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 47
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
** * * in consideration of their services at the late purchase."
Returning from Fort Stanwix the Commissioners came down the Susquebanna from Tioga Point to Wilkes-Barré, reaching here about the Ist or 2d of November, and remaining here until the 12th or 13th, when they departed, for Sunbury. From there, on November 15th, they reported to President Dickinson their return from Fort Stanwix, and
Elias Bigsby
Per 18. No att hear
6
23 De 15 1774
Quen Gauter Arium £ %% Vuuren
Je Jundry.
3 11
A copy of a charge against Queen Estber in Col. Mathias Hollenback's Account Book (1774.)
then separated to their respective homes. Early in December following they repaired to Fort McIntosh on the Ohio River, Where the town of Beaver. Beaver County, Pennsylvania, is now located, and there at a treaty held on January 21, 1785, procured from certain Wyandot and Delaware Indians a deed confirming and ratifying the deed executed by the Six Nations at Fort Stanwix.
Colonel Jobnston was elected High Sheriff of the city and county of Philadelphia October 25, 1810, and he died in that city February 22, 1815, in the sixty-seventh year of his age. He was one of the original members of Pennsyl- vania-Union Lodge, No. 29, Ancient York Masons (referred to on page 1346), and was an original member of the State Society of the Cincinnati of Pennsylvania-being succeeded therein by his son, Alexander W. Johnston, in 1816.
1455
midons whose unjust and hateful acts had made the lives of the Yankees un- happy and their property unsafe) marked, in fact, the close of the "Second Pennamite-Yankee War."
Colonel Franklin, in his "Brief", referring to the evacuation and destruction of Fort Dickinson, stated: "Consequently the possession of Wyoming fell into our hands without any assistance under the authority of Government. A number of the Pennsylvania claimants still remained at Wyoming with their families, in possession of our houses and lands. They wished to remain quiet until the title should be decided by law.
"December 10th the Sheriff of Northumberland, with two Justices of the Peace and a Grand Jury of twelve men, came to Wyoming to execute the law relative to forcible entry and detainer. Two or three complaints were exhibited, and bills were found, but were traversed by the defendants. The Justices in- formed us that the traverse could not be tried until another jury could be brought from Northumberland. We also found that they could remove the traverse to the Supreme Court, and in this way keep us out of our possessions by law, and compel us to quit the country to procure subsistence for ourselves and families. We informed the Justices that we had not any further business for them. They retired with the jury, and we took possesssion for ourselves and proceeded to bringing back our families, who had been dispersed for the term of seven months."
Miner commenting on the close of the war and the return to Wyoming of the New England settlers, says:
"The New England people were repossessed of their farms; but a Summer of exile and war had left them no harvest to reap, and they returned to their empty granaries and desolate homes, crushed by the miseries of the Indian invasion [of 1778], mourners over fields of more recent slaughter, destitute of food, with scarce clothing to cover them through the rigors of a northern Winter, while clouds and darkness shrouded all the future. Assuredly the people of Wyoming were objects of the deepest commiseration, and the heart must be harder and colder than marble that could look upon their suffering and not drop a tear of tenderest pity."
We may appropriately introduce here, in closing this Chapter, interesting extracts from the writings of two well-known American authors, commenting upon the Second Pennamite-Yankee War in Wyoming.
John Fiske, LL. B., in his "The Critical Period of American History" (published in 1889), says:
"A force of militia was sent to Wyoming, commanded by a truculent creature named Patterson. The ostensible purpose was to assist in restoring order in the valley, but the behavior of the soldiers was such as would have disgraced a horde of barbarians. They stole what they could find, dealt out blows to the men and insults to the women, until their violence was met with violence in return.
"Then Patterson sent a letter to President Dickinson, accusing the farmers of sedition, and hinting that extreme measures were necessary. Having thus, as he thought, prepared the way, he attacked the settlement, turned some 500 people out of doors, and burned their houses to the ground. The wretched victims, many of them tender women, or infirm old men, or little children, were driven into the wilderness at the point of the bayonet and told to find their way to Connecticut without further delay. * *
* Great was the indignation in New England when these deeds were heard of. The matter had become very serious. A war between Penn- sylvania and Connecticut might easily grow out of it. But the danger was averted through a singular feature in the Pennsylvania Constitution.
