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 42
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Immediately after the fight at Lexington an account of the same was sent by express from town to town. In the Historical Society of Pennsylvania is preserved the original despatch, prepared by a member of the Committee of Safety at Watertown, Massachusetts, on April 19th and sent to Worcester the same day. On the 20th, at four o'clock in
* See page 490, Vol. I. + See pages 449 and 490, Vol. I.
# Extracted from the original letter, which was in the possession of the late Hon. George F. Hoar of Massachusetts.
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the afternoon, it reached Norwich, Connecticut; at seven o'clock in the evening it reached New London; at one o'clock in the morning of the 21st it reached Lyme; Saybrook, at four o'clock; New Haven in the evening of the same day; at eight o'clock in the morning of the 22d it reached Fairfield, where another despatch, from Woodstock, announcing the Concord fight, was added. At four o'clock in the afternoon of the next day (Sunday, April 23d) these two despatches reached New York; at two o'clock in the morning of the 24th they reached New Brunswick, New Jersey; Princeton at six o'clock; Trenton three hours later, whence the news was forwarded to the Committee of Safety at Philadelphia. At each stage of their progress these despatches were endorsed by the Committees of Safety in the various towns mentioned above.
It was about the first of May when news of the Lexington and Concord fights reached Wilkes-Barré. In the meantime the Connecti- cut Assembly had been specially convened at Hartford, and was in ses- sion from April 26th till May 6th. Joseph Sluman was in attendance as the only Representative from the town of Westmoreland. May 11, 1775, the Assembly met again at Hartford, in regular semi-annual session; Capt. Zebulon Butler and Maj. Ezekiel Peirce being present as Repre- sentatives from Westmoreland. Early in the session the Lower House took up the memorial from the inhabitants of Westmoreland, which had been presented at the previous October session and laid over for action (see page 816), and resolved : That the jurisdiction of Westmore- land should be extended, that a County Court and a Court of Probate should be erected, and "that a inilitary establishment be there made, and Captain Butler is desired to bring in a Bill for said purpose." When the matter was brought before the Upper House that body voted to ex- tend the bounds of the town of Westmoreland, and also enacted that the town of Westmoreland should be "one district of and for a Court of Probate," and that a military establishment should be created; but voted against the erection of a County Court. The Lower House hav- ing duly acquiesced in the action of the Upper House the following Act was subsequently passed* :
" Be it enacted, *
* That the bounds of the town of Westmoreland be, and they are hereby, extended westward until it meets with the line lately settled with the Indians at Fort Stanwix, commonly called the Stanwix Line, bounding north and south on the north and south lines of this Colony. And the inhabitants on said tract of land, annexed as aforesaid, are hereby incorporated with said town of Westmoreland, and the same is hereby annexed to the county of Litchfield."
This new western boundary-line of Westmoreland is indicated on the map facing page 790. Owing to the fact that the location and course of the "Fort Stanwix Treaty Line" (see page 451) was not precisely understood by the Connecticut law-makers when they extended the bounds of Westmoreland, it was supposed at that time, and for some time afterwards, that the extension took in the territory on the West Branch of the Susquehanna which a few New Englanders had several times attempted, and were still anxious, to occupy and improve-which terri- tory lies in the northern end of the present Northumberland County and in the eastern half of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. However, that section of the Susquehanna Purchase did not fall within the limits of the town of Westmoreland-although some writers have stated that it did.
* See "Colonial Records of Connecticut," XV : 13.
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The bounds of Westinoreland having been settled, the Assembly appointed Capt. Zebulon Butler, Nathan Denison, Esq., Capt. Silas Park, William Judd, Esq., and John Vincent*, Esq., of Westmoreland, Justices of the Peace in and for the county of Litchfield for the ensuing year; Joseph Sluman Judge of the Court of Probate of Westinoreland (with power to appoint a Clerk of the Court), and Samuel Gordon and Nathaniel Landon, of Westmoreland, Surveyors of Lands in and for Litchfield County. A few days later the Assembly enactedt : "That the town of Westinoreland shall be one intire regiment, distinguished and call'd by the name of the Twenty-fourth Regiment, and shall be under the same rules and orders and have the same powers, privileges and advantages as other regiments of this Colony by law have." Then the Assembly appointed and "established" Zebulon Butler Colonel, Nathan Denison Lieutenant Colonel, and William Judd} Major of the new regiment, and without delay they were duly commissioned as such officers by Governor Trumbull.
