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 58
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The original envelope above mentioned, as well as some of the MSS. which it contained, are now in the possession of the present writer. One of the manuscripts relates to a process by which the writer declared it was possible to trans- mute copper into silver. Appended to the "receipt" is this statement: "This discovery is worth £500. It is my own entirely. March 8, 1809. [Signed] "WM. HOOKER SMITH."
Although Dr. Smith was then in the eighty-fifth year of his life he did not "dye in a few days," but lived several years longer. Ia 1812 his treatise on alchemy was printed and published in pamphlet form, bearing the following title: "Alchymy Explained, and made Familiar; or a Drop of Honey, for a Despairing Alchymist: Collected from the Alchymistic Rock, or Philosopher's Stone. By William Hooker Smith, M. D. Putnam Township, Luzerne County Pennsylvania, January 1, 1812. Printed for the Author."
What was theo Tunkhannock Township had been originally Putnam Township (see page 1497); but although the name had been changed in 1790 many residents of the township and County continued to refer to the township by its early name.
Kulp. in his "Families of the Wyoming Valley." III : 222, says: "Ia religious belief Dr. Smith was a predestin- ariaa in the strictest sense of the word. In his will, written by his own hand and dated March 19, 1810, he nses the following language: 'I recommend my soul to Almighty God that gave it to me, nothing doubting but that I shall be finally happy. My destiny I believe was determined unalterably before I had existence. God does not leave any of His works at random, subject to chance; but in what place, where or how I shall be happy, I know not.' And at the close of his will the following: 'Now, to the sacred spring of all mercies, and original fountain of all goodness to the Infinite and Eternal Being whose purpose is unalterable, whose power and dominion is without end, whose compassion fails not, to the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity and dwells in light, be glory, majesty, dominion and power, now and forevermore, Amen!' "
Dr. Smith died at his home in Tunkhannock July 17, 1815, aged 90 years, 3 months and 24 days.
William Hooker Smith was married, first, in 1743, to Sarah (born March 13, 1725), daughter of Jonathan Browa of Rye, New York. As stated in the note on page 1056, Vol. II, Mrs. Smith died at Wyoming in the Summer of 1778. According to the record made by Dr. Smith in his family Bible, she died on Friday, June 12, 1778, about 9 o'clock at
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night, and was buried June 14, on Dr. Smith's land at Jacob's Plains. Concerning her Dr. Smith wrote in his Bible the following paragraph: "My first wife, Sarah, was in some part of her time-until she was changed by the power of God from a State of Nature to a State of Grace- of an uneasy, worldly disposition, but after her change, perfectly Easy. She was Modest, Chaste, Honest, Sober and Religious. She told me in her last hours she had made her peace with God. She said she knew in whom she had trusted, and that she would not be deceived."
At Wilkes-Barre, November 2, 1779, Dr. Smith was married (2nd) to Mrs. Margery (Kellogg) Smith, mentioned on page 1400. Mrs. Smith was a widow at the time of the battle of Wyoming, and with her children-one of them a daughter named Olive, aged between two and three years, and another a daughter named Esther, aged ahout one year-escaped down the river. A few months later they returned to Wyoming.
By his first marriage Dr. Smith was the father of the following named children-the first two of whom were born at Rye, and all the others of White Plains, New York. (i) Mory, born March 13, 1744; became the wife of Baker of New York City. (ii) Sarah, born January 19, 1747, died in Exeter, Pennsylvania, August 20, 1834. (iii) Susannah, born November 17, 1750; died in Wyoming Valley June 12, 1778. (iv) John, born January 29,1752. (v) Martha, born March 27, 1754, (vi) James, born May 1, 1757. (vii) Elizabeth, born June 4, 1759: became the wife of -Bailey, and lived and died in "the lake country," New York. (viii) Deborah, born August 22, 1761. (ix) William, born October 7, 1762. (x) Jonathan, born August 27, 1764.
