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 7
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
"The deponent further saith that the said New England party at several times made prisoners of several of the people settled on the said Proprietary manor under the Pro- prietaries, turned their families out and destroyed the houses and effects ; and when he left Wioming he saw several of them, to wit: Martin Tidd, Robert Duchee, Michael Hendershute, John Murphy and Thomas Neal, confined in a gaol* in a miserable condi- tion. And that one of them who had been confined, of the name of Patrick White, he saw lying dead in the said gaol ; who (he heard amongst the people of the fort) had been taken out of the said gaol by the said Connecticut party in good health, and by them bled in both his arms till he died, after which he was brought back dead within an hour, and thrown into the gaol amongst the rest of the prisoners-but he knows not the truth of this information.
"This deponent further saith that when he left the fort at Wioming on the 5th day of May last past he believes there were upwards of 200 people belonging to it ; and that the persons named in the list hereunto annexed are of the party. The names of any others of them he has not been able to learn. This deponent further saith that he has frequently heard the leaders and many others of the said New England party declare that they would dispossess the inhabitants of Pennsylvania who would not join them, as low down as the Blue Mountains-which inhabitants are esteemed to consist of about 300 families. * * * "Namest of Connecticut people and Pennsylvanians in the Connecticut fort at Wioming :
Ashley, Benjamin
Gaylord, Samuel
Phillips, Nicholas
Beach, Nathan
Gaylord, Timothy
Ray, James
Bidlack, James
Gillow, Francis
Ray, William
Brockway, Richard
Goss, Nathaniel
Robinson, John
Buck, Elijah
Grimes, James
Robinson, Thomas
Buck, William
Hibbard, Ebenezer
Simpson, John
Cochran, John
Hibbard, Jonathan
Smith, Oliver
Collins, John
Holley, John
Smith, Timothy
DeLong, John
Holley, Samuel
Solley, John
Durkee, John
Hungerford, Stephen
Stewart, James
Ellis, William
Johnson, Edward
Stewart, Lazarus
Espy, George
Jones, Crocker
Stewart, Lazarus-Jr.
Espy, John
Kidd, Peter
Stewart, William
Espy, Joseph
Ludington, Asa
Weeks, Thomas
Follett, Benjamin
Mead, David
Woodworth, Douglas
French, Thomas
Morse, Joseph
Young, Lazarus
Frink, Joseph
Nisbitt, Samuel
Young, Robert
Fuller, Stephen
Young, William"
* Undoubtedly the guard-house attached to, or forming a part of, Fort Durkee.
+ Fifty-three in number, and alphabetically arranged by the present writer.
650
From the journals of the Moravian missionaries* at Friedenshütten (Wyalusing)-see Volume I, page 443-under the date of May 1, 1770, we glean the following :
"A white man, who had been held prisoner by the New England men at Wyoming upwards of three weeks, was brought by Job Chillaway.t From him we learned of the calamity that had befallen Captain Ogden and his brother."
It will be recalled that the fight at Golden Hill, in the city of New York, and the Boston Massacre had taken place, respectively, in January and March, 1770. (See Volume I, page 594.) Those events aroused throughout the American Colonies much bitter feeling and no end of sharp comment, which the Sons of Liberty took good care should not die down or become dulled. It was well known to the Pennsylvania authorities who were familiar with the events of that period that Maj. Jolin Durkee-then the leader of the Yankees in Wyoming-was promi- nent in the ranks of the Sons of Liberty ; and so, when news came to Governor Penn at Philadelphia April 4, 1770, concerning the happen- ings at Wyoming on March 28th, he and his Councilors concluded that Pennsylvania, just as New York and Massachusetts, was about to become the scene of general disorder and a hotbed of disloyalty to the King. To those officials it seemed, indeed, as if "lurid flames of threatening war shot up from every point of the surrounding horizon." Without delay, therefore-a formal meeting of the Provincial Council having first been held-Governor Penn wrote to Major General Gage (see pages 508 and 599) on April 6th, as follows} :
"It is now about a year since a number of people of the Colony of Connecticut, assisted, as I am informed, by some of Pendergrass' Gang, in a riotous and forcible man-
ner took possession of a large body of land on the River Susquehanna. * * The in- truders were at first removed without much difficulty by due course of law. They soon returned, however, with a formidable armed force; took possession of the lands and, setting the laws at defiance, built a large stockaded fort, in which they have since planted cannon ; appointed their own officers ; erected, as I am informed, mock Courts of Justice, and had the daring insolence-without the least warrant or authority in law-to arrest one of our people, upon whom they inflicted a very severe corporal punishment. * *
"They have at length prevailed on a number of profligate and abandoned people on our frontiers (many of whom have been concerned in the late Indian murders and dis- turbances) to join them in their unlawful enterprise, and they now not only openly resist the execution of the King's process, and set Government at naught, but have lately gone so far as to attack and fire upon a party of our people who had several of their associ- ates under legal arrest, which obliged them to return the fire ; and it unfortunately hap- pened that one of the rioters was killed and another wounded, so that it is no longer safe to attempt executing the process of the Government against these atrocious offenders. Not having any militia in the Province, I find myself under the disagreeable necessity of applying for the aid of the military to support the civil power."
