A history of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, from its first beginnings to the present time; including chapters of newly-discovered, Vol. II, Part 25

Author: Harvey, Oscar Jewell, 1851- [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Wilkes-Barre [Raeder press]
Number of Pages: 683

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. II > Part 25

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

"I propose to be on my Journey the beginning of the next month. I shall likely be some time a coming for I propose to Preach on my Road there at all the Principal Towns & Cities. Perhaps I may go round by the way of New Haven, N. York, Philadelphia, East Town [Easton] & so by the way of Shamokin to Wyoming, tho I am not fully determined.

"I have wrote more at large & now a line by the Judds passing-who am Yrs. &c., [Signed] "J. JOHNSON."

"P. S. I tho't of bringing some Part of my Family but I am at Present undeter- mined about that. We hear the Indians are troublesome beyond you & there may pos- sibly be some danger on the Susqha It may be best not to bring my Family excepting one or two or so-or may be none but my selfe. I feel a weight of concern for the D! People. My Love to them."

Immediately upon receipt of the foregoing letter Captain Butler journeyed from Lyme to Groton to see Mr. Johnson, and the next day the latter wrote the following letter* to the Wyoming settlers.

"Groton Septr 4th, 1772.

"To the People, Setlers in the Towns, on the East Branch of the Susquehanna.

"Brethren & Christian Friends

"The Country where You are now Settleing is undoubtedly within the claim of Connecticut Charter And of vast importance to the Colony and more particularly so to

* The original letter is now in the possession of Dr. Frederick C. Johnson of Wilkes-Barre, a great- grandson of the Rev. Jacob Johnson.

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you that are Settleing there not onely on account of your Temporal Interest but more especially so as it Respects the Kingdom of Christ & the Interest of the Christian Religion This hath lain with great weight on my mind for a number of years past that I could have no Rest in my Spirit 'till I made you a visit And I hope my Labors were not in vain in the Lord-

"And whereas You have been pleased to Request & Desire me to come again-as also the Comte at Windham have Shewn their approbation thereof & full concurrence therein-And having opportunity the Day past to Confer with Capt. Butler on these things As also to receive from him a Subscription for my Temporal Support the Present year I do now in Addition to my other Letters Send you this Further to let you know my Purpose & Determination is to come & See you To preach the Gospel of Christ unto you Provided my Way be made plain by the Advise of Counsel & Concurrence of church & People here which I Shall next attend to-Our People have had it under considera- tion for Some Time past-I have conferd with Some & had the minds of others in the Ministry who all as far as I can learn well approve of & think it my Duty to Remove I have conferd with Several of our Principal People both of church & Society who much Desire my Continuation in the Ministry here But yet appear willing to Submit to my Re- move if it may be for the greater benefit & enlargement of Christs Kingdom elsewhere which I doubt not will be sufficiently plain & Evident before a Counsel If anything Should fall out to the Contrary I shall let you know by the first opportunity In the mean time shall be makeing all convenient Readiness to be on my Journey to you at least by the Middle of the next month or sooner if I can get the way open for my Remove

"You will I hope provide Some Convenient House or Place for Public Worship that may best commode the Several Towns for the Present near unto which a House or Place for my Residence untill things are further Settled I heartily thank you one & all for your Regards Shewn & kindnesses bestowed on me when with you As also for the Pro- visions you have generously made by Subscription Should I again come among You I heartily & Sincerely pray a Blessing may descend down from Heaven upon you that the God of all Grace & everlasting consolation may be with you That He would multiply seed to the Sower & Bread to the eater that you may encrease & fill the Land be a Terror to all your Enemies a comfort to all your Friends Yea that You may be for a Name & Praise in all the Earth So wishes So prays Yours in

"To the People "our Lord Jesus Christ

at Wilks Barre & The other Towns on

[Signed] "JACOB JOHNSON."

The Susquehanna

East Branch.

