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 74
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
* See Miner's "History of Wyoming", page 254.
t According to Cruikshank's "The Story of Butler's Rangers", page 111, Elijah Phelps was settled in 1783 as a farmer on the Crown lands at Niagara-on-the-Lake. (See page 945.) His home in West- moreland had been where the village of Mehoopany, Wyoming County, now stands.
# STEPHEN HARDING, abovementioned, was born in 1723 in Rhode Island, being one of the five sons of Capt. Stephen Harding, who was at one time of Warwick, Rhode Island, and later became a resident of that part of the town of New London, Connecticut, which is now Waterford. Stephen Harding first abovementioned was married about 1747 to Amy Gardner (mentioned on page 254, Vol. I), and they settled in Colchester, New London County, Connecticut. This Stephen Harding early became a mem- ber of The Susquehanna Company, and his name (written "Harden") appears among the names of the grantees in the Indian deed of 1754 (see page 272, Vol. I), he being the owner of one "right" in the Susquehanna Purchase. Inasmuch as his father-in-law, Stephen Gardner, and his brother-in-law, John Jenkins, came with the original settlers from Connecticut to Wyoming in 1762 (see page 403, Vol. 1), - it is fair to presume that Stephen Harding also was here, either in the year mentioned or in the ensu- ing year-although his name is not to be found in the meager list of those settlers which has been pre- served. He was, however, undoubtedly one of the "First Forty" settlers of 1769, as noted on page 478, Vol. I, and was one of those who were taken into custody by the Pennsylvania authorities, con- veyed to Easton, and committed to jail. Upon his release therefrom under bail, he set out for his home in Connecticut.
Digitized by Google
.
Digitized by
VIEW OF A PART OF THE BATTLEFIELD OF WYOMING. Mount Lookout Colliery is seen at the left, while in the middle background lies Mount Lookout. From a photograph taken in May, 1902.
Digitized by
L
993
1
Company, 24th Regiment, was in command of the garrison, and as no adequate means of resistance existed, the fort was surrendered to Captain Caldwell, who drew up and signed with Judge John Jenkins the follow- ing articles of capitulation :
" Between Major JOHN BUTLER, on behalf of His Majesty King George the Third, and JOHN JENKINS.
"Art. 1st. That the Fort, with all the stores, arms and ammunition, be delivered up immediately.
"2d. That Major John Butler shall preserve to them, intire, the lives of the men, women and children."
During the whole of July 2d Major Butler remained at Winter- mute's Fort directing the sending out of scouts, as well as parties to
So far as we can learn from the records of The Susquehanna Company Stephen Harding did not return to Wyoming again until November or December, 1771. (See list of settlers, page 715.) As noted on page 717, he was voted a settling right in the new township of Lackawanna in December, 1771, and by the Spring of 1772 he was joined by his son Stephen, Jr. (See page 732.) When, in November, 1772, the township of Exeter was erected, as related on page 467, Vol. I, Stephen Harding and Stephen Harding, Jr., became proprietors in the same, and a year or two later removed thither. When the 24th Regiment, Connecticut Militia, was organized, Stephen Harding, Sr., was established and commissioned Captain of the 7th Company. (See page 857.) In May, 1778, Captain Harding was appointed and com- missioned one of the Justices of the Peace in and for the county of Westmoreland for the ensuing year; .and in May, 1779, he was reappointed to the same office.
Shortly after the battle of Wyoming Captain Harding and his family repaired to Colchester, Con- necticut. They were still there in the Spring of 1781, when, under the date of May 5th, STEPHEN HARDING, STEPHEN HARDING, JR., ELISHA SCOVELL, JONATHAN SCOVELL and WILLIAM MARTIN (all pre- viously residents of Exeter in" Westmoreland) addressed to the General Assembly of Connecticut a memorial, in which they set forth: That they belonged to Westmoreland, and were inhabitants of the town in July, 1778, when, with others, they were driven away from their possessions, and with great difficulty escaped with their lives, "whilst many of our [their] families were killed by the enemy"; that they had come to the town of Colchester for a place of residence until they could return to their lands in Westmoreland; that the civil authority in Colchester had caused them to be taxed as inhabitants of Colchester, and "refused to admit of the exemption granted by the Assembly to Westmoreland", etc. This memorial having been presented to and considered by the Assembly at its session in May, 1781, the prayer of the memorialists was "negatived". (The original memorial is document "No. 142" in the collection of MSS. entitled "Susquehannah Settlers", mentioned on page 29, Vol. I.)
