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 early Wyoming Valley history, together with many biographical sketches and much genealogical material. Volume I > Part 35
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"We, the deputies of the Senecas, staying so long at Wyomen, had an opportunity of inquiring into the truth of this information, and to our surprise found the story con- firmed, with this addition, that even this Spring, since the Governor's arrival, numbers of families were beginning to make settlements. As our boundaries are so well known, and so remarkably distinguished by a range of high mountains, we could not suppose this could be done by mistake ; but either it must be done wickedly by bad people, with- out the knowledge of the Governor, or that the new Governor has brought some instruc- tions from the King, or the Proprietaries, relating to this affair, whereby we are like to be much hurt. The Governor will be pleased to tell us whether he has brought any orders from the King or the Proprietaries for these people to settle on our lands ; and if not, we earnestly desire they may be made to remove instantly with all their effects, to prevent the sad consequences which will otherwise ensue."
* See Loskiel's "History of the Mission of the United Brethren."
+ For portrait, and sketch of his life, see Chapter VI.
Į See Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania, IV : 205 (September, 1829).
¿ See ibid., XIII : 308 (November, 1833).
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Governor Hamilton informed the Senecas that the settling of the white squatters along the Juniata was contrary to the terms of the treaties made by the Government with the Indians, and that a procla- mation would be issued commanding all the white people who had set- tled [north] west of the Blue Mountains to remove by November 1, 1749. Strouds, duffels, half-thicks, gunpowder, lead, shot, vermilion, shirts, guns, brass kettles, hatchets, knives, flints, looking-glasses, gar- ters, ribbons, scissors, bed-lace, ear-rings, rings, Morris-bells, thimbles, beads, jews-harps, handkerchiefs, tobacco and pipes to the value of £100 were distributed on the 4th of July to the Indians, and a day or two later Conrad Weiser conducted them out of the city and journeyed with them as far as his home in Heidelberg Township. Here the Indians concluded to remain for a few days to visit with their old friend and brother Weiser, and without invitation they camped out near his house and made themselves at home. The Tuteloes, it seems, made themn- selves very much at home, and injured and destroyed a large amount of Weiser's movable property and damaged his plantation generally. Weiser expostulated and tried to influence them to proceed on their journey, but without avail. Finally, after an experience of a week or ten days with these unruly visitors, Weiser induced the Senecas to take their departure, and, by their aid, the Tuteloes were forced to go along .*
These Indians dawdled along the way to the Susquehanna, and thence up the river past Shamokin and Nescopeck to Wyoming, where they-or at least the Senecas-arrived about the 1st of August. They had been here two or three days when, unexpectedly, a large fleet of canoes came down the river bearing the belated deputies of the Onon- daga, Mohawk, Oneida, Cayuga and Tuscarora nations together with other representatives-chiefs, warriors, squaws and children-of these several nations, and Indians of some other tribes or bands. This large company remained at Wyoming for a day, and then proceeded on down the river accompanied by the Seneca deputies and their party who had just returned from Philadelphia, by Chief Paxinosa and a number of his Shawanese from their new home in what is now Plymouth, and by a number of Delawares, Nanticokes and Mohegans from the different villages in the valley. At Nescopeck they were joined by Nutimus and a number of his people, and then, without delay, floated onward to Shamokin. Arriving there a messenger was sent in haste over the mountains to Conrad Weiser to announce the coming of the deputies. The news was forwarded by express to the Governor, who immediately directed Weiser "to try all ways to divert the Indians from coming to Philadelphia." This the Interpreter did, but his efforts were resented by the Indians with so much spirit that he was obliged "to turn his protests into invitations and make the best of circumstances." There- fore, on came the tawny host, their numbers increased at Shamokin by Tachnechdorus, the vicegerent of the Six Nations, t and several chiefs from Shamokin and thereabout.
Accompanied by Weiser from Tulpehocken they reached Philadel- phia August 14th, and according to official records they numbered 280 in all-Six Nations, Delawares, Nanticokes, Shawanese, Mohegans and Tuteloes. Whether or not the last-inentioned Indians were from Wyo-
* See Walton's "Conrad Weiser and the Indian Policy of Pennsylvania." page 200.
+ See foot-note. page 184.