Under the date of September 5th Mr. Johnson wrote to Captain Butler at Lyme, in part as follows (the spelling and lack of punctuation in the original letter not being adhered to, however):

"Inform me whether you purpose to return again to New England this Fall & re- move your family, and if you do, when and what road you will take. Please to let Mr. William Gallup* know I waited on his wife yesterday and delivered his letter with my own hand ; * * that she doesn't see how it is possible for her, with two pair of twins, and the youngest at her breasts, &c., to remove this Fall. However, that she and all her children are quite willing to remove as soon as they can."

On September 7th Mr. Johnson wrote from Groton to Captain Butler-still at Lyme-as followst :

"SIR-Since my Letters of ye 4th & 5th Instant I have laid the Proposal of my Re- move to the Susqh more publickly before our church & congregation which appeared very striking & affecting to them Because they saw I was in earnest about it which they didn't really believe before, thinking I had only talk'd about leaveing them but now they become sensible I was really agoing away An universal silence by way of objection seised them -- Only proposals of calling a meeting to make some settlement with me in case I was determined to leave them As also to call a counsel for my Removeal &c which I was ready to do And these steps will speedily be taken excepting we should come to this agreement viz. that I preach to you at Susqh this winter & make a settlement & finally remove next Spring which way may be most adviseable I am not certain but one or the other I am persuaded will take place so that the people at Susqh may be pretty sure of my coming.

"There are many have their Faces that way. My wife since she saw you seems to be much more reconcild to my coming & her going, tho' not as yet untill things are more settled and more safe going & being there. Perhaps I may not come before the sitting of the Assembly in october next &c. "Yours, [Signed] "JACOB JOHNSON."

"P. S. The Reason of my enquiring whether you proposed to remove your Family this fall & when &c., was that I might know whether we should be company on the Road. Several I hear have lately gone & going."

* Mentioned on page 629.

t See the original letter in the collections of The Wyoming Historical and Geological Society.

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Within a few days after the receipt of the foregoing letter Captain Butler set out from his home at Lyme on his return journey to Wilkes- Barre, and September 16th, at Hartford, en route, he wrote to Colonel Talcott at Glastonbury as follows* :

"I have seen Mr. [Benjamin] Harvey that came from Susquehanna eight days ago. All was well then. Shall proceed there as fast as possible."

October 2, 1772, the Rev. Mr. Johnson wrote from Groton to Cap- tain Butler at Wilkes-Barre that he purposed being at New Haven in the second week of the session of the General Assembly, "and from thence," he wrote, "on my way to the Susquehanna. *

* I believe I shall bring none of my family with me as yet. I shall have the company of William Williams, whose father is a proprietor-an old man living in the North Parish of New London." Unaccompanied by any of the members of his family, Mr. Johnsont arrived at Wilkes-Barre towards the end of October.

* The original letter is now in the possession of Mr. James Terry, previously mentioned.

t JACOB JOHNSON was born at Wallingford, New Haven County, Connecticut. April 7, 1718, the tenth and youngest child of "Sergeant" Jacob and Abigail (Hitchcock) Johnson. "Sergeant" Johnson was a second cousin of "Deacon" Samuel Johnson (1670-1727) of Guilford, Connecticut, who was the father of the Rev. Samuel Johnson, D. D., the "father of Episcopacy in Connecticut" (as mentioned in the note on page 478)-the paternal grandfathers of the "Deacon" and the "Sergeant" having been brothers, and immigrants to Boston from Kingston-on-Hull. England, about the year 1688. Thomas Johnson, the grandfather of "Sergeant" Jacob Johnson, settled in New Haven, where, in 1640. he was drowned in the harbor. He was survived by his wife, Helena, and four sons, the youngest of whom, William, a native of England, settled in New Haven, where he was married in December, 1664, to Sarah Hall. He was a mason by trade. In 1670, with some thirty-seven other men, he signed the original compact for the settle- ment of Wallingford, and thus became one of the original proprietors of that town. However, he con- tinued to reside at New Haven, where he died in 1716. William and Sarah (Hall) Johnson were the parents of thirteen children, the sixth of whom was "Sergeant" Jacob Johnson (previously mentioned), who was born at New Haven September 25, 1674 He was married December 14, 1608, to Abigail (born 1674; died January 9, 1726), daughter of John and Abigail (Merriman) Hitchcock of Wallingford, and settled in that town, where he became an extensive land owner. He was a Deputy from Wallingford to the General Court of Connecticut in 1721, 1782, 1789 and 1736, and for some time was Sergeant of the Wal- lingford train-band. He died at Wallingford July 17, 1749.