* JOHN VINCENT was born in Essex County, New Jersey, January 26, 1709, the son of Levi Vincent. He was married December 1, 1733, to Elizabeth Doremus of New Jersey, and in 1772 they and their son Cornelius (born in 1737) and their respective families accompanied Jacob Freeland and others of New Jersey to the then new county of Northumberland, Pennsylvania. They settled on Warrior Run, where Fort Freeland was subsequently built-which was about four and a-half iniles up the creek from its mouth, and about four iniles east of the present borough of Watsontown, Northumberland County. The Vincents were among the occupants of Fort Freeland when it was surrendered to the British and Indians July 29, 1779. John Vincent died in 1801.
t See "Colonial Records of Connecticut," XV: 12, 43.
Į WILLIAM JUDD (JR.) was born at Farmington, Connecticut, July 20, 1743, the third son and sixth child of William Judd, Sr., and his wife Ruth, youngest child of John and Elizabeth (Loomis) Lee of Farming- ton. William Judd, Sr., was the only son and eldest child of John Judd of Farmington, who was a de- scendant in the fourth generation of Thomas Judd who came from England in 1633 or '34 and settled at Cambridge, Massachusetts ; removing to Hartford, Connecticut, in 1636, and about 1614 becoming one of the proprietors of Farmington, where he died November 12, 1688. He was a Deacon of the Farmington Church. William Judd, Sr., was a well-to-do man. He died in 1751, and upon his monument the follow- ing inscription was carved : "Liberality of sentiment, singular veracity, integrity and charity marked his character." His widow was married in 1760 to Jacob Kellogg.
William Judd, Jr., was graduated A. B. at Yale College in 1763, in the same class with Ebenezer Gray (mentioned on page 292, Vol. I) and Vine Elderkin (mentioned on page 463, Vol. I), and in September, 1778, the degree of A. M. was conferred on him by his Alma Mater-he being present, in person, to receive it. Having studied law he was admitted to the Bar of Hartford County, Connecticut, in 1765, and immedi- ately began to practise his profession in his native town. In 1773 he became a proprietor in The Susque- hanna Company, and in March, 1774, was (as noted on page 798, ante) appointed a member of the Standing Committee of the Company. At a town-meeting of the inhabitants of Farmington held June 15, 1774, it was voted : " That the Act of Parliament for blocking up the port of Boston is an invasion of the rights and privileges of every American, and as such we are determined to oppose the same-with all other such arbitrary and tyrannical acts-in every suitable way and manner that may be adopted in General Con- gress ; to the intent that we may be instrumental in securing and transmitting our rights and privileges inviolate to the latest posterity. * * * * That William Judd, Fisher Gay [and nine others named] be, and they are hereby, appointed a committee to keep up a correspondence with the towns of this and the neighboring Colonies."
In May, 1775, William Judd was still living in Farmington, but shortly afterwards-leaving his family there-he removed to Wilkes-Barre. Here he was the proprietor of Town Lot No. 32 (see page 655), which he continued to own until June 15, 1792, when he sold it to Putnam Catlin for £30. In August and September, 1775, Major Judd was at Wilkes-Barré, where he was exercising the duties of his office of Jus- tice of the Peace.
After his release from custody by the Pennsylvania authorities (see page 843) he returned to Wilkes- Barré, where, in the Summer or early Autumn of 1776, he enlisted a number of men for the Continental army. At the session of the Connecticut Assembly held at New Haven in October, 1776-Col. Zebulon Butler and Col. Nathan Denison being in attendance as Representatives from Westmoreland-Major Judd was appointed a Justice of the Peace in and for Westmoreland for the ensuing year, and was also appointed a Captain in the 3d Regiment, Connecticut Line, in the Continental service. (See page 637.) Under the date of Deceniber 18, 1776, Major Judd wrote from Wilkes-Barre to Governor Trumbull of Con- necticut as follows (see "American Archives," Fifth Series, III: 1281):
"By the hand of Jonathan Fitch, Esq., I was favored with a certificate of my appointment to a cap- taincy in the Continental service. The duty I owe my country, and the gratitude due to friends, are strong mnotives urging me to accept the appointment ; but when I consider this infant country and settle- ment, and the probability of Colonel Butler's leaving it at so critical a season, I rather consider it my duty to remain here for the present. Capt. Robert Durkee, who commands these two companies of troops stationed here [the " Wyoming Independent Companies," described in Chapter XIII], is very desirous of joining the army. Could he be allowed to take my place in the army, and I have his berth at this place, it would be agreeable to ine, for the reasons aforementioned. My inclination strongly urges me to the service of my country, and were it not for the regard I have to this settlement, would immediately enter into the service. Should I be so happy as to succeed in my wish, I hope I may be allowed the rank of Major, though I expect to receive no more than Captain's pay or rations. My reasons are, that I may not be commanded by the other Captain [Samuel Ransom] stationed here ; which will be the case provided I cannot obtain the rank of Major, as his commission will be older than mine. I have wrote to General Parsous to the same purpose. Captain Durkee is gone to the army. I humbly hope for your Honour's influence with the Congress for that purpose."
