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 71
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*See page 824, Vol. II, and pages 1540 and 1549 of this volumne.
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of Wyoming, brought into the settlement about April 13, 1787." The document reads, in part, as follows:
"AN ADDRESS"
"To the Settlers at Wyoming under the Connecticut Claim."
"Gentlemen: Impressed with the distresses through which you have passed; the intoler- able sufferings you have sustained in the settlement of a new country distant from other inhabited parts of the country; the depredations you have experienced from a savage enemy; the relentless cruelty of opposing claimants, aided by the power of a potent State; together with the dangers you appear surrounded with (from the insinuating craft of a junto, foiled and disappointed in their strategems to dispossess you by force of a country the fair inheritance of your fathers, purchased, settled and defended by your prowess through a long, cruel and bloody war-a territory eririched by the blood of your fathers, brothers and sons, and still reeking with the mangled carcasses and blood of your dearest friends, whose scattered bones are still whitening in the sun, promiscuously dispersed from your borders on the south to the falls of Niagara on the north), the sad remembrance will force a tear of compassion from the manly bosom of every virtuous inhabitant of that so- long-devoted country.
"My dear friends, I have shared with you in some of the enumerated distresses, and in all, my heart hath bled for your misfortunes. Suffer me for a moment to point you to what you have been-still are-and the prospects still within your reach.
"You were once the free citizens of a free country, justly entitled to all the blessings re- sulting from a free and equal Government established in a country the purchase of your ancestors, and transmitted to you unclogged by the shackles of rents or tythes or any other engine of des- potism-a fair inheritance which your personal valor hath defended with much applause. And now you have become powerful; have braved the dangers with which you have been surrounded; put to silence the tongue of slander, and established yourselves beyond the reach of those that sought, your ruin-aided by your numerous friends in Connecticut, whose exertions have ever sustained you while tottering beneath the power and strategem of Pennsylvania; have fostered you in their bosoms: generously parted with their property, for mutual advantage, and are daily furnishing you additional strength, in men and means-all calculated to sustain you against the im- potence of that gasconading power that hath sought your ruin. * * *
"Your country is fertile, pleasantly situated and healthful; your numbers are an overmatch for your opponents-considering your local situation; your strength is daily increasing, and with- out doubt will be augmented threefold in the course of the present year, unless prevented by your internal divisions. The eyes of the Eastern States are upon your country; hundreds and hundreds of your [Susquehanna] Company friends are preparing to emigrate to you; men of property and ability are sending out their sons, and many are calculating to remove with their families and effects into your country. Many heretofore cool are incensed, and determined to support you; preparations are making to disannul the infamous Decree of Trenton; our Assembly, already sufficiently alarmed, will be petitioned; Congress will be applied to, in full confidence that the end will be joyous and happy!
"Where, then, are your present fears conjured from? unless the guilty dreams of the apostates prompt them to mislead you, hoping the specious delusion may cover their dark designs from the eye of Truth, till you are sunk beyond the power of humanity to relieve you. The day brightens upon you! All is sunshine without, and nothing from within deserves the name of danger! Aronse, then, my friends! Prove yourselves capable of enduring to the last, when the fair pos- session your deserts have gained will be established in safety and peace; and, if supported by the Government of any State in the Union, you may become an important branch of a National Govern- ment that hastens upon us with uncommon strides.
"Can you, my friends, forget the malicious spirit with which you have been persecuted? Do you not remember the administration of Moore and Patterson; the cruel and faithless conduct of Boyd and Armstrong? Do not the deep-wrought sears occasioned by handcuffs and fetters still remain upon your hands and feet? Hath the filthy stench of prison dungeons quite escaped your remembrance? Are your late enfeebled limbs and dreary countenances, lank faces and tat- tered carcasses-the effects of long confinement-wholly forgotten by you? *
* * Are the miserable sufferings of your old men; your wives and children driven through the wilderness by the hand of cruelty (dishonourable to savage barbarity) all overlooked? Where are your herds, your flocks, your furniture and clothing, of which you were mercilessly despoiled by an inhuman banditti, palmed upon your country by the Government to destroy you?
