A history of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, from its first beginnings to the present time; including chapters of newly-discovered, Vol. I, Part 88

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 88

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It is very evident, from a patient and painstaking examination of a large number of original letters, town minutes, legal documents, Court records (transcribed in dockets) and many newspapers, books and pam- phlets, that, for at least the first fifty years of the life of this town, its name was written and printed "Wilkesbarre" by more than a great majority of the people who liad occasion to use it. It would be im- practicable to give here, in support of this statement, many illustrations from the sources inentioned-in fact, it seems unnecessary to do so. But, as recording a matter of history, it is deemed desirable to give some of the most substantial evidences of the prevailing use of this form dur- ing, and subsequently to, the period mentioned.

In numerous deeds executed prior to 1810 "Wilkesbarre" is the usual spelling. In the original records of the township-entitled "Votes of the town of Wilkesbarre"-from 1791 to 1805, inclusive, the form here given is used. On a neatly engraved map in Judge Cooper's "Some Information Respecting America," published at London in 1794, and at Dublin in 1795, the town of "Wilkesbarre" on the Susquehanna is noted. The same appears on a map of Pennsylvania by D. F. Sotzman, published in 1797. In Morse's"American Gazetteer," published at Boston in 1797, there is a map of the United States engraved from an original drawn by Abraham Bradley, Jr., formerly of Wilkes-Barré but then a clerk in the General Post Office at Washington. In the descriptive part of this "Gazetteer" Wilkes-Barré is referred to as "Wilksbarre, or Wilksburg, a post-town of Pennsylvania." There is, in the first volume of the Duke de la Rochefoucault-Liancourt's "Travels through the United States of America" (published at London in 1799), a carefully engraved map of the United States and Canada, upon which "Wilkes- barre" is noted. In June, 1804, a large map of the United States was published, the drawing of which was the work of Abraham Bradley, Jr., previously mentioned. "Wilkesbarre" is the form in which the name of our town appears thereon ; and in the same form it appears on a map of Pennsylvania published in 1811 by Reading Howell.

In legal documents and other papers written in the years 1790 to 1796 we find that Putnam Catlin and Rosewell Welles, leading mein- bers of the Luzerne Bar, and Robert Traill, a well-known lawyer of

* See a photo-reproduction of such a certificate in Chapter XXVI.

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Easton, Pennsylvania, wrote the name of Luzerne's county-seat "Wilkes- barre"; and in like form it was written in 1802 and '03 and later years by Thomas Wright, Ebenezer Bowman, William Ross, Lord Butler and Dr. Robert H. Rose-as is shown by original documents in the col- lections of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Jacob Cist, a learned and cultured man, and for some years Postmaster of this town, wrote its name "Wilkesbarre" for many years until, at least, 1824. Garrick Mal- lery thus wrote it in 1830, and likewise Steuben Butler in 1829. Judge Jesse Fell, who was appointed Town Clerk of Wilkes-Barré in 1796, and held the office for a number of years, and who was Secretary of Lodge No. 61, F. and A. M., for twenty-five and a-half years, was an elegant penman, and he wrote the name of our town always "Wilkesbarre." The same forin was used in 1806 and later years by Thomas Graham, who was Recorder of Deeds in and for Luzerne County at that time. Capt. Andrew Lee in 1807, and his son, Col. Washington Lee, in 1821, wrote the name "Wilkesbarre." In a similar way the Rev. Nicholas Murray, a very able and intelligent man, pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Wilkes-Barré, wrote the name in the years 1829-'33, and perhaps later.

