuyler (who had found it necessary to leave Albany before the close of the conferences) as follows: "They [the Indi- ans] have in appearance very cordially accepted the tender of our friendship, and have given every assur- ance that they will observe the strictest neutrality, and during the negotiation have discovered a great deal of pleasantry and good humor. * * Colonel Francis went away [about September 1st] not very well. The Indians went out of town almost all this morning."
On August 31st, during one of the conferences with the Indians, Taokogwando, an Onondagan chief, made some references-unexpected, irrelevant and injudicious-to the Susquehanna lands and the claims of the New Englanders concerning them. Very little attention was paid to the incident by the majority of the Commissioners, but later they were led to believe that one of the Board-Colonel Francis-had taken advantage of his office and the occasion of the Albany conference to stir up this matter with the Indians. These Commissioners, knowing that Francis was a friend and an adherent of the Pennsylvania Proprietaries, that he was a lessee under them for large bodies of Pennsylvania lands (as hereinbefore noted) and that in his political sentiments he inclined to Toryism, resolved to investigate the charge of duplicity made against him. On the 14th of the following December the Commissioners-with the excep- tion of Colonel Francis-again gathered at Albany, for the purpose of holding a treaty with the Six Nations. Among the unpublished papers of Oliver Wolcott in the possession of The Connecticut Histori- cal Society is an "abstract" from the original journal of the transactions of the Indian Commissioners at their meeting in December, 1775; and from that "abstract" the following information has been derived. "Resolved unanimously, by the Commissioners present, that it is a duty we owe our constituents, our country and ourselves that inquiry should be made into the truth of a suggestion that so much of what Taokogwando, the Onondaga chief, delivered in his speech to the Commissioners on the 31st of August last, as related to the Susquehanna lands now unhappily in controversy between the Colonies of Penn- sylvania and Connecticut, was not in consequence of any instructions that he had in charge from the Six Nations ; and to lay the result of such inquiry before the Continental Congress. Resolved, That the chiefs of the nations as are now in town be requested to meet us this evening. * * * The Commis- sioners being met in the evening proceeded to the inquiry, and, having deliberately gone through the same, resolved that a letter be wrote to the Continental Congress stating the reasons of the inquiry and containing Dean's and Kirkland's information, together with that of Taokogwando." Then follows a draft of a letter dated Albany, December 14, 1775, addressed to the Hon. John Hancock, President of Congress, and signed by Messrs. Schuyler, Douw and Edwards. It reads in part as follows :
"Conscious that it is a duty we owe our respectable constituents, our country and ourselves not to permit any doubts or suspicions to exist relative to or concerning any transactions of ours, when it is in our power to eradicate them ; and reports prevailing that what Taokogwando delivered at the conference (held here in the months of August and September) respecting the Susquehanna lands, * * was not in consequence either of directions from his particular nation or the result of the united councils of the Six Nations, * * Messrs. Dean and Kirkland [have] agreed in the following information : That im- mediately after Taokogwando had delivered his speech a murmur ran through the assembly, as at a mat- ter not only unexpected, but improper ; and that some of the sachems, after the rising of the assembly, spoke to them [Dean and Kirkland] on the subject, expressing their astonishment at such a speech, of which no notice had been given to the Six Nations. Mr. Fulmer, another interpreter, was then called before us, and as, in the information which he gave, Colonel Francis' name was mentioned, we have thought proper to take his [Fulmer's] deposition.
"After Fulmer's information we were of opinion that the sachems should be convened, that we might confer with them. Accordingly Taokogwando and another Onondaga sachem, and two [sachems] from each of the other nations now in town, were convened, at which meeting were also present Messrs. Dean, Kirkland, Bleecker and Fulmer, interpreters. The Indians being made acquainted with the business of the meeting Taokogwando gave the following information : That, coming from the meeting preceding that in which the Susquehanna lands were mentioned, Colonel Francis took him by the hand, informed him that all the other sachems had been to see him, and asked him why he did not come and smoke a pipe with him, and then invited him to his room in the evening, that he had something to say to him. The sachem replied it was not the custom of the Indians to come alone on such an occasion, and he would, therefore, bring one or two along with him. Two accordingly came with him in the evening. After they had drank a little and began to be intoxicated, Colonel Francis informed thein that Governor Penn had directed him to make enquiry about the sale of the Susquehanna lands ; upon which Taokogwando then related what he, being a lad, had heard Connasiatigo inform his father-being the same, in sub- stance, what he had delivered in his speech. He observed * * that what he had said was not in con- sequence of any directions he had either from his nation or the Six Nations. Taokogwando further says that Colonel Francis promised to give the sachems of the Six Nations something, provided he { Taokog- wando] would deliver it [the speech] at the close of the business of the next meeting, and not mention his name (meaning Colonel Francis)."