"Where is the evidence of a prompt and ready disposition of the part of Pennsylvania to restore your plundered property, and reimburse your losses, sustained (sic) by their troops and taken from you by the command of their leaders, with an avowed design to impoverish you, and thereby disable you from holding and enjoying the fruits of your purchase and labour? From what quarter are you assured of the favour of that Government that is gaping to receive you? Where is your title to your lands under that State? What ground of security have you that you shall be permitted to inhahit your country one moment after you submit to that Government? Have you not petitioned with humility? Have you been answered with a graceful smile? or have your petitions been treated with disrespect, and been totally unanswered? * * *
"As a friend to the settlement, and from my knowledge and experience of the duplicity of that Government a few of you seem to wish for, I have thought it my duty solemnly to warn you to be cautious, and not to leap before you look and clearly see your way-lest you repent your folly when it is too late. If, after all my admonitions, you will destroy yourselves, I shall
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be acquitted, and the folly will be chargeable to your own account. Colonel Pickering is an art- ful man, and is made use of (being of New England extraction) to deceive you. He is interested under Pennsylvania. Beware of this disguise! Let me entreat you to be wise and steadfast. Look to Colonel Franklin-he hath been and is still your friend! His ability and integrity you may rest secure upon.
"I am, gentlemen, your devoted friend and very humble servant,
I'm Gnad
On April 19th, in accordance with the arrangements which had been made, the election for four Justices was held in the Third District (at Sheshequin), with the following result: Obadiah Gore received 50 votes; Elijah Buck, 35; Nathan Kingsley, 31; Joseph Kinney, 26; and twelve others received from one vote to 15 votes each. On the same day, at Forty Fort, a meeting of the in- habitants of Wyoming, generally, was held-a sort of town-meeting. Miner, (in his "History of Wyoming", page 410) gives the following account of the affair:
"A platform had been erected for the Moderator and clerks of the meeting, and a stand for the speakers, convenient to address the assembly. James Sutton was called on to preside. The meeting had come together to take into consider- ation, the important matter whether the terms offered by the Confirming Law should be accepted-which involved the point whether the laws of Pennsylvania should be received and obeyed. On these questions, as we have previously intimated, there was a wide diversity of opinion. Throughout the Valley of Wyoming proper-wherein the earliest settlements were made, and the principal
sufferings had been experienced *
* a great majority were in favour of coming in kindly under the jurisdiction of the State, and accepting the terms held out by the Confirming Law. The older men, wearied with contests, and desirous of repose, more especially took the part of obedience, compromise and peace. A few-perhaps a third-smarting under the treachery of Armstrong and the insolence of Patterson, distrusted all promises made on behalf of Pennsyl- vania, however plausible and fairly made. Others-young men, brave and ardent-still 'loved the rocking of the battlements,' and wooed the storm that brought action and imparted distinction. * *
"So great a gathering had not been known in the Valley for years. Matters of the highest moment were to be discussed and decided. Indeed, the future fate of Wyoming seemed to rest on their deliberations, and the decision of that day. Little less than war or peace appeared to be involved in the issue. All felt the magnitude of the question to be resolved. But Wyoming was no longer united. Discord had reared its snaky crest; malign passions were awakened. Brother met brother, and friend confronted friend, not with the 'All hail!' of hearty good-will, but with beating heart, knit brow, and the frown of anger and defiance.
"Colonel Pickering, sustained by the Butlers, the Hollenbacks, the Nesbitts and the Denisons, appeared as the advocate of law and compromise. Colonel
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Franklin, supported by the Jenkinses, the Spaldings, the Satterlees, came forth the champion of the Connecticut title. Colonel Pickering first ascended the rostrum, and opened the meeting by an able address, urging, in his plain common sense, strong and emphatic manner, every motive that could operate, leading to a fixed government of law-freedom from harassing contests for their homes. * * He pledged his honour, dearer than life, that Pennsylvania was honest in her purpose, sincere in her offer of compromise, and that full faith might be reposed in her promise. Half convinced, yet distrustful, Stephen Gardner spoke up: 'Your lips speak fair, but Oh! that there was a window in that breast, that we might read your heart!'
"Colonel [John] Jenkins, in his brief and sententious way, demanded: 'What security have we, that if we comply, and put ourselves in your power, the State won't repeal the law, and deal as treacherously as in the case of Arm- strong?' Colonel Franklin now rose, and replied with all the bitterness he was master of. He dwelt on the justice of the Connecticut title; the land was their own, purchased with their money, their labour and their blood; the sufferings of the settlers, the wrongs and insults they had received from Pennsylvania, he set forth; and declared the terms of the compromise hollow and deceptive, and in no measured strains (as if the spirit of his oath on the bloody rifle re- animated him) denounced all those who took part with Pickering.
