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 III, Part 10

Author: Harvey, Oscar Jewell, 1851-1922; Smith, Ernest Gray
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Wilkes-Barre : Raeder Press
Number of Pages: 634


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 III > Part 10


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).


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Messrs. Gore and Franklin attended, as Representatives from Westmore- land, the regular semi-annual session of the General Assembly of Connecticut, held at Hartford, in October, 1781, and early in the session presented the above- mentioned memorial to the Assembly.


At Yorktown, Virginia, on October 19, 1781, Lord Cornwallis surrendered his army, "together with all the officers and seamen of the British ships in the- Chesapeake, prisoners of war to the combined forces of America and France," under General Washington. This act caused a practical suspension of hostilities between Great Britain and the United States, and was virtually the end of the War of the Revolution.


When, some days later, the news of this surrender became known in the principal cities of the country, there was great rejoicing; and just about that time the members of the General Assembly of Connecticut, being undoubtedly in a generous and joyous state of mind, unanimously voted to grant the prayer of the Westmoreland petitioners.


At this same session of the Assembly there was presented to it a very full and detailed report on losses sustained by the inhabitants of Westmoreland, which had been carefully compiled in pursuance of the resolution adopted by the Assembly in May, 1780-as set forth on page 1251. In the Lower House it was ordered that this "report be lodged on file in the Secretary's office." This action was duly concurred in by the Upper House-and the report still "lodges" in the State Capitol at Hartford, without any further action upon it ever hav- ing been taken by the General Assembly of Connecticut or any other legislative body. The document in question will be found in the collection of MSS. re- ferred to in paragraph "(3)", page 29, Vol. I, and it reads as follows:


"A BILL OF LOSSES sustained by the inhabitants of the Town of Westmoreland from the 3d Day of July, 1778, to May, 1780, taken and carefully examined by the Select Men of sd. Town, Pursuant to a Resolve of the Assembly of the State of Connecticut holden at Hartford the second Thursday of May, 1780. And is as followeth :-


£


S.


S.


Samll. Andross


26


15


Ishmael Bennet.


96


17


Isaac Adams.


103


64


Isaac Bennet


61


7


Richardson Avery


155


0


Asa Bennet


199


12


Alice Abbot


173 6


Henry Burney


71


15


Prince Alden


83


17


Moses Brown.


13


S


Mason F. Alden


5


13


Andrew Blanchard 49


15


Noah Adams


83


5


John Blanchard.


23


S


Cornelus Atherton


103


0


Joseph Blanchard.


54


9


Samll. Ayers


100


10


Margaret Blanchard. 79


2


James Atherton.


120


9


Lucretia Buck 90


14


Richardson Avery Jnr


137


13 James Benedict. 228


13


Eber Andross.


120


9


Capt. Jeremiah Blanchard


215


14


Col. Zebulon Butler


429


4 Benjamin Baily. 134 17


Zerah Beach, Esq.


67


13 Asahel Burnham. 35


6


*The original is "No. 143" in the collection of documents described in paragraph "(3)", page 29, Vol. I.


TIMES ENG DERT


FORT RICE AT MONTGOMERY'S NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY


1281


£


S.


Isaac Benjamin.


9


0 Daniel Lawrence


37


0


Thomas Brown


61


0


George Liquors. .


136


18


Thomas Bennet.


507


0 Abigail Leech


82


0


James Brown.


165


4 Joseph Leonard .


79


19


Capt. James Bidlack


65


19


John Lassley . . .


53


2


Sarah Brockway


205


7


David Linsey .


78


7


Joseph Baker .


124


13


Edward Lester


109


11


Elisha Blackman.


137


1


Samll. Morgan


135


8


Elizabeth Benedict.


144


13


Thomas McClure.


66


1


Bether Bixby.


36


13


John Murphy.


86


3


James Bagley


95


15


Benj. Merry.


78


2


Mary Bixby.


