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 74
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(ix) William, the youngest son of Capt. Stephen and Amy (Gardner) Harding, was born about 1767, and died in 1825.
During the French and Indian War Stephen Harding, Sr., served from April 6 to November 6 in the campaign of 1760 (see the third paragraph on page 482, Vol. I), as a private in the 12th Company (Thomas Pierce of Saybrook, Captain) of thc 2d Connecticut Regiment, commanded by Col. Nathan Whiting. (See "Connecticut Historical Society's Collections", X : 208.)
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collect cattle and provisions in the upper end of the Valley for the subsist- ence of his men. From time to time during the day Indian chiefs and officers of the "Rangers" passed to and fro between the camp of the invad- ers in the woods and Butler's headquarters. Colonel Denison, who had established his headquarters at Forty Fort, four miles distant, also sent out scouting parties to endeavor to ascertain the strength and exact loca- tion of the enemy. Captain Hewitt was in command of one of these parties, and was shot through the hand; one of his men, Samuel Finch, was captured by the "Rangers," while another man, also named Finch,* was shot and scalped by the Indians near the gorge in the mountain sub- sequently known as Carpenter's Notch and then as Shoemaker's Hollow. Later the same day a considerable party went out from Forty Fort to bring in the remains of Finch, and did so without interruption. After- wards it was learned that a large body of Indians had lain concealed within striking distance, and could easily have destroyed the Westmore- landers; but, for reasons of their own, refrained.
In a series of articlest written in 1828 by Col. (formerly Capt.) John Franklin, relative to the battle of July 3, 1778, the author stated : "July 2d [1778], at nine o'clock in the evening, I was in Huntington [Town- ship], a mile from my home, at a neighbor's, when I received by an express the following letter :
"' KINGSTON, 2d of July, 1778.
"'To Capt. JOHN FRANKLIN .- Sir, you are commanded to appear forthwith, with your company, at the Forty fort in Kingston. Don't let your women and children detain you, for I don't think there is any danger at present, for the enemy have got possession of Wintermoot's fort, and I conclude they mean to attack us next. You will act as you think prudent about ordering the women and children to move to Salem; but you must not wait one moment to assist them. [Signed] 'NATHAN DENISON, Colonel.'
" 'To Capt. WHITTLESEY .;- You are desired to forward the above with all possible expedition. Don't let anything detain this; press a horse if needed.
[Signed] 'NATHAN DENISON, Colonel.' "
"My company," continued Franklin, "lived scattering-a part in Huntington and the remainder along the river from Shickshinny to near Berwick ; the greatest number, however, lived in Salem. The letter was copied [by me] and sent to my Lieutenant, Stoddard Bowen, at Salem, with directions to have him meet me at Shickshinny early the next morning, with all of the company that could be collected in that quarter. Notice was also given to every family in Huntington. Two of the company from Huntington were at that time in 'Shawnee ' [Plymouth], and three at Shickshinny.
" Early in the morning of July 3d I took my family to a neighbor's house, where I met with six men, all that could leave Huntington with safety to the women and children. We marched to Shickshinny. Lieu- tenant Bowen had been there, and taken with him three men§ who were there, and had been gone an hour ; he had left a Sergeant to collect the men in Salem and follow him. We had gone but a short distance when we inet an express, Benjamin Harvey, with a letter from Lieut.
* Miner says ("History of Wyoming", Appendix, page 56) that "three of the Finch family (John, Daniel and Benjamin) were killed at the time of the invasion-two in the engagement, and one mur- dered by the Indians the day previous, near Shoemaker's Mills."
These articles were originally printed (in February, 1828) in The Towanda Republican (Towanda, Bradford County, Pennsylvania), and were republished in The Wyoming Herald (Wilkes-Barre) of September 5, 12 and 19, 1828.
# Capt. ASAPH WHITTLESEY of Plymouth.
§ One of them was Silas Harvey, third son of Benjamin Harvey of Plymouth, mentioned above in Captain Franklin's letter as the "express."
