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 72
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Colonel Pickering left Wilkes-Barré for Philadelphia, on May 6th, and on the day before he set out, he received from Dr. Wm. Hooker Smith, a letter, reading in part, as follows :*
"There is at my house a young man from Lyme, Connecticut, who informs me that there has been a battle between the Mob party and the Government at Springfield. The mob kept the field. They had fifteen killed. How many is killed on the side of the Government he does not know. They on the Mob side give thirty hard dollars bounty and forty shillings hard [money] a month-which is punctually paid. Shayt has sent from Canada to inform the mob that he expects soon to join them with 8,000 soldiers. I think I fully now discover Franklin's scheme."
At Philadelphia, May 10, 1787, Colonel Pickering sent the following communication to the Supreme Executive Council:
"I arrived here last evening, and now have the pleasure to enclose the returns of the elections of Justices of the Peace for the County of Luzerne. The intended interruption of one of the elec- tions by the violence of Franklin's party I rather think an advantage to the Government. It has excited a spirit of firmness in supporting the measures of the Government, and of resentment against Franklin and his adherents."
The next day, the Council, in conformity with the law of the Common- wealth, chose from the list of twelve men elected as Justices, as previously re- lated, the following-named: Mathias Hollenback and William Hooker Smith for the First District; Benjamin Carpenter and James Nesbitt for the Second District; Obadiah Gore and Nathan Kingsley, for the Third District; and they were thereupon duly commissioned as Justices of the Peace. On the same day these several Justices were "assigned" and formally commissioned "Justices of the County Court of Common Pleas in and for the County of Luzerne." The commission issued to them by the Council, reads, as follows:
CAN'T
BOTH
L. S.
SURVIVE
"Pennsylvania, ss. In the Name, and by Authority of the Freemen of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,
"THE SUPREME EXECUTIVE COUNCIL of the said Commonwealth,
"To Matthias Hollenback, William Hooker Smith, Benjamin Carpenter, James Nesbitt, Obadiah Gore and Nathan Kingsley, Esquires, of Luzerne County,
"Reposing especial trust and confidence in your patriotism, prudence, integrity, and abil- ities, Know, that we have assigned you, and each of you, Justices of the county court of Common Pleas in and for the county of Luzerne-giving and granting unto you the said Matthias Hollen- back, William Hooker Smith, Benjamin Carpenter, James Nesbitt, Obadiah Gore and Nathan Kingsley, and to each of you, full power and authority to execute and perform all the several acts and things which any justice of the said Court, by the constitution and laws of this common- wealth lawfully can, may, or ought to do, both in and out of the said Court, to have and hold the said power and authority for seven years, from the date hereof, you behaving yourselves well.
Company. The "rights" comprehended in this town, or township, were all held in the name of Walter and Joseph Hamilton. In July, 1795, Walter Hamilton, describing himself as of Hudson, New York, sold certain of his "rights" in Salisbury to David Paine of Athens, who at that time was Assistant Clerk of The Susquehanna Company.
Dr. Patrick Hamilton, who in 1793 and '94 was one of the County Supervisors of Columbia County, New York, and resided in Canaan Township in that County, bore some relationship to Dr. Joseph Hamilton-just what, the present writer has been unable to ascertain. May 7, 1795, the Commissioners of The Susquehanna Company granted the town, or township of "Sharon" in the Susquehanna Purchase to "Dr. Patrick Hamilton of Canaan, Columbia County, New York."" All the "rights" comprehended in this township were held in the names of Patrick and Joseph Hamilton. Io 1796 Dr. Patrick Hamilton represented Columbia County in the Legislature of New York.
¡The original letter-Dever heretofore published-is in the collections of the American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia.
*See the "Pickering Papers," LV11 : 217.
¡Relative to Daniel Shay and his "rebellion", see page 1491.
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"GIVEN under the hand of His Excellency Benjamin Franklin, Esquire, President, and the seal of the State, at Philadelphia, this eleventh day of May in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven."
"Attest. James Trimble,
for John Armstrong, Junr., Secry."
E
PENNSYLVANIA, F. IN the NAME, and by the AUTHORITY, of the FREEMEN of the Commonwealth of PENNSYLVANIA,
The SUPREME EXECUTIVE COUNCIL of the faid Commonwealth,
EPOSING especial'truft and confidence in>
R
your patriotifm, prudence, integrity, and abi- bties, KNOW, that we have affigned you,
rand wick of you justices of the county court of
Common Pless in and for the county of Tusener
tre giving and granting put you the fadetkan
Bretten Hingply !antoninho yafull power and authority to execute and perform all the fererafacts.and things which any juftice of the faid Court, by the . conftitution and Laws of this"commonwealth Lawfully can, may, or ought to. def. both in and out of the faid Court to have and hold the faid power and authority for Seven years, from the dated hier !. you behaving yourlci en/
GIVEN under the hand of How tomallory! Degamin Franklin- President, and the feal of the State, at Philadelphia, thus Elawith day of To Share, in the year of our LORD one thousand fever hundred and eighty saved-
ATTEST.