74


8


Ebenezer Marcy


118


12


Capt. Caleb Bates


285


4


Uzania Manvill


46


17 0


Wm. Buck


245


5


Thos. Neil


4


Elijah Buck.


103


18


James Nisbitt.


74


19


Abigail Bidlack.


63


10


Phinehas Nash


70


0


David Brown.


28


16


Richard Brockway


163


17


Daniel Owen.


24


0


Mehitabel Bigford.


202


1


Amos Ormsby


7


1


Uriah Chapman, Esq.


53


10


Anning Owen


174


12


Samll. Cummins. .


151


5


Josiah Pell.


73


10


John Cary.


93


10


Lucy Pettibon


79


7


Wm. Churchill.


178


16


Hannah Parish.


44


12


Anne Campbell.


100


5


Thos. Picket, Jr.


66


0


Nathan Cary.


166


4


Hannah Peirce [Widow of Timothy].


151


6


Benjamin Cole, Jr


165


0


111


11


James Cole.


207


3


91


2


Peleg Comstock


40


13


Thos. Porter.


200


0


Mary Crooker.


51


1


Josiah Parks.


49


19


John Comstock


219


7


Noah Pettibone.


216


1


Jonathan Cory


173


11


Jonathan Prichard


30


15


Jinks Cory.


83


0


Jonth. Parker


54


12


Barnabas Cary


88


17


Silas Parks, Esq ..


91


10


Samll. Cole.


89


6


Elijah Phelps


550


10


Preserved Cooly


95


19


Sarah Pixley


26


19


Col. Nathan Dennison


209


15


John Ryon .


18


3


Samll. Downer.


22


19


Wm. Ross.


320


0


Daniel Downing


107


0


John Ross.


63


17


David Darling.


13


0


Susanna Reyno'ds


28


10


Sarah Durkee.


240


18


Peran Ross


233


9


Amos Draper


68


18


Abigail Richards


135


3


Samll. Dart


124


4


David Reynolds


94


7


Anderson Dana, Esq.


194


15


Capt. Samll. Ransom.


259


0


Frederick Eveland


90


6


Capt. Daniel Rosecrant


175


10


Samll. Ensign


38


10


James Roberts.


83


18


Joseph Elliott


33


7


Jonah Rogers.


168


17


Henry Elliott.


40


14


Amasa Roberts


92


10


Benjamin Eaton


369


10


Timothy Rose


118


11


Nathaniel Evans.


61


19


Caleb Spencer


182


17


Capt. Stephen Fuller


288


4


Margaret Smith


155


1G


Roswell Franklin


104


0


James Stark.


547


15


Charles Foresythe.


15


3


Lazarus Stuart, Jr.


172


12


Capt. John Franklin


21


Isaac Smith


67


10


Benj. Follet.


118


17


Joseph Staples.


223


0


Jabez Fish.


223


0


Esther Spencer


135


0


John Ferre, Jr.


61


11


David Sanford.


193


John Ferre. .


61


18


Elizabeth St John


162


0


Hugh Foresman.


193


11


Elisha Scovel.


712


1


Sarah Fuller


101


13


Jonth Scovel.


72


0


Esther Follet.


221


7


Ebenezer Skinner


89


1


James Finn


221


11


Wm. Shay


114


15


Elizabeth Follet


212


3


Josiah Smith


83


19


Richard Fitz Jarold.


245


2


Obadiah Scott.


72


15


Jonathan Forsythe.


138


16


Jedidiah Stevens .


285


0


Jonathan Fitch, Esq.


46


10


Joshua Stevens


119


11


Capt. Eliab Farnham


27


Zacharias Squire


66


16


Joanna Fish.


30


17


James Sutton. 176


17


Major John Garet


309


11


David Shoemaker


50


0


Hannah Gore.


Daniel Sherwood.


40


1


John Garret, Jr.


59


16


Edward Spencer, Jr.