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ming Valley it is now impossible to determine. They were, however, from some locality on the Susquehanna above Shamokin. Governor Hamilton paid a ceremonious visit to the Indians, and appointed August 16th as the date for a conference with them. Several days were con- sumed at this conference in discussing the matters which had brought the Indians to Philadelphia ; but as a result the Proprietaries obtained for £500 a deed from the Indians for a strip of land north-west of and contiguous to the Blue Mountains, and extending from the Susquehanna to the Delaware River-the north-west boundary of this strip being a straight line running in a north-easterly direction from the north side of of the mouth of "Cantaguy or Maghonioy Creek" ("Moxunay" on the maps reproduced on pages 188 and 191, and now known as "Mahanoy" Creek) to "the north side of the mouth of the creek called Lechawach- sein" (now Lackawaxen) .* This new purchase included parts of the present counties of Dauphin, Northumberland, Columbia, Lebanon, Schuylkill (nearly the whole of it), Carbon (nearly the whole of it), Monroe, Pike, Wayne and Luzerne-the north-western boundary-line of the purchase passing through the last-named county at Glen Summit, high up on an outlying ridge of Wyoming Mountain, south by east from Wilkes-Barré seven miles in a bee-line.
The deed for this purchase was executed August 22, 1749, and the first signature attached to it was tliat of Canassatego, the head sachem of the Onondagas, who had been the principal speaker on the part of the Indians at the treaty. This was the last treaty or conference he attended in Pennsylvania, as he died about a year later .; In addition to the various chiefs, or deputies, representing the several tribes of the Six Nations who signed this deed, Tachnechdorus, Nutimus and Paxi- nosa also signed it-this being the first appearance of the name of the last-mentioned chief in the official records of Pennsylvania, so far as the present writer can learn.
Relative to the Indian conferences which were held in Philadelphia about this period, and concerning the one just referred to, as well as the visits of Indians in general to the city, Watson states the following in his "Annals of Philadelphia," II : 163.
"From a very early period it was the practice of Indian companies occasionally to visit the city-not for any public business, but merely to buy and sell and look on. On such occasions they usually found their shelter, for the two or three weeks which they remained, about the State House yard. There was a shed constructed for theni along the western wall. * * * Here they would make up baskets from the ash strips which they brought with them, and sell them to the visitors. Before the Revolution such visits were frequent, but after that time they much diminished, so that now they are deemed a rarity. Such of the Indians as came to the city on public service were always provided for in the east wing of the State House, up stairs, and at the same time their necessary support there was provided for by the Government. Old people have told me that the visits of Indians were so frequent as to excite but little surprise. Their squaws and children generally accompanied them, and on such occasions they went abroad much in the streets and would anywhere stop to shoot at marks of small coins set on the tops of posts.
"On the 16th of 6th month [August], 1749, there was at the State House an assemblage of 280 Indians of eleven different tribes, assembled there with the Governor to make a treaty. The place was extremely crowded, and Canaswetigo, a chief, made a long speech. There were other Indians about the city at the same time, making together probably 400 to 500 Indians. The same Indians remained several days at [Hon. James] Logan's place, in his beech woods."
Canassatego and the other deputies of the Six Nations left Phila- delphia about the 24th or 25th of August, and returned to their respec- tive tribes by way of Wyoming, being accompanied as far as the valley
* See "Map of a Part of Pennsylvania," in Chapter XI.
+ See foot-note, page 81.
A VIEW OF WYOMING VALLEY.
Looking north-west from Penobscot Mountain, through Warrior Run Gap in Wilkes-Barre Mountain. Nanticoke in the middle-distance at the left. From a photograph taken in September, 1904.
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by Paxinosa and the other Wyoming Indians who had attended the conference.
In the Spring of 1750 the exigencies of the Moravian mission work among the Indians made it necessary for Bishop Cammerhoff to visit the Great Council of the Six Nations at Onondaga. It was arranged that David Zeisberger, who was then at Shamokin, should join the Bishop at Wyoming and accompany him on this journey. Having obtained a passport from Governor Hamilton Cammerhoff set out from Bethlehem on the 14th of May, accompanied by John Martin Mack (who had visited Wyoming several times previously, as hereinbefore noted), Tim- othy Horsfield,* and Gottlieb Bezold .; They journeyed on foot, and their route was up the Lehigh to Gnadenhütten, and thence over the mountains to Wyoming-the same route, without doubt, that had been traveled by Cammerhoff and Mack in October, 1748, in company with De Watteville, as described on page 222.