With his family, Captain Harding returned from Connecticut to Exeter in 1784, and there he con- tinued to reside until his death, October 11, 1789.
Capt. Stephen and Amy (Gardner) Harding were the parents of nine sons and three daughters, all born at Colchester, Connecticut. The sons were as follows:
(i) Stephen, born about 1749; served for a time in Capt. Robert Durkee's Westmoreland Inde- pendent Company (see page 894), but was discharged for disability; his home, prior to the Spring of 1778, was in Exeter, near Sutton's Creek, and upon his return from Connecticut in 1784 he again took up his residence there; about 1798 he was a Captain in the Pennsylvania militia; he died in Exeter August 4, 1816.
(ii) Thomas, born about 1751; died in 1813.
(iii) Benjamin, born in 1753; killed by Indians June 30, 1778.
(iv) Stukely, born in 1755; killed by Indians June 30, 1778.
(v) Israel, born in 1756; served throughout the Revolutionary War as a private, first in Captain Durkee's company, and later in Captain Spalding's company; after the war was married to Lydia Reed, and later they settled in what is now Eaton Township, Wyoming County, Pennsylvania, where he died May 7, 1835.
(vi) Micajah, born in 1761; in 1796 he was a taxpayer in Exeter Township; subsequently to 1800 he was a Captain in the State militia; he died in 1845.
(vii) Elisha, born August 8, 1763; at the time of the incursion of the Tories and Indians in 1778 he was with the other members of his father's family in Jenkins' Fort, which he had helped to build in 1777; after the battle and massacre of July 3d he fled to Connecticut; returned to Wyoming Valley in the Spring of 1784; in the following Autumn was married to Martha Rider of Pittston, and settled in that township; in 1789 removed to what is now Eaton Township, Wyoming County; from 1799 till 1812 was a Justice of the Peace; in 1804 was elected one of the County Commissioners of Luzerne County; died August 1, 1839. He was the father of seven children, some of whom were: Mary (born about 1787; married to Thomas Mitchell), Elisha (born in 1790; married, 1st, Amy Jenkins, and 2d, Nancy Jackson; was a Justice of the Peace thirty years; Benjamin F., one of his sons, was a Senator from Oregon in the XXXVIIth Congress), Jesse (born in 1802; married in 1826 to Nancy Miller), John (who settled near Bowman's Creek).
(viii) John, born about 1765; married about 1789 to Mrs. Affa (Baldwin) Jenkins, widow of his cousin Benjamin Jenkins (see page 805); settled in Exeter, and, at a later period, kept for some years the "Red Tavern", a well-known stage-coach stand on the turnpike about a mile north of Sutton's Creek; died in Exeter in 1826. Mrs. Affa (Baldwin) Harding (born in Connecticut December 4, 1760; died in Exeter March 15, 1832) was married (1st) in 1777 to Benjamin Jenkins, as previously men- tioned, and they became the parents of one son and two daughters. Elizabeth, the elder daughter, mar- ried Elder Davis Dimock, and Mary, the younger, married John, son of Waterman Baldwin. John and Affa (Baldwin) Harding were the parents of seven children-(1) John, (2) Isaac, (3) George, (4) Hiram, (5) Henry, (6) Affa and (7) Celinda. (2) Isaac Harding (born in Exeter in 1797) was mar- ried about 1818 to his second cousin, Nancy Harding, of Exeter. December 15, 1818, he was appointed and commissioned a Justice of the Peace; from 1825 to 1828 he was one of the Commissioners of Luzerne County; in 1846 he removed to Pawpaw Grove, Lee County, Illinois. where, later, he was elected one of the Judges of the County Court; died in 1854. Isaac and Nancy (Harding) Harding were the parents of four children-Lester, Nancy, Garrick Mallery and Isaac-all of whom, with the exception of Gar- rick Mallery, removed to Illinois. For a sketch of the life, and a portrait, of Garrick Mallery Harding, see a subsequent chapter.
