A history of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, from its first beginnings to the present time; including chapters of newly-discovered, Vol. II, Part 26

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 26

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).

Under the date of November 10, 1778, Mr. Johnson wrote from Wallingford to Colonel Butler at Wilkes- Barre as follows : "I was in great hopes of seeing Colonel Denison, to hear more particularly by him, and write and send to you, but failed. Tho I went and sent to Hartford I could not see him, he being then gone to Windham. * * * We have heard since your letter [of September 25th] that you were again drove off, destroyed, and many of you killed by the enemy, tho this was afterwards contradicted. I have been not a little concerned about you and the people there, lest the enemy should get some advantage against you, there being now, as I am told, about 150 in all-soldiers and inhabitants and in a little picket fort that could make no considerable defense against 700 or 800 or 1,000 Tories and Indians, and while so many of ye old enemies, the Pennamites, are watching for an opportunity to do you a mischief. and would, no doubt, be glad and rejoice at it. Things being so with you I should by no means at present think it safe to come or send my negro or anything of value there where you be. If you had 500 or 700 men with a good strong fort, such as that at Fort Stanwix, and well laid in with all warlike stores, provisions, &c., I should think quite otherwise ; and until that be done, as the day now is, it seems rather presumptive than prudence, to venture your lives and fortunes (the little left) in such a weak and defence- less state. * * * Continental Dollars, one thing with another, are at a discount of ten and twelve for one, and rarely answer to buy anything at all."

February 16, 1779, Mr. Johnson wrote from Wallingford to Colonel Butler at Wilkes-Barre as follows : # "I am not determined as yet whether it will be best for me to come or send any part of my family. * I have as yet engaged in no business, excepting I have the care of a school, and occasionally preach here and there as a door opens. I think it would be but reasonable you should have a Chaplain or minister with you in Continental pay. If I could come in that character I don't know but I would come and bring my negro and one of my boys with me. You and the people there may advise upon it and let me know your mind, either by letter or when you come this way. If this can't be effected (tho I don't doubt but that it might by application to Congress, or even to Connecticut State)-I say, if this can't be done, I shall engage in some other way and lay by the thoughts of coming to Susquehannah, at least at present, tho the state of things here are uncommon. * * I am concerned for my daughter's health-I mean Miss Butler [Mrs. Zebulon Butler]. If I knew what she might want, and it was in my power to send it, I would

not fail to do it. # Let her not be concerned for us or her only son, Zebulon, Jr., for he is as our own." Mrs. Butler had, some time before, rejoined her husband at Wilkes-Barre, leaving her only child, Zebulon Johnson Butler, then nearly three years old, with his grandparents at Wallingford, with whom Colonel Butler's daughter Hannah was also then residing.

September 80, 1779, Mr. Johnson wrote from Wallingford to Colonel Butler at Wilkes-Barre, in purt as follows : "Yours by Mr. Sills (18th inst.) I received. * * As to my coming up with my family this Fall : Tho I had (before the arrival of Mr. Sills and your letters by him) concluded otherwise, this notwith- standing I have since determined, by the Leave of Heaven, to come, provided it appears to be the mind of the People (the Inhabitants) that I should come ; as also that I come in the character of a Continental Chaplain, or be stationed at Wilksbarre or elsewhere in that Public Character, and that one of the Con tinental waggons be sent here to remove me with my family and necessary effects to Wilksbarre. Other wise I shall not be inclined to come; altho' for your sake, Miss Butler's sake, and some others of my Particular Friends I should be very glad to come, and bring your Dr. son and my grandson equally dear to me, to whom your bowells often times yearn towards, and who is so desirous once again to see his Daddy and mammy, and almost overjoy'd to hear there was a prospect of going. * * * I have in this Letter said I would come to Wilksbarre provided it apears to be the mind of the People-Inhabitants-I should come, for I would come by their desire and good will, & I know not I have any reason to distrust their Good will. I say further I will come provided I come in the Publick office & character of a Continental chaplain. For I mean to spend the Remainder of my Days in Preaching the Glorious Gospel of the great saviour of the world, and so many Doors stand open this way that I should not choose to come to Susque- hannah except a Door opens there for Public usefulness."