Cammerhoff kept a diary of the journey (it is referred to in one of the foot-notes on page 187, ante), and from it we learn that the travelers reached Wyoming Valley Wednesday, May 20, 1750, "and at once went to the Nanticoke town" mentioned on page 220. "We were very kindly welcomed," wrote Cammerhoff, "but as our David [Zeisberger] had not come yet, and we had received no tidings of him, we walked down to the Susquehanna and encamped on a hillt opposite the great plain" --- the "Shawnee" Flats. The next day Zeisberger arrived from Shamokin in a canoe. He had expected to be accompanied by a Cayugan chief who was down the river on a trading expedition, and who, it had been arranged, was to guide Cammerhoff and Zeisberger to their destination in New York. But as the chief was not quite ready to set out from Shamokin, Zeisberger came up to Wyoming alone. For a week the Brethren awaited at their encampment on the "Hill of Peace" (which name they gave the place) the coming of the Cayuga. Cammerhoff states that during their stay they were cordially treated by the Nanti- cokes ; and Loskiel says that "they made an agreeable acquaintance with the chiefs of the Nanticoke tribe, one of whom, eighty-seven years of age, was a remarkably intelligent man." Cammerhoff preached to the assembled Nanticokes two or three times.
At length the Cayugan chief arrived, accompanied by his wife, his son aged fourteen and his daughter aged four years. They had been six
* TIMOTHY HORSFIELD, born in Liverpool, England, in 1708, immigrated to America in 1725 and settled on Long Island. He was converted under Whitefield's preaching, and in 1741 identified himself with the Moravian Brethren ; but he did not remove to Bethlehem until 1749-less than a year before accompanying Cammerhoff to Wyoming. He built the first private house in Bethlehem-the old stone house on Market Street, opposite the Moravian burial-ground. With William Parsons he laid out the first road between Easton and Bethlehem.
He took an important part in protecting the settlements against the Indians during the years 1755-'58. In May, 1752, he was commissioned a Justice of the Peace for the newly-erected county of Northampton, and held this office until December. 1764. July 11, 1763, during Pontiac's War, he was commissioned a Lieutenant Colonel by the Governor of Pennsylvania, with directions to raise-in conjunction with John Armstrong of Cumberland County, the Rev. John Elder of Lancaster County and Jonas Seely of Berks County-volunteers to the number of 700, to be divided into fourteen companies, each officered by one Captain, one Lieutenant, one Ensign, etc., "to protect the frontiers during the time of harvest." These volunteers were to be enlisted for three months or upwards, as might be found necessary.
Timothy Horsfield was a man of considerable prominence and influence in Northampton County for a number of years, and was held in high esteem by the Provincial authorities. He died at Bethlehem March 9, 1773. An unpublished collection of his papers-letters, commissions, etc., known as "The Horsfield Papers"-is possessed by the American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia.
+ He was a member of the "Sea Congregation" of Moravian Brethren that arrived in this country in May, 1742, as mentioned on page 216.
į This is the spur of the Hanover hills mentioned on page 50. It has its beginning north of Hanover Park, and ends abruptly in a rocky ledge near the river's margin. Hanover Green Church and Cemetery are located near the southern end of this hill, while at the north-western angle of it-1,400 yards north- east of the mouth of Sugar Notch Creek-rests the southern abutment of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Company's bridge, which spans the river at that point.
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days making the voyage from Shamokin. Early in the morning of Thursday, May 28th, Mack, Bezold and Horsfield set out on their home- ward journey, and Cammerhoff accompanied them "from the 'Hill of Peace' as far as the Nanticoke town"; and thence went "with them for about half a mile to a hill on their way to Wambhallobank" (Wapwal- lopen). Bidding the travelers adieu Cammerhoff returned to the "Hill of Peace," where he, Zeisberger and the Indians loaded their canoes. "About two o'clock in the afternoon," wrote Cammerhoff, "we left our beautiful 'Hill of Peace.' David and I, with the boy and girl, set out in our canoe, and the Gajuka [Cayuga] and his wife in their hunting-skiff.
* * We sailed by several islands* on the west side of the Susque- hanna. In the evening we reached some dangerous falls,t and were obliged to drag the canoes up over the rocks, and then encamped just above them." They named their camping-place-which was on Jacob's Plains, on the left bank of the river-"the Gajuka's Post House." Here they found an abundance of walnut trees growing. In referring to the passage of the voyagers through Wyoming the diarist wrote : "The country is very beautiful."
They continued their journey the next morning (Friday, May 29th), and under that date the following entry appears in Caminerhoff's diary : "On the opposite bank of the Susquehanna there is a large plain, at the end of which we met a few Tuteloes.§ After we had gone some distance we again saw three Indian huts inhabited by Delawares."|| At noon the travelers landed on the left bank, where they were detained some time by a storm.