(ix) William, the youngest son of Capt. Stephen and Amy (Gardner) Harding, was born about 1767, and died in 1825.
During the French and Indian War Stephen Harding, Sr., served from April 6 to November 6 in the campaign of 1760 (see the third paragraph on page 482, Vol. I), as a private in the 12th Company (Thomas Pierce of Saybrook, Captain) of the 2d Connecticut Regiment, commanded by Col. Nathan Whiting. (See "Connecticut Historical Society's Collections", X : 208.)
Digitized by Google
------
994
collect cattle and provisions in the upper end of the Valley for the subsist- ence of his men. From time to time during the day Indian chiefs and officers of the "Rangers" passed to and fro between the camp of the invad- ers in the woods and Butler's headquarters. Colonel Denison, who had established his headquarters at Forty Fort, four miles distant, also sent out scouting parties to endeavor to ascertain the strength and exact loca- tion of the enemy. " Captain Hewitt was in command of one of these parties, and was shot through the hand; one of his men, Samuel Finch, was captured by the "Rangers," while another man, also named Finch,* was shot and scalped by the Indians near the gorge in the mountain sub- sequently known as Carpenter's Notch and then as Shoemaker's Hollow, Later the same day a considerable party went out from Forty Fort to bring in the remains of Finch, and did so without interruption. After- wards it was learned that a large body of Indians had lain concealed within striking distance, and could easily have destroyed the Westmore- landers; but, for reasons of their own, refrained.
In a series of articlest written in 1828 by Col. (formerly Capt.) John Franklin, relative to the battle of July 3, 1778, the author stated : "July 2d [1778], at nine o'clock in the evening, I was in Huntington [Town- ship], a mile from my home, at a neighbor's, when I received by an express the following letter :
"'KINGSTON, 2d of July, 1778.
"'To Capt. JOHN FRANKLIN .- Sir, you are commanded to appear forthwith, with your company, at the Forty fort in Kingston. Don't let your women and children detain you, for I don't think there is any danger at present, for the enemy have got possession of Wintermoot's fort, and I conclude they mean to attack us next. You will act as you think prudent about ordering the women and children to move to Salem; but you must not wait one moment to assist them. [Signed] 'NATHAN DENISON, Colonel.'
" 'To Capt. WHITTLESEY .;- You are desired to forward the above with all possible expedition. Don't let anything detain this; press a horse if needed.
[Signed] 'NATHAN DENISON, Colonel.'"
" My company," continued Franklin, " lived scattering-a part in Huntington and the remainder along the river from Shickshinny to near Berwick ; the greatest number, however, lived in Salem. The letter was copied [by me] and sent to my Lieutenant, Stoddard Bowen, at Salem, with directions to have him meet me at Shickshinny early the next morning, with all of the company that could be collected in that quarter. Notice was also given to every family in Huntington. Two of the company from Huntington were at that time in 'Shawnee' [Plymouth], and three at Shickshinny.
"Early in the morning of July 3d I took my family to a neighbor's house, where I met with six men, all that could leave Huntington with safety to the women and children. We marched to Shickshinny. Lieu- tenant Bowen had been there, and taken with him three men§ who were there, and had been gone an hour ; he had left a Sergeant to collect the men in Salem and follow him. We had gone but a short distance when we met an express, Benjamin Harvey, with a letter from Lieut.
* Miner says ("History of Wyoming", Appendix, page 56) that "three of the Finch family (John, Daniel and Benjamin) were killed at the time of the invasion-two in the engagement, and one mur- dered by the Indians the day previous, near Shoemaker's Mills."
t These articles were originally printed (in February, 1828) in The Towanda Republican (Towanda, Bradford County, Pennsylvania), and were republished in The Wyoming Herald (Wilkes-Barre) of September 5, 12 and 19, 1828.
# Capt. ASAPH WHITTLESEY of Plymouth.
§ One of them was Silas Harvey, third son of Benjamin Harvey of Plymouth, mentioned above in Captain Franklin's letter as the "express.'