JACOB JOHNSON, "Sergeant" Johnson's youngest child, as previously noted, was graduated at Yale College in 1740, in the same class with Eliphalet Dyer, mentioned on page 898, Vol. I. At that time Mr. Johnson's home was at Wallingford, and he attended, as a "messenger" from the Church in that town, a Congregational Church council at Northbury, Connecticut, in May, 1740. Subsequently, having studied theology. he was ordained to the gospel ministry, and in 1749 was installed pastor of the "First Church of Christ" in Groton, New London County, Connecticut, as the successor of "ye Revd & Pious Mr. John Owen, the second ordained minister" of that Church, who had resigned his pastorate on account of ill health, and who died January 14, 1758, in the fiftieth year of his age. In 1755 Mr. Johnson was married to Mary (born November 28, 1780), daughter of Capt. Nathaniel and Mary ( Williams) Giddings of Preston, New London County. Connecticut.

In 1763 Yale College conferred the degree of A. M. on Mr. Johnson. In 1765 he published a little pamphlet which attracted considerable attention in Connecticut and probably elsewhere. This publica- tion-containing sixty-seven pages, and which sold for Ish. 6d .- now appears to be of much rarity. There is a copy of it in the collections of The Connecticut Historical Society, and its title is as follows : "ZION's MEMORIAL-Giving Some Account of the Present Work of God's Grace, with an ESSAY ON VISIONS. &c. By JACOB JOHNSON, A. M., Minister of Christ at Groton, Connecticut." In view of the fact that some three years after the publication of this pamphlet Mr. Johnson declared that he was "a seer"-that is. a seer of visions (see his letter to Sir William Johnson, page 450, Vol. I), it will be interesting to read the following extracts from "ZION'S MEMORIAL."

"I have given a particular and circumstantial account of a remarkable vision, or appearance of Christ, to ** To lead humble inquirers into the nature of such things, I have given my thoughts on visions and extraordinary appearances. * * * Remark. 'Tis not only possible but probable, yea, rational and credible, that there should be visions of Christ and angels. If we look thoroughly into the nature of things, we shall find it is just as reasonable there should be extraordinaries as ordinaries ; and that 'tis no way improbable, irrational or incredible that Christ or an angel should have appeared in the above-men- tioned vision. Because God has always dealt, more or less, in an extraordinary way, 'tis therefore reason- able to expect he will continue to do so to the end-because the world in general seem to be secure. and need something extraordinary to awaken them-because the Lord has been carrying on a remarkable work of grace, it is but reasonable to expect at such glorious seasons some extraordinary attendants. * * If it be inquired, 'How shall we know and discern betwixt a vision of Christ and His angels, and Satan transformed?' Answer : As we know and discern betwist the Holy Bible and the Turkish Alcoran ; or betwixt Christ the rightful head of the Church, and his pretended vicar, the Man of Sin; or betwixt a humble, holy Christian, and a proud, self-righteous Pharisee, or unhallowed enthusiast. There are three things summarily go into the character of the Devil, viz : pride, malice and deceit. Now if we have a vision of such a being, we may conclude it is the Devil. * * * I don't at all wonder that some are led away and deceived by visions and extraordinary appearances that have no experimental acquaintance with a work of grace in their own souls. * * But as I am apt to think extraordinaries will become more commou, so their nature and character will be more clearly discerned and fully understood." .

In the Spring of 1768 Timothy Green, the printer at New London, Connecticut, published, in a pam- phlet of thirty-six pages, a discourse preached by the Rev. Jacob Johnson at the funeral of Col. Christopher Avery of Groton, Connecticut. A copy of that pamphlet is now in the collections of The Connecticut Historical Society.

