A history of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, from its first beginnings to the present time; including chapters of newly-discovered, Vol. II, Part 61

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 61

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Near the close of the May session of the Assembly Representative Jenkins of Westmoreland, Col. William Williams and Capt. Jabez Hun- tington were appointed by the Assembly a committee "to audit and adjust the accounts of the State with the Treasurer."

In the possession of Mr. James Terry of Connecticut (previously mentioned) is an interesting original document, heretofore unprinted, relating to certain of the Tories in Westmoreland in the year 1777. By the courtesy of Mr. Terry we are able to give the following copy of this old paper.

"JAMES ATHERTON and JAMES ATHERTON, JR., of Westmoreland, Connecticut, of lawful age, testify and say that June 1st, instant, at the house of Jacob Ankish* of said Westmoreland, the said Ankish not being at home, asked his wife where her husband was, and she answered: 'Up the River a boiling of Salt along with the rest of his neighbors.' * * She then began to complain of the treatment they had received from the Yankeys, in taking away their cattle from them, and that they were no more Torys than the Yankeys were. We told her that we were called Torys at Wyoming. She said she had heard as much. That then Asabel Atherton told her that he heard his name was in the Tory listt that was gone up the River, and that the whole family were called Torys. And then she said she was a mind to reveal something, but she was afraid. Upon which the said James Atherton, Jr., and Asahel [Atherton] told her that she might speak, for they would not hurt her. I [James Atherton] told her the same. Upon which she told us that there were a great many thousand of British troops, Torys and Indians a great way this side Acquagat; that the Torys from all parts were collected there, and the Six Nations had all joined them, as also all the Indians on this River. That the treatys lately made here [in Westmoreland] were only to amuse the people and keep them quiet and easy while they [the Tories] were carrying on their design; that her husband and son were with them, and all the men that had gone up the River were there also.

"We asked her how she knew all this. She said two or three nights ago twelve of her neighbors had been home to their families and told it, and said all their friends must keep open doors and not be afraid, and they would not be hurt; that the white men were to come forward and the Indians to follow after, and their orders were to kill the Yankees -- men, women and children-as fast as they came to them; and that we must come up there very soon and join them, and come into her house; and that Asahel and James must go right up and join the army, and she would speak a good word for us and keep us from being hurt. That three men her neighbors were lately gone off, that had not been gone before, to join the army.

"That 'Captain Henry,' an Indian, came down on Thursday as an express to a number of Indians that was down here as spys, and they all returned on Saturday, and Henry asked her if she had her daughter home from Wyoming. She said 'No.' Then he told her to send for her soon; upon which she sent her two little boys in a canoe to fetch her home, and not to stay for her, for they must come right back whether she came or not, for if they stayed they would all be killed together. We then told her we had not any canoes to move in, and did not know whether the people would let us move. She offered us a canoe, which we agreed to pay for if we did not return it, and came home in the canoe to Wyoming. She said the Indians had a back road marked out, to come in undiscovered. That they were to divide the army in three parts, one to go down the West Branch and another the East Branch of the Susquehanna, and a third to go to Kashethtons and drive down the Delaware and meet some where below and join the British army in the Jerseys and go to Philadelphia and take the Congress.

[Signed] "JAMES ATHERTON,

"JAMES ATHERTON, JR."

"Westmoreland, June 3, 1777.

[Signed] "NATHAN DENISON, Justice of the Peace." "Personally appeared the above deponents and made solemn oath to the above de- position. Before me,

* JACOB ANGUISH, then living at or near Tunkhannock. See a more extended reference to him here- inafter. t See page 835.

# Oghwaga, previously mentioned herein. " Cushetunk, previously mentioned.

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The foregoing deposition was forwarded to the Hon. Roger Sher- man by Colonel Denison, who first wrote upon the back of the paper the following memoranda :

"The Indians took fourteen cattle and six horses at Quialasin*, about sixteen miles below Tioga branch and fifty miles beyond Wyoming. One pair of oxen returned to the owner, as the Indians said, and that the others would be returned. The Indians who stole them intended to drive them to Niagara, but were stopped by the chiefs at Tioga. Sidney Barry of New Jersey wrote to the Committee [of Inspection] of Westmoreland that Adonijah Stansburyt was employed by him to buy provisions for the army. Stans- bury has been taken up as a Tory, and is confined to limits under parole. He told the Committee he took the orders from Barry to serve as a pass. Pickardt, who has been to Niagara, is in Philadelphia jail."