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Col. George Dorrance, informing me that 'the Tories and Indians, about 600 in number,' were in possession of Wintermoot's fort; that he ex- pected they would attack Kingston next, and requested my assistance, with my company, 'with all possible speed.' He had also written a few lines to a Captain Clingman,* who was then stationed at Fort Jenkins, t near Fishing Creek, with ninety men, requesting his assistance with his company at Kingston. I also underwrote a few lines to the same pur- port."
There was not much hope or expectation of Clingman's company marching to the assistance of the people of Wyoming Valley, be- cause it was a company of Pennsylvanians, not in the Continental ser- vice; and, owing to the bitter feeling which had been engendered by the Pennamite-Yankee contest prior to the Revolutionary War, it was deemed improbable that the Pennsylvanians of Northumberland County would feel much interest in the salvation of the Wyoming settlements. Yet it was thought that their humanity might prompt them to do their duty, and that they would come to assist in driving back the Tories and the Indians. However, they did not come.
By hard riding over the very primitive and rough road which skirted the right bank of the Susquehanna, Benjamin Harvey was enabled to accomplish his mission to Captain Clingman and return to Forty Fort by the dawn of July 4th.
During the whole of Thursday, July 2d, Colonel Denison at Forty Fort and Lieut. Col. Zebulon Butler at Fort Wilkes-Barre were engaged in summoning all the men they could reach to assemble in arms-accom- panied by their women and children-at Forty Fort, Pittston Fort and Fort Wilkes-Barré. It was a day of excitement, aların and terror, and the men of Wyoming were not slow in responding to the call to arms.
The 24th, or Westmoreland, Regiment, Connecticut Militia, as then organized and "established," comprised, in reality, nine regular com- panies and two "Aların List" companies. On paper there were ten regular companies, but the organization of the 9th, or " Up the River," Company had been effectually broken up by various causes, and its for- iner officers and privates were widely dispersed. Some of the original members of the company, who had turned out to be Tories, were serv- ing in Butler's Rangers, § while the officers of the company then in com- mission were located as follows : Captain Carr was at Forty Fort, Lieu- tenant Kingsley was a prisoner in the hands of the Indians (having been captured in May or June, 1778), and Lieutenant Fox, having escaped from Indian captivity a short time before, was in the lower part of Northumberland County-as noted on page 917. Of the nine regular companies of the regiment the 8th (commanded by Capt. Eliab Farnam) was too far away to be relied upon for aid at that time; besides, there was a probability that the Indians would make an attack on the Lackaway settlement, and therefore the 8th Company was needed for its defense. The 7th (or Exeter) Company was in a measure hors de combat. Its
* Capt. JOHN CLINGMAN of the 8th Company, 2d Battalion, Northumberland County Militia, com- manded by Col. James Murray. May 1, 1778, Clingman's company numbered seventy-three officers and men.
+ FORT JENKINS was located on the north, or right, bank of the Susquehanna River, about midway between the present towns of Berwick and Bloomsburg, Columbia County, Pennsylvania. It had been built in the Autumn of 1777, or early in 1778. It consisted of a stockade about 60 x 80 feet in size, surrounding the house of a Mr. Jenkins.
# See pages 911 and 921.
§ See hereinafter a statement made by John Dcpue.
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Captain (Stephen Harding) and Lieutenant (Elisha Scovell*) having sur- rendered to the enemy, were detained as prisoners, temporarily, together with several privates of the "7th;" while other members of the company had been either slain or captured by the enemy a short time before, as previously narrated. John Jenkins, Jr., Ensign of this company, in com- mand of a number of the rank and file, was at Forty Fort, while a few other members of the company had joined the garrison in Pittston Fort.