March 17, 1806, the Act of Assembly was passed which erected the "town-plot of Wilkesbarre" and its vicinity into "a body politic and cor- porate in law, by the name and style of the Burgess and Town Council of the Borough of Wilkesbarre." However, in the earliest recorded minutes of the Borough Council-which are in the handwriting of Joseph Wright and Peleg Tracy-the name of the borough is written "Wilkes Barre." On the printed bill-heads used by the Wilkes-Barré Academy in 1812 "Wilkesbarre" was the spelling. The name appeared in the same form on the "shin-plasters," or substitutes for money, emitted in 1816 by the Easton and Wilkes-Barre Turnpike Company and by the Wilkes-Barré Bridge Company. (See reproductions of some of these "shin-plasters" in subsequent chapters.) "Wilkesbarre" is the form in which the name is printed on Reading Howell's map of Pennsylvania published in 1817. In that year Isaac A. Chapman, author of the first history of Wyoming Valley, wrote as follows to Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania (see V : 34): "Wilkesbarre * was laid out about the year 1775 [sic] by Col. John Durkee, from whom it received its name, in compliment to Wilkes and Barre." * *

On a map of Pennsylvania published by Carey & Lea at Philadel- phia in 1820 "Wilkesbarre" appears ; as, also, it does many times in Hazard's Register during the years 1828-'33, and without doubt in later years. The name appears in this forin on the map published in 1830 in Silliman's Journal, and referred to on page 494, ante. The present writer has seen numerous letters written by Wilkes-Barré people in 1821 and 1822 and mailed at Wilkes-Barré. They were all postmarked-in the handwriting of the Postmaster-"Wilkesbarre," followed by the date of posting. "Wilkesbarre" is the only forin in which the naine appears on an engraved inap accompanying "A History of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company" (published in 1839); in Sherman Day's "His- torical Collections of the State of Pennsylvania" (published in 1843); in Miner's "History of Wyoming" (published in 1845); on a map accom- panying a "Report on the North Branch Canal" (issued in 1847); on the engraved "Plan of the Town of Wilkesbarre" (published in 1850,

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and reproduced in Chapter XXXVI, post); on the map accompanying a "Report of the Superintendent [W. R. Maffet of Wilkes-Barré] of the North Branch Canal for 1855"; in the three editions of Peck's "Wyo- ming," mentioned on page 20, ante ; in Rogers' "Geology of Pennsyl- vania," printed in 1858 ; in both editions of Pearce's "Annals of Luzerne County," mentioned on page 20, ante ; in Appleton's "Hand-book of American Travel," edition of 1872, and in the official publications of the Tenth and Eleventh Censuses of the United States.

The earliest issues of a Wilkes-Barré newspaper now known to be in existence are some copies of the Gazette, published in 1799, and the name of our town appears therein only in one form-"Wilkesbarre." In The Luzerne Federalist, published here, "Wilkesbarre" was the in- variable form in which the name appeared during the years 1802 to 1810, inclusive. An examination of the files of The Gleaner, published here, shows "Wilkesbarre" in use during 1811, but in 1812 "Wilkes- Barre" and "Wilkesbarre" were both used-one form about as frequently as the other ; while in 1813 and 1814 "Wilkes-Barre" was used almost exclusively. In The Susquehanna Democrat (published in Wilkes- Barré) "Wilkesbarre" and "Wilkes-Barre" were used-one as often as the other-during the years 1810 to 1812; but in 1814 "Wilkesbarre" was used almost wholly, and was used exclusively in 1821, 1822 and 1823. In The Wyoming Herald (published here) "Wilkesbarre" was invariably used during the years 1818-'27. In The True American, published at Philadelphia August 24, 1816, was an advertisement of Isaac A. Chapman, dated at "Wilkesbarre"; while in the next column was an advertisement of Catlin, Overton & Co., dated at "Wilkes-Barre."