(ii) Sarah Smith, born January 18, 1747, was married in Westchester County, New York, June 2, 1769, to James Sutton (born March 7, 1744), who at that time. and for some years later, was engaged in mercantile business at North Castle, Westchester County. He belonged to the Society of Friends, or "Quakers". As noted bereinbefore (page 1501) Mr. Sutton came to Wyoming and purchased lands in the Autumn of 1771, but he did not bring bis family with him then nor did be himself remain here long. Just at that period the times in Wyoming were somewhat dis- jointed and unsettled.
Inasmuch as his third child (Deborah) was born in North Castle, in 1773, and as his name does not appear in the Westmoreland tax-list for 1776 (see page 877, Vol. II.), it is quite probable that he and his family did not locate here until late in 1775 or early in 1776. They took up their residence on Jacobs Plains in Wilkes-Barre Township, but shortly afterwards removed to Exeter Township, where, as stated in the note on page 989, Vol. II, he and James Hadsall built and operated the first grist-mill and saw-mill in Exeter Township, near the mouth of the stream which soon became known as Sutton's Creek. The name of James Sutton appears as a tax-payer in Exeter Township in the Westmoreland tax-lists of 1777 and 1778. (See pages 947 and 952.)
In 1778 Mr. Suttou leased his interest in the Exeter mills, purchased a mill-seat at what was afterwards known as Mill Hollow, within the present limits of the borough of Luzerne, and removed his family thither. When the British and Indians made their incursion into Wyoming in July, 1778, the Suttons repaired to Forty Fort and were there when the fort was surrendered to the enemy on July 4th. The family of Mr. and Mrs Sutton at that time consisted of their daughters Polly and Deborah and son William. Their daughter Sarah C. (the youngest child) had died in May, 1778, aged about eleven months. (It is erroneously stated on page 1056, Vol II, that in July, 1778, the family con- sisted of Mr. and Mrs. Sutton, "their daughter Deborah, and a younger daughter.")
As narrated on page 1056 the Suttons fled from Wyoming about the 20th of July, 1778, floating down the Sus- quebanna on a raft to Middletown, below Harrisburg. There they remained for nearly two years, when they returned to Wyoming. The name of James Sutton appears in the Westmoreland tax-lists for 1;80 aud 1781, and in the roster of Capt. John Franklin's militia company for April, 1780. (see page 1229, Vol. II.) In 1781-'82 he was a private in the First Company of the 5th Regiment of Connecticut Militia, commanded by Captain Franklin at Wyoming (See page 1230, Vol. II.)
For some time after the return of the Suttons to Wyoming they lived on River Street, between Market and North- ampton Streets, Wilkes-Barre. Their home was burded down in 1784, during the Second Pennamite-Yankee War, and then they returned to their former home in Mill Hollow. A few years later they moved up to Exeter. July 4 1808, James Sutton was commissioned a Justice of the Peace, and the same day was appointed Sealer of Weights, and Measurer for Luzerne County. At this time he was an active worker in the Methodist Episcopal Church. James Sutton died at bis bome in Exeter July 19, 1824, and his wife died there August 20, 1834 Their children, who grew to maturity were as follows: (1) Mary ("Polly") Sutton, born September 30, 1770. She became the wife of Putnam Cat- lin a member of the Bar of Luzerne County, who died at Great Bend, Pennsylvania, in 1842. (For a sketch of his life see a subsequent chapter.) She died at Delta, New York, July 15, 1844. (2) Deborah Sutton, born at North Castle, Westchester County, New York, February 8, 1773. She was married May 16, 1799, as his second wife, to Jacob Bedford (born in 1762, son of Stephen Bedford), who came from New York to Wyoming Valley in 1792, and settled in Kingston Township. (The first wife of Jacob Bedford was a daughter of Benjamin Carpenter of Kingston Township, of whom a biographical note will be found hereinafter.) Jacob Bedford was commissioned Coroner of Luzerne County November 3, 1804. In October, 1810, he and Jabez Hyde were chosen by the votes of the electors of Luzerne County as can- didates for the office of Sheriff. The Governor of the Commonwealth selected Mr. Hyde for the office and duly com- missioned him. Jacob Bedford died at Waverly, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, August 23, 1849, and his wife Deborah died there April 3, 1869.
