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 25
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In 1763 Yale College conferred the degree of A. M on Mr. Johnson. In 1765 he published a little pamphlet which attracted considerable attention in Connecticut and probably elsewhere. This publica- tion-containing sixty-seven pages, and which sold for Ish. 6d -now appears to be of much rarity. There is a copy of it in the collections of The Connecticut Historical Society, and its title is as follows : "ZION's MEMORIAL-Giving Some Account of the Present Work of God's Grace, with an ESSAY ON VISIONS, &c. By JACOB JOHNSON, A. M., Minister of Christ at Groton, Connecticut." In view of the fact that some three years after the publication of this pamphlet Mr. Johnson declared that he was 'a seer"-that is. a seer of visions (see his letter to Sir William Johnson, page 450, Vol. I), it will be interesting to read the following extracts from "ZION's MEMORIAL .. "
"I have given a particular and circumstantial account of a remarkable vision, or appearance of Christ, to * * . To lead humble inquirers into the nature of such things, I have given my thoughts on visions and extraordinary appearances. * * * Remark. 'Tis not only possible but probable, yea, rational and credible, that there should be visions of Christ and angels. If we look thoroughly into the nature of things, we shall find it is just as reasonable there should be extraordinaries as ordinaries ; and that 'tis no way improbable, irrational or incredible that Christ or an angel should have appeared in the above-men- tioned vision. Because God has always dealt, more or less, in an extraordinary way, 'tis therefore reason- able to expect he will continue to do so to the end-because the world in general seem to be secure, and need something extraordinary to awaken them-because the Lord has been carrying on a remarkable work of grace, it is but reasonable to expect at sich glorious seasons some extraordinary attendants. * * If it be inquired, 'How shall we know and discern betwixt a vision of Christ and His angels, and Satan transformed ?' Answer : As we know and discern betwixt the Holy Bible and the Turkish Alcoran ; or betwixt Christ the rightful head of the Church, and his pretended vicar, the Man of Sin; or betwixt a humble, holy Christian, and a proud, self-righteous Pharisee, or unhallowed enthusiast. There are three things summarily go into the character of the Devil, viz : pride, malice and deceit. Now if we have a vision of such a being, we may conclude it is the Devil. * * * I don't at all wonder that some are led away and deceived by visions and extraordinary appearances that have no experimental acquaintance with a work of grace in their own souls. * * But as I am apt to think extraordinaries will become more common, so their nature and character will be more clearly discerned and fully understood." * *
In the Spring of 1768 Timothy Green, the printer at New London, Connecticut, published, in a pam- phlet of thirty-six pages, a discourse preached by the Rev. Jacob Johnson at the funeral of Col. Christopher Avery of Groton, Connecticut. A copy of that pamphlet is now in the collections of The Connecticut Historical Society.
In April, 1768, the Rev. Dr. Wheelock (see pages 409 and 450, Vol. I) desired Mr. Johnson to undertake a missionary journey to the Oneida Indians in New York. They were the first of the Six Nations to ex- press a wish to have Christian missionaries come to their villages to teach and preach, and in 1761 Samp- son Occum (Dr. Wheelock's earliest convert among the Indians) had been sent to them From a mono- graph (unpublished) on the Rev. Jacob Johnson, prepared by his great-grandson, Dr. Frederick C. John- son of Wilkes-Barre, we learn that Jacob Johnson, having decided to accede to Dr. Wheelock's desire, set
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out from his home in Groton September 17, 1768, for Lebanon, Connecticut, the home of Dr. Wheelock. There Mr. Johnson received a commission to the Oneidas dated September 19, 1768, and was instructed by Dr. Wheelock to proceed to Kanawaro'he, or Kanoalohale, the "Lower Castle" (see page 449, Vol. I) of the Oneida nation, to take the place of the Rev. Samuel Kirkland, who had returned to his home a short time before on account of ill health. Mr. Johnson made the journey from I,ebanon (300 miles) in ten days, going by way of Fort Stanwix, where he met Capt. (subsequently Lieut. Col.) John Butler, who, nearly ten years later, commanded the British and Indian forces at the battle of Wyoming.
