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 37
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108
+LOCUST HILL., sometimes erroneously called Locust Ridge, is referred to hereinbefore on pages 1172 and 1175. It is a distinct hill, having a base of about a mile in diameter and an elevation of 600 or 700 feet above the surrounding country. It was originally covered mostly with locust trees, but to-day there are very few growing there. On its south-easterly face it is free from rocks and ledges. The old Sullivan Road, still a traveled highway at that point. runs along the face of the hill near its base. The hill is about four miles east by south from the village of Thornhurst. on the Lehigh River.
#Undoubtedly by one of the settlers mentioned by Dr. Schopf.
1406
with a letter for the Pennamites in Fort Dickinson, informing them that Captain McDonald's company of volunteers had set out from Easton on July 28th, and would probably march to Wilkes-Barré. Before the express was able to reach the fort he was intercepted by some Yankee scouts in the outskirts of Wilkes- Barré, and the letter which he carried being secured and read, the leaders of of the Yankees were aroused to immediate activity. It was soon agreed that a company of forty or more men, under the command of Capt. John Swift*, should march forth from Wilkes-Barre "to view and watch the movements" of the
*JOHN SWIFT was the third child and second son of Elisha and Mary (Ransom) Swift. Elisha Swift who was the eldest child of Jahez and Abigail Swift, was born at Sandwich, Massachusetts, May 16, 1731.
Heman Swift (born at Sandwich in 1733; died at Cornwall, Connecticut, November 14, 1814) was a brother of Elisha Swift. At an early age he hecame a Lieutenant in the Provincial forces during the French and English War, serving on the northern frontier. During the Revolutionary War he served as Colonel of a Connecticut regiment in the Continental Line. After the war he resided in Cornwall, Connecticut, where he held various civil offices. For twelve years in succession he was a member of the Governor's Council, and at the same time, or later, was a Judge of the Litchfield County Court.
Ahout 1735 Jabez Swift removed with his family from Sandwich to Kent, Litchfield County, Connecticut. He was a Representative from Kent to the General Assembly of Connecticut in 1757, '58, '59 and '60, while his son Elisha held the same office in 1768, '69 and 70.
Elisha Swift was married at Kent December 13, 1756, to Mary Ransom, (born December 4, 1737), and they be- came the parent- of the following-named children: (i) Heman; (ii) Roxalana; (iii) John; (iv) Philetus; (v) Alice; (vi) Philea; (vii) Jabez; (viii) Severus; (ix) Lewis; (x) Elisha.
Elisha Swift, Sr., made his first appearance in Wyoming, so far as existing records show, in June, 1772, when he came as a settler under the auspices of The Susquehanna Company. At Wilkes-Barre, on October 2, 1772, he and his sons Heman and John signed the memorial to the Connecticut Assembly printed on page 751, Vol. II. Shortly afterwards the family took up their resideoce in Kingston Township, where on July 20, 1772, Elisha Swift had pur- chased from John Jenkins, Sr., an original proprietor, "House Lot No. 14", containing upwards of four acres and lying near the bend of the river, in what is now the borough of Forty Fort. Io Fehrttary, 1773, be bought for £100 certain lands in Wilkes-Barre which originally had heen allotted to Thomas Stephens.
In 1773, Elisha Swift presided as Moderator at several town-meetings, and when the town of Westmoreland was organized in March, 1774, he was elected to several offices. In December, 1774, he was a member of the School Com- mittee of the town, and in the Summer of 1776, was a member of the Westmoreland Committee of Inspection. He died at his home in Kingston Township in the Winter of 1776-'77. His widow continued to reside in Kingston until after the battle of Wyoming, when, it is presumed, she returned to her old home in Connecticut, accompanied by her younger children-at all events their names do not appear in later Wyoming records.
(i) Heman Swift first came to Wyoming in 1772. In March, 1776, he was one of the Westmorelanders who offered their services as soldiers to the Continental Congress, as related on page 870, Vol. II. In the following August (being theo in his twentieth year) he was appointed by Congress and duly commissioned Ensign of the "First Westmoreland Independent Company", commanded by Capt Robert Durkee.
(See page 892, Vol. II.) How long he continued in the military service, or what ultimately hecame of him, the present writer has been unable to ascertain.
(iv) Philetus Swift, next younger brother of John Swift, was a private in the 2d Connecticut Regiment, Contin- ental Line, commanded by his uncle, Col. Heman Swift, in the Revolutionary War. In later years he became a Briga- dier General of militia.