Dr. Feck, in his "Wyoming", devotes a chapter to Mrs. Deborah Bedford. Writing in 1858, he says of ber: "From early childhood she has maintained a character not only without reproach, but above suspicion. She is the oracle of her family circle, and is universally loved. She is one of the few instances which are seen in a century, of a contented happy. hopeful mind, which has borne the friction and sustained the hardships of eighty-five years. She joined the first Methodist Society which was formed in Wyoming. Her memory of the events of the olden time is still quite perfect. and her relations are given with more emotion than is common to those of her years."
Andrew Bedford, born in Kingston Township, Luzerne County, April 23, 1800, was a son of Jacob and Deborab (Sutton) Bedford. In 1824 he pursued a course of medicine in the Medical School of Yale College, and soon thereafter began to practice his profession at Abington Center, Luzerne County (now the borough of Waverly, Lackawanna County), Pennsylvania. He was a member of the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention of 1837-'38 and in October, 1840, was elected (on the Democratic ticket) Prothonotary, Clerk of the Courts of Quarter Sessions and Oyer and Ter- miner. and Clerk of the Orphan's Court of Luzerne County. At that period these several offices were beld by one per- son. Dr. Bedford entered upon the duties of these offices in January, 1841, for a term of three years, at the end of which he was re-elected to serve a second term. He was the first Burgess of the borough of Waverly (incorporated in January, 1854), holding the office continuously, by successive elections, until 1871. He also held the offices of Postmaster and School Director at different times, and in 1840 was one of the corporators of the Madison Academy at Waverly.
Dr Bedford was twice married. First, February 18, 1827, to Hannab (born October 22, 1806), third child of Benjamin and Lydia (Fuller) Reynolds of Plymouth, Pennsylvania; second, in 1853, to Mrs. Mary M. (Porter) Burtiss, widow of John M. Burtiss and daughter of Maj. Orlando Porter, at one time a resident of Wilkes-Barré. By his first marriage Dr. Bedford had seven sons, and by his second marriage one son and one daughter. George Reynolds Bedford (born November 22, 1840), a prominent citizen of Wilkes-Barré and a member of the Bar of Luzerne County, is the sixth child of Dr. Andrew and Hannah (Reynolds) Bedford. Dr. Bedford died at his home in Waverly September 3,1889, (3) William Sutton, born February 20, 1775; died January 30, 1828, was the fourth child of James and Sarah (Smith) Sutton. (+) Jomes Sutton, born September 10, 1779: died July 27, 1827, was the sixth child of James and Sarah. His wife was Nancy Smith, and they had a son, James H. (born in April, 1817), who was living in Honesdale. Pennsylvania, in 1898. (5) Sarah Sutton, born July 4, 1782, was the seventh child of James and Sarah. She was married at Exeter November 17, 1800, to Daniel Sterling, and died June 12, 1812. (6) John Suffon, born October 9, 1786, was the ninth child of James and Sarah. He became an Indian trader in early manhood, and in time his family lost track of him. (7) Samuel Sutton, born November 2, 1788, was the tenth and youngest child of James aod Sarah. He was married November 14, 1822, to Mary Dorrance (born January 26, 1799), daughter of Stephen and Mary (Dor- rance) Buckingham of Kingston. Samuel Sutton died March 25, 1842, and his wife, Mary D. died March 13, 1882. They were the parents of (a) Nancy Anne, (b) James, (c) Stephen B., (d) Samuel and (e) Charles B. (twins), and (f) Benjamin D. (e) Charles B. Sutton (born, July 9, 1830; died September 6, 1897) was Mayor of the City of Wilkes- Barré from February, 1886, to April, 1892. (b) James Sutton (born December 22, 1825), the last survivor of the family of James and Sarah (Smith) Sutton. Mr. Sutton died in Wilkes-Barre, June 15, 1917, establishing by his will the Sutton Home for Men.