About the same time that the Rev. Jacob Johnson wrote the foregoing letter his wife, Mrs. Mary Johnson, wrote to her daughter, Mrs. Zebulon Butler, as follows: "We had concluded to come to Wilks- barre when your father saw Captain Colt and Mr. Goold at Lyme. They told him they had heard eighteen men were a mowing of the Flats ; the Indians rose upon them and killed seventeen of them. * * That put a stop to our thoughts of coming till we heard further. I hope in six or seven weeks to be with you. * * Zebulon [Johnson Butler] is often talking about his daddy and mammy. You can't think what a man he is. He goes of arrants, cuts wood, husks corn, feeds hogs-does a great deal of work, he says. He is a charming child. I could not have been contented had he not been with me. * * I hope Colonel will send for us as soon as we have wrote, for it would cost beyond acount to get horses here for such a journey. * * Your father went to town for Calico. Could get none. He sent to Hartford and got a patron [pattern] one. If you like it, he can get more. It was 25 Dollars a yard. It was the cheapest I have seen."

It was not until the forepart of June, 1781, that Jacob Johnson and his family returned to Wilkes- Barre. Having no house of their own which they could occupy they took up their residence at the corner of River and Northampton Streets, in a part of the house of Colonel Butler, then occupied by the latter's wife and children-he himself being absent on duty with his regiment at Peekskill, New York. Within three weeks after the arrival of the Johnsons at Wilkes-Barre Mrs. Lydia (Johnson) Butler died, as previ- ously noted (on page 638). Mr. Johnson soon began the erection of a log house on his town-lot No. 9, at the south-east corner of the present Union and River Streets, and upon its completion in the Spring of

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HOUSE ERECTED AND OCCUPIED BY THE REV. JACOB JOHNSON. It stood at the north-east corner of River and Union Streets, and in later years was owned and occupied by Dr. C. F. Ingham. From a photograph taken in 1887.

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1782 he and his family removed into it from the Butler house. In 1791 Jacob Johnson, his wife and two of their children were still residing there, while Jacob Williamson Johnson (the eldest living child of the Rev. Jacob) was living with his newly-wedded wife in a small house across the street, on town-lot No. 10. May 1, 1792, the Rev. Jacob Johnson conveyed to his son Jacob Williamson, "in consideration of love and good will," Lot No. 85 in the town-plot, and other lands. Jacob Williamson thereupon removed to the house which stood on "No. 35"-a log house, standing at the south-east corner of the present Main and Union Streets, where, many years later, the three-story brick building owned by the late Charles Roth was erected. About 1793 the Rev. Jacob Johnson erected on Lot No. 10-at the north-east corner of River and Union Streets-a very substantial frame house, in which he and his wife lived until their respective deaths. Then the house was occupied by Jehoiada P. Johnson ; then for awhile by Charles Miner ; next, for a number of years, by Arnold Colt, and lastly, for upwards of thirty years (having, in the meantime, been renovated and slightly remodeled), by Dr. Charles F. Ingham. In the Summer of 1887 Dr. Ingham demolished the old building, and erected on its site the three-story, double-building of brick now stand- ing there.

The Rev. Jacob Johnson died March 15, 1797, and his wife died January 18, 1806. From early life Mr. Johnson "claimed to possess the gift of prophecy, and to some extent that of a seer," wrote one of his grandsons in 1882. "He became somewhat visionary, and eccentric in his habits, in the latter years of his Life"; he made himself a girdle of hair, which he wore, like John the Baptist, around his loins ; he was a devout Second Adventist, and also believed himself to be endowed with a preternatural knowledge of coming events. At length, in the eighty-fourth year of his life, the infirmities of age began to creep upon him, and there came to him one night, in a "vision," a mysterious forewarning of his death. This was so real and impressive that Mr. Johnson "not only made the usual preparations for dissolution," but set about digging his own grave. Climbing up the steep ascent of "Redoubt Hill," in the rear of his resi- dence, he passed up along the crest of the ridge to a point near its greatest elevation-which, for many years now, has been locally known as "Westfield's Hill." There, on his own land (a part of the '50-acre Lot"), a few rods north of the junction of the present Franklin Street with North Street, he proceeded, with mattock and spade, to dig his grave due east and west. He continued at his task for some hours, but his feeble health would not admit of protracted labor, and it required some days to complete the task. Re- turning from it finally he informed his younger son of what he had done, and, in a cheerful and uncon- cerned manner giving some directions for his funeral, retired to his chamber for rest ; but ere the morn- ing sun shone in at his window the Angel of Death had passed by that peaceful cottage and breathed in the face of the good old man as he slept, and there was mourning in the little hamlet.