85


7


Daniel Gore.


273


13


Thos. Stoddard.


200


8


Cornelius Gale.


7


14 David Smith


202


15


Thos. Picket. .


Ichabod Phelps


John O'Neil.


18


£ S.


1282


£


S.


S.


Wm. Gallop.


200


0 Jane Shoemaker . 329


12


Solomon Goss


31


14


Benj. Skiff


98


7


Justus Gaylord


134


14 Doct. Wm. Hooker Smith. . 168


7


Keziah Gore.


89


0 Wm. Stuart.


57


17


Obadiah Gore, Esq.


306


1


Giles Slocum


205


19


Elisha Garret. .


29


0


Asa Stevens.


185


11


Catherine Gaylord [Widow of Lient. Aaron Gaylord].


158


4


James Staples


80


19


Joseph Gaylord. .


69


6


Martha Stuart


481


12


Stephen Gardner


176


18


Jabez Sill.


351


19


Nathaniel Gates.


66


14


John Staples .


224


12


James Gardiner


180


0


John Stafford.


36


6


Wait Garret. .


108


6


Luke Sweatland.


200


0


Bezaleel Gurney


59


7


Joseph Thomas


120


18


John Hurlbut, Esq.


85


7


Mary Thomas


25


0


Peter Harris.


149


16


Ephraim Tyler


14


19


Lebbeas Hammond.


84


18


Parshall Terry 216


30


19


Joseph Hagaman


19


0


Job Tripp.


113


1


Henry Harding.


5.5


12


Isaac Tripp


74


10


Matthew Holonback.


671


3


Lebens Tubbs


180


5


Doct. Joseph Hamilton


284


17


John Taylor


61


14


James Hopkins


90


6


Preserved Taylor


18


2


Capt. Robert Hopkins


28


18


Mehitabel Truks


159


4


Samll. Huchinson


163


9


Moses Thomas.


68


3


Simeon Hide.


117


17


Bezaleel Tyler


35


17


Widow Hasen and son.


182


10


Elisabeth Tuttle


67


10


Samll. Howard


27


15


James Towser


36


0


Mary Howard


50


1


Isaac Van Orman


122


0


Benjn Harvey


186


0


John Van Tilberry


84


9


Mary Hatch .


62


7


Rev. Noah Wadhams. 193


6


John Hutchins


57


1


Amy Willcox. 116


12


Capt. Stephen Harding


181


13


Elisabeth Willson 87


15


Stutley Harding


73


6


Enos Wooddard.


30


19


James Headsall


210


0


Enos Wooddard, Jr.


16


7


Thos. Heath.


190


0


Eliezer West


53


10


Cyprian Hybert


119


13


Nathl. Williams


30


0


Daniel Ingersoll


208


2


Abigail Weeks.


129


16


Sarah Inman. .


161


10


Mary Walker.


42


5


Richard Inman


41


17


Eunice Whiton


26


7


Edward Inman.


84


6


Daniel Welling


44


17


Revd. Jacob Johnson


459


4


Tho :. Wigton


175


6


John Jemison.


88


11


Isabel Wigton


130


1


Crocker Jones


9


0


Wm. Warner.


68


16


Wm. Jackson


106


1


Wm. Williams


148


18


Robert Jameson


183


16


Jonath. Weeks


239


11


Capt. Wm. Judd.


19


2


Flavius Waterman


90


0


John Jenkins, Esq. Josiah Kellogg. .


146


12 Richard West


65


17


Michael Kelly


21


11 Amy Williams.


130


0


Benj. Kilburn


92


16


Daniel Whitney


363


14


Hannah Keys


178


14


Abraham Westbrook


380


2


Alexander McKay.


277


4


. James Wells


92


12


Sarah Lee. .


