A history of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, from its first beginnings to the present time; including chapters of newly-discovered, Vol. II, Part 99

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 99

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).

Whether or not there were any buildings on this lot when it came into the possession of Jonathan Slocum cannot now be stated with cer-

Slocum by an alley, and the east end of the building is shown in the picture on page 1117. In May. 1855, Major Slocum was appointed by Governor Pollock of Pennsylvania an aide on his staff, with the rank of Lieut. Colonel. Colonel Slocum died at the home of his brother-in-law, Charles B. Drake, on South Main Street, Wilkes-Barre, March 19, 1856, and was buried in Hollenback Cemetery-bis remains being the first to be interred "in this City of the Dead," as the inscription on his tombstone states.

(6) Jonathan Joseph Slocum, born in Wilkes-Barre January 27, 1815, younger son of Joseph and Sarah (Fell) Slocum, was educated at Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and at Kenyon Col- lege, Gambier, Ohio. He then read law with Ebenezer W. Sturdevant, Wilkes-Barre, and was admit- ted to the Bar of Luzerne County August 12, 1887-being then in the twenty-third year of his life. In 1838 he was Clerk of the Town Council of the borough of Wilkes-Barre. He was married at Wilkes-Barre, September 12, 1840, by the Rev. Bethell Claxton, to Elizabeth Cutter (born September 7, 1821), daughter of Joseph Philip and Rachel Manning (Cutter) Le Clerc of Wilkes-Barre.

Joseph Philip Le Clerc, who was of French descent, was married about 1817 to Rachel Manning (born in New York City August 24, 1794), daughter of Ford Cutter. They took up their residence in Philadelphia, whence, in 1880, they removed to Wilkes-Barre. Their home here was in a large frame house, painted white, located at the north-east corner of Union and Franklin Streets, and which stood there until its demolition in 1887. Joseph P. Le Clerc was Burgess of the borough of Wilkes- Barre from May, 1889, to May, 1841, and then for several years was a member of the Town Council -being President of the body in 1846 and '47. From 1843 to 1845 he was postmaster of Wilkee- Barre. Mrs. Rachel M. (Cutter) Le Clerc died in Wilkes-Barre September 11, 1856, and the next day her remains were conveyed to Philadelphia for burial in Laurel Hill Cemetery. Shortly after- wards Joseph P. Le Clerc removed from Wilkes-Barre to Philadelphia, and, at a meeting of the sur- viving soldiers of the War of 1812 held in the Philadelphia Court House December 22, 1856, he was one of the Vice Presidents. Edward Emilius Le Clerc (born in Philadelphia August 19, 1819, and died there August 12, 1849) was a son of Joseph P. and Rachel M. (Cutter) Le Clerc. He was graduated at Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, July 19, 1888, and, after studying law with Jonathan J. Slocum, was admitted to the Bar of Luzerne County November 8, 1840. About that per- iod he wrote many pleasing poems of considerable merit, which were published then and later. He served as a Lieutenant of the "Columbia Guards" (Danville, Pennsylvania) in the Mexican War, and, shortly after his return home, his death resulted from the hardships which he had endured in the ser- vice. He was unmarried.

After his marriage Jonathan J. Slocum resided on North Main Street below Union until about 1851, when, having erected a handsome residence on South River Street (where the residence of John N. Conyngham now stands), he moved there and lived there until the latter part of 1859, when he removed to Philadelphia, where he died February 25, 1860. Subsequently his widow and children returned to Wilkes-Barre, and lived here for the next seven or eight years. Later his widow was married to - Nyce. She died December 7, 1890. The children of Jonathan J. and Eliza- beth C. (Le Clerc) Slocum were: (1) Sarah L., born May 8, 1842; married January 21, 1869, to John B. Love of Philadelphia. (2) Edward Le Clerc, born August 19, 1853; married to Emily Car- penter.

Digitized by Google

1119

tainty, but it is quite probable that there was a dwelling-house standing there, and perhaps certain outbuildings ; for when Mr. Slocum and his family removed to Wilkes-Barre they established themselves on Lot No. 50. In 1778 the house which they occupied there was a two-story frame or log structure facing North Street, and near by was the blacksmith shop of Mr. Slocum. On the east and north sides, and probably also on the remaining sides, of Lot No. 50 was a log fence. Back (later Canal) Street-which bounded the lot on the east-extended no farther north than North Street, and the latter street ended at Back Street. There was no road or path leading from that locality either northwardly or eastwardly ; and there was no use for one, inasmuch as there were not any cultivated or cleared fields adjoining the town-plot at that point, nor were there any dwelling-houses in the township east or north-east of the town-plot. Above North Street there was a long stretch of woods, extending towards the hills east of the town-plot, while for some dis- tance along Back Street lay a swamp, or morass, through which ran the little brook described on page 59, Vol. I.

