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 41
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118
" EASTON 21ST OCTOBER 1774.
"Sir-The inhabitants of this place having been informed that the People at Wyo- ming purpose to lay out a publick Road from thence to the Inhabitated parts of this County are very glad of such a proposal and would be very fond to give all the assist- ance they can to the forwarding of the same; but as the laying out a Road thro' any part of this County without we could procure an Order from the Governor of this province or from the Court would be of little benefit, without being properly Confirmed & Re- corded, we would therefore beg the favour of you if possible to pospond your proceedings for a little time, until we Could be able to obtain such an Order either from the Governor or from the Court of Quarter Sessions of this County, which order we make no doubt of procuring and then we Would be glad to Give you all the Encouragement & assistance we Could to the fulfiling of the said Undertaking. You will no Doubt see MI Charles Steward & then youl please to Consult with him about the matter as also please to for- ward the Inclosed which is Concerning the same. I am Sir In behalf of a number of the aforesaid Inhabitants your most obedient & Hunible Servant,
[Signed] "JOHN RINKER."
"To
Zebulon Butler, Esquiar, at Wyoming.
The following paragraphs are extracts from the minutes of a gen- eral town-meeting of "ye Proprietors and settlers, legally warned, held in Wilkesbarre district, in Westmoreland," November 22, 1774.
"Zebulon Butler, Esq., was chosen Moderator for ye work of ye day.
"Voted, That Augustin Hunt* and Frederick Vanderlipt, now residing on the Susquehanna Purchase, being men that have and now do so conduct themselves by spreading reports about ye town of Westmoreland, much to ye disturbance of ye good and wholesome inhabitants of this town, and by their taking up and holding land under ye pretension of ye title of Pennsylvania, contrary to ye proclamation of ye Governor of this Colony [of Connecticut], and contrary to ye votes of ye Susquehanna Company, &c. It is now voted, That ye said Hunt be expelled this Purchase, and he be, as soon as may be, removed out of ye Purchase and out of ye town of Westmoreland, by ye committee hereafter [to be] appointed, at ye cost of this Company, in such way as ye committee shall think proper.
"Voted, That Capt. Stephen Fuller, Capt. Robert Durkee, Asahel Buck, Nathan Denison, Esq., Capt. Samuel Ransom, John Paine, Abrahamı Harding, Roasel Franklin and John Jenkins, Jr., be a committee to make inquiry into and search after all persons that are suspected to have been taking land under the title of Pennsylvania, etc .; and that they have full power to expel any person or persons from this Purchase and town whom they or ye major part of theni judge unwholesome inhabitants, on account of their taking land under the title of Pennsylvania, and their conducting contrary to ye proclamation of ye Governor of ye Colony of Connecticut and ye votes of ye Susque- hanna Company, &c. And also remove them at such time and in such way as they shall think proper, out of this town and Purchase; and that they be empowered by this Com- pany to call on the Treasurer for any of ye bondst in his hands that belong to thiis Com-
cide the respective claims of Connecticut and Pensilvania to the ground in question, or to settle their boundaries with respect to each other. The present petition does not present the claim on the part of Pensilvania as a matter of discussion; but supposing it to be clear prays directions consequential to that supposition. These directions, I apprehend, cannot be given without an examination into the claim of Pensilvania and a decision upon the Boundary of that Province."
* See pages 730 and 813.
+ See page 814.
# Settlers' bonds, described on pages 721 and 791.
818
pany, and put ye same in suit against any of ye persons who are indebted to this Con- pany and are going out of town, or are spending their estate, &c .; and that they collect ye same, or get good security of such other persons who are good, able landholders in this town; and that they lodge ye same in ye hands of said Treasurer as soon as they have obtained it, &c .; and that they do ye same at ye cost of this Company, if needful ; and that they take ye most effectual method to prevent such great numbers of persons of evil name and fame from going up and down this river under the pretence of laying out locations, &c."
December 6, 1774, a town-meeting was held at Wilkes-Barré, at which it was voted that Elisha Richards, Capt. Samuel Ransom, Peren Ross, Nathaniel Landon, Elisha Swift, Nathan Denison, Esq., Stephen Harding, John Jenkins, Esq., Anderson Dana, Obadiah Gore, Jr., James Stark, Roasel Franklin, Capt. Lazarus Stewart, Capt. Silas Park and Uriah Chapman be a School Committee for the ensuing year. About that time Fort Wyoming, on the River Common near the foot of North- ampton Street, having passed its days of usefulness, and it not being deemed necessary to repair it or make further use of it, was demolished.