January 1, 1777, Major Judd was commissioned Captain in the 3d Regiment, Connecticut Line (previ- ously mentioned), and a few weeks later he left Wilkes-Barre for Connecticut, where, having accepted his commission, he aided in organizing the new regiment. He remained in the service until January 1, 1781, when he was retired by the consolidation of his regiment with the 4th Connecticut Reginuent. (See
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page 486, Vol. I.) Subsequently Captain Judd became an original member of the Connecticut branch of the Society of the Cincinnati. Upon leaving the army he returned to Farmington, where he resunied the practise of law, and where he resided until his death. He represented his town at nine sessions of the General Assembly of Connecticut from 1786 to 1794; in 1788 he was a member of the State Convention which ratified the Constitution of the United States, and for several years about that period he was a Jus- tice of the Peace.
American Union Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, was constituted at Waterman's Tavern, Roxbury, Massachusetts, February 20, 1776. It was an Army, or a Military, Lodge, and worked in the American army until April 23, 1783. It was re-opened at Marietta, Ohio, June 28, 1790, and was re-chartered by the Grand Lodge of Ohio in 1815. It is still at work at Marietta, and is the oldest Masonic Lodge in the West. While working as an Army Lodge many prominent American officers were members of it ; among them being Samuel Holden Parsons, Ebenezer Gray, Samuel Wyllys, Isaac Sherinan, Samuel Richards and Jedidiah Huntington. At a later date Gen. Rufus Putnam (the first Grand Master of Ohio), Gov. Return Jonathan Meigs, the Hon. Lewis Cass, and other eminent men were members of the Lodge. Capt. Wil- liam Judd became a member of American Union Lodge prior to February, 1779, at which time, as the records show, he was serving as Secretary of the Lodge. At a meeting of the Lodge held at Morristown, New Jersey, on St. John the Evangelist's Day (December 27), 1779, Captain Judd was present. and among the names of distinguished Brethren present we find those of Generals Washington, Schuyler, Maxwell and Benedict Arnold.
After the war Captain, or Major (as he was commonly called), Judd became a member of St. John's Lodge, No. 2, F. and A. M., Middletown, Connecticut. Frederick Lodge, No. 14, F. and A. M., 11ow of Plainville. Connecticut, was organized under a charter from the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts Septem- ber 18, 1787, by several members of the craft residing at Farmington, Connecticut. Major Judd was the first Worshipful Master of this Lodge, and among its members were several other Brethren who had been members of American Union Lodge. A convention of representatives from various Masonic Lodges located in Connecticut assembled at Hartford May 14, 1789, to consider the question of establishing a Grand Lodge. Major Judd presided, and a committee was appointed to arrange a plan of organization, to be reported at a convention to be held at New Haven on the 8th of the following July. On that day twenty-one representatives from twelve Lodges convened at the old "Doolittle Tavern," corner of Elni and College Streets, New Haven, and organized the present Grand I,odge of Connecticut, F. and A. M. " These Free Masons," wrote the late Grand Secretary of Connecticut, Joseph K. Wheeler, " represented the best element in the coniniunity. They were men of intelligence and influence, filling dignified sta- tions in the community in which they lived, and whose interests were so closely identified with the wel- fare of the Colony that our historical sketch of Free Masonry will enter somewhat into the history of the State." Pierpont Edwards (youngest son of the Rev. Dr. Jonathan Edwards, and for years Judge of the United States District Court in Connecticut), a member of Hiram Lodge, No. 1, of New Haven, was elected Grand Master ; William Judd was elected Deputy Grand Master, and Col. Samuel Wyllys of Hart ford (see page 283. Vol. I) was elected Grand Junior Warden. William Judd was Grand Master of Connecticut in 1792, '93, '94 and '95, and the warrants, or charters, of many of the Lodges now working in Connecticut bear his signature as Grand Master.
