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 66
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* See the "Documentary History of New York," IV: 200. Further, we read in the "Pennsylvania Colonial Records" that March 28, 1762, a party of Cayuga Indians arrived in Philadelphia, having come from their town in New York by way of Wyoming and Bethlehem, and they reported to Governor Hamilton that they had "found the road very bad, on account of deep snow, cold weather," etc.
399
William Johnson to arbitrate the dispute. Teedyuscung further said that he had never charged 'the Proprietaries with fraud, but had only said that the French had informed them [the Delawares] that the English had cheated them of their lands; and his young men desired him to mention it at the treaty of Easton, and that he did it to please them and was sorry it had reached their hearts.' The Governor told him that if he would acknowledge this in public he would make him a present, not on account of the lands (which had been bought and paid for), but on account of his needy circumstances."* Thereupon, Teedyuscung having made a public acknowledgment as desired, Governor Hamilton presented him with £400+; upon which Isaac Still, the interpreter, remarked that this was, indeed, a trifling sum about which to have had such a great dispute. "The Governor, then, to quiet their dissatisfaction with the smallness of the bribe, said that the dispute should go before Sir William Johnson"; when, if it were found that the Proprietaries had not cheated the Indians in the matter of the "Walking Purchase" the Governor would not be under obligations to pay Teedyuscung a single farthing.
June 15, 1762, Sir William Johnson, accompanied by Col. George Croghan and others, together with Governor Hamilton and various officials of the Pennsylvania Government, met Teedyuscung and a number of chiefs of the Monseys, Wanamies and Mohegans in conference at Easton. Apparently the most important business transacted was the securing from Teedyuscung an admission that he had been in error in charging that forgery had been committed in connection with certain land con- veyances. During the progress of this conference the following authen- tic information was received by Governor Hamilton relative to the settlement at Cushetunk : "Sixteen families are settled on the river, and their whole settlement extends seven miles. There are in all forty men holding lands under New England. Some have got four or five acres of Indian corn, some three, some two. No wheat. They live in pretty good log houses, covered with white pine shingles or boards."
Among the "Physick Papers" in the collections of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania are certain documents relating to the Easton conference of 1762. The following extracts from some of them are interesting.
"The Proprietaries of Pennsylvania to Robert Levers, Dr. For sundries sent up by waggon to Easton for the use of the Governor and his Company, to wit : June 14, 1762. } cask Madeira wine, £16, 5s .; 10 galls. Jamaica spirit @, 7/6, £3, 15s .; a cagg, 3s. 9d .; 1 c. Hyson tea, £1, 10s .; a cannister, Is. 2d .; 4 loaves double refined sugar-27 1bs. 15 oz. @ 1/8, £2, 6s. d .; 4 lbs. ground coffee, 8s .; 1 box of lemons, £4 ; 15,850 grains of wampum (@) 30s., £23, 15s. 6d .; 7,000 do. @ 40s., £14. Total, £66, 5s. 1d. July 7, 1762, received payment of the foregoing account from Richard Peters. [Signed] Robert Levers."
Under date of Saturday, June 12, 1762, George Armstrong-who seems to have been an agent of the Government-wrote and delivered the following paper to John Hays, who was an inn-keeper in Northamp- ton County, not far from Fort Allen. Hays was probably the father of John Hays mentioned on page 388, and at this time Armstrong was at his house, having arrived there June 11th with Teedyuscung and his retinue of thirteen Indians, en route from Wyoming to Easton.
"You are to give the Indians who are coming to the treaty provisions until they set off for Easton ; and if any of them are very tyr'd or sick, give them a Gill of rum per
* See Walton's "Conrad Weiser and the Indian Policy of Colonial Pennsylvania," page 380.
+ Undoubtedly in Pennsylvania currency, equivalent to 1,0663/3 Spanish milled dollars. See *, page 252.
400
Day, as no syder or Beer is to be got, and you must keep a true account * * and you must be careful not to exceed the quantity of rum lest the Indians shou'd be Drunk & perhaps commit some Mischief. You must not entertain the Indians longer than Mon- day morning, or till the last of them comes this length."
Hays had-according to his account, duly rendered-fourteen Indi- ans at breakfast and forty-three at dinner on Saturday, June 12th, and forty-three at breakfast the next morning. Some of these, evidently, were "very tyr'd or sick," as thirty-eight half-gills of rum were dealt out on Saturday and thirty-nine on Sunday.
