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 45
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
"The night afore last Canudagaye, one of the Mohawks who signed ye deed, lodged at Colonel Johnson's, when, after supper, he was called up, and a little while after the Colonel in my presence began about the same affair, and very amiably cleared up to him the vil- lainous and dishonest proceedings of Lydius, and how it would lessen the credit of the Six Nations who, not only many years ago but by treaties held a few years since-yea ! in the very last treaty at Albany-promised the pre-emption of the same lands to Onas, and to none else, as they were in his bounds ; and, in case the New England people was to get 'eni now, they immediately would settle there and drive the Indians from their best land-which Onas would not have done. The Indian was quite stunned, and after
* See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," X : 177.
+ DANIEL CLAUS was married in 1761 to the eldest daughter of Sir William Johnson. In the early part of 1754 he was living at "Mount Johnson" (near the present city of Amsterdam, New York) with his future father-in-law, and was employed in and about the latter's store-house. During the war with the French and Indians in 1755 and '6 he was in the military service of New York with the rank of Colonel. In 1761 Sir William Johnson appointed him one of his Deputy Superintendents of Indian Affairs.
{ This chief, of the Onondaga tribe, signed the deed to the Penns, but did not sign the one to the Susquehanna Company.
288
a little pause said that when Lydius called him in he argued with Lydius that he should have proposed the thing at the last treaty, when all the nations were present. But Lydius gave a great many vain excuses, and told him the lands were in Ohio, and shewed him the subscriptions of the rest who, he said, had nothing against it.
"The Indian added how he believed Lydius was a very bad man, who liked the French better than the English, and, as he supposed, undertook this chiefly to set the two Provinces against one another, that the French might be less hindered in their under- takings. I heard Colonel Johnson give Lydius the character of a very dangerous person in any Province, as he was certain of his being a Roman Catholic, having heard it front a Frenchman who was in Church in Canada when he (Lydius) made his confession to the priest, and would doubt whether Lydius would take the oath of allegiance or no."*
It is very evident, from a perusal of this letter, that Colonel Claus was no friend of Lydius, was strongly prejudiced in favor of the Penn- sylvanians, and knew nothing concerning the execution of the deed to the Susquehanna Company except from hearsay.
Under date of September 17, 1754, at Albany, James Stevenson- in whose house the Pennsylvania Commissioners had held their con- ferences in June and July, as previously mentioned-wrote to Richard Peters as followst :
"I desired my son to give you a hint that Lydius had been up amongst the Indians and procured a deed in behalf of the Connecticut Government for the lands, or perhaps only part of the lands, that you purchased for your Government. I am since informed that the fact is true. Above thirty Oneidas are now in town. It is pretended they came to speak with the Commissioners of Indian Affairs ; but if my information be right they came down on a message [that] was sent to them by Lydius, and they are mostly at his house. The Commissioners knew nothing of their coming till they were on their way. I am assured by one of the witnesses to the deed that several of our Mohawks signed in Lydius' own house, besides those that signed in their own Castle."
Some months later (May 23, 1755) James Stevenson again wrote Secretary Peters, as follows :
"Mr. Claus came to town yesterday. After all the inquiry we can make about the affair of Lydius the only information we can get is that one Jacobus Sharpe says he saw three Indians of the Five Nations sign an instrument to which there were many marks of Indians before ; that he supposed it to be a deed for lands which at that time was much talked of, to have been purchased by Lydius for New England. But the instrument was neither read, interpreted or explained to them in his hearing. That Lydius' son Martinus was the other evidence [witness]. Jacob Van Woert says he saw Schoroneados? sign an instrument, but knows not what it was. The paper was [so] folded from the top that it covered the writing. That Lydius spoke to the Indians in their own language, which he [Van Woert] did not understand, and there was no interpreter present. * *
"There has been one Woodbridge here about three weeks ago. He belongs to Massachusetts Bay Government, but freely owned to me that he was concerned with the Connecticut people in the purchase made by Lydius, which, as I understand, was by order of the Connecticut Government. He said he was sure the lands purchased did not . come near Pennsylvania's line by many miles, for he himself had traversed all those woods. He told me he gave directions to Lydius to take in some few people here for a share. I told Mr. Woodbridge I thought he had better apply to you if he had an inclina- tion to obtain a right of land there."