"At this moment, passions long with difficulty suppressed, overpowered all prudential considerations, and Col. [Mathias] Hollenback, one of the earliest and bravest of the settlers, drew the butt of his riding-whip and aimed a blow at Franklin's head. Caught by some friendly arm, it missed its aim; but the whole meeting was instantly thrown into wild confusion. The parties ran to the neigh- boring wood, and each cutting a stick, returned, and blows, furious and severe, were exchanged, until in the wild melee, the meeting separated after a vote- not very orderly taken-was adopted to support the laws, and accept the pro- posed terms of compromise."
Among the "Pickering Papers" (LVII : 176) is a paper in the Colonel's handwriting entitled: "Notes of Colonel Franklin's speech at Forty Fort, April 19, 1787." Some of the notes are: "He, Franklin, wishes to remain here in peace. The Commissioners, [Pickering, Muhlenberg and Montgomery] were appointed without the consent of the people. A Federal Court ought to determine the title to the lands. The petition [to the Assembly] was not the voice of the people and was calculated to deceive."
Mrs. Deborah (Sutton) Bedford, a daughter of James Sutton, the Mod- erator of the Forty Fort meeting, was fourteen years old at that time and re- sided with her parents near Forty Fort. Many years later she related to the Rev. Dr. George Peck the following, concerning the Forty Fort melee. "The Franklin men, beginning to doubt their strength, took father away, and carried him into the woods. A general melee followed. The men rushed into the thicket and cut clubs; it was an awful scene. * * * Father was found and brought back, and after a slight brush, in which no one was killed or very seriously injured, the men scattered and went home. Poor Franklin came along with his face bleeding from wounds received in the squabble."
Shortly after the Forty Fort meeting, Colonel Pickering learned, privately, that either Franklin or some of his adhierents intended to take steps to endeavor to prevent the holding of the election in the First and Second Districts, on April
.
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26th, and May 3rd, respectively. He thereupon drew up a document, copies of which he sent to his trusty friends in different localities. These were to be signed by the freeholders, who could be induced to sign them, and returned to Colonel Pickering as soon as possible. Several of the original documents, with the signatures thus obtained, are preserved among the "Pickering Papers" (LVII : 182), and the one relating to Wilkes-Barré (which has never heretofore been printed) reads, as follows:
"WILKES-BARRE ASSOCIATORS. "County of Luzerne, April 21, 1787.
"We, whose names are hereby suscribed, inhabitants of the County of Luzerne, do hereby declare that it is our sincere desire that the elections of Justices of the Peace for the said County may forthwith take place; and that the Government and Laws of Pennsylvania may immediately be submitted to, and have their free operation in this County, as they have in every other County of the State. [Signed]
"Zebulon Butler,
William Dorton,
John Hagemen, Christian Oehmig,
Abel Yarington,
Martin Young,
William Ross,
Robert Young,
Nathan Cary,
John P. Schott,
John Hollenback,
Jonathan Avery,
Jabez Fish,
Joseph Kilborn,
Richard Price,
Jabez Sill,
Asa Bennet,
Josiah Stanborough,
Ebenezer Slocum,
Jehoiada P. Johnson,
Jacob Johnson, Jr.,
Amos Bennet,
Daniel Ross,
Charles Bennet,
Eleazer Blackman,
Elisha Blackman, Jr.,
Richard Dilley, Jr.,
Comfort Cary,
David Richards,
Benjamin Cary,
Rufus Bennet,
John Downing,
Stephen Strickland,
Daniel Gridley,
Thomas Gibson,
Thomas Neill,
Edward Edgerton,
Adam Dilley,
George Crumb,
William Neal [or Veas],
Guy Wells,
William Young,
Elisha Blackman,
Ichabod Blackman,
Jonathan Frisbey,
Cornelius Gaile,
Christopher Eliss,
Nathan Waller,
Charles Bingham,
Ashbel Waller,
John Carey,
Richard Dilley,
Mesheck Walker,
Stephen Holcomb,
Elijah Bennet,
Adam Mann,
John Seelye,
John Campbell,
Asa Stevens,
Daniel Robarts,
Joseph Sprague,
Benjamin Bailey,
M. Hollenback,
Joseph Sprague, Jr.,
John Hyde,
Nathan Abbott."
A similar petition, entitled "Jacob's Plains* Associators", was signed by the following named:
"Wm. Hooker Smith,
Daniel Gore,
John Staples,
Benjamin Brown,
James Westbrook,
John Kennedy,
Increase Billings,
George Cooper,
William Jackson,
Enos Brown, Jr.,
John Rozecrance,
Abraham Vanfleet,
Stephen Prouty,
Job Phillips, Jacob Ozencup,
Nathan Stark,
Isaiah Howell,
Edward Prouty,
Silas Jackson,
Abraham Westbrook,
William Stark,
John Williams,
Enos Brown,
Samuel Hover,
Cornelius Cortright, Thomas Read,
William Hurlbut,
James Armstrong,
William Stark, Jr.,
Jonathan Rawson,
Richard Westbrook,
John Hover,
William Smith, Martin Smith,
Daniel Holley,
Isaas Vanorman."
