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 78
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Although there was no formal expression by the members of the Company as to whether or not it was their intention that the resolutions then adopted, relative to the laying out of the five "gratuity," or "set- tling," towns, were to supersede and nullify the votes passed by the Company in 1762 and 1763 concerning the laying out of towns (see pages 401, 402 and 412), yet it seems to have been considered that such was the intention ; and in all the subsequent proceedings of the Company no reference was ever made to either the towns or the lots which had been laid out, settled and partly improved under the Company's auspices in 1762 and '63.
It was further voted by the Company at this December meeting that "the sum of £200 be laid out in providing proper materials, sus- tenance and provision for said 'Forty,' at the discretion of a committee to be appointed." Isaac Tripp,* Benjamin Follett,t John Jenkins, William Buck§ and Benjamin Shoemaker|| were then appointed a com-
*ISAAC TRIPP, born about 1700, in Rhode Island, was fourth in descent from John Tripp (born 1610; died 1678) and his wife Mary Paine. John Tripp, who was a carpenter by trade, came from England and settled in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. Isaac Tripp belonged to the Society of Friends, or Quakers, and resided for some time at Pomfret, Windham County, Connecticut. He was not an original member of The
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Susquehanna Company, but, with his eldest son, Job, was admitted as a proprietor in the Purchase in 1761 or early in 1762. Job Tripp was in Wyoming in 1762, as we have previously shown, and it is possible that Isaac Tripp also was here. It is quite probable that both father and son were here in 1763. Between that year and 1769 Isaac Tripp-as is shown by the original records of The Susquehanna Company-resided for a time in Warwick, Kent County, Rhode Island-adjoining Windham County, Connecticut.
In the Spring of 1771, it is said, Isaac Tripp built his cabin on the "Capouse Meadows" (on the Lacka- wanna River near the site of a former village of Monsey Indians-whose chief was named Capouse-and within the present limits of the city of Scranton), "and, without clearing a foot of land, planted and raised a crop of corn the first season, on the plantation deserted but a short [?] time before." At a meeting of The Susquehanna Company held at Norwich, Connecticut, April 1, 1772, a "six-mile township at Capouse Meadows" was granted to a number of shareholders in the Company "and ordered to be laid out." This township was of unusual size, and was laid out in pursuance of a special vote passed by the Company. It was known to the Company as a "Suffering" township-"wherein rights lost or improperly forfeited were relaid and commuted."" Isaac Tripp was one of the original proprietors in this township-which was indis- criminately called "Six-mile," "Capouse Meadows" and "Capouse" Township. Within two or three years, however, the name of the township was changed to "New Providence", and ultimately to "Providence."
The following is a copy, in part, of a report to be found on page 296 of Book "B" of the original records of The Susquehanna Company (mentioned on page 28, ante): "WHEREAS we the subscribers were appointed by The Susquehanna Company at their meeting at Norwich April 1, 1772, a committee to lay out townships to proprietors of the Company, upon the application of twenty; * * * therefore, upon the application of ISAAC TRIPP, Esq., JOHN JENKINS and Mr. JON. DEAN, in behalf of themselves and associates, have laid out to them a township northerly of and adjoining the townships of Kingstown and Pittstown-five miles square.
"Dated at Wilkesbarre November 25, 1772. "ZEBN BUTLER, "STEPHEN FULLER, Committee, &c."
[Signed]
"OBADIAH GORE, Jr., )
To this new township the proprietors gave the name "Exeter."