"In order to hold its Legislature in check, Pennsylvania had a Council of Censors, which was assembled once in seven years in order to inquire whether the State had been properly governed during the interval. Soon after the trouble in Wyoming the regular meeting of the Censors was held, and the conduct of Armstrong and Patterson was unreservedly condemned. A hot con- troversy ensued between the Legislature and the Censors, and as the people set great store by the latter peculiar institution, public sympathy was gradually awakened for the sufferers. The wickedness of the affair began to dawn upon people's minds, and they were ashamed of what had been done. Patterson and Armstrong were frowned down, the Legislature disavowed
1456
their acts, and it was ordered that full reparation should be made to the persecuted settlers of Wyoming.'
Charles W. Upham, in his "Life of Timothy Pickering" (published in 1873), says (Volume II : page 234) :
"Pennsylvania has been sometimes blamed for not having used more decisive and violent measures to demolish and exterminate the intruders upon her soil. It is said that she ought to have sent a force at the beginning to crush them out, and by stern and exemplary punishment have intimidated them from ever again coming within her boundaries. But, taking into view the state of the country, the difficulty of reaching Wyoming with a large force, and the then exist- ing embarrassments in the political organization of Pennsylvania, it must be concluded that she did as much as could have been expected of her; and, considering the character of the people against whom she was acting, it is to be doubted whether they could have been awed by any vindictiveness practised upon those of them falling into her hands. What might have frightened some men would only have exasperated them. No bloody revenge would have answered the purpose. * * *
"The lenient course of Pennsylvania during the several stages of the controversy with Connecticut reflects honor upon her wisdom, as well as humanity. At different times she took many of the settlers in battle or skirmish, and held them as prisoners in her jails at Easton, or elsewhere, among them several of their leaders. She did not execute upon them any military or judicial penalties. She treated them not as wicked, but as misguided, men, allowing them to be discharged. Such a course may have been called 'imbecility' by some, but is entitled, in the judgment of enlightened statesmen and philanthropists-and will be more and more so as the world advances-to commendation and honor, reflecting the truest glory on the character of Penn- sylvania. Upon the whole, no conflict in arms, protracted through such a period of years and accompanied by so much provocation, is so little stained by cruelty and vindictiveness, or has a better record for bravery, resolution or endurance, than the very fight for jurisdiction over the Wyoming lands. * * *
"Persons living in a wilderness far remote from organized communities, without means of communication with the rest of the world, are apt to acquire a spirit of independence making them disregardful of the artificial restraints that have to be recognized in more crowded states of society. They know nothing of the tribunals, and care nothing for the technicalities, of law. He who, by his own ax and plough, has transformed the acres (within which his daily and yearly life is bounded) from a pathless, worthless forest into a cultivated and productive inclosure, feels that he owns it by a title better than all written documents or recorded deeds. His farm, his house, his barns-all that he has, thinks of or cares about-is literally the work of his own hands, his sole creation. No other man has contributed to it, and it is hard to make him understand that any other man, be he called what he may-Governor, proprietor, legislator, Judge or Sheriff-has a right to take his land from under his feet. He will hold to it as his life, and fight for it against the world. * * *
"Such were the Connecticut settlers. For a quarter of a century they had bid defiance to the Pennsylvania proprietors and to Pennsylvania. In the meantime those lands had become more and more endeared to them by every principle of association, every habit of homely life, every trial and every peril. By their toil and energy they had been reclaimed from the rugged wilderness of nature, and converted into smooth lawns and verdant meadows of marvelous heanty and loveliness. Adventurers from other Colonies and other lands had, one by one, been drawn into their company, attracted by tales of world-wide currency, portraying the charming aspect of the country, the excellence of its soil for the culture of grains and fruits, and every attribute that can adorn a landscape and give reward to industry. It was not only endeared to its occupants by the attachments now mentioned, but was consecrated by special experiences of blood and woe, that have riveted on them the sympathies of mankind, perpetuated in the hearts of all coming generations by verses of foreign and native bards that will never die. The devastations of their fields, the conflagrations of their dwellings and barns, and the repeated massacres of their people -men, women and children-by savage hordes, all these combined could not destroy or weaken the tenacity with which they clung to their lands. Those who escaped the tomahawk and scalp- ing-knife had come back over and over again from their places of refuge. The invincible, it- destructible community persevered in its contest against all odds, and no power, civilized or barbarian, could root it out. * * *
"Finally, in this brief review of the Wyoming controversy between two States, upon balanc- ing the facts and evidence, we are brought, not to the conclusion usually the result of a fair con- sideration of the whole subject in like cases, that both parties were in the wrong, but that both parties were substantially in the right!"