Similar petitions were signed in the following localities, situated in the Second District: Hanover, 34 signatures; "Lackawannock", 39 signatures; Kingston and Exeter, 40 signatures; "Shawnee and Kingston", 87 signatures; Tunkhannock, 7 signatures.
Colonels Pickering and Butler appointed Christopher Hurlbut to serve as Judge of Election in the First District, and James Sutton to serve in a like capacity in the Second District. On April 25th, however-the day before that fixed for the election in the First District-Colonels Pickering and Butler appointedt "John Hageman to preside at said election, * provided, that if the said
*Jacob's Plains lay within the bounds of Wilkes-Barre Township.
¡See the "Pickering Papers," LVII : 209.
Silas Smith,
Jonathan Smith,
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Christopher Hurlbut shall attend and hold the said election, then you [Hageman] will forbear to act on this warrant. This precaution of appointing you to preside at the said election being taken to frustrate the flagitious designs of a few lawless men, by whom it is said, the said Christopher Hurlbut is to be seized and carried away, to prevent an election of Justices as aforesaid."
The election in the First District was held without any rumpus, on Thursday, April 26, 1787, at the house of Colonel Butler in Wilkes-Barré, with the fol- lowing result: Mathias Hollenback received 45 votes; William Hooker Smith, 42 votes; Christopher Hurlbut, 39 votes; Ebenezer Marcy, 36 votes; and fifteen other persons received from one vote to twenty-six votes each. Messrs. Hollen- back, Smith, Hurlbut and Marcy were thereupon declared and returned elected
MATTHIAS HOLLENBACK
The next day, Colonel Pickering wrote to his wife, at Philadelphia, in part as follows:
"I am happy that I can inform you that we have held an election here in perfect tran- quillity, and that I have reason to think all danger at an end. Franklin has got to the end of his tether, and I believe it will not be in his power to do more mischief. I expect to leave this place for home this day week-say May 5. I am busy in making a garden, and in farming; but we have such cold and dry weather that nothing grows-hardly a night without frost. Mr. [Matthias]
·
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Hollenback will deliver this, and I wish him to breakfast or dine with you; for he has been very obliging to me, and I expect we shall live in his house, which is a very good one." * * *
At Wilkes-Barré, April 29, 1787, Col. John Franklin wrote to Dr. Joseph Hamilton* at Hudson, New York, as follows:t
"You will receive this with my budget by Mr. Follett, on his way to Windham. I hope Esquire [Zerah] Beach will be here before I leave the settlement, which must be as early as the 9th of May. Pray write as soon as possible. Send your dispatches-that comprehend matters of secrecy-to Major Jenkins, in case of my absence. I fear you have missed your politics in putting too much trust on Mr. A. Mooder. I believe him to be a friend to our cause, but fear he will expose us by making too free with strangers. The address from Major Judd has fell into Pick- ering's hands. I expect A. Mooder delivered one of them to some one who he supposed to be a friend, by which means it was conveyed to Pickering.
"Mr. Chapman is gone on to Tioga yesterday. He appears to be a gentleman of knowledge, and capable of doing us service, but I cannot put confidence in strangers until I am fully acquainted with his character.
"We shall proceed with our Court of Directors. I expect that Mr. [Rosewell] Welles or Mr. [Asa] Starkweather will be appointed Secretary. Colonel Butler and Captain Schott have hitherto appeared willing to proceed, tho contrary to Pickering's advice. He endeavored to pre- vent Colonel Butler from proceeding some time since, but to no purpose. How long Colonel Butler will continue willing to act I cannot say. He was forward for the election to take place. Captain Schott appeared to be opposed to the election for some time, but finally fell in with it. At the election in this District he agreed to be run on the ticket with Mr. Hollenback and others for a Justice, but was much disappointed for the want of votes. He has since told me that he will proceed as one of the Commissioners. I believe he wishes us well, but is too easily persuaded when he can discover a prospect of obtaining interest or honor.