Jonathan Slocum was a conscientious believer in the doctrines of the Society of Friends, and therefore, as an opposer of strife and blood- shed, he did not take part in the battle of Wyoming. However, his eldest son, Giles, fought in the ranks of the Americans, escaped in safety from the battle-field when the rout began, and afterwards made his way out of the Valley-only to return a month later in the detachment of militia under the command of Lieut. Colonel Butler. It is doubtful if Jonathan Slocum removed his family to the shelter of Fort Wilkes- Barre when it was announced, on the first of July, 1778, that the Indians and "Rangers " were on the march towards Wyoming ; and it is certain that, in the general exodus of the inhabitants from the Valley on the 3d, 4th and 5th days of July, the Slocums (with the exception of Giles) remained at their home in the town-plot.

Various writers have stated that "Mr. Slocum, on account of his non-combative principles and the many acts of kindness he had bestowed on the Indians, considered himself and family comparatively free from danger," and therefore did not hesitate to remain in Wilkes-Barré when nearly all his neighbors were fleeing therefrom. . This would be inter- esting if true ; but the fact is that Jonathan Slocum came to Wilkes- Barré from a State where there were no Indians in his day, and after his settlement here (considerably less than a year before the battle of Wyoming) there were no Indians in Wyoming Valley, and none nearer than at Sheshequin and Tioga Point. Now and then some of these Indians of the upper Susquehanna came down to Wyoming to trade with the white people, or to spy upon their doings, but it is not at all probable that Jonathan Slocum came in contact with them or had any opportunity to do them "acts of kindness." The real reasons for the Slocums remaining at their home after the capitulation of Forty Fort were simply these : Mrs. Ruth ( Tripp) Slocum was soon to become a mother,* and in the meantime her husband desired, if possible, to save her from unnecessary hardships. Moreover, being a man of peace and not familiar with the ways of savage warfare, Mr. Slocum believed that under the terms of the capitulation signed at Forty Fort the inhabitants

. JONATHAN SLOCUM, youngest child of Jonathan and Ruth (Tripp) Slocum, was born at Wilkes- Barre September 12, 1778-two months and nine days subsequently to the battle of Wyoming.

Digitized by Google

1120

of Wyoming-particularly those who had not taken up arms-would be safe and secure as to their persons and property. Within two or three weeks, however, he found that this was a delusion, and therefore he and his family departed from the Valley (as related on page 1056), probably going to Fort Penn. About the middle, or the latter part, of August, 1778, they returned to their home on North Street, which had not been disturbed by prowling Tories and Indians during their absence.

On Monday, November 2, 1778, Jonathan Slocum and his sons William and Benjamin were at work on the Wilkes-Barre flats complet- ing their corn harvest; Giles Slocum was either aiding them in this work, or was on duty as a militia-man at Fort Wyoming. At the Slo- cum home were the other members of the family, together with Mrs. Nathan Kingsley* and her two sons-the elder, Nathan, Jr., aged about fifteen years. About midday the Kingsley boys were engaged in sharp- ening a knife on a grindstone in the front yard of the Slocum house, while Mrs. Slocum and the other members of the household who were at home were within doors. Suddenly the sharp crack of a rifle was heard outside the house, aud almost immediately Mrs. Slocum hastened to the front door. Flinging it open she was horrified at seeing on the ground before her the lifeless body of young Nathan Kingsley. He had just been shot down by a lurking savage, who had quickly run to the spot from his place of hiding, and, as Mrs. Slocum appeared on the scene, was preparing to scalp his victim with the very knife which the two boys had been grinding but a few moments before.

With a cry of terror Mrs. Slocum slammed to and barred the door, snatched from his cradle her seven-weeks'-old infant, Jonathan, called to the other inmates of the house to run for their lives, fled out of the back door and across the lot to the log fence beyond which lay the swamp previously mentioned, and there hid herself and baby. Mean- while the younger Kingsley boy had made his way from the yard into the house, and he and Frances Slocum (then five years and seven months old) ran and hid under the staircase. Judith Slocum, with her three-year-old brother, Isaac, fled towards the swamp, while little Mary Slocum (not quite ten years of age) started on a run in the direction of Fort Wyoming, carrying in her arms her year-and-a-half-old brother, Joseph. Ebenezer Slocum, then in the thirteenth year of his life, was lame-having been wounded in one of his feet-and consequently was unable to get away with the others.

