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 59
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"Permit us also to mention that an advertisement has appeared in the Connecticut papers calling a meeting of those Companies on the 17th of this month, for certain purposes-amongst others, to take measures for counteracting the machinations of the State of Pennsylvania!"
On May 14, 1786, Dr. Wm. Hooker Smith, Samuel Hover and Abraham Westbrook, residents of that part of the township of Wilkes-Barré which is now the township of Plains, wrote to Col. William Montgomery at Northum- berland, as follows:+
"My conscience and my oath to the State bind me to inform you that I wrote to Esquire [William] Shaw on the subject of a design of forming a new State, which is to include Wioming, and also to include the Genesee and territory of lands claimed by New York. The principal *See "Pennsylvania Archives", First Series, XI : 106.
tSee "Pennsylvania Archives", First Series, X : 760.
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agents live in the States of New York and Connecticut. I am become acquainted not only with those agents, but their whole plan of proceedings, by means of letters which I have intercepted! I have neither money nor horse fit to ride, or I would have gone to the Governor (sic) and Council myself. Col. John Franklin and Capt. Solomon Strong are the principal actors. Strong lives in the State of New York, and is now gone up to Wysox, where he pretends to have a large share in a town [Claverack] which was laid out under Connecticut. Strong has told me and a number of others that he went twice to Varmount before he could prevale with General Allen to come to Wioming. * * *
"Esquire [William] Shaw informed me that he expected to send fifty men here to take, if possible, Allen and many others whom I described. Yesterday Franklin and Allen left and set out to go to Connecticut, in order to attend a meeting of the Susquehanna Proprietors. Pray stop the intended force. If they are set out, send after them and call them back. I wish that this matter may lie still & my proceedings remain a Secret until the minds of the Governor & Council are made manifest to me and the undersigners (who are the only Persons in the settle- ment acquainted with my discoveries), who are hearty in the Cause. Whenever we shall get orders from authority we will take and deliver to the authority at Sunbury the following per- sons: Ethan Allen, John Franklin, Solomon Strong, James Finn, John Jenkins, and Christopher Hurlbut.
"Their Designs is, if possible, to persuade the people on the West Branch to joyn them. Franklin & Jenkins did engage James Finn*, a Baptist minister, some time back to make a visit to the West Branch and to preach about amongst the people there, and feel out their minds in regard to a new State. If Allen, Franklin & Strong were removed the others would do but a Little. The longer the matter is delayed, the stronger they get. They have some ammunition stored, and some provision in store. A timely exertion would perhaps prevent a deal of trouble and bloodshed. Allen and Franklin and Strong have used many arguments & strategems to seduce the People and prejudice them against Pennsylvania; but to little purpose.
"I have put up many advertisementst urging the people to attend to their Duty agreeable to their Ingagements. Allen and Franklin and Strong made it their business to go from district to district and pull down my papers which were put up, and repeatedly threatened my life- which I disregard. I expect Captain Schott, & we will soon call the people together. The people in general are determined to adhere to Pennsylvania. I have, with unwearied labor & argument got the people to believe that Pennsylvania will do us Justice. If we were properly organized with authority we would Exert ourselves when the above men arrive. If they should have force, and we think it not prudent to attempt taking them, we shall call on you for assistance.
"I send you copies of the papers which I had put up in each District."
Dr. Smith forwarded to Colonel Montgomery by an express the foregoing letter, accompanied by a second letter, reading in part as follows:
"There will be no danger of letters being intercepted. The Bearer is unsuspected. Strong and his associates say that you are leading us wrong; that districts must be first set off by the Assembly before we can with propriety elect, and that we ought to wait until the next sitting of the Assembly and insist that we ought to have security from the State that they will do us justice. * *
* In the greatest Hurry-my hand, head and mind is confused!"
Immediately on receipt of these letters Colonel Montgomery, on May 17th, at Northumberland, wrote to the Supreme Executive Council a sensible lucid and forceful letter reading as follows:#
"As a citizen of Pennsylvania, & much more as a civil officer, § I consider myself under the strongest obligation to lay before you the information I have received respecting the state of things, & the measures now pursuing, at that part of the Country called Wyoming.
