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 II > Part 14
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Under the date of April 9, 1771, Gov. John Penn wrote to James Tilghman,¿ Joseph Shippen, Jr., § and John Lukens|| as followsT :
"I have taken a resolution to sell the Proprietary lands at Wyoming, if anything of a price can be had for them ; and I desire you will proceed to Easton, there to sell them according to notice given of the sale. You are to endeavor to get at least £30 per 100 acres upon an average, and as much more as you can prevail upon the people willingly to give for them. If that price cannot be got I would not have them sold as yet ; but in such case you are to try to induce the people to keep possession, at their own expense, on terms of lease, upon encouragement of extending the leases longer than what has already been allowed, with liberty of purchasing at the expiration of the leases, either at a limited or the then common price. If they incline to purchase at the above price, you may agree that they enter immediately and keep the possession at their own expense ; to pay one-third of the purchase money in nine months, and mortgage for the residue. * *
"Such persons as have leases, and have endeavored to keep their possessions ac- cording to their agreement, should have their places, as now laid out, confirmed to them if they will give a proper price. Others who have been active in gaining or keeping possession-especially those who have sustained losses-are to have preference of pur- chasing to those who have not that kind of merit. But those who have acted for pay only are not entitled to any preference. * Every purchaser must agree to keep one able-bodied man, at least, constantly upon the ground." * *
Under the date of April 20, 1771, Messrs. Tilghman, Shippen and Lukens wrote to Governor Penn as follows **
* * * "On the 11th instant we met [at Easton] a number of people who had had leases of those lands, or who had been instrumental in retaining the possession of them against the Connecticut intruders. *
* We heard the pretensions of those who were present, and considered those of the absentees (who remained at Wioming to guard the possession). After a negotiation of several days we fixed upon the persons named in the annexed list as purchasers of those lands which had been some time before laid out and divided into lots, numbered (as in the list) by the Surveyor General and Charles Stewart the Deputy Surveyor of the District. The greater number of the purchasers were present, and entered into an agreement, hereunto also annexed. Those who were absent, we were
* See pages 460 and 487, Vol. I. + See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," IX : 731.
# Then Secretary of the Provincial Land Office. See note on page 489, Vol. I.
§ Then Secretary of the Provincial Council. See note on page 361, and page 362, Vol. I.
| Then Surveyor General of Pennsylvania. See page 654.
[ See the original letter in the collections of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
** See the original letter in the collections of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
688
given to understand, would agree to the same ternis. We instructed Mr. [Charles] Stewart-who in a short time was to repair to Wioming-to take the agreement of those who were not present. * *
"The prices were the best which could be had. The prime of the land is what is called the Shawanese Town,* which is entirely without wood. * * There were more purchasers than there were lots laid out, and therefore several were excluded whose pre- tensions were not so well founded as those of the persons to whom the allotments were made. To these we instructed Mr. Stewart, the Deputy Surveyor, to lay out lots-if they could be found to their liking within the manors at Wioming." * *
Preserved with the foregoing letter are the agreements and the list therein referred to, and from thein we learn that the following lots in the Manor of Sunbury were disposed of.
Nos. OF
AREAS IN ACRES.
NAMES OF PURCHASERS.
MEMORANDA.
1
79
Cornelius Van Campen
On "Shawnee" Flats.+
2
79
William Ledlie
66
66
4
79
Nicholas De Pui
66
5
81
Daniel Shoemaker
6
79
Daniel Shoemaker
16
7
79
John Van Campen
8
79
John Arrison
9
79
Beniah Munday
60
10
79
Jolin Smith
11
79
Robert Duchee
12
116
Joseph Wheeler
On Upper Plymouth Flats.
14
147
Samuel Cannon
Price, £50 per 100 acres.
15
158
Amos Ogden, Administrator of Nathan Ogden
Price, £50 per 100 acres.
16
165
David Ogden
Price, £50 per 100 acres.
17
165
Charles Stewart
Price, £45 per 100 acres.
18
160
Philip Johnstont
Price, £40 per 100 acres.