While the Slocums were fleeing from their home the Indian in their door-yard was joined by two other Indians, who came hurrying

. NATHAN KINGSLEY, the husband of Mrs. Kingsley and the father of the boys above mentioned, had been captured by a band of Indians and "Rangers" at his house in Wyalusing in October, 1777, and shortly after that, their home being broken up, Mrs. Kingsley and her boys were given a home in the family of Jonathan Slocum. Nathan Kingsley came to Westmoreland from Connecticut in 1774 or '75, and settled at Wyalusing, in what is now Bradford County. His name appears in the Westmoreland tax-lists for 1776 and 1777, but not in the list for 1778. In May, 1776, he was com- missioned Lieutenant of the 9th Company, 24th Regiment, as mentioned on page 874. At Saratoga, New York, under the date of July 84, 1779, Maj. Gen. Philip Schuyler wrote (see "Journals of the Sullivan Expedition," page 849) as follows: "Yesterday a certain Nathan Kingsley, who was made a prisoner in October, 1777, near Wyoming, returned from captivity in Canada. He appears a sen- sible & intelligent man, and has given me a good account of Niagara and Buck Island." Shortly after this Lieutenant Kingsley rejoined his wife at Westmoreland. His name appears in the tax- list of the town for the year 1781. After the close of the Revolutionary War-probably about 1788 or 1784-he and his wife returned to their old home at Wyalusing.

Upon the erection of Luzerne County, Nathan Kingsley was elected one of the two Justices of the Peace in and for the 3d District of the County, and was duly commissioned May 11, 1787. The same day he was appointed and commissioned one of the Justices of the Court of Common Pleas of Luzerne County. This latter office he resigned January 14, 1790. In 1788 he was elected and com- missioned Major of the "Upper Battalion of Militia in Luzerne County." About 1798 or '99 Major Kingsley removed to Ohio, where he died a couple of years later.

Digitized by Google

1121

from the woods above North Street. They arrived in time to see Mary Slocum scurrying across the fields towards the fort, but they made no effort to pursue her. Instead, they shouted loudly after her, and laughed to see the speed with which she ran and the tenacity with which she held on to her infant brother. The three Indians now made their way into the house, which they quickly ransacked, upstairs and down. Frances Slocum and young Kingsley were discovered in their hiding- place and were quickly dragged forth, while Ebenezer Slocum was seized in another part of the house. Then, with their plunder and three young captives, the Indians went out of doors and began to make hur- ried preparations for their departure.

Breathless and full of fear, Mrs. Slocum had watched from her place of concealment on the edge of the swamp for the Indians to come out of the house, and when she saw them lead forth the three children her heart almost ceased beating. However, her motherly instincts soon overcame all fear, and, leaving her baby behind, she rushed from her hiding-place into the presence of the Indians and their captives. With tears streaming from her eyes she implored the savages to release the children. Believing that Ebenezer, on account of his lame foot, would be unable to travel with his captors, and in consequence would suffer cruelties or death, Mrs. Slocum pointed at the feet of the boy and exclaimed : "The child is lame; he can do thee no good !" This seemed to appeal to the Indian who had Ebenezer in charge, and with a horrid grin he released the boy to his mother. The latter then begged piteously for her little daughter, but in vain. The chief Indian of the three slung Frances athwart his shoulder, one of the other Indians did likewise with young Kingsley, while the third one of the party should- ered the bundle of plunder which had been taken from the house. They then dashed across the road into the woods, and that was the last Mrs. Slocum ever saw of her daughter Frances. Overwhelmed with grief the mother slowly made her way back to the thicket where she had left her infant.