In The Republican Farmer and Democratic Journal for the years 1838 and 1839 the form "Wilkesbarre" was almost invariably used ; and in the same paper, as late as 1848, "Wilkesbarre" appeared in many of the advertisements and iteins of local news. In The Luzerne Demo- crat for 1847 and 1848 "Wilkesbarre" was the single form used ; but in 1849 "Wilkesbarre" was printed at the head of the local and editorial columns, and "Wilkes Barre" in the title, or heading, on the first page. In the body of the paper one form of the name appeared as often as the other. A similar use of the name is to be found in the files of the same paper for 1852. As late as 1849 and 1850 "Wilkesbarre" often appeared in the advertisements and news items of The Wilkes-Barre Advocate ; and in The Truc Democrat for 1852 and 1853 "Wilkesbarre" was often used in editorials, advertisements and news items. "Wilkesbarre" frequently appeared in advertisements and local items in the Record of the Times as late as 1853.

We have already mentioned the few instances that have come to our notice of the use of "B" instead of "b" in the writing of Wilkes- Barré prior to 1800, and have incidentally referred to some similar instances which occurred subsequently to 1805-about which period, or a few years later, an earnest effort seems to have been made by some of the local newspaper writers-or, perhaps, printers-and a few others to displace "Wilkesbarre" by "Wilkes-Barre." In the records of the office of the Register of Wills of Luzerne County we find "Wilkesbarre" used almost uniformly prior to 1800 ; but about 1805 "Wilkes-Barré" is found in places. In The Susquehanna Democrat of August, 1815, we find "Wilkesbarre" heading the column of local news, but in the various

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advertisements we find "Wilkes-Barre" as often as we find "Wilkesbarre." In 1829 Judge John N. Conyngham, an educated inan familiar with the history of this town-although then a new-comer here-wrote "Wilkes Barré." In 1840 George W. Woodward wrote "Wilkes-Barre," and Harrison Wright and Charles Denison each wrote "Wilkes Barre." In The Wilkes-Barre Advocate during the years 1836 and 1839 "Wilkes- Barre" and "Wilkesbarre" both appeared-the latter form the inore frequently, however.

In the "United States Official Postal Guide" for 1886, published by authority of the Post Office Department, the name of our town appeared in four different places, and in each instance was printed "Wilkes Barre." For a number of years preceding the year mentioned, and for four or five years following it, the name was printed in the "Guide" in that same form ; while in contemporary publications of other Depart- ments of the Government the name was printed "Wilkesbarre," "Wilkes- Barre" and "Wilkes-Barré." At the same time, in the same publica- tions, many other towns throughout the country were having their names served up in like varied style. Finally, in September, 1890, the "United States Board on Geographic Names" was created by order of the President of the United States, for the purpose of securing uniformity of geographical nomenclature in Government publications. This Board consists of ten officials in the Departments at Washington, and, as we have previously intimated, the creation of the Board was the result of the confusion in the various Bureaus and Departments of the Govern- ment due to different spellings and pronunciations of geographic names. Indeed, even among the publications of the same Bureau the spelling of many words was not uniform.

From the beginning the Board agreed that in general the name which was in common use should be adopted. "Even where the present name is a changed or corrupted one, if it has become firmly established, the Board keeps its hands off. But where a choice is offered between two or more names for the same locality-all sanctioned by local usage -the opportunity to secure the most appropriate and euphonious one is improved." Among many other matters the Board discourages the use of diacritical marks over letters, and hyphens between parts of names. Where a name consists of more than one word, it prefers to combine the parts into one. Hence, applying these two last-mentioned principles, we have Newhaven for "New Haven," Santafe for "Santa Fe," Fair- haven for "Fair Haven," Whiteplains for "White Plains," Whitehaven for "White Haven" and Wilkesbarre for "Wilkes-Barré."

