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 48
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"The inclosed paper will shew the uniform Lenity of this Government, and in many instances their extreme anxiety, to bring the Connecticut Claimants into an affectionate confidence upon
*See (*) note, page 1377.
iSee "Pennsylvania Archives". Old Series, XI: 450.
#See ibid .. X: 399.
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its dispositions and its laws. It is much to be regretted that these endeavours have been so uniformly treated with insolence and neglect by the People they were intended to relieve and attach, and that we should have it in our power to oppose so many facts, authenticated in the most solemn manner, to their feeble, unsupported professions of Loyalty and obedience.
"A late outrage mentioned in the depositions* inclosed, from which it appears that they [the Yankees at Wyoming] have plundered Men, Women and Children indiscriminately, and obliged near 600 people to fly from their homes and seek a precarious subsistence in the Neigh- bouring Counties, is so alarming and unaccountable in its nature as to induce a belief in this Board that the system of Lenity which they [the Supreme Executive Council] have hitherto pursued is no longer calculated to promote either the honor or happiness of Pennsylvania."
James Wilson and Col. William Bradford, Jr., having been appointed by the Supreme Executive Council, Agents and Counsellors to represent, as upon previous occasions, the interests of Pennsylvania in the Wyoming controversy, President Dickinson wrote to Mr. Wilson under date of January 20, 1785, in part as follows:+
"Understanding that you propose to be at New York in the course of the next week, we desire that you will employ all the Means in your Power to prevent any step being taken in the business until the General Assembly meet on the first of next month, and they can be consulted upon it. * *
* The late Assembly were clearly of opinion that the Claimants were not entitled to such a Court as has been mentioned, and we apprehend no appointment ought to be made nor any Decision given upon the Question of Right till the sense of the present Assembly can be known." * *
About this time the Delegates in Congress from Pennsylvania wrote President Dickinson that they had got the case postponed, "and we hope," they declared, "that it will not be revived at an early day"}; but at New York, under the date of February 26, 1785, Councellor James Wilson wrote to President Dickinson in part as follows:§
"The Controversy respecting the settlements at Wyoming depends before Congress in a very disadvantageous state of suspence. I think that both the Interest and the Honor of Pennsylvania require that a speedy and explicit decision should be had upon the complaints and and representations which have been made against her. As far as I can learn those who style themselves Claimants under the State of Connecticut have not appointed nor instructed any person to advocate or support their pretensions; and no attempts have been lately made to bring them forward. While matters continue in this undetermined situation, those people? may flatter themselves and represent to others that the complaints laid before Congress stand uncontradicted, and that there may still be a favorable adjudication upon them. It is easy to see what a pernicious effect such sentiments will have upon the settlements in that part of the country. For these reasons I beg leave to express my opinion that no time should be los by the State in instructing its Delegates to press Congress for a decision on the complaints and the Memorial now before them."
At New York, on March 9, 1785, the Pennsylvania Delegates in Congress wrote to President Dickinson:
"No moves have been made by the Connecticut Gentlemen upon the Wyoming business, and we remain in the dark as to what the wish of the State [of Pennsylvania] is in that affair. If any determinations of the House take place, we will be much obliged by your Excellency's communication upon that subject."
*From the minutes of the Supreme Executive Council (see "Pennsylvania Colonial Records", XIV: 315, 320), we learn that on January 14, 1785, "a member of people [Pennamites], late the inhabitants of Wyoming, attending at the door of Council, were admitted, and their complaints heard. Ordered, That a committee be appointed to take the depositions of these complaints, and that the Secretary of the Board be authorized to pay each of them two dollars for the purpose of subsisting them while here, and in returning to their respective families." On January 18th the committee reported that they had taken the depositions of the following-named (sixteen in number) and begged leave to lay the same before the Council. William Miller, Enos Randle, Henry Brink, William Brink, Obadiah Walker, Joseph Montanye, James Johnston, Catherine Bowerlane, Preserved Cooley, John Tillbury, Lena Tillbury, William Young, Ezekiel Schoonover, Daniel Haines, Benjamin Hillman and Susanna Lanterman. It was the depositions of these persons that President Dickinson forwarded to New York and referred to in the letter printed above.
+See "Pennsylvania Archives", Old Series, X: 399.