At the "Lower Castle" Mr. Johnson found David Avery, a missionary and teacher from Connecticut, and on October 1st the latter wrote to Dr. Wheelock as follows: "Sir William Johnson and a large num- ber of gentlemen have been1 at Fort Stanwix about three weeks. The Indians are come and coming, and it is expected that all will arrive in a week or ten days. I design to accompany Jacob Johnson over [to Fort Stanwix] as soon as the Indians go [from here]." Messrs. Johnson and Avery, in company with some, or all, of the Oneida Indians who attended the council at Fort Stanwix (see page 448, Vol. I), arrived there on the 10th of October, and soon thereafter Mr. Johnson wrote to Dr. Wheelock, asking that the Rev. Mr. Kirkland be sent to Fort Stanwix forthwith, and stating : "We have more privately consulted the two chiefs of the Oneidas in order to apprise them of this design [to purchase a large section of the Indian lands], and if possible to fix in them an unchangeable resolution and determination upon no consideration
to part with their lands." October 17th Mr. Johnson wrote froin Fort Stanwix to Dr. Wheelock that Governor Penn had gone home, but that before he went Mr. Johnson had conferred with him about setting up an Indian college on the Susquehanna. "I asked him," wrote Mr. Johnson, "if the Proprie- taries would not come to some agreement with the New England purchasers on the Susquehanna. He said 'Yes, as they would with any other purchasers, but upon no other terms.'" Mr. Johnson stated further that he had conferred with Richard Peters (see page 262) upon the subject of the Susquehanna lands, and had also "conferred with Sir William Johnson personally about the Indian school." He wrote that Sir William had treated him (Jacob) "in the most handsome and genteel manner imaginable, which has endeared him to me very much."
A few days subsequently to the writing of the abovementioned letter Sir William decided to exclude, and did exclude, the Rev. Jacob from the conference with the Indians (as noted on page 450. Vol. I)- giving as some of his reasons therefor the following, in a letter written by him to Gen. Thomas Gage (meutioned on page 650) soon afterwards. "The New Englanders have had missionaries for some time among the Oneidas and Oquagas, and I was not ignorant that their old pretensions to the Susquehanna lands was their real object, though religion was their assumed object. Two New England missionaries came up, strongly recommended to me by Dr. Wheelock, and did all in their power to prevent the Oneidas (whose property part of the Susquehanna is) from agreeing to any line. They even had the face, in op- position to His Majesty's commands and the desire of the Colonies, to memorial me, praying that the Indians might not be allowed to give up far to the west or north, but to reserve it for the purpose of religion."
On November 6th, at Albany, Mr. Johnson wrote : "The business of the Congress is now completed ; all is in confusion." A day or two later Messrs. Johnson and Kirkland, and probably David Avery also, set out for "Oneida" (Kanoalohale ?), whence, on December 28th, Mr. Johnson wrote to Dr. Wheelock that Mr. Kirkland was there with him; that he (Johnson) had not been favored with an interpreter. except occasionally ; that he was studying the Oneida language and hoped to speak to the Indians in their own language before he should leave them. According to original letters now in existence, written in January, 1769, by the Rev. Jacob Johnson to Dr. Wheelock (authenticated copies of which letters are now in the possession of Dr. F. C. Johnson), the Rev. Messrs. Johnson and Kirkland set out from "Oneida" about the 10th of January, 1769, for Canajoharie, the "Upper Castle" of the Mohawks (described on page 264, Vol. I) and the home of Joseph Brant (mentioned on page 299), who had formerly been a pupil in Dr. Wheelock's school and was then in the twenty-seventh year of his age. The missionaries arrived at Canajoharie on Friday, January 13th, and the following Sunday Jacob Johnson preached to the Mohawks and had Joseph Brant for his interpreter. On Monday the 16th Mr. Johnson set out for Oneida and Mr. Kirkland for "Johnson Hall," the residence of Sir William Johnson, situated about twenty miles east of Canajoharie.