It is well understood that "Wilkesbarre" is the form approved and adopted by the abovementioned Board to be followed in writing and printing the name of our town in Government correspondence and pub- lications; and yet, although the recommendations of the Board are obligatory on the various Departments of the Government, there is still a lack of uniforinity of usage shown by certain officials. I have before me as I write an official letter written to me by the Fourth Assistant Postmaster General in April, 1901, in which is used the form "Wilkes- Barre"; and the same forin appears in letters written to ine by two different officials of the Department of Agriculture in 1903, while "Wilkesbarre" was the form used in the same year by an official of the Department of the Interior. The various cyclopædias of names, gazet-

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teers and encyclopædias, and the metropolitan newspapers quite generally, published in this country, use the form "Wilkesbarre." Relative to this use a writer on the staff of The New York Herald stated in that paper June 1, 1902 :

"Wilkesbarre newspapers cannot understand why many of the metropolitan papers insist upon spelling the name of their city in one word, whereas they invariably divide it in two. The name of the city is peculiar, and no person unfamilar with the circumstances understands why there is a division. Two officers in the Revolutionary army went to the Wyoming Valley, with their followers, after the surrender of Cornwallis, and founded a settlement on the banks of the Susquehanna. Their names were Wilkes and Barre, and local custom has never sanctioned the union into a single word."

Here was certainly a very praiseworthy effort to explain why the Wilkes-Barréans of to-day prefer "Wilkes-Barré" to "Wilkesbarre"; but the writer's zeal was more than counterbalanced by his ignorance of facts. It is true, nevertheless, that at least ninety-nine-one-hundredthis of the citizens of this town (including the publishers of all our newspapers and periodicals) have for many years now preferred the form "Wilkes-Barre" to any other form of writing or printing the name of our town; and the desire to see this come into general use is constantly growing and strengthening. The principal reason for this is the very laudable wish to keep Isaac Barré in memory-to honor him equally with John Wilkes. But why stop half-way? Why be satisfied to use the hyphen and "B" and not use "e"? Not only did Isaac Barre use the diacritical mark over the final "e" in writing his surname-therefore making it a part of his surname-but the use of this mark shows, exactly and pre- cisely, the pronunciation of the last syllable of the name. Often, in recent years, the present writer lias heard in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts the name of this town pronounced Wilks-bär-""" having the sound of "a" in "far." No educated or well-informed person would ever pronounce the name in that way if "e" were used instead of "e" in writing or printing the last syllable.

It is unquestioned, as previously stated, that John Durkee named this town "Wilkesbarre"; which form of the name was recognized and confirmned by. the Legislature of Pennsylvania in 1806 in erecting the "town-plot of Wilkesbarre" into the "borough of Wilkesbarre," thuis giving legislative authority to a name which custom had then sanctioned for more than thirty-five years. There is, therefore, the very best author- ity for using the form "Wilkesbarre," or, more correctly written-in view of the etymology of the name-"Wilkesbarré." But, on the other hand, we have in opposition to this a form which has been in almost general use here in Wyoming Valley for fifty years, or more, through a desire on the part of our people, as stated above, "to keep Isaac Barré in memory." "Barré" was his name, and "WILKES-BARRÉ" should be, and is, the name of our town !

As to the pronunciation of this name. Seemingly there is no end to its varieties ; and in producing and perpetuating some of the varieties our own people are as careless and slovenly as the mnost skillful word- twisters among those not "to the manner born." The name-a com- pound word of three syllables-is pronounced neither Wilks-bär, Wil- kes-bär, Wilks-bāre-ry nor Wilks-bāre-ěh as so often heard, but Wilks'- bă-rā-with a slight accent on the first syllable ; "i" in the first syllable being sounded as "i" in "pin," "a" in the second syllable as "a" in "mat" and the final "e" as "a" in "mate.". The French "e" with the "close" accent has the sound last noted.

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In "The Century Cyclopedia of Names" (New York, 1894) the pro- nunciation of the surname of Isaac Barré is given as "Ba-ra" ("a" hav- ing the sound of "a" in "far"); and it is stated that "his name forms a part of the name of Wilkes-Barré, now Wilkesbarre, in Pennsylvania." If the name of Barré was ever pronounced in this manner (which is very doubtful) it is quite certain that the last two syllables of the name of our town are not, and never have been, thus pronounced.

CHAPTER IN.

