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 31
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The present writer has been unable to find copies of the two letters from Thomas Life to Governor Trumbull, referred to in the latter's letter hereinbefore printed. The letters in question were written at London in April and May, 1773, and contained among other matters the opinions of the eminent counsel who had been employed to answer the queries propounded in behalf of the Colony of Connecticut relative to the Colony's claim to the lands westward of New York. (See pages 651 and 732.) Copies of these letters were sent by Governor Trumbull to Col. Elizur Talcott June 29, 1773. However, among the "Trumbull Papers" (referred to on page 29) there is an original letter from Thomas Life to Governor Trumbull, under the date of July 7, 1773, in which he states that March 19, 1773, he had written to the solicitor of the Penn family, at Bloomsbury Square, London, as follows :
"I find by letters from America that two Acts have been lately passed in the Province of Pennsylvania for erecting a part of the counties of Lancaster, Cumberland, Berks, Northampton and Bedford into a separate county ; and the other for preventing riots, &c. It is very probable that the execution of these two laws-at least of the last of them, which makes it felony for twelve persons to assemble together-may create a great deal of bloodshed, and perhaps many persons may be condemned to death for keep- ing possession of land which they may have good reason to think themselves intitled to. The Colony of Connecticut have had it under their consideration for near two years past whether they should support the inhabitants of the country in question by claiming the same against the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania. It appears to me that their determin- ation will depend on the opinion of the several counsel of the first eminence before whom I have laid the case, by the Colony's direction. * *
"Under the date of May 10, 1773, Mr. Penn's solicitor replied as follows : * * 'I have consulted the Proprietors of Pennsilvania upon it, and I am directed by thein to acquaint you that your clients, the settlers in the Province of Pennsilvania, have chosen to support themselves by an armed force, and have refused every overture (many of which were made to thein) to bring the matter to a legal and constitutional decision, choosing, in opposition to all constitutional overtures, to rely upon their arms. The
* In the northern part of the present county of Northumberland.
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Colony of Connecticut, too, once disavowed supporting or giving any incouragement to these unlawful Intruders. I am desired to acquaint you that the Proprietaries of Penn- silvania never will decline any legal and constitutional decision of the point in question.' I have wrote to Dr. [William Samuel] Johnson by this packet on this subject. Some- thing must be done in this matter. You'll please therefore to send me proper authority from the Colony to act by petition to the King, or otherwise, as I shall be advised, for terminating the matters in dispute between Pennsylvania and the Colony of Connecticut on account of The Susquehanna Company."
At a town-meeting held at Wilkes-Barré August 23, 1773, with Jacob Sill acting as Moderator and Joseph Sluman as Clerk, the follow- ing was voted :
"That a call or invitation shall be given to the Rev. Jacob Johnson, late of Groton, in the Colony of Connecticut, who for some time past has been preaching in this place, to continue a settler with us as our gospel minister. That Mr. Johnson shall be paid £60 the year ensuing, on the present list,* and his salary shall rise annually, as our list rises, till it amounts to £100."
At a meeting of "the Proprietors of the settling towns on the East Branch of the Susquehanna River at the fort in Wilks Barra, Septem- ber 14, 1773," Capt. Zebulon Butler was chosen Moderator, and Christo- pher Avery, Clerk. The following business was transacted : t
"Voted, That the Directors of the several towns be ordered to call on all the inhabit- ants within each of the towns to sign the agreement,; and to make returns of the names of all those that refuse or neglect to sign, to the Committee of Settlers, and that the same be done by the 1st October next.
"Voted, That Mr. John Jenkins be appointed a Director for the town of Exeter.
"Voted, That this Company will send a committee, or agents, two in number, to the General Assembly in October next.
"Voted, That Mr. Halstead, Augustin Hunt, Parshall Terry, Anderson Dana, Thomas Heath, John Grant, John Jenkins, Jr., Roasel Franklin, John Jameson and Philip Goss be a committee jointly and severally to examine the several persons supposed to be Penn- amites who are taking possession of any place on The Susquehanna Company's land, or any persons that are now taking up land in the settling towns, and make report to the next meeting of this Company in October."