"As you will perceive by the letters inclosed, Col. Ethan Allen from Vermont, at the sol- icitation of a certain Capt. Solomon Strong of the State of New York, has arrived there, who, with Col. John Franklin, a liver at Wyoming, has been endeavoring to take off & divert the people (who had entered into recognizances before Esquire Shaw) from their allegiance to this State, & to go into measures for erecting a new State-which is to include a part of this and part of New York State. However wild the scheme, I believe they have made many converts at Wyo- ming, particularly among the late-comers and half-share men, as they are called; who, having no chance of pleading an early occupancy, or regular settlement [of the land], of course cannot flatter themselves with having any plea to hold their improvements under the jurisdiction of this State.
"Besides the above letters sent me by an Express. I have had the opportunity of being more fully informed of the same things by William Shaw, Esq., and Thomas Grant, Esq., who
*The name of James Finn first appears in the records of Westmoreland, or Wyoming, in the year 1777, at which time he was a taxpayer in the "North District" (Exeter and Providence) of Westmoreland. In 1787 he resided near the confluence of the Lackawanna and Susquehanna Rivers. Pearce, in his "Annals of Luzerne County" (page 301) says: "In 1786 the Rev. Mr. Gray made special efforts in Pittstown Township, and in the Fall of that year a con- gregation {of Baptists] was organized there by the Rev. James Benedict. In 1787 this congregation was attached to the Philadelphia Association. Mr. Benedict was succeeded by the Rev. James Finn, and he by the Rev. William Bishop, who settled in Luzerne County in 1794. The Rev. James Finn died at Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania, in 1797, prior to December 2, and Solomon Finn of Pittston became Executor of his estate.
+Undoubtedly the "Serious Address" printed on page 1500.
¿See "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, XI : 108.
§At this time Colonel Montgomery was President Judge of the Courts of Northumberland County.
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are just arrived from there; so that, with me, the matter is beyond all doubt that a new Independ- ent State is intended, and that speedily. Col. Ethen Allen and Franklin are now gone to meet The Susquehanna Company in Connecticut, & are expected to return in four or five weeks. What the consequences will be or where it will end is not easy to foresee; but I conceive it would be sound policy, & will be found absolutely necessary, to take the most speedy & effectual measures to send up there such a body of troops as would support & give countenance to all who would desire to continue in their allegiance to this State, confirm the wavering, & check the giddy in their mad career.
"If this could be done, so that the world would see the State only meant to support the peaceable Inhabitants having title & property to be disposed of in Courts of Law, it would prob- ably divide those people among themselves, & facilitate a full establishment of the jurisdiction of the State there. If our General Assembly, at their next meeting, go ou to set that district off as a separate County, I believe it would tend to the same happy purpose, as it will open the way to some of the honors & emoluments of a County, which will operate as a counterpoise to the honors and emoluments expected in a New State. And, indeed, submission to Government, circum- stanced & situated as they are subject to a great number of petty suits, & no Justice of the Peace nearer than fifty miles-is a real difficulty, & should be removed as soon as possible.
"What troops (if any) will be raised is not for me to determine, but I sincerely believe none can be more unfit for this business than militia-for a variety of reasons which I need not men- tion. But, convinced I am, that unless something is done-and that speedily and effectually -a new State will be attempted to be created within a very short time; while a vigorous and timely opposition, on liberal principles, may crush the whole scheme & establish Peace in that unhappy district.
"William Shaw, Esq., who also writes you on this business, sends you a copy of an inter- cepted letter, properly authenticated, which lays open their whole scheme. The letters and papers inclosed [herewith] will also shew their design, & the pains taken by the Signers to prevent the people being mislead. They sent them to me by a special Express, and wished that it might not be generally known how they came by some part of their information that they had communi- cated so fully, as it would render their situation very insecure unless they received timely and effectual support.
"I hope his Excellency, the President, & the Honorable the Supreme Executive Council, will pardon my plainness on this occasion, as I look upon the affair to be of so much importance & of so serious a nature as to render a scrupulous attention to ceremony improper."