April 7, 1769, Mr. Johnson returned from his mission to his home at Groton (see page 82, Vol I), hav- ing been absent nearly seven months, during which time he had traveled on horseback and on foot over 1.000 miles. He wrote that he was able, in some measure, to preach to the Oneidas in their own language, and that if he had remained with them three months longer he "could speak their language complete ; and in six months more all the languages of the Six Nations." He stated that "the Mohawk and Oneida languages are almost exactly the same."
Pearce says ( "Annals of Luzerne County," page 278): "In 1770 the [Susquehanna] Company engaged the' Rev. Jacob Johnson, of Groton, Connecticut, to supply the place of Mr. Beckwith. Mr. Johnson hastened to his new field of labor. and ministered as best he could in holy things. in the inidst of civil strife. He remained but a few months, when he returned to Connecticut, leaving the Rev. Elkanah Holmes in charge of the belligerent flock of Yankees and Paxton Boys." For this statement there is no authority whatever. Elkanah Holmes was a Baptist elder, a member of the Philadelphia Conference, who, in 1776, came from Kingwood, New Jersey-the home of Col. Charles Stewart (see page 692)-to Wyoming as a missionary, and preached here for awhile.
Upon the arrival of Mr. Johnson at Wilkes-Barre in the latter part of October, 1772, as previously stated, he took up his ahode at the Mill Creek block-house, and, evidently, was still living there in May, 1773. This we gather from the journal of "Deacon" John Hurlbut, who came from New London County, Connecticut, to Wyoming Valley in May, 1773. (See Johnson's "Historical Record," I : 213.) Under date of Tuesday, May 25th, Mr. Hurlbut wrote : "Visited Mr. Johnson at Chapman's Mills. Went to Wilk- bury fort. In ye afternoon went over to Capt. Gore's in Kingston, then returned to Wilkbury. Went up to Abraham's Plains. Again returned to ye Fort [Wyoming, or Wilkes-Barre]. At a town-meeting at night [see page 763, post]; returned to Kingston to Benedict Satterly's Slept there that night. Wednes- day, May ye 26th-Went down on ye fields to Plymouth, and then back to Capt. Gore's ; then returned to Wilkbury again. Visited Mr. Johnson. Was with him about two hours and a-half. Found him in a low, disconsolate state, but looking like rain [I] rid for Laquawanar Fort"-the Pittston fort, or block-house, referred to in the minutes reprinted on page 730, ante. Chapman's Mills-a saw-mill and a grist. mill- referred to by Mr. Hurlbut in his journal, stood on the north bank of Mill Creek just east of the present Main Street (Wilkes-Barre) bridge across that stream. These mills were erected by Nathan Chapinan (said to have come from Goshen, New York) in the Summer, or early Autumn, of 1772, and are more par- ticularly described in Chapter L.
In the Summer of 1773 Mr. Johnson went to Groton to arrange his affairs there and remove his family and belongings to Wilkes-Barré. The journey was begun in the latter part of October, and was made on a sloop from Groton, or New London, to New Windsor (opposite Fishkill Landing) on the Hudson River, in Orange County, New York, where the travelers arrived on November 1st-011 which day Mr. Johnson wrote to Zebulon Butler at Wilkes-Barre as follows : "I am now at this place. Should be glad of some help. I have a wagon load of goods-that is, two hogsheads, two chests and eleven souls [Mr. Johnson and his wife, their eight children and a negro slave]-to get on my way. I shall come along as soon and as fast as I can."