The meeting then adjourned till September 25th, at the same place, at which time-the Committee of Settlers having been desired to be present "to inspect the taking of the votes for Agents to attend the General Assembly at New Haven in October"-an election was held, and Joseph Sluman (then in Connecticut) and Capt. Timothy Smith were duly elected Agents. It was then voted :
"That Mr. Parshall Terry has kept the ferry on both sides of the river against the fort, during the pleasure of the Company of settlers, under the present regulations of the ferry by this Company. Voted, That Mr. Timothy Rose of Kingstown have liberty to keep a ferry opposite the Forty Fort, during the pleasure of this Company, and on the same regulations."
The above is the first mention made in the minutes of the town- meetings of the "Forty Fort," which stood in the upper end of Kings- ton Township, at the bend of the river about two miles below Monoca- nock Island, and about two and a-third miles (in a bee-line) north of Fort Wyoming on the river bank in Wilkes-Barre. The Forty Fort. -thus named, of course, because it stood in, and was erected by the proprietors of, the township originally known as the "Forty Town- ship"-was a rudely-built stockaded fort, the erection of which was begun in the latter part of November, or early in December, 1772. Some chroniclers of Wyoming history have stated that this fort was built in 1769 by the "First Forty" (see page 472), while others-the majority-have fixed upon 1770 as the year of its erection. However, the two extracts from "The Town Book of Wilkes Barre" reproduced
* The tax-list, or rate-bill, of the settlement.
t See page 1,165 of "The Town Book of Wilkes Barre."
# See page 765.
-
VIEW UP THE SUSQUEHANNA FROM THE SITE OF FORTY FORT. (From a Photograph taken in June. 1903.)
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on pages 735 and 755, taken in connection with other evidence, show, conclusively, that as late as November 18, 1772, there was no fortified structure in Kingston Township.
In September or October, 1773, the block-house at Mill Creek was abandoned, nearly all the settlers who had occupied quarters there hav- ing erected houses in Wilkes-Barré town-plot or elsewhere and moved into them.
At a general meeting of the proprietors of the settling towns held at "Wilksbarra" October 19, 1773, with Capt. Stephen Fuller as Mod- erator and Capt. Obadiah Gore, Sr., as Clerk, the following was adopted :
"Whereas, there is yet a number of inhabitants that has not yet signed our Articles of Agreement, and still neglect the same, it is now Voted, That the Directors of each town set up a notification to call upon all who has neglected or refused; and that if they do not sign by the next adjourned meeting they shall be esteemed as common enemies to our cause, and will be dealt with as such by this Company."
At an adjourned meeting of the settlers held at "Wilksbarre Fort" October 26, 1773, the following report was received and read, and the votes mentioned hereinafter were passed.
"A Report of the Comtee of Settlers at Wyoming to the company of settlers now convened-upon a complaint of a Comtee against ASA BROWN for being an enemy to our Company by publicly declaring himself such an one. We have heard the above evidence to the abovementioned complaint, and judge him to be guilty in manner and form as set forth in said complaint, and have considered he is an unwholesome inhabitant, and agreeably to the votes of The Susquehanna Company must not be suffered to continue amongst us. All which we recommend to your serious consideration.
[Signed] "ZEBN BUTLER, "OBADIAH GORE,
"STEPHEN FULLER, "NATHAN DENISON."
"Voted, That Mr. John Perkins' excuse for not signing our Articles of Agreement are insufficient.
"Voted, That Peter Harris shall have a hearing at the next meeting, respecting signing the Articles of Agreement.
"Voted, That Timothy Keyes be a Collector of the Road Tax in the room of Solomon Johnson."
The General Assembly of Connecticut convened, for its regular semi-annual session, at New Haven, October 14, 1773. Some time previously to that date Timothy Smith set out from his home in Kings- ton for Connecticut. Going to East Haddam he acquainted Joseph Sluman with the desires of the Wyoming settlers, and then the two men journeyed to New Haven. There they worked assiduously to bring about the establishment of a regular and permanent form of governinent for the persistent petitioners on the banks of the Susque- hanna. The personal efforts of these Agents were supplemented by a number of petitions which came to the Assembly from various quarters in Connecticut signed by citizens of the Colony who were not connected with The Susquehanna Company, and who prayed that the Assembly would take action in regard to the jurisdiction, title, etc., of the Susquehanna lands. The Assembly continued in session until near the close of October, and before adjourning referred the case of the Susque- hanna settlers to a joint-committee of both Houses of the Assembly, with directions to report thereon at an adjourned session of the Assem- bly to be held at Hartford in January, 1774. At the beginning of the sanie session the Assembly, having received a favorable opinion from "counsel of the first eminence in Great Britain, who had been consulted* on the Right and Title of the Governor and Company of the Colony of
*See page 773.
