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 8
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Samuel Wallis was survived by his wife Lydia (who died at Milton, Pennsylvania, September 4, 1812) and the following-named children : (i) Mary, born at Philadelphia April 25, 1771; married in 1800 to Dr. William K. Lathey, a native of Exeter, England. (ii) John, born March 20, 1775 ; died at Northumber- land, Pennsylvania, September 14, 1810. (iii) Cassandra, born October 6, 1776 ; married to Daniel Smith, who was admitted to the Bar of Luzerne County June 1, 1790, as a non-resident attorney, and who in 1802 was residing at Milton, Pennsylvania, engaged in the practise of his profession. (iv) Sarah, born August 19, 1778, at Elkton, Maryland ; married to Hugh Brady (born at Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, in 1768, son of Capt. Samuel Brady, the famous Indian fighter), who became a Brigadier General in the United States Army, and died at Detroit, Michigan, in 1851. (v) Hannah, born February 21, 1781, at Philadelphia ; married in 1816 to William Miller ; died February 28, 1859, at Muncy, Pennsylvania. (vi) Samuel Hollings- worth, born January 18, 1784, at Philadelphia. He studied medicine, and in March, 1806, at the age of twenty- two years, located in Wilkes-Barre. Under date of April 4, 1806, he advertised in The Luzerne Federalist that he was "about to commence the practice of medicine, surgery, &c.," in Wilkes-Barre-his office being at John P. Arndt's tavern on River Street. April 14, 1806, Dr. Wallis became a member of Lodge No. 61, F. and A. M., Wilkes-Barre, and in May he advertised a list of drugs "for sale at his shop nearly opposite Benjamin Perry's store." Dr. Wallis seems to have removed from Wilkes-Barre in the following September. April 17, 1807, he was married to Elizabeth Cowden, and later they settled at Dunnstown, Clinton County, Pennsylvania, where Dr. Wallis died April 19, 1832. He left a daughter, Mary, wife of Philip Shay, and a son, Cowden Smith Wallis.
Joseph Jacob Wallis, the half-brother of Samuel Wallis, was married in 1771 or '72 to Elizabeth, daugh- ter of John Lukens. The latter was a native of Horsham, England, and in December, 1761, on the death of Nicholas Scull, Surveyor General of Pennsylvania, succeeded him in that office. Mr. Lukens, who was reappointed Surveyor General in April, 1781, under the Commonwealth, died in office in October, 1789. Joseph Jacob Wallis died in 1795, in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, leaving a large estate and the following-named children : (i) John Lukens, born at "Muncy Farm" in 1773, and said to have been the first white male child born west of Muncy Creek ; he was married to Catharine -, and died in 1863. (ii) Grace, born in 1777; married in 1797 to Evan Rice Evans (born in 1763), originally of Clay Creek, Maryland, but forla number of years a prominent lawyer at Sunbury, Pennsylvania, where he died in 1813. He was admitted to the Bar of Luzerne County, as a non-resident attorney, in 1804. Mrs. Grace ( Wallis) Evans died in 1804, leaving three daughters-Elizabeth, Margaret and Sarah. (iii) Sarah, married prior to 1801 to Daniel Smith, Esq., of Sunbury, Pennsylvania. (iv) Thomas, who became a physician. (v) Gayner, married in 1801 to Enoch Smith, a well-known lawyer of Sunbury, Pennsyl- vania. He was admitted to the Bar of Luzerne County about 1798, as a non-resident attorney. (vi) Elizabeth, married to John Evans-younger brother of Evan Rice Evans, mentioned above-in 1804, and located in Wilkes-Barre, where, in the same year, John Evans was admitted to the Bar of Luzerne County. March 10, 1806, he became a member of Lodge No. 61, F. and A. M., Wilkes-Barre. John Evans practised his profession at Wilkes-Barre until 1818, at least, when-his wife having died in 1817-he removed elsewhere. John and Elizabeth ( Wallis) Evans were the parents of the following-named children (all born in Wilkes-Barre): (1) Grace, born in 1805 ; married to Morgan T. Rhees. (2) Eliza- beth Margaret, born in 1807 ; married to John Cooper, Jr. (3) Mary, born in 1809 ; married to William
Erwin. (4) Thomas, born in 1811 ; married to Annie D. Homar. (5) Margaret Garrett, born in 1813 ; married to Miller Fox. (6) Cassandra, born in 1815; died unmarried. (7) Jane, born in 1817 ; married to Dr. Henry L. Aitken. (vii) Joseph Jacob, born in 1789, and married in 1813 to Catharine Schaeffer, was the youngest child of Joseph Jacob and Elizabeth (Lukens) Wallis.