(iii) JOHN SWIFT, son of Elisha and Mary (Ransom) Swift, was born June 17, 1761, at Kent, Litchfield County, Connecticut, and accompanied the other members of his father's family to Wyoming Valley, when they removed hither in the Summer of 1772-he heing then eleven years of age. Four years and three months later he enlisted as a private in the "Second Westmoreland Independent Company" (see page 894, Vol II), commanded by Capt. Samuel Ransom -who was in some wise related to his mother He served in this company up to the time it was united with Captain Dur- kee's company and placed under the command of Capt Simon Spalding, as narrated on page 978, and then he served under Spalding at Wilkes-Barre until January 1781.
Upon the reorganization of the Connecticut Line in Janu- ary, 1781, John Swift became a private in the company com- manded by Capt. John Durkee, Jr., in the 1st Regiment, Con- necticut Line, commanded hy Col. Jobn Durkee, the founder and namer of Wilkes-Barré. He continued in this regiment (see page 1329) until it was mustered out of the Continental service in the Summer or early Autumn of 1783.
Upon leaving the army John Swift went to his old home (Kent) in Connecticut, where, undoubtedly, his mother and his younger brothers and sisters were then living. There he was married to Rhoda Sawyer, March 6, 1784. About that time the people of Connecticut were beginning to hear a good deal concerning the pernicious activities of the Pennamites at Wyo- ming, and soon thereafter John Swift determined to take a trip to the valley, ally himself with the distressed Yankees, and aid their cause to the best of his ability. He joined them while they were occupying "Fort Lillopee", and in a very short time, by reason of his bravery, earnestness, good judgment, and loyalty to his associates and their cause, he became one of the Yankee leaders in Wyoming, and was dubbled "Captain". He was at that time only twenty-three years old
During the next few years Captain Swift took a very ac- tive part in Wyoming affairs, and his name appears often on the pages hereinafter. He made his home in Kingston Town- ship, whither he had brought his wife after the close of the Second Pennamite-Yankee War. In April, 1788, he sold his land in Kingston to John Pierce, and removed with his family to Athens, Pennsylvania, where he owned several lots of land As noted on page 806, Vol. II, John Jenkins, Jr., and John Swift purchased a township of land in Ontario County, New York, the same now heing Palmyra, Wayne County, New York, on the southern shore of Lake Ontario
BRIG. GEN JOHN SWIFT (Photo-reproduction of a portrait in oils.)
During the Summer of 1789, Captain Swift moved into this township, erecting the first house-which was of logs-and a store house, at what is now the corner of Main and Canal streets, Palmyra. The district of Tolland (which embraced what is now Palmyra) held its first town-meeting in April, 1796, and Captain Swift was chosen Supervisor. The dis-
1407
"band of ruffians from New Jersey and elsewhere" -- as Colonel Franklin puts it.
The party chosen for this reconnoissance was composed of the following- named tried, true and "effective" Yankees: Capt. John Swift (Commander), Maj. Joel Abbott, Prince Alden, Jr., Waterman Baldwin, Lord Butler, Ishmael Bennet, Jr., Jonathan Burwell, Leonard Cole, Gideon Church, Reuben Cook, Nathaniel Cook, Joseph Corey, John Fuller, John Gore, Justus Gaylord, Elisha Harding, Thomas Heath, Jr., Elisha Harris, John Hurlbut, Richard Hallstead, William Hyde, Edward Inman, William Jenkins, Benjamin Jenkins, William Jackson, Dr. George Minard, William McClure, Abram Nesbitt, Abraham Pike, John Platner, William Ross, Thomas Read, Elisha Satterlee, William Slocum, Walter Spencer, Phineas Stephens, Thomas Stoddard, Daniel Sullivan, William Smith, Jr., Moses Sill, Jeremiah White and Nathaniel Walker-forty-two in all.
Late in the night of July 29th, or early in the morning of the 30th, Captain Swift detached from his party Gideon Church, Jonathan Burwell, Jenkins, and eight or ten others, with Waterman Baldwin* in command, and sent them out on the Sullivan Road as scouts. Some time during the morning of Friday, the 30th, this detachment arrived at the house of Eliphalet Emmons, at Bear Creek, ten miles from Wilkes-Barré. Emmons, and his wife Silence, occupied a small log house and kept a tavern-undoubtedly one of the places mentioned by Dr. Schöpf in his journal. Making inquiries there relative to the Easton party, and learning nothing, Baldwin and his men proceeded on their way. They went as far as the Lehigh River, without making any discoveries,
trict assumed the name of Palmyra in 1797. In 1799, John Swift was Superintendent of Highways. The first saw-mill in the place was erected by him, and for a few years he was engaged in mercantile business. John Swift's wife was the first woman who ventured a residence in this then unbroken wilderness. There were still many Indians wander- ing through that section of New York.