In December, 1782, when the trial before the Commissioners at Trenton|| was about to take place, the following deposition of William, Earl of Stirling, a Major General in the Continental army, was taken in due form of law for use at that trial.
"This deponent saith that in the Summer of the year 1754 he was in Albany and present at a Congress of the Governors and delegates from all the then Colonies of the Continent. * * That on this occasion several hundred Indians appeared and went into a treaty with the Congress for renewing their ancient alliances, as well as for other pur- poses. *
* : That when the Congress at Albany was near breaking up and most of the principal sachems and warriors of the Indians gone home, this deponent saw at Albany the said Col. [Eliphalet] Dyer and another gentleman from Connecticut, whose name he believes was Seymour or Edwards. That said Colonel Dyer being an old ac-
* From "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, II : 174. + Ibid., II : 171.
į See "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, II : 323.
¿ Either "Scaronage," or "Scaneradie," each of whom signed the deed March 4th, 1755, is here re- ferred to.
|| A full account of which is given in Chapter XX.
289
quaintance he and this deponent soon fell into conversation, and said Colonel Dyer, among other things, frankly told him [Lord Stirling] their business at that place was to obtain a grant from the Indians of the lands on the Susquehanna. That this deponent suggested to him that he thought they were too late ; that the Indians of importance were chiefly gone home, and that during the sitting of the Congress the Indians had conveyed the lands he seemed to want to the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania ; that he, this deponent, had seen the deeds executed and the consideration paid and delivered and divided among the nations. That said Colonel Dyer then said he must have recourse to his friend Lydius.
"That a day or two afterwards said Colonel Dyer informed this deponent that said Lydius had done his business for him, and had obtained the deed he wanted. That this deponent asked him who had signed and executed it. Said Colonel Dyer replied, 'Indians enough, and I am content.' On inquiry this deponent found that said Lydius had for some days (subsequent to the said purchase made by the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania) privately entertained at his house several of those Indians who remained at Albany, whose names the deponent does not recollect, nor of what nation, but that they were men of no importance in their nations; and that from these the said deed was obtained in favor of said Dyer and his associates, since called The Susquehanna Company."*
For a number of years the real facts relative to the number, tribal connections and importance of the signers of the Indian deed to The Susquehanna Company were not generally known outside the Company. As late as 1761 it was frequently stated that "two Tuscaroras, one Oneida and one Mohawk had privately made the deed for the Wyoming land."t So much was said and written by the opponents of the Company, regarding the fraudulence and illegality of the conveyance, that the officers of the Company procured certain sworn affidavits from some of the men who had been present at the execution of the deed. These affidavits were attached to the deed, and all were then recorded, first, on pages 1-15 of Book "B" of the records of The Susquehanna Company, mentioned on page 28, ante, and later in the office of the Secretary of the State of Connecticut, in "Book No. 4 of Records for Patents, Deeds and Surveys of Lands," folios 681-688. The first of these affidavits is that of Col. John Henry Lydius, sworn to before the Mayor of Albany, New York, December 23, 1760, and setting forth, among other things, the following :
"That on a certain day during the time of said Congress [of 1754], came into the deponent's mansion-house at Albany Maj. Ephraim Williams and Capt. Joseph Kellogg, Esquires-the said Kellogg, being master of the language of the Mohocks, has often im- proved as a publick interpreter, and was at this time improved in the abovesaid business of procuring a deed as above. And also the deponent further saith, that on the same day came into his said dwelling-house several of the sachems and principal men of the.Mo- hocks, or Five Nations, so called. One of said sachems name was called Kahiktoton, a sachem of the Senecas ; another, called Abraham Peters, elder [sic] brother to Hendrick and chief sachem of the Mohock tribe ; a third, whose name was William Tharigeoris, a Mohock chief, called of the Turkle tribe ; a fourth, whose name was Brant Conwignoge, a chief or principal man of the Mohocks ; a fifth, called a sachem named Gayswigtione; a sixth, whose name was Canagegaie-two sachems of the tribe of the Anondaugehs [Onondagas]. And at that time a deed was produced, being brought to deponent's house by some of those gentlemen from New England, who were endeavoring to obtain a deed of the Five Nations of Indians.