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THE ORIGINAL "TOWN-PLOT" OF WILKES-BARRE. Specially prepared for this work, from original data, by William H. Sturdevant, Civil Engineer.
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the "Diamond" were pentagonal in shape, and Lot No. 13 was tri- angular. The lots numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 con- tained three acres and one hundred and three perches each; those numbered 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25 contained three acres and ninety-eight perches each ; those numbered 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43 and 44 contained three acres and one hundred and forty-one perches each ; those numbered 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49 and 50 contained three acres and one hundred and thirty-six perches each, and those numbered 13, 19, 20, 32 and 33 contained about three acres each.
The survey of the town-plot having been completed, the Messrs. Wallis and their assistants proceeded with the surveying and plotting of the remainder of the township of Wilkes-Barré .* It had been previ- ously voted by the proprietors assigned to this township that the lands thereof (comprising about twenty-three square miles,t or nearly 15,000 acres) should be laid out in four divisions, entitled as follows: "1st Division, or Meadow Lots"; "2d Division, or House Lots" (being the town-plot, previously described); "3d Division, or Back Lots"; "4th Division, or Five-acre Lots." The survey was made according to this plan, and then each division was subdivided into fifty lots (one lot for each proprietor)-excepting the 3d Division, which comprehended fifty- five lots ; being fifty lots for allotment to the proprietors, and five "pub- lic" lots as follows : (1) containing about 300 acres, to be appropriated to and bestowed upon "the first settling minister of the gospel"; (2) containing about 300 acres, set apart for "the support of the ininistry" after the death, resignation or removal of the first settled minister; (3) containing about 300 acres, to be used for the support of public schools in the township; (4) containing fifty acres, to be the common property of the proprietors, and to be disposed of by their votes : (5) a mill-seat, or -lot, some eight or ten rods in width, lying along the north bank of Mill Creek, and extending from the present bridge at the head of North Main Street to the mouth of the creek-which lot, also, was to be the common property of the proprietors, to be disposed of by their votes. The 1st Division of Wilkes-Barre comprised the flats from the bend of the river (near Fort Durkee) to the Wilkes-Barre-Hanover boundary ; also the flats extending from a point just above Wyoming Falls (see Vol. I, page 37) to the Wilkes-Barré-Pittston boundary, together with the rolling uplands to the east of them-the whole forining "Jacob's Plains", described on page 50, Vol. I. The 2d Division comprised the lots in the town-plot, as previously explained. The 3d Division (excepting the "mill-seat" and the "50-acre lot") comprised the lands on the Wilkes- Barré Mountain and on the foot-hills along its north-western base, while the 4th Division comprised small parcels of land in various localities within the bounds of the township.
As previously indicated, each of the fifty proprietors of the township of Wilkes-Barré was entitled to one whole share in the township, which would give him one lot in each of the four divisions-these four lots ag-
* This fact is proved, in part, by a paragraph in a letter written at Wilkes-Barré July 13, 1801, by the Hon. Thomas Cooper and Gen. John Steele, Commissioners under the Compromise Act of 1799. (See Chapter XXVI.) The letter was addressed to the Secretary of the Land Office, and is printed in "Penn- sylvania Archives," Second Series, XVIII : 454. The paragraph in question reads as follows : "The town of Wilkesbarre was originally surveyed in 1770, by Jos. Jac. Wallis and Samuel Wallis ; a part, a very small part, of the draught of this Survey we have obtained. Mr. Cooper has personally applied to Daniel Smith, Esq., of Sunbury, the executor and son-in-law of J. J. Wallis, to procure any copy or field notes of the original survey, but without effect."
