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 13
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Finally, on August 12, 1782, the Representatives of Pennsylvania and Connecticut entered into a written agreement submitting to a Court of Com- missioners, amicably chosen by themselves, but to be appointed and commissioned by Congress, "all the rights, claims and possessions" of the two States in and to the Wyoming lands. The gentlemen who were mutually agreed upon to con- stitute the Court were as follows: Brig. Gen. William Whipple of New Hamp- shire, Ex-Gov. John Rutledge of South Carolina, Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Greene of Rhode Island, Lieut. Col. David Brearley and Prof. William Churchill Houston of New Jersey, Judge Cyrus Griffin and Joseph Jones of Virginia.
The names of these gentlemen (together with a full report of the action taken by the Pennsylvania and Connecticut Representatives) were duly sub- mitted to Congress; but a few days later a supplementary report was presented, setting forth that General Greene and Governor Rutledge would be unable to act as Commissioners, and substituting in their stead the Hon. Welcome Arnold of Providence, Rhode Island, and Thomas Nelson, Esq., of Virginia.
Congress, therefore, on August 28, 1782, issued commissions to William Whipple,* Welcome Arnold, David Brearley,¿ Prof. William Churchill Houston.§ Cyrus Gr ffin, { Joseph Jones and Thomas Nelson, authorizing and empowering any five or more of them to be a Court of Commissioners, with all the powers,
*WILLIAM WHIPPLE was born at Kittery, Maine, January 14, 1730. He was in command of a vessel in foreign trade before he was of age; and, when nearly thirty years old, left the sea to engage in mercantile pursuits at Port ;- mouth, New Hampshire. He was a member of the New Hampshire Committee of Safety in 1775; was elected a Delegate to the Continental Congress in 1775, '76 and '78, and was one of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. Writ- ing from Philadelphia June 24, 1776, to a friend in New Hampshire, Colonel Whipple said: "Next Monday being July 1 the grand question is to he debated, and 1 believe will he determined unanimously. May God unite our hearts in all things that tend to the well-being of the rising Empire."
He was a Colonel of militia prior to 1776, was made a Brigadier General in 1777, and commanded a brigade at the battles of Saratoga and Stillwater. The next year he participated in the siege of Newport conducted by General Sullivan. In 1780-'84 he was a member of the General Assembly of New Hampshire; in 1782-'84 he was State Superintendent of Finances, and also judge of the Supreme Court of New Hampshire. From 1784 until his death he was a Justice of the Peace and Quorum It is noteworthy that he emancipated his slaves, although earlier in life he had been a slave trader. He died at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, November 28, 1785.
+WELCOME ARNOLD was horn at Smithfield, Rhode Island, February 5, 1745, the sun of Jonathan and Abigail Arnold. He entered upon a business career at an early age, and in the Spring of 1773 became the partner of Caleh Green. With him Mr. Arnold continued in business uotil February, 1776, when he embarked alone in mercantile business, and soon became extensively concerned in maritime trade. It is said that of thirty vessels and their cargoes which were captured by the enemy, during the Revolutionary War, Mr. Arnold was part owner of each of them. Notwithstanding these heavy losses and reverses he accumulated considerable wealth, especially from his connection with the West India trade.
In 1778 he was elected a member of the General Assembly of Rhode Island, and by successive re-elections was continued in that capacity for a number of years. During the years 1780-'95 he served as Speaker of the House five terms. He also took an active part in the State conventions held for the adoption of the State and Federal Consti- tutinos. He was a Trustee of Brown University from 1783 till his death, which occurred at Providence, Rhode Island, September 30, 1798.
#DAVID BREARLEY was born near Trenton, New. Jersey, June 11, 1745. Admitted to the Bar of New Jersey in 1767 he practiced law at Allentown, New Jersey, and shortly before the breaking out of the Revolutionary War was arrested for high treason against the King. A mob of his patriotic fellow-townsmen rescued him, however, from the hands of the authorities. He joined the Revolutionary Army and rose to the rank of Lieut. Colonel in the 1st New Jersey Regiment, as noted on page 1175, Vol. II; but having been appointed Chief Justice of New Jersey June 10, 1779, he resigned his military commission while in camp at Wilkes-Barré, and repaired to Trenton soon thereafter, as noted on page 1189, Vol. II. (Since that page was printed the writer has seen two or three original signatures of Judge Brearley, and has learned that his surname was spelled "Brearley".) Maj. Joseph Brearley, a brother of Judge Brear- ley served during the Revolutionary War as an aide on the staff of General Washington without pay.