19
161
Samuel Rogers
On Kingston Flats.
20
190
Thomas Van Horne
Price, £40 per 100 acres.
21
177
Cornelius Van Horne
Price, £40 per 100 acres.
22
162
James Lawson
On Kingston Flats.
24
150
William Armstrong§
66
26
160
David Fowler
27
177
George Field
"Lot No. 28," in the Manor of Stoke, was a mill-seat of 181 acres at the mouth of Mill Creek. Apparently this was not disposed of by Messrs. Tilghman, Shippen and Lukens in April, 1771. The lots in Stoke then disposed of were the following :
Nos. OF
AREAS IN
NAMES OF PURCHASERS.
MEMORANDA.
29
81
Robert Martin
Price, £30.
30
94
Alexander Patterson |
Price, £35.
31
121
Dr. Andrew Ledlie
Price, £40.
32
147
Joseph Morris, Assignee of John Jennings
33
134
John Dick, Assignee of
Price, £45.
Isaiah Jennings
34
134
George Ryerson
35
130
Martin Ryerson
* The Lower Plymouth, or "Shawnee", Flats, described on page 50, Vol. I. See, also, page 454.
+ As there was no wood-land on the lots numbered from "1" to "11" it was agreed that the purchasers should have "so much wood-land laid out to thein in the Proprietary lands [the Manor of Stoke] on the opposite side of the River Susquehanna, or elsewhere," as would "make up their quantities each 150 acres." The price to be paid for these lots "1" to "11" was £50 per 100 acres.
į Charles Stewart's brother-in-law, mentioned on page 485, second paragraph.
§ WILLIAM ARMSTRONG was a stone-mason of Philadelphia. October 17, 1774, he sold his lot for £22, 5sh. to James Tilghman, who was Secretary of the Land Office. In 1801 this lot was claimed by the representatives of the Tilghman estate.
| June 16, 1774, Capt. Alexander Patterson, describing himself as a "farmer," of Northampton County, sold for £20 his "Lot No. 30 in the Manor of Stoke" to James Tilghman, Secretary of the Provincial Land Office ; and in 1801 the representatives of the Tilghman estate laid claim to this lot.
Price, £35 per 100 acres.
23
150
John Dolson
25
150
Bernard Gritz
13
123
Aaron De Pui
66
66
66
3
79
Garret Brodhead
LOTS.
LOTS.
ACRES.
689
Nos. OF LOTS.
AREAS IN ACRES.
NAMES OF PURCHASERS.
MEMORANDA.
36
127
David Johnston*
37
122
Samuel Johnston, Jr.f
38
119
James Johnstonį
39
111
Amos Ogden1, for Gilbert Ogdens
Price, £35.
40
117
John King, Assignee of Daniel Leet||
41
119
Richard Manning
42
122
Luke Brodhead
43
127
Thomas Craig
44
131
Silas Crane
45
134
John Collins
46
118
Jesse Clark
47
212
John Salmon
48
95
Aaron De Pui
Price, £50 per 100 acres.
49
144
Michael Raub
50
127
Lawrence Ramee
51
82
John Murphy
52
?
Robert Martin
53
150
Peter Kachlein
Price, £50 per 100 acres.
A considerable number of the aforementioned Manor of Stoke lots lay, of course, within the bounds of the township of Wilkes-Barré as surveyed by the New Englanders, and the lines of the respective sur- veys (Yankee and Pennamite) crossed, interfered with and cut up one another to a remarkable degree, as is clearly shown by reproduced drafts of portions of the surveys, facing page 432 of Volume XVIII of the "Pennsylvania Archives," Second Series.
The terms under which the aforementioned sales were made and the lands allotted by Governor Penn's commissioners, were as follows : One-third of the purchase-money was to be paid in nine months from the date of sale, when the purchaser would receive a patent for the land ; whereupon he would be required to mortgage the same to the Propri- etaries to secure the payment, within two years, of the balance of the purchase-money, together with interest thereon, and a quit-rent of one penny sterling per acre from and after March 1, 1772. The several purchasers also bound themselves to proceed immediately to a settle- ment and improvement of their respective lots, and to keep, each of them, an able-bodied man on his lot. Here, as pertinent to this matter, we may appropriately introduce a paragraph from a communication ** writ- ten by Col. Timothy Pickering in 1790, and addressed to a committee of the Pennsylvania Legislature.
