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 24
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to deliver up a full and quiet possession of their present Tenures to the rightful owners under Pennsylvania by the First day of April next. (5) That a law be passed under proper Restrictions to enable such of the above settlers at Wyoming as shall become Citizens of this State to retain their Negroes and Mulattoes, in servitude, and continue actions brought in their Court and Pro- ceedings in their Register's office, and to remove them into the Court and Register's office for the County of Northumberland-there to be determined according to the Laws of the State."
This report, together with a letter from Captain Shrawder concerning affairs at Wyoming, which had been received by President Dickinson a few days pre- viously, were referred to a committee. Under the date of September 2, 1783, the committee reported to the Assembly in part as follows *:
"The Committee have examined the several papers committed to them with care & attention, and are fully satisfied of the laudable Zeal and industry used by your Commissioners to effect the purposes of their Mission, and likewise with the generous offers made by the Pennsylvania Land holders to the settlers at Wioming. Your Committee are, however, sorry to find that the endeavours of your Commissioners and the offers of the proprietors of Lands at Wyoming have been rendered abortive by the interference of the State of Connecticut and the Susquehanna Company, so that our hopes of a friendly compromise seem now vanished. Your committee submit the following resolutions to the Honorable House.
"Resolved, That a Committee be appointed to prepare and bring in a Bill for repealing the Law of this State entitled 'An Act to prevent and stay suits from being brought against the in- habitants of Wioming, during the time therein mentioned, passed March 13th, last, and for con- firming the Township of Wyoming into three Distinct Townships, as laid out and divided by your Commissioners on the 22d day of April last past.
"Resolved, That as well to discover the moderation and Equitable disposition of this House as in consideration of the sufferings of the Settlers at Wioming from the Common Enemy, a reasonable compensation in Lands within the Boundaries of this State upon easy Terms be made to the families of those who have fallen fighting against the Savages, and to such others as did actually reside on the Lands at Wyoming when the late Decree was given at Trenton.
"Resolved, That no such settler be intitled to the benefits of this Resolution unless upon demand made he gives up possession to the Claimant or Claimants under Pennsylvania."
At Philadelphia, under the date of September 5, 1783, President Dickinson wrote to Captains Robinson and Shrawder at Wilkes-Barré, in part as follows:+
"In consequence of a Conference with a committee of the General Assembly, it is judged proper that you should be reminded in a particular manner constantly to employ the utmost vigilance and alertness for the security of the Fort at Wioming, and for maintaining the post where you are now stationed.
"It is expected that you will be in perfect preparation at every moment to resist any hostile attempt, whether openly or insidiously made. Among other attentions, it will be indispensably necessary for this purpose, that great care should be taken not to suffer the Soldiers, on any pretence whatever, to absent themselves from the Garrison, either in an indefensible situation, or beyond the reach of your immediate recall.
"It is thought absolutely necessary by Council. that a supply of two Months' provisions for both companies, calculating upon the compleat establishment of sixty privates to each company, be immediately conveyed into the Fort; so that the Garrison may not in any manner depend upon the provisions from without during that period.
"That a single moment may not be lost, the important charge of procuring this supply is principally committed to you; for tho', to guard against the expence of a double purchase, it may be highly necessary to consult Mr. Weitzel, and learn from him what stock of provisions he has now on hand, and what additional quantity he may engage to procure, yet it is intirely the sense of Council, that should he discover the least indifference in accepting the business, or delay in the execution of it, you will yourselves proceed to compleat his purchases, should they be deficient, and contract for their transportation. Money shall not be wanting to fulfill these engagements. "It is also our desire that, as long as it may be necessary to keep up the Garrison, after the expiration of the two Months provided for by this order, it shall at no future time be left without a supply of one Month's provision in stock. This you will regard as a standing order."
Under the same date as the foregoing, President Dickinson wrote to Jolin Weitzel, Esq., at Sunbury, Pennsylvania, in part as follows:
"It is the sense of Council that a stock of eight weeks' provisions for the complete companies of sixty privates each be immediately laid in for Wyoming, for the subsistence of that Garrison. To this purpose Council have written to Captains Robinson and Shrawder-with directions to consult you upon the subject."
September 9, 1783, the Assembly repealed the Act passed March 13, 1783, "to prevent and stay suits from being brought against the inhabitants of Wyon- ing" (see page 1320); confirmed the division of Wyoming into three Districts, or Townships, as made by the Commissioners; confirmed the election of Justices of the Peace held at Wyoming by direction of the Commissioners, and instructed
*See "Pennsylvania Archives," Old Series, X: 552.
tSee "Pennsylvania Archives". Old Series, X: 99.