With William Livingston, William Paterson and William Churchill Houston, all men of renown, Judge Brearley represented New Jersey in the Federal Constitutional Convention of 1787. Later he presided over the New Jersey State Convention which ratified the Federal Constitution. In 1788 he was a Presidential Elector, and in 1789 was appointed Judge of the United States District Court of New Jersey, which office he held till his death. He was one of the compilers of the prayer-book published by the Protestant Episcopal Church of America in 1785. He was elected the first Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of New Jersey December 18, 1786, and served as such until his death, which occurred at Trenton, New Jersey, August 16, 1790.
§ WILLIAM CHURCHILL HOUSTON was born in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, in 1740, his father being a native of Ireland. He was graduated at the College of New Jersey (Princeton) in 1768, and was forthwith appointed a tutor in the institution. In 1771 he was elected Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at Princeton, which position he held till 1783, when he resigned. At the beginning of the Revolutionary War he and Dr. Witherspoon were the only Professors in the College, and when Princeton was invaded in 1776, and the students scattered, Pro- fessor Houston commanded a scouting-party organized at Flemington, New Jersey, and rendered important services in the counties of Hunterdon and Somerset. He was commissioned Captain in the 2d Battalion of Somerset County February 28, 1776.
In 1777, while still connected with the College, Professor Houston was elected a Representative from Somerset County to the General Assembly of New Jersey. In 1779 he was sent to the Continental Congress from Middlesex County, New Jersey, and served in 1779, 1780 and 1781. In 1783, after retiring from his professorship, he located at Trenton, was admitted to the Bar, and immediately entered on an extensive practice of his profession. In 1784 he was again sent to the Continental Congress, and in 1787, with David Brearley, he was a Representative from New Jersey in the Federal Constitutional Convention. He died at Frankford, Pennsylvania, August 12, 1788.
"CYRUS GRIFFIN was born in Virginia in 1749. He was educated in England, where he married a lady of noble family. Soon afterward he returned to Virginia and hegan the practice of law. He gave early adhesion to the patriot cause and became a member of the Virginia Legislature. Early in 1778 he was sent as a Delegate from Virginia to
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prerogatives and privileges incident or belonging to a court; "to meet at Trenton, in the State of New Jersey, on Tuesday, the 12th day of November next, to hear and finally determine the controversy between the said State of Pennsylvania and State of Connecticut, so always as a major part of said Commissioners, who shall hear the cause, shall agree in the determination."
Returning now to Wilkes-Barré, we find that early in October, 1782, a town-meeting of the inhabitants of Westmoreland was held here, and that Obadiah Gore and Jonathan Fitch were duly elected to represent Westmoreland in the General Assembly of Connecticut at its semi-annual session, to be held in Hartford, on the second Thursday of October. These gentlemen attended the meetings of the Assembly and were present when an Act was passed to enable The Susquehanna Company and The Delaware Company to collect certain taxes, or assessments, which had been laid on the proprietors, or shareholders, of those companies.
The Act in question set forth "that the purchasers of the native rights to a large tract of land within the limits of this State [Connecticut], and on the west side of the Delaware River, under the name of The Susquehanna Company and The Delaware Company, have, by the consent of this State, made their respective purchases." The Act then declaring that "the proprietors of said rights in said purchases are scattered at great distances from each other, and it becoming necessary to raise monies on said rights for defraying the necessary expenses about the same, and no way being provided for enforcing the collection thereof," authorized and empowered the companies to sell, for unpaid taxes, the lands of the delinquent proprietors.
At this time the Continental Congress was in session at Philadelphia, and on October 18th it passed the following:+
"Resolved, That the post at Wyoming be retained or withdrawn by the commander-in- chief, as he shall think it most for the benefit of the United States, any former resolution of Congress notwithstanding."