John Swift gave lands for the first saw-mill, the first graveyard, the first school-house and the first church edifice in Palmyra. From 1790 till 1812, he was connected with every enterprise of consequence-pecuniary, political and religious-which had its being in Palmyra. When the militia system of New York was reorganized John Swift was commissioned Captain, and at his house the first "training" of the company which he commanded took place. He was promoted through the various grades of military rank in Ontario County until, at least as early as October, 1808, he hecame Brigadier General commanding the Ontario County Brigade in the 5th Division of the New York Militia. In the War with Great Britain (1812-'14) General Swift was commissioned a Brigadier General of New York Volunteers. During the campaign on the Niagara frontier in the Summer of 1814, he led a detachment of troops on a reconnoitering expedition to Fort Greene. They surrounded and captured a picket-guard of sixty men, and while in the act of receiving the arms of the prisoners one of them shut General Swift through his breast. An attack fram a superior British force occurred about this time, but General Swift rallied his men and began what proved to be a successful engagement, but he soon fell to the ground exhausted. He was borne to a nearby house, where he died July 13, 1814, aged fifty-three years and twenty-five days. "Never", declared a writer of the day, "was the country called upon to lament the loss of a firmer patriot or braver man." He was buried near where he died, but after the war the citizens of Palmyra disinterred his remains and deposited them in the old cemetery of their village. The Legisla- ture of New York voted a sword to his oldest male heir, and also directed that a full-length portrait of General Swift should be hung up in the City Hall of New York. The sword was handed over to Asa Ransom Swift, General Swift's third child and eldest son, who was the first male child boru in Palmyra. Upon his death the sword passed into the possession of his son, Henry C. Swift, a resident of Phelps, New York.
At Washington, D. C. under date of April 7, 1814, the Hon. Timothy Pickering, then a Representative in Congress from Massachusetts, but who, when he lived at Wilkes-Barre, had known John Swift very well, wrote to him as follows: enclosing a copy of his (Pickering's) speech on the "Loan Bill." "I learn from my friend Mr. Howell of Canandaigua that you live in his neighborhood, and that you entertain those political opinions which, had they generally prevailed for the last seven years, would have saved our country from the oppressions of embargoes and other measures destruc- tive of its best interests, and from the calamities of war."
General Swift and his wife Rhoda (Sawyer) Swift, were the parents of the following-named children: Sally, Polly. Asa Ransom, Marcus G. B. (died at Fall River, Massachusetts, February 22, 1902), and Orson Ross. After the death of Mrs. Rhoda (Sawyer) Swift, which occurred subsequently to 1794, General Swift was married to Hepzibeth Treat Davidson, and they became the parents of the following-oamned children: Alexander Hamilton, Elizabeth Martha, and John Leonardus.
The following article was printed in The Susquehanna Democrat, Wilkes-Barre, February 22, 1823. "Drowned. in October last, in Sodus Bay, Lake Ontario, Asa Ransom Swift and Ashley Van Duzer, Esquires, of Palmyra, Ontario County, New York A long communication on this subject was handed to us soon after this event took place, but a press of other matters has hitherto excluded it from our columns. We have concluded to abridge the article and insert merely the substance, without going into all the particulars.
"Capt. Asa R. Swift, one of the persons drowned, was the eldest son of Gen. John Swift, formerly of Luzerne County, whose gallantry as a soldier and virtues as a citizen will long be remembered by his fellow citizens. General Swift was treacherously killed during the late war by a British prisoner after his surrender to a detachment of Americans commanded by General Swift.
"His son, Asa R. Swift, the immediate subject of this memoir, served as a First Lieutenant of cavalry in a twelve months' campaign during the late war, and was in service at the time of his father's death. He was afterwards promoted to a captaincy, and, as well for his own gallantry and good conduct as from respect to the memory of his father, the Legislature of New York presented him with an elegant sword, as a testimonal of the high estimation in which they held his character and services. As a private citizen he was much esteemned, and as a faithful, brave and meritorious officer he was much respected and highly valued."
*WATERMAN BALDWIN, as noted on page 902, Vol. II, was born at Norwich, New London County, Connecticut January 8, 1758, the third child of Isaac and Patience (Rathbun) Baldwin. Isaac Baldwin, born June 12, 1730. was a descendant in the fourth generation of Henry Baldwin, who was a freeman in 1652 at Woburn, Massachusetts. Patience
1408
and then retraced their steps to Emmons', where they arrived shortly after sunrise on Saturday the 31st.