"If the committee will take the trouble of opening the paper I left with them, ex- hibiting an extract from some of Gov. John Penn's grants to the yeomanry in April, 1771, they will see a list of twenty-nine persons (part of them, I suspect, and perhaps a con- siderable part, were Jersey adventurers) to whom grants of thirty-one lots were made on the terms therein mentioned ; and that one essential condition of those grants was that the grantees should 'each keep at his own expense one able-bodied man, at least, constantly upon his lot, for the improvement and defense of the same.' I need not observe, that if this condition had been complied with by all the grantees-if this important yeomanry had really defended that country-the committee would not now be troubled with this very troublesome business. The truth is that the grantees did not perform that necessary condition ; nor have those named in the abovementioned list performed another of some consequence-I mean that of paying for the lands so granted. *
* Of the twenty-nine grantees named in that list, it appears at the Receiver General's office that one only -- Charles Stewart-has paid a farthing. He did pay ; but it is equally true that he lias not kept possession and defended."
* A resident of New Jersey, and a brother-in-law of Charles Stewart, Esq.
+ A resident of New Jersey, and a brother-in-law of Charles Stewart, Esq.
* A resident of New Jersey, and a brother-in-law of Charles Stewart, Esq.
§ Amos Ogden's brother. | Mentioned on page 488, Vol. I.
1 Capt. JOHN SALMON, mentioned on page 645 ; and, as there noted, his lot lay in what is now Han- over Township.
** See the Hon. Henry M. Hoyt's "Brief of a Title in the Seventeen Townships in the County of I,uzerne," page 28.
690
During April and May, 1771, the whole of Abraham's Plains ad- joining the Manor of Sunbury on the north-east were laid out into lots under the direction of Charles Stewart. Twenty of those lots were from fifty-one to eighty-four rods in width at the river's margin, and ranged from 330 to 422 rods in depth. They contained from 100 acres to 200 acres each .* Of those twenty lots four were allotted to the Rev. Wil- liam Smith, D. D. (Provost of the College of Philadelphia), and Surveyor General John Lukens, as joint-tenants ; four to John Van Campen, previ- ously mentioned ; four to A. Stewart ; four to Williamn Ledlie of Easton, previously mentioned, and four to Charles Stewart. Upon one of the lots then allotted to Dr. Sinith and Surveyor General Lukens the Wyo- ming Monument now stands, and upon lots numbered 16, 17, 18 and 19 (allotted to Messrs. Van Campen, Smith, Lukens, Ledlie and Stewart) the battle of Wyoming was subsequently fought. Just as in Wilkes-Barré, the lines of these Pennamite surveys crossed, interfered with and cut the lines of the Yankee surveys in the "Forty" (later Kingston) Township.
On Jacob's Plains-adjoining the Manor of Stoke on the north-east, and within the bounds of the township of Wilkes-Barre as laid out by the Yankeest-Charles Stewart surveyed on May 31 and June 5, 1771, the following described tracts of landt : (1) For Cornelius Slack, 267 acres called "Kingston," "above and adjoining the Manor of Stoke, on a brook called formerly Beaver Brook, now known by the name of Mill Creek." (2) For John Anderson (previously mentioned), 306 acres, called "White Oak Ridge," adjoining Cornelius Slack's tract on the north-east. (3) For David Johnston, 335 acres, called "Bear Swamp." (4) For Thomas Hays of Northampton County, 329 acres, "opposite, above and below Manahanung Island, § adjoining a tract of land called Jacob's Plains." (5) For William West, Jr., 339 acres, called "Pur- chase", "at a bend of the river above the Manor of Stoke." Through this tract flowed the little creek mentioned on page 213, Vol. I. The hamlet of Port Bowkley now covers a small section of this tract-which is shown, in part, in the picture facing page 174; Port Bowkley being situated at the end of the bridge at the right side of the picture. (6) For Jacob Lemley of Sussex County, New Jersey, 306 acres, called "Pine Ridge," adjoining Anderson's "White Oak Ridge" on the north-east.