When Nathan Kingsley, Jr., was shot down, as narrated, the report of his slayer's gun was heard at Fort Wyoming ;* and as the indiscrimi- nate and unnecessary firing of guns within and near the fort was pro- hibited (see page 1089), this shot alarmed the garrison. As soon as possible Colonel Butler ordered out a squad of soldiers, directing them to march to the upper end of the town-plot and discover, if they could, why a gun had been fired. The men had marched but a short distance when they met little Mary Slocum (well nigh exhausted from her efforts to get to a place of safety with her young brother, whom she still bore in her arms), and having learned from her that there was trouble at the Slocum house, they hurried thither. Just as they arrived there Mrs. Slocum was preparing to return to the house from the swamp, with her baby. Seeing something moving in the bushes, one of the soldiers drew up his gun to fire, but fortunately Mrs. Slocum was recognized in time, and was assisted to the house instead of being shot down. She pointed out the direction the savages had taken on their retreat, and the soldiers

* Miner states (in his "History of Wyoming," page 247) that the Slocum house was "within an hundred rods of the Wilkesbarre fort;" and others following him, who have written about the capture of Frances Slocum, have made the same statement-presuming, undoubtedly, that the Wilkes- Barre fort of that period stood on the Public Square. On the contrary, it was located on the River Common just above Northampton Street (as fully explained on page 1099), and the distance from that point to the Slocum house, in a bee-line, was upwards of half a mile.

Digitized by Google

1122

endeavored to follow in pursuit ; but after spending some time in fruit- less efforts to find even a single trace of the savages, they returned to the fort.

Years later it was learned from Frances Slocum herself that she and young Kingsley, on the day of their capture, were carried some distance through the woods-" over a mountain, and a long way down on the other side"-to a cave, where the Indians had left their blankets and some other articles. There the party stopped while it was yet light, and there they staid all night. Early the following morning they set out, and traveled all day ; and the next day, and then the next, they did the same. " When we stopped at night," said Frances, "the Indians would cut down a few boughs of hemlock on which to sleep, and then make up a great fire of logs at their feet, which lasted all night. When they cooked anything they stuck a stick in it and held it to the fire as long as they chose. They drank at the brooks and springs," and for Frances and Kingsley they made a little cup of white-birch bark, out of which they drank.

After many days of this sort of traveling the party arrived at an Indian village-the first one they had struck in the course of their jour- ney. Where it was located and what its name was Frances could not recollect. Undoubtedly it was Chemung, in southern New York (see page 972), the Indian settlements at Sheshequin and Tioga Point hav- ing been destroyed by the Hartley Expedition five weeks previously. " I can only remember that we staid several days at this first village," stated Frances in 1837 .* "After we had been there some days, very early one morning two of the same Indians took a horse and placed the boy [Kingsley] and me upon it and again set out on our journey. One went before on foot, and the other behind, driving the horse. In this way we traveled a long way, till we came to a village where these Indians belonged. I now found that one of them was a Delawaret chief by the name of 'Tuck Horse.' This is a great Delaware name, but I do not know its meaning. We were kept here some days, when they

* See "The Lost Sister of Wyoming," by the Rev. John Todd of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. story written for children, from authentic data furnished the writer by Joseph Slocum in 1841. Pub- lished in 1842. See also Stone's "Poetry and History of Wyoming," Third Edition, pages 809-317.

t As stated in the note on pages 428 and 424, Volume I, there were no Delaware Indians east of the Alleghenies at the beginning of the Revolution. The Delawares were then occupying a large part of the present area of Ohio, having emigrated thither from Pennsylvania and southern New York a dozen or more years previously, with embittered feelings against the English colonists generally. Nevertheless, twice in the year 1764 they accepted the terms of peace offered them by Colonel Brad- street and Colonel Bouquet, as narrated in the second paragraph of note "f" on page 488. For some time after the opening of the Revolutionary War the Delawares were influenced by "White Eyes," one of their most prominent chiefs, not to take up the hatchet against the Americans; but an opposite influence being exercised by another prominent chief, "Captain Pipe," the nation became divided.

Early in the Spring of 1778 three noted Loyalists fled from Fort Pitt, in Pennsylvania, to the Delawares in the Ohio region, where they used their utmost efforts against the American cause. "Cap- tain Pipe" was so much influenced by their counsel that, in a large assemblage of warriors, he con- cluded a harangue by declaring "every one an enemy who refused to fight the Americans, and that all such ought to be put to death." Finally the Delawares, as a nation, decided to "raise the hatchet" against the struggling States. But the successful operations of the American troops in the neigh- borhood of Fort Pitt, during the next six months, had such an effect on the Delawares as to promote the conclusion of a treaty of peace, which was signed September 17, 1778, by the chiefs "White Eyes," "Captain Pipe," and "Killbuck." This was the first of a long list of treaties concluded between the United States and the various Indian tribes-as noted on page 156, Volume I.

