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 56
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Prior to 1790 Mr. Morris erected on the south side of Market Street, between Fifth and Sixth Streets, Philadelphia, "one of the finest and most centrally located residences in the city " It was "the best single bouse in Philadelphia". and from December, 1790, until March, 1797, was occupied by President Washington as the Executive Mansion. Subsequently it was occupied by President Adams until the seat of Government was removed to the City of Washington.
In 1788 Robert Morris was elected to the first Senate of the United States, and served in that body until 1795. About that time he engaged in some extensive speculations in land, which resulted in his financial ruin. In 1798 he was confined in the debtors' prison, Philadelphia, where he was held until the national bankrupt law of 1802 opened a way for his release. He died at Philadelphia, May 8, 1806.
Morris, quite as much as Washington or Franklin, saved the country in the Revolution. Washington relied much upon his political and financial advice, and they were intimately associated in working out public policies during the first few years of our Republic's history. On account of the more romantic and conspicuous individualties of his famous contemporaries, Morris has been long neglected by the American people.
1See The Pennsylvania Packet, Philadelphia, April 8, 1786.
#GEORGE CLYMER was born in Philadelphia in 1739. He was a member of the Philadelphia Council of Safety, was one of the first Continental treasurers (1775), and, as a member of the Continental Congress, in 1776 and '77, was a signer of the Declaration of ludependence. He was re-elected to Congress in 1780, and served on numerous committees and commissions. In June of that year he contributed ₺5,000 towards paying the expense of carrying on the war. He was one of the organizers, in 1780, at Philadelphia, of the Bank of North America, chartered by Congress in 1782. He was a member of the Pennsylvania Legislature in 1784, and 1786, and in 1787 was a member of the convention which framed the Federal Constitution. He was a Representative in Congress from Pennsylvania during the years 1789-1793, and in 1791, was Collector of the tax on spirits.
The first President of The Philadelphia Bank (now The Philadelphia National Bank)-which began business September 19, 1803, and was chartered by the Legislature of Pennsylvania in March, 1804-was George Clymer who served continuously in that office until his death. He was President of the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts, and one of the founders of the Pennsylvania Agricultural Society. He was married at Christ Church, Philadelphia March 18, 1765, to Elizabeth, daughter of Reese and Martha (Carpenter) Meredith. Reese Meredith was a wealthy Quaker merchant of Philadelphia, and one of the founders and original trustees of the Pennsylvania Hospital. His son Samuel (born in Philadelphia, in 1741) was a Brigadier General in the Continental army, a member of Congress and in 1789 became the first Treasurer of the United States-holding the office continuously for twelve years.
George Clymer died at bis home in Morrisville, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, January 23, 1813. His son Henry. (the only one of his children who grew to maturity) resided in Wilkes-Barre from about 1815 till 1818 or 1819, and during that period was one of the Trustees of the Wilkes-Barre Academy. His wife was Mary, a daughter of Thomas Willing, of Philadelphia, and they had the following named children; Eliza, Francis, William, Bingham, George, Mary, and one other whose name is unknown to the present writer. The first named of these was married at Wilkes-Barre, May 13, 1818, to Edward Overton (born in England, December 30, 1795; died at Towanda, Pennsylvania, October 17, 1878), who was admitted to the Bar of Luzerne County, August 5, 1818, and resided in Wilkes-Barre in the practice of his profession, for a number of years. George Clymer, son of Henry, became a Surgeon in the United States Navy.
§ROBERT WHITEHILL, was born July 24, 1738, in the Pequea settlement, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the son of James and Rachel Whitehill. In the Spring of 1771, he removed to a farm in Cumberland County, about two miles west of Harrisburg. In 1774 and '75, he was a member of the Cumberland County Committee. In 1776 he was a delegate to the Pennsylvania Convention, which assembled at Philadelphia on July 15th to frame and adopt a Consti- tution for the State. Mr. Whitehill was a member of the Committee on the Frame of Government. The Convention completed its lahors and adjourned in September. 1776, and a month later Mr. Whitehill was elected a member of the State Assembly from Cumberland County under the new Constitution. He was re-elected to this office in October, 1777, at which time he was also a member of the Committee of Safety of Cumberland County.