June 3, 1771, Charles Stewart surveyed on a warrant in favor of Abrahamı Slack a tract of 303 acres, called "Hopewill." It was located "three-quarters of a mile from the south-east side of the Susquehanna River, between a tract of land called Nanticoke Town|| and the moun- tain, and about one mile below the Manor of Stoke."
From the journals of the Moravian missionaries at Wyalusing we learn that from the 24th to the 26th of May, 1771, there was a continual downpour of rain, resulting in a great rise of the river-the greatest in twenty years. The lowlands were all overflowed, fences and stock were swept away, and on the flats the growing corn-which was just coming up-was left covered with inud when the flood subsided. If so much damage was done at Wyalusing, it is quite certain that the Pennamite settlers in Wyoming Valley must have suffered considerable damage and inconvenience from the same flood.
* See a draft of the same facing page 514, Vol. XVIII, "Pennsylvania Archives," Second Series.
i See page 516.
# See a draft of the same facing page 544, Vol. XVIII, "Pennsylvania Archives," Second Series.
¿ Monocanock Island, described on page 50, Vol. I. | See page 487, last paragraph.
691
According to adjournment The Susquehanna Company inet at Windham June 12, 1771, Major Talcott, as usual, acting as Moderator. The following business was transacted :
"Whereas this Company at their meeting held March 13, 1771, voted that it was necessary and best for the interests of this Company to regain and hold possession of our settlements at Wyoming ; and in order thereto it was voted that the 540 settlers formerly voted in, as also those settlers to whom the township of Hanover was granted, should go forward and take possession of our lands at Wyoming by the first day of June ; and at the meeting of this Company in April it was voted to suspend entering on said land, * * it is now judged necessary and best, and voted, that the said 540 settlers immedi- ately go forward and take possession of our lands at Wyoming, * * and that they be on said lands by the 10th day of July next.
"Whereas, It is probable some of the settlers will fail of going on and taking pos- session of their settling rights, according to the votes of this Company, and some others have forfeited their settling rights by unfaithfulness, and it will be necessary to fill up the said number of 540 settlers-It is now Voted, That the company of settlers, when they have got possession of said lands, either by themselves or by a committee by them chosen shall have full power to admit new settlers upon such forfeited rights, and fill the said number up, if good, able and faithful men shall offer themselves. * %
"Voted, That James Hannah, Philip Goss, David Carver, Andrew Graham, John Bacon, Jr., Thomas Fanning, Benjamin Dorchester, Ebenezer Learned and Jonathan Buck, 'Nine Partners,' be added to the committee for collecting the last two dollars tax that was granted, and pay the same to the Treasurer.
"Whereas, William Speedy,* Jantes Biggers and Richard Cook did in January last join with and assist our people in endeavoring to hold the possession of our lands at Wyoming, but were, after a manly resistance, drove off, and are now about to return witli our people to take possession of our lands at Wyoming-it is now Voted, That the said William Speedy, James Biggers and Richard Cook be each of them entitled to one settling right in said lands, of such rights as are or shall be forfeited. * *
"Whereas, the proprietors of The Susquehanna Company's Purchase belonging to New London, in October last did advance seventy-five dollars to Captain Latimore and a number of men that went with him to Delaware River in order to relieve our settlers that were in distress, and to endeavor to retake our Fort [Durkee], and now apply to the Company in some measure to repay the same, it is now Voted, That in consideration thereof Eliphalet Lester of New London, who has two rights to dispose of, shall sell said two rights and pay said seventy-five dollars to those who advanced the sanie."
