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 28
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The petition was referred to a committee composed of Thomas Jefferson and Arthur Lee of Virginia and Hugh Williamson of North Carolina, who, on January 23, 1784, made a report, in pursuance of which Congress adopted the following :*
"Resolved, That a Court be instituted, according to the IXth Article of the Confederation, for determining the private right of soil within the said territory, so far as the same is by the said Article submitted to the determination of such a Court; that the fourth Monday in June next [1784] be assigned for the appearance of the parties, by their lawful agents, before Congress, or the Committee of States, wheresoever they shall be then sitting; that notice of the assignment of the said day be transmitted by the Secretary of Congress to the Governors of Pennsylvania and Connecticut, with a request that they take proper measures for having the same served on the parties interested under their States respectively."
Reference is made on page 1311 to a petition signed by certain Wyoming inhabitants which was presented to the Pennsylvania Assembly about the middle of January, 1783, and was formally referred to a committee of the House. Apparently nothing further resulted, for we find that a somewhat similar petition, signed by the same people, together withi a considerable number of others, was carried down to Philadelphia from Wyoming by Lieut. Samuel Shippardt and presented to the Assembly, January 21, 1784; and having been read a second time on January 23d, was referred to a committee composed of Messrs. Jacob Rush, Moses McClean, Frederick Watts, Robert Brown and William Maclay. This committee reported to the House on January 29th, and the next day it was voted by the House, "by a considerable majority}," that Samuel Shippard, Simon Spalding, Stephen Fuller and certain others named, who had signed the petition in question, were "within the description of persons entitled to a reason- able compensation in lands within the boundaries of this State, agreeable to a resolve of the Assembly" of September 2, 1783-as noted on page 1343.
Thereupon the House resolved that the Secretary of the Land Office be authorized to deliver to Samuel Shippard, Simon Spalding, Stephen Fuller, and
*See "Journals of Congress", IV: 331. 1See page 1358.
#See "Pennsylvania Archives", Second Series, XVIII: 635.
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each of the other persons named, certificates "importing that each of them is entitled to 300 acres of land, to be located anywhere within the purchased and unappropriated parts of the counties of Northampton and Northumberland."
With reference to the aforementioned Shippard petition and the action of the General Assembly thereon, Col. John Franklin made the following state- ment in one of his "Plain Truth" articles, published at Wilkes-Barré in September, 1801.
"A petition was started by Samuel Shippard, a New Jersey man, who never owned a foot of land at Wyoming under the Connecticut title. However, a meeting of the settlers was held at Wilkes-Barré to consult on the plan of Shippard's petition. It was unanimously rejected, [as] they had a petition then pending in Congress. Yet, by the industry of the said Shippard, aided by others opposed to the claim of the settlers, he procured near fifty names to his petition, mostly of foreigners who were not settlers at Wyoming at or before the Decree of Trenton.
"Among others in Shippard's petition were the names of Simon Spalding and Stephen Fuller, but it is well known that Simon Spalding was absent from Wyoming, in the eastern part of Connecticut, at the time the petition was in circulation in Wyoming. He has ever declared and still solemnly swears, that he never signed the petition, or even saw it. Stephen Fuller also declares that he never signed it. Daniel Whitney and Preserved Cooley were Pennsylvania claimants-or, at least, pretended to be- who were active in expelling the Connecticut settlers from Wyoming after the Trenton Decree. * * *
"Samuel Shippard, in the character of au ageut, went off with his petition to the Legisla- ture some time about the last of the year 1783. The petition was presented to the Legislature, and a majority of the petitioners were rejected as not coming within the resolution proposing compensation. This was a speculating scheme. It was originated by persons opposed to the interest of the Connecticut claimants, for the purpose of defeating the petition of the settlers then pending at Congress. Certificates were issued [by the Land Office] and, as it was said, were delivered to Samuel Shippard for the persons concerned. Mr. Shippard left Philadelphia and returned to his place of residence in New Jersey, and has not been at Wyoming from that day to this time [1801]. A small part of the certificates were sent by Shippard to some of the persons con- cerned, at Wyoming. The others, it is supposed, he speculated upon to such use as suited himself."