Mr. Whitehill was elected to the Supreme Executive Council, December 28, 1779, and served as a member of that body until November 30, 1781. From 1784 to 1787, inclusive, be was a Representative in the General Assembly. With Gen. William Irvine he represented Cumberland County in the convention which met in 1789 and '90 and framed a new Constitution for Pennsylvania; and under this new Constitution Mr. Whitehill served as a member of the State
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On April 9, 1786, William Shaw, Esq., a Justice of the Peace in and for the County of Northumberland, arrived at Wilkes-Barre on the invitation of Capt. John Paul Schott, acting as agent for a considerable number of the Wyoming inhabitants. Justice Shaw's visit was made for the purpose of taking the re- cognizances of the Connecticut settlers who were willing to comply with the terms of the Act of Assembly of December 24, 1785, by surrendering themselves to the civil authorities before April 15, 1786, and entering into bonds to keep the peace. In a report subsequently made to the Supreme Executive Council, Justice Shaw stated* that "178 of said settlers entered into recognizance on and before the 15th of April, agreeable to law; and afterwards a number took the oath of allegiance to the State, and the inhabitants in general then ap- peared very desirous of being citizens."
At this time, as we learn from some fragmentary records of The Susquehanna Company,t the Company's "Committee, appointed to order and direct the lay- ing out of towns," was busy at Wyoming. Among other doings at Wyoming, April 17, 1786, Zebulon Butler, Nathan Denison and Obadiah Gore, members of the above mentioned committee, accepted and approved of the survey of the township of Putnam, and granted the same to its proprietors. As shown by the map facing page 468, Vol. I, of this History, Putnam was located on both sides of the Susquehanna at the mouth of Tunkhannock Creek, about thirty miles up the river from Wilkes-Barre. The principal proprietors of the town- ship were Zebulon Marcy, Capt. Caleb Bates, Gideon Osterhout, Elijah Shoe- maker, Jonathan Slocum, Increase Billings, Isaac Tripp, Jr., John Paul Schott, Nathaniel Goodspeed, John Platner, John Cary, Barnabas Cary, Frederick Budd and Reuben Taylor.
At the "city of Hudson, New York, April 19, 1786," Dr. Joseph Hamilton, previously mentioned, wrote a long letter addressed "To Col. Zebulon Butler, Col. John Franklin, Col. Nathan Denison or Dr. William H. Smith." This letter was sent from Hudson to Wilkes-Barre by the hands of a messenger, and was probably delivered to one of the above named addressees. Ultimately, however, the letter came into the hands of Col. Timothy Pickering, and is now
House of Representatives from 1797 to 1801, and as a State Senator from 1801 to 1804. During a portion of his term in the Senate, he was Speaker of that hody, and presided at the celebrated impeachment trial of the judges of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. He was elected to the IXth, Xth, X1th aod XIIth Congresses (March, 1805-March, 1813) as a Representative from Pennsylvania, and served acceptably as such.
Mr. Whitehill was married, in 1765, to Eleanor (horn 1734), daughter of Adam and Mary Reed of Hanover, Lancaster County. She died in 1785, and Mr. Whitehill died at Lauther Manor, Cumberland County, April 7, 1813. His remains were interred in the Presbyterian graveyard at Silver's Spring.
J Q. A. Ward (born 1830; died 1910), the eminent American sculptor, was a great-grandson of Robert Whitehill.
JOHN SMILIE was born in Ireland in 1741. He emigrated to America in 1760 and settled in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Io 1776, he was a Lancaster County "Associator." and was a delegate to the Provincial Conference which met in Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia, from June 18th to June 24th. On the last mentioned date the Conference adopted "A Declaration on the subject of the Independence of this [Pennsylvania] Colony of the Crown of Great Britain." and unanimously declared their "willingness to concur in a vote of Congress declaring the United Colonies free and independent States." 1n 1776. Mr. Smilie was a member of the Committee of Safety of Lancaster County, and in 1778 and again in 1779, was a Representative from that county in the Pennsylvania Assembly.
In 1780 or '81, John Smilie removed to Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and settled about five miles below the site of the present town of Connellsville, where he resided until his death. He and William Findley were elected October 20, 1783, to represent Westmoreland County in the Pennsylvania Council of Censors. In February, 1784. that part of Westmoreland County where Mr. Smilie was located (including the site of Connellsville, was annexed to and made a part of Fayette County which had been erected out of Westmoreland County in September, 1783. In October, 1784, Mr. Smilie was elected one of the Representatives from Fayette County to the Pennsylvania Assembly. and was re-elected in October, 1785. He was elected to the Supreme Executive Council, from Fayette County, Novem- ber 2. 1786. In 1789-90 he and Albert Gallatin represented Fayette County in the convention which framed a new Constitution for the State; and in October 1790, Mr. Smilie was elected a State Senator under the new Constitution. In 1792, he was elected a Representative to the 111d Congress of the United States (March 1793-March, 1795). In 1796. he was a Presidential Elector. In 1798, he was elected a Representative to the VIth Congress (March, 1799- March, 1801), and was re-elected to the six succeeding Congresses. During a part of the time that he was in Congress he served as Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations. He died in Washington, D. C., December 29, 1812. and was buried in the Congressional Cemetery there-a monument heing erected over his grave by order of Congress.