Under authority of a resolution adopted by The Susquehanna Company April 1, 1772, a new township in the Company's Purchase was "surveyed, laid out, approved and granted" in October, 1775, to Isaac Tripp, agent, for himself and nineteen other "proprietors in said Susquehanna Purchase." This township was located on both sides of the Susquehanna, "at a place called Tunkhannock," and contained twenty-five square miles "exclusive of the river." Subsequently the township received the name of "Putnam," in honor of Col. Israel Putnam, a resident of Pomfret, Windham County, Connecticut, the former home of Isaac Tripp. In addition to the latter Job Randall, Esq., Jonathan Randall, Dr. Ephraim Bowen, Benjamin Bowen, Jonathan Slocum, Job Tripp, Philip Buck, Elisha Wilcox, Zebulon Marcy, Elijah Shoemaker and Increase Billings (several of whom were Rhode Islanders) were among the original proprietors of Put- nam Township. (For the location of the townships of Providence, Exeter and Putnam, aforementioned, as originally laid out, see the "Map of The Susquehanna Company's Survey," facing page 468.)
Isaac Tripp, as one of the duly elected Representatives from the town of Westmoreland (Wyoming), attended the sessions of the General Assembly of Connecticut held in May and October, 1777, and January, 1778. He was killed by a band of marauding Indians December 16, 1778, within the limits of the Town- plot of Wilkes-Barre. Just two days previously he had been appointed administrator of the estate of Capt. Asaph Whittlesey, who had been killed in the battle of Wyoming in the previous July. April 21, 1779, Job Tripp was appointed administrator of the estate of Isaac Tripp, deceased-John Jenkins, Jr., being his surety in the sum of £1,000. April 8, 1782, the administrator filed an inventory of the decedent's estate, amounting to £1,049, 13s. 4d. The principal items in the inventory were: "957 acres of land in Providence Township, £957; 1,20912 Continental dollars, £60."
Isaac Tripp was thrice married. By his second wife, who was Susannah (probably Spencer), he had Job Tripp (born about 1734) and Ruth Tripp (born March 21, 1736) ; and by his third wife, Sarah Dow, he had Isaac Tripp (born at East Greenwich, Rhode Island, July 27, 1743 ; died at Capouse, or Providence, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, May 28, 1807) and Henry Dow Tripp, who left Wyoming at an early date, and in 1794 was living in New York City. Job Tripp, abovementioned, had three sonsand four daughters, his second child being Isaac (born November 27, 1760; died April 15, 1820), who was captured by the Indi- ans in the latter part of 1778-as will be more fully related hereinafter. Ruth Tripp was married Febru- ary 23, 1757, to Jonathan Slocum (born in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, May 1, 1733), and until their removal to Wyoming they resided at Warwick, Rhode Island. (See Chapter XVII for a further account of the Slocum family.)
+ BENJAMIN FOLLETT (Jr.) was born March 28, 1715, at Windham, Connecticut, fifth child and eldest son of Benjamin and Patience (Doulee) Follett, and grandson of Robert Follett of Salem, Massachusetts. Benjamin Follett, Jr., was an original member of The Susquehanna Company, and his name appears in the Indian deed of 1754 among the "half-right" grantees. In October, 1756, he was commissioned by the General Assembly of Connecticut Second Lieutenant in the 10th Company of the 1st Regiment of the Colony, sent to reinforce the English army at Lake George. (See note, page 264.) In 1762 he was with the first settlers at Wyoming, as previously noted, and was probably here in 1763. He was married (1st) November 10, 1736, to Hannah Woodward, and they settled at Windham. They became the parents of eight children, of whom the following grew to maturity : Eliphalet Follett (born January 16, 1741 ; married March 8, 1764, to Elizabeth Dewey, and had seven children ; killed at the battle of Wyoming, July 3, 1778); Benjamin Follett (born November 10, 1742 ; married March 8, 1769, to Thankful Bibbin of Windham). Mrs. Hannah ( Woodward) Follett died May 2, 1757, and Lieutenant Follett was married (2d) February 2, 1758, to Esther Robinson. They became the parents of two daughters and three sons-the eldest son being Frederick Follett, who was born March 10, 1761, and died in May, 1804. Lieut. Benjamin Follett died (pre- sumably in Wyoming Valley) prior to April, 1783-as indicated in the report of the committee mentioned on page 403.