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Connecticut to the lands within the limits of its Patent, lying westward of the Province of New York," passed the following resolutions, in pursuance of a report made by Dr. William Samuel Johnson and Roger Sherman, Esq., a committee of the Upper House.
"Resolved, That the Assembly, at this time, will assert, and in some proper way support, their claim to those lands contained within the limits and boundaries of their Charter which are westward of the Province of New York.
"Resolved, That a committee be appointed to treat with Governor Penn respecting an amicable agreement between the two Colonies concerning boundaries, either to settle by mutual agreement, or join in an application to His Majesty for commissioners to settle said line."
At New Haven, under the date of November 4, 1773, Joseph Slu- man wrote to Zebulon Butler at Wilkes-Barré as follows :
"Was acquainted by Mr. Timothy Smith, the Monday evening following the sitting of the Assembly, that I was chose Agent to prefer a petition to said Assembly in behalf of the settlers at Susquehannah. *
* The next morning proceeded to New Haven with Mr. Smith and found that the question relative to the lands westward of Delaware River belonging to the Colony had been taken up the week before, and that the Assembly had resolved to assert and support their right thereto. * * Upon our memorial or petition a committee was chosen from both Houses to erect a Jurisdiction. The report was to make a County, with every kind of officers necessary-both civil and military. The report was laid over to the second Wednesday of January, 1774-to which time the Assembly stands adjourned. * * Mr. Smith is waiting for this letter. * * His Honor, the Governor, in opening the Assembly, urgently pressed our distressed situation at the Susquehannah. *
* I hold it best for me 11ot to return to the Susquehannah until after January."
Under the date of November 8, 1773, Col. Elizur Talcott wrote from Glastonbury, Connecticut, to Zebulon Butler :
"You will have all the news of what our Assembly has done for us, by Mr. Timothy Smith, your agent for the settlers, who is better able to tell you than I am, for I left New Haven some time before he did."
News of the action of tlie Connecticut Assembly reached Phila- delpliia very shortly thereafter, and almost immediately considerable activity was manifested on the part of a large number of Pennsyl- vanians to whom the Provincial Land Office had previously issued land- warrants, under which the holders desired to have surveys of land made for them within the territory claimed by The Susquehanna Company. In the latter part of October and early in November, 1773, the follow- ing Pennsylvania surveys-among a large number-were made within tlie bounds of the Susquehanna Purchase, and within thirty miles of Wilkes-Barré. The "Manor of Dundee," containing 3,520 acres, sur- veyed by Charles Stewart, Deputy Surveyor, on Wyalusing Creek ; 311 acres surveyed to John Fourman, on the south side of Nescopeck Creek ; 327 acres to Edward Thatcher, on Nescopeck Creek ; "Antigua," con- taining 322 acres, surveyed to Isaac Coxe, Jr., on Nescopeck Creek, "two miles east of the Indian path leading from the mouth of Nesco- peck Creek to Fort Allen" (see page 237, Vol. I) ; "Ballyrean," contain- ing 335 acres, surveyed to John Maxwell Nesbitt on Nescopeck Creek, two and a-half miles eastward of the Indian path abovementioned ; "Inniskilling," containing 352 acres, surveyed to Jonathan Nesbitt on Nescopeck Creek, three miles eastward of the Indian path abovemen- tioned ; "Venison Market," containing 327 acres, surveyed to John Emley "on and adjoining the Indian path from Nescopeck to Fort Allen," and 310 acres to Samuel Rogers on Nescopeck Creek, "about one mile west" of the abovementioned path.
At a meeting of the Wyoming inhabitants held at Wilkes-Barré December 8, 1773, with John Jenkins, Sr., presiding as Moderator and
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Maj. Ezekiel Peirce acting as Clerk, the following business was trans- acted :
"Voted, That Mr. Sluman, Timothy Smith and John Jenkins be Agents to attend the General Assembly at Hartford in January, [1774].
"Voted, That Christopher Avery, Samuel Slaughter, Capt. [Lazarus] Stewart, Mr. Solomon Strong and Esquire [Isaac] Tripp be a committee to advise and consult with our Agents to draw up a plan, in order to transmit [it] by our Agents, to be laid before the General Assembly in January-the committee to meet in Kingstown, at the house of Thomas Bennet, Friday, December 18th, at 10 A. M.