236


6


Lucretia York


221


13


Thos. Leavensworth


122


14


Jemima Yale


130


3


Sarah Leonard


75


0 Jacob Zuvalt.


42


11


Rufus Lawrence


189


11 [286 Names],


TOTAL AMOUNT .. £38,308 13


"The foregoing Bill was carefully examined in each single account, and estimated in lawful money equal to money in 1774 .* Certified by us:


"JOHN HURLBUT,


"Westmoreland Oct.


"NATHAN DENISON, /


"JOHN FRANKLIN,


Select Men"


"JAMES NISBITT,


"JABEZ SILL.


*Previous to the Revolutionary War paper money was issued to a greater or less extent hy each one of the thirteen Colonies. . Originally the issues were authorized to meet the necessities of the Colonial treasuries. Many of the Col- onies, therefore, went into the Revolutionary War with paper already in circulation, and with all of the Colonies making issues for the expenses of military preparations. .


In the year 1774, and earlier, six shillings in the "lawful money" of Connecticut were equivalent to one Spanish milled dollar, which was valued at 4s. 6d., sterling; equal to $1.09-in American money of to-day as stated in the note on page 252, Vol. I.


After the Revolutionary War was well under way "hard money" hecame very scarce in the country. But inas- much as money of some kind had to be had hy the Government. and as the Continental Congress had no power to


12


Richard Halsted


177


6


Mary Thompson


Elizabeth Gore.


240


0 Josiah Stanberry


603


14


John Scott.


217


3


the 2d 1781.


598


1


Elihu Williams.


197


10


1283


After the capitulation of Cornwallis, Washington sent 2,000 troops to reinforce the army under General Greene, and then dispatched the balance of his army, including the soldiers from Westmoreland, to Winter cantonment along the Hudson, north of the city of New York. Washington himself went to Philadelphia, to "endeavor to stimulate Congress to the best improvement of the late successes of the army, by taking the most vigorous and effective measures to be ready for an early and decisive campaign the next year." In a letter to General Greene, about that time, Washington wrote that he feared the Congress might "too much magnify" the importance of the surrender of Corn- wallis, and "may think our work too nearly closed, and fall into a state of languor and relaxation."


To the soldiers, leading a life of inactivity in the Winter camp along the Hudson, there soon came a feeling that the war was really over, and that ere long peace would be declared. Consequently many of the men-particularly those who were husbands and fathers-applied for their discharges. Among these men were a number of the Westmorelanders in Captain Spalding's company.


At Philadelphia, under the date of January 3, 1782, Washington wrote to Maj. Gen. William Heath (in command of the Continental posts on the Hudson, with his headquarters at West Point) in part as follows :*


"Every proper indulgence has been granted to the soldiers of the Connecticut company raised at Wyoming. When they were removed from thence last Spring, by order of Congress, Colonel Butler had liberty to grant furloughs to those whose families would be most distressed by their absence; and he did so. If there are others under the same circumstances, I should have no objection to their being allowed the same indulgence, a like number of those upon furlough being called in. But I cannot consent to the interference of the State [of Connecticut] in giving discharges. That is a matter altogether foreign to their power."


tax the people or the States, and as the members of the Congress were accustomed to paper issues as the ordi- nary form of public finance, the Congress hegan to issue bills on the faith of the "Continent", to be used as a circulating medium. These hills, denominated "Conti- nental Currency" (as explained on page 898, Vol 11), were payable in Spanish milled dollars, "or the value thereof in gold or silver.".