The wife of Joho Smilie was Janet, daughter of Col. Thomas Porter of Drumore, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. *See "Pennsylvania Archives," O. S., X : 764.
+See "Proceedings and Collections of The Wyoming Historical and Geological Society," VII : 161.
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to be found among the "Pickering Papers" (LVII: 29, 30), mentioned on page 29, Vol. I. The following is an extract from the same:
* * * "Gen. Ethan Allen, having a large interest in that country [Wyoming, or the Susquehanna Purchase], proposes to take up his future abode among you; and as he appears to be a great lover of peace and good neighbourhood, I conclude you may like him as a neighbour. As it was not previously known at what time his appearance in that quarter would be most political and to the best advantage, he, on my positive requisition now makes this move, and is, therefore (by what I can learn), unprovided for as to personal support. Therefore I desire that such provision as you think proper may be made (even on public cost, if necessary); for I could wish that his circumstances while among you may be rendered as easy as possible, that he may be the most free and liberal in his counsels and plans." * * *
Ethan Allen paid his long promised visit to Wyoming in April, 1786. He arrived at Wilkes-Barre on Thursday, the 27th of the month, and during his stay here of about two weeks was entertained at the home of Col. Zebulon Butler, at the south-east corner of River and Northampton Streets .* Col. John Frank- lin, in his "Brief"-frequently referred to hereinbefore-states, with reference to this occurrence: "In April, 1786, Gen. Ethan Allen paid us a visit at Wyo- ming, and proposed to settle amongst us, and to bring on with him a number of his 'Green Mountain Boys' and assist us in supporting and defending our rights against the Pennsylvania claimants. A large number of Proprietors' Rights were given to General Allen to induce him to espouse our cause."
*In a letter to Col. Timothy Pickering, written at Wilkes-Barré in October, 1787, Dr. Wm. Hooker Smith stated that it was Capt. Solomon Strong who went to Vermunt to escort General Allen to Wyoming; and that while the latter was here "he lodged with Zebulon Butler." (See the "Pickering Papers," LVII : 331.)
Capt SOLOMON STRONG mentioned above settled, in Wyoming, in the Autumn of 1773, and soon began to take an active part in the affairs of the community. Judging by the original documents in his handwriting which the present writer has seen, he was a man of more than ordinary education. Wm. Hooker Smith and James Sutton conveyed to him May 11, 1774, about 300 acres of land in Exeter Township (being a lot surveyed to John Depew), "in consideration of a certain lot of land in Exeter, surveyed to James Flint, with a saw-mill thereon, belonging to said Strong." Pearce in his "Annals of Luzerne County," says: "The first saw and grist-mills in Lackawanna Township were built by the town (then Pittston) at the falls on the Lackawanna River in the year of 1774. The next year they passed into the possession of Solomon Strong, and soon after were swept away by a flood. In a deed executed subsequently to 1787 (see Luzerne County Deed Book III, page 249) a reference is made to "a forge mill-seat on the Lackawanna Creek at Pittston, opposite to the place where Solomon Strong's grist-mill was formerly huilt-said forge being on the south side of the said creek."
About 1774, Solomon Strong became a lot owner in Providence Township. Shortly thereafter he sold 300 acres of woodland in Providence to Benjamin Bailey for "a few furs and a flint gun."
In 1776, and probably in 1775. Solomon Strong was a tax payer in Pittston Township, and in 1776 was one of the Selectmen of Westmoreland and also one of the Representatives from the town to the General Assembly of Con- necticut. In October, 1775, he was established and commissioned Captain of the Fourth, or Pittston, Company of the 24th Regiment, Connecticut Militia. (See page 857, Vol. II.)