At a meeting of the Governor and Council of Safety of Connecti- cut held June 10, 1777, the following resolution was adopted :

"Voted, That Timothy Keyes be authorized to receive of the store-keepers, of salt belonging to the State of Connecticut now at Boston, the quantity of thirty bushels of salt, for the use of the inhabitants of the town and county of Westmoreland. * * The said Keyes having paid the sum of £15 for the said salt."

Miner (in "History of Wyoming") says "lights and shadows alter- nately brightened and obscured the Wyoming sky during the year 1777. * * Scarce had the Summer opened when a new cause of terror and distress was developed in the Valley. The small-pox (how justly this then deadly plague was dreaded, the present generation can form but a faint idea) made its appearance. One of the most respected citizens§ returned from Philadelphia, was taken sick with the disease, and died. Want of the advice and protecting influence of the numer- ous heads of families, away with the army, was sorely felt. But a town- meeting was held, where wise and energetic measures were adopted to obviate to the utmost of human power the ill effects of the contagion. A pest-house was established in each township [district], half a mile from any road, where persons were to resort for inoculation. No one in the settlement was to receive the infection except in one of these houses, nor unless by express warrant from an examining committee. A strict quarantine respecting persons connected with the pest-house was estab- lished, and regulations for the careful change of clothes. Physicians were prohibited from inoculating except in the places designated. How many deaths occurred from the contagion is not known, but the means adopted had the most salutary influence in quieting alarm, and prevent- ing the spread of the fatal disorder."

The small-pox seems to have been epidemic in Westmoreland about the same time that it prevailed among the soldiers of the Amer- ican army in New Jersey. As noted on page 637, the wife of Col. Zeb- ulon Butler was one of those who was attacked by the disease in Wilkes- Barré.

An original petition now in existence,|| dated at "Westmoreland, 4 May, 1778," and addressed to the General Assembly of Connecticut, throws some light on the methods pursued by the people at that period to prevent the spread of the small-pox. This petition is in the hand- writing of Silas Park, Esq., and is signed by himself, Amos Park, Enos Woodward, Uriah Chapman, Jacob Kimball, Elijah Witter, John Pellet, Jr., Abel Kimball, Moses Killam, Benjamin Lothrop, Walter Kimball,

* Wyalusing. t See page 912. # NICHOLAS PICKARD. See page 919.

¿ JEREMIAH ROSS of Wilkes-Barre, who died in February, 1777. See a subsequent chapter for a sketch of him and his family.

| Document "No. 94" in the volume of MSS. entitled "Susquehannah Settlers", referred to on page 29, Vol. I.

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Enos Woodward, Jr., Eliab Farnam, Jephthah Killam, Hezekiah Bing- ham, David Ford, Charles Forsyth, David Gates, Nathaniel Gates, Sam- uel Haigh, John Ainsley, John Pellet, Zebulon Parrish, Stephen Parrish, Uriah Chapman, Jr., Silas Park, Jr., John Streng and Jonathan Has- kell, " settlers of a district in said Westmoreland called Lackaway, and living on the main road leading from the east part of Connecticut west- ward and through the State of New York, and across the Delaware River at a place called Wells' Ferry ; and leading from said ferry thirty- three miles westward to and through the main settlement of your peti- tioners, and onwards about forty miles to the main settlement on the Susquehanna River in said Westmoreland."* The petition sets forth the following facts :

"That some time in July last [1777], in a meeting of the inhabitants of Westmore- land, it was voted that liberty should be given to any of the inhabitants of said town to inoculate for the small-pox; and then soon after, on or about 15th November [1777], your petitioners hearing of said vote, and by reason of the spreading of the small-pox on Delaware River where said road crosses said river, and the great danger of its spreading in said settlement by reason of the multitude of traveling from said Delaware to and from the Susquehanna, * * * did, within a suitable house within said settlement, one- fourth of a mile out of the traveled road, set up inoculation for the small-pox, wherein more than one-half the inhabitants of said settlement were inoculated under such regu- lations as were judged most safe for preventing the spread of the small-pox in the natural way. Soon after the setting up for inoculation as abovesaid, the town of Westmoreland at a meeting reconsidered said vote, and thereby one of our inhabitants has been arrested at the suit of the State and is now under bonds for his appearance at the next County Court; and others are informed against, and the whole liable to be prosecuted, fined, &c."

