A history of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, from its first beginnings to the present time; including chapters of newly-discovered, Vol. I, Part 85

Author: Harvey, Oscar Jewell, 1851-1922; Smith, Ernest Gray
Publication date: 1909-1930
Publisher: Wilkes-Barre : Raeder Press
Number of Pages: 734

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 85

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About the 15th of June Major Durkee, John Smith, Esq., and Capt. Ezra Dean set out from Wyoming for Easton, to attend the trial of the twenty settlers set down for the terin of the Northampton County Court beginning Monday, June 19th. On that date a gentleman in Philadel- phia wrote to a friend in Connecticut as followst :

"On Tuesday last [June 13th] arrived in town from Connecticut the Hon. Eliphalet Dyer, with his son Mr. Thomas Dyer, and Jedidiah Elderkin, Esq., with his son Mr. Vine Elderkin, and on Saturday [June 17th] they set out for Easton, where they expect to meet a considerable number of the New England adventurers from Wyoming.

"We hear from Cumberland County that sundry persons have been up to the settle- mient of the New England adventurers at Wyoming, who inform that the settlement con- sists at present of upwards of 300 men, and more are daily arriving. That they have built several large houses, have planted 200 acres of land with Indian corn, have good store of all necessaries and are daily making further improvements. That they treat every- one who goes among them with so much friendship and hospitality, and appear so upright and humane in their tempers, as to engage the respect and esteein of all their visitants. That they have with them a number of men of the best character, great experience and good sense, and it is said the adventurers will be speedily increased by great numbers from New England and other parts, and are so strongly supported by numerous and able friends that we may hope soon to see the trade of this Province considerably increased by their industry and success."

For some reason now unknown the case against the Yankees at Easton was continued to the September Term of Court, and the bail of the defendants having been renewed the majority of them repaired with Major Durkee to Wyoming, while the others returned to their respective homes. During Major Durkee's absence from Wyoming an exciting occurrence had taken place here. Miner says ("History of Wyoming," page 110) :

"Col. Turbot Francis, commanding a fine company from the city [Philadelphia], in full military array, with colors streaming, and martial music, descended into the plain and sat down before Fort Durkee about the 20th of June ; but finding the Yankees too strongly fortified, returned to await reinforcements below the mountains."

Relative to this occurrence Parshall Terry, in his affidavit referred to on page 403, ante, deposed :

"They [the settlers] fenced and carried on a large branch of farming business, peaceably and unmolested, until some time in June [1769], when a Colonel Francis-said to belong to Philadelphia-accompanied with a large party of armed men, appeared at Wyoming and drew near to our block-house at Wilkesbarre and demanded a possession of our houses and possessions, and threatened, in case of refusal, he, the said Francis, would set fire to our houses and kill our people. After using many threats he, the said Francis, withdrew with his party."

Still another account of the Francis fiasco is given in a communi- cation made to Governor Trumbull of Connecticut by Eliphalet Dyer, Jedidiah Elderkin and Nathaniel Wales, Jr., under date of March 27, 1771. It is as follows :

* See Halsey's "The Old New York Frontier," page 142.

t See The New London Gazette, June 30, 1769.

# See "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, IV : 401.

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"June 22d [1769] Colonel Francis, with sixty armed men, in a hostile manner, demanded a surrender of our houses and possessions. He embodied his forces within thirty or forty rods of their [the settlers'] dwellings, threatened to fire their houses and kill our people unless they surrendered and quitted their possessions, which they refused to do ; and after many terrible threatenings by him, he withdrew."

Colonel Francis, as we have previously shown, was a native of Phil- adelphia and had spent there the greater part of his life prior to 1769 ; but he was then living at Fort Augusta, and the men whom he led in the expedition against the Yankees at Wyoming were all from Fort Augusta or its vicinity. What is probably the most authentic account of that futile affair-inspired, as we have previously indicated (see page 491), by Governor Penn-is contained in a letter written by Capt. Prince Alden* to Timothy Green, the printer, of New London, Connecticut- being dated at "Wiwawmuck, in Connecticut, on Susquehannah River, June 26, 1769." It reads in part as follows :

"Maj. John Durkee, John Smith, Esq., and Capt. Ezra Dean being gone to Easton Court, one of our spies informed us that one Colonel Francis was gathering a mob at Shamokin against us, with design to remove us off our settlement. Being apprised of this our men thought proper to picket in our houses, and put things in a proper posture of defence. The 22d [of June] our spies gave fresh information, that the mob was on their way, and they judged their number consisted of between 60 and 70, and in the evening they came and strung along the opposite side of the River for more than a mile, judging by their whooping, yelling, and hideous noise and firing of guns.

