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 62
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The Pickering party set out from Philadelphia in the morning of Friday, August 4th, and traveling-on horseback, necessarily-by way of Pottsgrove and Reading, reached Sunbury on the 8th. Under the date of August 12th, at the home of Philip Francis,* "about a mile below the mouth of Muncy Creek, and three miles below Mr. [Samuel] Wallis's,"t Colonel Pickering wrote to his wife in part, as follows:
"We expected ere this to have been farther advanced on our journey, but Mr. Wallis is to go with us to complete the surveys of the land we are to visit, and he cannot get ready till next Monday, the 14th; and it will probably take us a week to collect necessaries for the surveyor, chain carriers, &c., and to travel to Tioga [Point], so that my return may be ten days or a fort- night later than I wished or expected when I left home. As Mr. Wallis was not ready we spent two nights and one day at General Potter's,# where we were kindly entertained. Last night and the preceding one we lodged at Mr. Francis', and shall stay here until we proceed on our journey. Mr. Francis is uncle to Thomas Francis who is with us. His lady is a lively, agreeable woman, and well calculated for a remote residence in the country. They have the best log-house we have seen, though not yet finished. They have two children, a son, and a daughter-the eldest about five years old."
On August 15th, Colonel Pickering and his companions were joined at Philip Francis' by Richard James and Charles Willing of Philadelphia, so that the party comprised those gentlemen, Colonel Pickering, A. Horton and Thomas Frances (who had started from Philadelphia with the Colonel), Samuel Wallis the surveyor, several chain-carriers and other hired men. The company set out from Francis' in the afternoon of the 15th and rode down to Northumberland. The next day, after providing themselves with certain necessary articles, they proceeded up along the west bank of the North Branch of the Susquehanna, and arrived at Wilkes-Barré in the evening of Friday, August 18th.
In his "Journal" Colonel Pickering describes, with considerable detail, not only the experiences of himself and companions on their tour, but the physical character of the country through which they travelled, and the civic and social affairs of the people. He states that at Sunbury there were about 100 houses- one house being large, and well built of stone: all the rest, with two or three ex- . ceptions, being of logs. There was a wide range in the character of the log houses which they met with in their journey. "Some were large, commodious, neat, tight, comfortable in all seasons, and in all respects desirable." The better sort were "hewed and neatly put together with double dovetails at the corners; the joints between the logs being filled with small stones, and pointed with lime and mortar." Below this style of houses there was every grade, down to what were mere huts or hovels.
Throughout Wyoming Valley the vestiges of the ruin with which it had been so often visited were everwhere seen. The log-hovels in which many of the inhabitants dwelt were wretched beyond description. In a great part of them there is [was] no chimney; but a hole is [was] left in the roof, through which the smoke escapes." Concerning Wilkes-Barré, Colonel Pickering wrote as follows:
"We crossed the latter plains [the Shawnee, or Plymouth, Flats] and came to Wyoming, on the eastern side of the river. Wyoming town is now called Wilkesbarre, and the phrase
*See page 489, Vol. I, for a sketch of the Francis Family. +For a sketch of his life see page 653, Vol. 1I.
#Gen. JAMES POTTER was born in 1729. He was a Captain in the French and Indian War; in May, 1775, he was commissioned a Colonel in the Pennsylvania militia; he was a delegate to the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention in 1776; was appointed and commissioned April 5, 1777, one of the five Brigadier Generals, then designated by the State Legislature for the Pennsylvania militia. He was Vice President of the State, in 1781, and in May, 1782, was promoted Major General of the Pennsylvania militia. He was at the hattles of Trenton, Princeton (where he was wounded), Brandywine and Germantown. July 7, 1784, he was elected a member of the Pennsylvania Council of Censors, to succeed Col. Samuel Hunter who had died in the previous April. General Potter was a large landholder in Penn's Valley, hut his residence was in White Deer Township, in what was then Northumberland, but is now Union County. He died in November, 1789. Potter County, Pennsylvania, erected March 6, 1804, was named in his honor.