Upon the death of Mrs. Johnson nearly eight years later her remains were interred by the side of those of her husband. As years passed these secluded and solitary graves were neglected, yet were not entirely forgotten. The spot was well known, although not marked by any monument or the presence of other graves. Col. W. L Stone (see page 19, Vol. I), writing in 1899 of the eminence upon which these graves were situated, said (see "History of Wyoming," page 827): "From its crest the landscape is as beautiful as fancy can paint. Upon the summit of this hill sleep the remains of the Rev. Mr. Johnson, the first clergyman of Wyoming. He was a good scholar and a man of talents-greatly beloved by the flock over which he watched for many years. He was, however, an eccentric man, entertaining some peculiar views in theology. He believed in the second coming and personal reign of Christ upon earth, and insisted upon being buried here, facing the east, so that he could see the glorious pageant of the Messiah in His second descent." Some thirty-five years ago the remains of Jacob Johnson and his wife were removed from "Westfield's Hill," and now rest in Hollenback Cemetery underneath a substantial and attractive monument.

(Further mention of the Rev. Jacob Johnson is made in subsequent pages-especially in Chapter XXX.) The Rev. Jacob and Mary (Giddings) Johnson were the parents of nine children, only four of whom grew to maturity, viz .: (i) Lydia, born in 1756; became the wife of Colonel Zebulon Butler-q. v .; died June 26, 1781. (ii) Jacob Williamson. (iii) Jehoiada Pitt. (iv) Christiana Olive. The last-named was born in 1769 at Groton, Connecticut. She was married at Wilkes-Barre, March 25, 1801, by Dr. Matthew Covell, a Justice of the Peace, to William Russell, Jr. (born February 15, 1774), son of William and Mehet- abel (Cowen) Russell. For a number of years William Russell, Jr., owned and carried on a pottery on River Street below Union, on a part of Lot No. 9, previously mentioned. He died in Wilkes-Barre June 27, 1830, and his wife died here January 15, 1831, aged sixy-two years. They had no children.

(ii) Jacob Williamson Johnson was born at Groton about 1765. We have noted on page 452, Vol. I, that the Rev. Jacob Johnson sometimes, about the year 1768, signed his name "Jacob Ws. johnson " It is quite probable that his full name was Jacob Williamson Johnson, and that within a few years after nam- ing his son Jacob Williamson he discarded the "Williamson" from his own name. Jacob Williamson John- son, Jr., was married, presumably at Wilkes-Barre, about 1790 or '91, to Anna Bailey. He died at his home, corner of Union and Main Streets, May 22, 1807, and his wife died there September 2, 1807. They were survived by two daughters : (1) Mary Bailey, who became the wife (Ist) of Albon Bulford, and (2d) of Phineas Nash Foster (born at Montpelier, Vermont, in 1796). (2) Lydia, who in 1822 was married at Groton, Connecticut, to A. Smith of Aurelius New York.

(iii) Jehoiada Pitt Johnson was born at Groton in 1767, and was about six years old when he came to Wilkes-Barre with the other members of his father's family. In 1789, at the age of twenty-two years, he was "Collector of Rates" for the district of Wilkes-Barre. In 1799 he was one of the poormasters of the town, and prior to 1801 he held the office of Town Clerk of Wilkes-Barre for a year or more. In 1802, '08 and '04, and probably in other years about that period, he was Collector of State and County Taxes in the district of Wilkes-Barre. In 1802. and perhaps later, he was engaged in a small way in general mercantile business in Wilkes-Barre. In June of the year mentioned he advertised for sale an "assortment of crockery-ware"-perhaps the output of his brother-in-law's pottery. About 1810 or '11 Jehoiada P. John- son removed from his house at the north-east corner of Union and River Streets (which had been con- veyed to him by his father, and where he had continued to live after the latter's death) to Public Lot No. 1, which, also, had been conveyed to him by his father, in April, 1796. Upon that lot, by the side of Laurel Run, within the present bounds of the borough of Parsons, he built in 1817 a small grist-mill, which he operated until 1825-one Holgate being the miller. Later it was leased to and operated by other persons, as explained in a subsequent chapter.

Jehoiada P. Johnson was married January 19, 1804, by Lawrence Myers, Esq., a Justice of the Peace, to Hannah (born 1782), daughter of Robert and Sarah Frazer.