Digitized by Google
995
Col. George Dorrance, informing me that 'the Tories and Indians, about 600 in number,' were in possession of Wintermoot's fort; that he ex- pected they would attack Kingston next, and requested my assistance, with my company, 'with all possible speed.' He had also written a few lines to a Captain Clingman,* who was then stationed at Fort Jenkins, t near Fishing Creek, with ninety men, requesting his assistance with his company at Kingston. I also underwrote a few lines to the same pur- port."
There was not much hope or expectation of Clingman's company marching to the assistance of the people of Wyoming Valley, be- cause it was a company of Pennsylvanians, not in the Continental ser- vice; and, owing to the bitter feeling which had been engendered by the Pennamite-Yankee contest prior to the Revolutionary War, it was deemed improbable that the Pennsylvanians of Northumberland County would feel much interest in the salvation of the Wyoming settlements. Yet it was thought that their humanity might prompt them to do their duty, and that they would come to assist in driving back the Tories and the Indians. However, they did not come.
By hard riding over the very primitive and rough road which skirted the right bank of the Susquehanna, Benjamin Harvey was enabled to accomplish his mission to Captain Clingman and return to Forty Fort by the dawn of July 4th.
During the whole of Thursday, July 2d, Colonel Denison at Forty Fort and Lieut. Col. Zebulon Butler at Fort Wilkes-Barre were engaged in summoning all the men they could reach to assemble in arms-accom- panied by their women and children-at Forty Fort, Pittston Fort and Fort Wilkes-Barre. It was a day of excitement, alarm and terror, and the men of Wyoming were not slow in responding to the call to arms.
The 24th, or Westmoreland, Regiment, Connecticut Militia, as then organized and "established," comprised, in reality, nine regular com- panies and two "Alarm List"# companies. On paper there were ten regular companies, but the organization of the 9th, or " Up the River," Company had been effectually broken up by various causes, and its for- mer officers and privates were widely dispersed. Some of the original members of the company, who had turned out to be Tories, were serv- ing in Butler's Rangers, § while the officers of the company then in com- mission were located as follows : Captain Carr was at Forty Fort, Lieu- tenant Kingsley was a prisoner in the hands of the Indians (having been captured in May or June, 1778), and Lieutenant Fox, having escaped from Indian captivity a short time before, was in the lower part of Northumberland County-as noted on page 917. Of the nine regular companies of the regiment the 8th (commanded by Capt. Eliab Farnam) was too far away to be relied upon for aid at that time; besides, there was a probability that the Indians would make an attack on the Lackaway settlement, and therefore the 8th Company was needed for its defense. The 7th (or Exeter) Company was in a measure hors de combat. Its
* Capt. JOHN CLINGMAN of the 8th Company, 2d Battalion, Northumberland County Militia, com- manded by Col. James Murray. May 1, 1778, Clingman's company numbered seventy-three officers and men.
t FORT JENKINS was located on the north, or right, bank of the Susquehanna River, about midway between the present towns of Berwick and Bloomsburg, Columbia County, Pennsylvania. It had been built in the Autumn of 1777, or early in 1778. It consisted of a stockade about 60 x 80 feet in size, surrounding the house of a Mr. Jenkins.
* See pages 911 and 921.
See hereinafter a statement made by John Depue. I ..
Digitized by Google
996
Captain (Stephen Harding) and Lieutenant (Elisha Scovell*) having sur- rendered to the enemy, were detained as prisoners, temporarily, together with several privates of the "7th;" while other members of the company had been either slain or captured by the enemy a short time before, as previously narrated. John Jenkins, Jr., Ensign of this company, in com- mand of a number of the rank and file, was at Forty Fort, while a few other members of the company had joined the garrison in Pittston Fort.