(iii) Susannoh Smith, born November 17, 1750, was married in 1774 to Lemuel Gustine, Jr., born at Saybrook, Connecticut, in 1749, the son of Lemuel Gustine, Sr., and grandson of Samuel Gustine of Stonington, Connecticut.
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On the same day that he wrote the foregoing address Dr. Smith wrote to Jonathan Corey and James Lasley of Hanover, in part as follows :*
"I am as fond of my proprietors Right as any man. Perhaps I wish to obtain it in a sure way. I urged Colonel Franklin many times last Winter to make provision for the half-share men. I am convinced that Pennsylvania will give us some lands-whether it will be only the Towns which were laid out and confirmed whilst we were under Connecticut, or whether they will give us a certain right on each side the River, is to me unknown. I wish from my heart that those of the half-share men which are honest, well-disposed men would get into the Towns which are laid ont, or plant themselves on vacant lands as near the River as possible, so that they may be included with us who are settlers.
"Pray, Gentlemen, have we not told Pennsylvanians, and the whole World, that we wished to be owned by them in a constitutional way, and that then we would submit to their Govern- ment? They have at last held out to us terms of admittance. We have complied to every Re- quisition-conditionally that they do us Justice. Are not most of us under the Tie of an Oath to the State? Have we not voted that we will take their Laws? Pray Sirs, if we shall now refuse to take their laws, or act in violation [of them], what can we expect but to be despised by all men, expect the severe resentment of the State, and to be treated as Rebels and Traitors? * *
* For my part, I should not expect pity either from God or Man."
The name of Lemuel Gustine, Jr., is mentioned several times in Volume II of this History, but his surname is err- aneously spelled "Gustin". He came to Wyoming either in 1773 or 1774, and was a settler and tax-payer in Kingston Township in 1776, '77 and '78. He is said to have studied medicine with his father-in-law, Dr. Wm. Hooker Smith, and thereafter to have practised as a physician in the Wyoming settlements.
In May, 1776, Dr. Gustine was appointed by the General Assembly of Connecticut a Surveyor of Lands in and for Litchfield County-which County then included Westmoreland, or Wyoming. He was a member of the 24th Regiment, Connecticut Militia, and took part in the battle of Wyoming, and following it, was at Forty Fort with Colonel Denison and other survivors. He signed, as one of the witnesses, the articles of capitulation executed at Forty Fort July 4, 1778. (See pages 1031-1034, Vol. II ) Some two weeks later-as narrated on page 1056, Vol. II-Dr. Gustine and his young daughter, Sarah (born in Kingston Township. in 1775), removed to Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Susannah (Smith) Gustine had died at her home in Kingston Township June 12, 1778. Her remains are interred in Forty Fort Cemetery.
A few years after locating at Carlisle Dr. Gustine was married (2d) to Mary Parker, and they became the parents of several sons and daughters. Dr. Gustine practised medicine at Carlisle until his death there in 1807.
Sarah, the only child of Dr. Lemuel and Susannah (Smith) Gustine, was married at Carlisle in 1792 to the Rev. Nathaniel Randolph Snowden, born at Philadelphia in 1770, the son of Isaac Snowden (1732-1809), a Revolutionary soldier. At the time of his marriage Nathaniel R. Snowden was a licentiate of the Presbytery of Philadelphia, but had been for some time residing at Carlisle as a student of divinity under the eminent Rev. Charles Nesbit, D. D. The Rev. Nathaniel R. and Sarah (Gustine) Snowden became the parents of several children. Three of their sons were as follows: (1) Dr. Nathaniel Du ffield Snowden, (2) Dr. Isaac Wayne Snowden and (3) James Ross Snowden. (1) Dr. Nathaniel Duffield Snowden was married to- -McClelland, and Gen. George Randolph Snowden of Philadelphia (born at Franklin, Venango County, Pennsylvania, February 12, 1841) is their son. He was admitted to the Bar in April, 1862. Later he enlisted as a private in the 142d Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, in the Civil War. He was promoted Lieutenant and subsequently Captain. In 1874 he located in Philadelphia as a lawyer. In 1877 he was Colonel of the 3d Regiment, Pennsylvania Militia. In 1878 he was commissioned Brigadier General of the 1st Brigade, National Guard of Pennsylvania, and in 1890 succeeded Major Gen. John F. Hartranft as Division Commander (with the rank of Major General) of the N. G. I'.