Near the close of the year 1774, or early in 1775, the following communication was sent to Governor Penn of Pennsylvania (see "Penn- sylvania Archives," First Series, II : 240).
"To the Hon. JOHN PENN, Esq., Gov. & Com .- in-chief of the Province of Penna, &c. "The petition of the Sheriff, Coroner and Magistrates of the County of Northum- berland in the said Province, most humbly sheweth :
"That your petitioners, actuated by a sense of the duty which they owe to the public in general, have not been wanting in the utmost exertion of their abilities towards enforcing the laws of this Province, and maintaining regularity and good order in their several stations, yet sorry we are to inform your honor that our utmost endeavors are likely to fail of the desired effect through the restless and ambitious designs and enter- prizes of the Colony of Connecticut; the intruders from that Colony settled at Wioming are reinforced with fresh numbers ; officers, civil and military, are appointed not only among them but even among us by the Governor of Connecticut, as well in direct violation of our laws as for the express purpose of overturning the jurisdiction of our Courts. Swarms of emissaries from that Colony crowd among our people, seducing the ignorant, frightening the timorous and denouncing the utmost vengeance against any who may be hardy enough to oppose them.
"It is with grief we own that with all our diligence we have not been able to pre- vent their insiduous artifices from having some effect; hitherto, indeed, we have been able, tho' with difficulty, to support a proper appearance of lawful authority; but how can we, single and unsupported, sustain the weight of a whole Colony which teems with people ! A large detachment is now marching to Wioming. Five hundred of the troops of that Colony are applied for, and expected under the disengenuous artifice of being a guard against the Indians. We have such repeated and reiterated accounts of their firm intentions to dispossess the people settled under Pennsylvania, that to believe it would be arrant incredulity. In fine, to such situation are we already reduced, from the num- ber of their adherents, spies and emissaries, as to be under the hard necessity of keeping constant guards, not only to prevent the destruction of our jail, but for the security of our houses and persons, all of which are violently threatened. In this critical and alarming situation we cannot help imploring the interposition and aids of Government, and that this country, poor and but thinly inhabited, may not be abandoned and left a prey to a powerful Colony.
" And your petitioners as in duty bound will ever pray.
[Signed] "WILLIAM COOK*, Sheriff. "JAMES MURRAY, Coroner, " ROBERT MOODY,
" WILLIAM PLUNKET, " MICHAEL, TROY,
" SAMUEL HUNTER,
" ELLIS HUGHES,
" BENJAMIN ALISON, " WILLIAM MACLAY."
In the latter part of January, 1775, Governor Penn, in answer to a letter of inquiry from the Earl of Dartmouth, similar to the one re- ceived by Governor Trumbull, as previously mentioned, mnade full and
* WILLIAM COOK was a native of Donegal Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. He came to what is now Northumberland County at an early day, and in October, 1772, was elected the first Sheriff of the County. He served till October 12, 1775, when he was succeeded by William Scull, previously men- tioned. Early in the Revolutionary War he became Colonel of the 12th Regiment, Pennsylvania Line, and in 1778 joined the main army under Washington. About 1779 he was appointed Commissary Gen- eral for the army of the North, and was stationed at the town of Northumberland. He held that office till the close of the war. He died in April, 1804.
819
complete answers* relative to the affairs of the Province of Pennsyl- vania, in which he referred to "Wioming, on the East Branch of the Susquehanna, where some intruders from Connecticut have forcibly seated themselves, under pretence of extending their Colony to the South Sea." Relative to the Province in general the Governor stated :
"It is not easy to ascertain what proportion of the Province is cultivated; but on the whole it is a much larger proportion than in any other Colony of the same age in North America. * * * From the best information and estimate I have been able to procure there are in the Province of Pennsylvania 302,000 souls, of whom 2,000 are blacks, the others whites. There has been a great increase of inhabitants within the last ten years. The population is owing to the annual importation of German and Irish servants and passengers, and the natural increase of the inhabitants, who marry earlier and more generally here than is usual in Europe. * * Before the late Indian wart there were a number of Indians settled in several parts of the Province, but during that war and since they have withdrawn theniselves beyond the western and northern limits of the Province."