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Wyoming people comprehends all the settlers from Nescopeck Creek to Tioga [Point]; for through that whole extent of country (being upwards of 110 miles), on both sides of the river, they have taken possession. Wilkesbarre was a pitch-pine plain, though pretty fertile, but by no means comparable with the flats before described. Its surface is considerably higher than that of the flats, and, being of a drier, firmer soil, is a more suitable flat for a town. Much of it, however, was overflowed in the great fresh of the Spring of 1784.
"The town was originally divided into town-lots, meadow-lots and back-lots. The first containing three acres, the second thirty-five, and the last 250 acres. Then each settler drew for his lot in each division. By this manner of dividing the lands great inconvenience arises to the farmer. His dwelling-house is on the pitch-pine plain; his meadow a mile or more from it, on one side, and his back-lot perhaps still farther removed, on the other side of his dwelling."
Under the date of Sunday, August 20, 1786, Colonel Pickering made the following entry in his journal:
"Col. Zebulon Butler and Colonel [John] Franklin spent the evening with us very sociably. Mr. Franklin appears to be the leader of the warm supporters of the claim of The Susquehanna Company against Pennsylvania. Nothing was said on that subject. In the morning, having called to see Colonel Butler, he invited me to take breakfast; during which time I made some inquiries relative to the dispute, and the proceedings of the meeting of the settlers the day before [Saturday, August 19.]."
The Pickering party left Wilkes-Barre in the morning of Monday, August 21st, and traveled northward over the trail, or path, running along the eastern shore of the Susquehanna. They hired, at Wilkes-Barré, some canoes, in which they carried their supplies of provisions and other articles; but on Monday, August 28th, they left the river and set out for the woods, surveying as they went. "They traversed the whole north-eastern corner of Pennsylvania, crossing moun- tains, struggling through thick-set forests and bushes, fording streams, remaining under their tents when it rained, and carrying their lines of survey over rocks, gullies and swamps. After roaming in this way through the wilderness, they came out at Hellers' Tavern*, about two miles south of the Wind Gap, and reached Philadelphia [via Bethlehem] on Wednesday night, September 20." There we will leave them, while we return to Wilkes-Barré.
The "two Johns", fortified with the passport which had been brought to them by Captain Schott, set forth from Wilkes-Barré for Philadelphia about Sep- tember 1, 1786. At the latter place, under the date of Monday, September 4th, they addressed to President Benjamin Franklin the following communication:+
"Sir :- We have the honour to inform your Excellency and the Hon'ble Council that your letter of the 21st of August last, under the hand of your Excellency and Seal of the State-grant- ing Protection to the agents for the settlers of Wyoming-we received. Pursuant thereto, we ar- rived at this City last evening for the purpose of Representing the said settlers in Council and Assembly, according to our appointment and agency.
"We shall feel ourselves happy to have a hearing in answer to any Crimes alledged against the people we have the honour to Represent, & to lay such matters before the Hon'ble Council or Assembly as shall be agreeable to the Instructions Given us, by our Constituents, and produc- tive of the general good of the whole; at such times as an opportunity shall offer, consistent with Decency, rule and good order.
"We are, may it please your Excellency, "Your most obdt. & hble. Servants, [Signed] "JOHN FRANKLIN, "JOHN JENKINS."
This letter was transmitted by President Franklin to the Supreme Executive Council, and at its meeting in the State House held on September 6th (Vice Pres- ident Charles Biddlet presiding), the letter having been read, September 7th was named as the day for receiving and hearing the agents. Vice President Biddle (in his "Autobiography", page 207) gives an account of the appearance of the "two Johns" before the Council. After referring to the various disturbances at Wyoming, Mr. Biddle states:
"About this time John Franklin, who was considered the principal leader in all these dis- t urbances, wrote to Council that, if he could appear before the Board in safety, he would come *See note, page 1166, Vol. II. +See "Pennsylvania Archives", XI : 52
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down and state the injustice that was done to the Connecticut settlers by the Commissioners and others sent amongst them. Council was surprised at receiving this letter; however, it was immediately agreed that he should have a pass to come down and be heard. One was accord- ingly sent him, and in a few days he came to town. He took up his lodgings opposite the State House, and sent word he was in town, and wished to know when he should wait upon Council. He was immediately informed the Board were ready to hear him.