The first issue-made in August, 1775-was for 300, 000 dollars, redeemable in three years. Bills for 9,000, 000 dollars were issued before any depreciation began. Undoubtedly their value must have been affected by the bills issued by the separate Colonies, for these, too, depreciated in value as the War went on. At the end of the year 1778 the Continental paper dollar was worth sixteen cents in the northern States and twelve cents in the south. Early in 1780 its value had fallen to two cents, and before the end of the year it took ten paper dollars to make a cent. As Washington said, it took a wagon-load of money to buy a wagon-load of provi- sions. In October, 1780, Indian corn sold wholesale in


Boston for $150. per bushel; butter was $12. a pound, tea $90., sugar $10., coffee $12., while a barrel of flour cost $1,575. Samuel Adams paid $2,000 for a hat and a snit of clothes. The present writer has in his posses- sion an original receipt given to Zebulon Butler hy Ben- jamin Harvey, at Wyoming, February 7, 1780, for "one hundred and twenty-eight dollars for a sow and two pigs." (See the last paragraph in the note on page 1225, Vol. II, relative to the value of certain articles in Connecticut in 1780.)


Nº 19556


One Shilling & Six-Pence.


At-000-2 -01-0 2 -0 1-0 2-0 8- ## #-HE Poffeffor of this BILL, a-T-#- fhall be paid by the Tiea- ****** furer of the Colony of Con. ne Eicut. One Shilling & Six-pence, Lawful Money, by the firfi Day off


POUL.T


Jimoary, A.D. One Thoufand, Seven Hundred, and Eighty-two. By Order of Affembly, Dated Hartford, June 19th,- A. D.


The Continental Currency soon ceased to circulate freely, being no longer a legal tender or receivable in 1 776. 1/6. 1/6d. payment of taxes. Debts could not be collected, and there was a general prostration of credit. The early Glylyes issues of the money were so worthless that barber-shops were papered with it. To say that a thing was "not worth a Continental" became the strongest possible ex- pression of contempt. By the close of the year 1780 the Kommit'e o Currency had ceased to have currency. "Like an aged FACSIMILE OF CONNECTICUT CURRENCY Issued in pursuance of a resolution of the General As- sembly of the Colony passed June 19, 1776. man, expiring by the decays of nature, without a sigh or a groan, it fell asleep in the hands of its last posses- sors. * * * The money had, in a great measure, got out of the hands of the original proprietors, and it was in the possession of others, who had obtained it at a rate of value not exceeding what was fixed upon it by the scale of depreciation." Attempts were subsequently made to have it funded or redeemed, but without success.


Concerning the Continental Currency Pelatiah Webster (see note in Chapter XXII, post) wrote: "We have suffered more from this than from every other cause of calamity. It has killed more men, pervaded and corrupted the choicest interests of our country more, and done more injustice than even the arms and artifices of our enemies."


*See "Massachusetts Historical Collections", Fifth Series, IV: 235.


1284


At Fort Wyoming, Wilkes-Barré, under the date of January 4, 1782, Lieut. Samuel Shippard,* an officer under Captain Mitchell at the Wyoming post, wrote to Col. Zebulon Butler, at "Camp Connecticut Huts," in part as follows: "The troops at this Post are supplied agreeable to the new mode. I have requested to be relieved, and expect the matter will be gone through with in three or four weeks. * *


Mrs. Shippard joins with me in our compliments to Colonel Butler, as also to Captain Spalding."


At Wilkes-Barré, under the date of January 8, 1782, Lord Butler wrote to his father: "I believe there never was known to be such weather [here] at this time of the year since this place was settled. The river is banks full-as high a freshet as almost ever has been seen at any time of the year."


At Wilkes-Barré, January 9, 1782, Hugh Forseman wrote to Colonel Butler in part as follows:+


"With respect to the particulars of the affair between Captain Mitchell and his men: They have laid six different complaints against him, * (1) for selling their shoes to * * the inhabitants; (2) for giving them, or ordering them to get, condemned beef for five weeks; (3) for making them receipt in full for their rations, when they received only part; (4) for selling or lending three barrels of whisky to some of the inhabitants; (5) for punishing [soldiers] without their first being tried or examined; (6) for ordering men on fatigue [duty] to work for the inhabi- tants, and not getting any pay for their labor."