Under the date of April 15th General Gage replied to Governor Penn, in part as follows§ :
"The troops in all the Provinces have orders, in general, to assist the civil power when they shall be legally called upon ; but the affair in question seems to be a dispute concerning property, in which I can't but think it would be highly improper for the King's troops to interfere. * * I shall immediately lay before His Majesty's Minis- ters the requisition you have been pleased to make, and wait His Majesty's commands thereupon."
About the time Governor Penn received the foregoing letter Gov- ernor Trumbull of Connecticut received a letter written by Dr. William Samuel Johnson (see Vol. I, page 504) at London under the date of February 26, 1770, and reading, in part, as follows|| :
* See "Transactions of the Moravian Historical Society," I: 202.
+ An Indian friendly to the white people. His name is frequently mentioned in these pages. See page 456.
Į See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," IX : 664. ¿ See ibid., page 665.
| See the "Trumbull Papers", mentioned in paragraph "(6)", page 29, Vol. I.
651
"The grants we are searching for, if discovered, will give some light in the Susque- hanna affair, and may be necessary to give a complete opinion upon the subject ; but, as thus advised, I have a very good opinion of the legal right of the Colony [of Connecti- cut] to those western lands, notwithstanding the settlement with New York [as to the New York-Connecticut boundary], and know not how it could be avoided upon a fair trial at law. Those lands are plainly within the words of the Charter, and that settlement [with New York] ought not to preclude the title to the remainder. The opinion, how- ever, that in general prevails here, founded upon some decisions of the Lords of the Coun- cil, is, that all the ancient Charters and Patents in the Colonies-being vague in their descriptions, drawn by persons often unacquainted with the geography of the country, and interfering frequently with each other-must be limited by the actual occupation, or other efficient claim, evidenced by overt acts of the early settlers.
"It seems plain, therefore, that such claim would not be very highly favored here, and will probably give much offense if made by the Colony. Whatever opinion I have, therefore, of the legal right (and though I wish extremely well to The Susquehanna Coni- pany, and have great reason to do so), yet, in faithfulness to the Colony, I must say that I think it by no means advisable for them to interfere at all in the affair at this critical conjuncture. *
* * With regard to The Susquehanna Company, for whose interests, as I have said, I ani enough solicitous, it does not appear to me that a grant to them is at all necessary from the Colony to enable them to defend against Mr. Penn. He must make out his own title, and recover in his own strength. They are in possession, and that possession is good against him until he establishes a clear title-both under the Crown and from the Indians-which he can never do while it appears that the lands were granted to the Colony of Connecticut in 1662. * * * I should think it perfectly right to give them a release of the Colony title when the controversy is over ; but to do it now, while the dispute is on foot, will seem to be taking some part in the controversy. * * I doubt the wisdom of setting up such a claim at present, or of interfering in the dispute of The Susquehanna Company at this time."
In October, 1769, the General Assembly of Connecticut directed Governor Trumbull and George Wyllys, Secretary of the Colony (see page 282, Vol. I), to collect all the documents relating to and bearing upon the Royal grants to the Colony of Connecticut, and to report to the Assembly concerning the same. These gentlemen having made their report at the session of the Assembly held in May, 1770, it was determined to transmit "a State of the Case to counsel learned in the law in England," and the same gentlemen were appointed to prepare the necessary papers. The original draft of the "Statement of the Case," prepared in pursuance of this vote of the Assembly, is now among the "Trumbull Papers," previously mentioned. It contains a number of com- ments and suggestions made by Governor Trumbull, and concludes with the following "queries":
"(1) Whether the said Governor and Company of the Colony of Connecticut have not the full and clear right and title to the purchase [from the natives] and full enjoy- ment of the lands lying within the limits and boundaries described in their Charter, lying westward of the Province of New York, and to extend their jurisdiction and government over the same -- the claim and challenge of the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania, or any other, notwithstanding ?