THE RIGHT HON. JOHN WILKES, PATRIOT, STATESMAN, AND A FRIEND TO LIBERTY.

"Sure, WILKES' character is hard to know, Or whether he is Britain's friend or foe. How can we judge him either good or evil, Since one a patriot calls him, one a devil ! And yet, while this bedaubs and that belabors,

WILKES shares of vice and virtue with his neighbors." -From "Liberty is the Pillar that Supports the Glory of Man" (1801).

"Says JOHN WILKES to a lady-'Pray name, if you can, Of all your acquaintance the handsomest man.' The lady replied-'If you'd have me speak true, He's the handsomest man who's the most unlike you.'" -The Wilkesbarre Gazette ( 1798).

A well-known English writer, in "an anniversary study" of John Wilkes inade some seven years ago, said : "Mankind has always wondered, and will no doubt continue to wonder, without mich profit, at the apparent unworthiness of the instruments which are selected to achieve great ends ; and the supposed lack of high qualities appropriate to the part in history he was called upon to play has always been the feature dwelt upon in considering the career of the senior partner in the fırın of 'Wilkes & Liberty,' who admitted that he at least was never a Wilkesite, but did more for the success of the joint business than if he had been."

"We write the biographies of nobody, and celebrate the centenaries of nothing"; but John Wilkes, in spite of his moral reputation, stands for a good deal more than nothing in the constitutional history of Eng- land. He was not, as King William IV said of a well-known naval officer, when proposing his health, "sprung from the dregs of the people." His father, Israel Wilkes, was a inalt-distiller of Clerkenwell, London, who throve by his distillery and lived in the style of a city magnate, keeping his coach-and-six. He was hospitable and fond of the society of men of letters and culture, and, though a Churchman, tolerant of dissent in his wife. He was a grandson of Edward Wilkes of Leigh- ton Buzzard in Bedfordshire (of the time of Charles I), who had four children oddly named Matthew, Mark, Luke and Joane.

Luke Wilkes, abovementioned, was Chief Yeoman of the Wardrobe to King Charles II, and his son Israel-previously mentioned-was born in 1695 and about 1720 was married to Sarah, daughter of John Heaton

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of Hoxton, London. Through his wife Israel Wilkes came into posses- sion of Hoxton Square. Israel Wilkes (who died in London January 31, 1761) was the father of four children-two sons and two daughters. Israel Wilkes, the eldest son, was placed as a partner in the business house of a Mr. De Ponthieu, and ultimately was married to the latter's daughter Elizabeth. The business of De Ponthieu and Wilkes not prospering, the latter removed to America with his family shortly after the Revolutionary War, and settled in the city of New York, where he died November 25, 1805. About that time, or earlier, his son, Charles Wilkes, becaine a cashier in the New York branch of the United States Bank. The latter's son, Charles Wilkes, Jr., born at New York in 1801, became noted as an American admiral, explorer and scientist. He entered the United States Navy in 1818; became Lieutenant in 1826, and com- manded in 1838-'42 an exploring expedition which visited South Amer- ica, the Hawaiian Islands and other little-known regions. Of this expe- dition Lieutenant Wilkes wrote a six-volume "Narrative." In 1855 he was promoted Captain in the Navy, and in November, 1861-in the early days of the Civil War-being in command of the U. S. S. San Jacinto, he intercepted the British steamer Trent on the high-seas and took off as prisoners the Confederate Commissioners Mason and Slidell. In 1862 Captain Wilkes was promoted Commodore, and in 1866 Admiral. Besides the "Narrative" previously mentioned he was the author of "Theory of the Winds" and other works. He died at Washington, District of Columbia, February 8, 1877. The elder sister of Admiral Charles Wilkes became the second wife of Lord Francis Jeffrey (born 1773; died 1850), the noted Scottish critic, essayist and jurist, who spent six months in the United States in 1813.