"Said deed lying on the table, the deponent had full inspection of the same, and saw it to be a deed of release and conveyance of a large tract of land lying on the Susque- hanna River, to a great number of persons mostly belonging to the Colony of Connecticut. And at the same time the deponent saw all the above-named sachems or principal men sign the said deed, by making their marks thereto severally. And the deponent also, at the same time, saw the said Williams and Kellogg set their hands as witnesses-being both long since deceased-and that the deponent fully believes that the said sachems were well acquainted and thoroughly understood what they transacted ; and that the said sachems were, at the time of their signing, sealing and delivering of said deed, sober and undisguised."
* From Egle's "Notes and Queries" for 1896, page 1.
+ See "Pennsylvania-Colonial and Federal," I : 523.
Į Colonel Williams and Captain Kellogg, two of the subscribing witnesses to the deed, being dead at this time, their affidavits could not, of course, be obtained.
290
Under date of August 6, 1761, Colonel Lydius made a second affi- davit, in which he set forth :
"That some time in the month of July, 1754, Timothy Woodbridge, Esq., who was employed by the people of Connecticut Colony to make a purchase of the Five Nations of a tract of land lying on Susquehanna, as contained in the foregoing deed, asked my assist- ance in the prosecution of said purchase, and the said Woodbridge left in my hands a considerable sum of money, to the amount of 1,000 or 1,100 Spanish dollars, to pay such sachems of the Five Nations that should appear to make sale of the aforesaid lands for their several tribes. * * Accordingly, as the sachems of the several tribes came to the deponent's house on said business, the deponent agreed with such as appeared, from time to time, to dispose of their interests in the premises, for such sums as they were satisfied with, and the same was paid by the deponent until the aforesaid sum was paid. Afterward, the deponent sent to the said Woodbridge for further supplies of money to go forward with the said purchase, and received between 400 and 500 dollars as aforesaid ; and still further supplies were remitted, until the deponent was enabled to pay the whole stipulated for with the several sachems of the several tribes-which whole payment, that the deponent made, was to the amount of 1,705 Spanish dollars."
Under date of December 23, 1760, James Sharpe, Martin Lydius, Sybrant Van Schaick, Jr., John J. Wendell and Jacob Van Woert, Jr., severally deposed before the Mayor of Albany as to their personal knowl- edge of the execution of the deed, and swore that it was "their firm belief that the sachems before-named were well acquainted with, and thoroughly understood, what they transacted ; and that they were sober and undisguised at the time." Sybrant Van Schaick also swore that "when he was called to evidence to the signing of several of the sachems to the foregoing deed, at the house of Col. John Lydius in Albany, he saw a large bag of money delivered to the Indians by the said Lydius, in consideration of said purchase, which bag the deponent judged to contain 300 or 400 Spanish dollars." James Sharpe further deposed "that when he was called to evidence to several sachems signing the foregoing deed of sale, he saw the Indians that signed the said deed counting money in the said Lydius' stoop at his door, and they appeared to be possessed of a large sum." The same James Sharpe, in March, 1794, under a rule of Court granted in the case of Van Horne's lessees vs. Dorrance (to be more fully mentioned hereinafter), deposed and said on oath before Abraham Yates, Jr., Mayor of Albany* :
"That July 11, 1754, he was present at the house of John Henry Lydius in Albany when a great number of Indians of the Six Nations sold a large tract of land mentioned in the deed hereunto annexed. * * That he the said deponent saw two of the said Indians receive from the said purchasers named in the deed a large sum of money in Spanish milled dollars, for the said lands, which money was carried out of doors in a blanket and divided among all the Indians of the Six Nations then present on the stoop of the said John Henry Lydius ; but what was the exact amount of the said sum of money * * deponent does not know. That he at the same time saw Jestaraire, Johannes Sagehoware, Senosies, Johannes Canedegair, Nikes, or Nicholas, Carigiaghtake, princi- pal sachems of the Five Nations of Indians (as the deponent was then informed and verily believes to be true) severally set their marks to, and seal and deliver the said deed. * * He and Martinus Lydius then and there subscribed their names to the said deed as witnesses. Said Martinus Lydius is since deceased. That the said Indians were perfectly satisfied with the aforesaid bargain, and acknowledged in his presence that the same was fairly made, and that they the said Indians were fully paid for the aforesaid lands by the purchasers aforesaid ; and that the said deed now is in the same state with respect to the contents thereof that it was in at the time of its execution."