To the end that we may the better understand the full significance and force of some of the happenings recorded on the succeeding pages of this chapter, let us at this point hurriedly consider the state of affairs which existed, not only in Pennsylvania and Connecticut, but in all the Colonies and Provinces on this continent, at the period under con- sideration.
As noted on page 354, Vol. I, the First Continental Congress con- vened at Philadelphia in September, 1774, and with the coming-in of the year 1775 excitement and restlessness among the people everywhere began to be constant. The Americans were beginning to feel keenly the oppression which King George did not dare to inflict upon his sub- jects in the British Isles, and which was apparently reserved for the Colonists in America-as if emigration had made them unworthy of their heritage of British liberty and self-government. The situation of affairs in America was promptly made known in England, and produced a vast amount of public and private discussion. In Parliament, Janu- ary 20, 1775, the Earl of Chatham, in a powerful speech, declared :
"The Americans have been condemned unheard. The indiscriminate hand of vengeance has devoted 30,000 Britishı subjects of all ranks, ages and descriptions to one common ruin. * * * The spirit which now pervades America is the same which for- merly opposed loans, benevolences and ship-money in this country-the same spirit which roused all England to action at the Revolution, and which established at a remote era your liberties on the basis of that great fundamental maxim of the Constitution, that no subject of England shall be taxed but by his own consent. What shall oppose this spirit, aided by the congenial flame glowing in the breast of every generous Briton? To maintain this principle is the common cause of the Whigs on the other side of the Atlantic, and on this. It is Liberty to Liberty engaged. In this great cause they are immovably allied. It is the alliance of God and Nature-iinmutable, eternal, fixed as the firmament of Heaven.
" History, my Lords, has been my favorite study, and in the celebrated writings of antiquity have I often admired the patriotism of Greece and Rome; but, my Lords, I must declare and avow, that, in the master-states of the world, I know not the people nor the senate who, in such a complication of difficult circumstances, can stand in prefer- ence to the delegates of America assembled in General Congress at Philadelphia. I trust it is obvious to your Lordships that all attempts to impose servitude upon such men-to establish despotism over such a mighty continental nation-must be futile. * * * It is more than evident that you cannot force them to your unworthy terms of submission. It is impossible ! We ourselves shall be forced ultimately to retract ! * * Avoid, then, this humiliating, disgraceful necessity. With a dignity becoming exalted situation make the first advance to concord, to peace and to happiness."
Less than three weeks after the delivery of the foregoing speech in the House of Lords, John Wilkes and Isaac Barré delivered in the Commons the speeches printed in part on pages 557 and 603, Vol. I.
* See "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, IV : 591.
+ Pontiac's War. See the last paragraph on page 416, Vol. I.
820
These speeches were reprinted in America, and helped, greatly, to bolster up the cause of the Americans. The Sons of Liberty sang, with renewed vigor, their patriotic songs *- one of the most popular of which, entitled "American Taxation," had this chorus :
" We never will give under ! O George ! we do not fear The rattling of your thunder, The lightning of your spear."
March 5, 1775, an affray took place in the city of New York be- tween the Whigs and the Tories, in which the latter were overcome and routed. Less than a month later the Provincial Assembly of New York adjourned, never to meet again. March 13th, at what is now Westminster, Vermont, officers of the Crown, in endeavoring to force an entrance to the Court House, which had been taken possession of by a party of Whigs, caused the death of one William French and severely wounded several other persons. A few days later the remains of French were interred with military honors in the old graveyard at Westminster, and in due time 'there was erected over his grave a tombstone, from which the storms of more than one hundred years have not yet effaced these lines :
" Here William French his Body lies ; For Murder his Blood for Vengeance cries ; King Georg the 3d his Tory Crew. Tha with a Bawl his head Shot threw. For Liberty and his Country's good He lost his Life, his Dearest blood."
