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 32
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119
"Voted, That this meeting is adjourned to Kingstown, at ye house of Mr. Elisha Swift, Wednesday, December 22d, at 10 A. M."
The settlers convened at Mr. Swift's on the 22d of December, but without transacting any business adjourned to meet on the 30th of the month at the house of Maj. Ezekiel Peirce, in Kingston. Having assembled at that time and place a town-meeting was organized and the following business was transacted :
"l'oted, That our Agents be supplied with memorials from each town, to be laid before ye General Assembly at Hartford in January next, shewing their minds in regard to the county-town-what town they [would] have for their county-town.
"Voted, That the Agents appointed to attend the Assembly in January next, to act in behalf of this Company, be directed as followeth :
"Ist-To give the thanks of this Company of settlers to ye Honble the General Court for their Resolutions in October last, so much in favour of this company of settlers.
"2d-That they have full power and authority to draw up and sign a memorial to the General Court for and in behalf of this Company, praying for incorporate privileges, civil and military ; or to follow the matter upon the memorial now lying before the Court, or as they shall think best.
"Sd-That they endeavour to obtain an Act passed by the General Court concern- ing ye doings of this Company's officers who have acted as such by appointment and agreement of this Company of settlers and ye Susquehanna Land Company of propri- etors, so that those persons who have carried on any action to obtain a righteous demand might not in ye end be defeated.
4th-That they make strict enquiry what has been done with ye memorials and petitions heretofore sent by this Company to the General Court, praying to be incor- porated, &c., and find out what attendance has been given by our Agents heretofore appointed.
"5th-That they take lists with them of all ye proprietors at the settling towns, attested by ye Comtee of Settlers, and each town's lists by themselves, with ye copies of ye Susquehanna Land Company's votes granting those towns to ye settlers.
"6th-That they take the most effectual method to prevent any Acts being passed by ye General Court that in any way would strengthen the title of those who have taken up lands under pretention of ye title of Pennsylvania, and have located and laid out ye same in ye heart of ye Government of ye Colony of Connecticut.
"7th-That they lay a true state of ye Pennsylvania and Jersey people's conduct in laying out this Government's land, and at their filthy, wicked trade with ye Natives, &c., and of their robberies and thefts committed against this Company of settlers in time past.
"8th-That they take with them ye number of ye inhabitants of ye several settling- towns and plantations of ye settlements on the Susquehanna River, and make return thereof to the General Assembly of this Colony.
"9th-That they, as Agents of this Company, attend ye General Court in January next, from ye beginning to ye end of the same, taking advice of true friends to ye wel- fare of this Colony ; and that they faithfully follow the business of their agency, and strictly abide by their instructions.
"10th-Voted, That the Selectmen of each town take ye numbers of ye Inhabitants residing in each town on ye 1st day of January next, and lodge ye same in ye hands of the Clerk of this Company by the 3d day of January next."
Prior to its adjournment in October the General Assembly of Con- necticut enacted-supplementary to its resolutions relative to the lands west of the Delaware-that the Hons. Matthew Griswold, Eliphalet Dyer, Roger Sherman, William Samuel Johnson, Samuel Holden Parsons, Silas Deane, William Williams and Jedidiah Strong (ranked
*This action was taken, undoubtedly, because at that time the Rev. Noah Wadhams was located in Plymouth, as previously mentioned, while in Kingston Mr. John Stafford, a Baptist licentiate from Dutchess County, New York, was sojourning as a missionary.
Digitized by Google
778
among the leading citizens of Connecticut, and nearly all of whom are previously mentioned herein) be "a committee with full power to assist his Honor Governor Trumbull in stating, and taking proper steps to pursue, the claim of the Colony to the Western lands, so called." Any three members of this Committee were authorized and directed to pro- ceed as soon as convenient to Philadelphia to wait on Governor Penn, "with the resolutions of said Assembly and such letter or letters as his Honor Governor Trumbull, with the advice of said Committee," should write to Governor Penn; "and with power to treat respecting an amicable agreement between this [Connecticut] Colony and the aforesaid Proprietaries concerning the boundaries of this Colony and the Province of Pennsylvania ;" and also to treat with Governor Penn "with respect to the peace of the inhabitants of said lands, and to agree upon such measures as shall tend to preserve good order and prevent mutual violence and contention while the boundaries between this Colony and the said Province remain undetermined."