In addition to the "50-acre Lot" and "Wilkes-Barre Island" the proprietors of Wilkes-Barre subsequently bestowed upon and granted to Mr. Johnson "Public Lot No. 1" (mentioned on page 656), to be "his prop- erty in fee simple, by virtue of his call and settlement here as the first ordained minister." This lot lay in that part of Wilkes-Barre Township which is now Plains Township, immediately adjoining the present north-eastern boundary of Wilkes-Barre Township, and extended from the main, or middle, road near
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Mill Creek to the south-eastern boundary of the township. It was certified under the Act of April 4, 1799, as containing 396 acres and 94 perches. Within eight or ten years after settling here Mr. Johnson acquired other real estate in Wilkes-Barre to a considerable amount. March 8, 1773, the proprietors of Wilkes- Barre bestowed upon him Lot No. 9 in the town-plot, which they had purchased front Haggai Cooper, who had derived his title from Peregrine Gardner, the original owner. November 5, 1777, this action of the proprietors was confirmed by a town vote. May 12, 1777, Mr. Johnson became the owner of Lot No. 10 in the town-plot, and Lot No. 45 (containing 181 acres) in the 3d Division of Wilkes-Barre, having pur- chased the same fromn George Bissell, Jr., who had derived his title through his father, George Bissell, Sr., from Robert Frazer, who was the original owner. July 1, 1777, Mr. Johnson bought of James Stark, for £8, Lot No. 12 in the town-plot, and later in the same year, or early in 1778, he bought of John Abbott Lot No. 35 in the town-plot. For the location of these various town-lots see page 655. Across Mr. John- son's "50-acre 1.ot" and the north-western halves of Lot No. 12 and Lot No. 10 ran the rocky ridge which terminated in "The Redoubt," on the River Common opposite Lot No. 10, as described on page 697.
In July, 1778, after the battle of Wyoming, when the houses of Wilkes-Barre were almost entirely destroyed by the savages, Mr. Johnson's house- which stood on Lot No. 9-was burned. Other property belonging to Mr. Johnson was destroyed at that time, and in the list of losses incurred at Wyoming-pre- pared and presented in October, 1781, to the Connecticut Assembly, by its orders (see Chapter XIX)-the losses of Mr. Johnson were reported at £459, 4sh., one of the largest amounts in the list. Mr. Johnson and his family fled from Wyoming, in common with the majority of the inhabitants of the valley, with- in a day or two after the surrender of Forty Fort, and made their way to Mr. Johnson's native town of Wallingford, where they took up their abode. There, under the date of September 27, 1778, Mr. Johnson wrote to his son-in-law, Col. Zebulon Butler, addressing his letter in "care of Mrs. Butler, at the Public House of Mr. Wadkins, thirteen miles west of the North River-New Windsor." (Colonel Butler's eldest daughter, Hannah, was then at Lyme, Connecticut.) Mr. Johnson wrote: "If you don't think it advis- able for me to come on the Susquehanna this Winter I shall engage in other business. How is it with you ? Anything saved on the ground, as to the fruits and effects there, or what was hidden ? Also, how is it with the dead bodies, or bones of the dead? * * Mrs. Johnson wants to know whether her clothes were found by the enemy-if not, that you would take care of them."
Under the date of November 10, 1778, Mr. Johnson wrote from Wallingford to Colonel Butler at Wilkes- Barré as follows : "I was in great hopes of seeing Colonel Denison, to hear more particularly by him, and write and send to you, but failed. Tho I went and sent to Hartford I could not see him, he being then gone to Windham. * * * We have heard since your letter [of September 25th] that you were again drove off, destroyed, and many of you killed by the enemy, tho this was afterwards contradicted. I have been not a little concerned about you and the people there, lest the enemy should get some advantage against you, there being now, as I am told, about 150 in all-soldiers and inhabitants-and in a little picket fort that could make no considerable defense against 700 or 800 or 1,000 Tories and Indians, and while so many of ye old enemies, the Pennamites, are watching for an opportunity to do you a mischief. and would, no doubt, be glad and rejoice at it. Things being so with you I should by no means at present think it safe to come or send my negro or anything of value there where you be. If you had 500 or 700 men with a good strong fort, such as that at Fort Stanwix, and well laid in with all warlike stores, provisions, &c., I should think quite otherwise ; and until that be done, as the day now is, it seems rather presumptive than prudence, to venture your lives and fortunes (the little left) in such a weak and defence- less state. * * * Continental Dollars, one thing with another, are at a discount of ten and twelve for one, and rarely answer to buy anything at all."