About the 1st of August, 1762, there came down the Susquehanna to Wyoming a fleet of canoes containing 381 Indians-Oneidas, Senecas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Tuscaroras, Nanticokes and Conoys-and their belongings. Tokahaion, the Cayugan (mentioned on page 396), seems to have been the leader of this large company, who were on their way to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to attend a conference arranged for by Governor Hamilton. These Indians from the north remained at Wyo- ming a few days and then continued their voyage down the river, ac- companied by Teedyuscung, Tapescawen, Augustus, Joe Peepy and 172 other Delawares from Wyoming .*
They reached Lancaster August 13th, and found that the confer- ence had been begun on the previous day by the Governor with a large number of Indians from beyond the Ohio-Delawares, Tuscaroras, Shaw- anese, Kickapoos, Twightwees and others-of whom King Beaver (mentioned on pages 326 and 328) was the principal speaker. These western Indians delivered into the hands of the Governor seventeen white prisoners, who had been captured principally in south-eastern Pennsylvania. Early in the conference-after the New York and Wyo- ming Indians had been received-Governor Hamilton formally stated that in June Sir William Johnson had gone to Easton, "by order of the King," to inquire into Teedyuscung's complaint that the Proprietaries had "defrauded the Delawares of a tract of land lying on the Delaware between Tohiccon Creek and the Kittatinny Hills" ; and that, Sir Wil- liam having examined certain writings and records then produced, "Teedyuscung was convinced of his error and acknowledged that he had been mistaken, and desired that all further disputes about land should be buried underground." A few days after this announcement had been made Teedyuscung arose in the conference and saidt :
"Before all these Allegheny Indians here present I do now assure you that I am ready and willing to sign a release to all the lands we have been disputing about, as I told you I would at Easton."
Two or three days before the close of the conference Thomas King, the Oneidan (whose name is frequently mentioned hereinbefore), referred in open conference to the sale of the Wyoming lands to The Susquehanna Company. He said, among other thingst :
"It is very well known that the land was sold by the Six Nations. Some are here now that sold that land. It was sold for 2,000 dollars, but was not sold by our consent in public council. It was, as it were, stolen from us. Some people said that my name was to it§ ; on which I went down immediately to Connecticut to see whether it was or not, and found it was not. I brought a paper back from Connecticut which I will show to the Governor. Had I not gone down to Connecticut the lands would have been all settled up to Wyomink as far as Awicka [Owego], twelve miles on this side Chenango [Otsiningo]."
King being asked whether the lands at Cushetunk were "a part of the lands stolen from the Six Nations," answered that they had nothing
* See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," VIII : 723, 730.
Į See ibid., 765. ¿ See page 396, ante.
+ See ibid., 740.
401
to do with them-"those lands belonging to the Delawares." Then, addressing himself to Teedyuscung, King said :
"Cousins, as you have swallowed down your throats all your own country, and your uncles, the Six Nations, have made a fire for you at Wyomen, we desire you to go and sit by that fire and watch it and see that no people come there to steal our country ; and if any should come, we desire you will give us immediate notice, that we may take some measures to remove them."
The Lancaster conference came to a close on August 29th, when the New York Indians immediately proceeded homeward by way of the . Susquehanna, and a few days later the Wyoming Indians set out from Lancaster for Wyoming.
Directing our attention towards Connecticut now we find that a largely-attended meeting of The Susquehanna Company was held at Hartford May 19, 1762, when, among other doings, the following reso- lution was adopted :
"Voted, That, for the promotion and encouragement of the speedy beginning a settlement of our Susquehanna Purchase, there be liberty for one hundred of the pur- chasers of the said Susquehanna Purchase, by themselves personally, and not by substi- tutes, to enter upon, and under the Company to hold and improve, a tract of land within said Purchase, ten miles square and easterly of and adjoining the Susquehanna River. * * * * To be held and improved by them and their heirs as a gratuity from this Company over and above their respective shares in the rest of the Purchase."
It was provided, further, that these pioneer settlers should hold the lands thus granted in equal shares ; "or, a like proportionable part thereof by any lesser number of said purchasers not under fifty." None of the said persons was to be permitted to enter upon and hold said lands except such as should be approved by a committee to be appointed by the Company. The entry upon the lands was to be made within four months from that time, and "the said one hundred men, or a lesser number not under fifty," were to "continue thereon, holding and improv- ing the same, for and during the term of five years." It being reported to the meeting that Colonel Dyer, who had been appointed the Com- pany's agent some thirteen months previously,* had not yet gone to England, and that the committee instructed to prepare the Company's case had not done so, it was thereupon
"Voted, That the committee take immediate steps to prepare the case and forward it to some competent person in England ; and that Timothy Woodbridge, John Smith, Stephen Gardner, Amos Stafford, John Jenkins, Thomas Darling, Thomas Hill and Daniel Lawrence be a committee to direct and inspect the settlements to be made on the Susquehanna land."