Heaton Wilkes, the youngest son of Israel and Sarah (Heaton) Wilkes, succeeded to his father's distillery business, but mismanaged it and died December 19, 1803, impoverished and without issue. The daughters of Israel and Sarah Wilkes seem to have had a tinge of oddity, or of something worse. Sarah Wilkes, the elder of the two, was an eccentric recluse-the prototype, indeed, of Miss Havisham in Charles Dickens' "Great Expectations." She lived for many years in Bloomsbury, London, secluded from the world. She had apartments up two flights of stairs, with thick blinds before the windows to exclude the day-light ; and she kept either lamps or candles burning in her rooms continually. She died unmarried.

Mary Wilkes, the second daughter, was the most singular of the Wilkes family, and exhibited a remarkable career of combined adventure and eccentricity. She was thrice married, her first husband being an opulent merchant, Samuel Stork, who, on his death, was succeeded in business by his head clerk Hayley-afterwards a city Alderman-whose fortune was made by marrying the widow Stork. She was exceedingly well informed and had unusual conversational talents, and she sought with avidity the society of men who were distinguished in the world by their talents and their writings. She had a contemptuous opinion of her own sex, which she took no pains to conceal. Her disregard of propriety was conspicuously manifested on many occasions. She in- variably attended all the more remarkable criminal trials at the Old Bailey, where she regularly had a certain place reserved for her. When the testimony of witnesses or the arguments of counsel became such that

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decorum, and even the judges themselves, called for the withdrawal of all women from the court-room, she never stirred from her place, but persisted in remaining to hear the whole case, with the most unmoved and unblushing earnestness of attention.

Some years after the close of the Revolutionary War, her husband being dead, Mrs. Hayley made a voyage to this country with her most intimate counselor, confidant and friend, a certain American, to look after some of her business affairs here. Shortly thereafter the gentle- inan was summoned to return to England on important business. He and Mrs. Hayley were expecting to be married, but he responded to the business summons, intending to come back to America after only a short absence. Within a week following his departure, however, Mrs. Hayley was married to a young man named Jeffrey, who, in the temporary absence of Mrs. Hayley's confidant and fiancé, was looking after her affairs. But, after a very short honeymoon, Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey arrived at the conclusion that a mutual separation was expedient. Mrs. Jeffrey took an early opportunity to recross the Atlantic, and after a short resi- dence in London removed to Bath, where she spent her remaining years.

JOHN WILKES, the second son of Israel and Sarah (Heaton) Wilkes, was born in St. John's Square, Clerkenwell, London, October 17, 1727. Without wasting his time-like some other young men of his period- amid the "prejudice and port" of Oxford University, he went to Leiden in the Netherlands, where he entered the University in September, 1744. Among his friends and contemporaries at that then famous and much-frequented seat of learning were Alexander Carlyle, William Dowdeswell and Charles Townshend (the last two subsequently Chancel- ors of the British Exchequer); but his especial friends during his resi- dence at Leiden were Andrew Baxter (a noted Scottish metaphysician, then at Utrecht, some thirty miles from Leiden) and Baron d'Holbach.

Wilkes acquired at Leiden a useful working knowledge of Latin, and the capacity to converse with elegance and freedom in the French tongue ; and lie also seems to have picked up more than a bowing acquaintance with Greek. Even then he was a pushing, enterprising fellow, amusing, and excellent company, and eagerly desirous of making a mark in the world, and disposed to adopt extravagant profligacy as the easiest and most agreeable method of doing it. He was afflicted with a tutor whose views were not those of Wilkes. He was a Dissenting minister of Unitarian proclivities, who passionately desired to convert his brilliant pupil to his way of thinking, and so worried Wilkes that, from conviction or expediency, the latter expressed his entire disbelief in the Scriptures-which led to a rupture between the old man and the youth. After finishing his course at Leiden Wilkes spent some time in travel in the Rhine-lands, and then returned home, having been abroad less than two years.

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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 88

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