In pursuance of the resolutions of The Susquehanna Company, up- wards of seventy men (nearly every one of whom was a shareholder in the Company, and had been at Wyoming at some time previously)} were enlisted to go forward to the much-coveted valley under the com- mand of Capt. Zebulon Butler. Each man armed and equipped him- self, and agreed to provide his own rations while on the march. While preparations were going on in Connecticut for the Wyoming expedi- tion Lazarus Stewart secretly journeyed to Lancaster County, Pennsyl- vania, where he paid a hurried visit to his wife and children, and then, gatliering together a few of the "Paxtang Boys" who had fled with him from Fort Durkee five months before, hastened to join Captain Butler on the march to Wyoming. Towards the end of June Captain Butler and about fifty of his men set out from Connecticut. They journeyed by way of Goshen, New York, and about the 3d of July reached Owens', in northern Sussex County, New Jersey (see page 636), where they were
* See pages 676 and 717.
+ Many of the proprietors in The Susquehanna Company were, of course, either unable or disinclined to go on this expedition, but some of them were willing to send substitutes, and, so far as possible, did so. The following is a copy, in part, of an original agreement made between one of the proprietors and his substitute.
"Article of Agreement between WILLIAM HOLLY and DAVID SANFORD [presumably of Farmington, Connecticut], * * * that David Sanford shall go immediately to Wyoming and there join the Con- necticut forces, or Committee, and take possession of and keep for three years the two half-settling-rights belonging to John Holly under Zerubabel Jearom, and the other {whole right] belonging to Dr. Holly ; and at the end of three years deliver up to William Holly one right, and keep the other for himself-aud to turn a copper for choice. * * Upon the penalty of £50 York money, &c. Witness our hands and seals this 9th July, 1771. "In presence of
[Signed] "DAVID SANFORD, "WILLIAM HOLLY,
"JEREMIAH COLMAN.
[Mem. William and John Holly, abovenamed, were in 1769 iuhabitants of East New Jersey (see page 512); and Jeremiah Colman was in 1773 a resident of Goshen, New York.]
692
joined by Lazarus Stewart and the other Hanoverians. Under the date of July 3d a certain John Thompson wrote to Justice of the Peace John Van Campen (previously mentioned), in Lower Smithfield Township, Northampton County, near the Delaware Water Gap, informing him that the Yankees were on their march. "If you intend to espouse the Pennsylvania cause," he wrote, "I would advise you to raise a number of men as soon as possible and strive to interrupt them at the River. You have no time to lose." At that time Charles Stewart was at his home in Kingwood, Hunterdon County, New Jersey, and Captain Ogden -who had been in Lower Smithfield Township a few days previously, on his way from his home in Morris County, New Jersey-was supposed to have gone to Philadelphia. In the circumstances, therefore, Justice Van Campen forwarded John Thompson's letter by express to James Tilghman at Philadelphia, and wrote to him also, as follows :
"By the inclosed you will observe what the Yankes are about, and the advice of Mr. Thompson to me is very good, but it is not in my power to raise more from this place to oppose them, agreeable to his advice. * * I am afraid that matters will not go well at Wyoming, as I have reason to think those people [the Yankees] have friends on the ground. It may be depended on that there are great matters in hand with the Yankes, as there are almost every day dispatches from Isaiah Van Campen down to Mr. [Benjamin] Shoemaker, as I suppose for him to transmit back to the [Connecticut] party how mat- ters stand amongst us. I am afraid those people will be masters of the ground, if they make their push soon, as they have a great many friends to help carry on their schemes."
On July 5th John Thompson, previously mentioned, wrote from "Nominack" to Charles Stewart, as follows :
"I had intelligence of their [the Yankees] coming before they were at Goshen, and after writing to Mr. Van Campen I went to the upper part [of the Minisinks] and was there before any of them came ; and whilst there Squire Smith* and sixteen more came, and told me that 500 more were over at Owens', commanded by Captain Butler and Mr. Stewart. But I don't believe there is so many. The whole is commanded by Major [Ezekiel] Peirce. They could be easily prevented in crossing the river here."