In April, 1765, the Rev. Dr. Wheelock (see pages 409 and 450, Vol. I) desired Mr. Johnson to undertake a missionary journey to the Oneida Indians in New York. They were the first of the Six Nations to ex- press a wish to have Christian missionaries come to their villages to teach and preach, and in 1761 Samp- son Occum (Dr. Wheelock's earliest convert among the Indians) had been sent to them From a mono- graph (unpublished) on the Rev. Jacob Johnson, prepared by his great-grandson, Dr. Frederick C. John- son of Wilkes-Barre, we learn that Jacob Johnson, having decided to accede to Dr. Wheelock's desire, set

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out from his home in Groton September 17, 1768, for Lebanon, Connecticut, the home of Dr. Wheelock. There Mr. Johnson received a commission to the Oneidas dated September 19, 1768, and was instructed by Dr. Wheelock to proceed to Kanawaro'ke, or Kanoalohale, the "Lower Castle" (see page 449, Vol. I) of the Oneida nation, to take the place of the Rev. Samuel Kirkland, who had returned to his home a short time before on account of ill health. Mr. Johnson made the journey from Lebanon (800 miles) in ten days, going by way of Fort Stanwix, where he met Capt. (subsequently Lieut. Col.) John Butler, who, nearly ten years later, commanded the British and Indian forces at the battle of Wyoming.

At the "Lower Castle" Mr. Johnson found David Avery, a missionary and teacher from Connecticut, and on October 1st the latter wrote to Dr. Wheelock as follows: "Sir William Johnson and a large num- ber of gentlemen have been at Fort Stanwiz about three weeks. The Indians are come and coming, and it is expected that all will arrive in a week or ten days. I design to accompany Jacob Johnson over [to Fort Stanwix] as soon as the Indians go [from here]." Messrs. Johnson and Avery, iu company with some, or all, of the Oneida Indians who attended the council at Fort Stanwix (see page 448, Vol. I), arrived there on the 10th of October, and soon thereafter Mr. Johnson wrote to Dr. Wheelock, asking that the Rev. Mr. Kirkland be sent to Fort Stanwix forthwith, and stating: "We have more privately consulted the two chiefs of the Oneidas in order to apprise them of this design [to purchase a large section of the Indian lands], and if possible to fix in them an unchangeable resolution and determination upon no consideration to part with their lands." October 17th Mr. Johnson wrote from Fort Stanwix to Dr. Wheelock that Governor Penn had gone home, but that before he went Mr. Johnson had conferred with him about setting up an Indian college on the Susquehanna. "I asked him," wrote Mr. Johnson. "if the Proprie- taries would not come to some agreement with the New England purchasers on the Susquehanna. He said 'Yes, as they would with any other purchasers, but upon no other terms.'" Mr. Johnson stated further that he had conferred with Richard Peters (see page 262) upon the subject of the Susquehanna lands, and had also "conferred with Sir William Johnson personally about the Indian school." He wrote that Sir William had treated him (Jacob) "in the most handsome and genteel manner imaginable, which has endeared him to me very much."

A few days subsequently to the writing of the abovementioned letter Sir William decided to exclude, and did exclude, the Rev. Jacob from the conference with the Indians (as noted on page 450. Vol. I)- giving as some of his reasons therefor the following, in a letter written by him to Gen. Thomas Gage (mentioned on page 650) soon afterwards. "The New Englanders have had missionaries for some time among the Oneidas and Oquagas, and I was not ignorant that their old pretensions to the Susquehanna lands was their real object, though religion was their assumed object. Two New England missionaries came up, strongly recommended to me by Dr. Wheelock, and did all in their power to prevent the Oneidas (whose property part of the Susquehanna is) from agreeing to any line. They even had the face. in op- position to His Majesty's commands and the desire of the Colonies, to memorial me, praying that the Indians might not be allowed to give up far to the west or north, but to reserve it for the purpose of religion."