The committee created by the aforementioned Act met with Gover- nor Trumbull at Norwich November 19, 1773, and after a full discus- sion of the subject in hand Governor Trumbull appointed and commis- sioned-under his "hand and the public seal of the Colony of Connec- ticut"-Col. Eliphalet Dyer,* William Samuel Johnson, t LL. D., and Jedidiah Strong, # Esq., "to attend upon and treat with" Governor Penn. Some three weeks later these Commissioners set out for Philadelphia, where they arrived December 14th.
In September, 1773, Richard Penn had been succeeded in the office of Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania by John Penn, who had just returned from England.§ (See pages 694 and 716.) About December 12, 1773, Governor Penn received a petition|| from "the magistrates, Grand Jury, and other principal inhabitants of Northumberland County," to the effect that they had been seated on lands in Northumberland County, purchased from the Proprietaries ; that about two years previ- ously (to wit, in the Autumn of 1771) a number of them had been "ousted of their possessions at Wyoming, and cruelly stripped and
* See page 398. t See pages 478, 651, 666 and 776.
I JEDIDIAH STRONG was born at Litchfield, Connecticut, November 7, 1788, sixth child of Supply Strong (originally of Hebron, Connecticut, and in 1728 one of the first settlers of Litchfield) and his second wife. Anne (Strong). Jedidiah Strong was graduated a Bachelor of Arts at Yale College in 1761, and three years later received the degree of A. M. "He studied theology, and, October 4, 1768, was licensed to preach by the Hartford North Association of Ministers. However, he almost immediately turned his attention to law, and after a year of study was admitted (in 1764) to the Bar of Hartford County. He then located at Litchfield in the practise of his profession. From 1770 to 1789 he served as one of the Selectmen of Litchfield, and from 1778 to 1789 was Town Clerk. In October, 1771, he attended the General Assembly of Connecticut as one of the Representatives from Litchfield, and from then until 1789 he sat as a Representative in thirty regular sessions of the Assembly. At thirteen of these sessions he was Clerk of the Lower House. In 1774 he was chosen a Delegate to the Continental Congress, but declined the office. From 1780 to 1791 he was a Judge of the Litchfield County Court. During the Revolutionary War he was a Commissary of Supplies for the Continental Army. In 1788 he was a member of the State Convention which adopted the Constitution of the United States, and in 1789 and 1790 he was a member of the Governor's Council, or Upper House of the Assembly.
Jedidiah Strong was married (Ist) April 17, 1774, to Ruth (born June 16, 1789), daughter of Maj. John Patterson of Farmington, Connecticut. She died October 8, 1777, leaving a daughter, and January 22 1788, Judge Strong was married to Susannah, daughter of the Hon. George Wyllys (mentioned on page 282, Vol. I). She was about twelve years his junior, and in July, 1790, after two and a-half years of married life, she was compelled by his cruel behavior to apply for a divorce, which was granted by the Governor's Council, of which Judge Strong was then a member. "He was then cast out of all decent society," says Dexter in his Yale College Biographies. "He had already forfeited the esteem of his fellow-townsmen by his bad private character, although by hypocrisy and political intrigue he had been able up to this date to impose upon a wider public." He was a man of diminutive figure, limping gait and an unpleasant countenance. and is said to have succeeded in gaining his great ascendancy in his town and district by his arts as a pettifogger and a politician. In his latter years he sank rapidly into drunkenness and gross dissipation, and it was necessary to have a guardian appointed over him. His means became exhausted, and the town was obliged to assist in his support. He died August 21, 1802.
May 8, 1772, John Penn wrote from London to a friend in Philadelphia : " I am not so well pleased with England as to make me forget America, where. I do assure you, I had rather be than here, and hope to manage matters so as to be able to see it soon again and spend the rest of my days there."
" See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," X : 111.