'(2) What manner of proceeding, to settle and prevent all differences and disputes relative to the same, is most expedient and unexceptionable ?
"'(3) What is legal and best for the Governor and Company of the Colony of Con- necticut to do and act on the whole state and circumstances attending this cause ?"
At London, under the date of May 21, 1770, William Samuel John- son wrote to Governor Trumbull :
"You will see by the copy of Mr. Penn's petition against The Susquehanna Com- pany, which I have forwarded to Colonel Dyer, that they are determined if possible to involve the Colony in that controversy."
A month later Dr. Johnson writes to the Governor that he has had several conferences with the agent of the Penns, who asserts that "he knows the Colony [of Connecticut] do take part in that business-110 matter what I [Johnson] or anybody else can say to the contrary."
An important meeting of The Susquehanna Company was held at Hartford, Connecticut, June 6, 1770, Maj. Elizur Talcott acting as Mod-
652
erator. The principal business transacted-other than receiving a full report relative to the happenings and conditions at Wyoming-was as follows :
"Voted, That Ozias Yale on Benjamin Yale's right, and John Jolly on Job Yale's right-settlers on the lands on Susquehanna River-be of the number of the First Forty settlers, and entitled to their rights in the township that shall be laid out to the said Forty ; and that [Henry] Dow Tripp be excluded from the number of the said Forty and any right in the township which shall be laid out for them. The said Yale and Jolly for the future to do and perform their duty as settlers on said lands, according to the votes of said Company.
"Voted, That the five townships of land granted by this Company for the incourage- ment of the first 240 settlers, shall be laid out according to Mr. David Mead's survey made last Fall ; and as our Paxton friends that have come on to settle with us have agreed to take the township called the Nanticook Township, we now grant the same to thein according to the number of them that have complied with the proposals made to them by the Standing Committee. The remainder of said town to be filled up out of ye 200 settlers, under the same regulations and with the same reserves made in the other townships granted to the settlers, in fulfillment of ye engagements of the Committee of this Company with our said Paxton friends in their letter to them by Captain Butler and Mr. Ebenezer Backus. And that a township six miles square be laid out at a place called Lackawanna, or on the south of said Nanticook Township, adjoining thereto, in lieu of said Nanticook, for the fifty settlers which the said Nanticook Township would. have belonged to-upon the same conditions and with the same reserves made and received in the other townships granted to the settlers ; and if neither of the said places shall suit to lay out the last-mentioned township, that then the same shall be laid out by the direction of Major Durkee and Captain Butler so as to do justice to said settlers and the Company.
"Voted, That there be at present but one trading-house set up in our Purchase on Susquehanna River for trading with and accommodating the Indians with such neces- saries as they from time to time shall want ; and that those persons that shall trade and deal with the Indians shall be under the direction and control of Major Durkee, Captain Butler and Deacon Timothy Hopkins, who are hereby authorized to take care of and over- see the trade and deal with the Indians, and see that justice is at all times done to them. "Voted, That the Standing Committee, as soon as they can with conveniency, pro- cure some able and orthodox minister of ye gospell to repair to our settlements at Wyo- ming and remain with them for one year in the Discharge of his Ministerial office among them ; and that the said Committee shall Draw their order on Capt. Zebulon Butler for such part of the whole of ye money in his hands as they shall Judge Necessary for the support of said minister.
"Whereas, It is probable that many proprietors not included in the 240 first settlers have repaired and will repair to join our settlement on our Purchase on Susquehanna River, in order to settle themselves and families on said lands-in part of their general rights in part of said Purchase-it is now Voted, That the committee that shall hereafter be appointed to oversee and direct the whole settlement on said land shall-and they are hereby authorized and empowered-at the cost of those that apply for the same, to lay out townships five miles square for such proprietors within said Purchase * * ; each of which townships to be divided into fifty equal parts, or shares, for quantity and quality -three of which rights, or shares, to be reserved for the public benefit of said township, in the same manner and for the same purposes as the reserved rights in the townships heretofore granted to the first 240 settlers.