"The 23d, in the morning, one Captain Ogden, with two more, came to know if our committee could be spoke with by Colonel Francis, which was consented to. About 8 in the morning the Colonel came, seemingly in an angry frame by his looks and behavior. He told us he had orders from the Governor of Pennsylvania to remove us off (which he in a short time contradicted), and demanded entrance into our town (or city), which was refused ; and continued he-'You have lost your case at Easton, and I have 300 men here

* PRINCE ALDEN was born in Lebanon, New London County, Connecticut, October 28, 1718, third child of Andrew and Lydia (Stanford) Alden. Andrew Alden (boru 1673; married February 4, 1714) was the eldest child of Capt. Jonathan Alden of Duxbury, Massachusetts, who was the youngest son of John and Priscilla ( Mullins) Alden of the Mayflower Pilgrims.

In 1758, during the French and English War, Prince Alden was Quartermaster of the troop of horse attached to the 3d Connecticut Regiment commanded by Col. Eleazar Fitch (see page 481), and was wounded in a skirmish near Fort Ticonderoga. In 1760 he was promoted Lieutenant and later Captain in the Connecticut forces. Captain Alden became a member of The Susquehanna Company in 1761, by the purchase of a half-right from Isaac Tracy of New London, one of the accredited agents of the Com- pany, and he came to Wyoming in May, 1769, in the company of settlers led by Major Durkee. When Fort Durkee was surrendered to the Pennamites (as described in Chapter XI) Captain Alden returned to his home in what is now Montville, New London County, where his wife and children were still residing. He did not come back to Wyoming until early in 1773, when he, John Comstock and Cyprian Lothrop, representing a number of Connecticut proprietors in the Susquehanna Purchase, located and laid out for them the township of Newport-about eight miles south-west of Wilkes-Barre. (See map facing page 468.)

In May, 1773, Captain Alden went to Connecticut, settled up his affairs there and in a short time returned to Wyoming with his wife and nine children and all of their movable property. January 17, 1774, the township of Newport was granted by The Susquehanna Company to those proprietors who had applied for it, and for whom it had been located, as previously mentioned. Captain Alden having acquired one and one-half rights in addition to his original half-right in the Susquehanna Purchase, was allotted land on those rights in each of the three "divisions" of Newport Township.

Accompanied by his wife and some of his children Captain Alden fled from Wyoming after the battle of July 3, 1778, and proceeding to Connecticut remained there-presumably at his former home-until late in 1780 or early in 1781, when he and his family returned to Newport. In 1795 Captain Alden sold out his interests in Newport, and with his son Mason Fitch Alden removed up the Susquehanna River to that part of Braintrim Township, Luzerne County, which is now Meshoppen, Wyoming County, Pennsylvania. There he lived until his death, May 22, 1804, in the eighty-sixth year of his age. His wife had died in Newport about 1790.

According to the records of the First Congregational Church at Lebanon Prince Alden was married December 18, 1746, to Mary (born April 24, 1727), eldest child of Capt. Adonijah and Sarah (Fitch ) Fitch and great-granddaughter of the Rev. James Fitch of Norwich, Connecticut, mentioned on page 251. Prince and Mary ( Fitch) Alden were the parents of the following-named nine children, all of whom were born in what is now Montville, Connecticut. The births of the first seven children were entered in 1766 on page 21 of Volume II of "New London Records-Births, Marriages and Deaths," and the original entry is still in existence.

i. Mary Alden, born December 1, 1747 ; married to- Boles. ii. Mason Fitch Alden, born October 25, 1750 ; married prior to 1779 to Mary Thompson (born June 30, 1752; died March 19, 1814); died at Meshoppen, Pennsylvania, June 14, 1812. iii. Abigail Alden, born August 11, 1753 ; married (Ist) in 1776 to John Jameson (born June 17, 1749; killed by Indians July 8, 1782); married (2d) in 1787 to Shubal Bid- lack, fourth and youngest son of Capt. James and Mehetabel ( Durkee) Bidlack ; died in Hanover Town- ship, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, June 8, 1795. iv. Sarah Alden, born February 6, 1756; married to Nathaniel Cook. v. Lydia Alden, born October 31, 1758 ; married, prior to 1800, to Benjamin Bidlack (born February 25, 1759 ; died November 27, 1845), third son of Capt. James and Mehetabel ( Durkee) Bid- lack ; died about 1808. vi. Prince Alden, born March 14, 1762; married March 14, 1788, to Sarah Nesbitt (born September 8, 1767; died February 15, 1824); removed to Tioga County, New York, where he died about 1820. vii. Andrew Stanford Alden, born May 5, 1766; married to Elizabeth Atherton, and in 1788 removed from Wyoming Valley to Tioga County, New York. viii. John Alden, born about 1769; married (Ist) to Agnes Jameson (born April 25, 1766 ; died about 1791); married (2d) to Nancy Thompson. ix. Daniel Alden, born in 1772 ; married to Anne Brooks.