Digitized by Google
779
plundered of their effects * [by the New Englanders], who, not content with the acquisition of Wyoming and the parts adjacent, had attempted to extend their conquests." * Continuing, the peti- tioners declared : "That the whole posse of the County is not sufficient to enforce the laws at Wyoming; and as the inhabitants have not hitherto been able to prevent the continuance of the Connecticut intrud- ers in that part of the Province contrary to law, * they fear their utmost efforts will not be sufficient to keep their possessions without the interposition and protection of the Legislature-which they implore."
On the very day that the Connecticut Commissioners arrived in Philadelphia to negotiate with Governor Penn, the latter sent to the Provincial Assembly a message reading as follows* :
"The distresses of the inhabitants of the County of Northumberland, expressed in their petition, which will be delivered to you by the Secretary, appear to be of a very alarming Nature, and justly to call for the particular attention of this Government.
"The Insolent Outrages of a set of Men who have long bid defiance to the Laws of the Country, and have afforded protection to Offenders of the most Heinous kind, ought not, certainly, in a well regulated Society, to be suffered to pass with Impunity ; but when these men embody themselves, sally forth with arms in their Hands, and in a Warlike Manner attempt to dispossess the peaceable Inhabitants of the County lately laid out and Established by act of Assembly, within the known bounds of the Province, it is a pro- cedure of so dangerous a Tendency as not only to threaten the Destruction of that Infant County, but strikes at the Peace of the whole Province.
"I think it therefore Incumbent on me, Gentlemen, to recommend this Matter to your most serious Consideration, and to request you will Fall upon such Measures as will Strengthen the Hands of the Government on this Extraordinary and alarming Occasion, repel the Violence of these lawless Intruders, and afford the Petitioners that Immediate Protection and Relief which their Necessities and Situation Require."
On the morning of December 15th the Connecticut Commissioners formally notified Governor Penn of their arrival in Philadelphia, and requested an audience with him. In response to his invitation they repaired at noon the same day to his house in Chestnut Street, where they were received by the Governor and the following members of his Council : Richard Peters, Benjamin Chew, James Tilghman and Edward Shippen, Jr .- all of whom are previously mentioned herein. The ne- gotiations between the Commissioners and Governor Penn continued for nine days, and were conducted chiefly in writing-"with much mutual complaisance, and with the most stately courtesy and excellent ability "; but they failed of results-which was what might have been expected. During the negotiations several expedients were proposed on both sides for preserving peace and good order among the inhabitants on the Susquehanna till the matters in dispute between the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania and the Colony of Connecticut should receive a final determination before the King in Council. In a communication trans- mitted to the Governor on December 18th the Commissioners said :
"As the Colony [of Connecticut] has now taken up the matter, and expressly asserted their claim, that the like mischiefs may in future be prevented, and peace and good order preserved in that part of the country, we propose that, without prejudice to the rights of the Colony or the Proprietaries, a temporary line of jurisdiction be agreed upon, which neither party shall exceed, and within which each respectively may exercise such power and authorities as they judge proper. And as the settlements under the Proprietaries are chiefly upon the Western, and those under Connecticut principally upon the Eastern, Branch of the Susquehanna, we apprehend such temporary line may be so drawn as that Jurisdiction may be exercised by each over their respective settlers with- out much inconvenience. * * We cannot forbear observing to you that the primary possession of the people under Connecticut was taken at a time when the country was entirely a wilderness, under an Indian purchase approved of by the Colony and made
* See "Pennsylvania Archives," Fourth Series, III : 447.
Digitized by Google
780
under their title of pre-emption from the Crown, when there was no person upon the land-much less anybody holding under the Proprietaries-and of course could not be attended with any force or violence."
On December 23d Governor Penn wrote to the Commissioners in part as follows :
"Gentlemen, you are in the prosecution of a claim which has long lain dormant, and surely that claim ought to be established by proper authority before you can, with any degree of propriety, think of extending your jurisdiction over a country which hath been legally possessed, and where the regular jurisdiction of another Government hath taken place, long before your Colony had concluded to prosecute their claim to it. As I cannot, for the reasons assigned, accede to the proposal of a temporary line of jurisdic- tion, so neither can I foresee any means that appear to me likely to effectuate Peace and Order-and to prevent for the future such violent Outrages as have been lately perpe- trated in that Part of the Country where the People of Connecticut are now settled-but their entirely evacuating the Lands in their Possession until a legal Decision of our Con- troversy may be obtained.