¡ Not "nearly twenty-nine square miles", as erroneously stated on page 517 in Volume I.
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gregating about 265 acres of land. As a share in Wilkes-Barré was a "gratuity" (see page 466, Vol. I), the recipient or holder thereof, being a general proprietor in the Susquehanna Purchase, was entitled in addi- tion to "draw" or be allotted, for each right that he owned in the com- pany, 600 acres (or 300 acres for each half-right) in another township- to be laid out at some time in the future.
While the Messrs. Wallis were surveying Wilkes-Barre, David Mead, assisted by a number of his fellow proprietor-settlers, was survey- ing the four other "settling" towns-Nanticoke (later Hanover), Pitts- town (later Pittston), The Forty (later Kingstown, and now Kingston) and Plymouth. In the meantime the number of settlers was being rapidly increased-many of the proprietors who had been in the valley on previous occasions returning to make another effort to establish them- selves in the rich and attractive region ; while a score or more of men from southern Northampton County, southern Pennsylvania, the Mini- sinks, New York and New England, who were not proprietors in The Susquehanna Company-drawn to the valley by the surprising accounts which they had heard and read concerning the Pennamite-Yankee con- test, so unusual and vigorous in its character-were persuaded, without much difficulty, to buy rights and half-rights in the Susquehanna Pur- chase from Major Durkee, Captain Butler and others at Wilkes-Barré who composed "the committee appointed to admit settlers." Among the new proprietors thus secured was Samuel Holden Parsons* of Lyme,
* SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS (mentioned on pages 485 and 486, Vol. I, and page 637, ante) was born at Lyme, New London County, Connecticut, May 14, 1737, the third son of the Rev. Jonathan Parsons, for some years minister of the Congregational Church in Old Lyme, and later of Newburyport, Massachusetts. Samuel H. Parsons was graduated at Harvard College in 1756, in the same class with Joseph Trumbull (mentioned on page 471, Volume I), and then read law with his maternal uncle, the Hon. Matthew Griswold of Lyme, subsequently Governor of Connecticut. He was admitted to the Bar in 1759, and practised his profession in Lyme (in the meantime representing the town in the General Assembly of the Colony for about ten years) until 1774, when, having been appointed King's Attorney for New London County, he removed to the town of New London. It was he who, in 1773, first suggested to Samuel Adams of Massa- chusetts the idea of holding a Continental Congress ; and June 3, 1774, he moved in the Assembly of Con- necticut that representatives from that Colony be sent to such a Congress. (See Vol. I, page 393, 4th paragraph of note.) In April and May, 1775, the 6th Regiment of Connecticut was raised for service at Boston, and Samuel H. Parsons was appointed and commissioned its Colonel. The regiment was in service until December, 1775. In organizing the Connecticut regiments for the campaign of 1776, Colonel Parsons was appointed to command one of them, and with it he was stationed at Roxbury, Massachusetts, until after the evacuation of Boston.
While in camp at Roxbury Colonel Parsons and other American officers who were Free Masons organized at Waterman's Tavern, in Roxbury, an army Lodge of Free Masons, which was warranted February 20, 1776, by the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, under the name of American Union Lodge, No. 1, F. and A. M. This Lodge worked in the Continental army until April 23, 1783. Colonel Parsons was its second Worshipful Master, and Brig. Gen. Benedict Arnold, Col. Samuel Wyllys, Lieut. Col. Ebenezer Gray, Jr., Rufus Putnam (mentioned on page 458, and subsequently a General in the Continental Army, and later the First Grand Master of Masons of Ohio), Lieut. Col. Isaac Sherman, Maj. William Judd, Lieut. Col. Thomas Grosvenor, Lieut. (later Capt.) Samuel Richards and other Continental officers men- tioned in these pages were members of the Lodge. General Washington attended the meetings of the Lodge upon several occasions. Since June 28, 1790, American Union Lodge, No. 1, has been established at Marietta, Ohio, being the oldest Masonic Lodge in the United States west of the Alleghenies.