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with me and 100 more coming, and my men are so unruly and ungoverned that it is hardly in my power to keep them from you ; and they will kill your cattle and horses, and destroy your corn, and block up the way so as to cut you off from all communication for provisions, and your Government will not own you.' We told him that we had a good right to the land by Charter from the Crown, and Deed from the Indians, and that we could not. consistent with the votes of the Susquehannah Company, give it up, and should not. Then he made proposals of agreement that we should possess the land on the East Branch, except that what Ogden and some others of them improved, and they to enjoy the West Branch, till decided by law ; and he would give us an hour to consider, and give him an answer. We sent him word that we would not comply with his terms, · for it was not in our power.

"Finally he concluded to move off with his mob to Shamokin (which is about 60 miles) and wait there about ten days for the committee to send our proposals, which, if he liked, it was well ; if not, lie could come again. And further, he desired our men might be kept in the Fort till his men should be gone, lest they should hurt us. Towards night they moved off, seemingly well pleased with their conquest. As near as we can learn their number did not exceed 50 men, and a considerable part of them in our favor." " "

[Signed]

The "Penn-Physick Manuscripts" (previously referred to) contain certain items bearing upon the Francis expedition, in the shape of charges in an account rendered by Charles Stewart to Governor Penn for "expenses at Wyoming." Some of those charges are in these words : "May, 1769, paid for 4 cwt. of flour at Wioming, £5; paid twenty-two men, for three days each-hired to assist Colonel Francis, but discharged by order of Colonel Chew *- £13, 4sh. June 21st, paid twenty-one of these men for their expences home-half a dollar each-£3, 18sh. 9d."

At Philadelphia, June 25, 1769, Judge Edward Shippen, Jr. (see page 360), wrote to his brother-in-law Col. James Burd, at Tinian, on the Susquehanna, as followst :

"I have received your letters of the 23d May and the 11th inst., and have communi- cated to the Governor what you say concerning the New England people, who will, I believe, now give us no more trouble-twenty of them having been last week at Easton Court indicted for riots and forcible entries ; which proceeding has so intimidated them that Major Dyer and their other principal abettors have agreed to remove immediately from the Susquehanna lands and give the Government no more trouble about their claims, unless they shall be able to obtain a determination in their favor in England. On this consideration the Government will forbear any rigor in the prosecutions on these indictments ; which, however, are to hang over their heads till they have given up the possession of the lands. Wherefore, unless you hear something more of this affair here- after, you need not give yourself any further trouble concerning the apprehending of any of these people."

Very shortly after the return from Easton, Pennsylvania, to Wind- ham, Connecticut, of Messrs. Dyer and Elderkin, they, in conjunction with Samuel Gray, as members of the Executive Committee of The Susquehanna Company, notified the members of the Company (by an advertisement in The New London Gazette) to meet at Windham on the last Wednesday in July, "as matters of importance relative to the affairs of the Company" specially called for their consideration. In pursuance of this notice a meeting was hield at Windham on the 26th of July. Colonel Dyer presided, as Moderator, and the chief business transacted was the discussion and disposal of the "question whether they would recall the people [then] on the Susquehanna lands under the votes of the Company." The question was decided in the negative ; after which it was voted "to desire Col. Samuel Talcott to repair with our people to Easton, to attend and advise in their cause." The Company then ad- journed, to meet at Windham on the first Wednesday in September, 1769.

* The Hon. Benjamin Chew, Attorney General of the Province.

t See "The Shippen Papers," previously mentioned.