"I fear you have put too much trust on Esquire [Obadiah] Gore. You may depend that he will sacrifice the Company's interest to secure his own. He has not surveyed the town of Franklin or Juddsburg. I fear your settlers will be disappointed unless some other surveyor. is provided. I hear Mr. Gore is about to move to Wilkesbarre. Immediately expects to be Judge of the Court. I should have had a greater esteem for him if he had laid aside musk-rat traps and assisted us in time of trouble. He is willing that Pennsylvania should have the town of Athens, and cheat those of us, who have been the salvation of this country, out of our lands. Ingratitude blacker than Hell! Perhaps he may curse the day he was born, before he will accomplish his designs in that respect.
"I am, Sir, your humble servant,
JOHN FRANKLIN."
"To be communicated to Major Judd and others you may think proper, by copy or other- wise; but I would wish the affair of Captain Schott to be a secret among yourselves, as I would not wish to make him an enemy. You will send these on by Mr. Follett if you think best. He can deliver them to Messrs .- and Wolcott, or to Major Judd. He will stand in need of some expense money to help him to Windham. I was not able to furnish him with any."
*The town of Sharon, in the north-eastern section of Litchfield County, Connecticut, near the New York State line, was incorporated in October, 1739. Among the first of the new settlers to locate in the town, either in 1739 or 1740, was David Hamilton, who came from Lebanon, Connecticut. He appears to have been one of the great land speculators of the day in that locality, his name appearing on the public land records as the grantee or grantor in deeds more frequently than the name of any other person. He was largely interested in lands in the "New Hampshire Grants,' and is said to have held a right in the Susquehanna Purchase. He was for a time Deputy Sheriff of Litchfield County. He died in 1781, being survived by his sons (i) Dudley, (ii) John and (iii) Joseph.
(iii) JOSEPH HAMILTON was born at Sharon about 1740. Prior to 1769 he had become a physician, and he prac- ticed medicine in Sharon for a number of years. October 25, 1773, being then a resident of Sharon, he bought one "right" in the Susquehanna Purchase, and about the same time became interested in the "New Hampshire Grants." In November, 1774, he was still living at Sharon. He was in Wyoming Valley in the latter part of 1777, but it is doubt- [ul if he remained here long. In May, 1778, he was appointed by the General Assembly of Connecticut one of the Justices of the Peace in and for the County of Westmoreland (Wyoming), and in May, 1779, and again in May, 1780, was reappointed to the same office. As his name is not to be found in the Westmoreland tax-lists Ior 1776, 1777, 1778 and later years, it is fair to presume that he never took up his residence in Wyoming. However, he must have made, or purchased from an early settler, prior to May, 1780, improvements of some importance here, lor we find his name in the "Bill of Losses" presented to the General Assembly of Connecticut in October, 1781, with the amount of his losses stated at £284, 17s. (See page 1282.)
In November, 1784, the town of Hudson (on the Hudson River, in Columbia County, New York, about thirty miles south of Albany) was so named. Prior to that time the place had been known as Claverack Landing, and the land there and thereabouts had been purchased of Peter Hogeboom in 1783 by a company of proprietors from Rhode Island, who settled there the same year. The advent of the year 1785 found the settlement in a prosperous condition. Throngs of settlers came, who, a year before, had never heard of Claverack or Hudson. Among them was Dr. Joseph Hamilton, who removed from Sharon in the Autumn of 1785, and was the first physician to locate in Hudson. In July, 1785, prior to his removal from Sharon, Dr. Hamilton was appointed a member of the Executive, or Standing Com- mittee of The Susquehanna Company. In 1786, he was one of the several innkeepers licensed in and for the town of Hudson. He was one of the charter members of Hudson Lodge, No. 7, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, constituted in May, 1787.
Dr. Hamilton was married August 3, 1769, to Zada Stevens of Salisbury, Connecticut, and they hecame the parents of the following-named children: (i) Walter, born March 16, 1771; (ii) Theron, baptized in 1773; (iii) Peylon R., bap- tized May 7, 1775; (iv) Lucinda, baptized in 1777; (v) Tertuis and (vi) Thyrsa, twins, baptized April 14, 1782; (vii) Betsey and (viii) Zada, twins, baptized April 14, 1782.
(i) Walter Hamilton was living in Athens, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, in 1795, and on May 7th, of that year was granted the town of "Salisbury" in the Susquehanna Purchase by the Standing Commissioners of The Susquehanna
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On Thursday, May 3, 1787, the election for four Justices of the Peace in the Second District of the County was held at Forty Fort, quietly and in order, with the following result: Benjamin Carpenter received 33 votes; James Nesbitt, 21 votes; Hezekiah Roberts, 14 votes; John Dorrance, 13 votes; and eleven other persons received from one vote to 12 votes each. Whereupon, Messrs. Carpenter, Nesbitt, Roberts and Dorrance were duly declared and returned elected.
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