# JOHN JENKINS was born at East Greenwich, Rhode Island, February 6, 1728, second son of John Jenkins (born April 5, 1697 ; died in 1742) who was the son of Zechariah and grandson of John Jenkins- the first of the name in this particular branch of the American family. The wife of the last-named was Susanna They were Quakers, and resided as early as 1655, at least, at Sandwich, Massachusetts. John Jenkins, the first mentioned above and the third of that name, settled about 1750 in Colchester, New London County, Connecticut. Later-say in 1753 and 1768-he appears to have been a resident of Wind- ham County. He is said to have been a soldier in one of the Connecticut military organizations that took part in the campaign against Louisbourg in 1758, during which service he was wounded in the knee. According to the records of The Susquehanna Company John Jenkins was admitted into the Company as a proprietor October 8, 1753, and from that time until his death he was active and prominent both in the affairs of The Susquehanna Company and the settlements at Wyoming. His name appears many times in the succeeding pages.
When, in the Spring of 1772, the lands of the "Forty Township," later Kingstown and now Kingston, were allotted to the proprietors thereof, John Jenkins drew "House Lot No. 14". (which contained some four acres, and lay about where the present Forty Fort Cemetery is located), as well as his share of lots in the other divisions of the township. He was also, as previously noted (on this page), one of the orig- inal proprietors of the township of Exeter, and thither, shortly after it was laid out and "accepted," he removed with his family. He erected his dwelling-house within the present limits of the borough of West Pittston, upon the top of the high bank overlooking the river, about ten or twelve rods north-east of where the Pittston Ferry bridge now stands.
John Jenkins was married August 1, 1750, to Lydia Gardner, daughter of Stephen Gardner (see note, page 254) who, at that time, kept an inn on the eastern shore of Gardner's Lake, New London County,
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Connecticut. They became the parents of six sons and one daughter, as follows : i. John Jenkins, born November 27, 1751 ; married to Bethiah Harris of Colchester June 23, 1778; died March 19, 1827. ii. Stephen Jenkins, born February 22, 1753; died September 20, 1808. iii. Benjamin Jenkins, born July 18, 1754; died in March, 1787. iv. Amy Jenkins, born January 12, 1757 ; married to Asahel Atherton ; died March 24, 1834. v. Thomas Jenkins, born January 19, 1761 ; married to Eleanor Shontz ; died April 22, 1812. vi. William Jenkins, born October 30, 1764 ; died November 1, 1846. vii. Wilkes Jenkins, born July 18, 1767 ; died April 1, 1838.
When, in May, 1784, several hundred New Englanders were expelled from Wyoming Valley by the Pennsylvanians (as described in Chapter XXI), John Jenkins and his family were among those who were thus outraged, and they fled to Goshen, Orange County, New York. Col. John Franklin, referring in his diary to this expulsion, says : "Two aged gentlemen, John Jenkins, Esq., and a Mr. Gardner, who were cripples, were obliged to hobble through the dismal road with crutches." Mr. Jenkins never returned to Wyoming. He became ill in consequence of the hardships and exposures experienced at the time of the expulsion, and in the following November died and was buried at a place called the "Drowned Lands," in the Minisink region, not far from Goshen, New York. His widow ultimately returned to Exeter Township, in Wyoming Valley, where she died October 22, 1804.
¿ WILLIAM BUCK became a member of The Susquehanna Company in 1753, being then an inhabitant of that part of "The Great Nine Partners' Patent" which later became Amenia Precinct, Dutchess County, New York. The following is a copy of a receipt, or certificate (see page 255, ante, for another of like character), recorded August 30, 1774, on page 244 of Book "B" of the original records of The Susquehanna Company.