#Under the date of February 7, 1785, at New York, Delegates Henry and Gardner wrote to the Hon. John Bay ard, Speaker of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, in part as follows (see "Pennsylvania Archives", Second Series' XVIII: 643): "A few days after the arrival of Mr. Henry this matter [the Wyoming dispute] was taken up as the order of the day, when we, without difficulty, had it postponed sine die, and hope it will give time to the Legislature to delib- erate in such a manner as will give mutual satisfaction to the parties, and so complete justice. By all that we can learn from the Delegates of Connecticut she has no serious intentions of prosecuting this dispute as a State, any more than merely to patronize her citizens (the Wyoming settlers) in their claim of soil, and even that feebly, as Dr. [William Samuel] Johnson has told us that he neither wishes to nor can proceed in the dispute till he receives further instructions, and that he expects an agent or agents from the settlers, and not the State.
"How far the Decree of Trenton has decided the right of soil, as well as jurisdiction, is a question that professional lawyers may differ in very much. We think that both have been determined fully. * >
* If this matter comes to he seriously debated in Congress, you must see the necessity of having an agent or agents of professional knowledge of Law to combat Dr. Johnson." * * *
$See "Pennsylvania Archives", Old Series, XI: 453.
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On or about February 20, 1785, the ever-busy John Franklin, despairing of any action on the part of Congress favorable to The Susquehanna Company's settlers at Wyoming, wended his way to Connecticut, where, traveling about the State and mingling with his old friends and the members of The Susquehanna Company, he told of the woes of his fellow-settlers on the Susquehanna and suggested, proposed and urged plans for the alleviation and abatement of the same, as well as for the general improvement and advancement of the settlement.
Miner, referring to this "campaign of education" conducted by Franklin, says ("History of Wyoming", page 380): "Pennsylvania, all branches of her Government united, and with a military force upon the ground, had not been able to dispossess a handful of settlers in the Wyoming Valley. The wrongs suffered by those people had awakened universal sympathy. Public sentiment, a host in itself, was in favor of the Connecticut claim. What could Pennsyl- vania do if the Susquehanna and Delaware Companies resumed the making of grants, and New England poured on a stream of hardy adventurers and took possession of the land? By the Hampshire grants Vermont had been success- fully settled and defended in spite of all the power of New York, close neighbors; whereas the settlements of Pennsylvania were separated from those of Wyoming by mountains and forests extremely difficult to penetrate. A chord was struck that vibrated through all New England. Franklin, in the spirit of his oath, infused his own soul, glowing with resentment and ambition, into the people with whom he conversed, from which most important consequences resulted."
Colonel Franklin states in his "Brief" that the Wyoming Yankees, shortly after their destruction of Fort Dickinson, "regulated the militia, and governed the settlement by a committee appointed for that purpose." Miner (in his "History of Wyoming," page 371) says: "Immediately after the garrison was withdrawn and the people [were] restored to their possessions, committees were appointed in the interregnum of law to regulate affairs in the settlement, adjust controversies, punish offenders and preserve order. Town-meetings, not 'legally warned,' but informally called together, were holden, and taxes collected; while the militia were organized with a good deal of care, and led to a choice of officers. At a general parade in Shawney Capt. [John] Franklin was elected to the command of the regiment, and thenceforward was called through life by the well-known appellation of Colonel."
The regimental formation thus referred to was very primitive and informal in its character, in view of the fact that the number of male Yankees of military age in Wyoming at that time was small. These Yankees realized, of course, that they were no longer under the jurisdiction of Connecticut; but on the other hand they disdained the idea, and declined to recognize the fact, that they were a part of the county of Northumberland, Pennsylvania. In fact, they purposed governing themselves in their own way-although nominally under the laws of Pennsylvania-and this "way" comprehended the methods and forms of law which they had previously recognized and enforced when under the juris- diction of Connecticut.
With the voluntary departure from Wyoming of Armstrong and Patterson and a majority of their adherents and followers, and the subsequent enforced exodus of others, there was not a complete abandonment of the valley by the Pennamites, inasmuch as a considerable number of them still remained on the ground. But as nearly all these people appeared to the Yankees to be peaceably
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inclined, inoffensive and industrious, they were not disturbed by the latter.