REDUCED PHOTO-REPRODUCTION OF THE ORIGINAL COMMISSION. Now in the possession of the present writer.
It was also incumbent upon these Justices to sit as Judges in the Orphans' Court and the Courts of Quarter Sessions and Oyer and Terminer of the County. The law required, however, that all Courts of Oyer and Terminer should be pre- sided over by a Judge of the Supreme Court of the State, with the local Justices, or Judges, sitting as "Associates". As related on page 1542, Colonel Pickering had been commissioned, in October 1786, a Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, in and for Luzerne County. This was done in accordance with a provision of a State law, the object being to enable the Prothonotary to sign, as Judge, all writs issued from his office. It was only in very particular or unusual cases, however, that the Prothonotary took his seat on the bench as a Judge.
On or near the same day that Colonel Pickering set out from Wilkes-Barré, for Philadelphia, Col. John Franklin took his departure for Hartford, Connect- icut, where the General Assembly of that State was about to convene. On May 10th, he appeared before that body and presented a memorial in behalf of him- self and the rest of the inhabitants settled upon the rivers Delaware and Sus- quehanna." Neither Miner, in his "History of Wyoming", nor Hoyt, in his "Brief of a Title" &c., has mentioned this incident, nor did any other writer of Wyoming history, ever mention it until the present writer referred to it, and printed some extracts from the document, in his "Harvey Book", published in 1899. The following paragraphs are from this memorial :*
*The original is document "No. 172", in the volume entitled "Susquehanna Settlers, 1755-1796", mentioned on page 29, Vol. 1.
1572
"The memorialists have suffered every species of cruelty in the power of mortals to con- ceive, and have now no alternative but the sword, trusting the event to Providence-unless by the intervention of this Honourable Assembly. * * *
"That the Penns, by their agents, having by mere accident possessed themselves of the Indian deedt to the purchasers, and many other important papers-evidences of the title of this State to the lands aforesaid-applyed to the Congress of the United States for the constituting of a Federal Court for the settlement of the jurisdiction, &c. * * *
"Your memorialists are now able to prove beyond contradiction that the aforesaid deed and evidences of title were actually in the hands of the Agents of the State of Pennsylvania before that State made their application to Congress for the establishment of said Federal Court, and that they secreted them until after the aforesaid decree, and now have them in their power and custody-which was one very influential means of the failure on the part of this State." * * *
The memorial concludes with a prayer to the Assembly "to request Con- gress to direct a revision of the aforesaid question of jurisdiction, and not tamely submit to the indignity, so flagrantly manifest in a sister State, and in a point that involves the interest of so many individuals, as well as the honour and dignity of this State," &c., &c.
With this memorial, Colonel Franklin filed a power of attorney, dated at Wyoming, May 2, 1787, and authorizing him to make application "to the General Assembly of Connecticut for a revision of the trial at Trenton." To this paper, there are eighty autograph signatures attached, among them being those of the following-named:
"John Jenkins,
Mason F. Alden,
William Slocum, Giles Slocum,
Stephen Jenkins, William Jenkins,
Joseph Jameson, .
Benjamin Bailey,
Amos Park, Ira Manvil,
Henry D. Tripp, Abraham Pyke,
Samuel Ayres, Jr.,
Ishmael Bennet, Andrew S. Alden,
Chester Bingham,
Rufus Bennet,
Benjamin Harvey,
Gideon Church,
William Ross,
Benjamin Smith,
Richard Brockway,
Parshall Terry,
Benedick Satterlee,
Elisha Blackman,
Ichabod Blackman, Ira Stephens,
Isaac Underwood, Elisha Satterlee, John Platner, Peregreen Gardner."
With reference to the action taken by the Assembly on the foregoing documents, we learn the following, from a letter written to Colonel Pickering by Col. James Wadsworth, at Hartford, June 10, 1787.
"Your letter came here after Franklin had been received before our Assembly, and part of his request granted in the Lower House; but all was negatived in the Upper House, and his whole scheme is fallen to the ground. I am persuaded you will never be interrupted by our Legislature."
According to Miner ("History of Wyoming", page 412) "Franklin and his party, now excited to still greater activity, continued to throw every obstruction in the way of the Confirming Law, and made the most spirited opposition to the law's being received and obeyed. Surveyors were now out in various direc- tions, locating townships under the Connecticut claim. Whole share rights and half-share rights had become a stock of lively speculation, and no incon- siderable value. The dormant titles throughout Connecticut and the neighboring States, were drawn forth from their long neglected repose, and were purchased by speculators, or entered and surveyed for the owners; while a stream of pop- ulation was literally pouring in from the East, and settling along the Susquehanna and the chief branches that empty into the river-more especially in the more northern limits of the County."