The remaining companies of the 24th Regiment were located and officered on July 2d as follows: The 1st (or Lower Wilkes-Barre) Com- pany had rendezvoused at Fort Wilkes-Barré. Its officers were: James Bidlack, Jr., t Captain; Asa Stevens,} Lieutenant; Daniel Downing, § Ensign. The 2d (or Kingston) Company was at Forty Fort, and its offi- cers were : Aholiab Buck, || Captain; Elijah Shoemaker, || Lieutenant; Asa Gore, 1 Ensign. The 3d (or Plymouth) Company rendezvoused at the stockade on "Garrison Hill," Plymouth, but later in the day marched to Forty Fort, its officers being : Asaph Whittlesey, ** Captain; Aaron Gaylord, tt Lieutenant; William White, Ensign. The 4th (or Pittston)
* During the French and Indian War Elisha Scovell served from April 16 to November 30, in the campaign of 1759 (see page 482, Vol. I), as a private in the 7th Company (Amos Hitchcock of New Haven, Captain) of the 2d Connecticut Regiment, commanded by Col. Nathan Whiting; and in the campaign of 1762 (see page 482) he served as a private from March 16 till December 3 in the 7th Com- pany (Eldad Lewis of Southington, Captain) of the 2d Connecticut Regiment. (See "Connecticut His- torical Society's Collections", X : 138, 334.)
¡ See sketch of James Bidlack, Sr., on page 999. # See page 729.
§ DANIEL DOWNING, in partnership with Benjamin Bailey and Asa Stevens, owned and operated a saw-mill in Wilkes-Barre Township in 1788. In 1789 Daniel Downing was a tax-collector in Wilkes- Barre; and in 1796 Daniel Downing and Daniel Downing, Jr., were taxpayers in the township. The former died in Wilkes-Barré in June, 1813, and Reuben Downing and Daniel Downing were appointed administrators of his estate. In one of the articles written by Col. John Franklin, as previously mnen- tioned, it is stated that, at the battle of Wyoming, "Ensign Daniel Downing was wounded by a ball through the leg, but saved himself by hiding in a bunch of brush until dark."
I See page 468. T See page 836.
** ASAPH WHITTLESEY was born in Wethersfield, Connecticut, May 12, 1753, the eighth child of Capt. Eliphalet Whittlesey (born in 1714) and his wife Dorothy (married December 16, 1731), daugh- ter of Capt. Martin Kellogg of Wethersfield. Between 1759 and 1771 Eliphalet Whittlesey removed with his family to Kent, Litchfield County, Connecticut. His name appears among the names of the grantees in the Indian deed of July, 1754, as the owner of one "right" in the Susquehanna Purchase. His son David (born August 18, 1750) was in Wyoming Valley during the Summer of 1769 (see pages 498 and 509), and his son Asaph was here for awhile in 1770. Capt. Eliphalet Whittlesey was one of the New Englanders who arrived here in July, 1771, under the command of Capt. Zebulon Butler to besiege and dispossess the Pennamites. (See page 694.) Asaph Whittlesey's name appears in the lists of Wyoming settlers who were on the ground in May and October, 1772. (See pages 732 and 752.) In March, 1774, upon the organization of the town of Westinoreland, he was chosen one of the Con- stables of the town. In May, 1774, Capt. Eliplialet Whittlesey conveyed to Asaph, "in consideration of natural affection", certain lots in the District of Plymouth which he had drawn some two years previously as one of the proprietors of Plymouth. Asaph Whittlesey settled in Plymouth in 1773 or '74, and his home was on the banks of a little stream-subsequently known for many years as Whit- tlesey Creek-within the present limits of the borough of Plymouth. Upon the organization of the 24th Regiment he was commissioned Ensign of the 3d Company. In May, 1777, he was appointed and commissioned a Justice of the Peace in and for Westmoreland, and in May, 1778, he was reap- pointed to the same office.