(2) Dr. Isaac Wayne Snowden (born in 1794) was married to Elizabeth, daughter of Archibald Londen of Cum- berland County, Pennsylvania, and they became the parents of Archibald Loudun Snowden, who was born in Cum- berland County, August 11, 1837. He became Register of the United States Mint at Philadelphia in 1857, and in 1861 was commissioned Lieut. Colonel in a regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers in the Union Army. Some years later he was elected Captain of the First City Tromp, Philadelphia. In 1866 he became Chief Coiner in the Philadelphia Mint; from December 11, 1876, till February 17, 1879, he was Postmaster at Philadelphia, and then, until 1885, he was Superintendent of the Mint. In 1885 he became one of the Commissioners of Fairmount Park, being elected President of the Board in 1902. He was United States Minister to Greece, Roumania and Servia, 1889-'91, and Minister to Spain, 1891-'93.
(3) James Ross Snowden was born near Chester, Pennsylvania, December 9, 1809. He was graduated at Dick- inson College, Carlisle, studied law, and was admitted to the Bar. In 1842 and '44 he was Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and in 1845 and '46 State Treasurer. He was Treasurer of the U. S. Mint at Philadelphia from 1848 to 1850, and Director of the Mint from 1853 till 1861. In 1861 he was appointed Prothonotary of the Su- preme Court of Pennsylvania, and held the office continuously until 1874. He was a Trustee of Lafayette College from 1861 till 1877. At one time he was Solicitor of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and for a number of years held the rank of Colonel in the Pennsylvania militia. He was the author of several books and pamphlets on coins and medals. Colonel Snowden was married September 13, 1848, to Susan Engle, daughter of Maj. Gen. Robert and Sarah (Engle) Patterson of Philadelphia. He died at his home in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, March 21, 1878.
In May, 1846, Colonel Snowden was invited to participate in the ceremonies to be held at Wyoming on July 3. 1846, to celebrate the completion of the Wyoming Monument. In replying to the letter of the committee having charge of the arrangements for the occasion Colonel Snowden wrote: "As a descendent of the first settlers of your beautiful valley, who participated in the stirring scenes which have marked its early history, the occasion will be one of great interest to me. I shall, therefore, endeavor to accept your kind invitation; and in the event of iny doing so I will take with me to Wyoming my mother, who was in one of the forts on the day of the battle."
(iv) John Smith, fourth child of Dr Wm. Hooker Smith by his first marriage, was born January 29, 1752, and undoubtedly came to Wyoming about 1774 or '75. In 1776 and '77 he was living in Kingston Township and was a tax- payer there, and in 1778 was living at Jacob's Plains in Wilkes-Barre Township In December, 1781, he conveyed to his father certain lands on Jacob's Plains. In October, 1787, being then a resident of New York State, he conveyed to his father certain lands in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. Thomas and William Smith were witnesses to the deed of conveyance.
By his second wife Dr. William Hooker Smith became the father of a daughter-Susannah-who was born March 22, 1782, at what is now the south-west corner of Franklin and Northampton Streets, Wilkes-Barre. About 1802 she became the wife of Isaac Osterhout, son of Jeremiah Osterhout of Tunkhannock Township, in what is now Wyoming County, Pennsylvania. (For a sketch of the Osterhout family see a subsequent chapter.) Isaac Osterhout died near Tunkhannock June 27, 1824, and in 1828 his widow was married, as his second wife, to Fisher Gay, mentioned on page 1151, Vol. II. (Fisher Gay was not "one of the two brothers" of Mrs. Eleanor (Guy) Pettebone, as stated on page 1151, but was her uncle. Also, Mrs. Eleanor (Gay) Pettebone was married to her husband Joshua July 27, 1809. and not "in February, 1810", as stated on page 1151.) The first wife of Fisher Gay was Elizabeth Mygatt of Amenia, Dutchess County, New York, to whom he was married February 8, 1801. They removed to Wyoming Valley and settled in Kingston Township in May, 1807. They were the parents of ten children. Mrs. Elizabeth (Mygatt) Gay died February 16, 1827, aged 45 years, 11 months and 2 days, and her remains are interred in Forty Fort Cemetery. Mrs. Susannah (Smith) Gay bore her husband one child, Ann, who died February 14, 1830. Mrs. Gay died at her home in New Troy, now the borough of Wyoming November 2, 1852, and was buried in Forty Fort Cemetery.
