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 105
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"A dinner was prepared on the occasion by Arnold Colt, Esq., which for elegance and ex- cellence has rarely been surpassed. Jesse Fell, Esq., was elected President, and General Lord Butler, Vice President of the day. After dinner the following Toasts were drank, accompanied by songs, Huzzas, and other demonstrations of joy. Care and sorrow entered not the cheery circle; but the utmost good-humor and happiness prevailed. The day's amusements were closed with an elegant Ball at Esq. Fell's. Some of the toasts were:
"The citizens of Luzerne,-may they be firm and united and always purchase the "steady habits" of virtue, industry, and sobriety, which so eminently distinguished our ancestors.
"Our Constitution,-like the reputation of woman, if too frequently meddled with will be lost; and if lost can never be regained.
"Education,-the nursery of Republicanism, the bane of Aristocracy.
"The American Fair,-may they never support vice by blessing with smiles the Libertine or the Coward."
A sinister event to be recorded of the year 1804, was an outbreak of mal- arial fever which extended with unusual virulence over the valley and adjacent country. Some seventy deaths were reported, and it was not until late fall that the epidemic was deemed to be under control.
Through columns of the press on March 23, 1804, Charles Bird announced a "Dancing School", in the following terms: "The subscriber informs the ladies and gentlemen of this place, that he proposes opening a dancing school at the house of Judge Fell, Esq., on Monday evening, 2nd April. He will provide music."
Whatever music Mr. Bird provided, seems to have turned the attention of Eliphalet Mason to the idea of a "School of Music" as is evidenced by an announcement on August 20, 1804 in the following quaint phrase:
"Eliphalet Mason proposes to open a Music school in the Township of Wilkesbarre, at what house shall be thought proper or most convenient by the majority of Subscribers; he will
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attend to give lessons to his scholars two afternoons, and two evenings in each week, viz., beginning on Tuesday the 30th day of October and then continue to give lessons every Tuesday and evere Friday, for one quarter, for which he is to receive one Dollar for each scholar subscribed. Housy room, fire wood and candle-light, to be at the expence of the subscribers.
"Any Gentleman or Lady wishing to obtain, or be further advanced in the art of music now have an opportunity where they may depend on good order and punctual attendance.
"Subscriptions are open at this office (Federalist)."
That skill in debating, was not being overlooked in these tributes paid to Terpsichore and Melpomene, is to be noted in an announcement in the Fed- eralist of September 8, 1804, that "the members of the Wilkesbarre Debating Society are notified to attend a regular meeting, on Wednesday evening next. A general attendance is requested, as business of importance is to be laid before the Society."
Those who organized this Society were: Thomas Dyer, Charles Miner, John Evans, Arnold Colt, Nathan Palmer, Josiah Wright, Ezekiel Hyde, Thomas Gråham, Thomas Welles and Rosewell Welles. Absence meant a fine of fifty cents to the offender, while refusing to take part in a debate, if called upon, cost the reticent one twenty-five cents.
In 1809, the name of this organization was changed to the Wilkesbarre Beneficial Society, and it continued in existence until the year 1839, when it and other like societies, then existing, were merged under the name of the Wyoming Literary Society. There is record, also of the Quincun Society, a secret organization, being organized in 1806, but its secrets seem to have been kept insofar as any present record is concerned.
Schools, likewise, were beginning to make headway. On November 12, 1799, Asher Miner announced that he had "undertaken to instruct youth in reading, writing, arithmetic and English grammar." He added that "special attention will be paid to morals and manners of those committed to his care." The Miner school thrived for several years, until its founder became engrossed in other matters, which did not permit his further active connection with the enterprise. It was not his institution of learning, but another originally founded by Abraham Bradley, to which the following disconcerting notice in the Federal- ist of December 24, 1799, related: "On Saturday evening last, the school house in the lower part of this town accidently took fire, and was totally consumed. Take Warning!"
When records of the county as well as Court activities were transferred from the old log structure to the completed court house, in the fall of 1804, only the lower floor was needed as a jail and permission was granted by the County Commissioners, for the use of the vacant second floor a's a school. Until the year 1807, however, the matter of organizing and maintaining a place of instruction for the youth of Wilkes-Barre, appears to Have been left to individual initiative.
Records are silent as to whether a school was maintained continuously in the three year interval before the Academy was incorporated, or whether teachers as well as schools were periodical in their activities.
The only information on the subject that the present writer has been able to find, is a reference in 1804, to the building being known as the Luzerne County Public Academy-"public" in the sense of it being open to all who could afford the required tuition, but not supported by the county, insofar as any record of Court or Commissioners' office show.