In Hanover Township, only a few miles below Fort Wyoming, on Sunday, April 7, 1782, there occurred an Indian outrage, concerning which Miner ("His- tory of Wyoming," page 301) declares: "A more distressing tragedy scarcely crimsons the page of history!" A very detailed and interesting account of this outrage, written by the late Rev. David Craft, D. D., and read before The Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, in October, 1907, is printed in Vol. X of the Society's "Proceedings and Collections," under the title: "The Capture and Rescue of the Family of Rosewell Franklin " The following facts have been gleaned from Dr Craft's article and from "Historical Sketches of Roswell Franklin and Family," by Robert Hubbard, Dansville, N. Y., 1839; and "Sketch of the Life of Rosewell Franklin," by the Rev. Charles Hawley, D. D., read before the Cayuga County (New York) Historical Society, January 14, 1879, and published in Vol. VII of the Society's Collections.


About the beginning of April, a band of thirteen Indian warriors, bent on murder and plunder, quietly stole into the valley. Before reaching the settle- ments they separated into two bands, five of the Indians going in one direction, while the other eight made their way to the locality where Lieut. Roasel Frank- lint lived-in the block-house mentioned on page 925, Vol. II. In the morning of the 7th Lieutenant Franklin went into the woods in search of some of his hogs which were missing. The various members of his family were busy about their home, when the eight Indians previously mentioned suddenly entered the


*In 1779 he was First Lieutenant and Adjutant of the 3d New Jersey Regiment, and took part in the Sullivan Expedition.


+The original letter is itt the collections of The Wyoming Historical and Geological Society.


#ROASEL FRANKLIN, whose name appears frequently in these pages, was a man of activity and prominence in Wyoming, almost from the first days of the settlements here under the Susquehanna Company. In the various Wyo- ing histories his Christian name is commonly spelled "Roswell" or "Rosewell"; but it was undoubtedly "Roasel", as is evidenced by his signature attached to several original documents now preserved in the collections of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society.


He was horn about 1732 or '33 undoubtedly in Woodbury, Litchfield County, Connecticut, and was the hrother or sou of Jehiel Franklin of Woodhury, who, at Westmoreland, May 3, 1774, conveyed land in Hanover Township to Thaddeus Braughton of Woodbury,-Roasel Franklin having conveyed to the same man, in the preceding March, certaitt land which he owned in Hanover.


In 1755 and '56 Roasel Franklin served as a soldier in a Connecticut regiment in the French and English War, and in 1762, as a Connecticut soldier, took part in the expedition against Havana-described on page 482, Vol. I. of this work. He was married (first) September 22, 1760, at Southbury, Connecticut, to Jerusha ( horn August 17, 1740) , daughter of Stephen Hickok.


Roasel Franklin came to Wyoming in the Summer of 1769, having been preceded here a few months by his brother John. (See first paragraph of note "}" on page 1,227, Vol. II.) The latter was married to Elizabeth, daughter of Elisha and Susanna (Higley) Blackman, mentioned in the note on page 1,067, Vol. II, and one of their children was Arnold Franklin, who, after the death of his father, became a member of his uncle Roasel's family, and later was carried into captivity hy Indians, as narrated heretofore. John Franklin was slain at the hattle of Wyoming, and Decem-


-


SENTRY'


N


ADAMS


SUSQUEHANNA RIVER


PITTSTON FORT


1285


house. Painting the faces of Mrs. Franklin and her four children, they quickly ransacked the house, set fire to it, and beat a hasty retreat to the woods with their plunder, and the mother and her children as their captives.


Soon after the marauders had left the scene Lieutenant Franklin returned to find his house ablaze and his family gone, he knew not whither. With the direful news he hastened to Fort Wyoming, where the alarm-gun was fired, giving notice to the people of the valley of the presence of the enemy. A party was immediately organized to pursue the Indians and, if possible, rescue the captives. Sergeant Thomas Baldwin led the party, and the other members of it were: Joseph Elliott, John Swift, Oliver Bennett, Waterman Baldwin, Gideon Dudley,- Cook and Taylor.