On January 19th and 21, 1784, the Pennsylvania Assembly received messages from President Dickinson conveying information relative to the action taken by the General Assembly of Connecticut with respect to Wyoming affairs (see page 1357), and also information concerning the petition of Col. Zebulon Butler and others that had been presented to Congress, at Princeton. These messages were referred to a committee, and upon a partial report of this committee made January 29, 1784, the House adopted the following :*
"It appears that the Government of our Sister State of Connecticut have not duly informed themselves of the resolutions and acts of this Commonwealth respecting the settlers at Wyoming; "Whereupon, Resolved, That it be recommended to the President in Council to furnish the Governor and Assembly of the State of Connecticut with the proceedings of the Council and Assembly of this Commonwealth respecting the settlers at Wyoming since the judgment at Trenton. "On the petition, remonstrance and address of Zebulon Butler, and others, to the Hon- orable the Congress of the United States, dated November 11, 1783, your Committee would observe that it contains representations different from what appears ou the files of this House from some of the subscribers, and other matters, neither founded in fact, supported by justice or by the spirit of the Confederation. On which your Committee offer the following resolution: Resolved, That the absolute right of preemption of the soil aud lands at Wyoming, claimed by Zebulon Butler and others, as well as the right of jurisdiction, is vested in this Commonwealth; and that a committee be appointed to draft instructions to our Delegates in Congress on those heads; setting forth, also, the humane proceedings and conduct of the State in protecting, and resolving to grant lands to, the actual settlers on the lands aforesaid at the time judgment was given respecting the claims of Connecticut."
Subsequently the aforementioned committee made a further report on the matters set forth in President Dickinson's messages, and thereupon, on February 14, 1784, the House adopted several resolutions, in part as follows:f
"Resolved, That the Delegates of this State be instructed to apply immediately to Congress for an explanation of their Act of the 23d of last month [January, 1784], it appearing to be un- certain whether the fourth Monday of June next is fixed for the purpose of appointing Com- missioners, or Judges, to constitute a Court, or for the purpose of deciding how far the same is, by the IXth Article of the Confederation, submitted to the determination of such a Court. ** * That by the said Article of Confederation a Court is to be established for the trial of the
*See "Pennsylvania Archives", Old Series, X: 559.
+See "Pennsylvania Archives", Old Series, X:559.
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private right of soil only where it is claimed under different grants of two or more States; so that Zebulon Butler and the other claimants cannot be entitled to such a Court unless they come within the description aforesaid-which it is apprehended they do not. * * *
"That two Agents be appointed by the Supreme Executive Council for managing, under their direction, the controversy concerning claims of private right of soil in the territory hereto- fore in dispute between this State and Connecticut. And that the said Agents be instructed to prepare themselves for maintaining the right of soil within the territory aforesaid, to be vested in Pennsylvania and persons claiming under Pennsylvania; for justifying the conduct of this State from the charges contained in the Act of Assembly of the State of Connecticut of the second Thursday of October last; and for opposing the attempt of the said State to obtain a revision of the cause lately determined at Trenton."
On February 16, 1784, President Dickinson wrote to the Pennsylvania Delegates in Congress, enclosing a copy of the foregoing resolutions, and stating :*
"The attempts of Connecticut are very extraordinary, and are to be opposed with the most persevering vigilance! We wish you by all means to prevent any step being taken by Congress that may, in the smallest degree, lead towards a revision of the cause determined by the Court at Trenton. That business is complicated with such a variety of consideration and circumstances, arising from a multiplicity of sources, that it is incapable of being properly managed without diligent and long continued study and application to it.
"Mr. Wilson, by his professional knowledge, and laborious preparation for the late trial between this State and Connecticut, has acquired a thorough acquaintance with the whole tran- sactions preceding your appointment. To you, Gentlemen, the subsequent [transactions] are well known. He is now nominated a Delegate, and will join you as soon as possible. With the mutual information and assistance which you will give each other, we do not question but that the designs of our opponents will be properly encountered. We shall be obliged to you if you will, by an early opportunity, send us a copy of any Remonstrance, Address or Petition to Congress by Zebulon Butler and his associates."