While the "town meeting," in its useful and time honored sense, became a thing of the past with the induction of a Borough Council, residents of the
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community were more and more convinced of the inadequacy of school facilities. The subject was one of frequent discussion in the press and several informal meetings of citizens had convened in the court house during the fall of 1806, to devise ways and means for obtaining the object of their desire. To Rosewell Welles, Esq., went the honor of a suggestion which was afterward to lead to a practical plan for securing a competent school. Upon learning that a mistake had been made in setting sundry accounts then existing between the Treasurer of Luzerne County and the Commonwealth, and that a sum of more than $4,000 had erroneously been paid the county by Samuel Bryan, then State Comptroller, Mr. Welles hit upon the happy expedient of requesting the State to permit the use by the county of the whole or a part of the fund overpaid for the support of an academy at Wilkes-Barré. Being then a member of the Legislature, he drew up a bill incorporating thisidea. On March 13, 1807, he succeeded in having his bill, amended as to the amount of money appropriated, passed by the Legis- lature and approved by the Governor. In part, the Act of Incorporation follows:
"Paragraph 1. That there shall be established in the Borough of Wilkesbarre, in the County of Luzerne, an Academy, or public school, for the education of youth in the useful arts, sciences and literature, by the name and style of "The Wilkesbarre Academy.'
"Paragraph 2. The first Trustees of the Academy shall consist of: Rev. Ard Hoyt, Lord Butler, Jesse Fell, Matthias Hollenback, Wm. Ross, Rosewell Welles, Ebenezer Bowman, Samuel Bow- man, Charles Miner, John P. Arndt, Arnold Colt, Peleg Tracy, Matthew Covell, Joseph Slocum, Benjamin Perry, Thomas Graham and Thomas Dyer.
"Paragraph 4. The said Trustees shall hold their first meeting in the Academy in the Borough of Wilkesbarre on the first Monday in June after the passing of this Act; 9 to be a quorum for transacting all business and for electing trustees, electing master and tutors, &c.
"Paragraph 7. The Commissioners of Luzerne County are hereby required to pay into the Treasury of the Commonwealth $2325 (being part of the money paid them by Samuel Bryan, late Comptroller, through mistake) and on the payment of the sum aforesaid into the Treasury within 2 years, and not otherwise, there is hereby appropriated the sum of $2000 to the trustees of the Academy of Wilkesbarre, to be paid by the Commissioners of the County of Luzerne in full of the sum of $4325, paid through mistake."
The list of incorporators above mentioned, is equivalent to an honor roll of those whose public spirit at this period, was bringing the community to a higher plane of realizing its own best interests. No project of the time, whether of a commercial or philanthropic nature, was undertaken unless these men, or a number of them, lent their influence, and usually their money, to the success of the enterprise. No time was lost by them, after their appointment as trustees, in concluding necessary arrangements for opening the school. The log exterior of the old court house was clapboarded, a small cupola added, and a fifty pound bell hung in the cupola. The lower floor, formerly the county jail, was given proper light through a number of windows, the whole interior was cleaned and suitably whitewashed; while benches which formerly accommodated spectators in the court room on the second floor, were cut down for more youthful occupants and installed upstairs and down, at tables intended for books and other school appliances.
The lower floor then became the "first form" for younger children of both sexes, the "upper form" for those more advanced in study, being properly located in the upper story. The school was opened late in the Summer of 1807. In 1808 Garrick Mallery, a graduate of Yale College, became the Princi- pal of the Academy, and under his management the institution advanced to considerable eminence. Soon many students came to the Academy from other localities, and about the year 1810 the little borough of Wilkes-Barré could boast of possessing more learning and literary culture within its limits than any other village or borough of Pennsylvania.
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From 1810 to 1812 one of the assistant teachers in the Academy was Andrew Beaumont,* who like many others associated in a teaching capacity with the institution, was later to hold many offices of esteem and trust.
ANDREW BEAUMONT
"Messrs: Mallery and Beaumont were succeded by Joelt and Joseph H. Jones," says Pearce in his Annals: 268, "Then follows Rev. Woodbridge, Baldwin, Granger, Orton, Miner, Talcott, Uhlmann,¿ Hubbard and Dana."
*ANDREW BEAUMONT, the fifth and youngest child of Isaiah and Fear (Alden) Beaumont, was horn in 1791 at Lebanon, Connecticut. Isaiah Beaumont was a descendant of William Beaumont, of Carlisle, England, who settled in Saybrook, Connecticut about 1648, and who was a Freeman in 1652.