"Voted, That Capt. Z. Butler, Isaac Tripp, Benjamin Follett, John Jenkins, Timothy Hopkins, David Marvin, William Buck, Benjamin Shoemaker, John Smith, Thomas Dyer, Ebenezer Gray, Jr., Obadiah Gore, Stephen Fuller, Robert Young and Nathaniel Wales, 3d, be and are hereby appointed a committee to assist Major Durkee in ordering and directing in all the affairs relating to the well government of said settlers, and in directing the settling of said lands-till otherwise ordered by the Company."
By the 10th of May, 1770, Wyoming was again in the undisturbed possession of the Yankees, who, apparently, were masters of the situ- ation. Peace reigned. Hope, joy and confidence began to prevail. Planting time had come, and not only was a large quantity of corn planted, but many new improvements were projected, and preparations were begun for distributing the proprietor-settlers throughout the five "settling" towns. As explained on page 515, Vol. I, those towns, or townships, had been located and their boundaries surveyed by David Mead* and his assistants in the Autumn of 1769. The Susquehanna
* See a subsequent chapter for a sketch of his life.
653
Company having accepted the surveys and directed that the townships should be "laid out" according to them (see page 652)-that is, that each township should be laid out in divisions, which in turn should be subdivided into lots-it was necessary that that work should be done before any individual allotments of land could be niade.
In order to expedite the work Major Durkee procured the services of Samuel Wallis,* a skilled and experienced surveyor from Philadel- phia, who, with his half-brother Joseph Jacob Wallis, had effected in 1769 a settlement on a tract of land on the West Branch of the Susque- hanna, within the bounds of The Susquehanna Company's Purchase- although surveyed under a warrant issued from the Provincial Land Office. About the middle of May, 1770, Samuel and Joseph Jacob Wallis were at Shamokin, or Fort Augusta, en route from Philadelphia to their plantation, "Muncy Farm," on the West Branch, and in response to a request from Major Durkee they came up the East Branch of the river to Fort Durkee. It was then that Samuel Wallis ascertained the latitude of the fort, as noted on page 495, Vol. I. (See, also, note below.)
Early in June, 1770, the "town-plot" of Wilkes-Barré was planned by Major Durkee, and under his direction was surveyed and plotted by Samuel Wallis, assisted by Joseph Jacob Wallis and others. The plot was laid out on the level stretch of land, comprising some 200 acres, lying just north-east of Fort Durkee. The plot was in the form of a
* SAMUEL WALLIS was of Quaker origin, and was born in Elkton, Maryland, about 1730. He received a good general education, and later, having studied surveying, became interested in land speculations. Prior to 1767 he settled in Philadelphia-his residence being in the "North Ward" in 1769, and in the "Middle Ward" in 1774. Early in 1768 he was employed with other surveyors in making surveys along the Juniata River in southern Pennsylvania. Soon after the "Fort Stanwix Treaty Line" was established (see Vol. I, page 451) he surveyed for himself, under a Provincial land-warrant-as mentioned above-a tract of land located three miles west of the present borough of Muncy and ten miles east of the present city of Williamsport, in what then was Berks County, later was Northumberland County and now is Lycoming County. There, early in 1769, he began the erection of a large and substantial stone dwelling- house, which was nearly completed in September of the same year and was then occupied by Mr. Wallis and his brother. This building, increased in size and modernized, was still standing a few years ago -the oldest house in Lycoming County-and probably is in existence now.
Meginness, in his "History of the West Branch Valley" (I : 344), says: "Among the noted pioneers of 1769 was SAMUEL WALLIS, who became the most extensive landowner of that time. He was aggressive and venturesome, and acquired one tract after another until he owned over 7,000 acres in one body in Muncy Valley alone. His famous plantation, known as 'Muncy Farm,' figures more in history than the balance of all his possessions. ** * He was constantly on the lookout for other lands. There is in existence an ancient draft showing the outlines of a tract of 5,900 acres including the ground on which Jersey Shore, in Lycoming County, is built. This was surveyed in 1773 on 'orders of survey' issued in April, 1769."