.
1457
Concerning the Pennsylvania-Connecticut controversy a Pennsylvania writer has recently (July, 1916) said:
"But the saddest events connected with the history of this beautiful valley [of Wyoming] are those which were not necessary and were, therefore, all the more deplorable. I refer to the treatment bestowed upon the Connecticut settlers in this section by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and citizens after the close of the Revolutionary War, and particularly after ques- tions of title and jurisdiction had been legally decided in favor of Pennsylvania. This story of the cruel treatment of the ancestors of many who to-day are among the best citizens of Penn- sylvania is enough to cause the most loyal Pennsylvanian to hang his head in shame. * *
"We believe that the Pennsylvanians were right in maintaining their claim of title. We believe that legally they had the best of the argument. But where they were wrong, and are properly open to the most severe criticism, is in their treatment of the settlers from Connecticut in Wyoming Valley."
CHAPTER XXV1.
CONNECTICUT APPEALS TO CONGRESS FOR JUSTICE TO THE SETTLERS- AFFAIRS OF THE SUSQUEHANNA COMPANY AGAIN REVIVED AND NEW SETTLERS REACH WYOMING-FEW PENNAMITES REMAIN IN ACTUAL POSSESSION OF THEIR CLAIMS-DELEGATION OF THE PENNSYLVANIA ASSEMBLY VISITS WILKES-BARRE-THE " HALF SHARE" MEN.
"With them came a spirit not for peace. They were hard-shell irreconcilables."
"Blessed be the Lord my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight."-Psalm CXLIV:1.
"You call these men a mob-desperate, dangerous and ignorant; and seem to think that the only way to quiet the mob is to lop off a few of its superfluous heads. But even a mob may be better reduced to reason by a mixture of conciliation and firmness, than by additional irritation and redoubled penalties."-Lord Byron, 1812.
At Lyme, New London County, Connecticut, under the date of December 20, 1784, the Hon. Matthew Griswold*, who, a few weeks previously, had succeeded Jonathan Trumbull as Governor of Connecticut, wrote to President Dickinson of Pennsylvania, with respect to the action taken by the Connecticut
*MATTHEW GRISWOLD, descendant of an old and reputable family, was born in Lyme, Connecticut, March 25, 1714. His first public office was that of King's Attorney, which he held for some years. In 1766. he was chosen a judge of the Supreme Court of Connecticut, and three years later was elected Lieutenant Governor and Chief Justice. He held the office of Lieutenant Governor for fifteen years. When he retired from the office of Governor in 1786, he prac- tically withdrew from public life. In 1779, Yale College conferred upon him the degree of LL. D. He died at his home in Lyme April 28, 1799. His son, Roger Griswold, was Governor of Connecticut in 1811-12.
1458
1459
Assembly in October, 1784, as noted hereinbefore. The letter read as follows :*
"I have the honor to inclose to your Excellency a Resolve of the General Assembly of the State of Connecticut upon the memorial of John Franklin and other settlers, Inhabitants and Claimants of certain lands at & near Wyoming, upon the River Susquehanna; by which you will observe I am requested to address Congress and the State of Pennsylvania on the subject of their memorial.
"We do highly approve of the Justice and Humanity of your State towards the widows and orphans of those who have fallen in the late war, & cannot but hope and trust those eminent virtues will yet be rendered as conspicuous towards others, equally meritorious, who have sur- vived, altho they now complain loudly of a contrary treatment.