February 16, 1779, Mr. Johnson wrote from Wallingford to Colonel Butler at Wilkes-Barré as follows : * "I am not determined as yet whether it will be best for me to come or send any part of my family.
I have as yet engaged in 110 business, excepting I have the care of a school, and occasionally preach here and there as a door opens. I think it would be but reasonable you should have a Chaplain or minister with you in Continental pay. If I could come in that character I don't know but I would come and bring my negro and one of my boys with me. You and the people there may advise upon it and let me know your mind, either by letter or when you come this way. If this can't be effected (tho I don't doubt but that it might by application to Congress, or even to Connecticut State)-I say, if this can't be done, I shall engage in some other way and lay by the thoughts of coming to Susquehannah, at least at present, tho the state of things here are uncommon.
* * I am concerned for my daughter's health-I mean Miss Butler [Mrs. Zebulon Butler]. If I knew what she might want, and it was in my power to send it, I would
not fail to do it. * * Let her not be concerned for us or her only son, Zebulon, Jr., for he is as our own." Mrs. Butler had, some time before, rejoined her hushand at Wilkes-Barre, leaving her only child, Zebulon Johnson Butler, then nearly three years old, with his grandparents at Wallingford, with whom Colonel Butler's daughter Hannah was also then residing.
September 30, 1779, Mr. Johnson wrote from Wallingford to Colonel Butler at Wilkes-Barré, in part as follows : "Yours by Mr. Sills (18th inst ) I received. * * As to iny coming up with my family this Fall : Tho I had (before the arrival of Mr. Sills and your letters by him) concluded otherwise, this notwith- standing I have since determined, by the Leave of Heaven, to come, provided it appears to be the mind of the People (the Inhabitants) that I should come ; as also that I come in the character of a Continental Chaplain, or be stationed at Wilksbarre or elsewhere in that Public Character, and that one of the Con tinental waggons be sent here to remove me with my family and necessary effects to Wilksbarre. Other wise I shall not be inclined to come ; altho' for your sake, Miss Butler's sake, and some others of my Particular Friends I should be very glad to come, and bring your Dr. son and my grandson equally dear to me, to whom your howells often times yearn towards, and who is so desirous once again to see his Daddy and mammy, and almost overjoy'd to hear there was a prospect of going. * : * * I have in this Letter said I would come to Wilksbarre provided it apears to be the mind of the People-Inhabitants-I should come, for I would come by their desire and good will, & I know not I have any reason to distrust their Good will. I say further I will come provided I come in the Publick office & character of a Continental chaplain. For I mean to spend the Remainder of my Days in Preaching the Glorious Gospel of the great saviour of the world, and so many Doors stand open this way that I should not choose to come to Susque- hannah except a Door opens there for Public usefulness."
About the same time that the Rev. Jacob Johnson wrote the foregoing letter his wife, Mrs. Mary Johnson, wrote to her daughter, Mrs. Zebulon Butler, as follows : "We had concluded to come to Wilks- barre when your father saw Captain Colt and Mr. Goold at Lyme. They told him they had heard eighteen inen were a mowing of the Flats ; the Indians rose upon them and killed seventeen of them. * * That put a stop to our thoughts of coming till we heard further. I hope in six or seven weeks to be with you. * * Zebulon [Johnson Butler] is often talking about his daddy and mamimy. You can't think what a man he is. He goes of arrants, cuts wood, husks corn, feeds hogs-does a great deal of work, he says. He is a charming child. I could not have been contented had he not been with ine. * * I hope Colonel will send for us as soon as we have wrote, for it would cost beyond acount to get horses here for such a journey. * * Your father went to town for Calico. Could get none. He sent to Hartford and got a patron [pattern] one. If you like it, he can get more. It was 25 Dollars a yard. It was the cheapest I have seen."