"On the heights" on this side of the Susquehanna," wrote Cammer- hoff, "close to the shore, passes the Great Path ** to Tioga. We started again and crossed the large creek which the Delawares call 'Gacha- mai'tt ; it is generally considered as the boundary-line of the plain Ske- hantowa.tt We landed at the point where it empties into the Susque- hanna and visited two Delaware huts. Finding only women and chil- dren we soon left.§§ Opposite there is a very large island||| in the Sus- quehanna, on which we saw several huts. We then went on and pushed into the mountains which here hedge the Susquehanna very closely. We called the one on this side the 'Mountain of Joy."IT The other, ** on the opposite shore of the river, rises back of the great plain. As evening had come on we encamped on this side of the water, at the foot of the high mountains. We named this spot the 'Skehantowa Pass.'
* Richard's, Toby's and Fish's, described on pages 51 and 52.
+ Wyoming Falls, or Rapids, described on pages 36 and 37.
į Abraham's Plains, described on page 50.
¿ These Tuteloes were, undoubtedly, occupying the village- or camp-site near the mouth of Abraham's Creek upon which, some years before, the Mohegan village mentioned on page 194 had stood for a time. Cammerhoff evidently considered Abraham's Creek as the south-western boundary of the plain, inas- much as he refers to this locality as being "at the end" of the plain. For other references to the Tute- loes see pages 115, 219, 224 and 231.
| Evidently some of the Wanamie or Monsey clan, whose "union" village, "Matchasaung," was located thereabout. See page 213.
{ The hills extending from a short distance above Plainsville to the lower end of the city of Pittston. ** The great "Warrior Path" mentioned on pages 117 and 171.
tt Lackawanna River. See page 187.
## Skehantowana, the Iroquois name for Wyoming. See page 60.
22 The Monsey village, Asserughney, mentioned on page 187.
|| | Scovell's Island, mentioned on page 50. On the plots of some of the earliest Wyoming surveys-circa
1771-this is called "Lahawannock Island." (See "Pennsylvania Archives," Second Series, XVIII : 544.) {{ This was Campbell's Ledge, or Dial Rock, described on page 47.
*** The north-eastern extremity of Shawanese Mountain (described on page 44), along the base of which, for several miles from the head of the valley, stretch Abraham's Plains.
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The Susquehanna, from this place to where it flows into the mountains, we called 'David's Strait,' because David [Zeisberger] is the first Mora- vian Brother who has steered his little bark through it." The next morning, proceeding onward, the voyagers passed up "David's Strait" through "a dismal looking region very dreadful to behold, because of the high rocks which towered above us [them] like a wall."
On the 6th of July Cammerhoff and his party passed Wyalusing Falls, which the diarist describes as "a dangerous cataract extending across the whole Susquehanna. The water falls down as from a inoun- tain, and makes the current very rapid. * On proceeding we came to a place called Gahontoto* by the Indians. It is said to be the site of an ancient Indian city, where a peculiar nation lived. The inhabitants were neither Delawares nor Aquanoschioni, t but had a language of their own and were called Tehotitachse. We could still notice a few traces of this place in the old ruined corn-fields near. The Five Nations went to war against them, and finally completely extirpated them. * The Cayugas told us that these things had taken place before the Indians had any guns, and still went to war with bows and arrows."
Passing on up the Susquehanna and into the Tioga, or Chemung, River, the voyagers disembarked at Ganatscherat, a Cayuga village near Waverly, New York. Thence they went overland by way of Cayuga to Onondaga. On their arrival at the latter place June 21st was fixed as the day for the convening of the Council, but there was delay because a majority of the Indians got drunk.
When it became apparent to Cammerhoff and Zeisberger that the Indians would continue their carousing for some time, the former decided to pay a visit to the Senecas, at their large western town beyond Canan- daigua. While returning from this visit several days later they were told by a friendly Indian one day, when resting in the shade of an Indian hut at Canandaigua, that there was "a chief living at Ganechs- tage by the name of Gajinquechto," whose house was large, and they could put up there. On the next day, wrote Cammerhoff. "we arrived at Ganechstage [some five miles south-west of the present Geneva], and repaired to the house of the chief Gajinquechto. He and his wife were not at home, but came up after we had been there a short time and received us very kindly, at once offering us venison. We made inquiry concerning the route we were to take, and the sachem's wife went with us and pointed it out ; and so we journeyed on." The chief here referred to as "Gajinquechto" was Sayenqueraghta, some fourteen years later to become the principal chief or "king" of the Senecas, and, in that capacity, to be identified very prominently with some important events in Wyoming Valley.