The Rev. Samuel Kirkland, t for many years a missionary among the Six Nations, made a deposition-under a rule of Court-about the same time that the deposition of James Sharpe was taken. The follow- ing paragraph is from itţ :
* The original deposition, being a part of the files of the law-case mentioned, is now (by permission of the United States Court) in the custody of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
+ For his portrait, and a sketch of his life, see a subsequent chapter.
# See Miner's "Wyoming," page 69, and an article from the pen of Col. John Franklin, over the pseudonym "Plain Truth," published in The Luzerne County Federalist (Wilkes-Barre), May 18, 1801.
291
"That soon after he came to reside among the Five Confederated Nations of In- dians, which was in 1765, an Indian chief, with whom he resided near two years in the Seneca country, told him that the Five Nations (or Six Nations as they were then styled) had sold a large tract of land on the Susquehanna, or Wyoming, to the New England people, and had received a large sum of money for it ; and that one Lydius, of Albany, was concerned in the purchase as interpreter or principal agent. This informa- tion, with many other transactions of a similar nature, the said deponent received from the Indians at their own voluntary motion, while they were giving him an historical ac- count of their country and various negotiations of the white people. The same account of the Susquehanna purchase, and others similar to it, the deponent has frequently heard related by different Indians of the Five Nations, having resided in their territory for near thirty years, and scarce ever absent from them more than three months at a time during that term ; and never, to his remembrance, heard any of the said Indians complain of said purchase."
Colonel Franklin, in one of his "Plain Truth" articles (previously mentioned), published May 25, 1801, stated :
"I have also in my possession an affidavit of five Indians, principal sachems of the Mohawk tribe. This affidavit was subscribed to, and the deponents made solemn oath thereto, at Albany June 24, 1763. These deponents swear, 'that in 1754, at a general treaty held with the Five Nations at Albany, * * that while the Indians were attend- ing said treaty a proposal was made by some English persons from New England to make a purchase of the Five Nations of a large tract of land lying on the Susquehannah River ; in which proposal, and the land described to be purchased, were included the lands called by the Mohawks Skaumuhdelwauhnuh (that is, Wyoming) ; that in the conclusion of the treaty the sachems of the Five Nations agreed to the sale of a large tract of land lying on the Susquehannah River, and did receive large sums of money therefor ; that several of the sachems at that time sealed a conveyance to the said New England people, and from time to time other sachems repaired to Albany and there received their considera- tion money and sealed the deed ; that the said sale was at the time of the said treaty, and has ever since been generally known and received among the Five Nations ; and said sale was made and done according to the usages, customs and manners of the Five Nations. " 'Further, that having reviewed the said deed lately at our Castle, it cannot be denied but that the lands contained in the deed executed to the said New England company ought to be held by them as a good and lawful purchase. Neither do the de- ponents imagine any difficulty would have arisen about the sale and settlement had it not been stirred up among the Indians by the white people-principally among whom are the Governor of Pennsylvania and Sir William Johnson.'"
In further support of The Susquehanna Company's contention that their deed had been honestly obtained, the following document is in- troduced. It is a copy of an original deposition to be found among the "Trumbull Papers," referred to on page 29, ante, paragraph (6). It was made in 1782 by the Hon. Stephen Hopkins mentioned on page 263, ante, and was, without doubt, intended to be used at the Trenton trial. So far as the present writer can learn it has never been previously printed.
"STEPHEN HOPKINS, Esq., of Providence, in the State of Rhode Island, *
* aged seventy-five years, deposeth and saith : That some time in the Summer of the year 1754 he was at Albany at a treaty held there with the Indians of the Six Nations, many of the chiefs of whom, from each tribe, were present at that meeting and during the time that the treaty continued. Three gentlemen of the Colony of Connecticut, being agents from a Company since known by the name of The Susquehanna Company, were in treaty with said Indians, or many of them, for the purchase of a certain tract of land lying upon the River Susquehanna and its branches, and fully concluded a bargain with them, and towards the conclusion of said treaty received a deed from them of the said lands.