The remaining companies of the 24th Regiment were located and officered on July 2d as follows: The 1st (or Lower Wilkes-Barre) Com- pany had rendezvoused at Fort Wilkes-Barré. Its officers were: James Bidlack, Jr., t Captain; Asa Stevens, Lieutenant; Daniel Downing, § Ensign. The 2d (or Kingston) Company was at Forty Fort, and its offi- cers were : Aholiab Buck, || Captain; Elijah Shoemaker, || Lieutenant; Asa Gore, T Ensign. The 3d (or Plymouth) Company rendezvoused at the stockade on "Garrison Hill," Plymouth, but later in the day marched to Forty Fort, its officers being : Asaph Whittlesey, ** Captain; Aaron Gaylord, tt Lieutenant; William White, Ensign. The 4th (or Pittston)
* During the French and Indian War Elisha Scovell served from April 16 to November 30, in the campaign of 1759 (see page 482, Vol. I), as a private in the 7th Company (Amos Hitchcock of New Haven, Captain) of the 2d Connecticut Regiment, commanded by Col. Nathan Whiting; and in the campaign of 1762 (see page 482) he served as a private from March 16 till December 3 in the 7th Com- pany (Eldad Lewis of Southington, Captain) of the 2d Connecticut Regiment. (See "Connecticut His- torical Society's Collections", X : 138, 834.)
t See sketch of James Bidlack, Sr., on page 999. # See page 729.
& DANIEL DOWNING, in partnership with Benjamin Bailey and Asa Stevens, owned and operated a saw-mill in Wilkes-Barre Township in 1788. In 1789 Daniel Downing was a tax-collector in Wilkes- Barre; and in 1796 Daniel Downing and Daniel Downing, Jr., were taxpayers in the township. The former died in Wilkes-Barre in June, 1813, and Reuben Downing and Daniel Downing were appointed administrators of his estate. In one of the articles written by Col. John Franklin, as previously men- tioned, it is stated that, at the battle of Wyoming, "Ensign Daniel Downing was wounded by a ball through the leg, but saved himself by hiding in a bunch of brush until dark."
I See page 468. 1 See page 836.
** ASAPH WHITTLESEY was born in Wethersfield, Connecticut, May 12, 1753, the eighth child of Capt. Eliphalet Whittlesey (born in 1714) and his wife Dorothy (married December 16, 1731), daugh- ter of Capt. Martin Kellogg of Wethersfield. Between 1759 and 1771 Eliphalet Whittlesey removed with his family to Kent, Litchfield County, Connecticut. His name appears among the names of the grantees in the Indian deed of July, 1754, as the owner of one "right" in the Susquehanna Purchase. His son David (born August 18, 1750) was in Wyoming Valley during the Summer of 1769 (see pages 498 and 509), and his son Asaph was here for awhile in 1770. Capt. Eliphalet Whittlesey was one of the New Englanders who arrived here in July, 1771, under the command of Capt. Zebulon Butler to besiege and dispossess the Pennamites. (See page 694.) Asaph Whittlesey's name appears in the lists of Wyoming settlers who were on the ground in May and October, 1772. (See pages 732 and 752.) In March, 1774, upon the organization of the town of Westmoreland, he was chosen one of the Con- stables of the town. In May, 1774, Capt. Eliphalet Whittlesey conveyed to Asaph, "in consideration of natural affection", certain lots in the District of Plymouth which he had drawn some two years previously as one of the proprietors of Plymouth. Asaph Whittlesey settled in Plymouth in 1778 or 74, and his home was on the banks of a little stream-subsequently known for many years as Whit- tlesey Creek-within the present limits of the borough of Plymouth. Upon the organization of the 24th Regiment he was commissioned Ensign of the 3d Company. In May, 1777, he was appointed and commissioned a Justice of the Peace in and for Westmoreland, and in May, 1778, he was reap- pointed to the same office.
Capt. Asaph Whittlesey fell in the battle of Wyoming, and was survived by his wife Abigail (who, prior to February, 1801, was married, 2d, to Starks) and three daughters-Anna, Abigail and Laura- all of whom were still living in 1801. Anna Whittlesey became, in 1800, the wife of Joel Camp, one of four brothers who were pioneer merchants in Owego, New York. Letters of admin- istration upon the estate of Capt. Asaph Whittlesey were granted by the Probate Court of Westmore- land to Isaac Tripp, December 14, 1778 (see page 467), Jonathan Slocum being surety on a bond for £500. The original inventory of the estate of Captain Whittlesey-the personalty as appraised by Obadiah Gore and John Jenkins, Jr., June 20, 1779, and the realty as appraised April 4, 1781, by Phineas Nash and James Nisbitt-is now preserved in the collections of The Wyoming Historical and Geological Society. The items included in it are as follows: "One coverlid, 15sh .; one coverlid, 10s. 10d .; 1 blue great-coat, 13s. 10d .; 1 blue jack-coat, 4s. 10d .; 1 small puter plater & 7 plates, 4s. 10d .; 1 old pair of p. irons, an old hoe & spade, 5s. 8d .; a small tramel, 2s. 8d .; a pair of tongs, 3s. 12d .; a pair of flat-irons, 2s. 8d .; a frying-pan, 8s .; 1 light feather-bed, 33s .: 1 blue coat, 11s. 10d .; one right of land in Plymouth District in Westmoreland, £140. [Total] £145, 12s. 2d."