Within a short time after this meeting was held some sixteen share- holders, or proprietors, of The Susquehanna Company proceeded to Wyo- ming Valley, arriving here while Teedyuscung was at Easton in con- ference with Sir William Johnson and Governor Hamiltont-as is shown by an original affidavit made by Col. George Croghan in 1764, and now to be seen among the "Penn Manuscripts" (folio 71 et seq.), previously mentioned. The matter is therein referred to by Colonel Croghan in these words :
"This deponent was present at a conference held by Sir William Johnson at Easton, Pennsylvania, with several tribes of the Delaware Indians, * * at which conference Teadiuscung, their Chief, acquainted Sir William Johnson and Governor Hamilton (then present) that some of his young men was just come from Wyomen and informed him that several other white people from New England were come to settle upon their lands, and joined somet that had settled there before. That he [Teedyuscung] did not under- stand what the white people meant by settling in their country, unless they intended to steal it from them, for that neither they nor the Six Nations had sold it, and desired that Sir William Johnson would take some measures to have the white people removed."
* See page 393. + See page 400. * The settlers at Cushetunk are here referred to.
402
This advance party of sixteen settlers selected the site of the old Indian town Asserughney,* at the mouth of the Lackawanna, as the place at and near which the first ten-mile tract of the Company should be located ; and there the members of the party encamped, intending to await the arrival of the remaining settlers.
Another meeting of The Susquehanna Company was held July 27, 1762, when it was resolved that the number of the prospective pioneer settlers upon the Wyoming lands should be increased to 200- the additional hundred to occupy a ten-mile tract on the west side of the river, opposite the first tract, and upon the same terms ; and further, it was
"Voted, That all [of the 200] shall have three months from this date to begin the settlements ; and that Col. Eliphalet Dyer, Col. Eleazar Fitch and Joseph Chew be a committee to wait on Sir William Johnson to lay before him the case of our Susquehanna Purchase, make application to him for what intelligence can be had from him relating to said affair, and, if possible, gain his friendship and interest so far as is consistent with the general good."
As soon as possible the "committee to direct and inspect the settle- ments to be made on the Susquehanna land"-the Directing Committee we shall call it-entered upon its work, and by the middle of August, 1762, had enlisted a company of ninety-three capable and resolute men, who, in conjunction with the sixteen "pioneers" who had already gone forward, formed a body of 119 prospective settlers eager to occupy and open up the Wyoming lands in pursuance of the resolutions adopted by The Susquehanna Company, as previously mentioned. Some of these men were residents of New York (chiefly in Orange County), others were of Rhode Island, of Pennsylvania and of New Jersey, but the large majority hailed from Connecticut. Those who lived in Rhode Island and eastern Connecticut rendezvoused at Windham, and near the end of August they set out thence on horseback for Wyoming Valley, led by John Smith, Stephen Gardner and John Jenkins of the Directing Com- mittee. This nucleus received daily accessions as the party moved slowly through southern Connecticut into New York-crossing the Hudson River at or near Fishkill, and proceeding through Orange County to the Delaware River. Pennsylvania was entered near the mouth of Lackawaxen Creek,¿ and in that locality were met the six- teen "pioneers" whom we left, about the middle of June, encamped at the confluence of the Lackawanna and the Susquehanna. When Tee- dyuscung and his followers had returned to Wyoming from the Easton conference, about the 20th of June, they repaired without delay to the encampment of the New Englanders at the mouth of the Lacka- wanna to remonstrate against the coming of those "intruders" and to warn them to retire from the valley.§ In the circumstances the "pioneers" deemed it advisable to remove to the banks of the Dela- ware, in the neighborhood of the Cushetunk settlement, there to await the coming of the main body of the Susquehanna settlers, with whom they would unite.
During the first week in September this combined company of 119 settlers arrived on the eastern bank of the Susquehanna, at the mouth of the Lackawanna. There were neither women nor children in the cara- van; nor were there any carts or wagons. The journey from the Delaware to the Susquehanna could be made only over a rough and narrow trail, or
* See page 187. + See page 406. # See map in Chapter XI.