"You will not think it strange, Sir, who are acquainted with the feelings of human nature, that the calamities and sufferings of the settlers at Wyoming and parts adjacent should excite the compassion and even the Resentment of their friends and brethren in other parts; nor that the State of Connecticut-under whose Countenance and title thousands were induced to become Adventurers, to purchase of the Indians the native Right of Soil, to dispose of their property here and remove into that Wilderness Country-should feel herself interested in the Calamities and distresses of those people, and endeavour in a legal and Constitutional method to obtain for them a Redress of their Grievances; especially as they were encouraged from hence, after the opinion given at Trenton (however unexpected and surprizing to us), to submit to the Juris- diction of Pennsylvania, put themselves under the protection of your Government, and have confidence in the justice and Humanity of your State for a Confirmation of their just Rights and possessions.
"The settlers say they were at first greatly flattered in their Hope and Confidence by the measures adopted by Government; but to their great Mortification all those flattering Prospects are vanished, and every measure which appeared favourable to them hath been perverted by their Enemies, to seduce, disarm, ruin, and distress them-which they have endured without being able to obtain any Relief from your Government of Pennsylvania; that their sufferings are rendered intolerable and their case become desperate.
"This State, from their confidence in the humanity of yours, admitted these complaints with Caution and Reluctance, until the Justice of them was confirmed by repeated Testimonies to be such that your own Censors, from principles of great impartiality and justice, were induced to remark with much severity on these measures of your State which have been the occasion of them.
"Every State is answerable in some Respects for the Conduct of its Citizens, and whether the sufferings of the settlers at Wyoming have been with or without the privity of your Govern- ment, or whether they are what Government cannot or will not prevent or redress, is equally the same to the sufferers. The Rights of Citizens are sacred and of those the most important is that they be not deprived of their lives, their liberties or their properties but by the judgment of their Peers and the laws of the Land.
"Those Settlers are undoubtedly entitled to the Rights of Citizens, and have the feelings of free men who may be easily led with reason, but hardly driven by oppression. Any violation of the Rights in these points infringes the general Rights of all; and is there not danger that this may induce others to make a common cause of their abuse?
"As this State never meant to, so I am well assured they never will, in any unconstitutional way oppose the sentence passed at Trenton between this State and Pennsylvania; nor will they do any thing that shall be a just cause of interrupting the peace and Harmony of the Union. Yet as a member of the Empire they ought to endeavor to preserve and maintain those constitu- tional Rights which are common to all citizens.
"Those settlers have purchased those lands, under the Countenance and Title of Conn- ecticut, from the native proprietors for just and valuable considerations; they have settled and built upon them, have inclosed and cleared them, and for many years have defended them against the Common Enemy, and been a most important Barrier of defence to the interior country against the Savages. Ought they, then, nay, more, shall they, be deprived of their property and possessions by a military force, without Trial, and while their cause is in fact depending before the Congress of the United States? Humanity will not permit us to view with indifference even the suffering of an enemy much less that of a Friend and neighbour. It operates beyond the reach of human laws to restrain, when excited by real objects of distress.
"What I have to request in behalf of those settlers, and what this State expects from the Justice and Humanity of your State, is that they be restored to their rightful properties and pos- sessions, of which they have been forcibly deprived without a legal Trial, and be allowed to enjoy the Rights of Citizens. Whether their claims will eventually be judged to be well or ill-founded is not so much to the present question, so long as they have a claim of right which they i sist to have tried in a legal manner. Certainly it is a point of high importance and of general concern that they be not deprived of their Rights and claims without a legal and constitutional Trial and decision."
At Lyme, under the date of December 24, 1784, Governor Griswold wrote to the President of Congress, at the city of New York (where Congress was then in session), in part as follows:t
"I have the honor to transmit to your Excellency a Resolve of the General Assembly of the State of Connecticut upon the memorial of John Franklin and others. * * * It is not
*See "Pennsylvania Archives," Old Series, XI: 447.
tSee "Pennsylvania Archives", Old Series, X1: 451.