For a number of years prior to his death Major Judd was a conspicuous and leading man in the Demo- cratic-Republican party of Connecticut. In the Summer of 1804 he was chairman of the convention of citizens held at New Haven to agitate the matter of forming and adopting a State Constitution. The General Assembly of the State was entirely opposed to this idea, and was so much offended at Judd's activ- ity in the cause that it revoked his commission as a Justice of the Peace. It is said that Major Judd died broken-hearted, in consequence of the persecutions which ensued because of his zeal in the advocacy of a Constitution. His death occurred at Farmington November 13. 1804, and within a short time thereafter there was printed and published, "for the General Committee of Republicans," an octavo pamphlet of twenty-four pages, said to have been written by Abraham Bishop, a graduate of Yale College in the class of 1778, and entitled: "William Judd's Address to the People of the State of Connecticut. on the subject of the removal of himself and four other Justices from office by the General Assembly of said State, at the late October [1804] session, for declaring and publishing their opinion that the people of the State are at present without a Constitution of Civil Government." The following paragraph is an extract from the pamphlet in question: "The Federalists, finding that a royal charter, granted 140 years ago to a small Colony, upon the petition of a few individuals, and imposed 011 all the rest, and since made void by the Declaration of Independence, could not be a Constitution for a free people ; and that a statute law, liable to be repealed at the pleasure of the Legislature, would not do, * * * conjured up this old compact, or agreement [of the inhabitants settled at Hartford, Windsor and Wethersfield], that had been quietly sleeping for 160 years, and we are now told-' The dispute is settled ! Behold your Constitution !'"
On the last page of this pamphlet appears the following: "Major Judd, at the time of receiving notice from the General Assembly, was out of health ; but having been chairman of the convention, and being by profession a lawyer, he decided on making his own defence. His extreme exertion, in prepar- ing for this, so disabled him that soon after his arrival at New Haven he was confined to his bed and pre- vented from making his defence. After a partial recovery he proposed to his friends his wish to publish his brief, or summary, of defence, which, being judged advisable, he furnished them with his ideas on this subject, * * * The work being nearly finished he left New Haven yesterday (November 13th) morning, and having arrived at his house expired at eleven o'clock in the evening. * * * These are to you, the people, the last words of a respectable individual, lately of your number ; of a man who served for a long time in the character of a Justice of the Peace, of an officer in the Revolutionary War, of a Representative of his town, of Master of the Grand Lodge of Connecticut, and of Chairinan of the Repub- lican convention. In the course of a busy life, spent in political councils and in extensive practise at the Bar, Major Judd had the ineans of understanding the principles of our Revolution, and the history and true interests of this State. With uniform integrity and firmness he asserted his political opinions in opposition to the powers of the State, and this last opinion, for which he was removed, was expressed at a time when he had strong presentiments that his end was near."
The following paragraph is an extract from a pamphlet entitled "Judd vs. Trumbull; or Plain Truths" -published at New Haven, Connecticut, in 1820. " He [Maj. William Judd] had been a brave and an accom- plished officer in the Revolutionary War ; he afterwards was a Justice of the Peace in Connecticut, and while he held this office he asserted in a Republican convention that Connecticut ought to have a written Constitution of civil government. For this declaration he was arraigned as a culprit at the bar of the Assembly ; men were hired at the public expense to conduct a prosecution against him ; and after a hear- ing he was deprived of his commission of the peace, in a way calculated above all others to wound the feelings of an honorable man. * * * At the opening of the late convention [the Connecticut Constitu- tional Convention of 1818, which framed a Constitution that was subsequently adopted by the State, as noted on page 243, Vol. I] a vote was adopted in which the Federalists themselves, with two or three ex- ceptions, expressed the sentiments of Major Judd by declaring that it was then 'expedient that the State of Connecticut should have a Constitution of civil government.'"
Major Judd was married December 8, 1765, to Elizabeth, elder daughter of Ebenezer and Mary (Sedg- wick ) Mix of West Hartford, Connecticut. They became the parents of the following-named children : (i) William Samuel, born January 10, 1766 ; graduated at Harvard College in 1787; married to Esther Stanley ; was a Major in the Connecticut Militia ; died at New Britain, Connecticut, March 27, 1835, 1cav- ing numerous descendants. (ii) Bortiva, born in 1767; died in 1774. (iii) William, died in 1776. (iv) Eliza- beth Olive, who became the wife of William T. Belden, and lived at Poughkeepsie, New York, Mrs. Elizabeth ( Mix) Judd, widow of Major Judd, died at Farmington September 23, 1806, in the sixty-ninth year of her age.