Early in August, 1776, Colonel Parsons was appointed by Congress "a Brigadier General of the army of the United States," and in October, 1780, he was promoted Major General. He was the ranking officer of the board that tried and condemned Major Andre at Tappan, New York, September 20, 1780. For his successful attack on the British troops at Morrisania, New York, in 1781, Congress requested General Washington to express to him their thanks. He was an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati, and subsequently became President of the Connecticut branch of the Society. Upon the establishment of peace in 1783 General Parsons opened a law office in Middletown, Connecticut, and was admitted to the Bar of Hartford County. He was mainly instrumental in having the county of Middlesex erected, with Middletown as its county-seat, in 1785. In the same year he traveled to the Ohio region, and in January, 1786, in connection with Generals George R. Clark and Richard Butler, held a treaty with the Indians near the mouth of the Great Miami. (See Vol. I, page 131.) In October, 1787, he was appointed by Con- gress the first Judge of the territory north-west of the Ohio, but did not go forward to enter upon the duties of his office until he had taken part in the Connecticut State convention which adopted the Federal Constitution in January, 1788. Later in that year he, Gen. Rufus Putnam and other New England soldiers founded Marietta, the oldest town in what is now the State of Ohio. General Parsons was accidentally drowned November 17, 1789, while descending the rapids of the Great Beaver Creek, Ohio.
Samuel H. Parsons was married at Lyme, Connecticut, September 10, 1761, to Mehetabel, eldest child of Richard and Deborah (Ely) Mather of Lyme, and they became the parents of several children who grew to maturity.
Under the right which he owned in the Susquehanna Purchase Samuel H. Parsons was allotted certain lands in Plymouth Township. Prior to November, 1773, he sold "House Lot No. 5, one-half of Meadow Lot No. 5, and one-half of Meadow Lot No. 8-Lower Tier of Lots in Plymouth," to Setli Marvin, formerly of Lyme but then of Wilkes-Barre ; and November 29, 1773, Seth Marvin sold the same lands for £100 to Crocker Jones, then of Wilkes-Barre. September 1, 1789, "Samuel Holden Parsons, of the city of Marietta, Washington County," [Ohio], sold for $100. "all his title in a certain right of land in Plymouth Township" to Arnold Colt, theil of Wilkes-Barre, but formerly of Lyme.
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Connecticut, who, at Wilkes-Barré, June 13, 1770, paid to Captain But- ler "thirteen dollars for one settling right (as per vote of April 20, 1770) in the four townships granted by The Susquehanna Company to the 200 first settlers". Mr. Parsons spent only a few days in Wyoming, and then returned to his home in Connecticut.
Among the original early Wyoming documents now in the posses- sion of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society is "A List of the Proprietors of the Five Townships, 17th June, 1770." This list of 283 names, which was prepared at Wilkes-Barré on or about the date in- dicated, is presumed to comprise the names of all the proprietor-settlers of The Susquehanna Company then on the ground here. The follow- ing is a copy of the same, and it is now printed for the first time. (In the original the word "Comtee" is affixed to the names of those who com- posed the "Committee of Settlers," mentioned on page 652.)
"Alden, Prince
Corey, Jenks Comstock, Peter
Gaylord, Joseph
Avery, Christopher Ashley, 'Benjamin
Carey, John
Gaylord, Timothy
Ayres, Peter
Cheeseborough, Sylvester
Gold, Samuel
Atherton, James
Carter, Lukens
Gore, Obadiah-Comtee
Arnold, Ephraim
Churchill, Wm.
Gore, Obadiah-Jr.
Atherton, Asahel
Durkee, Maj. John-Comtee
Angell, Daniel
Draper, Major Simeon
Gray, Ebenezer-Jr. - Comtee
Butler, Capt. Zebulon -- Comtee
Dean, Josiah
Hopkins, Deacon Timothy -Comtee
Bingliam, Abisha
Dole, Edmund
Hunter, Robert
Belding, Ezra
Dean, Jonathan
Hopkins, James
Buell, Ezra
Denison, Nathan
Hopkins, David-Esq.