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the Supreme Executive Council to commission four of the persons so elected. The next day the Council met, and, in pursuance of the foregoing action, Alexander Patterson, John Seely, David Mead and Robert Martin* were commissioned Jus- tices of the Peace in and for the county of Northumberland. "Alexander Patterson appearing before the Council the same day, took the oath prescribed, and a dedi- mus potestatem was issued to Alexander Patterson and Samuel Huntert, or either of them, to administer the oaths to the other Justices this day appointed."
At Fort Dickinson, Wilkes-Barré, under the date of September 17, 1783, Captain Shrawder sent to President Dickinson the following communication ;:
"In obedience to your Excellency's Orders I have the Honor to transmit a Return of the Companies, arms and ammunition. Your Excellency's Letter to Mr. Weitzel I have forwarded to Capt. Robinson who is at present in Northumberland, to be delivered by him; but as we received no supply since June last, it is not probable Mr. Weitzel can have a stock on Hand.
"I would beg Leave to inform your Excellency that to maintain this Post I have for better than two Months past extended my Credit as far as possible in purehasing Provisions for the Garrison and in order to be enabled to see the Troops supplied. I would beg your Excelleney and the Honble. Board would be pleased to order £300 to be forwarded to me by Lieut. Erb, whom the utmost Necessity obliged me to send.
Return of Captain Robinson's and Captain Shrawder's Companies of Pennsylvania Ran- gers stationed at Wyoming, Septr. 17, 1783.
Capt'ns.
Lieut's.
Ensign.
Serjeants,
Corp'Is.
Drum & Fife.
Privates.
Voluntiers.
Capt'n Robinson's Comp'y Fit for Duty,
1
1
1
1
2 25
Capt'n Schrawder's Comp'y Fit for Duty, Sick,
1
2
20
1
1
Total.
2 2
-
5
6
2|57
1
One Box of Cartridges, 66 Muskets. [Signed] PHIL. SHRAWDER, Captn. P. R.
Justice Patterson arrived at Wilkes-Barré about September 20, 1783, bearing his new commission, as well as documents accrediting him as agent for a very considerable number of Pennsylvanians claiming lands in Wyoming. Justices Seely and Mead soon followed Patterson, and it was not long until Wyoming "began to swarm with Pennsylvania land-claimants." Taking up his quarters in a house near Fort Dickinson, the first act of importance which the over-zealous Justice Patterson performed was the changing of the name of Wilkes-Barré to "LONDONDERRY"! Then, fully armed with legal and illegal powers, he forth- with began to exercise thems.
*ROBERT MARTIN, who came to Pennsylvania in early manhood, is said to have been a native of New Jersey. He was the first settler where the town of Northumberland now stands, having built a house there as early as 1767. He kept an inn, which was a place of much resort. He became a man of some prominence and considerable influence, and in 1776 was a member of the Pennsylvania Provincial Conference. He was paymaster of the Pennsylvania militia in service in the campaign of 1776. He was a member of the State Convention to frame the constitution of 1776, and was a Representative in the State Legislature in 1778 and '79. Under the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1790 be held the office of Justice of the Peace for many years. Colonel Franklin, in his "Brief", mentioned herein before, says that "Robert Martin had too much humanity to act under his commission [of September, 1783] with the otber new- fangled Justices, "
Mr. Martin died at Northumberland about the year 1813. He had two daughters-one married to Dr. James Davidson of New Jersey and later of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, and the other married to Capt. Thomas Grant of Northumberland County, a brief sketch of whom will be found in a subsequent chapter.
tSee (t) note, page 1274.
#See "Pennsylvania Archives", Old Series, X: 104.