On the same date, President Dickinson wrote to the Hon. George Clinton, Governor of New York, in part as follows:
"This letter will be delivered to your Excellency by the Hon. Mr. Wilson, one of our Delegates, and Agents in the controversy for the territory of which the jurisdiction and pre- emption were, in December, 1782, adjudged unanimously by the Court at Trenton to be the right of this Commonwealth. We flattered ourselves that so truly respectable a determination would have put an end to all contests, and that the affair would have given us no further trouble than to settle private claims of soil upon equitable terms, which this State was resolved to do. But with regret we find that the Dispute is reviving in a variety of forms, and it becomes our duty to be prepared in the best manner we can for opposing attempts that threaten the Honor, the Peace and the Welfare of Pennsylvania. We therefore beg leave to request, and shall with just acknowledgments receive, any assistance which your State can afford to Mr. Wilson by access to your records and other Sources of information." * * *
Early in January, 1784, Obadiah Gore and the other Wyoming inhabitants who, in March, 1783, had petitioned the Legislature of New York for a grant of land, and had been voted certain privileges (see pages 1314, 1315), arranged to renew their efforts and push their project to a satisfactory conclusion. Con- sequently Mr. Gore journeyed to the seat of the New York Government, where, on January 26, 1784, he presented the following petition to the Legislature.t "To the Hon'ble the Legislature of the State of New York in Senate and Assembly met:
"In Pursuance of a resolution of both branches of the Legislature passed the 21st day of March last, granting liberty to the Inhabitants of Wyoming to explore a Tract of Country of the waste and unappropriated lands of this State, to form a settlement, I have, with a number of said Inhabitants, surveyed and Designated six towns of six miles square-as laid down by a Sketch herewith Exhibited; and would point out a suitable Tract of land on the East side of the Cayuga Lake (at or near the Cayuga Town), to extend southerly by said Lake, to accom- modate the rest of said Inhabitants.
"These are therefore to pray the Hon'ble the Legislature to grant and confirm the above described Land to said Inhabitants, on such Terms, Conditions and restrictions as shall seem meet, and your memorialist, as in Duty bound, shall ever pray, &c.
"Dated New York, January 26, 1784. [Signed] "OBADIAH GORE,
in behalf of said Inhabitants."
This petition was read in the Assembly on January 27th, and was duly referred to a committee composed of Messrs. Lansing, Rutgers and I. Smith, who, on February 23, 1784, reported in part as follows:
"That on examining the joint-resolution of March 21, 1783, it appears that O. Gore and partners were permitted to locate on any waste and unappropriated lands of the State, etc. That *See "Pennsylvania Archives", Old Series, X: 204.
+The original document was in the possession of M. M. Jones, Utica, N. Y. in March, 1880.
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as by said resolution the faith of the State is pledged to O. Gore and partners, the Comtee, are of opinion that provision for that purpose ought to be made in the bill now before the House for the encouragement of the settlement of waste and unappropriated lands in the State."*
At Fort Dickinson, Wilkes-Barré, under the date of February 1, 1784, Maj. James Moore wrote to President Dickinson, Philadelphia, in part as follows :+
"The Snow is so deep in this Country that our Communication with the City has been totaly stop'd this sometime. Licut. Arinstrong is now willing to attempt the journey. Should he be able to perform it, he will deliver your Excellency this Letter with the several Inclosures. As Lieut. Armstrong goes to Philada. on Public Business, he wishes to know if he cannot obtain Pay for his expenses.
"In my accounts I have charged the State with 22 Commissions on all the moneys ] have J,aid'out, deducting my Month's Pay and Subsistence, which I trust your Excellency & Councill will not disapprove. It is a small compensation for the trouble I have had. Wood is now the only article of expence I shall be exposed to during the Winter. The severity of the weather will require 200 cords; that quantity is already cut and set up by the troops, but so remote from the Garrison that I am obliged to allow four shillings a cord for cartage.
"Inclosed your Excellency will find a Coppy of Martin Tidd's deposition, respecting the opinion and advice of Colo. Strowd to those people, when here on the Committee. This testi- mony is corroborated daily by Information from the Pena Settlers. Since the Committee left this [place] those who had relinquished their Claims in favour of the Pena Landholders are now attempting to regaln possession ; others who had engaged to deliver Quiet Possession in the Spring have determined otherwise, and from what I can learn every Person who has the least Preten- tions to lands in this Country under the Connecticut claim, are expected with all their Connec- tions in the Spring. Many of the Pena Settlers who had some time ago obtained Possession by consent, are now forbid cutting fire wood on their Land. These and many other Reasons which Lt. Armstrong will be able to Inform you, point out the necessity of Continuing a Military force in this place. Should the Garrison be Dismissed in the Present Situation of affairs, danger- ous consequences are to be dreaded
"Should Major Christie be in Philadelphia, Lieut. Armstrong will return Immediately to this place, but should It. Armstrong find Major Christie out of town, I have directed him to wait on Council for the two months pay agreeably to the Inclosed Muster & Pay rolls."