Accompanying the foregoing letter was an affidavit of the interpreter Thomas Fulmer, made before Justice Abraham Ten Broeck at Albany, December 18, 1775, and reading in part as follows : "The day before the last conference was held in the Presbyterian Meeting-house Colonel Francis, one of the said Commissioners, requested of this deponent to know who was the chief of the Onondaga nation. He answered, Taokogwando, and thereupon he requested deponent to bring the said Indian to him. That when the said Indian was brought the said Francis desired the favor of smoking a pipe with him at his lodgings. * * * That about nine o'clock in the evening of the same day this deponent was sent for by Colonel Francis to attend him at his lodgings at Mr. Bloodgood's ; that deponent went, and found there
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"By express from Wyoming dated the 12th inst. I have an account that 146 New Englanders liad that afternoon passed by the settlement there and encamped on the east side of the river, a little below ; and that as many more were expected there the next day. * * The account further informs that they expected to be joined by 100 people from the lower parts of the Susquehanna, chiefly from Lancaster, and that they were meditating a settlement on the West Branch. I doubt not but your own interest, as well as that of the Proprietaries, will excite you and your corps to give any assistance in your power to our people at Wyoming, as well as to prevent, if possible, any of our people
from joining them. *
*% It seems scandalous in the people of the country, who have long experienced the indulgence of the Proprietaries, to join a parcel of Robbers who are come to seize upon their [the Proprietaries'] lands by violence. * All that can at * present be done is to attempt keeping the possessions we have got. In this respect you and your associates may be of service. *
* If your health is such as that you can safely venture a journey, I should be glad if you could go yourself to Wyoming."
Almost immediately after their arrival at their destination the set- tlers under Major Durkee began the erection of twenty odd substantial and commodious one-story log cabins, which they built closely together in the form of a parallelogram. Each cabin faced towards the quad- rangle thus formed, and was entered therefrom-the rear, or outward, walls of the cabins being constructed without either doors or windows, but with loop-holes through which the inmates of the cabins might dis- charge their fire-arms at assailants. All the cabins were completed and occupied by the 20th of May. Then, about the 1st of June, in view of certain occurrences which had taken place (and which are described hereinafter), it was deemed advisable to surround the cabins with a wooden stockade. This was accordingly done without delay.
No detailed description of this defensive work has been preserved, but without doubt it was constructed in the same manner and form as nearly all structures for similar purposes were built at that period. A ditch three feet deep having been dug, hewn logs ("stoccadoes")-each usually about one foot in diameter, from fifteen to eighteen feet in length and pointed at one end-were set close together in a single line in the ditch, with their pointed ends up; after which the ditch was filled in with earth. Sometimes a double row of timbers was set up, in order to break joints. Loop-holes were then constructed at proper and conven- ient points in the walls, and at each corner of the stockade a watch- tower, or sentry-box, was erected, extending several feet above the tops of the upright timbers. Along the inside of the walls huts, or barrack- like structures, were erected for the accommodation of the occupants of the fortification. Generally there were two strongly barricaded gate- ways, or entrances, opposite each other. Except in front of these gate- ways a ditch, several feet wide and deep, was dug about four feet outside
Taokogwando and two other Onondaga sachems; that they smoked, drank and discussed together for some time, until the Indians appeared to this deponent to be considerably in liquor, when Francis told them that Governor Penn had requested him to ask the Onondagas who had first bought the lands called Wl'ywaymick-the said Governor Penn or the New England people. That the said Indian chief thereupon answered that he had heard from his uncle that Governor Penn had bought the lands on the east side of the Susquehanna, and that he did not know whether the New England people had bought any lands or not. "That the said Francis further asked the said Indian chief if he did not know how inany dollars Governor Penn had paid at Fort Stanwix for the said lands. The said Indian answered he had not seen all the money, yet he had heard that he had paid 10,000 dollars. Francis then asked the said Indian whether he would, on the following day, in the public conference, when the other business was done, declare the same in public-but not mention his name-which the Indian promised to do. Whereupon Francis told him that if he did, he and Governor Penn would give a present to the Onondaga Indians- which said discourse, at the request of Colonel Francis, was interpreted between them by this deponent. That when the Indians left his ( Francis') lodgings he presented them with a bottle of rum."
Accompanying the foregoing documents was a letter from Oliver Wolcott to Congress, in which he referred to the conference and treaty with the Six Nations, and then said : "I have enclosed their [the Indians'] testimony with regard to their parting with the Susquehanna lands, together with our reply. You will, I conceive, readily believe this to be a most insidious manœuvre to give a bias and prejudice against the Colony's claim. For myself, I cannot doubt of it, as it was a matter entirely foreign to our negotiations-a matter of which the Indians could make neither claim nor complaint. I have spoke my mind freely respecting the business of attempting to injure a cause in this manner."
Of the last years of Col. Turbutt Francis' life we have not been able to learn any particulars. In "The Shippen Papers," previously referred to, it is stated that he died in 1797; but according to the assessment lists of Buffalo Township, Northumberland County, he was dead in 1782.
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and parallel with the stockade, against which the excavated earth was thrown, forming a sloping embankment to the inner edge of the ditch.
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