As noted on page 811, Vol. II, no meetings of The Susquehanna Company were held from May 24, 1774, till November 13, 1782-so far as can be learned now. On the last-mentioned date a considerable number of the proprietors of the Company, having been "legally warned" and duly notified, assembled at Hartford. Col. Elizur Talcott of Glastonbury, Connecticut, served as Moder- ator of the meeting, and Samuel Graz, Esq., was Clerk. The meeting continued throughout two days, and the business transacted was as follows:#
"Voted, That Eliphalet Dyer, Esq., William Samuel Johnson, Esq., Jesse Root, Esq., Samuel Gray and William Judd be chosen Agents for this Company, jointly and severally to act and to make all preparations that are yet necessary to be made, and do any other thing necess- ary for the benefit of said Company.
"Voted, That Elizur Talcott, Esq., and Phineas Lewis be Collectors for the County of Hartford, Daniel Lyman, Esq., for the County of New Haven. Thomas Morgan of Killingworth and John Owen of New London for the County of New London, Nehemiah Depew for the County of Fairfield, Samuel Gray for the County of Windham, Abraham Bradley, Esq., and Jonas Law- rence, Collectors for the County of Litchfield, and Obadiah Gore, Esq., Collector of Westmore- land County.
"Voted, That Col. Elizur Talcott shall have one full right in said Purchase for his extra services. "Voted, That the Committee of this Company, or either three of them, be and they are hereby appointed and fully authorized and empowered to make out proper and authentic Power
the Continental Congress, and served in that position till 1781. In 1780 he was elected a Judge of the Court of Appeals of Virginia, and in 1787 and 1788 he was again a member of Congress- serving as President of that body in the last- mentioned year. In 1789 he was United States Commissioner to the Creek Nation of Indians. He was President of the Supreme Court of Admiralty so long as it existed, and in December, 1789, he became Judge of the United States Court for the District of Virginia. This office he held till his death, which occurred at Yorktown, Virginia, December 14, 1810.
+See "Journals of Congress", IV: 97.
#See "Pennsylvania Archives", Second Series, XV111: 102.
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of Attorney, or Commission, to the Agents appointed at this meeting, namely, the Hon. Eliphalet Dyer, Esq., William Samuel Johnson and Jesse Root, Esq., jointly and severally, or any number of them, to manage and transact all manner of business to be done and transacted on behalf of the said Company before the Commissioners appointed to hear and determine the right, title and jurisdiction, and such like, between the State of Connecticut and the State of Pennsylvania as to the lands west of the Delaware River (part of which land is claimed by this Company), and seal and authenticate such Power, or Commission, on behalf of this Company .*
"Whereas, The trial of the right of the State to the Western lands is soon to be decided, and the interest of this Company is concerned therein, and it is uncertain whether the taxes al- ready laid by this Company will raise monies sufficient to defray their proportion of the expense of the trial in season,
"Therefore, Voted and Resolved, That the Committee of this Company be, and they are hereby, empowered to sell rights in said Company, not exceeding fifty shares, at such prices as they shall judge fit-in case in their opinion it becomes necessary to raise further sums of money than are already granted, or the taxes shall not be raised in season, to answer the necessary ex- penses in carrying on the trial of the Cause.
"Voted, That the Collectors appointed at this meeting [be empowered] to collect of the proprietors of The Susquehanna Company the 4 dollars tax granted in March, 1774; and the said Collectors are hereby directed to collect the said tax, and to account with the Treasurer of the said Company for the same by the 30th day of December, 1782; and that the rights of all prop- rietors that neglect to pay their respective taxes by the 20th of December aforesaid to the Collectors appointed in the County where the said proprietors reside, will be sold in pursuance of an Act of the General Assembly of the State of Connecticut passed in October last; and that all Collec- tors, heretofore appointed to receive the taxes granted by The Susquehanna Company, be, and they are hereby, called upon to settle immediately with the Treasurer of said Company; and that all proprietors who have not paid their former taxes be directed to pay the same to the Collectors named in their vote, and that this vote be published in all the newspapers in this State as soon as may be.
"Voted, That this Company do give and grant to the Hon. Eliphalet Dyer, William Samuel Johnson and Jesse Root, Esq., to each of them, their heirs and assigns, one whole right, or share, in the Susquehanna Purchase of Land, as a gratuity to them; and that Samuel Gray, Clerk to this Company, give to each of said gentlemen a proper certificate therefor.