"And when it is considered that this Possession was effected by armed Bodies of People, in an hostile Manner expelling from their lawful Possessions those who had purchased their Lands and settled them under the Sanction of this Government, and that this was done without any Warrant or Authority from the Colony of Connecticut-nay, long before that Colony had even avowed a Claim to those Lands-I cannot but think it highly reasonable that such a tortious and unjustifiable Possession should be relinquished by the Colony at a time when they are pursuing a Claim on the Principles of Right and in a legal Way. Indeed, I cannot conceive, from the Measures that have been adopted by the Colony of Connecticut since they have made their Claim, that they can wish to avail themselves of a Possession extorted by such lawless and violent Proceedings, or that they can imagine themselves under the least Obligation to support or abet a Sett of People who have been capable of acting in so outrageous and unjustifiable a Manner. I am, therefore, induced to hope, Gentlemen, that when this matter comes to be coolly considered by your Government-if their views are, like mine, directed to a speedy and peaceful Decision of this Dispute-they will use all possible Means to withdraw the Peo- ple thus settled, in the most expeditious and effectual Manner."
December 24th the Connecticut Commissioners replied to the fore- going communication in these words-in part :
* * * " We consider our Negotiations with you as at an End, and have only to console ourselves that, whatever happens, we have on our Part faithfully endeavored not only to terminate the Controversy with all possible Dispatch, but also to provide for the Quiet of the Country while the Dispute shall be depending. * * * We cannot but hope you will entertain in future more favorable sentiments of the Connecticut settlers and their former Proceedings than have been attempted to be impressed upon you by the Representatives of interested Individuals, willing to magnify past Services or procure future Favors. * * We cannot omit to remind you that the established Jurisdiction under this Province [the erection of the county of Northumberland], of which you avail yourself, and to which you wish our People to submit, was erected, not only after the Possession above referred to, but after it was publicly known that the General Assembly of Connecticut had directed a State of their Claim to be drawn up and laid before learned counsel in England for their opinion, and was, perhaps, precipitated, to prevent if possi- ble the probable consequences of that Measure."
On Christmas day the Connecticut Commissioners set out from Philadelphia for their homes, and early in January they prepared their report to the Governor and the Assembly. This was immediately printed in pamphlet form .*
It should be stated here that a large and respectable part of the inhabitants of Connecticut were opposed to having the Colony take any steps either with respect to the lands west of the Delaware or to the affairs or settlements of The Susquehanna Company. In some of the towns of the Colony resolutions were adopted, or instructions were pre- pared, by the Selectmen for the regulation of their Representatives in the Assembly. The following extracts are from a copy of one town's instructions, printed in The Connecticut Journal of December 3, 1773.
" We are informed that the General Assembly have sent to their Agents in England copies of all papers relating to the claim to lands under the purchase of The Susquehanna
* It is reprinted in full in " Connecticut Colonial Records," XIV : 461, et. seq.
Digitized by Google
781
Company, * * and has resolved that they will take those lands under their care and jurisdiction, and defend our title thereto against the claim of Mr. Penn ; * As * we conceive measures are hastening fast, which may involve this Colony in an expensive controversy, * * which controversy will bring this Colony under a heavy load of expense, * * and [the lands] if obtained would be of no real advantage to this Colony, as it would drain us of our inhabitants, lessen the present value of our lands, &c. We therefore instruct you to use your utmost endeavours and influence to stop all further proceedings in the premises."
January 13, 1774, the Pennsylvania Assembly, having taken into consideration the Governor's message of December 14th, accompanied by the petition of the inhabitants of Northumberland County (see page 778), together with a report of the negotiations between the Governor and Connecticut's Commissioners, adopted the following* :
" Resolved, That a number of persons emigrating from the Colony of Connecticut have, under a pretense of right to lands within the limits and boundaries of the royal grants to the Proprietaries of this Province, * * in a riotous and tumultuous manner taken possession of a tract of country within the said known limits and boundaries, and have held, and still retain, their said possession in an hostile manner, to the great disturbance of the peace of the Province.