His son Andrew, the subject of this sketch, came to Wilkes-Barre in the year 1808, being then seventeen years of age, and attended school at the Wilkes-Barre Academy, which had been opened the year before in the old Court House Building. In 1810 he became an assistant teacher in the Academy, being employed by the Trustees at the suggestion of Garrick Mallery, Esq., the principal. In 1811. Mr. Mallery having been admitted to the Bar of Luzerne County young Beaumont registered with him as a student-at-law, continuing, however, to perform the duties of an assistant teacher in the Academy until the Summer of 1812. At the termination of the usual period of study he was pronounced by a competent committee fully qualified for admission to the Bar, but Judge Chapman declined to admit him without further probation and study, upon the ground that his reading had not been pursued for what he (the judge) deemed a necessary period in the office of his preceptor. The objection was a mere pretext, and its effect was to disgust Mr. Beaumont and drive him away from his chosen profession.
In January, 1814, he was appointed, under the administration of President Madison, Collector of Revenue, Direct Taxes, and Internal Duties for the 20th Collection District of Peutsylvania, including Luzerne County. This office he held until 1816, when he was appointed by Governor Snyder, Prothonotary and Clerk of the Courts of Luzerne County to succeed David Scott, Esq., who had been elected a member of Congress. Mr. Beaumont held the offices until 1819.
In 1821 he was elected a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and again in 1822. While a mem- ber of the House he occupied the front rank as a legislator, and devoted his best faculties for the true welfare and ad- vantage of the Commonwealth.
In 1826 he was appointed Post Master of Wilkes-Barre, to succeed Jacob Cist, who had died, and this office he held until 1832, when he was succeeded by Wm. S. Ross.
In 1832 Luzerne and Columbia Counties formed one Congressional District and that year the contest for the office of Representative was a triangular one. The candidates were Mr. Beaumont, James McClintock, Esq., a member of the Luzerne Bar, and Dr. Thomas W. Miner, a Wilkes-Barre physician. The fight was a bitter one, and the result was uot
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"There are among us," continues this historian writing in 1860, "men and women who can look back thirty, forty and even fifty years ago, with fond recollection to the days when, with bounding youth and health, they assembled with their companions within the walls of the old' Academy, or sported on its playgrounds. Some, within its venerated walls, have filled their minds as from a storehouse, with useful knowledge, and have so disciplined their intellectual faculties as to have been able to rise to positions of distinction and profit."
That the increasing reputation of the Academy brought encouraging patronage, is indicated by the following announcement which appeared in the Federalist of October 13, 1809:
"The pupils in the Wilkesbarre Academy having unexpectedly increased to so great a number for the two last quarters the Trustees find it necessary to enlarge the building for their accommodation. Hitherto the pupils have been confined to 2 rooms, the first above and the other below.
"To erect this additional building will require considerable money. * *
"The trustees have thought it proper to fix the prices of tuition for the several branches to be taught in the three several apartments in the following manner, viz. In the 1st branch shall be taught the application of the rules of English Grammar, Georgraphy and the use of the Globes, history, Composition, the Latter as far as the four first Eneids, and the Greek language as far as the Four Evangelists, to be at $5 per quarter ;- pursuing the same languages further, Rhetoric, Logic, Mathematics, including natural Philosophy and Astronomy, $6 per Quarter. In the second, Spelling, Reading, Penmanship, the rules of English Grammar, and parsing, Book-keeping, and Vulgar Arithmetic, at $3 per Quarter. In the third, Spelling, Reading and Penman- ship, at $1.50 per Quarter."
The addition referred to, was a frame extension added by par- tially cutting away the westerly log-end of the old building, and erecting a two story structure which almost doubled the capac- ity of the original building. By referring to a cut of the Acade- my, here reproduced, the dividing line between the buildings can be seen. The front section, with the cupola, is the incased log struc- OLD ACADEMY ture; the rear being the addition of 1809. When the building was disposed of in 1842 to give place to the new or "brick" Academy, it was found im-
known for a week after election, and then it was ascertained that Mr. Beaumont had a majority of eighty-eight votes, and was elected.
Mr. Beaumont served his term in Congress in the midst of the "Bank War," in which he stood by President Jack- son in every gap, the President regarding him as one of his most intelligent and reliable friends in Congress. Mr. Beaumont was very much opposed to the Banking system then practiced in the United States, and in one of his speeches he charged that it has "brought more evil on the country than the three scourges of the human race-War, Pestilence and Famine!"