"The Great Nine Partners, November 14, 1753 .- Then received of WILLIAM BUCK of the Great Nine Partners the sum of £6, 10 sh., equal to two Spanish mill'd dollars In the Susquehannah affair. Received by us a Committee appointed for that Purpose. [Signed] "STEPHEN GARDNER,
"JOHN SMITH, Committee." "EZEKIEL PEIRCE,
William Buck was in Wyoming with the original settlers in 1762 (see page 403), and again in 1763 at the time of the massacre. Being among those who escaped the fury of the savages, he made his way back to Amenia Precinct, where, without doubt, he continued to reside until the "First Forty" marched to Wyoming, when he accompanied them. Elijah Buck, who was in this same party, was either a brother or a son of William. Both William and Elijah Buck settled in Kingston Township in 1772. The place and date of death of William Buck we are unable to state, but, as shown in the report mentioned on page 403, he was still living in Wyoming in April, 1783.
Asahel Buck, whose name is mentioned several times hereinafter, was a son of William Buck, and was born prior to 1747. He was living at Amenia Precinct in 1768, when he purchased a "right" in The Susquehanna Company. In a deed which he executed July 5, 1773, and which was witnessed by William and Aholiab Buck, he described himself as of "Mayfield, Tryon County, New York." This was within the limits of the present Dutchess County. Shortly after that time, and before August, 1774, Asahel Buck removed to Wyoming with his family, consisting of his wife Mehetabel and their children William (born about 1764 and killed at the battle of Wyoming), Asahel (who died, without heirs, about 1791) and Pamelia (who was married prior to April, 1796, to Daniel Ayers-born 1773-son of Samuel and Elizabeth Nesbitt Ayers of Plymouth Township). In 1775 Asahel Buck was Lieutenant of the 2d Company in the 24th Regi- ment (Westmoreland), Connecticut Militia. He was killed by Indians in Kingston Township February 23, 1779, and on the 2d of the following April his widow Mehetabel was appointed administratrix of his estate, a bond in the sum of £1,000 being given, with William Hooker Smith as surety.
Aholiab Buck (born in 1751 or '52) was a younger son of William Buck. He accompanied his father's family to Wyoming in 1770 or '71, and at Wilkes-Barre, July 5, 1772, purchased from his father one "right" in The Susquehanna Company. November 18, 1772, he purchased from Perrin Ross for £60 "House Lot No. 30" in Kingston Township. In 1777 he was married to Lucretia (born April 21, 1757), third child and daughter of Amos and Lucretia (Miner) York, formerly of Voluntown, Windham (now New London) County, Connecticut, but then settled on a 600-acre tract of land near the old Indian village of Friedens- hütten (previously mentioned) in the township of Springfield, laid out by The Susquehanna Company. (See map facing this page.) At the time of the battle of Wyoming, July 3, 1778, Aholiab Buck, his wife and their daughter Deborah, three months old, resided only a few rods from Forty Fort. He was Captain of the Kingston company of militia that took part in the battle, and was killed early in the engagement. October 5, 1778, Asahel and Lucretia Buck were appointed administrators of the estate of Capt. Aholiab Buck-William Buck becoming their surety on a bond for £500. About 1786 Mrs. Lucretia ( York) Buck became the wife of Justus Gaylord, Jr. She died at Wyalusing-near the old home of her parents-January 15, 1846. Prior to August, 1796, Deborah, daughter of Captain Buck, was married to John Taylor, an early settler at Wyalusing.
| BENJAMIN SHOEMAKER (Sr.) was of either Dutch or German descent and was born about the beginning of the eighteenth century-probably in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He was an early settler in that part of Bucks County which in 1752 was erected into Northampton, and is now Monroe, County. About the time of his settlement there he was married to Elizabeth De Pui, daughter of Nicholas De Pui (and presumably a sister of Samuel and Aaron De Pui mentioned on pages 254 and 280) of French Huguenot ancestry. In 1753 Benjamin Shoemaker and his brother Daniel were enrolled as members of The Sus- quehanna Company (see page 254), and both are named as grantees in the Indian deed of 1754. Benjamin Shoemaker was in Wyoming with the first settlers in 1762 (see page 403), and was also here in 1763 ; although whether or not at the time of the massacre we are unable to state. He and his son Elijah came on with the "First Forty" in 1769, and were here for the greater part of that year. The father did not fix his abode here, but came and went between Wyoming and his home near the Delaware River. There he died in 1775, being survived by his sons Daniel and Elijah and six daughters-his eldest son, Benjamin, Jr., who was in Wyoming in 1769, having died prior to 1775.