"Resolved, That the said emigrants, together with a number of ill-disposed per- sonst-with whom they are confederated-have, in defiance of the laws of the country and executive powers of this Government, afforded protection to offenders of the most atrocious kindt, and have, moreover, embodied themselves and, in an hostile manner, attempted to dispossess the peaceable inhabitants settled far within the limits of this Government.
" Resolved. That the Governor be earnestly requested to give special directions to all magistrates, sheriffs, and other officers *
* * to be vigilant and active in the dis- charge of their duties. * *
" Resolved, That this House will concur with the Governor in every reasonable measure to strengthen the hands of the Government in preserving the peace and sup- pressing all riots and tumults.
"Ordered, That a committee be appointed to prepare and bring in a Bill for prevent- ing tumults and riotous assemblies, and for the more speedy and effectual punishing of the rioters."
In transmitting to the Governor a report of the action taken by the House with respect to his message, etc., Joseph Galloway, § the Speaker, " by order of the House " signed and sent the following com- munication || :
* * " We have taken into serious consideration your message of the 14th ult. and the petition from the inhabitants of Northumberland County, with the papers respecting the claim of Connecticut ; and as we esteem a due obedience to the laws, and the preserva- tion of the public peace, to be of the first moment to the happiness and welfare of the people, we heartily concur in sentiments with your Honor. * * * Since we find, from repeated experience, that the mild laws of this Province have proved ineffectual to restrain these lawless disturbers of the peace within any bounds, we have thought it necessary to prepare and pass a Bill with more severe penalties, which we hope will in future deter
*See the Pennsylvania Packet (Philadelphia), January 17, 174.
t The Wyoming settlers from New York, New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania.
Į Capt. LAZARUS STEWART and some of the other Hanoverians are here referred to.
¿ JOSEPH GALLOWAY-mentioned in the last paragraph on page 446-was born in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, in 1730. Having removed to Philadelphia he became eminent in his profession as a lawyer before he had reached the age of thirty years. He was married to Grace, daughter of Lawrence Growden, October 18, 1757, and from that year until the Revolution he was annually elected a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly. He was Speaker of the House in 1768 and 1774. The First Continental Congress met in September, 17.4 (see page 602), and Joseph Galloway attended as one of the delegates from Pennsylvania. "The appointment of these delegates had been made by the Assembly in the pre- vious July, and, although many members of the House suspected at that time that Mr. Galloway was not sincerely attached to the American cause, while others looked upon him as a downright Tory seeking control of affairs, yet, because he was Speaker of the House, a lawyer, and a gentleman of great talents and considerable property, and because he had been an active opponent of the Proprietaries, and pos- sessed the confidence of great numbers of the people, he was selected to sit in the Congress. During its sessions he submitted for its approval the " Albany Plan of Union," mentioned on page 266. Vol. I.
In December, 1776, when the fate of America seemed to be beyond question, and the attack on Tren- ton had not been made, Joseph Galloway deserted the cause of his country and went over to the enemy, whereupon his estate was confiscated by the State of Pennsylvania. He joined Lord Howe, and with the British forces entered Philadelphia, where he was made Superintendent of Police, for the city and its suburbs, and Collector of the Port. For five months he was the head of the civil government of the city, and resided at the south-east corner of Sixth and Market Streets At the evacuation of Philadelphia in 1778 he went with the British, and in October following sailed for England, where his pen was constantly employed on subjects connected with the Revolutionary War. He never returned to America, but died in Hertfordshire, England, August 29, 1803.
I See the Pennsylvania Packet (Philadelphia), January 24, 1774.
Digitized by Google
.
782
them from the execution of their unwarrantable designs, &c. * * We cannot avoid showing our just abhorrence of their conduct by most earnestly entreating your Honor to give special directions to the magistracy. * * From the papers communicated by the Secretary we are sorry to find the Government of Connecticut has given countenance to the lawless possession of these emigrants by resolving to prosecute a claim, not only to the lands they have lately seated themselves on, but to a great part of the Province.
* * * To prevent the mischievous effects of this unkind and unneighborly disposition in the Government of Connecticut, we request that your Honor will pursue every effect- ual measure to call the claimants before His Majesty in Council, and to bring their claim to an immediate decision."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.