502

Shortly before the holding of the meeting just referred to Dr. Ben- jamin Gale of Killingworth, Connecticut (who was a member of the General Assembly of Connecticut, and had been an original member of The Susquehanna Company and one of the grantees in the Indian deed), published a 4x6 pamphlet of 34 pages entitled : "Dr. Gale's Letter to J. W., Esq." About one-half of the pamphlet was devoted to the affairs of the The Susquehanna Company (to the pretensions of which Doctor Gale was then opposed), and reference was made to the memorial, or petition, presented to the Assembly by Colonel Dyer and others, in be- half of the Company, praying for a deed of lease and release. (See pages 469 and 470.) Doctor Gale stated that when the committee of the Assembly had in hand this petition some members of the Assembly who were opposed to the matter prepared a formal protest, ready to be used should the Assembly decide to grant the prayer of the petitioners. This protest the Doctor printed in his pamphlet, and the last paragraph of it read as follows: "The vote of The Susquehanna Company to admit the Paxton men, as they are called (who are the malcontents of Pennsylvania), has rendered it dishonorable for the Legislature of this Colony to countenance their claim." To this "Letter" Colonel Dyer immediately replied with a printed pamphlet of twenty-six pages, in which he charged that Doctor Gale had "grossly misrepresented facts and erred from the truth," and especially "when he says that The Susquehanna Company have voted to admit the Paxton mnen, which is not true."

The "Paxton men" referred to by Dr. Gale and Colonel Dyer were certain inhabitants of the Paxtang region in Lancaster (now Dauphin) County, Pennsylvania, referred to on pages 426-428. A number of these men, as well as some of the men of that part of Cumberland County lying along the western bank of the Susquehanna opposite Paxtang, had been at Wyoming with Major Clayton in October, 1763. Being chiefly farmers-when not engaged in war-like enterprises-they were not slow in concluding that Wyoming Valley would be a very desirable place in which to live and cultivate the soil. Consequently, when they learned early in 1769 that The Susquehanna Company purposed to renew its settlement of the valley, these Pennsylvanians proposed to the Execu- tive Committee of the Company that they would, upon certain coll- ditions, associate themselves with the New England settlers in improv- ing and holding possession of the Company's lands at Wyoming. In the circumstances it was deemed desirable that certain representatives of the Company should have a personal interview with these men in the counties of Lancaster and Cumberland, and so, about the first of April, four or five trustworthy members of the Company were sent forward from Connecticut. They were to go through New York to the Dela- ware River, down which they were to voyage to Easton ; thence they were to journey overland to the Susquehanna. Having transacted their business with the Pennsylvanians at Paxtang they were to procure a boat at one of the settlements in that locality, load it with such provisions as would be needed at Wyoming, and then proceed up the river to the valley-endeavoring to land here about the time Major Durkee and his company would arrive.

On the 10th of May, 1769, Col. Turbutt Francis, previously men- tioned, was at Harris' Ferry (now Harrisburg), in the Paxtang region,

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en route from Philadelphia to Fort Augusta, and to Col. James Burd, at Tinian, some six miles below Harris', he wrote as follows* :

"I would not have passed your house without calling on you, but had very particu- lar business which pressed me. There are now here five or six New Englanders from Wyoming, who are come down to purchase provisions for their friends, and, perhaps, have some other plan in view. If you could lay hold of them with propriety I fancy it might be of service, as they are in want of provisions at Wyoming. It would prevent these provisions from going up to them, and would deter others from coming down on the same errand. They talk of going hence on Monday next [May 15th]. I shall start for Augusta this afternoon, to spend my Summer."

Colonel Burd was at that time one of the magistrates in and for the county of Lancaster, which accounts for this information and the accon- panying suggestion being sent to him by Colonel Francis. While the latter made a good guess when he surmised that the New Englanders had "some other plan in view" than the purchase of provisions at Pax- tang, he was very far astray from the facts in the case when he presumed that the men had journeyed there from Wyoming. When Francis wrote, there were no New Englanders in Wyoming. It is more than probable that the coming of James McClure and his companions to Wyoming-as inentioned by Charles Stewart in his letter to Governor Penn, printed on page 488-and the visit of the men from Cumberland County-as described in the letter on page 499-were in consequence of the visit of the Yankees to Paxtang and its vicinity. Later-probably in June or July-Lazarus Young, William Young, John Espy, George Raab and Adam Stager came from either Paxtang or Hanover, in Lancaster County, to Wyoming, where they joined the Yankees at Fort Durkee.

When Major Durkee returned from Easton to Fort Durkee, and learned of the hostile demonstrations which had been made a day or two previously by Colonel Francis and his "corps" from Fort Augusta, he immediately proceeded to strengthen the defenses of Fort Durkee and to cause the sentinels and scouts of the settlement to redouble their vigi- lance. About the same time-say the last of June or early in July, 1769-Major Durkee compounded and originated the almost unique name "WILKESBARRE," and bestowed it upon the settlement and terri- tory at and immediately adjacent to Fort Durkee.