Elijah Shoemaker, having married Jane, daughter of John McDowell (an inimigrant from the north of Ireland in 1735, who soon settled in what became Northampton County and who later acquired a pro- prietorship in The Susquehanna Company), settled in Kingston Township, near Forty Fort. At the time of the battle of Wyoming he was Lieutenant of the Kingston company commanded by Capt. Aholiab Buck, previously mentioned. He took part in the battle, but while escaping from the field during the rout of the Americans he was treacherously slain by one of the enemy. (See Chapter XV.) He was sur- vived by his wife and one son, Elijah, born in Kingston Township May 20, 1778.
Elijah Shoemaker, Jr., last mentioned, spent his earliest years with his mother at the latter's old honie in Northampton County. Some time after the close of what, in Wyoming history, is known as the "Second Pennamite-Yankee War," Mrs. Jane (McDowell) Shoemaker and her young son returned to Wyoming and took possession of their lands in Kingston Township. There they lived until their respective deaths. Elijah Shoemaker was married May 28, 1800, to Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Col. Nathan and Elizabeth (Sill) Denison. (For sketches of the Denison and Sill families see subsequent chapters.) In October, 1813, Elijah Shoemaker was nominated for the office of Sheriff of Luzerne County, and, although there were five other candidates in the field on election-day, Mr. Shoemaker was elected to the office-in which he subsequently served with great satisfaction to the people. Prior to 1823 he was a Colonel in the Penn- sylvania militia. He died July 14, 1829, leaving a large and valuable estate and survived by his wife (who died two years later), three daughters and six sons.
The eldest daughter, Elizabeth Shoemaker, was married in Kingston, August 14, 1823, to John Donley, formerly of Philadelphia, but then a merchant in Wilkes-Barré. After his death, some years later, Mrs. Donley became the wife of Dr. - Spence, whom, also, she survived-dying in Wilkes-Barré about 1884.
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MAP OF THE SUSQUEHANNA COMPANY'S SURVEY. Photo-reproduction of the original in the collections of the American Philosophical Society. See page 27, ante.
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mittee-a Directing Committee-"to approve of and admit, and oversee, superintend, manage and order the affairs and proceedings of, the 'First Forty' settlers ; and to lay out and prepare a convenient road to said Susquehanna River"-for which purpose they were to receive £50. The following resolutions were then passed :
"Upon the arrival of the 200, on purpose to join the said 'Forty' in the Spring, they may, if they see cause, together with the said 'Forty,' by the major vote add to the said [Directing] Committee so as to make the whole to the number of nine; who shall then be a Committee to preserve order and regulate the affairs of said settlers-and others of said Company who may join them-until further or otherwise ordered by said Com- pany. Which said Committee, by a major vote of the settlers there present duly con- vened, may expel from them any person or persons among them who shall so disorderly conduct and behave as shall by them be judged inconsistent with the good and interest of said Company, and may declare the right of such persons forfeit; which shall so remain, unless the said Company at any time after, upon hearing the cause of complaint, shall otherwise determine.
"Voted, That some proper, well-disposed person, or persons, be procured-by those persons who shall undertake to settle on the Susquehanna lands according to the above vote-in order to be as a head, or teacher, to carry on religious instruction and worship among the settlers-viz .: of such denomination as any particular number may be agreed upon ; and to be at the expense of such denomination as such person so procured shall be-until some further arrangement can be made.
"Voted, That if any settler, or settlers, on the aforesaid lands in pursuance of the vote of this Company, shall be sued or prosecuted in the law by the Proprietaries of Penn- sylvania, or any under them (on account of such his settlement and possessions), on proper notice being given to the Standing [or Executive] Committee of said Company, this Company will be at the cost of his or their defence in said suit.