"He soon appeared. He was a very stout man, then in the prime of life, being about forty- five years of age,* and had the look of a soldier. He was accompanied by John Jenkins, another leading man among the Connecticut settlers. He [Franklin] said he had come down to answer any charges that could be made against the Connecticut settlers, and expected he could convince the Board they had been treated with injustice and cruelty. As Dr. Franklin was not present I told him he had requested a pass to come and inform the Board of their reasons for being dis- satisfied with the treatment they had received from the Pennsylvanians; that we would now hear him, and, if they had any real complaints, endeavor to redress them. He said he expected first to hear the complaints against them; however, he was ready to state theirs.
"He took up the business from the Decree of Trenton, and gave a particular account of every material transaction that happened in the settlement from that time. He said Col. [James] Moore and his troops had behaved exceedingly ill to the Connecticut claimants, but General [John] Armstrong had behaved much worse; that, finding he could do nothing with the militia he had with him, he offered the settlers that if they would deliver up their arms they should all be suffered to return to their homes, and not be molested in any way whatever; and should have a fair and candid hearing, and if they had any real cause of complaint, they should be redressed; that being extremely anxious to return home, and live quiet and peaceable with their families, they agreed, and did surrender their arms. Immediately after they had delivered up their arms they were ordered into an old barn, where there was no floor, and, although the ground was covered with mud and filth, they were obliged to lie down in it, and the sentinels had orders to fire on any one that attempted to raise his head. Some of those confined in this manner were old men, one of them upwards of seventy years of age. A number of them were afterwards marched to Easton gaol. "He related many other circumstances of ill treatment they had received. Council in- formed him they would take the matter into consideration, and desired him and Jenkins to retire. Franklin, finding little encouragement, soon left the City. General [John] Armstrong, as Sec- retary, was present during the time Franklin was speaking. It was with some difficulty I could prevent him from interrupting Franklin. He told me afterwards there was some truth in what Franklin had said, but he had mentioned several things that were false."
The hearing of the "two Johns" was not completed until September 8th, on , which day the Council received "a petition from a number of persons styling themselves late settlers at Wyoming under legal title from Pennsylvania, but now expelled from their possessions by persons claiming under Connecticut." The same day the Council transmitted this petition to the General Assembly, together with the information that "the agents of the claimants under Connect- icut" were then in the city and wished "to be heard by the Legislature."
The Assembly, in pursuance of its vote of adjournment, had reconvened in Philadelphia on Tuesday, August 22, 1786, and four days later it received from President Franklin and the Supreme Executive Council a message, accompanied by the following-described papers "relating to the Wyoming business."
"(1) A letter from William Montgomery, Esq., dated May 17, setting forth that Ethan Allen was come with a number of others into that neighborhood and drawn the people generally from their allegiance to this State, and were caballing to erect a new State in that territory. This letter also contains a letter from William Shaw, confirming and corresponding with his (Mout- gomery's) which has in it an intercepted letter from Joseph Hamilton, dated the City of Hudson, March 24, 1786, to John Franklin, wherein Hamilton advises Franklin to pursue every method to preserve the independence of that country; that he has the countenance of numbers at that place, will be well supported, and he doubts not of success.
"(2) Another from Mr. Montgomery dated Northumberland, May 20, importing that the party headed by Allen, Franklin and Strong gain converts every day; that their pretensions are almost unlimited; that there may perhaps be some good citizens still at Wyoming who should be immediately supported, and perhaps things might then take a favorable turn.
"(3) Another from the Sheriff of Northumberland County stating that he was ill-treated at Wyoming when serving legal processes; that the people, he verily believes, would have killed him had he not promised to desist and leave the place; that it is impossible to execute the laws of this State in those parts without an armed force to support the officers."
"(4) Another from John Franklin to William Montgomery, dated Wyoming, June 26, rep- resenting that Mr. Montgomery swerved from the line of his duty in reflecting upon and advising him (Franklin); that he had a contemptible opinion of Montgomery and several others of his party ; that the protection from Pennsylvania which His Excellency the President and the Council, by letter, assure him of, gives the greatest satisfaction, for they desire no other [thing] than to
*He was, in fact, just thirty-seven years of age. See page 1227, Vol. I1.