Justice William Shaw, of Northumberland, who had come to Wilkes-Barré on official business early in April, 1786, returned to his home about May 1st. He came again to Wyoming, arriving here on May 14th and leaving three days later for the home of Colonel Montgomery, near Northumberland, where, on May 18th, he wrote to the Supreme Executive Council in part as follows :* * * * "Unluckily on the 27th [of April] Col. Ethan Allen came to Wyoming, who alarmed them by telling them he despised their treating with Pennsylvania; that he had formed one new State, and with one hundred Green Mountain Boys and two hundred Riflemen he could make that a new State in defiance of Pennsylvania. On the 10th Instant I received a letter from a settler there nearly to the same purport of one inclosed by Col. Wm. Montgomery, Esqr., which I shewed to a few, who advised I should again go up to Wyoming, which I did, and the 14th arrived there. I found a number that did not seem to be so familiar as formerly. I also meet with a number who appeared to be much in favor of, and wished to comply with, the Laws of the State-one of whom produced to me the copy of a letter he had intercepted and taken, which he made oath before me was a true one, a copy of which I inclose. The man is a person who may be relied on, but wished his name might not be made known, lest some of the enemies of the state would take away his life for it. On the evening of the 14th the Sheriff of this County [Thomas Grant]t arrived at Wioming, and on the three following days served several Writs, but most of them on whom they were served refused to give bail bonds, and on the 17th a number of them collected and ordered the sheriff to leave the place in two hours, or they would abuse him. On the same evening we left the place.
"The schemes of the Proprietors of The Susquehannah Company is discovered by the inclosed copy of a letter from Joseph Hamilton to John Franklin, which perhaps it might be good policy in the Government to endeavour to prevent by raising and sending some men there; which would be a means of encouraging those that are friendly to the Government and Laws of this State, and a discouragement to those who are wavering. Much will depend on the firmness of the soldiery and the disinterestedness of the Officers."
A "legally warned" meeting of The Susquehanna Company was held at Hartford, Connecticut, Wednesday May 17, 1786, the General Assembly of the State being then in session at Hartford. Ethan Allen and John Franklin attended the meeting of the Company which was presided over by Col. Gad
*See "Pennsylvania Archives", First Series, X: 7 64.
tSee (*) note page 1509.
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Stanley as Moderator; Samuel Gray, Esq., filling the office of Clerk. Among other transactions the following resolutions were adopted :*
(1) "Then Voted, That all persons settled under the authority of the State of Pennsylvania, and now actually inhabiting upon that tract of Country situate upon the westerly waters of the Sus- quehannah River, and purchased of the natives by the company called The Susquehannah Com- pany, be, and the same are hereby, fully established and confirmed in their full and absolute possession of the lands by thiem actually possessed under the said State of Pennsylvania.
(2) "Voted, That this Company, conscious of the equity of their title to the lands bond fide purchased of the natives, and situate upon the waters of the River Susquehannah, will support and maintain their Claims to the lands aforesaid, and effectually justify and support their settlers therein.
(3) "Voted, That Samuel Gray, Esq., Col. Thomas Dyer and Col. Ebenezer Gray, be and they are hereby, appointed a Committee, with full power and authority to make out a list of all such persons as are proprietors of the said Company, and have paid their taxes agreeably to the votes of the said Company; and that all persons that have neglected to pay their taxes and shall neglect to pay the same by the first day of September next, shall be, and the same are hereby, excluded from any right, interest or property within the Territory aforesaid. Said list of. proprietors to be completed by the first day of September next.
(4) Voted, That the Committee of the said Company be, and hereby are, fully authorized to apply to the Honorable General Assembly of this State for such justice as shall be due to said Company, and for such other advantages, benefits and emoluments as said Assembly may see cause to grant to the said Company; and further, to do and transact other matters necessary to be done for the benefit of said Company, according to their best discretion.
(5) "Voted, That Col. John Franklin, Gen. Ethan Allen, Maj. John Jenkins and Col. Zebulon Butler be, and they are hereby, appointed a Committee with full power to locate town- ships within the territory aforesaid (agreeable to the votes of the said Company), in the room and stead of the former Committee appointed for that purpose; and the said Committee are also hereby fully authorized and empowered to inquire into the claims of all persons now settled at Wyoming, and such as shall make out their claims in pursuance of the votes of said Company. Said Committee are hereby authorized to quiet them in such lands as they shall find them justly en- titled to, agreeable to the votes of said Company. And that Col. John Franklin be, and is hereby, appointed Clerk of said Committee, and directed to keep fair records of the proceedings of the said Committee, and the transfers of all property in said settlement. And that said Clerk transmit, from time to time, fair copies to the Clerk of this Company of all such locations of townships, and the names of such as shall be admitted proprietors by such Committee in virtue of the auth- ority aforesaid.