At a meeting of the Connecticut Assembly in October, 1776, Solomon Strong was appointed Captain, to serve in one of the eight battalions then ordered to be raised in Connecticut. A couple of mouths later, in pursuance of the Assembly's orders, the 5th Regiment, Connecticut Line, was organized, to continue in the Continental service until the end of the war. The regiment was recruited largely in Fairfield and Litchfield Counties, with men from all parts of the State, and its Colonel was Philip B. Bradley. Captain Strong was duly commissioned and assigned to this regiment. January 1, 1777. The regiment rendezvoused at Danbury, Connecticut, and went into camp at Peeks- kill, New York, ju the Spring of 1777. In the following September, the regiment was ordered to Pennsylvania as a part of MeDougall's Brigade. It took part in the battle of Germantown, October 4, 1777, and later went into winter quar- ters at Valley Forge. The regiment participated in the battle of Monmouth, June 28, 1778, and then went into camp at White Plains. Captain Stroug resigned his commission August 25, 1778.
In the winter of 1780-'81, Captain Strong was residing at Sheffield, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, where, on February 19, 1781, describing himself as "gentleman", he conveyed to Jeremiah Hogeboom of Claverack, Albany (now Columbia) County, New York, for £20, one-half right in the Susquehanna Purchase which he had bought from Abraham Harding; also all his right "in the two teu-mile tracts of laud given to the 200 proprietors that should first set- tle on the Susquehanna Purchase." About the time of making this conveyance, Captain Strong removed to Clave- rack, where, on May 27, 1782, Abraham Bradley of Litchfield, Connecticut, conveyed to him two half-rights in the Susquehauna Purchase.
At Claverack, New York, on November 4, 1783, Captain Strong conveyed to Peter Hogehoom of Claverack, for £200, three half-rights in the Susquehanna Purchase, together with all his right, title and interest in "the town of Claverack on the Susquehanna River." This towu had been laid out by Jeremiah Hogeboom and Solomon Strong at what is now Towanda, Bradford County, Pennsylvania, in the Summer of Autumn of 1774, in pursuance of author- ity received from the Committee of the Susquehanna Company, empowered to supervise and control the laying out of towns or townships. Jeremiah Hogeboom reported to this committee in June, 1778, that, "at the request of Col. Johu H. Lydius, Balthazar Lydius, Capt. Abraham Lausing, Peter Hogeboom, and others, their associates, proprie- tors in the Susquehanna Purchase, he had surveyed a township containing twenty-five square miles of land, lying partly upon each side of the river." This survey was duly approved by Zebulon Butler and Obadiah Gore of the committee ahove referred to. (For other references to Lydius and Lansing mentioned above, see pages 270 and 280, Vol. I.)
Under the date of December 18, 1785, Zebulon Butler and Obadiah Gore, of the committee for laying out town- ships, issued the following certificate: "This is to certify that Col. Jeremiah Hogeboom and Capt. Solomon Strong- laid out and located a township on the Susquehanna River, in the Susquehanna Purchase, agreeably to the rules and orders of The Susquehanna Company; and it was granted to them by the Committee appointed for that purpose, and they are still entitled to it- provided they proceed to settle it by the first of May next."
Although this township was formally named Claverack, it was commonly called (circa 1785 and '86) "Strong and Hogeboom's town", for the reason that Messrs. Strong and Hogeboom owned one-third of the whole number of "rights" in the town. In the Autumn of 1800, Benjamin Dorrance of Kingston aud Col. John Franklin, hy convey- ances from former claimants, became the joint-owners of over 12,000 acres of land in Claverack, which they subsequent- ly leased aud sold to settlers.
Captain Strong, so far as can now be ascertained, continued to make his home at Claverack, New York, until the Autumn of 1785, when he returned to Wyoming. He was living in the upper end of Luzerne County (probably in what is now Bradford County) in 1794.
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General Allen's presence here aroused a good deal of curiosity and comment and the news soon leaked out that General Allen, Colonel Franklinand John Jenkins, Dr. Joseph Hamilton and Dr. Caleb Benton* of New York State, and Maj. William Judd of Farmington and the Hon. Oliver Wolcott of Litchfield, Con- necticut, and other radical and ardent enthusiasts who were members of The Susquehanna Company, were determined to take steps to erect a new State out of the Wyoming region.
Of course there were more than a few of the conservative settlers under The Susquehanna Company who were strongly opposed to a move of this kind, and as a result discussions concerning the matter were many and frequent in the community and sometimes hot, while divers letters written by the oppon- ents of the scheme were sent hence to Pennamite land-claimers and State auth- orities at Sunbury, Easton and Philadelphia. Up to this time the settlers under The Susquehanna Company had been singularly united and harmonious in their policies and aims, but dissensions and jealousies, and divergent views as to what was best for the community, now divided the inhabitants into two parties, and the line of demarcation was sharply drawn. Those who were op- posed to any attempt being made to erect a new State out of the Wyoming region saw that, in the event of such a procedure, all their hopes for an early and peaceful solution of their long-standing difficulty would go a-glimmering.