Capt. Asaph Whittlesey fell in the battle of Wyoming, and was survived by his wife Abigail (who, prior to February, 1801, was married, 2d, to Starks) and three daughters-Anna, Abigail and Laura-all of whom were still living in 1801. Anna Whittlesey became, in 1800, the wife of Joel Camp, one of four brothers who were pioneer merchants in Owego, New York. Letters of admin- istration upon the estate of Capt. Asaph Whittlesey were granted by the Probate Court of Westmore- land to Isaac Tripp, December 14, 1778 (see page 467), Jonathan Slocum being surety on a bond for £500. The original inventory of the estate of Captain Whittlesey-the personalty as appraised by Obadiah Gore and John Jenkins, Jr., June 20, 1779, and the realty as appraised April 4, 1781, by Phineas Nash and James Nisbitt-is now preserved in the collections of The Wyoming Historical and Geological Society. The items included in it are as follows: "One coverlid, 15sh .; one coverlid, 10s. 10d .; 1 blue great-coat, 13s. 10d .; 1 blue jack-coat, 4s. 10d .; 1 small puter plater & 7 plates, 4s. 10d .; 1 old pair of p. irons, an old hoe & spade, 5s. 8d .; a small tramel, 2s. 8d .; a pair of tongs, 3s. 12d .; a pair of flat-irons, 2s. 8d .; a frying-pan, 3s .; 1 light feather-bed, 33s .; 1 blue coat, 11s. 10d .; one right of land in Plymouth District in Westmoreland, £140. [Total] £145, 12s. 2d."
İt AARON GAYLORD was born about 1743 in that part of Farmington, Hartford County, Connecticut, which later was erected into the town of Bristol. He was the second son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Rich) Gaylord-Joseph (born 1716; died 1796) being the fourth son of John and Elizabeth (Hickox) Gaylord of Wallingford, Connecticut. Joseph Gaylord was an early member of The Susquehanna Company, and in the Spring of 1769 he came to Wyoming with the body of settlers led by Major Durkee. He returned to Wyoming in April, 1772, with his cousin Justus Gaylord. His son Aaron having become a proprietor in The Susquehanna Company, and having arrived in Wyoming early in 1773, father and son "drew as tenants in common" certain lots in Plymouth. On one of those lots was erected the stockade mentioned on page 887. In June, 1773, Joseph Gaylord was appointed one of the three "Directors" for Plymouth. During the battle and massacre of July 3, 1778, the women and children of the Gaylord families in Plymouth, together with various neighbors, gathered together
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Company was garrisoning Pittston Fort, its officers being: Jeremiah Blanchard,* Captain; Timothy Keyes,t Lieutenant; Jeremiah Bick-
in Gaylord's Stockade, where Joseph Gaylord (then sixty-two years of age), assisted by two or three other old inen, guarded and protected the panic-stricken company. When they learned on the 4th of July of the terrible results of the previous day's conflict, they set out in haste for Connecticut.
Joseph Gaylord remained in Connecticut (presumably in Farmington) until 1782 or '83, when he returned to Plymouth. Early in 1788 he bade a final farewell to Wyoming, and returning to Con- necticut settled in Bristol, Hartford County, his early home, where his sons Samuel and Eleazar, and his daughter-in-law (the widow of Aaron) and her three children were then residing. There Joseph Gaylord died in 1796.
Joseph and Elizabeth (Rich) Gaylord were the parents of the following-named children: (i) Charles, born September 22, 1739; died July 5, 1777-as noted on page 897. (ii) Aaron, born about 1743; killed July 3, 1778. (iii) Elizabeth, born December 10, 1749. (iv) Samuel, born May 24, 1753. (v) Eleazar, born about 1755.
(ii) Aaron Gaylord, who was born about 1743, and who thirty years later became an inhabitant of Plymouth, in Wyoming Valley, as previously mentioned, was married about 1764 to Katharine (born at Harwinton, Hartford County, Connecticut, November 28, 1745), daughter of James and Katharine (Wood) Cole. In 1776 Aaron Gaylord was one of the Listers of Westmoreland, and in May, 1777, he was established and commissioned Lieutenant of the 3d Company of the 24th Regiment. With his company he took part in the battle of July 3, 1778, and when the rout began he fled from the field with a member of his company named Roberts, a relative of his wife. Becoming exhausted, the two men stopped for a brief rest, when they discovered that they were being pursued by an Indian. Thereupon, believing that other Indians were not far off, they concealed themselves in the tall grass growing about the trunk of a fallen tree-Roberts at one end and Gaylord at the other end of the trunk; but the latter was soon discovered, tomahawked and scalped by the pursuing Indian, who imme- diately thereafter hurried away. Roberts had not been discovered, and as soon as he felt that he could safely leave his hiding-place he went to the other end of the tree, where he found the dead and mutilated body of Lieutenant Gaylord. Picking up the latter's hat he carried it with him to Gay- lord's Stockade in Plymouth, where he gave it to Mrs. Gaylord, with an account of the death of her husband. (For many years thereafter Mrs. Gaylord preserved this hat as a memento of her murdered husband.)