During the whole of the Revolutionary War a considerable number of Delaware warriors lived among the Senecas in New York, and, as noted on page 424, there were still some Delawares among the Senecas as late as the year 1809. It is quite probable that the Delawares who made the irruption into Wilkes-Barre, and carried away Frances Slocum and young Kingsley, belonged to the clan which, some sixteen years earlier, under the kingship of Teedyuscung, had dwelt within the bounds of Wilkes-Barre Township. It is also probable that these three braves were of the number of Delawares who were then (in 1778) living among the Senecas; although it is not impossible that they had come all the way from the Ohio region to Wyoming at that time, to work out some indefinite scheme of evil against the pale-face dwellers in the valley which certain clans of the Delaware tribe had once occupied. Reference is made on page 424 to the fact that it was a common thing for small parties of Delaware braves to go long distances from their villages, through a country inhabited by their enemies, to wreak vengeance on some one.

Digitized by Google

1123

came and took away the boy [Kingsley], and I never saw him again, and do not know what became of him.

"Early one morning this 'Tuck Horse' came and took me and dressed my hair in the Indian way, and then painted my face and skin. He then dressed me in beautiful wampum beads, and made me look, as I thought, very fine. I was much pleased with the beautiful wampum. We then lived on a hill, and I remember he took me by the hand and led me down to the river side to a house where lived an old man and woman [of the Delaware nation]. They had once several children, but now they were all gone-either killed in battle, or having died very young. I was brought to these old people to have them adopt me, if they would. They seemed unwilling at first, but after 'Tuck Horse' had talked with them awhile, they agreed to it, and this was my home. They gave me the name of We-let-a-wash, which was the name of their youngest child, whom they had lately buried. The Indians were very numerous here,* and here we remained all the following Winter [1778- .'79]. The Indians were in the service of the British, and were fur- nished by them with provisions. They seemed to be the gathered rem- nants of several nations of Indians. I remember that there was a fort here.

" In the Spring [of 1779] I went with the parents who had adopted me to Sandusky [in what is now Ohio], where we spent the next Sum- mer ; but in the Fall we returned again to the fort [Niagara]-the place where I was made an Indian child-and there we spent the second Win- ter [1779-'80]. In the next Spring we went down to a large river, which is Detroit River, where we stopped and built a great number of bark canoes. When our canoes were all done we went up Detroit River, where we remained about three years [at Brownsville, Ontario]. Peace had now been made between the British and Americans, and so we lived by hunting, fishing, and raising corn. The reason why we staid here so long was, we heard that the Americans had destroyed all our villages and corn-fields. After these years my family and another Delaware family removed to Ke-ki-ong-a. I don't know where the other Indians went. This was now our home, and we lived here many years."

Ke-ki-ong-a, the home of Frances and her foster-parents at that time, was located at the point where the rivers St. Joseph and St. Mary's flow together to form the Maumee River. The site of the old village lies within the limits of the city of Fort Wayne. Frances stated that she _ was there long after she was " full grown," and that she was there "at the time of Harmar's defeat." That was in October, 1790, Brigadier Gen- eral Harmar having set out from Fort Washington (Cincinnati) for the Miami country with a force numbering less than 1,500 men, chiefly militia. Successful at first, the campaign ended in a disastrous defeat on the banks of the Maumee River, a few miles from Ke-ki-ong-a. The remnant of his army which Harmar led back to Fort Washington had the unsubdued savages almost continually at their heels. "As a rebuke to the hostile tribes the expedition was an utter failure, a fact which was soon made manifest. Indian attacks on the settlers immediately became bolder." Frances said in 1837 that at the time the battle with Harmar was fought [on the Maumee] "the Indian women and children

. This was, undoubtedly, Fort Niagara, previously mentioned in these pages. It was there that Frances Slocum was seen by her cousin, Isaac Tripp, 2d, as narrated on page 1088.

Digitized by Google

1124

were all made to run north ; and after the battle the Indians [Delawares, Pottawatamies, Shawanese and Miamis, who had taken part in the bat- tle] scattered to their various homes, as was their custom." Frances said that she returned to her home at Ke-ki-ong-a. At that time the Delawares and Miamis were living together, and about 1790 or '91 Frances was married to a young Delaware brave named " Little Turtle."

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.

A history of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, from its first beginnings to the present time; including chapters of newly-discovered, Vol. II, Part 99

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