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live as good citizens and enjoy the benefits of the Constitution of Pennsylvania; but they will not be driven off the lands their hands have cultivated, and their blood enriched, for the advantage of any hellish land-monopolizers!
"(5) Another from the same to the President of the State, desiring to be permitted to send agents to negotiate with Council; also, the votes of the Wyoming settlers appointing such agents."
On August 28th it was voted by the Assembly "that the papers respecting Wyoming-enclosed in the message from Council-be referred to Messrs. Clymer, Gray, Evans, and others, to report thereon." The message and other documents transmitted to the Assembly by the Council on September 8th, as previously noted, were received on the same day by the Assembly, "and on motion, and by special order, the same were read a second time; whereupon it was ordered that the further consideration thereof be postponed." On September 11th the Assembly received "a letter from the agents of the settlement at Wyoming, enclosing a petition of John Franklin and John Jenkins in behalf of those settlers." On September 12th there was read in the Assembly "a petition from 130 inhabi- tants of Northumberland County, praying that the County should notbe divided."
On September 14, 1786, the petition of Messrs. Franklin and Jenkins, which had been received and read in the Assembly on September 11th, was read a second time; whereupon Representative John Smilie moved to commit it. Representa- tive Robert Morris objected to this, stating that he thought the petition was of such a nature-not from the words, but the substance of it-that "it would lessen the dignity of the House to take that order on it." He stated that he "would do anything to prevent bloodshed, and would recommend every degree of forbearance, but would wish to proceed on with the business as it was begun." Mr. Smilie thought he had been misunderstood. He only meant to commit this petition, he stated, "to see if any new light could be thrown on the business."
Representative Thomas Fitzsimons* said a few words in opposition to the motion; as also did Representative George Clymer, who, in remarking that petitions were entitled to respect, said that although this was one "the House could hear consistent with their own honor", there were two claims in the petition which they could not hearken to, viz .: "one, to give up the property of our con- stituents, and the other, to suffer the laws of Connecticut to regulate a part of Pennsylvania." Upon the whole, he declared, he was "decided against the Com -. mittee." Representative George Logan (a friend, or Quaker, of Philadelphia County) expressed an ardent desire "that this business might be entered on coolly and deliberately; that every possible means should be pursued to prevent the State being precipitated into a war, which, if they were, might not terminate to their advantage, for these people would be desperate-as fighting for their all -and an overmatch for any military we could employ, who would necessarily be uninterested." He declared that the petitioners should have his "concurrence to be heard, and a committee appointed to investigate the matter; and that these people ought to have an impartial hearing."
Following Representative Logan, Representative Morris declared that he did "not wonder that the Member who spoke last should be so opposed to a war;
*THOMAS FITZSIMONS was an Irish Catholic, who was horn in 1741, either in Ireland or Philadelphia. In early manhood he became a merchant in Philadelphia. Later he was married to a daughter of Robert Meade (great grand- father of Gen. George Gordon Meade, the distinguished soldier of the American Civil War), and soon thereafter he and his brother-in-law, George Meade, formed a partnership for carrying on business as merchants and ship owners. After the passage of the Stamp Act Fitzsimons warmly espoused the cause of the colonists. During the Revolutionary War he commanded a company of volunteers. In 1777, he was appointed a member of the Pennsylvania Navy Board. In 1780 his firm-George Meade & Co .- subscribed £5,000 toward supplying the Continental Army with necessary equipment :. He was a Delegate in the Continental Congress in 1782 and '83, and November 13, 1783, was elected a member of the State Council of Censors. In 1787 he was a Delegate in the Federal Constitutional Convention, and from 1789 till 1795. was a Representative in Congress. He was a Trustee of the University of Pennsylvania, founder and director of the Bank of North America, President of the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce and of the Insurance Company of North America. He died at Philadelphia, in August, 1811.
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his education had taught him to look upon it with horror and detestation." However good and humane these principles were, said Mr. Morris, he knew they did not generally pervade the world, and he trusted that, if Pennsylvania was to engage in a necessary and just war, there would be sufficient funds and spirit exerted in the State to bring it to an honorable and equitable termination. How- ever, he hoped that exertion of this nature would not be necessary. He had no objection to hearing the claims of these persons, but would have the hearing conducted properly. They should ask for it, and it would be improper to commit the petitions. He concluded by saying that if any new lights could be "thrown upon this business, let us have them, in God's name!"