On November 6th, at Albany, Mr. Johnson wrote : "The business of the Congress is now completed ; all is in confusion." A day or two later Messrs. Johnson and Kirkland, and probably David Avery also, set out for "Oneida" (Kanoalohale ?), whence, on December 28th, Mr. Johnson wrote to Dr. Wheelock that Mr. Kirkland was there with him ; that he (johnson) had not been favored with an interpreter, except occasionally ; that he was studying the Oneida language and hoped to speak to the Indians in their own language before he should leave them. According to original letters now in existence, written in January, 1768, by the Rev. Jacob Johnson to Dr. Wheelock (authenticated copies of which letters are now in the possession of Dr. F. C. Johnson), the Rev. Messrs. Johnson and Kirkland set out from "Oneida" about the 10th of January, 1769, for Canajoharie, the "Upper Castle" of the Mohawks (described on page 264, Vol. I) and the home of Joseph Brant (mentioned on page 299), who had formerly been a pupil in Dr. Wheelock's school and was then in the twenty-seventh year of his age. The missionaries arrived at Canajoharie on Friday, January 18th, and the following Sunday Jacob Johnson preached to the Mohawks and had Joseph Brant for his interpreter. On Monday the 16th Mr. Johnson set out for Oneida and Mr. Kirkland for "Johnson Hall," the residence of Sir William Johnson, situated about twenty miles east of Canajoharie.

April 7, 1769, Mr. Johnson returned from his mission to his home at Groton (see page 82, Vol I), hav- ing been absent nearly seven months, during which time he had traveled on horseback and on foot over 1.000 miles. He wrote that he was able, in some measure, to preach to the Oneidas in their own language, and that if he had remained with them three months longer he "could speak their language complete ; and in six months more all the languages of the Six Nations." He stated that "the Mohawk and Oneida languages are almost exactly the same."

Pearce says ("Annals of Luzerne County." page 278): "In 1770 the [Susquehanna] Company engaged the Rev. Jacob Johnson, of Groton, Connecticut, to supply the place of Mr. Beckwith. Mr. Johnson hastened to his new field of labor. and ministered as best he could in holy things. in the midst of civil strife. He remained but a few months, when he returned to Connecticut, leaving the Rev. Elkanah Holmes in charge of the belligerent flock of Yankees and Paxton Boys." For this statement there is no authority whatever. Elkanah Holmes was a Baptist elder, a member of the Philadelphia Conference, who, in 1776, came from Kingwood. New Jersey -- the home of Col. Charles Stewart (see page 692)-to Wyoming as a missionary, and preached here for awhile.

Upon the arrival of Mr. Johnson at Wilkes-Barre in the latter part of October, 1772, as previously stated. he took up his abode at the Mill Creek block-house, and, evidently, was still living there in May, 1778. This we gather from the journal of "Deacon" John Hurlbut, who came from New London County, Connecticut, to Wyoming Valley in May, 1778. (See Johnson's "Historical Record," I : 213.) Under date of Tuesday, May 25th, Mr. Hurlbut wrote : "Visited Mr. Johnson at Chapman's Mills. Went to Wilk- bary fort. In ye afternoon went over to Capt. Gore's in Kingston, then returned to Wilkbury. Went up to Abraham's Plains. Again returned to ye Fort [Wyoming, or Wilkes-Barre]. At a town-meeting at night [see page 768, post]; returned to Kingston to Benedict Satterly's Slept there that night. Wednes- dav. May ye 26th-Went down on ye fields to Plymouth, and then back to Capt. Gore's; then returned to Wilk bury again. Visited Mr. Johnson. Was with him about two hours and a-half. Found him in a low, disconsolate state, but looking like rain [1] rid for Laquawanar Fort"-the Pittston fort, or block-house, referred to in the minutes reprinted on page 780, ante. Chapman's Mills-a saw-mill and a grist-mill- referred to by Mr. Hurlbut in his journal, stood on the north bank of Mill Creek just east of the present Main Street (Wilkes-Barre) bridge across that stream. These mills were erected by Nathan Chapman (said to have come from Goshen, New York ) in the Summer, or early Autumn, of 1772, and are more par- ticularly described in Chapter L.