In 1834 he was elected to Congress for a second term, which he served with honor equal to his first. In 1840 President Van Buren appointed him Treasurer of the Mint at Philadelphia, but the office was not accepted. In 1847 he received from President Polk the unsolicited and unexpected appointment of Commissioner of Public Buildings, at Washington. Mr. Beaumont accepted the office and entered upon his duties, which he continued to discharge for some months, when the Senate refused to confirm his appointment. This rejection was brought about by Senator Thomas H. Benton, because Beaumont had refused to retain in a subordinate office one of Benton's friends.
In 1849 he was for the third time elected a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. During this term of service he urged the necessity of direct relations between the State and the General Government, and through his exertions and speeches the first committee on "Federal Relations" was created-of which he was made chairman . He was one of the organizers of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Wilkes-Barre in 1817, and one of the first vestry- men chosen. He was one of the founders, in 1819, of the Luzerne Bible Society, and for a number of years was an officer of the Society.
As a political and epistolary writer he had no equal in Pennsylvania. For forty years, when not engaged in manual lahor, or in the discharge of his official duties, his pen knew no rest. His writings-terse, energetic and clear in style- would fill volumes. He wrote some poetry, and one of his poems-"Sons of Wyoming"-was very popular as a song when it was written, on the occasion of the departure from Wilkes-Barre of the "Wynming Artillerists" for the Mexican War. Mr. Beaumont died at his residence, corner of Union and Franklin Streets, Wilkes-Barre, September 30th, 1853. Mr. Beaumont married in 1813, Miss Julia A. Colt, of Wilkes-Barre, second daughter of Arnold Colt. She was a very bright and intelligent lady. She survived her husband, and died at Wilkes-Barre, October 13th, 1872. Mr. and Mrs. Beaumont had ten children-six daughters and four sons.
+JOEL JONES became a distinguished lawyer at the bar of Philadelphia.
#DANIEL UHLMANN became a noted lawyer of New York City.
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practical to move the log portion. The rear section was in such state of repair, however, that it was moved to south Franklin street and became a part of a dwelling then owned by Col. H. F. Lamb.
Discussions as to a proper school, naturally brought to the attention of the community the fact, that it possessed no public library in any form.
Following the trend of several communications to the press, wherein the advantages of a library were stressed, a meeting of those interested was called at the court house, August 18, 1806. Those present agreed to associa te themselves together "under the style and title of the Wilkesbarre Library Company." There were to be two hundred shares to cost two dollars each. The original list of members, with the number of shares subscribed by each, was as follows:
Shares
Joseph Sinton
2
Jonathan Hancock
Shares 1 1
John Murphy
1
Peleg Tracy
Joseph Murphy
1
G. W. Trott
1
Charles Miner 2
Matthew Covell
1
James Sinton 1
Benjamin Drake
1
Arnold Colt 1
Abraham Bradley
1
John Robinson 1
Thomas Dyer
1
Rosewell Welles 1
Thomas Welles
1
Jesse Fell 1
John P. Arndt
1
John Evans 1
Geo. Haines
1
Godfrey Perry 1
Ebenezer Bowman
1
Peter Yarrington 1 1
Sidney Tracy
1
Silas Jackson
Geo. Chahoon
1
David Landon 1
Jacob Hart
1
Thomas Graham 1
Steuben Butler
1
At a subsequent meeting held September 2d, Judge Fell was named President and Peleg Tracy, Treasurer. Three directors, Thomas Graham, John P. Arndt and Joseph Sinton, were likewise elected, the latter being appointed Librarian.
The by-laws provided, that the library should be kept open from two to seven p. m., every Tuesday and Saturday; that the librarian would be liable to a fine of four dollars if he loaned a book to other than members; that no book should be taken more than three miles from the borough of Wilkes-Barré, and that any member who permitted a book to go outside his own family was open to a fine of one dollar. From the funds subscribed, 102 volumes were purchased. As an indication of what books of the period were in demand, a partial list of those selected by the committee in charge is here given:
"Burke's works, 8 vols .; Travels of Anacharses, 4 vols .; Domestic Encyclopedia, 5 vols .; Russel's Ancient and Modern Europe, 7 vol .; Massillons Sermons, 2 vol .; Life of Garnick, 2 vols .; The Federalist, 2 vols .; Shakespeare's works, 8 vols .; Plutarch's lives, 6 vols .; Rollins Ancient History, 8 vols .; Don Quixote, 4 vols .; Blair's Lectures, 2 vols .; Johnson's Lives of the Poets, 2 vols .; Savage's Works, 1 vol .; Burn's Works, 4 vols .; Pope's Works and 'Addison's Works, 1 vol .; Thompson's Works, 2 vols .; Young's Works, 4 vols .; Cope's Travels, 3 vols .; The Wild Irish Girl, 1 vol .; New Jerusalem Doctrine, 1 vol.