"Voted, That Kingstown and Plymouth are willing to dismiss ye Rev. Mr. Johnson front his former agreement in dividing his labor in preaching ye gospel amongst us .*
"Voted, That this meeting is adjourned to Kingstown, at ye house of Mr. Elisha Swift, Wednesday, December 22d, at 10 A. M."
The settlers convened at Mr. Swift's on the 22d of December, but without transacting any business adjourned to meet on the 30th of the month at the house of Maj. Ezekiel Peirce, in Kingston. Having assembled at that time and place a town-meeting was organized and the following business was transacted :
"Voted, That our Agents be supplied with memorials from each town, to be laid before ye General Assembly at Hartford in January next, shewing their minds in regard to the county-town-what town they [would] have for their county-town.
"Voted, That the Agents appointed to attend the Assembly in January next, to act in behalf of this Company, be directed as followeth :
"1st-To give the thanks of this Company of settlers to ye Honble the General Court for their Resolutions in October last, so much in favour of this company of settlers.
"2d-That they have full power and authority to draw up and sign a memorial to the General Court for and in behalf of this Company, praying for incorporate privileges, civil and military ; or to follow the matter upon the memorial now lying before the Court, or as they shall think best.
"3d-That they endeavour to obtain an Act passed by the General Court concern- ing ye doings of this Company's officers who have acted as such by appointment and agreement of this Company of settlers and ye Susquehanna Land Company of propri- etors, so that those persons who have carried on any action to obtain a righteous demand might not in ye end be defeated.
4th-That they make strict enquiry what has been done with ye memorials and petitions heretofore sent by this Company to the General Court, praying to be incor- porated, &c., and find out what attendance has been given by our Agents heretofore appointed.
"5th-That they take lists with them of all ye proprietors at the settling towns, attested by ye Comtee of Settlers, and each town's lists by themselves, with ye copies of ye Susquehanna Land Company's votes granting those towns to ye settlers.
"6th-That they take the most effectual method to prevent any Acts being passed by ye General Court that in any way would strengthen the title of those who have taken up lands under pretention of ye title of Pennsylvania, and have located and laid out ye same in ye heart of ye Government of ye Colony of Connecticut.
"7th-That they lay a true state of ye Pennsylvania and Jersey people's conduct in laying out this Government's land, and at their filthy, wicked trade with ye Natives, &c., and of their robberies and thefts committed against this Company of settlers in time past.
"8th-That they take with them ye number of ye inhabitants of ye several settling- towns and plantations of ye settlements on the Susquehanna River, and make return thereof to the General Assembly of this Colony.
"9th-That they, as Agents of this Company, attend ye General Court in January next, from ye beginning to ye end of the same, taking advice of true friends to ye wel- fare of this Colony ; and that they faithfully follow the business of their agency, and strictly abide by their instructions.
"10th-Voted, That the Selectmen of each town take ye numbers of ye Inhabitants residing in each town on ye 1st day of January next, and lodge ye same in ye hands of the Clerk of this Company by the 3d day of January next."
Prior to its adjournment in October the General Assembly of Con- necticut enacted-supplementary to its resolutions relative to the lands west of the Delaware-that the Hons. Matthew Griswold, Eliplialet Dyer, Roger Sherman, William Samuel Johnson, Samuel Holden Parsons, Silas Deane, William Williams and Jedidiah Strong (ranked
* This action was taken, undoubtedly, because at that time the Rev. Noah Wadhams was located in Plymouth, as previously mentioned, while in Kingston Mr. John Stafford, a Baptist licentiate from Dutchess County, New York, was sojourning as a missionary.
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among the leading citizens of Connecticut, and nearly all of whom are previously mentioned herein) be "a committee with full power to assist his Honor Governor Trumbull in stating, and taking proper steps to pursue, the claim of the Colony to the Western lands, so called." Any three members of this Committee were authorized and directed to pro- ceed as soon as convenient to Philadelphia to wait on Governor Penn, "with the resolutions of said Assembly and such letter or letters as his Honor Governor Trumbull, with the advice of said Committee," should write to Governor Penn; "and with power to treat respecting an amicable agreement between this [Connecticut] Colony and the aforesaid Proprietaries concerning the boundaries of this Colony and the Province of Pennsylvania ;" and also to treat with Governor Penn "with respect to the peace of the inhabitants of said lands, and to agree upon such measures as shall tend to preserve good order and prevent mutual violence and contention while the boundaries between this Colony and the said Province remain undetermined."