Probably the most prominent man among those who thus remained was David Mead*, Esq., whose name frequently appears in connection with the Wyoming events of 1783 and '84, herein recorded. As a settler under the auspices of The Susquehanna Company, he had come to Wyoming Valley from New York early in the Summer of 1769-being then in the eighteenth year of his life-and in September of the same year (as stated on page 515, Vol. I) he served as surveyor in "laying out and pitching" the five "settling" townships in the Susquehanna Purchase. In the Summer of 1773, together with his father and
*DAVIO MEAO, whose name is frequently mentioned hereinbefore, was born at Hudson, Columbia County, New York, January 17, 1752, the son of Darius and Ruth (Curtis) Mead. Darius Mead, who was born at Horseneck, (Greenwich), Connecticut, March 8, 1728, and died in what is now Crawford County, Pennsylvania, in 1791, was a great-grandson of John Mead, who, with his brother Joseph, were among the twenty-seven original proprietors who settled Horseneck, in 1672. The children of Darius and Ruth (Curtis) Mead were as follows: (i) David. (ii) /1 sahel, born August 9, 1754. It is stated in the "History and Genealogy of the Mead Family that he was killed in the battle of Wyoming, July 3, 1778; but this is undoubtedly an error, as he was not a resident of the Valley at that time. (i) John, horn July 22, 1756; died in Pennsylvania in 1819. (iv) Ruth, horn April 16, 1761. (v) Darius, born December 9, 1764. (vi) Betsey, born June 1, 1769. (vii) Joseph, born June 25, 1772.
David Mead and his father Darius were in Wyoming in 1769 and 1770, accompanied by the latter's brother Eli. When the first distribution of lots in the town-plot of Wilkes-Barre took place, June 29, 1770, Eli Mead drew Lot No. 26, and David Mead drew Lot No. 31. (See page 662, Vol. II.) Following the Pennamite-Yankee troubles at Wyoming in the Summer of 1770 (see, particularly, page 668, Vol. II), and the unsettled conditions ensuing, the Meads returned to their former home in New York. As previously stated, they returned to Pennsylvania in the Summer of 1773 and settled on a tract of land in Northumberland County, some sixty miles down the Susquehanna from Wilkes- Barre. There, November 4, 1773. Darius Mead conveyed to William Holland of Wilkes-Barre his "half right in the Susquehanna Purchase" which had originally been the property of Robert Wiucol, or Wincot. (See page 1289, "Town Book of Wilkes-Barré".)
(Eli Mead, hrother of Darius and uncle of David Mead, Esq., was born about 1730. In 1770, as a shareholder in The Susquehanna Company he came into possession of a tract of land kuown as Quilutimack (see page 1205, Vol. II), in what was afterwards the township of Exeter. This tract was in addition to his holdings, or allotments, iu the township of Wilkes-Barre. Two or three years later he disposed of the Quilutimack tract to Benjamin Jones, of the South Precinct of Dutchess County, New York. Having located in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, in 1773, as previously mentioned, Eli Mead was, on July 14, 1786, elected and commissioned a Justice of the Peace in and for the district of Wyoming, Northumberland County; and was also appointed and commissioned a Justice of the Court of Common Pleas of that County. In 1789, he emigrated to Painted Post, Steuben County, New York, where he continued to reside until his death on July 19, 1825. His children were: Eldad. Desire, Eli, Peggy and Jane.)
When the Revolutionary War broke out David Mead removed from his location on the Susquehanna above North- umberland to the village of Sunbury, where he engaged in business as an inn-keeper, and also as a distiller. March 25, 1776, he was commissioned Ensign of the 7th Company (Capt. John Simpson) of the 1st Battalion of Northumber- land County (Col. Samuel Hunter, commanding), of the "Pennsylvania Associated Battalions". (See "Pennsylvania Archives", Second Series, XIV: 317.)
In 1783, when the Pennamites hegan to get the upper hand in Wyoming affairs, David Mead removed from Sun- bury to the township of Wilkes-Barre and there he remained until his final departure from the valley in August, 1785. Charles Miner, commenting (in his "History of Wyoming", page 381) on David Mead in connection with the events of 1783-'85, says: "His conduct as a magistrate seems to have been marked by forbearance, and, as a man, often hy kindness. The Yankees frequently appealed to him, when in distress, and he yielded his good offices in their favor. Tall, slender, hent a little forward, with a countenance mild, and of a grave deportment, Justice Mead was calculated, under other circumstances, and in less boisterous times, to have been a favorite. But it could illy he brooked that one of Patterson's Justices should hold possession under a Pennamite claim-on the rich bottom lands of Wilkes-Barre, too-and be a renegade and traitor from the Yankees ranks. Moreover, and probably with justice, he was regarded as still the agent of the land-claimants, and a spy on the conduct of the Connecticut people."