In the Spring of 1769, when the Wyoming colonists left New Eng- land, it was well known that Col. JOHN WILKES (who had been a inem- ber of the British Parliament, and whose name was indissolubly con- nected with Liberty in the minds of the American colonists and their friends) was suffering what his admirers and followers believed to be an unjust imprisonment in the King's Bench Prison, London. At the same time Col. ISAAC BARRÉ (who had been an officer in the Englishi army in America in the campaigns of 1758 and 1759, and had been per- sonally known to Major Durkee-who, it will be recalled, was also an officer in the Provincial service during the same campaigns) stood in the British House of Commons as the foe of America's oppressors, and was almost unrivalled as a brilliant speaker, and hardly surpassed by any of the Opposition-even by Edmund Burke himself-in violent denuncia- tions of the Government.t Among thie admirers of Wilkes and Barré in Connecticut, during the period to which we refer, it is doubtful if there was one who surpassed in earnestness and devotedness the tried and steadfast patriot John Durkee. Other members of the Durkee

* See page 219 of "The Shippen Papers."

t For extended sketches of JOHN WILKES and ISAAC BARRE, see Chapters LY and .X.

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family in Windham County were also lovers of Liberty and Free Speech -and so it was that when in October, 1767, a son was born to Maj. John Durkee he gave to him the name "Barre"; and when in July, 1768, a son was born to Andrew Durkee, cousin of John, he received the name "Wilkes."* Andrew Durkee was for a time in Wyoming in 1769. (See his name in the lists on pages 497 and 509.)

John Durkee, Sr. 1

Stephen Durkee

William Durkee

Andrew Durkee

John Durkee

Wilkes Durkee

Barré Durkee

The earliest recorded mention of the name "Wilkesbarre" that the present writer has been able to find, after long and diligent search, is on page 176 in Book "B" of the original records of The Susquehanna Com- pany, mentioned on page 28, ante. It occurs in a certificate, or receipt, therein recorded as follows :

"WILKESBARRE 31ST JULY, 1769-received of GEORGE RAAB of the Province of Pensylvania the sum of Twenty Spanish Mill'd Dollars, which Intitles him to one half share or Right in the Susqh purchase so called, by virtue of a vote of the Proprietors the 12th day of April, 1769.

"Pr JNº DURKEE, President of the first settlers."

The next mention of the name that we have been able to find is in a copy of a receipt produced before the Confirming Commissioners at Wilkes-Barré in 1787, and recorded in the minutes of their proceedings referred to on page 29, ante, paragraph "(4)." The copy is in these words :

"WILKESBARRE AUGUST 25th, 1769-received of ADAM STAGER 20 dollars and 3 which entitles him to one whole right or share of land in the Susquehanna purchase, he paying 19 dollars more.

[Signed] "JNO DURKEE, President."

At Windham, Connecticut, under date of August 8, 1769, Colonel Dyer wrote to William Samuel Johnson, Esq., in London (see page 478), relative to The Susquehanna Company's agent and counsel in London, John Gardiner, Esq. (see page 443), who had "run away" from London to the West Indies without first turning over to a representative of The Susquehanna Company the deed and other papers belonging to the Company which were in his hands. Colonel Dyer stated that he had sent to Gardiner at St. Kitts, West Indies, instructing him to send the papers in question to Mr. Johnson. Continuing, Colonel Dyer wrote : "Sent forty of our people on ye lands. Soon after their arrival Governor Penn sent a party, took twenty of them and carried them off to Easton, where they are bound over for a riot and for forcibly entering on the Proprietaries' land and cutting down thirty trees, to the terror of the people, &c. The lands were vacant-no possessors there -and the people were obliged to march forty miles from the settlements to get to where our people were, in order to be terrified ! Our people behaved with the utmost caution- not to offer any abuse or insult, but yet were determined not to be carried off until over- powered with numbers.

"After that we sent on 200 or 300 resolute men with Major Durkee at their head- with no intention to hold the lands by force, but to oblige the Proprietaries to bring their action of ejectment, that the matter of right and title might be brought into question and fairly tried and decided, first, in the Province, and then, by appeal to the King's Coun- cil. They [the Pennsylvanians] have not been able to remove the people, and they still

* See page 481.

t See the original letter among the unpublished papers of William Samuel Johnson in the possession of The Connecticut Historical Society.

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A history of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, from its first beginnings to the present time; including chapters of newly-discovered, Vol. I, Part 85

Author: Harvey, Oscar Jewell, 1851-1922; Smith, Ernest Gray Publication date: 1909-1930 Publisher: Wilkes-Barre : Raeder Press Number of Pages: 734

Author: Harvey, Oscar Jewell, 1851-1922; Smith, Ernest Gray
Publication date: 1909-1930
Publisher: Wilkes-Barre : Raeder Press
Number of Pages: 734