On the 4th or 5th of July Mrs. Katharine Gaylord and her three children-aged thirteen, eleven and seven years, respectively-fled from Wyoming. They rode two horses, and carried with them such provisions and small effects as, in their haste and terror, they could collect. They suffered incredible hardships before they reached their destination-Farmington West Farms (Bristol), Con- necticut. In the "Bill of Losses" printed in Chapter XIX the amount of loss sustained by the estate of Lieutenant Gaylord (stated in the name of his widow Katharine) is given as £158, 4s. Mrs. Kath- arine (Cole) Gaylord never returned to Wyoming, but spent the remainder of her days in Hartford County, Connecticut, where she died in 1840. In 1895 a monument was erected to her memory in the burial-ground at Burlington, Connecticut, by the inembers of Katharine Gaylord Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, which body is named for her.
The children of Lieut. Aaron and Katharine (Cole) Gaylord were: (i) Lemuel, born February 14, 1765; fled with his mother and sisters to Connecticut in July, 1778; ten years later returned to Wyoming where he was appointed administrator of his father's estate; in 1791 was married to Sylvia, daughter of the Rev. Noah Murray of Luzerne County, and they settled at Plymouth, but later removed to Huntington Township; in 1793 they removed to the neighborhood of Tioga Point; in 1816 they removed to Ohio, and later to Illinois. (ii) Phebe, born November 19, 1767; married at Bristol, Connecticut, December 20, 1786, to Levi (born January 31, 1758, in Farmington, Connecticut), son of Theodore Frisbie; in 1800 they removed from Connecticut to what is now the township of Orwell, in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, where Levi Frisbie died October 5, 1842, and his wife Phebe died October 5, 1852. They were the parents of four sons and two daughters-Chauncey, Laura (mar- ried to Ira Bronson), Catherine (married to Abel Estabrook), Levi, Zebulon, and a son who died in infancy. (iii) Lorena, the youngest child of Lieut. Aaron Gaylord, was born about 1771; was mar- ried in 1799 to Lynde Phelps of Burlington, Connecticut, and became the mother of seven daughters.
As shown by the "Connecticut Historical Society's Collections" (IX : 246, and X : 25, 334), both Joseph Gaylord and his son (ii) Aaron served as soldiers during the French and Indian War. In the campaign of 1757 (see page 481, Vol. I) "Joseph Gaylord of Farmington" served seventeen days as a private in the company of Capt. Jonathan Pettibone, sent to the relief of Fort Edward; and in the cam- paign of 1758 he served from April 11 till November 14 as a private in the 10th Company (Josiah Lee of Farmington, Captain) of the 1st Connecticut Regiment, commanded by Col. Phineas Lyman. His son Aaron served from March 20 till December 3 in the campaign of 1762 (see page 482, Vol. I), as a private in the 7th Company (Eldad Lewis of Southington, Captain) of the 2d Connecticut Regiment, commanded by Col. Nathan Whiting.
For a more extended account of the Gaylord and Frisbie families see "The Harvey Book", pub- lished at Wilkes-Barré in 1899.
* JEREMIAH BLANCHARD, who was born in 1738, presumably in Rhode Island, came to Wyoming Valley for the first time in the latter part of April, or early in May, 1772-his name first appearing in the records of The Susquehanna Company in the "List of Settlers" prepared in May, 1772, and printed on page 732, ante. At that time he was a resident of Coventry, Kent County, Rhode Island. At Wilkes-Barre, May 27, 1772, Joseph Sprague sold to Jeremiah Blanchard, for £50, "one settling right in the township of Lackawanna, so called," and three days later Barnabas Cary, of that town- ship, conveyed to Jeremiah Blanchard, "of Susquehannah Township", "ye eighth meadow lot in Lack- awanna Township." The township of Lackawanna, thus referred to, was, about that time, formally named "Pittstown", later changed to Pittston. (See pages 727 and 730.) September 24, 1773, Daniel Adams conveyed to Jeremiah Blanchard, both of "Pittstown", Meadow Lot No. 31 in that township, the consideration being £15. (See pages 1,327 and 1,330 in "The Town Book of Wilkes Barre", described on page 27, Vol. I.)