In response to the prayer of the petitioners for relief, the Assembly voted that they be discharged from any prosecution " on account of their having already taken or given the infection of the small-pox."

Miner states that during the Summer of 1777 "active measures were in progress to place the [Wyoming] settlement in the best posture of defence. * * By detachments the people worked on the several forts." Considerable work was done on Fort Wilkes-Barré, but it was not fully completed in all respects. The house of Judge John Jen- kins, in Exeter (within the lim- its of the present borough of West Pittston, as described on page 805), was stockaded in June, 1777,t and became known as Jenkins' Fort. Miner says (" Wyoming," Appendix, page 38): "At the commencement of the Revolutionary troubles Wintermoot's fort had been erected, and suspicion prevailed that those who controlled it were not friendly to our cause, Monument marking the site of Jenkins' Fort. Erected by Dial Rock Chapter, Daughters of the Amer- ican Revolution, of West Pittston, October 12, 1900. although their professions were fair. The Jenkinses and the Hardings, the chief Whig families who lived near, thought proper to unite their efforts, and Jenkins' Fort was built above Wintermoot's, near

the ferry. *

* This was in 1777." In 1837 Mr. Miner requested

* The road thus described was the "Upper Road to the Delaware," mentioned on Page 646.

t The inscription on the monument marking the site of this fort states that the latter was "Con- structed 1776." This is erroneous.

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Elisha Harding (born August 8, 1763; died August 1, 1839) to inform him as to certain facts relative to Jenkins' Fort. In response Mr. Hard- ing wrote *:

"In June, 1777, it was thought desirable to build forts for defence against the enemy. We went to work. I, a boy. could do but little more than drive oxen to haul logs for the work, which were of a sufficient length-say eighteen or twenty feet-and of a sufficient size to ward off balls or other means used by our enemy. [The logs were] placed in a ditch of a sufficient depth, to stand against anything that was expected to be brought against it by Indians or their allies. It contained near half an acre; was four- square, with flankers, so called, on the corners, so as to rake the outside if attacked. I well remember to hear complaints amongst the laborers that some of the neighbors did not help to build. After completing the fort every one went to his own work."

In June, 1777, Capt. Daniel Rosecrants, a native of Ulster County, New York, removed with his family from Wantage, Sussex County, New Jersey, to Wilkes-Barre, where he had purchased certain lots lying along the river, adjoining the Wilkes-Barre-Pittston boundary-line, in what is now Plains Township. Here he erected a log block-house, which he occupied with his family, and which became known as "Rose- crants' Block-house." According to " Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania," I : 451, a second block-house was built in Hanover Township, "situated some distance south of Stewart's [see page 644, ante], and occupied as a dwelling by Roasel Franklin. Its exact location is not known, but it served a useful purpose during the Revolutionary period in the protec- tion it afforded in time of danger."

From the beginning of the Revolutionary contest, until about the time independence was declared, the Continental Congress made stren- uous efforts to persuade the Indian tribes-particularly the Six Nations -located within the bounds of the United Colonies to remain neutral during the progress of the contest; or, declining to do that, to give their friendship and aid to the Colonists. As previously mentioned, commis- sioners were intrusted with the management of Indian affairs in the North and in the South. Active and influential men were delegated to visit the Indians and hold conferences with themt, and were instructed to reason with them on the subjects, firstly, of neutrality, and secondly, of friendship for and alliance with the Americans. In 1775 the Con- gress, by its commissioners, said to the Six Nations :

"This is a family quarrel between us and Old England. You Indians are not con- cerned in it. We do not wish you to take up the hatchet against the King's troops. We wish you to remain at home and not join either side, but keep the hatchet buried deep. In the name and behalf of all our people we ask and desire you to love peace and main- tain it, and to love and sympathize with us in our troubles, that the path may be kept open with all our people and yours to pass and repass without molestation."