1460
for me-and, indeed, it would be improper-to give any opinion with Respect to the merits of their claim in the stage of it while depending before your Honors; but this much is evident: That they ground their title upon a purchase made from the Indians. * And in this confidence * * -which was supported and encouraged by this State (then a Colony), then asserting their Right to the said Territory, in pursuance of advice from the ablest Counsel in England, and actually extending and exercising Jurisdiction over it for many years-the settlers parted with their property here and removed with their families into that country, then a wilderness, where they have at vast Expense built themselves houses, and extended their improvements, suffered every imaginable hardship, and braved innumerable dangers, have been an important barrier to the interior country, and in other ways rendered most essential services to these States in the late bloody contest with Great Britain. To deprive them of their properties and the fruits of their labors without a hearing or Trial, in consequence of the decree of Trenton, would be un- precedented and injurious when that court specially saved to them the Right of having a trial on the merits of their Title, notwithstanding their determination between the States.
"Congress have been pleased, upon their application, to assign a day for the appearance of the parties, for the purpose of constituting a court agreeable to the ninth Article of Confedera- tion; which day happened as I am informed in the recess of Congress and the Committee of the States, and so nothing further was done *.
"The unhappy distressed situation of the claimers, the illiberal and impolitic (I might have said cruel and barbarous) treatments they complain to have received from the State and people of Pennsylvania, must excite the compassion and Justice of every human breast, and are fresh and cogent Reasons for bringing this unhappy controversy to a constitutional and speedy decision, and that they should be restored to their Rights, properties and Possessions of which they have been forcibly deprived (and that, even, while their suit has been depending in Congress) and that all proceedings against them be prohibited until their claim shall be finally determined.
"These claimers, most assuredly, are freemen and citizens; and, without regarding their merits and sufferings, intitled to have their claims tried in a legal and constitutional manner- all which is submitted to the wisdom and Justice of Congress; not doubting but such constitutional measures will be adopted and pursued as shall be necessary for the promotion of Justice and for the relief of the oppressed and for the preservation of Peace and Harmony."
The foregoing letter was received in New York and laid before Congress on January 13, 1785, and the next day Hugh Williamson, a native of Pennsylvania, but at that time a citizen of North Carolina and a Delegate from that State in the Congress, wrote to President Dickinson of Pennsylvania relative to the matter, stating, among other things, that the memorialists had brought com- plaints against the Executive authorities of Pennsylvania "sufficiently pointed and bitter." He stated further that the case had been referred to "a committee of the whole House," which was to sit on January 24th. He concluded his letter with these words:t
"If there had been any member present from the State of Pennsylvania, it would have been their duty to inform your Excellency of the Train in which this unpleasing but very serious business is placed; and they would doubtless, in a more clear and pointed manner than I have been able to do it, have justified the State in shewing that her late conduct on this very head is a full proof that she is by no means inattentive to the cries of those who complain.
"As you may probably wish to be represented in Congress when the Letter and other papers from Connecticut are to be considered, or may at least wish that Congress be fully informed of the late as well as the former proceedings of the Executive and Legislative of Pennsylvania respect- ing those Susquehanna claimants, I have taken the liberty of giving you the above information, as I cannot cease to feel myself interested in the Peace and Reputation of a State which gave me Birth."
On receipt of this letter, President Dickinson, under the date of January 18, 1785, wrote to Joseph Gardner and William Henry (of Lancaster), the Pennsylvania Delegates in Congress, in part as follows:
"We rely on your prudence to make the best use of the intelligence now communicated to you. The first point is to prevent any step being taken by Congress in the matter, until the senti- ments of the Legislative branch can be known. If this delay cannot be obtained, we desire you to give us the earliest notice of the Day fixed by Congress for appointing a Court, that we may prevail upon Messrs. Wilson & Bradford, if it be possible, for them to attend.
"Duty to ourselves requires us to shew, and candour will induce even the State of Connecti- cut to acknowledge, that, tho several violent and outrageous acts have been committed by in- dividuals of this State, yet, that such acts were not more opposed to Justice and humanity than to the spirit and meaning of the Authority and Laws of this Commonwealth.
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.