In the Summer of 1773 Mr. Johnson went to Groton to arrange his affairs there and remove his family and belongings to Wilkes-Barre. The journey was begun in the latter part of October, and was made on a sloop from Groton, or New London, to New Windsor (opposite Fishkill Landing) on the Hudson River, in Orange County, New York, where the travelers arrived on November Ist-on which day Mr. Johnson wrote to Zebulon Butler at Wilkes-Barre as follows : "I am now at this place. Should be glad of some help. I have a wagon load of goods-that is, two hogsheads, two chests and eleven souls [Mr. Johnson and his wife, their eight children and a negro slave]-to get on my way. I shall come along as soon and as fast as I can."

In addition to the "50-acre Lot" and "Wilkes-Barre Island" the proprietors of Wilkes-Barre subsequently bestowed upon and granted to Mr. Johnson "Public Lot No. 1" (mentioned on page 656), to be "his prop- erty in fee simple, by virtue of his call and settlement here as the first ordained minister." This lot lay in that part of Wilkes-Barre Township which is now Plains Township, immediately adjoining the present north eastern boundary of Wilkes-Barre Township, and extended from the main, or middle, road near

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Mill Creek to the south-eastern boundary of the township. It was certified under the Act of April 4, 1789, as containing 886 acres and 94 perches. Within eight or ten years after settling here Mr. Johnson acquired other real estate in Wilkes-Barre to a considerable amount. March 8, 1778, the proprietors of Wilkes- Barre bestowed upon him Lot No. 9 in the town-plot, which they had purchased from Haggai Cooper, who had derived his title from Peregrine Gardner, the original owner. November 5, 1777, this action of the proprietors was confirmed by a town vote. May 12, 1777, Mr. Johnson became the owner of Lot No. 10 in the town-plot, and Lot No. 45 (containing 181 acres) in the 8d Division of Wilkes-Barre, having pur- chased the same from George Bissell, Jr., who had derived his title through his father, George Bissell, Sr., from Robert Frazer, who was the original owner. July 1, 1777, Mr. Johnson bought of James Stark, for £8, Lot No. 12 in the town-plot, and later in the same year, or early in 1778, he bought of John Abbott Lot No. 85 in the town-plot. For the location of these various town-lots see page 655. Across Mr. John- son's "50-acre Lot" and the north-western halves of Lot No. 12 and Lot No. 10 ran the rocky ridge which terminated in "The Redoubt." on the River Common opposite Lot No. 10, as described on page 607.

In July, 1778, after the battle of Wyoming, when the houses of Wilkes-Barre were almost entirely destroyed by the savages, Mr. Johnson's house- which stood on Lot No. 9-was burned. Other property belonging to Mr. Johnson was destroyed at that time, and in the list of losses incurred at Wyoming-pre- pared and presented in October, 1781, to the Connecticut Assembly, by its orders (see Chapter XIX)-the losses of Mr. Johnson were reported at £459. 4sh., one of the largest amounts in the list. Mr. Johnson and his family fled from Wyoming, in common with the majority of the inhabitants of the valley, with- in a day or two after the surrender of Forty Fort, and made their way to Mr. Johnson's native town of Wallingford, where they took up their abode. There, under the date of September 27, 1778, Mr. Johnson wrote to his son-in-law, Col. Zebulon Butler, addressing his letter in "care of Mrs. Butler, at the Public House of Mr. Wadkins, thirteen miles west of the North River-New Windsor." (Colonel Butler's eldest daughter, Hannah, was then at Lyme, Connecticut.) Mr. Johnson wrote: "If you don't think it advis- able for me to come on the Susquehanna this Winter I shall engage in other business. How is it with you ? Anything saved on the ground, as to the fruits and effects there, or what was hidden ? Also, how is it with the dead bodies, or bones of the dead? * * Mrs Johnson wants to know whether her clothes were found by the enemy-if not, that you would take care of them."

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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. II, Part 25

Author: Harvey, Oscar Jewell, 1851- [from old catalog] Publication date: 1909 Publisher: Wilkes-Barre [Raeder press] Number of Pages: 683

Author: Harvey, Oscar Jewell, 1851- [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Wilkes-Barre [Raeder press]
Number of Pages: 683