§Captain Patterson, in his "Petition", mentioned on page 626, Vol. 11, and page 1227, makes the follow- ing statement with respect to the work of the Pennsylvania Commissioners at Wyoming in April, 1783. "The Com- missioners advised an election by the freeholders for Justices of the Peace in that hot-hed of sedition. The election was held, and your petitioner was elected a Justice, and a special Act was passed at the ensuing Legislature to confirm it. He attended the whole of the session in Philadelphia, and was commissioned the first magistrate for that refractory country [Wyoming]. He proceeded to Wyoming, having a warrant-of-attorney from the owners of the land to lease or dispose of it on easy and moderate terms. Sundry of the intruders came under lease, but the undue influence of Franklio, Butler, Denison, Gore, Spalding and other evil-disposed persons, induced the lessees to forego their contracts. "On your petitioner's arrival at Wyoming as a Justice he found numbers very obstinate, in crowds, with Butler. breathing defiance to Pennsylvania and her laws. He was not intimidated, but committed their Colonel Butler to Sunbury jail, at the distance of sixty-five miles, where he was held in £5,000 bail."
Sick,
2
INVIO
8
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During the Spring and Summer of 1783, the independence of the United States was acknowledged by several of the principal European powers, and on the 3d of September of that year, the definitive treaty of peace between Great Britain and the United States was signed at Paris by the representatives of the two powers. As those were the days of stage-coaches and sailing vessels, and not of steamboats and telegraphs, several weeks elapsed before news of the signing of the treaty was disseminated in this country. Meanwhile there was abroad in the land a sincere belief that the long and burdensome war was actually ended, and that very soon the armies of the United States would be disbanded. About the middle of September. the authorities of Pennsylvania began to take steps tending toward the disbandment of the States' troops of the line, and on October 18th Congress issued a proclamation disbanding the Continental army. After November 3d the army was entirely discharged from service.
At Philadelphia, September 22, 1783, the Pennsylvania Assembly passed the following :
"Resolved, That the Supreme Executive Council are hereby empowered and required to take into the service of this State one Major, two Captains and four subalterns of the officers of the Pennsylvania Line, who are forthwith to be instructed to enlist two full companies of the soldiers who have served in the Pennsylvania Line, to serve such times as to the Supreme Executive Council, the succeeding Assembly, shall seem meet; and that one month's pay shall be advanced to the
said officers and soldiers, who shall be armed and accoutered at the expense of the State."
Miner states ("History of Wyoming," page 330) that "this resolution was passed with closed doors, in secret session, and recorded on the secret journals of the House; and was regarded, when known, as a direct infraction of the Articles of Confederation."
The Supreme Executive Council met on September 25th, and without delay elected, and immediately commissioned, the following-named officers: James Moore*, Major; James Chrystief and Philip Shrawder}, Captains; Blackall William Ball§, John Armstrong||, Samuel Read and Andrew Henderson ** ,
*JAMES MOORE was a son-probably the second-of James Moore, Sr., and his wife Elizabeth (Whitehill) Moore. of Chester County, Pennsylvania. James Moore, Sr., was possessed of considerable property in Chester County. bordering on the manors of Springton and Brandywine. May 23, 1770, he was appointed by the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania a Justice of the General Quarter Sessions of the Peace, and of the Court of Common Pleas of Chester County.
In company with Gen. Anthony Wayne, Thomas Hockley and others Judge Moore was chosen a member of the Committee of Public Safety of Chester County in December, 1774. He was made a Justice of the Peace March 31. 1777, hut resigned the office in November, 1781, to take bis seat as a Representative from Chester County in the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, to which office he was re-elected in 1784, '85, '86, '87 and '88. He was reappointed a Justice of the Peace in November, 1782, and December 13, 1783, he was, with Gen. Anthony Wayne, elected a member of the Pennsylvania Council of Censors. He was elected a judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Chester County in October, 1785, and August 17. 1791, was appointed an Associate Judge of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. He was a zealous patriot during the Revolutionary War, and was active in enlisting men for the Flying Camp and the Pennsylvania Line.
Judge Moore lived in a fine, large stone mansion, on the crest of a hill overlooking the Brandywine, near the pre-ent village of Glen Moore, Chester County. He died there March 31, 1802, and his wife died there June 25, 1815, aged 82 years.
In June, 1773, Judge Moore purchased the rights of eight or ten men, under Pennsylvania grants, to lands in the Wyoming region. In 1802 David Moore, a son of Judge Moore, claimed these lands.
James Moore, Jr., was born in Chester County about 1756. He received a preparatory training in classical and scientific studies, and then, it is believed, attended lectures for a short time at the College of Philadelphia. At the call to arms in 1775 he quickly responded, and, on the recommendation of the Committee of Public Safety, was com- missioned January 5, 1776, Captain of the 7th Company in the 4th Pennsylvania Battalion, commanded by Col. (later Gen.) Anthony Wayne. In the Summer and early Autumn of 1776 certain companies of this battalion, including Captain Moore's were at Crown Point and Ticonderoga. The term of enlistment of the battalion expired January 5, 1777, but the officers and men remained in service until January 24, in order to allow troops to come in and take the battalion's place.