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At that time the statute law of Connecticut relating to the militia of the Colony required that all male persons, inhabitants of the Colony, from sixteen to fifty years of age, should bear arms and duly attend all musters and military exercises of the respective troops and companies wherein they were enlisted-excepting, however, the following persons : Assistants (members of the Upper House of the Assembly), Justices of the Peace, Physicians and Surgeons, Representatives and Deputies to the Assembly for the time being, Schoolmasters, Attorneys at Law, one Miller to each grist-mill, Sheriffs and Constables for the time being, "constant" Ferrymen, Indians, Negroes, and a few other classes of in- habitants. No inan could be compelled to "serve as a private centinel in the militia" after he had arrived at the age of forty-five years. Every enlisted soldier (unless he were a trooper), and "every other house-holder," was required to "always be provided with, and have in continual readi- ness, a well-fixed firelock-the barrel not less than three and a-half feet long-or other good fire-arins to the satisfaction of the commissioned officers of the company to which he doth belong; a good sword, or cutlass; a worm; primer and priming-wire fit for his gun; a cartridge- box; one pound of good powder; four pounds of bullets fit for his gun, and twelve flints-on penalty of three shillings for want of such arms and ammunition, and one shilling for each defect." It was provided that each company should choose a Clerk, who should "give his attend- ance in the field, with his sword by his side," on each of the muster- or training-days-to keep or call the muster-rolls, and make out the enrolment-lists twice each year, to be delivered to the Captain command- ing the company; also to execute warrants for the levying of fines against delinquents.
In every train-band where there were sixty-four soldiers, exclusive of the officers, it was provided that there should be one Captain, one Lieutenant, one Ensign and four Sergeants; where there were only thirty-two soldiers in a company, there should be one Lieutenant, one Ensign and two Sergeants, and where there were but twenty-four soldiers, there should be one Ensign and two Sergeants. The members of each company or train-band had liberty to nominate and elect their several officers, of whom all above the rank of Sergeant were thereupon "estab- lished" by the General Assembly and commissioned by the Governor. The chief commissioned officer of each company was empowered to designate the "days of training and trooping"-three days' warning to the men being given through the Clerk of the company. It was pro- vided that the training-days should be "in some or either of the months of March, April, May, September, October and November of each year;" and, declared the law, "every centinel shall appear compleat in his arms on every such day; * and every person liable to train, having been duly warn'd and not appearing and attending the same, shall pay a fine of three shillings-except he make within twelve days a satisfactory excuse to the commanding officer." The annual inspection of arms . and ammunition was required to be held on the first Monday in May. The law perinitted one troop of horse-to consist of no more than sixty-four officers and men-to be attached to each regiment in the Colony.
At the session of the General Assembly held in December, 1775, the following regulation regarding the militia was adopted.
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" Whereas this Assembly, in May, 1769, did establish and order that the military exercise called the 'Norfolk Militia Exercise ' should be used and practised by the mil- itia of the Colony for the future ; And Whereas the Continental army have adopted the military exercise usually called the ' Manual Exercise ', as ordered by His Majesty in the year 1764, which is esteemed preferable in many respects to the said 'Norfolk Militia Exercise', for the purpose of preparing the soldiery for real service-Resolved by this Assembly, That for the future the military exercise called the 'Manual Exercise', ordered by His Majesty in 1764, shall be observed and practised by the militia in this Colony."
At or near the close of the May session of the Connecticut As- sembly Governor Trumbull received a letter from Thomas Life, Esq., the Agent of the Colony at London. It was dated April 5, 1775, and read in part as follows :
"There was a flying report some time ago that the acts of some people in your Colony, in going down to Boston to oppose the King's troops, had subjected your Charter to be forfeited, but have not heard anything lately about it. The Colony of Rhode Island, it is said, is likewise in the same predicament for seizing the King's powder. I received notice from the Board of Trade to attend them on the 20th of March last on Messrs. Penn's petition, which I accordingly did, and prayed two months' time to be heard on behalf of your Colony by counsel. Mr. Baker, who married one of Mr. Penn's daughters, appeared on behalf of the petitioners, and opposed me very strongly, and it was with the utmost difficulty I obtained time till the first of May next, and I must be prepared in all events by that time. Indeed, Mr. Baker at first objected to my liaving any more time than a fortnight, or a month at most. *
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