The committee created by the aforementioned Act met with Gover- nor Trumbull at Norwich November 19, 1773, and after a full discus- sion of the subject in hand Governor Trumbull appointed and commis- sioned-under his "hand and the public seal of the Colony of Connec- ticut"-Col. Eliphalet Dyer,* William Samuel Johnson, t LL. D., and Jedidiah Strong, ¿ Esq., "to attend upon and treat with" Governor Penn. Some three weeks later these Commissioners set out for Philadelphia, where they arrived December 14th.
In September, 1773, Richard Penn had been succeeded in the office of Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania by John Penn, who had just returned from England.§ (See pages 694 and 716.) About December 12, 1773, Governor Penn received a petition|| from "the magistrates, Grand Jury, and other principal inhabitants of Northumberland County," to the effect that they had been seated on lands in Northumberland County, purchased from the Proprietaries ; that about two years previ- ously (to wit, in the Autumn of 1771) a number of them had been "ousted of their possessions at Wyoming, and cruelly stripped and
* See page 393. t See pages 478, 651, 666 and 776.
# JEDIDIAH STRONG was born at Litchfield, Connecticut, November 7, 1738, sixth child of Supply Strong (originally of Hebron, Connecticut, and in 1723 one of the first settlers of Litchfield) and his second wife, Anne (Strong). Jedidiah Strong was graduated a Bachelor of Arts at Yale College in 1761, and three years later received the degree of A. M. He studied theology, and, October 4, 1763, was licensed to preach by the Hartford North Association of Ministers. However, he almost immediately turned his attention to law, and after a year of study was admitted (in 1764) to the Bar of Hartford County. He then located at Litchfield in the practise of his profession. From 1770 to 1783 he served as one of the Selectinen of Litchfield, and from 1773 to 1789 was Town Clerk. In October, 1771, he attended the General Assembly of Connecticut as one of the Representatives from Litchfield, and from then until 1789 he sat as a Representative in thirty regular sessions of the Assembly. At thirteen of these sessions he was Clerk of the Lower House. In 1774 he was chosen a Delegate to the Continental Congress, but declined the office. From 1780 to 1791 he was a Judge of the Litchfield County Court. During the Revolutionary War he was a Commissary of Supplies for the Continental Army. In 1788 he was a member of the State Convention which adopted the Constitution of the United States, and in 1789 and 1790 he was a member of the Governor's Council, or Upper House of the Assembly.
Jedidiah Strong was married (1st) April 17, 1774, to Ruth (born June 16, 1739), daughter of Maj. John Patterson of Farmington, Connecticut. She died October 3, 1777, leaving a daughter, and January 22, 1788, Judge Strong was married to Susannah, daughter of the Hon. George Wyllys (mentioned on page 282, Vol. I). She was about twelve years his junior, and in July, 1790, after two and a-half years of married life, she was compelled by his cruel behavior to apply for a divorce, which was granted by the Governor's Council, of which Judge Strong was then a member. "He was then cast out of all decent society," says Dexter in his Yale College Biographies. "He had already forfeited the esteem of his fellow-townsmen by his bad private character, although by hypocrisy and political intrigue he had been able up to this date to impose upon a wider public." He was a man of diminutive figure, limping gait and an unpleasant countenance, and is said to have succeeded in gaining his great ascendancy in his town and district by his arts as a pettifogger and a politician. In his latter years he sank rapidly into drunkenness and gross dissipation, and it was necessary to have a guardian appointed over him. His means became exhausted, and the town was obliged to assist in his support. He died August 21, 1802.
¿ May 3, 1772, John Penn wrote from London to a friend in Philadelphia : " I am not so well pleased with England as to make me forget America, where. I do assure you, I had rather be than here, and hope to manage matters so as to be able to see it soon again and spend the rest of my days there."
| See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," X : 111.
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plundered of their effects * * [by the New Englanders], who, not content with the acquisition of Wyoming and the parts adjacent, had attempted to extend their conquests." *
* Continuing, the peti- tioners declared : "That the whole posse of the County is not sufficient to enforce the laws at Wyoming; and as the inhabitants have not hitherto been able to prevent the continuance of the Connecticut intrud- ers in that part of the Province contrary to law, * * they fear their utmost efforts will not be sufficient to keep their possessions without the interposition and protection of the Legislature-which they implore."
On the very day that the Connecticut Commissioners arrived in Philadelphia to negotiate with Governor Penn, the latter sent to the Provincial Assembly a message reading as follows* :
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