Ball, Francis
Downing, Jonathan
Harris, Elijah
Bennit, Thos
Durkee, John-Jr.
Hibbard, Ebenezer
Budd, John
Davis, Reuben
Hyde, Ichabod Harper, Adam
Bennit, Joshua
Dorchester, Benj?
Hollinback, Matthew
Bennit, Benjn
Dorrance, John
Hane, Ronemous
Buck, Jonathan
Durkee, Oliver
Hotchkiss, Saml.
Buck, Lieut. Wm .- Comtee
Dyer, Thomas-Comtee
Harris, Asher
Baker, John
Ely, George
Holly, Danl. Haines, Daniel
Babcock, Elisha
Elison, Wm.
Babcock, John
Ewings, James
Hopkins, Timothy-Jr.
Brockway, Richard
Espy, George
Hopkins, Ichabod
Bennit, Isaac
Espy, John
Hopkins, Robert
Beach, Nathan
Follett, Benjn -Comtee
Heffelfinger, Jacob
Brown, Daniel
Fish, Thos
Hungerford, Stephen
Baker, Coonrod
Fish, Jabez
Holly, John Harris, Josiah
Buck, Asahel
Farnum, Reuben
Heffelfinger, Henry Hibbard, Wm.
Bingham, Silas
Faulk, Jacob
Hedsell, James
Bidlack, James
Forsyth, James
Hopson, Jordan
Beckwith, David
Franklin, Roasel
Hibbard. Moses
Buck, Elijah
Farrins, Nicholas
Izehower, Peter
Briggs, Wm.
Fuller, Stephen-Comtee
Jenkins, Stephen
Crain, Silas-Esq!
Farnum, Ebenezer
Johnson, Edward Jones, Crocker
Comstock, Wm.
Frazier, Robert
Jones, Israel
Canhoron, John
Franklin, John
Jenkins, Jonathan
Carpenter, Wm.
Gallow, Francis
Jolly, John
Clark, Jacob Cary, Eleazar
Gore, Asa
Johnson, Solomon
Canhoron, Hugh
Gaylord, Samuel
Jones, Asa
Comstock, John
Gardner, Peregreen
Jenkins, John-Comtee
Cypher, Andrew
Grimes, James
Jameson, John Kenne, Jesse
Cook, Jacob
Geers, James
Kidd, Peter
Cary, John (A boy)
Goss, Philip
Kidd, Robert
Gore, Silas
Kenne, Daniel
Cook, Jabez Clark,
Goss, Nathaniel
Killam, John
Carrington, Jonathan
Grimes, James-Jr.
Collings, John
Frink, Joseph
Gallup, Wm.
Jenkins, Palmer
Barney, John
Farnum, Levi
Buck, Aholiab
French, Thos
Budd, Benjn
Dart, William
Delong, John
Gore, Daniel
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Ludington, Asa Lard, John Lyons, Asa Leonard, Wm. Lee, Stephen Marvin, Capt. David
Peirce, John
Parkes, Nehemiah
Spencer, John Stark, Aaron
Rood, Michael
Stearns, Ebenezer
Robinson, John
Smith, Lemuel
Robinson, Thos
Sealy, Samuel
Reker, Caspar
Tripp, Isaac-Comtee
-Comtee
Mecan, Robert
Ray, James Roberts, Gideon
Terry, Parshall Thomson, Hugh
Meniger, Daniel
Reynolds, Benjamin
Taylor, Preserved
Mead, David
Ray, William
Tracy, Zevan
McDonnor, John
Roberts, Jabez
Tidd, Zopher
McDonnel, John
Roberts, Elias
Thomas, Benjn
Reed, Noah
Vandegor, John Henry
Morse, Joseph
Stewart, Capt. Lazarus
Vincent, Cornelius
Messenger, Saml.
Stewart, William
Verpilion, Francis
Marvin, Uriah
Stewart, James
Walter, Aaron
Minard, George
Stewart, Lazarus-Jr.