"That the deponent was present several times where the said Connecticut gentle- men and the Indian chiefs were in treaty about the bargain aforesaid, and, after they had finally agreed, was present at the making and executing of a deed from the chief of the said Indians to The Susquehanna Company, and was also present at the payment of the consideration money mentioned in said deed. That the deponent then thought that the bargain aforesaid was fairly made, as any negotiation with Indians for the purchase of land could possibly be. That the deed was made and signed by the proper chiefs deputed by the several tribes for that purpose. The noted sachem, Hendrick, was the principal negotiator* between the said Connecticut gentlemen and the Indians, in making and finishing the bargain aforesaid, as he was also in negotiating a bargain at the same Con- gress between the same tribes of Indians and the agents of Mr. Penn, the Proprietary of Pennsylvania. That both those bargains with the Indians for several parts of their lands
* See page 267.
292
were conducted and finished in as open and fair a manner as it is possible for any bargains with the Indians to be carried on and completed."
It would seem, from the testimony thus adduced, that the Indian deed to The Susquehanna Company was obtained, not by means of fraud or trickery, but openly and fairly ; and that the full amount of the con- sideration money stipulated to be paid was duly received by the Indian grantors.
A meeting of The Susquehanna Company was held at Hartford November 20, 1754, and Maj. Roger Wolcott, Jr., Maj. Phineas Lyman, George Wyllys, Esq., Daniel Edwards, Esq., and Maj. Eliphalet Dyer were appointed a committee "to prepare the case of the Susquehanna Purchase lately made of the Indians, and all proper exhibits relating thereto, in order to lay the same before His Majesty for his grant and confirmation." It was also voted to increase the number of whole-share members to 800, and 1,000 dollars was ordered to be sent to Colonel Lydius "in order to complete the purchase, and in compliance with the engagement of the former committee-and more, if necessary fully to discharge said former committee from said Lydius." At this same meet- ing George Wyllys, Esq.,* was elected Treasurer of the Company, and Samuel Gray, t Esq., was elected Clerk.
James Gray Juli of lace
(Facsimile of signature written in 1776.)
* See page 282.
+SAMUEL GRAY was born in Lebanon, New London County, Connecticut, April 6, 1722, the eldest child of Dr. Ebenezer and Mary (Gardiner) Gray. Dr. Ebenezer Gray (born at Boston October 31, 1697) was the ninth child of Samuel Gray, a native of Dorsetshire, England, and his wife Susannah Langdon of Plymouth, England, who immigrated to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1679. Ebenezer was educated at Harvard College, became a physician and practised his profession at Lebanon and then at Windham. When Windham County was organized in 1726 he was appointed Clerk of the County Courts, and this office he held for a number of years. He was also a Justice of the Peace for some years prior to 1747. He was twice married-first, June 28, 1720, to Mary, daughter of John Gardiner, the third proprietor of Gard- iner's Island, and grandson of Lion Gardiner the original proprietor (1639) of the island. (For an in -. teresting account of this island and its owners see an article by George Parsons Lathrop in The Century Magazine of December, 1885.) Mrs. Mary (Gardiner) Gray died July 27, 1726, and Dr. Gray was married, second, February 20, 1728, to Mrs. Mary Coit, widow of Thomas Coit of New London, Connecticut. Dr. Gray died at Windham September 8, 1773.
In 1752 Samuel Gray was appointed Clerk of the Windham County Court, and this office he held until his death. From 1754 until his death he was a Justice of the Peace in and for Windham County ; and in 1755 he succeeded his brother-in-law, Col. Eliphalet Dyer, as Town Clerk of Windham, in which office he continuously served for upwards of thirty years. In 1758 he was first elected to represent the town of Windham in the General Assembly of Connecticut, and between that year and 1770 he served a number of terms as Representative. For many years he was a Deacon of the Congregational Church at Wind- ham. He held the office of Clerk, or Secretary, of The Susquehanna Company until his death. He resided at Windham Green, the present post-village of Windham, and there he died August 3, 1787.
Samuel Gray was married at Windham November 7, 1742, to Lydia (born July 12, 1724; died July 3, 1790), third child of Col. Thomas and Lydia (Backus) Dyer, and they became the parents of three sons and three daughters.
Ebenezer Gray, eldest child of Samuel and Lydia (Dyer) Gray, was born at Windham July 26, 1743. He was graduated a Bachelor of Arts at Yale College in 1763, receiving in 1766 the degree of M. A .- which same degree was also conferred upon him by Dartmouth College in 1773. Having studied law with Mat- thew Griswold of Lyme, Connecticut-later, Governor of the State-he was admitted to the Bar. He was in Wyoming Valley in 1769 and 1770, active in advancing the settlements here, as will be shown in a sub- sequent chapter.
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.