*See "Pennsylvania Archives", First Series, XI : 104.
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In the latter part of April, 1786, a number of full and half-share proprie- tors of The Susquehanna Company determined upon having a new township laid out in their behalf. Whereupon Colonel Franklin and Major Jenkins, assisted by Elisha Satterlee, located, and surveyed the boundaries of, a town- ship at Tioga Point, to which the name of "Athens" was given. This made the eighteenth township to be laid out under the authority of The Susquehanna Company within the bounds of The Susquehanna Purchase. The seventeen others were: Wilkes-Barre, Kingston, Plymouth, Hanover, Pittston, Exeter, Providence, Newport, Huntington, Salem, Bedford, Northmoreland, Braintrim, Springfield, Claverack, Ulster and Putnam.
Some of the fifty original proprietors of Athens were: Gen. Ethan Allen, Col. Nathan Denison, Col. John Franklin, Maj. John Jenkins, Capt. John Swift, Mathias Hollenback, Christopher Hurlbut, William Slocum, Abram Nisbitt, John Hurlbut, Prince Alden, Jr., Justus Gaylord, Elisha Satterlee, Uriah Stephens, Waterman Baldwin, Mason F. Alden, Ira Stephens, Elisha Harding, Benjamin Allen, William Hyde, Ebenezer Slocum, Thomas McClure, Reuben Cook, Richard Halstead, Ishmael Bennett and Solomon Bennett. Colonel Franklin entered for himself two whole rights in the township, based on certificates which had been issued to him on May 1, 1786, under the resolution of The Susquehanna Company, passed July 13, 1785.
At Wilkes-Barre, May 9, 1786, agreeably to the request of Messrs. Frank- lin and Jenkins, agents, Messrs. Butler, Gore and Denison, the "Committee for the Granting of Townships", granted and confirmed the township of Athens to the fifty proprietors thereof "as a part of their general right in the Purchase".
Three or four days subsequently to the issuing of this grant, General Allen and Colonel Franklin set out from Wilkes-Barre for Hartford, Connecticut, for the purpose of attending a meeting of The Susquehanna Company to be held there on May 17th. Colonel Franklin carried with him the certificate of the Athens grant, which, on May 22nd, he turned over to the Secretary, or Clerk of the Susquehanna Company, by whom it was duly recorded.
At New York City, May 7, 1786, the Hon. Charles Pettit, one of the Dele- gates from Pennsylvania in Congress, wrote, on behalf of himself and his col- leagues, to President Benjamin Franklin at Philadelphia, in part as follows :*
"We transmit the report of a committee on a proposal of the State of Connecticut to cede part of the claim of that State to lands lying westward of Pennsylvania. If the proposal had been to cede the whole of the claim of that State to the Western Territory, there would scarcely have been any hesitation in accepting it, without enquiring how far the claim was well founded. But an apprehension that the acceptance of a part, as such, may be construed as an admission of their claim to the residue, creates some difficulty. The Delegates of Connecticut urge warmly,
for an acceptance of this cession. *
*
* They urge, as a special motive for our agreeing to it, that it will induce the State of Connecticut to discountenance the further pretensions of The Delaware and The Susquehanna Companies to lands in Pennsylvania, and tend to detach the real settlers at Wyoming from the more disorderly partizans of those Companies.
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