Two or three days before the arrival of General Allen at Wilkes-Barre, Dr. William Hooker Smith and Capt. John Paul Schott, two of the "Directors" who had been chosen by the inhabitants at their town-meeting on November 15, 1785, notified the inhabitants to attend a town-meeting at Kingston, on
*CALEB BENTON became interested in Wyoming affairs in the Autumn of 1785. At that time (according to a mem- orandum under the date of September, 1787, found among the papers of Col. Timothy Pickering) he resided at "Hills- dale, Columbia County, New York, adjoining Egremont, Berkshire County, Massachusetts." In November, 1786, the town of "Hamilton", five miles square, located near the eighty-ninth mile-stone in the Pennsylvania-New York boundary-line, was "surveyed for and granted to Dr. Joseph Hamilton, Gen. Ethan Allen and Dr. Caleb Beaton, and others their associates to the number of fifty half-share proprietors. This survey was approved -November 24, 1786, by John Franklin and John Jenkins, "Committee of The Susquehanna Company to order and direct the layiog out of towns." At the same time the towns of "Goreshurgh" and "Beatooshurgh", adjoining "Hamilton". were sur- veyed, laid out and granted for and to the same proprietors. The town of Hamilton was located at the junction of the Cowanesque and Tioga Rivers, io what is now Tioga County, Pennsylvania. (See "Map of The Susquehanna Company's Survey", facing page 468, Vol. I.)
In the Winter of 1787-88 the "New York Genesee Land Company" was organized. It was composed of some eighty or ninety individuals, mostly residing along the Hudson River, in New York, and many of whom were wealthy and influential. Dr. Caleh Benton, John Livingston of Livingston Manor and Jared Coffin were the principal maoagers of the company.
In September, 1788, an important council was held at Fort Schyler with the Six Nation Indians hy Commissioners representing the State of New York. Governor Clinton was one of the Commissioners, and thousands of Indians were present. During this council careful inquiry was made-by affidavits, oral testimony, etc .- relative to certain long leases of land which had been made by land-grabbers with the Indians. These leases were largely for 999 years, and covered all the lands of the Six Nations in New York except some small reservations. The consideration was 2000 Spanish milled dollars per annum. The inquiry conducted at the Fort Schyuler Council exposed the fact that a connected scheme of deception, bribery and threats had heen practised upon the Indians.
The Commissioners who were conducting the Council finding that the Senecas were holding back from a partici- pation in the council, that many headmen of the Cayugas and Onondagas were absent, and that a counter gathering was being held at Kanadesaga (see page 967, Vol. II), seat messengers to that town. Arriving there they found Dr. Caleb Bentoa surrounded by Indians and his agents, dealing out liquor and goods, and delivering speeches in which he assured the Indians that if they went to Fort Schuyler the Governor of New York would cheat them out of their lands, etc. Many of these Indians were undeceived, and finally were induced to proceed to Fort Schuyler when they had recovered from the beastly state of intoxication in which they had been kept hy Benton and the other agents of the land-grabbing lessees. Such had heen the excesses into which they were led, to keep them from the council at Fort Schuyler, that many of them, upon becoming soher, were too sick to be able to get to the fort; and one of the Cayuga chiefs died on the road thither.
According to the testimony of the Rev. Samuel Kirkland (see page 1190, Vol. 11) two of the principal lessees and their agents, in order to hold the Cayugas back from the Fort Schuyler council, had kept them in a continual state of intoxication for three weeks; and Dr. Caleb Benton and Colonel M -had between twenty and thirty riflemen in arms for twenty-four hours. It may be remarked here, that in 1789 the lessees were compelled to give up the long leases that had occasioned so much trouble. (See the "History of the Pioneer Settlement of Phelps and Gor- ham's Purchase;" hy O. Turner, Rochester, New York, 1852.
In 1795, at least eight or tea townships, of 16,000 acres each, within the limits of the Susquehanna Purchase, were granted by John Franklin, Simon Spalding and John Jenkins, Commissioners of The Susquehanna Company, to "Dr. Caleb Benton of Columbia County, New York", who had bought up the rights of a large number of proprietors. One of the townships thus granted was named "Savanoah," and lay next to Wilkes-Barre on the east-the metes and bounds of the same beginning at the south-east corner of Wilkes-Barre and the north-east corner of Hanover.
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