" Voted, That a triangular tract, or piece, of land situate on the mountain on the west side of the East Branch of the Susquehanna River, abutting on the towns of Kingston, Plymouth, Bedford and Northmoreland, t be, and the same is hereby, appointed and set out to Maj. William Judd, for such proportion of land in the Susquehanna Purchase as the Committee of Settlers, or either two of them, shall judge the same to be equal in value to, compared with the Susquehanna Purchase at large; and that the said Judd be debarred from any claim for such rights or parts of rights, belonging to him the said Judd in the Susquehanna Purchase, that may be esteemed equal to the grant aforesaid, and considered as laid upon the land aforesaid. That the said granted premises be, and the same are hereby, fully apparted from the general interests of the Company, and to be enjoyed by him the said Judd and his heirs, in severalty.
"Voted, That the Committee, Samuel Gray, Esq., and Major Judd, be desired to address the Governor and Legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, desiring them to furnish such documents and papers, to be found in the records and files of that State, which will reflect any light on the canse depending between the States of Connecticut and Pennsylvania and The Susquehanna Company; and inform them that, if the Commonwealth, on their behalf, should see fit, at their expense, to appoint any person to attend that trial, the Company have directed their Committee to furnish him with a Power of Attorney in behalf of the Company, and the Committee are empowered to do the same."
Two of the seven Commissioners appointed by Congress to hear and de- termine the Pennsylvania-Connecticut controversy, to wit: Messrs. Brearley and Houston, met at Trenton November 12, 1782. Their commissions being formally read, they were duly sworn, and then adjourned from day to day till November 18th. On that day Messrs. Whipple, Arnold and Griffin appeared, when, they having been duly sworn, the Court was declared to be lawfully con- stituted, and General Whipple was elected President, and Col. John Nelsont of New Brunswick, New Jersey, was appointed Clerk, of the Court.
*The Power of Attorney thus authorized was executed at Hartford November 15, 1782, by Samuel Talcott, Samuel Gray and William Judd, "a Committee of The Susquehanna Company", and constituted and appointed Eliphalet Dyer, William Samuel Johnson and Jesse Root "Agents and Attorneys for the Company before the Commissioners at Trenton." The original document is now among the "Trumbull Papers", mentioned on page 29, Vol. I.
#See the map facing page 468, Vol. I.
#JOHN NEILSON was born at New Brunswick March 11, 1.745. He was educated in Philadelphia, and became a merchant in his native town. In August, 1776, he was appointed and commissioned Colonel of the 2d Regiment of Middles Ex County (New Jersey) Militia. He was a delegate from New Jersey to the Continental Congress in 1778 and '79. In 1800 and 1801 he represented New Brunswick in the State Legislature. He died at New Brunswick, March 3, 1833.
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Henry Osbourne,* Esq., appeared as "solicitor", and Col. William Brad- ford, Jr.,t Joseph Reed, James Wilson,§ and Jonathan Dickinson Ser-
*HENRY OSBOURNE was a Philadelphia lawyer of peculiar ability, who gathered together the documentary evi- dence and marshaled the general facts for use in the case. He was a Notary Public in 1781 and later years, and in 1780 was Judge Advocate in the Pennsylvania militia.
+WILLIAM BRADFORD, JR., was born in Philadelphia September 14, 1755, the son of Col. William Bradford, printer and soldier, who established at Philadelphia in 1742 the Pennsylvania Journal. He assailed the pretensions of the British Government with respect to the American Colonies, and inveighed against the Stamp Act. (See page 588, et seq. Vol. I.) When the Revolutionary War began he joined, as Major, the Pennsylvania militia, later being promoted Colonel. He fought at the battles of Trenton and Princeton, being wounded at Princeton
William Bradford, Jr., was graduated at Princeton in 1772; then studied law with Edward Shippen, and was admitted to the Bar of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in 1779. During the war he served two years as Deputy Muster-master General, with the rank of Lieut. Colonel. In 1780 he was appointed Attorney General of Pennsylvania. In 1784 he was married to a daughter of Elias Boudinot of New Jersey. He was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania August 22, 1791, and by appointment of President Washington, January 8. 1794, he succeeded Edmund Randolph as Attorney General of the United States. He died August 23, 1795.
#JOSEPH REEO was born at Trenton, New Jersey, August 27, 1741. He was graduated at Princeton College in 1757, and then, having studied law with Robert Stockton, was admitted to the Bar of New Jersey in 1763. Later he went to London, where he speut two years as a law student in the Middle Temple. On his return to this country he practiced his profession at Trenton, but in the Fall of 1770 removed to Philadelphia. In January, 1775, he was elected President of the Second Provincial Congress.