At Philadelphia, under the date of September 12, 1787, Col. Nathan Denison wrote to Col. Timothy Pickering at Wilkes-Barre as follows: "Esquire Mead has been in this town considerable time past interceding with the Board of Property to get his equivalent confirmed to him in lands at the western part of the State for the lands he claims in Luzerne County. It appears to me that the Board go into the measure with almost as great reluctance as the Com- missioners went into the business of inquiring into the claims of the Connecticut claimants at Wyoming.
"If the Commissioners at Wyoming [under the Confirming Law, fully referred to in a subsequent Chapter] can put the matter on such a footing that Mr. Mead can have justice done him, it may induce others of the Pennsylvania claimants to follow the same example."
About this time Esquire Mead filed with the Commissioners under the Confirming Law a declaration of owner- ship in and to "Lots 32 and 33, lying together below the town-plot of Wilkes-Barre and containing 40 acres of meadow- land, 180 acres of tillage and 50 acres of pasture and wood-land."
In the Spring of 1788, David Mead, accompanied by his brothers John Darius and Joseph, and some six or seven other men, proceeded from Northumberland County to what is now Crawford County, in the northwestern corner of Pennsylvania, and at the junction of Cussewago and French Creeks, some seven miles east of Conneaut Lake, pro- ceeded to establish a settlement. In the following Autumn they brought on their wives and other members of their families from Northumberland County, and soon thereafter the little community became known as "Mead's settlement."
Previous to 1793, David Mead laid out on his land at that point the nucleus of what is now Meadville, named as the county-seat of Crawford County in 1800 and incorporated as a city in 1866. In 1796, Mead received from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania a patent for his tract of land, containing 439 acres and 156 perches and called "Mead Ville". The consideration for the same, paid to the Commonwealth, amounted to #42, 17s. 9d. Soon thereafter Mead built a substantial residence, which is still standing, and in it, in the Winter of 1798-'99, the first school in Craw- ford County was opened. In May, 1902, the Colonel Crawford Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, erected in front of this house a memorial stone bearing a tablet with the following inscription: "This house was erected in May, 1797, by Gen. David Mead, founder of Meadville; Ensign in the War of the American Revolution; Major General of the 14th and 15th Divisions, Pennsylvania Militia; rendered signal service in the War of 1812, and was an Associate Judge at the time of his death."
Upon the organization of Crawford County in March, 1800, David Mead was appointed and commissioned one of the Associate Judges of the Courts of the County, hut he resigned his office in the following December. In Septem- ber, 1803, he was again commissioned, and served continuously until his death, which occured at Meadville August 23, 1816.
General Mead was married (first) about 1774 to Agnes, daughter of John and Janet Wilson of Northumberland County, by whom he had eight children, some of whom were: Darius, William, Sarah (who became the wife of the Rev. James Satterfield) and Elizabeth (who became the wife of Patrick Fannelly). General Mead was married (second) in 1797 to Janet, daughter of Robert Finney, by whom he had seven children, some of whom were: David, Robert, Catherine, Jane, Maria and Alexander.
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the other members of the latter's family, he settled on a tract of land, under a Pennsylvania title, located on the North Branch of the Susquehanna River, about six miles north-east of the village of Northumberland. At the beginning of the year 1785, David Mead was occupying a tract of land located about a mile west by south from Public Square, on what is now Carey Avenue, Wilkes- Barré-which land he claimed under a Pennsylvania title.