"Col. John Franklin was then duly sworn before Samuel Gray, Justice of the Peace, faith- fully to execute the office of Clerk of said Committee, according to the above vote."
Of the foregoing votes, or resolutions, the first three were given out to the public and were printed in certain Connecticut newspapers in May, 1786, and soon thereafter were reprinted in a few newspapers in New York, Philadel- phia and elsewhere. The fourth and fifth votes were not made public until a con- siderable number of years later.
Miner, commenting on the foregoing votes, states (in his "History of Wyoming," page 388) that "it was doubtless politic, as well as liberal, to quiet the Pennsylvania settlers [on the West Branch of the Susquehanna] in their possessions; although the formal resolve to do so may now excite a smile. A declaration that the Company would 'effectually justify and support their settlers,' shows the boldness and earnestness of their proceedings. Wyoming was in a state of comparative repose. Hundreds of scattered settlers, who had been expelled by the war-many of them boys, now grown up to manhood-returned to claim their own or their fallen fathers' possessions. New adventurers, at- tracted by the wonderful tales of [Wyoming's] richness and beauty, came in to pur- chase; while a productive year, diffusing plenty, restored cheerfulness and in- vigorated industry. Frame buildings began to take the places of log huts."
Colonel Franklin, referring to local conditions at this period, states in his "Brief": "We in a short time increased our numbers to upwards of 600 effective men, and were determined to support our claims and interest, until decided by a legal course of law. We were also determined to oppose any auth- ority from Pennsylvania residing among us, until we could have a regular es-
*See Miner's "History of Wyoming", page 387; "Pennsylvania Archives", Second Series, XVIII . 108, 659.
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tablishment on Constitutional principles, and our lands be in some way secured to us. * * * I will remark that a large number [of settlers] on the West Branch of the Susquehanna River had proposed to join us and extend the claims of The Susquehanna Company into that part of the country. A committee [of those settlers] was appointed in 1786, and sent to Wyoming for that purpose."
Miner, referring to the above statement ("History of Wyoming," page 389), says: "It will be admitted that, in the actual posture of public affairs- the promised Green Mountain Boys, with Ethan Allen to head them, the Wolcotts, and Barlow and Hosmer and Judd to back them, by aid from Connecticut, the proposed auxiliaries from the West Branch, and 600 enrolled, effective men on the ground, with a civil government in operation, and a military organiz- ation complete-it was time for Pennsylvania to throw aside such agents as Patterson and Armstrong, and to exercise her utmost wisdom and vigilance."
At Northumberland, May 20, 1786, Thomas Grant*, Sheriff of North- umberland County, wrote to President Benjamin Franklin, at Philadelphia, in part as follows:t
"As an officer of Government I think it my indispensible duty to inform Council of the Treatment which I lately received at Wyoming. Declarations of Ejectment, & sundry other processes, were put into my hands against People living at & near Wyoming in order to the Ex- ecutry of which I arrived at that place on the fourteenth instant. The fifteenth I spent mostly in making Enquiries respecting the disposition of the Inhabitants, the next day I arrested John Paul Schott, who declared he would not submit nor pay any respect whatever, to my arrest. This he did in the presence of Mr. Shaw, before whom he had not long before entered into Recog- nizance. Sundry others whom I had arrested behaved in the same manner as Schott, & de- clared against any submission
"I had information at sundry times of persons who had declared they would take my life, but on the next day (the Seventeenth) I observed some people collecting at one Yarington's, & soon after a greater number appeared at Schott's. Being told that their Intentions were against me, I went towards my lodgings, but was overtaken by them on the way. They accosted me with the most insulting language & concluded by saying the orders of the settlement were, that I should leave the place in two hours with my damned writs or abide by the consequences. One of them struck with a stick William Wilson, the man who accompanied me, & made towards me; but, having pistols, I declared I would blow his Brains out if he advanced, I however made to my lodging, & posting myself in the door, declared I would shoot the first man that advanced. "After some time one of them sired to speak to me in private, I agreed on condition that the Rest would retire. They retired a little, but while I was in Conversation with the one who came in, they returned & order'd the Landlady to turn out the damned Pennamite Rascal or they would shoot through every door & window of the house. Much insulting and abusive language was used by them, &, as they were armed with Clubs and pistols, I was obliged as well for my own safety as for the protection of the woman and poor children, to submit to their terms viz .: That I would execute no process whatever, and would leave the place in two hours. On my giving them my honor that I would comply, they returned to Yarington's to see that I complied. I cannot help observing that I have every reason to believe that my life depended on my compliance.