On July 5th Squire Van Campen also wrote to Charles Stewart, as follows :
"The bearer can give you a full account of the situation of affairs. After a great deal of trouble I have transmitted the full account to the people at Wyoming. As Ogden is not there I am afraid the next news [will be] that the people have abandoned the block-house. My advice for them is to drive all the cattle down the river, and if they could do no better, drive them down to Fort Allen."
At Kingwood, on July 8th, Charles Stewart wrote to James Tilgh- man, transmitting the letters of Thompson and Van Campen, and stating : "This instant the bearer delivered me the enclosed. He came directly from over the [Blue] Mountain, and saw Captain Ogden near Aaron De Pui's, t who told him he would set off directly for Wioming and take possession of the block-house with such a party as he could get to support him. I fear the number will be small. The bearer has also seen and knows several of the advance party [of the Yankees]-Squire Smith in par- ticular, he being one of them who signed the Terms of Agreement.§ The great scarcity of bread corn along the river will certainly occasion some delay to so great a number as they are reported to be, viz .. 500 men-but suppose them to be only half that number. If they are not repelled before they get to Wioming they will certainly carry their point and dispossess our people. I need not write you what the bearer can relate. He is a young man of truth, and has been engaged in Wioming affairs from the first time I went there until this day, and hath always behaved with spirit. I have prevailed on him, tho fatigued, to wait on you with this disagreeable intelligence, which affects me more than any former news relating to Wioming has done. I hope that the Government of Penn- sylvania will exert itself, and that these heroes will be met at Delaware River by the Sheriff of Northampton County and conducted to Wioming via Philadelphia. I hear they expect a supply of provisions up Susquehanna River."
In the Spring of 1771, when the Pennamite settlers seemed to be in a fair way to become securely established in Wyoming Valley, they
* JOHN SMITH, mentioned on page 410, etc.
+ In Lower Smithfield Township. Ogden had not gone to Philadelphia, as Van Campen had presumed.
# Fort Wyoming. ¿ See page 628.
693
erected near the month of Mill Creek a small saw-mill, and not far from it-on the ground where the New England pioneers of 1762-'63 had built their block-house, and where subsequently (see page 460, Vol. I) Captain Ogden had established his trading-house-they erected a small block- house, to be occupied by a detail of settlers who would guard the mill. As soon as the mill was in running order planks, boards, etc., were sawed, and a number of small dwelling-houses were erected at various points in the valley. By the middle of June, or first of July, 1771, these houses were in the occupancy, chiefly, of the married men of the settlement and their families, while the unmarried men occupied Fort Wyoming and the Mill Creek block-house. In the absence from the settlement of Charles Stewart and Capt. Aaron Ogden, at the beginning of July, Col. Asher Clayton, previously mentioned, seems to have been the chief man on the ground. At Philadelphia, August 22, 1771, Colonel Clay- ton made a deposition before James Biddle, a Justice of the Peace, which reads, in part, as follows* :
"ASHER CLAYTON, of Philadelphia, Gentleman, deposes that on July 6, 1771, he was at Wyoming, improving his farm there, when he received notice of the approach of the armed men commanded by Stewart and Butler; * * and thereupon he and the other inhabitants, with their families, making in all eighty-two men, women and children, retired into a block-house, t taking with them the principal part of their effects. Deponent sent out two men to reconnoiter, and one of them returned about one o'clock the next morning, saying that his companion, James Bertroug, had been taken prisoner by the Yankees at the Lackawannack .¿ About eleven o'clock the same day [Monday, July 8, 1771] Bertroug returned and said he had been taken prisoner the preceding night by a party of fifty or sixty men under Stewart and Butler, who told him they were come by authority of the Government of Connecticut to take possession of that country, and were determined to do it, or would perish in the attempt ; and that while he [Bertroug] was with them they took possession of a house at the mouth of Mill Creek, and a mill on the same creek. Bertroug further informed, that by stating that he had no concern in the land he was released, aud was sent with a message from Butler to Clayton asking for a conference at any place he would appoint.
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