At Wilkes-Barré, under the date of February 6, 1785, David Mead wrote to the Supreme Executive Council as follows :*
"I lament that I have occasion to address you on the affair of this unhappy part of the State. I have delayed writing until all hopes of establishing any kind of order is vanished. It is true that irregularities have been committed by many of the Pennsylvanians against the Connecticut Claimants, but great Care has been taken that the Offenders are generally prosecuted with se- verity, and the Courts of Justice are yet open; and unwearied pains have been taken to convince those Claimants of the determined Honor and Justice of the State to afford them every restitution in the reach of the Law. But all to no purpose-who have descended to commit almost every kind of disorder, and bid defiance to Government, so that the exercise of the Civil authority is altogether impracticable; they have appointed two or three Committees to transact different kinds of business for the promotion of their designs; they have formed their Militia, appointed Field and other Officers in contempt of the State. Many inoffensive families are now under orders immediately to move away, or their effects to be made a Reprisal of. Therefore, as a * Citizen and Servant of Government, I am obliged to claim your protection and support. *
N. B .- The inclosed deposition of the Shawnese Township Constable, who was Elected by the Inhabitants of said Township in consequence of an order issued by Mr. Martin and myself, which was [thought] most likely to take with the, People, and remove doubts than otherwise; so that every Endeavour seems fruitless. The constable of Stoke Township is now out of the place, who made report some days ago nearly corroborating with this deposition, but not taken in form; therefore Omitted. However, the Express, who is a Gentleman of Candor and deliber- ation, can give some Information."
"DEPOSITION OF CONSTABLE PARK."
"Northumberland County, ss: Personally appeared before me the subscriber, one of the Justices of the Peace in and for the said County, Thomas Parks, Constable of Shawanea Town- ship, who, being duly sworn, doth depose and say that on the 1st day of February, inst., in the execution of his office he attempted to seize two men, viz .: Daniel Earl and Henry Vost, for having stolen goods in their possession; and he called upon a house full of People for his assistance, but instead thereof was much beat and abused, and the authority of the State, without respect, Dam- ned. That after telling the people he was a sworn Constable and must do his duty, and that their contempt of authority would be attended with bad Consequences, they repeated their dis- respectful Language of the State and its Laws, damning both. That this present day he attempted to disperse a Riot and Robbery, and seize the Offenders, but was not able. That his Brains has repeatedly been threatened to be blowed out if he served Processes, so that he is not able to do his duty-and further sayth not.
"Sworn and subscribed before
me February 5, 1785.
DAVID MEAD."
[Signed] "THOMAS PARK."
At "Wyoming," under the date of February 20, 1785, a petition was drawn up addressed to "the Honble. the Representatives of the Freemen of the Common- wealth of the State of Pennsylvania, in General Assembly met." This document, which was signed by ninety-two men and four women, settled in Wyoming tinder rights acquired from The Susquehanna Company, was duly forwarded to the Legislature at Philadelphia. It read in part as follows, t except that the names of the signers have been arranged in alphabetical order by the present writer:
"Gentlemen :- We your humble petitioners would take the earliest opportunity to lay be- fore your Honble. House the deplorable situation in which we have been enveloped since the decree of Trenton, which chang'd the jurisdiction in favor of Pennsylvania. From that date we have been deny'd the due administration of the Laws of Pennsylvania, or in other words Common Justice, which the greatest criminals are entitled to: * *
* altho we have made incessant application to the Legislative Body of this State for justice to be administered without any discrimination of persons, yet to no purpose, altho fair promises were made; and we had finally concluded there was no justice in reversion for us, either from the Legislative or Executive Bodies of this State.
"But being creditably informed that the present Assembly were composed of such persons who feared God, and regarded man, and consequently had a promptitude to do justice to all their fellow creatures, this served as a stimulus to us to make one prayer more to the Honble. Assembly for justice to be administered without partiality-believing that your Honble. Body will do all
*See "Pennsylvania Archives", Second Series, XVIII: 641, 642.
+See "Pennsylvania Archives", Old Series, X: 699.
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in your power to redress our grievances, and put us upon the same footing with the common citizens of this State, which is all we ask. * * *
"We have been often trapanned by our passive obedience and nou-resistance and confiding in some of the first men in office in the State. To mention one instance of Lt. Col. John Armstrong and John Boyd, Esq., who by forfeiting their word and honors and every thing that is near to gentlemen, made us prisoners, abus'd us with more than savage treatment, and robbed us of up- wards of one hundred rifles and valuable fire arms, and many other effects, even to our smallest pen-knives; and we may say with propriety that we have been robbed of upwards of 200 rifles and valuable fire-arms by officers of Government since the first of last May, which have never been returned to this day. * * *
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