The same day the pursuers set off up the Susquehanna, and several days later interrupted the retreat of the pursued near the mouth of Wyalusing Creek. A sharp fight ensued, at the beginning of which Mrs. Franklin and her children who had been left between the lines of the opposing parties, and could hear the singing of the bullets as they sped from both directions, stood up in order to attract the attention of their friends. Mrs. Franklin being slightly wounded by one of the bullets, she and the children were ordered by the Indians to lie down close together behind the trunk of a fallen tree, and to keep still or they would be killed.


Hearing voices up the hill in the direction whence the pursuing party had come, Mrs. Franklin raised her head and looked that way. Instantly one of the savages shot her, and she died almost immediately. The Indians then fled, one of them carrying off on his shoulder Mrs. Franklin's infant, Ichabod, who was never seen or heard of again. The bodies of two or three dead Indians together with several tomahawks and guns, remained upon the field, while during the encounter Gideon Dudley had been wounded in one of his hands, and Oliver Bennett had been badly wounded in one of his arms. The body of Mrs. Franklin having been buried on the spot, in as decent a manner as circumstances would ber 31, 1782, Roasel Franklin was appointed administrator of his estate by the Probate Court of Westmoreland; Leb- betis Tubbs being surety in the sum of £100.


In 1771 Roasel Franklin was a lot-holder and settler in Wilkes-Barré. Upon the organization of the town of Westmoreland in 1774 he was chosen one of the Selectmen of the town. In 1777 he was Lieutenant of the 5th Company of the 24th Regiment, Connecticut Militia, and the next year took part with his company in the battle of Wyoming. In 1780 and '81 he was a Lieutenant of Capt. John Franklin's company of Westmoreland militia. ( See pages 1,229 and 1,230, Vol. II.) After the murder of his wife Lieutenant Franklin was married (second) June 22, 1783, to Mrs. Elizabeth Lester, widow of Edward Lester, mentioned on pages 1,106 and 1,107.


(The two daughters of Mrs. Lester, upon their release from Indian captivity, made their home with their mother and step-father until their respective marriages. The younger daughter married- -Benedict, and in 1839 was living near Brockport, New York-her widowed mother, then in the ninety-eighth year of her life, residing with her.)


On the renewal of the land controversies in Wyoming Lieutenant Franklin and his family removed (about 1784 or '85) to Choconut, now Union, in the State of New York. Later he moved to Wysox, in what is now Bradford County, Pennsylvania, and in March, 1789, accompanied by his family and that of his son-in-law, Ebenezer White, moved to what is now Aurora, New York, where he built the first house occupied by a white man in Cayuga County. There. in the Spring of 1792, through stress of trouble and the loss of property, he committed suicide.


At Aurora, on February 22, 1861, at the request of the citizens of the village, an historical address was delivered in memory of Lieut. Roasel Franklin, by his grandson, the Rev. William S. Franklin, then of Genoa and later of Syracuse, New York. On September 24, 1879, the people of Aurora celebrated the centennial anniversary of the destruction of some Indian villages near there by the Sullivan Expedition. The celebration in part was held at "the old foundation" of Roasel Franklin's first log house, which was well decorated with flags and bunting. A grass-covered mound, at the northern end of the village of Aurora, about twelve rods east of Lake Cayuga, marks "the old founda- tion"-a slight elevation the place of the chimney, and a depression the location of the door-place.


The children of Lieut. Roasel and Jerusha (Hickok) Franklin were as follows: (1) Joseph, born about 1765; killed by Indians in Wyoming Valley in 1779. (2) Roasel, or Roswell, born June 22, 1768. (3) Olive, born in 1769; became the wife of - Stevens of Dansville, New York. (4) Susanna, born in 1771. (5) Thankful, born in 1774; died in 1779. (6) Stephen, born in 1776. (7) Ichabod, born in 1780.




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