A large proportion of the men of the 4th Battalion reenlisted for three years in the 5th Pennsylvania Regiment. Continental Line, which was organized in January and February, 1777. Captain Moore was recommissioned Captain. and given command of a company in this regiment. In May, 1777, the "5th" joined the main army at Morristown. New Jersey, and on the 11th of the following September participated in the battle of Brandywine in Captain Moore's native County. He was promoted Major September 20, 1777, and transferred to the Ist Pennsylvania Regiment. Continental Line. The battle of Germantown soon followed, and then came Valley Forge, where the Ist Regiment spent the Winter of 1777-'78. At the battle of Monmouth, New Jersey, June 28, 1778, the 1st Regiment carried off the honors.
In September, 1780, the "Ist" was in camp at New Bridge, near Hackensack, New Jersey, and later it went South with Washington's army and took part in the siege of Yorktown, After the surrender of Cornwallis (October, 1781) Major Moore went with his regiment to South Carolina. January 1, 1783, he was transferred to the 2d Pennsylvania Regiment, Continental Line. Early in the following July be was with his regiment at the barracks in Philadelphia. and soon thereafter was transferred to the First Pennsylvania Regiment, in which he held the rank of Major until his discharge from the service November 3, 1783. About that time he hecame an original member of the Pennsylvania Branch of the Society of the Cincinnati.
*
*
*
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Major Moore was made a Free Mason prior to June, 1780, in which month he and forty-seven other Brethren of the Craft (among whom were Capt. James Chrystie, Lieut. Erkuries Beatty, who had been an officer in the Sullivan expedition, Col. Caleb North, Col. Walter Stewart, Col. Josiah Harmer, Col. Francis Johnson, Col. Adam Hubley, Capt. John Boyd, Lient Benjamin Lodge, who had been Geographer of the Sullivan Expedition, Col. Thomas Craig, mentioned on page 1401 Col. Richard Butler and Maj. Thomas Church), all officers "in the Pennsylvania Line of the American Army", petitioned the Grand Lodge of Peunsylvania, Ancient York Masons, for a warrant for a Military, or Traveling, Lodge "to be styled Pennsylvania-Union Lodge." Major Moore was nominated by the peti- tioners to be Master of the proposed Lodge, Surgeon John Rogers to be Senior Warden, and Surgeon Joho Pratt to he Junior Warden. The petition was recommended and "countersigued" June 2, 1780, by Col. Thomas Procter, Worshipful Master of Military Lodge No. 19 (see page 1184, Vol. II), and July 20, 1780, the Grand Lodge granted to the Brethren named in the petition a warrant for a Lodge to be known as "Pennsylvania-Union Lodge, No. 29, A. V. M., in the Pennsylvania Line." Soon thereafter the Lodge was duly constituted, and its officers were installed by Colonel Procter, who made his report to the Grand Lodge December 18, 1780.
Under the date of December 26, 1783, at Philadelphia, four members of Lodge No. 29, "in behalf of eighteen members of the Lodge (all that could be collected)", presented a petition to the Grand Lodge, in which appeared the following paragraph. "On the return of the warrant and Brethren to this place, a Lodge has never been called, and Major Moore, who was continued Master, has taken the warrant with him, and the jewels, books and papers belonging to the Lodge, to his command at Il'yoming, where there is but one member [Captain. James Chrystie] with him," * * December 27, 1783, the Grand Lodge voted "that all traveling warrants heretofore grauted by this Grand Lodge be called in by the Grand.Secretary." [See "Old Masonic Lodges of Peonsylvania", II: 66-77.]
(The following paragraphs are from a sketch of the life of Maj. James Moore by W. S. Long, M D., published in The Pennsylvania Magazine, XII: 470.)
"After his experiences at Wyoming Major Moore went to Philadelphia and entered the drug business. He moved in fashionable circles in society, and exhibited a taste for high living and the expensive refinements, whether of art or pleasure, which in the end resulted unfortunately both for himself and his family. October 17, 1787, in Christ Church, he was married to Sarah, eldest daughter of Col. Sharp and Margaret Delany. [For further references to Colonel Delany see a subsequent chapter.] She was one of the belles of Philadelphia, and ably seconded the heat of his inclination for extravagant living. When they visited Judge and Mrs. Moore at their home near Springton Manor, Chester County, they rode in a handsome carriage drawn by fine horses, with everything to correspond in style, and were apt to astonish their neighbors, who lived in a plainer, though respectable provincial manner.