The Library Company continued in existence, each member paying a membership fee of one dollar per year, until March, 1826. As only twenty-seven members were then supporting the library, it was decided to disband, each member drawing a number which called for a share of the eighty-two books then remaining.
CHAPTER XXXIX
TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE SUN EXCITES WONDER-FIRST BRICK BUILDING ERECTED-SHIP BUILDING COMPANY PROMOTED-LAUNCH OF THE "LUZERNE"-THE COUNTY LOSES AND GAINS TERRITORY- AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY ORGANIZED-WILKES-BARRE'S FIRST BANK-FINANCIAL REVERSES-EVENTS OF THE WAR OF 1812-MILITARY ORGANI- ZATIONS PARTICIPATING-A VISIT- OR'S IMPRESSIONS-END OF VOLUME III.
Genius of Seventy Six awake, Once more our freedom undertake; Fresh laurels wait to crown thy brows You've not a moment more to drowse Lo! the Destroyer swaggers round; His vast ambition knows no bound. His pride presumes to give us Law And keep our government in awe. Anonymous.
Coming to a general chronicle of the times, it is to be noted that a total eclipse of the sun was a matter of considerable marvel on June 16, 1806. Con- cerning the observation of this phenomenon, the Federalist of June 27th, has the following to say:
"Most of the newspapers printed since Monday, the 16th inst., have very sagely mentioned the Eclipse of the sun in their respective neighborhoods. We too, although living in the back country had, (as Mr. Sansom would say) 'A bird's eye view of it.' There has been no period since the discovery of America, when so many of her inhabitants were employed at the same moment-by the same object, that in viewing the eclipse. The Moonites, if their optics are suf- ficiently acute, or their telescopes good, must have laughed to see such a group as presented itself to their view. Two or three millions of people, with mouths half stretched all at once, squinting through a piece of smoked glass, is an object rarely to be beheld.
"At the commencement of the Eclipse, a cloud of darkness was discovered in the west. As it approached, the air became damp and chill, and the face of nature assumed a yellowish, gloomy appearance. The birds that line the opposite shore of the river from our village, chanted a hymn, but ceased in profound silence at the period of the greatest obscuration. A star in the west shed a feeble ray for a while, but soon immerged in the two fold radience of returning noon. Terror and dismay were depicted in the countenances of many, and the frantic gestures of some who did
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not know the cause of the changed appearance of nature, excited a smile in spite of the awful solemnity impressed by the sublime spectacle.
"As the cloud of darkness receded to the east, the cocks crowed, the birds again struck up à matin in full chorus, and all creation smiled to behold the bright luminary of heaven reassume his empire, and smile forth in his wonted splendour. The weather was comparatively cool. Though I had exchanged that day the shade of my office for the unsheltered cornfield, (for a printer here must hoe his own corn or starve,) I did not experience the usual oppression from the heat. My only thermometer was my feelings, but I cannot be wrong in stating the change in the temperature of the air, a little past the period of the greatest darkness, at several degrees depression. The earth was sensibly wet with dew. Since the eclipse the wind has been high from the west, and the weather cold for the season, and I have remarked in my garden an almost total suspension of vegetation. So much for the wonderful eclipse in Wilkesbarre."
It should not escape mention that, in 1807, the first brick building was erected in all the territory of the Susquehanna purchase. It was built by Joseph Slocum,* the "village blacksmith," a brother of Frances Slocum, and son-in- law to Judge Fell. It was erected as a residence on the south side of Public Square, opposite what afterwards became the "Fire Proof" and was three and one-half stories high, which was not only the first building of such a height, but as has been stated, was the first brick building to be erected in north-eastern Pennsylvania. This building was occupied as a residence, first by Joseph Slocum and afterwards by his son-in-law, Lord Butler, for sixty odd years; and then having been remodeled, it was devoted to business purposes until its demolish- ment in April, 1906, to make way for the erection of the present building of the First National Bank. In its last years, the first floor of the Slocum building was occupied by a book and stationery shop, at one time owned by S. L. Brown, and then by J. C. Madden.
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