These Indian conferences, first held in 1775, were repeated in 1776 and early in 1777, but with only partial effects; for, by the Spring of 1777, it was pretty well settled that the neutrality of the Indians could not be counted upon. Furthermore, the Americans were unable to win over to their support any of the Six Nations except the Oneidas and some of the Tuscaroras. The Senecas, Mohawks, Cayugas, Onondagas, and the larger part of the Tuscaroras, all declared themselves friends and allies of the British ; while the Shawanese and Delawares (who, as late as December, 1777, it was declared by Congress, gave " daily proofs of their good disposition and their attachment " to the American cause) later took up the hatchet against the struggling patriots. It was stated by a writer many years ago that, "with a few thousand dollars expended

* See "Proceedings and Collections of The Wyoming Historical and Geological Society," VII : 86. 87. t See pages 285, 490, 880, 918 and 914.

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in the form of presents, when General Schuyler held his treaty with the Six Nation Indians in August, 1776*, by direction of the Congress at Philadelphia, their neutrality could have been secured ; but he gave them nothing, for he had nothing to give."

Reference has been made heretofore to the death of Sir William Johnson in July, 1774, and the appointment of Col. Guy Johnson, his son-in-law, as his successor in the office of Superintendent of Indian Affairs. At that time the sentiment which prevailed throughout the Province of New York was Tory rather than otherwise. Nearly all the principal landowners were loyal to the Crown, and the Johnson family was unwavering in its allegiance to the King. Under the date of Feb- ruary 1, 1775, Lord Dartmoutht wrote from London to Colonel John- son : "The preserving the good will and affection of the Six Nations is an object of which we ought never to lose sight, and I hope through your zeal and endeavors we may avoid any ill consequences that may be expected to follow through the measures which may have been pursued . by the Virginians."#

In the following March Colonel Johnson received simultaneous warnings from correspondents in Philadelphia and Albany that a plot had been formed to kidnap him ; in consequence of which he assembled the officers of his department and a party of trusty men from the reg- iment of New York militia which he commanded, and fortified his house at Guy Park to resist an attack. A body of Mohawks gathered there to defend him, and without his knowledge, as he asserted, sum- moned the Oneidas to their assistance. Johnson's movements were con- stantly watched by the patriots ; letters passing to and from his house were opened and read ; the supplies he had ordered for the use of the Indians were detained at Albany, and even trifling articles for his own household were withheld. Threats of an attack on Guy Park were daily made, and Colonel Johnson's situation was growing more and more intolerable, when he received a letter from General Gage, at Boston. He wrote-referring to the patriots who were causing Johnson so much uneasiness and discomfort : "In short, no time should be lost to dis- tress a people so wantonly rebellious." Gage's letter decided Johnson's future course. He collected together all the Mohawks who were at home, and being joined by about a hundred ardent Loyalists-among whom were Col. Daniel Claus (his brother-in-law), John and Walter N. Butler, two or more of Sir William Johnson's natural sons, and Joseph Brant the famous Mohawk warrior (mentioned on page 299, Vol. I)- marched rapidly up the Mohawk to Fort Stanwix (mentioned on page 448, Vol. I), then in a state of dilapidation. Tarrying there only a few days, Colonel Johnson and his retinue proceeded onward to Oswego, which they reached July 17, 1775.§

A few days later Colonel Johnson held a council at Oswegoll with 1,450 Indians, including a deputation of Hurons from the neighborhood of Detroit, in what is now Michigan. Johnson still professed the most peaceable intentions, but found little difficulty in persuading the Indians

* See page 933.

t Lord Privy Seal at that time, but formerly Secretary of State for the Colonies, and President of the Board of Trade of the British Government.

Measures which led to Cresap's, or Lord Dunmore's, War.

§ See page 822-in particular, the letter of the Rev. Samuel Kirkland.

I See page 828-account of conference held with Indians at Wilkes-Barre.

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"to resolve to co-operate with His Majesty's troops in defence of the waters emptying into the St. Lawrence, and in the annoyance of the enemy ; and to send their band of warriors present with him to Mont- real to inspire their dependents there with the same resolution." A few weeks later Colonel Johnson, John and Walter N. Butler and 120 Indians set out for Montreal, where they arrived near the end of August. John- son immediately advised Governor Carleton* that it would be expedient to put the Indians in motion with as little delay as possible, as they could not endure being kept in idleness. Carleton replied that they must be amused in some other way, as he did not consider it wise to permit them to advance beyond the Province line. A few days later 1,600 Canadian Indians assembled there and agreed to adopt the same policy. Shortly afterwards 600 Indians attended a conference with Governor Carleton and openly proposed to warn the New Englanders to evacuate Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and in the event of a refusal to lay waste their frontiers. Carleton thanked them for their good will, but stated that he had other work for them to do. About the first of October, 1775, Guy Johnson once more requested permission to lead a body of Indians against the Americans, but was again refused. Where- upon many of the Indians dispersed to their homes, and Colonels John- son and Claus applied for leave of absence and sailed for England in November, accompanied by Joseph Brant.