"As a business man he was unsuccessful January 2, 1798, the partnership of Goldthwaite & Moore was dissolved, their store being at the corner of Second and Walnut Streets, and James Moore, Jr., advertised the stock for sale, as he proposed retiring from business. His father assisted him on several occasions-on the last one, parting with most of his land rather than permit his son's name to he dishonored.
"About 1800 Major Moore removed with his family to the neighborhood of Jamestown, Virginia, preferring the severing of family and social ties, and a life among strangers, to meeting in the walks of daily life those who had known him in more prosperous times. Only once-on the occasion of his soo Sharp's visit to the home of his father's boyhood, about 1810-has the veil which hid his further career from us been lifted "
According to the "Decennial Register of the Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution", Philadelphia, 1898, Major Moore died in 1813.
+JAMES CHRISTIE was born near Edinhurg, Scotland, in 1750, and came to Pennsylvania in 1775. Under a resolu- tion of Congress passed December 9, 1775, the Second Pennsylvania Battalion was raised, and on January 3, 1776, Col. Arthur St. Clair was elected and commissioned by Congress to command this battalion. Two days later James Christie was commissioned First Lieutenant of Capt. Stephen Bayard's company of the 2d Battalion, and on the 11th of the following November he was commissioned Captain (to rank from August 9, 1776) and transferred to the command of the company in the same battalion which had been formerly commanded by Capt. William Butler, who had been promoted Major.
The Second Battalion was in service at Crown Point, Ticonderoga, and other points in the north-eastern corner of New York nearer the Canadian border, during the Summer, Autumn and early part of the Winter of 1776, leaving Ticonderoga for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, January 24, 1777-their term of service having then expired.
The Third Pennsylvania Regimeut, Continental Line, was formed in January and February, 1777, on the basis of the Second Battalion, Pennsylvania and was "arranged" in the Continental service March 12, 1777. Captain Chrystie was commissioned a Captain in this regiment, to rank from August 9, 1776. The Third Pennsylvania was in camp with the army near White Plains, New York, in July 1778, on or about the first of which month the Twelfth Pennsylvania Regiment, which had been reduced to a skeleton regiment hy heavy losses, was incorporated with the "Third". Just about the time this consolidation took place Captain Chrystie and other officers of the "Third" were tried hy court-martial. The findings of the court, promulgated in a General Order is ned from the headquarters of the army at White Plains, under the date of August 1, 1778, are printed in "Peunsylvania in the War of the Revolu- tion", II: 294, and they read in part as follows:
"At a Division General Court Martial, held at Peekskill July 16, 1778, * * Lieut. John Armstrong, of the 3d Pennsylvania Regiment, tried for behaving in a scandalous manner in beating a number of persons, breaking windows and heing guilty of other abusive treatment. After due consideration the Court are of opinion that Lieutenant Armstrong was guilty of heating Quartermaster Bradford, but think that the provocation was, in some degree, equal to the offense; that he was guilty of breaking cellar windows, and of other abusive treatment; but, upon the whole, canuot pronounce his behavior scandalous, though unjustifiable; and, notwithstanding his good character as an officer and soldier, he is sentenced to he reprimanded in General Orders.
"At the same Court Captains James Christy and Thomas Moore of said regiment was tryed for said crime. The Court are of opinion that they are not guilty of hehaving in a scandalous manner in heating a number of persons and breaking windows, but find them guilty of abusive treatment, and sentence them to be reprimanded by the command- ing officer of the Brigade.
"The Commander-in-chief [General Washington] is sorry he has a reason to declare that Captains Christy and Moore and Lieutenant Armstrong were, through the whole of this affair, in circumstances that did them very little honor. He laments that they should suffer themselves so far to deviate from that line of delicacy and decorum which they owe to their own character, as to Engage in riot and tumult of singular complexion; especially as it rather appears by their own defense that they left their regiment without leave."
It is stated in "Pennsylvania in the War of the Revolution", I: 446, that in September, 1780, on the discovery of Benedict Arnold's plot at West Point, Captain Chrystie "was detailed specially hy General Washington to visit all the [American] posts."
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