This communication was duly received by President Dickinson, and was "read and approved" in the Supreme Executive Council, February 6, 1784. The deposition of Martin Tidd, which accompanied Major Moore's letter, had been made before Esquire Mead, at Wilkes-Barré, January 30, 1784. It related to Col. Jacob Stroud, one of the Committee of inquiry from the Pennsylvania Assembly, and Tidd deposed that, while this committee was at Wilkes-Barré, he "heard Colonel Stroud tell Edward Spencer that all the people settled under Connecticut claims in Wyoming were fools for taking leases from the Pennsyl- vania landholders, as that was [equivalent to] relinquishing their claims; that those that had not taken leases should hold their possessions, and not give up by any means. The Pennsylvania landholders may try to alarm you," said Stroud, "but they cannot bring any ejectments against you, or dispossess you,
* * until you have a Continental Court called for the trial of the right of soil. *
*The House agreed to this report, and the Act "to encourage the settlement of waste and unappropriated lands' ' was passed by the House March 4, 1784, and by the Senate, April 3, 1784. March 1. 1788, the Legislature of New York adopted the following: "Whereas the Senate and Assembly in March. 1783, adopted a concurrent resolution; * * Whereas O. Gore and his several hundred associates have chosen lands between the Oswego and Susquehanna * Rivers on the east and south-east, the boundary line between New York and Pennsylvania on the south, and the partition line hetween New York and Massachusetts, of the lands by them respectively ceded to each other. on the we t: And Whereas the Indian title still remains to be extinguished; and whereas Lebbens Hammond and others, petitioners with Rohert Conat-who were also of the original associates of O Gore and John Fuller and others-are either already settled on the above lands, or are ahout to remove there; and whereas the State has expended $1600. for exploring the land and conciliating the Indians-and further expenses will be incurred in purchasing the land from the Indians- "Therefore, Resolved, That intruders shall be expelled and punished; that treaties be made with the Indians for the purchase of 160,000 acres of land; that 13,000 acres be reserved and granted to Lebbens Hammond, and others, on the payment of 3s. and 6d. per acre; and the residue so to he purchased be granted to Obadiah Gore and his associ- ates at the rate of Is. and 3d. per acre."
Under the aforementioned Act of March 4, 1784. Ohadiah Gore, Matthias Hollenback. William Buck and Avery Gore bought 3,850 acres, Lot 142, Town of Chemung (later Big Flats, Chemung County, New York). The certificate of survey was filed November 5, 1788, and February 29. 1789, O. Gore paid £294, 14$. 7d in three per cent. stock to the Treasurer, at Is. and 6d. per acre. Another certificate of survey, for 7,680 acres, Lot 139 ( Baldwin, Che- mung County), was filed the same day for Samuel Gore, Aaron Dean, Thomas Foster, Jacob Snell. Lockwood Smith Timothy Tarring, Thomas Bennett and Tobias Wynkoop (of Gore's party), and was paid for February 10, 1792, with £576.
The emigrants from Wyoming under the "Gore project" settled mostly in the intervales of the Susquehanna in Tioga and Chemung Counties, New York, before the Indian title to the land had been extinguished. Big Flats. where Obadiah Gore and his partners bought their land, was already a settlement. Christian Miner, a Pennsylvanian, having established himself there in 1787, and heing followed in 1788 by Caleb Gardner, Henry Starell and George Gardner, and in 1789 by Clark Winans- all from Pennsylvania.
tSee "Pennsylvania Archives", Old Series, X: 197.
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You will have a trial, and no one can dispossess you until that happens, and that Court cannot be called for this long time."*
About the time that Major Moore wrote to President Dickinson the letter just set forth, the following documentt was drawn up at Wilkes-Barré and signed by a number of the Yankee settlers living in the upper end of the township-in what is now Plains Township:
"To the Hon. the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania at their present Cession :
"A Petition for Redress of Grievances by the Inhabitants of Jacobs Plains, in Wyoming, representing the ill treatment they have received from one Daniel Whitney.