"Voted, That Col. Eliphalet Dyer, Col. Samuel Talcott, Elisha Sheldon, Esq., Capt. Jonathan Pettibone and Mr. Benjamin Payne be a committee to apply to the General Assembly of this Colony in January next, in behalf of this Company, for the obtaining of such further favor of said Assembly as they shall think proper, by investing said Company with the Colony's right to such lands (as they have purchased of the Indians, and lying on the Susquehanna River, or otherwise) not inconsistent with the interest of said Colony. "Voted, to grant to Dr. Eleazar Wheelock* a tract of land in the easterly part of the Susquehanna Purchase, ten miles long and six miles wide, for the use of the Indian school under his care-Provided he shall set up and keep said school on the premises."
The company then adjourned, to meet at Hartford, April 12, 1769. At the January (1769) session of the General Assembly of Connecticut a lengthy petition, t dated January 4, 1769, and signed by Colonels Dyer and Talcott and the other members of the committee mentioned above, was presented. The document contained a statement of the pro- ceedings of The Susquehanna Company with reference to the purchase
Jane, second daughter of Colonel Shoemaker, became the wife of the Hon. John Passmore, and died at her home in Rome, Bradford County, Pennsylvania, October 5, 1868. Caroline, the youngest daughter of Colonel Shoemaker, became the wife of Dr. Levi Ives, a graduate of the Medical Department of Yale Col- lege in the class of 1838, and who practised his profession in New Haven, Connecticut, until his death in 1891. Charles Denison Shoemaker, the eldest child of Col. Elijah Shoemaker, was born in Kingston Town- ship July 9, 1802, and was graduated at Yale College in 1824. Between that year and 1830 he held, at differ- ent times, the offices of Prothonotary and Clerk of the Courts, Register of Wills, and Recorder of Deeds in and for Luzerne County. August 21, 1830, at the age of twenty-eight years, he was appointed by the Gov- ernor of Pennsylvania an Associate Judge of the Courts of Luzerne County, to succeed Judge Jesse Fell, deceased. He was twice married: (1st) October 4, 1825, to Mary E., eldest daughter of Austin and Martha Denison of New Haven, Connecticut. (2d) May 18, 1835, to Mrs. Stella (Mercer) Sprigg, a native of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Judge Shoemaker was noted for his courteous manners and kindness of heart. Few men of his time in this locality were more generally and favorably known. He died at his home in what is now the borough of Forty Fort, Kingston Township, August 1, 1861, and was survived by his wife (who died November 3, 1875) and four sons. Nathan, second son of Col. Elijah Shoemaker, died at Muncy, Pennsylvania, July 3, 1835. George, the third son, was married January 14, 1835, to Rebecca, daughter of John Jones, of Berwick, Pennsylvania, and died a good many years ago, leaving two sons. Robert McDowell, fourth son of Col. Elijah Shoemaker, was born in Kingston Township, February 12, 1812, and died there November 22, 1886. Elijah, fifth son of Colonel Elijah, died a good many years ago, and was survived by his wife and two children, all of whom are now dead. The sixth and youngest son of Col. Elijah and Elizabeth (Denison) Shoemaker was Lazarus Denison Shoemaker, who was born in Kingston Township November 5, 1819. He was graduated at Yale College in 1840 and in August, 1842, was admitted to the Bar of Luzerne County. Thenceforth until his death he resided in Wilkes-Barre, with the social, business and political life of which he was prominently identified for half a century. A man of kindly nature, he was genial and gentle in his manners, forgiving in his disposition and always con- siderate of the feelings and failings of his friends. His name is frequently mentioned hereinafter. He was married in 1848 to Esther W., daughter of Samuel and Clorinda Starr ( Catlin) Wadhams of Plymouth, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Shoemaker died in Wilkes-Barré August 4, 1889, and Lazarus Deni- son Shoemaker died here September 9, 1893. He was survived by one son and five daughters.
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