On the appointment of Washington to command the American forces (see page 821, Vol. II), Joseph Reed became his Military Secretary, and served as such until October, 1775. In January, 1776, he was chosen a member of the Gen- eral Assembly of Pennsylvania, and June 5, 1776, was appointed Adjutant General of the American army, with the rank of Colonel. He was exceedingly active in the campaign that terminated with the battle of Long Island. Early in 1777 he was appointed Brigadier General, and was tendered the command of all the American cavalry; while on March 20, 1777, he was appointed Chief Justice of Pennsylvania-the first under the new constitution of the State. He declined both these appointments, preferring to be attached to Washington's headquarters as a volunteer aide without rank or pay.
In December, 1778, Colonel Reed was chosen President of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, (see page 881, Vol. II), and held the office for three years. During his term of office he aided in founding the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia, and favored the gradual abolishing of slavery in the State, and the doing away of the Proprietary powers of the Penn family. In 1781 he resumed the practice of his profession at Philadelphia. He died there March 5, 1785.
§JAMES WILSON was born near St. Andrews, Scotland, September 14, 1742. After receiving an education at the Universities of St. Andrews, Glasgow and Edinburgh, he emigrated to this country about 1763. For some time he re- mained in New York City, and then, in 1766, removed to Philadelphia. There he studied law with John Dickinson (see a sketch of him in the ensuing chapter), and was admitted to the Bar of Pennsylvania in 1767. He began to practice his profession in Reading, Pennsylvania, but soon removed to York (see page 725, Vol. I1), and later to Carlisle, where he made a reputation as a lawyer before the War for Independence began.
He was a member of the Pennsylvania Provincial Convention which met at Philadelphia January 23, 1775. An extract from an interesting speech on "Loyalty to Law", which Mr. Wilson delivered in that Convention, in vindication of the Colonies, will be found in the "Library of American Literature," III: 260. In November, 1775, in July, 1776, and again in March, 1777, he was elected to the Continental Congress. He, John Morton and Benjamin Franklin were the only members of the Pennsylvania delegation in the Congress who voted for the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.
When hostilities between the mother country and the Colonies began, James Wilson was elected Colonel of a battalion of militia raised in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, and took part in the New Jersey campaign of 1776. In 1779 he was living in Philadelphia, at the south-west corner of Third and Walnut Streets, in a large stone house which was subsequently known as "Fort Wilson"-for reasons fully set forth in the Pennsylvania Magazine of History, XXV: 24, et seq. He was appointed Advocate General for the French Government in the United States June 5, 1779, and December 31, 1781, was appointed by Congress a Director of the newly-created Bank of North America. He was appointed a Brigadier General of militia May 23, 1782, and on the 12th of November of the same year (on the day fixed for the meeting of the Court of Commissioners at Trenton) he was re-elected to Congress-taking his seat therein January 2, 1783. He was not a member of Congress in 1784, but was returned in 1785, and continued to be a member until the adoption of the Federal Constitution.
He became a leader of the Federal political party in 1787, and being elected a member of the Federal Constitutional Convention held in that year he took a very active and prominent part in its doings-making, in the course of the debates, 168 speeches. Concerning him McMaster (in his "History of the People of the United States", I: 421) states: "Of the fifty-five delegates he was undoubtedly the best prepared, by deep and systematic study of the history and science of government, for the work that lay before him. The Marquis de Chastellux, himself a no mean student, had been struck with the wide range of his erudition, and had spoken in high terms of his library. "There,' said he [in his "Travels in North America in the Years 1780-'82"], 'are all our best authors on law and jurisprudence. The works of President Montesquieu and the Chancellor D'Aguesseau hold the first rank among them, and he makes them his daily study.' This learning Wilson had in times past turned to excellent use, and he now became one of the most active mem- bers of the Convention. None, with the exception of Gouverneur Morris, was so often on his feet during the debates, or spoke more to the purpose."
Mr. Wilson was also a member of the Pennsylvania Convention which ratified the Federal Constitution, and the Hon. James Bryce, the author of "The American Commonwealth" and other works, has declared, in writing of the speeches delivered by Mr. Wilson in the Federal Constitutional Convention and in the Pennsylvania Convention. that "they display an amplitude and profundity of view in matters of constitutional theory which place him in the front ranks of political thinkers of his age."
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