About a half-hour later who should walk up to the tavern but Isaac Van Norman, on his way from the Pennamite camp at Locust Hill to Wilkes-Barré, presumably for the purpose of notifying the occupants of Fort Dickinson of the presence at Locust Hill of a body of men friendly to their interests. Van Norman being known to the Yankee scouts as a Pennamite who, only a short time before had been living in Wyoming, they questioned him sharply and learned that a force of twenty-five Pennamites was stationed at Locust Hill. They learned, also, "that there was a dispute among the men at the Hill as to whether or not they should then advance towards Wyoming, or remain where they were."
Captain Swift, with all the members of his command (except the scouts, who were in the neighborhood of Bear Creek), left Wilkes-Barré in the afternoon of Saturday, July 31st. The men departed quietly and without any display, in order not to attraet the attention or aronse the suspicions of the Sunbury Com- mittee of Mediation, still on the ground. Marching to the western border of Bear Swamp, about nine and a-half miles from Wilkes-Barré, Swift and his men bivouacked there. The next day, (Sunday, August 1st) they were joined by Waterman Baldwin and his scouting party, and were informed of the presence of the Pennamites at Locust Hill. Thereupon a disenssion arose as to whether the party should wait there at Bear Swamp, the coming of the Pennamites return to Wyoming, or "advanee to Locust Hill and attack and disperse such men as were there collected."* It was unanimously voted to advance, and
Rathhun, who became the wife of Isaac Baldwin, was of Exeter, Rhode Island, where she was born September 13, 1734. Isaac and Patience (Rathbun) Baldwin were the parents of eleven children They lived for some time at Can- terbury, Windham County, Connecticut, whence they removed to Wyoming Valley in 1772 or 73 and settled in Pittston Township. Upon the organization of the town of Westmoreland in March, 1774, Isaac Baldwin was elected one of the Surveyors of Highways. He was living in Pittston at the time of the battle of Wyoming, and with other survivors he and his family fled from the valley after the surrender of the various forts.
Inasmuch as the name of Isaac Baldwin does not appear in the existing Wyoming records of 1779-1782 it is quite probable that he did not return to the valley until early in the year 1783. He and his sons Thomas, Waterman and Isaac, Jr., signed in February, 1783, the petition to the New York Legislature before mentioned Isaac Baldwin removed to Newtown (now Elmira), Tioga Co , New York, prior to 1791, in which year he died there, on June 9th. Ilis wife died there July 24, 1823.
Rufus Baldwin, eldest child of Isaac and Patience (Rathbun) Baldwin, came to Wyoming with the other members of his father's family. His name appears in the Pittston tax lists of 1776, 1777 and 1778. In March, 1776, he was one of the Westmorelanders who offered their services as soldiers to the Continental Congress, as related on page 870, Vol II.
Thomas Baldwin, second child of Isaac and Patience, was born in 1756. He, also, was among those who offered their services as soldiers, as mentioned above. Upon the organization of Captain Durkee's Westmoreland Independ- ent Company (see page 892), Thomas Baldwin enlisted and was appointed 3d Sergeant. He served with this company until it was united with Ransom's company and placed under the command of Captain Spalding, and then he continued in the Continental service as a Sergeant under Spalding until some time in 1782. He took part in numerous battles, including the battle of Wyoming. He settled in Sheshequin, in what is now Bradford County, Pennsylvania, in May, 1783; but he did not remain there very long. While there a son-Vine-was born to him, who was said to be the first white child born in the Sheshequin Valley after the Revolution. Later Thomas Baldwin removed with his family to a farm near the present town of Ashland. Chemung County, New York, where he lived until his death.
Isaac Baldwin, Jr., a son of Isaac and Patience, was living in Newtown, New York, in 1795, in which year he sold to Elisha Satterlee 100 acres of land in Pittston, Wyoming Valley. In July, 1802, at Newtown, he sold to Isaac Dow Tripp "Town Lot No. 47", in Wilkes-Barre. His wife was Alice, daughter of Jonathan and Anna Haskill of Wyoming Valley.
Affa Baldwin, fourth child of Isaac and Patience, was married (first) to Benjamin Jenkins, and (second) to John Harding. See pages 805 and 993, Vol. II
Ada Baldwin, fifth child of Isaac and Patience, was born in Connecticut September 30, 1763. She became the wife of William Jenkins of Sontbport, New York, and died March 1, 1845.