"Sometime in the mouth of April, 1783, this Daniel Whitney came into this Place, & in- formed the inhabitants that he had bought a certain tract of Land, lying in the said Jacobs Plains, from one Mr. [John Maxwell] Nesbitt of Philadelphia. And he the said Daniel Whitney further informed the inhabitants ou said lands that he was to take possession of said lands, according to a certain bargain made between him and the said Mr. Nesbitt, by the 15th or 20th of last April; but finding a Proclamation and an Act of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania passed in March, 1783, prohibiting such a procedure, he the said Whitney told us it was not in his power to obtain possession agreeable to the said Proclamation and Act, neither could he until the next setting of the Assembly; and he hoped that the inhabitants of Jacobs Plains would oppose him, and thereby prevent his getting possession, so that he might come upon his bondsman.
"Upon these considerations he the said Daniel Whitney never warned any of the inhabi- tants of Jacobs Plains off said lands, or brought any writs of ejectment against any of the inhabitants of said lands. Yet some time in December last [1783] the said Daniel Whitney came into this place again and, without any ceremony, took all our hay, grain and creatures, viz .: Neat Cattle, Horses & hoggs; and he the said Daniel Whitney, when asked by what authority he thus distressed the Inhabitants of Jacobs Plains, replied it was by a Landlord's warrent- altho he never produced any Landlord's Warrent, or any other Lord's Warrent, to justify his Conduct.
"And he the said Daniel Whitney did likewise proceed so far as to sell them at vandue, in seven Days, without so much as ever putting up any Advertisement; so that our Property was sold for little or Nothing in regard to the real value thereof. After some time we the In- habitants of Jacobs Plains thought it expedient, yea! the only Alternative left us, to procure Writs of Replevin, and get back what we could; but alass! before we were able to obtain writs a great quantity of our grain was threshed out & conveyed away, so that we could not get that which was taken away by the said Daniel Whitney or by his orders. So that; if the said Daniel Whitney had carried his avaricious & inhuman Plat into Execution, there must have inevitably perished upward of forty Persons, chiefly women & children.
"These are Facts, Gentlemen, which we are able to support before the Impartial World; altho at the same time we think they are shocking to the feelings of Humanity, and we would not wish to dwell long upon them. But we would, with the utmost submission and Alacrity of Soul consign over our distressed situation to your Honors candid and impartial consideration; praying that your Honors would in your wisdom point out a Modus of Redress for our grievances; and we in duty bound shall ever pray, &c.
"N. B .- We would beg leave to represent to the Honorable House a few Instances of the procedure of the said Daniel Whitney in the taking of grain and cattle, & the appraisal of the same, in a few particulars, in order for a further illustration of the affair :- A barrack of wheat con- taining 100 bushels, belonging to Mr. Abraham Westbrook, appraised at £7, 10s., and sold for fifteen dollars; a barrack of wheat and rye containing 110 bushels, taken from Joshua Jewell, appraised at £5, and two stacks of oats containing 200 bushels, appraised at £5-& all sold for £8, 15s. A stack of wheat taken from Mr. Leonard Westbrook, containing forty bushels, ap- praised at £3-and many more such flagrant instances of cruelty we could produce, but for brevity's sake we omit.
"We, the subscribers, were originally proprietors under Connecticut.
[Signed] "ABRAHAM WESTBROOK, "JOSHUA JEWELL,
"DANIEL GORE, "GEORGE COOPER,
"LEONARD WESTBROOK, "JOHN SMITH
"EPHRAIM TYLER, "HENRY STARKE,
"JOHN KENNEDY, "PRICE COOPER,
*Alexander Patterson, in his "Petition" mentioned on page 626. Vol. II, and pages 1327, 1328, made the following statement concerning Colonel Stroud. "In this phrensy of the Legislature they sent Jonas Hartzel, Robert Brown and Jacob Stroud. Members from Northampton, to inquire into the conduct of the Pennsylvania officers, in consequence of a mock petition from the insurgents. Stroud had always been notoriously favorable to the intruders, and discovered great partiality in the investigation. Your petitioner, therefore, had him arraigned in the House the ensuing session, and substantiated hy his colleagues the facts in this simple business. No blame did or could attach to the Pennsyl- vania officers, whose duty it was to rid the country of a most infamous set of wretches.
"Stroud having clandestinely furnished the intruders with public arms and ammunition, and having acknowledged a variance suhsisting for fourteen years betwixt him and your petitioner, he was emphatically told by the Speaker of the House that he was an unfit person for a Commissioner in this instance. Your petitioner's duty demanding his attendence at Wyoming, further inquiry as to Stroud's guilt was postponed, or he would have been expelled with his usual infamy."
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