§ See Stone's "Poetry and History of Wyoming" (Third Edition), page 141.
403
path, and so the travelers came hither, some on horseback and some on foot, bringing with them only such necessaries-including firearms, axes and a few simple agricultural implements-as they could easily carry. They moved down the river to the north, or right, bank of Beaver Brook-later known as Mill Creek||-and there, near the river, just beyond the present northern boundary of the city of Wilkes-Barré, within the limits of what was afterwards the township of Wilkes-Barré and is now the township of Plains, they began the first settlement by white people in Wyoming Valley.
Unfortunately the names of all those first settlers have not been preserved. Neither Chapman nor Miner gives even a partial list of them ; but the latter writer, in explanation of the omission, makes the following statement ("History of Wyoming," page 54): "Strange to say, although my inquiries have been faithfully pursued, wherever the least prospect existed of obtaining information, they have proved fruit- less, and I am unable to state from what towns in Connecticut they came, or who were their principal leaders."
One of those first settlers was Parshall Terry, T and in April, 1794, he made an affidavit for use in the case of Vanhorne's Lessee vs. John Dorrance, in the Circuit Court of the United States. In that affidavit is given a very brief account of the first settlement at Wyoming, accom- panied by a list of fifty-seven of the settlers. The original affidavit is now in the custody of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, but a copy of it, containing several errors, is printed on page 136 of Henry M. Hoyt's "Brief of a Title in the Seventeen Townships in the County of Luzerne," published in 1879. Fifty-five of the fifty-seven names con- tained in that affidavit are printed, also, on page 535 of Pearce's "Annals of Luzerne County," edition of 1866. In April, 1783, in response to a request made by a committee representing the Pennsylvania Assembly (see Chapter XXI, post), Zebulon Butler, Nathan Denison, John Jenkins, Obadiah Gore and others at Wilkes-Barré prepared a list of sixty-nine of the original Wyoming settlers of 1762. A contemporaneous copy of that list, in what appears to be the handwriting of Zebulon Butler, is preserved among the unpublished "Trumbull Papers," mentioned on page 29, ante. From that list, the "Terry" list and other authentic sources we have been able to compile the following list of seventy-three names of the original Wyoming settlers.
* Benjamin Ashley, Į Job Comstock,
+ James Atherton,
John Comstock,
+ Daniel Gore,
į Daniel Baldwin,
Į Benajah Davis,
t Obadiah Gore, Jr.,
* Isaac Bennet,
* Ezra Dean,
Gershom Hinkley,
+ Thomas Bennet,
§ John Dorrance,
į Isaac Hollister,
Į Thomas Breed,
* Simeon Draper,
Į Nathan Hollister,
+ William Buck,
* Benjamin Follet,
¿ Timothy Hollister,
§ Nathaniel Chapman,
* Elkanah Fuller, Timothy Hollister, Jr.,
į David Colton,
* Rodolphus Fuller,
¿ David Honeywell,
|| See pages 57 and 58.
" He was a native of New London County, Connecticut, having been born near the town of New London August 8, 1734. He died at Palmyra, New York, May 15, 1811.
* Was dead in April, 1783, but, according to a memorandum made by the Wilkes-Barré committee on its list, previously mentioned, certain of his heirs were then residing in Wyoming and were "personally present" at that time.
+ Was alive in April, 1783, and, according to a memorandum on the list of the Wilkes-Barré committee, then resided in Wyoming and was "personally present."
Į We know that many of those whose names are thus marked had died, or been killed, prior to 1783. "The greater part of these," wrote the Wilkes-Barré committee in April, 1783, "are represented by persons who are now absent. It is not in our power, at present, to inform [you] of their respective cases."
§ In the "Terry" list of 1794, but not in the list made up by the Wilkes-Barré committee in 1783. At that time he was either dead (without heirs or legal representatives) or was out of the valley.
* Stephen Gardner,
404
* Emanuel Hower,
Į George Minor,
¿ Wright Smitlı,
į Austin Hunt,
į Silas Park,
Amos Stafford,
į Nathan Hurlbut,
+ Abel Peirce,
¿ Eliphalet Stevens,
¿ Simeon Hurlbut,
* Ezekiel Peirce,
¿ Uriah Stevens,
1 + John Jenkins,
Joshua Jewett,
* Oliver Jewett,
į Moses Kimball,
Daniel Lawrence,
¿ Gideon Lawrence,
Į Noah Lee,
Stephen Lee,
Į Thomas Marsh,
į Rev. William Marslı,
David Marvin,
+ Oliver Smith,
¿ Philip Weeks.