By many American writers it is claimed that William French and his associates were patriots arrayed against royal authority, and that theirs, rather than the blood of the citizens shed in New York in Janu- ary, 17701, was "the first martyr blood of the American Revolution." Perhaps these writers are correct. In 1770 the presence of the British troops to uphold the oppressive measures of the Home Government was obnoxious to the patriots of the Colonies, but they had not yet deter- mined to throw off their yoke. The liberty they claimed, and for which the Liberty Pole on the New York Common stood, was liberty under the royal Government, not independence of it. When, however, the royal posse attacked the Court House at Westminster the revolt of the Colonies was in active preparation. The minute-men of Massa- chusetts and Connecticut were casting the bullets which, a few weeks later, slew hundreds of redcoats at Concord Bridge and Bunker Hill, while the Green Mountain boys had already engaged to take Ticon- deroga. The Revolution had really begun.
April 19th the sound of the first gun at Lexington "pushed into the background all the shortcomings, subterfuges and delays of George III." "The first drum-beat in the march of the coming democracy had broken on a somewhat slumberous world." On April 23d a travel- stained horseman rode furiously into the city of New York and spread the news of the fights at Lexington and Concord. It required but little time for the Sons of Liberty, on that peaceful Sunday, to take posses- sion of the City Hall, distribute the arms stored therein and in the arsenal among the citizens, and form a volunteer corps. They demanded and obtained the key to the Custom House, closed the building, and
* See page 602, Vol. I.
t See page 594, Vol. I.
821
laid an embargo on the vessels in the port destined for the eastern Colonies. May 5th a provisional government for the city was formed at a meeting of the citizens, who pledged themselves to obey its orders until different arrangements should be made by the Continental Congress.
May 10th the Second Continental Congress convened at Philadel- phia, while on the same day Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold took possession of Fort Ticonderoga, and two days later of Crown Point *. May 31st the inhabitants-largely Germans-of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, impelled by a love of liberty, passed resolutions in re- gard to the propriety of throwing off the British yoke. These resolu- tions were copied into the leading newspapers of the Colonies, and forined what has been called the "Mecklenburg Declaration of Inde- pendence." June 15th the Continental Congress chose Col. George Washington commander-in-chief of the American forces, and directed him to repair to Boston and assume command in the field. He set out from Philadelphia on June 23d. On the eve of his departure meager news of the battle of Bunker Hill reached him. "Did the militia fight ?" was his one pregnant question. When told how they had fought he said, "Then the liberties of the country are safe !" July 3d Washington arrived at Cambridge and assumed the command of the army. The War for Independence was now on in earnest.
Shortly after the news of the fights at Lexington and Concord reached the British Isles the Rev. John Wesley, the founder of Method- ism, wrote from Armagh (under date of June 15, 1775) to Lord Northt, in part as follows :
"My Lord :- I would not speak, as it may seem to me, concerning myself with things that lie out of my province; but I dare not refrain from it any longer. I think silence in the present case would be a sin against God, against my country and against my own soul. * * * I do not intend to enter upon the question whether the Ameri- cans are in the right or in the wrong. Here all my prejudices are against the Americans, for I am a High Churchman, the son of a High Churchman, bred up from my childhood in the highest notions of passive obedience and non-resistance; and yet, in spite of all my long-rooted prejudices, I cannot avoid thinking (if I think at all) these, an oppressed people, ask for nothing more than their legal rights, and that in the most modest and inoffensive manner that the nature of the thing would allow. But, waiving this, waiving all considerations of right and wrong, I ask, is it common sense to use force towards the Americans? A letter now before me, which I received yesterday, says: '400 of the regulars and 40 of the militia were killed in a late skirmish.' What a disproportion is this ! And this is the first essay of raw men against regular troops. You see, my Lord, whatever has been affirmed, these men will not be frightened ! And it seems they will not be conquered so easily as was at first imagined. They will probably dispute every inch of ground, and if they die, die sword in hand.