Robert Frazer, or Frazier, was admitted a proprietor in Wilkes-Barre early in 1772, and was one of those to whom the lands of the town were distributed in April of that year. (See page 727 ) Lot No. 10 in the town-plot, which fell to his share at that time, had been allotted in 1771 to John Frazier (see page 718), who, it is believed, was in some way related to Robert. June 25. 1770, Robert Frazer had entered into an agreement with one Thomas Hill to settle in his behalf on "a proprietor's right in Wyoming." Late in 1772 or early in 1778 Robert Frazer sold out his proprietary interest in Wilkes-Barre to George Bissell, Sr., and shortly thereafter located on a tract of land "pitched" on the west side of the Susque- hanna, near the township of Plymouth, in satisfaction of Thomas Hill's "right." January 11, 1775. Zebu- lon Butler, a member of the committee appointed by The Susquehanna Company tocollect taxes, received four and a-half dollars from Robert Frazer "on the right of Thomas Hill, Esq."" In 1787, before the Con- firming Commissioners, Obadiah Gore, Esq., testified under oath "that Robert Frazer, abovenamed, was in possession of and dwelt upon the tract of land above claimed about the year 1773, and continued there- on till the year 1777, when he enlisted under the deponent in the late war." (See page 70 of the original minutes of the Confirming Commissioners, referred to on page 29, ante ) At Wilkes-Barre, May 30, 1788, Col. Timothy Pickering wrote to his former business partner Samuel Hodgdon, in Philadelphia, as follows : "Mr. Frazier, who will deliver you this, belongs here. He is a tall, straight Scotsman, an old

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During the Summer and early Autumn of 1772 the number of set- tlers at Wyoming was largely increased by almost daily arrivals of men, women and children from New England. The affairs of the settlement still continued to be managed by the Committee of Settlers appointed by The Susquehanna Company ; but, naturally, it was impossible that the Committee could please everybody in the performance of its duties, and some of the Committee's acts gave very serious offense to certain of the proprietors of Hanover Township. Complaints were made to the officials and leading men of The Susquehanna Company in Connecticut, and for a time there was a good deal of feeling manifested by the parties to the dissension. The trouble began in the Summer of 1771 (see page 716), and Capt. Lazarus Stewart, who was no longer a member of the Com- mittee of Settlers, was so active and outspoken in his opposition to many of its acts that he incurred the enmity of the individual who had succeeded him as a member of the Committee-a certain E. P., an elderly gentleman from Connecticut, who then held one of the import- ant offices in the settlement.

One day in the Summer of 1772, during this condition of affairs, a half-drunken "tramp" Indian, who was known to have been a hanger-on

soldier, and I believe an honest man, who might be intrusted with such a sum [of money, which Colonel Pickering desired to have sent to him], if in gold ; for as he is on foot silver would be inconvenient." (See the "Pickering Papers"-LVIII : 22-referred to on page 29, ante.) Robert Frazer died in or near Plymouth Township in 1790, being survived by his wife.

Jehoiada P. Johnson died at his home at Laurel Run in Wilkes-Barre Township January 8, 1890, and his wife died August 23, 1855. They were the parents of the following-named children, all born in Wilkes- Barré : (i) Zipporah, born in January, 1805; died September 18, 1806. (ii) Ovid Frazer, born March 25, 1807 ; died February 10. 1854. (iii) Mary Giddings, born November 8, 1809; married to Charles Reel of Wilkes-Barre ; died November 12. 1880. (iv) Jehoiada, born January 20, 1812; married to Priscilla Scovel; died at Laurel Run December 31. 1871. (v) William Pill, born March 14, 1814 ; married to Eliza Roder- ick ; died at Dallas, Pennsylvania, January 26, 1893. (vi) Miles, born March 16, 1816; married in 1847 to Philomena Burlingame of Wisconsin ; died at Lathrop, California, October 6, 1889. (vii) Christiana, born about 1817 ; died in infancy (vili) Priestley R, born December 20, 1819 ; married to Sarah Monega ; died at Wilkes-Barre, July 5, 1878. (ix) Wesley, born December 20, 1819; died October 27, 1892 (x) Sarah Ann, born March 18, 1824 ; married to Henry Colt Wilson of Wilkes-Barre ; died at Columbus, Ohio, April 20, 1903. (xi) Diantha, born September 22, 1826; died November 4, 1874, unmarried.

(ii) Ovid Frazer Johnson was admitted to the Bar of Luzerne County April 6, 1881, and two years later-having in the meantime practised his profession at Wilkes-Barre-he located at Harrisburg, Penn- sylvania. "where he soon took a leading position, both as a lawyer and as a political writer." Upon the inauguration of David R. Porter as Governor of Pennsylvania in January, 1889, he appointed Ovid F. Johnson (then in the thirty-second year of his life) Attorney General of the Commonwealth. He was the youngest man ever appointed to this office. In The Republican Farmer and Democratic Journal (Wilkes-Barre) of January 28, 1839, the following editorial from the pen of Samuel P. Collings was printed : "The appointment [of Ovid F. Johnson] is a compliment to Luzerne that we had not anticipated, and which is consequently the more gratifying. An abler man could scarcely have been found for the station in the State. Mr. Johnson is a self-made man, still young in years, and his appointment is another glorious commentary upon the happy influence of our institutions in developing and distinguishing great talents, however obscure the source of their origin." Upon Governor Porter's re-election to office he re- appointed Mr. Johnson Attorney General, and the latter served in the office until January. 1845 Ovid F. Johnson was married at Harrisburg July 28, 1835, to Jane (born in January. 1813), daughter of James and Martha ( Hamilton) Alricks. Mr. Johnson died at Washington, D. C., February 10, 1854, and was sur- vived by his wife, three daughters and one son. Mrs. Jane (Alricks) Johnson died at Harrisburg, Decem- ber 21, 1901.