Within a day or two after the arrival of the New Englanders at Mill Creek the Six Nation and other New York Indians returning from the Lancaster conference (see page 400) arrived at Wyoming. Learning from the Indians here of the presence of white men in the valley, with the intent of making a settlement, Thomas King, the Oneidan, and some of the other Six Nation chiefs went up to Mill Creek and had a conference with John Smith, Stephen Gardner and John Jenkins, the members of the Directing Committee then on the ground. The Indians protested against the intrusion of the settlers into the valley and insisted that they should withdraw. After con- siderable discussion the settlers agreed that within the course of a few days they would return to their homes, and that early in the next Spring they would send their representatives to Albany, New York, to meet the chiefs of the Six Nations in a conference relative to the Wyo- ming lands. A formal invitation to such a conference was then drawn up by John Smith and placed in the hands of Thomas King, who promised to deliver it to the Great Council at Onondaga.|| Having spent about ten days in the valley all the settlers set out for their homes -except about twenty-five, who remained behind to break up several acres of ground on Jacob's Plains and sow some wheat. About the middle of October these men also departed from the valley. The following paragraph, from the affidavit of Parshall Terry previously referred to, relates to the doings of these first settlers :
"On their arrival at Wyoming they encamped at the mouth of Mill Creek, on the banks of the Susquehanna, where they built several huts for shelter ; that they cut grass and made hay on Jacob's Plains ; that they were shortly after joined by many others ; that their whole company on the ground were 150, or upwards ; that they continued on the ground, according to his best recollection, about ten days ; that the season being far advanced, and finding that it would be difficult to procure provisions at so great distance from any inhabited country, the Committee of the settlers, viz., John Jenkins, John Smith and Stephen Gardner, thought proper and advised us to return, which was agreed to, and the greatest part of the company withdrew-the deponent being one. That a small number were left on the ground, who tarried some time longer, as the deponent understood. The deponent further saith that at the time they withdrew they secured their farming utensils on the ground, to be ready for the Spring following, as they expected to return at that time."
The following interesting paragraphs, copied from an original document among the "Penn Manuscripts," folio 69 (see page 30, ante), is now printed for the first time. It is a report from Stephen Sayre to Lord and was written in the latter part of the Summer of 1762.
* * * "Upon a meeting with the Iroquois in the year 1754 they [The Susquehanna Company] endeavored to effect a purchase of those lands with Hendrick their Chief, but | See Stone's "Poetry and History of Wyoming" (Third Edition), page 393.
¿ William Stevens,
Daniel Strait,
$ Nathaniel Terry,
+ Parshall Terry,
+ Job Tripp,
* Ephraim Tyler,
+ Ephraim Tyler, Jr.,
t Isaac Underwood,
* John Smith,
¿ Jonathan Weeks,
¿ Matthew Smith,
į Jonathan Weeks, Jr.,
* Timothy Smith,
+++++++++* * + ** +++++* ++++*
Samuel Richards,
Daniel Robins,
Minor Robins,
+ Ebenezer Searle,
Ephraim Seeley,
Benjamin Sheppard,
* Benjamin Shoemaker,
* Jonathan Slocum,
405
were disappointed by the false insinuations of Sir William Johnson. Nevertheless they did effect it the same year, and obtained a firm deed for a tract on the Susquehanna, * ** for which tract they gave a large sum of money. * * *
"Mr. Gray, Clerk of the Company assembled May 19, 1762, declares that the busi- ness of the meeting was to determine if possible to throw in a settlement upon the said lands, and they have accordingly obtained votes of above one hundred families who promise to proceed immediately, and in defiance of Mr. Penn and his emissaries to plant themselves down on the said lands. * *
* The said committee have formed another committee, who are to take care that proper and wealthy persons only are admit- ted to make this first settlement, as well as to give them proper directions in what manner to govern themselves in this critical affair. Their last resolve was to endeavor to get this ratified at home [in England], as soon as it can demand the attention of the Ministry ; and they are of the opinion that the speedy settlement of some part will have great weight to determine it in their favor. Another circumstance, from which they promise themselves great advantage, is that their Province [Connecticut] has supported the present as well as the late war with a truly British spirit and vigor, while, on the other hand, the inhabitants of a certain Proprietary Government [Pennsylvania] are stained with infamy by the ravages of dastardly wretches, merely because it was Proprietary.
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