About that time Governor Carleton had retired from Montreal and taken up his residence within the walls of Quebec, and to him the con- duct of Johnson and Claus naturally appeared very like a desertion of their respective posts of duty, at a most trying and critical period.

At that time Fort Niagarat (pictured and briefly described on page 298, Vol. I) was one of the chain of posts which, having been estab-

. GUY CARLETON, the third son of Christopher Carleton of Newry, county Down, Ireland, was born September 8, 1724. In his eighteenth year he was commissioned an Ensign in the British army. June 18. 1757, he was commissioned Lieutenant Colonel of the 1st Foot Guards. In June and July, 1758, he took part in the siege of Louisbourg under Amherst (see page 577, Vol. I), and in the ensuing August was made Lieutenant Colonel of the 72d Foot. He was appointed "Quartermaster General and Colonel in America" December 30, 1758, and at the capture of Quebec, September 13, 1759, when in command of the Grenadier Corps, was severely wounded. In 1768 he was at the siege of Havana, where he was again wounded. He was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Quebec September 22, 1766, and in the following year the government of the Colony devolved on him in consequence of the absence of Gov- ernor Murray in England. In 1770 Carleton obtained leave of absence and went to England, where he remained until the latter part of 1774-being promoted Major General in the British army May 25. 1772. Having returned to Canada, he was appointed Governor of Quebec January 10, 1775, and per- formed the duties of the office until the last of June, 1778, when he was succeeded by General Haldi- mand-q. v.

At the palace of Westminster, London, May 19, 1779, General Carleton was installed a Knight of the Bath. He remained in England until the Spring of 1782, when, having been appointed to succeed Sir Henry Clinton as commander-in-chief of the British forces in America, he set sail for this country. and arrived May 5, 1782, at New York, where he remained until November, 1783, when he returned to England. He was created Baron Dorchester August 21, 1786, previously to which-in April, 1786- he had been again appointed Governor of Quebec, whither he returned in October of the same year. In 1791 an Act of Parliament, which had been revised by Lord Dorchester (Carleton), was passed, whereby Canada was divided into two Provinces: "Upper Canada" (now Ontario) and "Lower Can- ada" (now Quebec), and shortly afterwards Lord Dorchester was appointed "Governor General of the Canadas, and Commander-in-chief at Quebec." Having resigned these offices, he left Quebec for Eng. land in July, 1796. He died suddenly at Stubbings, near Maidenhead, November 10, 1808.

t FORT NIAGARA was steadily maintained by the British throughout the Revolutionary War, and proved an important base of supplies for the western forts. In 1778 the British authorities in Canada began to reclaim the Crown lands which lay on the south-western side of Niagara River, opposite the fort. Arrangements were made to found a settlement there, and the lands were to be cultivated in order to raise supplies of food for the support of the numerous British Loyalists who, driven from their homes throughout the United States, took refuge at Fort Niagara. In 1783, according to a return made to the Governor of Quebec, this settlement on the south-west bank of Niagara River, which was then known as Niagara, comprehended 718 acres of cleared land (of which 123 acres were planted with wheat), and contained forty-six settlers, forty-four houses, twenty barns, 96 cows, 124 horses and 33? swine. After the Revolution Fort Niagara remained in the hands of the British until 1796.

Isaac Weld, Jr., in his entertaining book entitled "Travels through the States of North America and Canada during 1795, '96 and '97," gives an interesting account of Niagara (now "Niagara-on-the Lake," in the Province of Ontario) and Fort Niagara, as follows: "On the eastern side of the river is the fort, now in the possession of the people of the States, and on the opposite side is the British part of the town-most generally known by the name of Niagara, notwithstanding that it has been named Newark by the Legislature. The original name of the town was Niagara; afterwards called Lenox, then Nassau, and afterwards Newark. The town of Niagara [Niagara-on-the-Lake] is the capital of

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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 61

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