WATERMAN BALDWIN, third child of Isaac and Patience, came with his parents and the other members of their family to Pittston, he being then about fifteen years of age. In 1776 he served a short term of enlistment in a Con- necticut regiment in the Continental army, and January 7, 1777, he enlisted as a private in the Westmoreland Inde- pendent Company commanded by Capt Robert Durkee. (See pages 894 and 902, Vol. II.) With this company he served-participating in the several battles and the various hardships which it experienced-until it was consolidated with Captain Ransom's company and placed under the command of Captain Spalding.
He was still a member of Spalding's company when it was at Fort Wyoming, Wilkes-Barre. in January, 1781, but upon the reorganization of the Connecticut regiments of the Continental Line, in January, 1781, Waterman Baldwin was assigned to the company of Capt. John Durkee, Jr., in the Ist Connecticut Regiment, commanded by Col. John Durkee. With this regiment be remained until its term of service expired, in 1782, wben he returned to Wyoming Valley. In February, 1783, he was one of the Signers of the petition to the Legislature of New York, previously mentioned. He was married to Celinda Hazen, and they had two daughters and two sons. John, the elder son, was married to Mary Jenkins, and Henry, the younger son, was married to a daughter of Wilkes Jenkins.
*See "Pennsylvania Archives", Old Series, X . 656.
1409
so, after nightfall, the party marched to within about a mile and a-half of the camping-place of the Pennamites, and bivouacked.
The next morning, (Monday, August 2d), between nine and ten o'clock, Captain Swift advanced with his men to within a short distance of the camping- place of the Pennamites, unobserved by the latter, and shortly afterwards, without warning, began an attack upon them. As to the character and results of the fight which ensued, the following extracts, from depositions* made about the time the affair occurred, will best tell the story.
Abraham Pike, one of Swift's party, deposed as follows: "Finding the party lying and sitting in a dispersed manner under the trees and bushes, they [the Yankees] fired upon and drove some of them into the house of one Brown, and others into the woods, from whence they began to return the fire; that this engagement lasted for some considerable length of time; that John Swift then called off his party, and returned with them to Wyoming."
Lieut. Col. James Moore deposed as follows:
"That being at Locust Ridge, in the county of Northampton, with a small party of men there stationed in consequence of the directions of Commissioners John Boyd and John Arm- strong, Jr., Esquires, on Monday, the 2d day of August last, about ten o'clock in the morning, he, the deponent, was alarmed by the discharge of fire-arms; that upon seeking the cause of it he discovered the men of McDonald's party running toward the house without arms, and followed by others who were firing upon them as they fled; that among the number of those who took refuge in the cabin, in which the deponent was, came Jacob Everett, t who soon afterwards received a ball in his forehead, by which he expired in about half an hour; that the firing continued after this for some time, by which two men were wounded; that after it had ceased, the body of the abovementioned Everett was interred near the hut in which he was killed."
Harmon Brink deposed as follows:
"On Monday, the 2d day of August [1784], he was in a house at a place called Locust Hill, in Northampton County, where Col. James Moore lay sick at that time; there were several others lying under the trees, and under the shade before the door. The deponent heard two or three guns fired, and immediately heard one Michael McCartley (who was under the shade before the door) call to the deponent to come and carry him away, for he was wounded and was not able to get into the house. The deponent went to help him in, and asked him how he came to be wounded, not suspecting any evil-minded persons being around. As he spoke to the wounded man there were thirty or forty guns fired towards the house, which the deponent supposed to be chiefly at him. He then called to the rest that were around to make the best of their way into the house. After the people were got into the house one Jacob Everett, standing opposite a window, was shot through the head, and died in a few minutes. Two others, besides the first-mentioned were wounded. After the Connecticut claimants (which 1 afterwards found then to be) had continued their firing on us about two hours, they retreated back towards Wyoming."
John Stickafoos deposed as follows:
"On the 2d day of August last he was at a place known by the name of Locust Hill, in the County of Northampton, in company with several people. That in the forenoon of said day the deponent was asleep under the shade of a tree, and was alarmed by the firing of musquetry ; upon which he fled to a small log cabin which was near. That the persons who fired killed a certain Jacob Everett, by shooting him through the head, and wounded three others, viz .: Michael McCartley, John Shuboy and David Morris. That the persons so surrounding continued to fire one hour and a-half longer. That he supposed they consisted of twenty or thirty men, some of whom he knew, viz .; Jonathan Burwell and William Slocum. That he has good reason to believe that said Burwell and Slocum, with their associates, who perpetrated this unprovoked murder, were all of the party called the Connecticut claimants."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.