It was not until the forepart of June, 1781, that Jacob Johnson and his family returned to Wilkes- Barré. Having no house of their own which they could occupy they took up their residence at the corner of River and Northampton Streets, in a part of the house of Colonel Butler, then occupied by the latter's wife and children-he himself being absent on duty with his regiment at Peekskill, New York. Within three weeks after the arrival of the Johnsons at Wilkes-Barré Mrs. Lydia (Johnson) Butler died, as previ- ously noted (on page 638). Mr. Johnson soon began the erection of a log house on his town-lot No. 9, at the south-east corner of the present Union and River Streets, and upon its completion in the Spring of
HOUSE ERECTED AND OCCUPIED BY THE REV. JACOB JOHNSON. It stood at the north-east corner of River and Union Streets, and in later years was owned and occupied by Dr. C. F. Ingham. From a photograph taken in 1887.
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1782 he and his family removed into it from the Butler house. In 1791 Jacob Johnson, his wife and two of their children were still residing there, while Jacob Williamson Johnson (the eldest living child of the Rev. Jacob) was living with his newly-wedded wife in a small house across the street, on town-lot No. 10. May 1, 1792, the Rev. Jacob Johnson conveyed to his son Jacob Williamson, "in consideration of love and good will," Lot No. 35 in the town-plot, and other lands. Jacob Williamson thereupon removed to the house which stood on "No. 35"-a log house, standing at the south-east corner of the present Main and Union Streets, where, many years later, the three-story brick building owned by the late Charles Roth was erected. About 1793 the Rev. Jacob Johnson erected on Lot No. 10-at the north-east corner of River and Union Streets-a very substantial frame house, in which he and his wife lived until their respective deaths. Then the house was occupied by Jehoiada P. Johnson ; then for awhile by Charles Miner ; next, for a number of years, by Arnold Colt, and lastly, for upwards of thirty years (having, in the meantime, been renovated and slightly remodeled), by Dr. Charles F. Ingham. In the Summer of 1887 Dr. Inghamn demolished the old building, and erected on its site the three-story, double-huilding of brick now stand- ing there.
The Rev. Jacob Johnson died March 15, 1797, and his wife died January 18, 1805. From early life Mr. Johnson "claimed to possess the gift of prophecy, and to some extent that of a seer," wrote one of his grandsons in 1882. "He became somewhat visionary, and eccentric in his habits, in the latter years of his life"; he made himself a girdle of hair, which he wore, like John the Baptist, around his loins ; he was a devout Second Adventist, and also believed himself to be endowed with a preternatural knowledge of coming events. At length, in the eighty-fourth year of his life, the infirmities of age began to creep upon him, and there came to him one night, in a "vision," a mysterious forewarning of his death. This was so real and impressive that Mr. Johnson "not only made the usual preparations for dissolution," but set about digging his own grave. Climbing up the steep ascent of "Redoubt Hill," in the rear of his resi- dence, he passed up along the crest of the ridge to a point near its greatest elevation-which, for many years now, has been locally known as "Westfield's Hill." There, on his own land (a part of the '50-acre Lot"), a few rods north of the junction of the present Franklin Street with North Street, he proceeded, with mattock and spade, to dig his grave due east and west. He continued at his task for some hours, but his feeble health would not admit of protracted labor, and it required some days to complete the task. Re- turning from it finally he informed his younger son of what he had done, and, in a cheerful and uncon- cerned manner giving some directions for his funeral, retired to his chamber for rest ; but ere the morn- ing sun shone in at his window the Angel of Death had passed by that peaceful cottage and breathed in the face of the good old man as he slept, and there was mourning in the little hamlet. -
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