Samuel Wallis was married March 1, 1770, to Lydia, daughter of John Hollingsworth of Philadelphia. Mr. Wallis continued to reside in Philadelphia until the Spring of 1775, spending, however, a considerable portion of his time at "Muncy Farm," where his brother Joseph Jacob lived continuously from 1770 till the Spring or Summer of 1775, when he vacated the plantation and Samuel and his family established themselves there permanently. In April, 1774, Pelatiah Webster of Philadelphia wrote to Silas Deane at Wethersfield, Connecticut, as follows (see Johnson's "Historical Record," III : 70): "Fort Augusta, half a mile south-east of the conflux of the East and West Branches of the Susquehanna, is, by exact observa- tion, in latitude 40°, 53', 32"; Fort Durkee at Wyoming is in 41º, 14', 27"; Buffalo Creek, in 41º, l'-as taken by Mr. Samuel Wallis, a gentleman of good merit and well known to the Wyoming people, who is 110w going up with very accurate instruments to take the latitude of 42º, in order to ascertain how far north you extend." (The boundary-line between New York and Pennsylvania was supposed to be coincident with the 42d parallel of latitude, and the northern boundary of the Connecticut claim was understood to lie there-as previously explained, and as shown on the map near the end of this chapter.)
January 24, 1776, Samuel Wallis was appointed Captain of the 6th Company of the 2d Battalion of the Northumberland County Militia. When the "Big Runaway" occurred in June, 1778 (see Egle's "History of Pennsylvania," pages 574 and 916), Captain Wallis abandoned his improvements on the West Branch and fled with his wife and three children and the other inhabitants of that region to Fort Augusta. Thence the Wallises repaired to Elkton, Maryland, where Mrs. Wallis' parents, the Hollingsworths, were then residing. The family of Captain Wallis remained at Elkton until some time in 1779 or 1780, when they joined him at Philadelphia, where they continued to reside until 1785, when they returned to their old home at "Muncy Farm."
When Lycoming County was erected in 1795 Governor Mifflin appointed Samuel Wallis one of the Associate Judges of the County Courts, and he occupied the bench at the first terin of Court, which was held at Jaysburg. Before that time Mr. Wallis had become one of the most noted land speculators of his day, and alone, and in partnership with James Wilson and George Clymer (signers of the Declaration of Independence), Samuel Meredith, and other gentlemen, he owned many thousands of acres of land. Judge Wilson, at the time of his death by suicide in the Summer of 1797, owed Mr. Wallis £88,500 on account of their land deals. Wilson was bankrupt, and his death was the beginning of trouble for Wallis, which culminated in the sacrifice of the latter's magnificent landed estate after his death, which oc- curred at Philadelphia October 14, 1798. He was on his way home from North Carolina, where he had been on business, and upon reaching Philadelphia he was attacked by yellow fever, which caused his death in a few hours. His business affairs were very much complicated. In addition to his private traus- actions in land with many individuals, he had been the agent of the Holland Land Company. Among his numerous land-clainis were eighty-four, covering as many tracts (aggregating nearly 34,000 acres) in
654
parallelogram, its longer sides being parallel with the river. (See the following page.) It was bounded on the north-east by what is now known as North Street ; on the south-east by the present Pennsylvania Avenue ; on the south-west by South Street, and on the north-west by River Street. The parallelogram was intersected by three cross streets, now known as Northampton, Market and Union; while lengthways it was intersected by Main Street. No names were given to any of these streets until some years later. (See Chapter XXXVI.) River Street was continued for some distance below the town-plot, while Main Street ran south to the township of Hanover and north to Pittston, and from the beginning was known, for a number of years, as "the main road." In the center of the town-plot was laid out a diamond-shaped space con- taining four acres and forty-one perches of ground, which remained a part of the common, or public, undivided lands of the township. A few years later this open space received the name of "Center Square", but for some time now it has been known as "Public Square". The land lying between River Street and the river-upwards of thirty-five acres in extent, and now known as the River Common-also remained a part of the public, undivided lands of the township, and was not included in the town-plot.
The town-plot was divided into forty-eight lots ; but as the regula- tions of The Susquehanna Company required that there should be fifty "town-" or "house-lots" apportioned among the fifty proprietors of the township, it was found necessary to lay two lots outside the town-plot proper. One of these lots, numbered "13", was at the south-east corner of River and South Streets, while the second, which was numbered "26", was at the south-east corner of Main and South Streets. Forty- five of the lots were parallelograms, while the four lots contiguous to Luzerne County-chiefly in that part where, a few years later, the townships of Clifford, Nicholson, Abington and Tunkhannock were erected.
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.