tt AARON GAYLORD was born about 1743 in that part of Farmington, Hartford County, Connecticut, which later was erected into the town of Bristol. He was the second son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Rich) Gaylord-Joseph (born 1716; died 1796) being the fourth son of John and Elizabeth (Hickos) Gaylord of Wallingford, Connecticut. Joseph Gaylord was an early member of The Susquehanna Company, and in the Spring of 1769 he came to Wyoming with the body of settlers led by Major Durkee. He returned to Wyoming in April, 1772, with his cousin Justus Gaylord. His son Aaron having become a proprietor in The Susquehanna Company, and having arrived in Wyoming early in 1773, father and son "drew as tenants in common" certain lots in Plymouth. On one of those lots was erected the stockade mentioned on page 887. In June, 1773, Joseph Gaylord was appointed one of the three "Directors" for Plymouth. "During the battle and massacre of July 3, 1778, the women and children of the Gaylord families in Plymouth, together with various neighbors, gathered together
Digitized by Google
1
997
Company was garrisoning Pittston Fort, its officers being: Jeremiah Blanchard,* Captain; Timothy Keyes,t Lieutenant; Jeremiah Bick-
in Gaylord's Stockade, where Joseph Gaylord (then sixty-two years of age), assisted by two or three other old men, guarded and protected the panic-stricken company. When they learned on the 4th of July of the terrible results of the previous day's conflict, they set out in haste for Connecticut.
Joseph Gaylord remained in Connecticut (presumably in Farmington) until 1782 or '83, when he returned to Plymouth. Early in 1788 he bade a final farewell to Wyoming, and returning to Con- necticut settled in Bristol, Hartford County, his early home, where his sons Samuel and Eleazar, and his daughter-in-law (the widow of Aaron) and her three children were then residing. There Joseph Gaylord died in 1796.
Joseph and Elizabeth (Rich) Gaylord were the parents of the following-named children: (i) Charles, born September 22, 1739; died July 5, 1777-as noted on page 897. (ii) Aaron, born about 1743; killed July 3, 1778. (iii) Elisabeth, born December 10, 1749. (iv) Samuel, born May 24, 1753. (v) Eleazar, born about 1755.
(ii) Aaron Gaylord, who was born about 1743, and who thirty years later became an inhabitant of Plymouth, in Wyoming Valley, as previously mentioned, was married about 1764 to Katharine (born at Harwinton, Hartford County, Connecticut, November 28, 1745), daughter of James and Katharine (Wood) Cole. In 1776 Aaron Gaylord was one of the Listers of Westmoreland, and in May, 1777, he was established and commissioned Lieutenant of the 3d Company of the 24th Regiment. With his company he took part in the battle of July 8, 1778, and when the rout began he fled from the field with a member of his company named Roberts, a relative of his wife. Becoming exhausted, the two men stopped for a brief rest, when they discovered that they were being pursued by an Indian. Thereupon, believing that other Indians were not far off, they concealed themselves in the tall grass growing about the trunk of a fallen tree-Roberts at one end and Gaylord at the other end of the trunk; but the latter was soon discovered, tomahawked and scalped by the pursuing Indian, who imme- diately thereafter hurried away. Roberts had not been discovered, and as soon as he felt that he could safely leave his hiding-place he went to the other end of the tree, where he found the dead and mutilated body of Lieutenant Gaylord. Picking up the latter's hat he carried it with him to Gay- lord's Stockade in Plymouth, where he gave it to Mrs. Gaylord, with an account of the death of her husband. (For many years thereafter Mrs. Gaylord preserved this hat as a memento of her murdered husband. )
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.