Representative William Findley, of Westmoreland County (who, with John Smilie, had represented that County in the Pennsylvania Council of Censors in 1783 and '84), was of the opinion it would not lower the dignity of the House to hear them, but thought it right that they should be heard; that their prayers would surely not be granted without it, was well founded. Mr. Smilie, speaking a second time*, said it was necessary, and very necessary, too, that the petition should be committed, inasmuch as "those gentlemen [Franklin and Jenkins] should be called upon to produce their instructions and documents, to prove that they were the persons they pretended to be, and whether really appointed by the people for this purpose."
Representative Robert Lollar, of Montgomery County, coincided with Mr. Smilie; and Representatives Fitzsimons, Morris and Clymer arose one after an- other and acknowledged that what Mr. Smilie had urged was conclusive, and perhaps the only reason that could have convinced them of the propriety of ap- pointing a committee. Whereupon it was "Resolved, That this petition, together with the several others relative to the disturbances at Wyoming, be referred to Messrs. Thomas Fitzsimons, George Clymer, Isaac Gray (of Philadelphia County) Samuel Evans (of Chester County), Robert Whitehill, William Findley and John Smilie; and that the said Committee be authorized to call before them the said Agents, and make report to the House." The Committee, through Mr. Fitzsimons made its report to the House on September 22nd.
The next day-Saturday, September 23, 1786-Representative Robert Morris called up the "Bill for erecting the Wyoming District into a separate County." He thought if that Bill were passed it would tend in a great measure to quiet the disturbances in that neighborhood; that some gentlement of veracity who had just returned from that country had informed him, and would inform every gentleman who applied to them, that the people in that district would be gratified by being so set off; and that they were not so turbulent and restive as had been represented. "The Bill was then read, and considered by paragraphs; and on the question, 'Shall the same be engrossed?' the yeas and nays were called and were: Yeas, 44; Nays, 14. So it was determined in the affirmative." Upon the following Monday (September 25, 1786), the Bill, liav- ing been duly engrossed, was formally signed by the Hon. Thomas Mifflin, Speaker of the Assembly, and thereupon became a law of the Commonwealth
*The Hon Charles Biddle, in his "Autobiography" previously mentioned, states (page 208). relative to the above mentioned debate: "Smilie, speaking in the House of Representatives of his [Gen. John Armstrong, Jr's.] expedition into Wyoming, compared him to Verres. The next morning, when I went to the State House. 1 found Armstrong walking before the door of the room in which the Representatives sat. Inquiring what he was doing there. he told me he was waiting to see Smilie. I persuaded him away, and afterwards had the affair made up. He by no means deserved a comparison with Verres."
+Pickering, Willing, and others.
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About this time a printed address*, relating to Wyoming affairs, and very incendiary in its character, was disseminated pretty generally throughout the Wyoming region, and in the locality of Sunbury. Copies had previously been placed in the hands of various members of the Pennsylvania Assembly. The document was worded as follows:
"AN ADDRESS"
"From the inhabitants of Wyoming, and Others, contiguously situated on the Waters of the River Susquehanna; to the PEOPLE at large of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
"Gentlemen, Friends and Neighbours: Providence having drawn the limits of our habit- ation contiguous to you, in consequence whereof-during the late glorious Revolution-we became your barrier on the north, and were thereby exposed to the relentless fury, savage barbarity and devastation of the common enemy. In these scenes of horror and complicated woe, we were your frontier. Our blood answered for yours! Our hazard and unparalleled distress purchased your safety! We stood between you and the tomahawk and scalping-knife, and diverted the inhuman strokes from you. But, alas! what returns have we had from your Government?
"The widows and orphans of those who fell in the common cause of America, particularly in your defence, have been plundered, despoiled of their goods, and driven from their habitations and legal possessions, with other inhabitants in general, and the whole treated nearly as inhum- anely as by the common enemy; and many of our inhabitants have been killed, by the hostile attempts of Government to dispossess us of our lands and labours without the formality of a tryal by law.
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