"To mention every insult & contempt that was showed me during the time I was there, would far exceed the bounds of a letter. It was impossible to execute the Laws of Pennsylvania in those parts without armed force to support the officers. It is now knowing publickly that their intentions are to form a new State. Ethan Allen, with a great number of new adventurers, are at the head of this business, and since their arrival every idea of submission to the laws of Petin- sylvania has vanished."
At Northumberland, also on May 20th, Col. William Montgomery wrote to the Supreme Executive Council, in part as follows:#
"Since the letter of the 17th a meeting was had of the Justices, the Sheriff, the Lieutenant of the County, & a number of other principal Gentlemen, where, upon consideration of the In- telligence from Wyoming, they intirely concur in sentiment (respecting the danger) with the
*THOMAS GRANT was born November 20, 1758, near Fort Augusta, in what subsequently became the town of Sunbury. His father was Alexander Grant, a native of Scotland, who emigrated to Pennsylvania and settled near the Susquehanna River, opposite Shamokin Island, prior to the erection of Northumberland County. Thomas Grant was elected Sheriff of Northumberland County in 1785, and again in 1788. He was a member of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania in 1796 and 1814, and was at one time a Captain in the Pennsylvania militia His wife was a daughter of Robert Martin, Esq., of Northumberland, referred to on page 309. Thomas Grant was initiated into Lodge No. 22,'Ancient York Masons, at Sunbury, September 8, 1786, and was Treasurer of the Lodge in 1792 and Junior Warden in 1800. He died June 16, 1815. His son. Thomas Grant, Jr., was Worshipful Master of Lodge No. 22 in 1821, and his grandson, William Thomas Grant, held the same office in 1857.
¡See "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, X1 : 110.
#See "Pennsylvania Archives", First Series, X : 765.
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representation in my letter & that of William Shaw, Esq., and are clearly & decidedly of opinion : That no time-not a moment-should be lost; that there is the greatest & most eminent danger of a dismemberment of the State; that the party under Ethan Allen, John Franklin & Solomon Strong increase daily; that, from the nature of their views, they will be a combined force acting constantly and in concert-as their encroachments, like the feudal system of old, will furnish the reward of their adherents and followers; and no person in The State, however remote from the present scene (if within the above limit-the 42° of Latitude) can hope to continue a Penn- sylvanian, without the most speedy, effectual and vigorous exertion of Government in suppressing this dangerous insurrection.
"There appear still a number of people at Wioming who talk in a favorable strain. Whether they are sincere, God knows; but if there are any sincere friends there they should not be lost. Their timely support might have a powerful tendency to divide the party and the more readily crush the scheme. It is also the opinion of all present that it is extremely proper to give you this timely information by a person of Intelligence, and for that purpose [we] have unanimously appointed Gen. John Bull*, Esq., to carry these dispatches-to whom they beg leave to refer you for more minute and particular information."
The same day Colonel Montgomery wrote to the Hon. Thomas Mckean, Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, who was then holding court in one of the counties at some distance from Philadelphia. This letter (printed in "Pennsylvania Archives", First Series, X : 766) reads in part as follows:
"I do myself the honor of inclosing you a copy of an intercepted letter, which placeth the designs of a Number of People at Wioming in a clear and decided point of view. Therein we are informed of some of the active persons in the scheme of a new and Independent State; of the best mode of carrying it on, and of the then expected arrival of Col. Ethan Allen from Vermont-since the writing of which Allen has arrived, talks freely of a new State, Reprobates the idea of submission to Pennsylvania, and he, in conjuction with a Col. John Franklin of that place and a Capt. Solomon Strong of New York State, are gone about a week ago to meet the Susquehannah Company to consult what measures are next to be pursued.
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