(ix) Wesley Johnson was born with his twin brother, Priestley R., on the Johnson estate at Laurel Run December 20. 1819. He was educated at the Wilkes-Barre Academy. In 18il he entered the office of his brother, Ovid F., as a student of law, and in 1845 was admitted to the Bar of Philadelphia. In April, 1846, he was admitted to the Bar of Luzerne County. Shortly afterwards he removed to Texas and prac- tised law at Galveston for awhile. In 1849 he settled at Marquette, Wisconsin, where he was elected Clerk of the Circuit and County Courts. In 1853 he returned to Wilkes-Barre, where he spent his remain- ing years. For a number of years preceding his death he filled, by election, the office of Alderman of the Fourth Ward of Wilkes-Barre February 24, 1878. he became a member of Lodge No 61. F. and A. M. Wesley Johnson was a man of quiet and unassuming manners, and of a gentle and kindly disposition, and was steadfast and loyal in his friendships. "Possessed of an inquiring and analytical mind and a retentive memory he had a large fund of information on a range of subjects. His powers of observation were good. and he had a literary taste that enabled him to write the most graceful articles descriptive of travel or other matters which interested him. All the local papers printed articles from his pen."

Wesley Johnson was married (Ist) at Marquette, Wisconsin, May 12, 1852, to Cynthia Henrietta (born in Vermont March 18, 1827 ), daughter of David Sands and Mary (Tultle) Green. Mrs. Cynthia H. (Green) Johnson died at Wilkes-Barre August 80, 1855, and the next year Wesley Johnson was married (2d) to Frances H. (born at Wilkes-Barre in 1815), daughter of Seth and Rebecca ( Yarington) Wilson and widow of Frederick McAlpine of Wilkes-Barre. She died April 21, 1888. at Wilkes-Barre. Wesley Johnson died at his residence on West Union Street, Wilkes-Barre, October 27, 1892, and was buried in Hollenback Cemetery with the honors of Free Masonry. He was survived by his son -the only child of his first wife who grew to maturity-Dr. Frederick Charles Johnson, whose name is frequently mentioned in these pages. He was born at Marquette, Wisconsin, March 2, 1853, and was educated at Ripon College, Wiscon- sin, and the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania-being graduated at the latter insti- tution with the degree of M. D. in 1883. For the greater part of the time since then he has been engaged in journalism, and is now, and for some time has been, the principal owner of the Wilkes-Barre Record. He is married and has three children.

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of Capt. Amos Ogden when the latter was in Wyoming, made his ap- pearance in Wilkes-Barre. A friend of Captain Stewart accidentally learned that the Indian was the bearer of a written message from Cap- tain Ogden to E. P. This, in itself, seemed suspicious, and the curiosity . of Captain Stewart's friend being aroused he managed, by some hocus- pocus, to possess himself of the letter. It was in the handwriting of Captain Ogden, but was so worded and written as to make it appear as the composition of an illiterate man-which Captain Ogden was not. The letter was as follows :

"SIR .- I received your Letters concerning them fellows but we was one Day too late or we should took them very handy. They left Larner's* just before. Pray give us notis when Billt goes ; there is fifty pound more bid for him, and if you shall be out of the way let Peregreen send an Indian and I will pay him well for his trouble. Pray be as Private as Death, for they will not let you know nothing if they once get the Least hint. I think if we could get Lazst or Bill you will get shut of the rest very handy. Be- sides seven or eight Hundred Pounds would be a pretty show these hard times. If you could gitt some of the Gentry out as far as Lackewanner I will, when them people comes there, be there on the sd Time where the old orchards [is]-and let the Lads fetch him or more of them, if possible, and I [will] soon shew [them] Irish beef sells well among us; these from your Sincere Friend and very Humble servant-you know whoo-

[Signed] "JOH SA-"

"P. S. I saw Lyons. || When he comes up let him bring hog-back Lazrus to me, or more-as we shall be fixt handy close."

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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 26

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