White, Henry
Murphy, John
Seaman, Peter
Windecker, Henry
Montgomery, John
Stager, Adam
Wyley, John
Manvil, Nicholas
Stagard [Stager], Jacob
White, William
Mead, Darius
Stilly, John
Walker, George
Metcalf, Andrew
Shawley, Luke
Williams, Thomas
McClure, Thos
Salt, John
Weeks, Jonathan
Mosely, Peabody
Stephens, John
Weeks, Thomas
Marvin, Matthew
Smith, Oliver
Warner, Isaac
McCoy, Ephraim
Shelman, Lodowick
Wilder, Aaron
Matthews, Benjn
Smith, Timothy
Whittlesey, Asaph
Neal, Joseph
Skinner, Joseph
Warner, William
Nisbitt, James
Shaw, John
Woodworth, Douglas
Olcott, Jedidiah
Smith, Frederick
Walter, Joseph
Olcott, Samuel
Strong, Henry
Weeks, Philip Wales, Nathaniel-Comtee
Phillips, Nicholas
Shaw, Ichabod
Walworth, Thos
Pelton, Samuel
Smith, Revd Matthew
Williams, Timothy
Pelton, Gideon
Stewart, Oliver
Williams, Zopher
Pelton, Paul
Stover, Adam
Williams, Enos
Palmer, Daniel
Starling, Jacob
Westover, Theophilus
Palmer, Joseph
Starling, John
Young, Robert-Comtee
Philip, Coonrod
Sill, Jabez
Young, Lazarus
Park, Capt. Silas
Story, Saml.
Young, William
Post, Eldad
Stark, Christopher
Young, Robert-Jr.
Perkins, John
Spencer, Caleb
Yale, Enos
Peirce, Abel
Yale, Ozias"
While the townships were being surveyed the settlers not engaged in that task were industriously employed at various points in the valley clearing up land for agricultural and other purposes. All were busy. Fort Durkee was still the dwelling-place of all the settlers, as it was not yet considered safe to separate them into small bodies and locate them throughout the valley-thereby inviting further attacks from the Pen- namites.
Capt. Zebulon Butler, in conformity with the rule laid down by The Susquehanna Company (see page 652, ante), set up a trading-house at the fort, where, as circumstances and the Pennamites permitted, he trafficked in a small way from March till September, 1770, with the Yankee settlers at Wyoming and with the few Indians who senii-oc- casionally visited the valley. In his account-books we find the follow- ing charges within the period mentioned : "The Susquehanna Propri- etors Dr. to expense of provisions for prisoners at Wyoming, -; paid T. French for whisky in the siege, £3, 11sh. 6d .; paid Mead for whisky, 30sh .; 3 bbls. flour, -; 20 galls. rum, -; paid George Espy for powder, 30sh .; 6 lbs. of bread for prisoners in April, 2sh .; 1 qt. of whisky for raising guard-house, -; to victualling eighteen Indians, 18shi .; to 18 drams, one bus. wheat and one bus. corn (for Indians), 10sh." In
Pupp, John
Skeels, John
Vandegor, Felix
McKee, George Mead, Ely [Eli]
Simpson, John-Comtee
660
March, 1770, "Lazarus Young Dr. to 35sh. cash ; one shirt, 15sh .; one fourth pound of powder, 1sh. 3d." "Peregreen Gardner, Cr. by four bus. corn @ 3sh. 6d." "Wilks Barry, April 23, 1770-Asa Ludington Dr. to one pair of shoes, 8sh. 6d." May 7, 1770, Aaron Wilder and five others each debtor to one pair of shoes, @ 9sh. "Wilks Barre, July 6, 1770, John McDonnor Dr. to flour, molasses, beef, shirt, shoes and tobacco delivered February 14, 1770 ; and Dr. to his board and expenses from February 12 to July 6, 1770." Also charges-for sugar, paper, rum, whisky, toddy, cordial, cash, scythes, molasses, flour, powder, lead, salt, etc .- against the following-named :