Late in 1772 or early in 1773 Jeremiah Blanchard brought his family to Wyoming, and they set- tled in that part of the township of Pittston which is now Jenkins Township, at a locality that has been commonly known for the past seventy years and more as "Port Blanchard." In 1775 and again in 1776 Jeremiah Blanchard was one of the Constables of the town of Westmoreland. In May, 1777- being then thirty-nine years of age-he was established and commissioned Captain of the 4th (or Pittston) Company of the 24th Regiment, succeeding Capt. Solomon Strong who had joined the Con- tinental army. Jeremiah Blanchard was married in 1763 to Abigail He died at his home in Pittston Township, May 26, 1807, aged sixty-nine years, and she died there September 20, 1807, aged sixty-three years.
Jeremiah Blanchard, Jr., only son of Capt. Jeremialı and Abigail Blanchard, was born in Novem- ber, 1763, presumably in Rhode Island, and was between nine and ten years of age when he came to Wyoming with his parents. In 1790 he was a private in the 4th Company (Daniel Gore, Captain) of the "1st Regiment of Militia in Luzerne County", commanded by Lieut. Col. Matthias Hollenback. Some years later he became a Captain in the State militia. His wife was Martha (born
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ford,* Ensign. The 5th (or Hanover) Company was at Fort Wilkes- Barré, and its officers were : William McKerachan,t Captain; Roasel Franklin,¿ Lieutenant ; Titus Hinman, Ensign. The 6th (or Upper Wilkes-Barré) Company was at Fort Wilkes-Barré, and its officers were: Rezin Geer, § Captain; Daniel Gore, | Lieutenant; John Hageman, En- sign. The 10th (or Huntington and Salem) Company was officered by
October 12, 1766). He died May 25, 1837, and his wife died July 26, 1844, and their remains lie in the old grave-yard at Port Blanchard. Three of their children were as follows: Jeremiah (married in Wilkes-Barre, Sunday, December 17, 1820, by Peter Winter, Esq., to Frances, daughter of "Ser- geant" Thomas Williams, a sketch of whom will be found in a subsequent chapter), John (born in 1800; married in Hanover Township, Luzerne County, Sunday, February 9, 1823, by Samuel Jameson, Esq., to Sarah, daughter of George Lazarus of Hanover Township; she was born in 1803 and died in 1892; John Blanchard died July 23, 1853), David (married October 9, 1828, to Lydia Sophronia, daughter of Salmon Lathrop, formerly of Sherbourne, New York).
The following paragraph is from an obituary of Capt. Jeremiah Blanchard, Jr., published at the time of his death in the Wyoming Republican and Farmer's Herald (Kingston, Pennsylvania). "Among the early settlers of the Valley there were few, if any, who had enjoyed the advantages of regular instruction in the various trades and professions, so necessary to the enjoyment of civilized life. Thus circumstanced, the daily wants of the people were peculiarly calculated to elicit native ingenuity and talent. Among the many whose skill and ingenuity the necessities and the wants of the settlers called into exercise, none was more useful than Captain Blanchard. He possessed quite a mechanical talent, and could turn his hand to the fabrication of most of the necessary implements in wood and iron for the use of settlers in a new country. His residence being at a distance from any practical physician, he was frequently called upon by his neighbors-who fully appreciated his native good sense and sound judgment-for counsel and advice in cases requiring medical aid. Hundreds can attest the skill with which, for many years, he kindly and gratuitously supplied the place of the surgeon in the letting of blood and in the extracting of teeth, among his afflicted neighbors."
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