"Indeed, some of our valiant officers say : '2,000 men will clear America of these rebels !' No ! nor 20,000-be they rebels or not-nor perhaps treble that number. They are as strong men as you; they are as valiant as you-if not abundantly more valiant- for they are one and all enthusiasts for liberty. They are calm, deliberate enthusiasts, and we know how this principle breathes into softer souls stern love of war and thirst of vengeance and contempt of death. We know that inen, animated with this spirit, will leap into a fire or rush into a cannon's mouth. 'But they have no experience in war.' And how much more have our troops? Very few of them ever saw a battle. 'But they have no discipline.' That is an entire mistake. Already they have near as much as our army, and they will learn more of it every day. 'But they are divided among themselves.' So you are informed by various letters and memorials. No, my Lord, they are terribly united. Not in the Provinces of New England only, but down as low as the Jerseys and Pennsylvania. The bulk of the people are so united that, to speak a word in favor of the present English measures, would almost endanger a man's life. Those who informed me of this-one of whom was with me last week, lately come from Philadel- phia-are no sycopliants; they say nothing to curry favor; they have nothing to gain or lose by me. But they speak, with sorrow of heart, what they have seen with their own1 eyes and heard with their own ears. * *
* See page 484, Vol. I.
+ See pages 597-610, Vol. I.
822
"Are we, then, able to conquer the Americans, suppose they are left to themselves ? Suppose all our neighbours should stand stock still, leaving us and them to fight it out. But we are not sure of this. Nor are we sure that all our neighbours will stand stock still. I doubt they have not promised it; and if they had, could we rely upon these promises? Yet it is not probable they will send ships or men to America. Is there not a shorter way? Do they not know where England and Ireland lie? And have they not troops, as well as ships, in readiness? All Europe is well apprized of this; only the Eng- lish know nothing of the matter ! What if they find means to land but 10,000 men. Where are the troops in England or Ireland to oppose them? Why, cutting the throats of their brethren in America ! Poor England, in the meantime !" *
When the foremost men of the Colonies perceived that war with the inother country was iniminent, they took steps tending towards either the neutrality or the friendship of the Indians*, whose enmity was very much to be feared. As noted on page 298, Vol. I, Sir William Johnson, the Superintendent of Indian Affairs-who possessed, in a very large measure, the confidence and regard of the northern Indians, par- ticularly the Six Nations-had died in July, 1774, and been succeeded as Superintendent by his son-in-law, Col. Guy Johnson, a very different sort of a inan.
At Schenectady, New York, under the date of March 21, 1775, the Rev. Samuel Kirklandt wrote to Timothy Edwards, Esq. (mentioned on pages 285 and 490, Vol. I), in part as follows :
"I have been no farther westward than Col. [Guy] Johnson's. The Oneidas are expected there this day. I came down here last evening upon special business, to bring an address from the Mohawks to the Committee of Schenectady and the Mayor and Com- mittee of Albany. Guy Park and Johnstown have been alarmed for several days. Re- ports have been that 500 New England people were coming up to take Colonel Johnson prisoner, and were to be joined by some in and about Albany. Colonel Johnson has been at great trouble and expense to fortify his house, and support a number of people for several days, and we have had no sleep there for three nights. * * The Indians are determined not to meddle in the dispute between England and America-or, only Boston, as it is represented to them; but they will support and defend their Superintend- ent [Col. Guy Johnson], that their council-fire may not be extinguished. They also said to me that if Colonel Johnson had been taken in Albany or New York they should not have interposed; but to have him taken from their side (as they expressed it), they will not consent. It has been reported in these parts that I was taken prisoner by Colonel Johnson, which is not strictly true. The Colonel, indeed, forbid my proceeding to Oneida till this meeting should be over; said he would show me a letter from General Gage, with orders from Lord Dartmouth, to remove the dissenting missionaries from the Indian country till the unhappy dispute betwixt England and Boston were settled. Since yes- terday many things wear a different face. I suspect he [Johnson] dreads the conse- quence of forbidding my returning to my people. If I don't return to Stockbridge, or you should not hear from me by next week, you may conclude I have proceeded to Oneida. * *
* I would not have you write to me. Letters begin to be opened and persons examined a little beyond this town. However, there are two sides to the river, and some go the opposite side with safety."
Early in the Summer of 1775 Col. Guy Johnson, under the pre- tense that he could better control the Indians and keep them from harming the inhabitants by fixing his headquarters at Fort Stanwix, left Guy Park (within the limits of the present city of Amsterdam, New York) and repaired to that post, where he was soon joined by other Tories and a formidable body of Indians. Thence Colonel John- son soon removed, with the most of his retinue, to Oswego.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.