Peter Ayers, James Atherton, Ephraim Arnold, Silas Bingham, Abisha Bingham, Nathan Beach, Elisha Babcock, Lieut. William Buck, "Mr. George Beckwith" (only two charges, and each for "} 1b. powder"), Capt. - Crain, John Comstock, Capt. John Collings, Sylvester Chese- brough. Eleazar Cary, Jonathan Carrington, Jenks Corey, Nathan Deni- son, Jonathan Dean, Maj. John Durkee, Reuben Davis, Maj. Simeon Draper, John1 De Long, Benjamin Espy, Josiah Espy, John Espy, Stephen Fuller, Roasel Franklin, Ebenezer Farnum, Levi Farnum, James Forsyth, Joseph Frink, "The Frenchinan", Capt. Benjamin Fol- lett, Reuben Farnum, John Franklin, David Fowler, Jabez Fish, Pere- green Gardner, William Gallup, James Geers, James Grimes, Philip Goss, Daniel Gore, Samuel Gaylord, Jordan Hopson, Peter Harris, Hopkins, Samuel Hopkins, William Hurlbut, Elijah Harris, John Holly, Daniel Holly, Solomon Johnson, Israel Jones, John Jenkins, John Jameson, John Jolly, Jonathan Jenkins, Asa Ludington, Asa Lyon, George Minard, Richard Manning, Ephraim McCoy, Thomas McClure, John McDonnor, Capt. David Marvin, John Murphy, "Samuel Moore (an Indian)", Darius Mead, - Manvil, Jedidiah Olcott, Short Olcott, Paul Pelton, John Perkins, David Phillips, Abel Peirce, Gideon Pelton, James Ray, Robert Rath, William Stewart, Jabez Sill, Lemuel Smith, John Starling, Oliver Smith, Ichabod Shaw, Lazarus Stewart, Jr., "Isaac Tripp, Esq.", Parshall Terry, Francis Verpilion, Aaron Wilder, Isaac Warner, Thomas Weeks, William Warner, - Wells and Robert Young.
In compliance with the vote of The Susquehanna Company (see page 652, ante), the Standing Committee arranged with the Rev. George Beck- with, Jr.,* of Lyme, Connecticut, an "orthodox minister of the Gospel,"
* GEORGE BECKWITH, JR., was born at Lyme, New London County, Connecticut, about 1741, the eldest son of the Rev. George Beckwith, Sr., and his wife Sarah, daughter of Nathaniel and Sarah (Bacon ) Brown of Middletown, Connecticut. George Beckwith, Sr., was born at Lyme in 1703, the son of Matthew Beckwith, Jr., who was a seaman and who resided for awhile in Guilford, Connecticut, then in New London and finally in Lyme, where he died June 4, 1727. George Beckwith, Sr., was graduated at Yale College in 1728, and January 22, 1730, was ordained the first pastor of the Congregational Church then lately organized in the North Parish, or North Society, of Lyme, now called Hamburg. (See page 635.) In March, 1755, he was appointed by the General Assembly of Connecticut, and commissioned by Gov- ernor Fitch, "Chaplain for the regiments ordered to be raised" for the expedition against Crown Point (see page 297, Vol. I), and in September, 1755, he was present at the battle of Lake George. He referred to it subsequently in one of his published sermons in these words : "I was myself an eye-witness of that great action, and saw the salvation of the Lord on that day, the particulars of which are carefully recorded in my journal of that expedition." Annually in March, from 1758 to 1761, inclusive, he was appointed and commissioned Chaplain of the Ist Regiment of Connecticut troops, and served in the campaigns against the French and Indians described on pages 481 and 482, Vol. I. From June 28, 1763, till September 10, 1777-when he resigned the office on account of infirmity-he was a Fellow of Yale College. During the course of his long and active life Mr. Beckwith published a number of sermons and essays. In 1762 and again in 1773 he was Moderator of the General Association of the Congregational Churches of Connecticut. He continued as the active pastor of the North Lyme Church until October, 1787, when he became emeritus pastor and the Rev. David Higgins succeeded him as pastor. Mr. Beckwith died at Lyme December 26, 1794, and his wife died there January 3, 1796.
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