Finally the Council met at Onondaga, and then the design of the proposed negotiations had to be explained by the visitors-it being charged that they were emissaries of France, endeavoring to entice the Six Nations from their compact with the English. During the course of the conference Cammerhoff presented to the Council a petition from the Nanticoke Indians at Wyoming, to the effect that they might have a blacksmith shop, under Moravian auspices, set up at their village. This request was denied by the Council, and the Nanticokes were in-
* See page 171. + See note, page 81.
Į See "Sayenqueraghta, King of the Senecas," by George S. Conover. Geneva, New York, 1885.
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formed that they could avail themselves of the services of the black- smith at Shamokin.
Their business at Onondaga being finished Cammerhoff and Zeis- berger journeyed overland to the Susquehanna, where they embarked in a canoe and floated down the river as far as the village of the Nanticokes, which they reached Sunday, August 2, 1750. They had started early in the morning of this day from their previous night's camping-place. "After going through David's Strait," wrote Cammerhoff, "we passed by Hazirok [Asserughney], the boundary of Wajomik. We greeted it by firing several salutes. It was with peculiar feelings that we again entered Wajomik, and our hearts were filled with gratitude. We paddled on rapidly, and with difficulty, the water being very low. Passed over the upper falls of Wajomik. * We came to the Shawanese town,* but saw no one, and about five o'clock we reached the town of the Nan- ticokes and were welcomed by the chief." The next day the two Brethren proceeded onward, by canoe, to Shaniokin, which they reached August 6th, having traveled over 600 miles on horse-back, on foot and in canoes.
Loskiel says that in October, or November, 1751, David Zeisberger and Gottlieb Bezold, previously mentioned, visited the Nanticokes and Shawanese in Wyoming.
By the beginning of the year 1752 the population of the Moravian Indian town Gnadenhütten (see page 218) had increased to about 500 souls. In the Spring of that year some of the Indians at Gnadenhütten wlio were serving as assistant missionaries and teachers came to Wyoming to preach the gospel to the Indians here; and in consequence, states Los- kiel, "the head-chief of the Nanticokes sent two deputies to the Breth- ren at Gnadenhütten and Bethlehem with a fathom of wampum to solicit further acquaintance." Therefore, in June, 1752, Bishop Span- genberg, David Zeisberger and the Rev. Christian Seidel of Bethlehem went to Shamokin and came thence to Wyoming. In the course of this tour fifty bushels of wheat were distributed.
"In return for this visit," wrote Loskiel, "a large embassy was sent by the Nanticokes and Shawanose to Gnadenhütten, to establish a cov- enant with the Brethren. The deputies, with their attendants of women and children, were in all 107 persons. Their transactions were per- formed with due Indian solemnity. July 14th the two deputies arrived from Wajomick to announce the arrival of the embassy on the following day. On the 15th a messenger arrived, having been sent ten miles for- ward, with two strings of wampum. He addressed the Brethren thus : 'We are now coming to you. Gnadenhütten is a place which delights us. We first thought to go to Bethlehem, but being fatigued and hav- ing nothing to eat we will rest with you at present. The heat was great, and we subsisted on nothing but bilberries.'t The Indian Breth- ren having sent them four large loaves, they appeared some time after slowly moving toward the place in Indian file-the leader singing a song till they came to the first house, where they halted. Abrahamt went to meet them, and, giving his hand to the leader, conducted them to the inn." The arrival of Bishop Spangenberg and other Brethren
* Paxinosa's town, in Plymouth, between Bead Hill and Brown's Brook.
+ Blueberries or huckleberries, great quantities of which still grow on the mountains traversed by the old path from Wyoming to Gnadenhütten.
# The Mohegan chief, "Schabash," mentioned on pages 217 and 238.
SUGARLOAF MOUNTAIN AND A PART OF SUGARLOAF VALLEY, LUZERNE COUNTY, PA. (The mountain range in the for bakgrund at the right is bn as the Noches Mountains ")
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from Bethlehem on the following day was followed by preaching, con- ferences, and the giving of gifts to the visiting Indians. Having spent nine days at Gnadenhütten and been well entertained, and having established "a covenant of everlasting friendship," the Wyoming In- dians returned to their homes.
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