"Now for the first time, was presented the spectacle, equally gratifying to foes and painful to friends, of open and decided hostility among the Wyoming people!"
It is an interesting fact that, in May, 1787, it was not alone the old-line, unreconstructed Yankees of Wyoming who were opposing the Confirming Law, but that many of the Pennamites in the neighboring County of Northampton, +See pages 1299, 1302.
James Atherton,
1573
were also up in arms against it. The following paragraphs, indicating that fact, are from a letter written at Easton, Pennsylvania, May 21, 1787, and published in The Pennsylvania Packet (Philadelphia) June 9, 1787.
"Inclosed are handed you for publication the proceedings of a township meeting of the inhabitants of the town and township of Easton, held May 7, 1787, on the subject of the late Act of Assembly confirming to the people called Connecticut claimants their possessions in the County of Luzerne. * *
* Several townships of this County have adopted the resolutions entered into at Easton. * * Dr. Andrew Ledlie was placed in the chair, and the following reso- lutions were unanimously agreed to. * * *
"(3.) That the Act of Assembly passed the 27th of March last, depriving a great number of the citizens of their property in the County of Luzerne, without a trial by jury, is a direct and dangerous infringement of the Constitution. (4.) That the hasty manner of enacting the said law was as unconstitutional as the matter of it, inasmuch as it was enacted within a week after the publication of the Bill of consideration, and in the same session of the Assembly, before the persons whose property was affected by it could possibly have any notice of so unusual an intention in the Legislature, or any opportunity to consult together and to express their sentiments con- cerning the general tendency of so alarming a measure, or the probable operation of so dangerous a precedent.
"This hasty proceeding, which deprives a number of citizens of their justly acquired prop- erty without their consent, without law, or even without the form of a trial, is considered by us as a direct violation of our Constitution, which has provided that no Bill shall be passed into a law until it has been published for consideration at one session of the Assembly and laid over to the next-except in cases of sudden necessity; which necessity certainly cannot be said to exist with respect to the disturbances at Wyoming, which have subsisted for more than seventeen years past. * * *
"(7.) That the promoters of this law were greatly deficient in their guardianship of the rights and property of their constituents in offering to the plundered citizens the vacant and un- settled lands of the State as compensation; which they had no authority to bestow, because every citizen has a joint right in them as a common fund for lessening the expences of Government and the taxes of the State; and their constituents have given them no authority to bestow their common property upon one class of citizens to make way for a much more valuable present to a lawless banditti, who have intruded themselves into the State in defiance of government and justice, and have held the property of its peaceable citizens by force of arms, murder and violence, for more than seventeen years past! * * *
"(9.) That it is the duty of all the citizens of this Commonwealth to unite together as one man to oppose the execution of such an unconstitutional and oppressive law, which, from its dangerous precedent, sets all our property afloat, and renders every citizen insecure in his pos- sessions. * * * (11.) That the promoters of this unconstitutional and oppressive law have, by this outrageous attempt upon the property of the good citizens of Pennsylvania, forfeited all right to the confidence of their fellow-citizens, and deserve to he noted as tyrants who would enslave them whenever they had an opportunity, and, therefore, should be no further entrusted with any office, whether civil, military or judicial, in the State of Pennsylvania.
"(12.) Copies of these resolutions shall be circulated through the State. (13.) That until these remonstrances be answered to the satisfaction and relief of the injured citizens-that is, until protection is furnished by the Government to all the people without exception-it is the duty of the people to withhold the payment of those taxes which are levied for the support of that Government. (14.) That David Waggoner, Henry Alshouse, Sr., and John Townes be a committee for carry- ing these resolutions into effect, for corresponding with other townships, &c."
A remonstrance, containing the substance of the resolutions thus adopted, was drawn up, addressed to the President, and Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth; while a circular letter, of the same tenor, was prepared and sent to every township in Northampton County, and elsewhere in the State.
In The Pennsylvania Packet, of June 29, 1787, there was printed "an ex- tract from a letter from Northampton County, dated June 18." Upon reading this "extract", one. might almost conclude that Capt. Alexander Patterson was its author. The following paragraphs are from it. * * * "We did expect that the advocates for the Luzerne law would be very industrious to torture some expressions in the resolutions [of May 7th] to the disadvantage of the subscribers; for it is an old and true remark that he who is so wicked as to injure his neighbor or friend without cause, cannot after be at peace with him-even tho the injured should require no concession. But our assurance rests in the justice of our cause. We have not a doubt but that there does yet remain public virtue in the Councils of this State, and spirit and honesty in our fellow-citizens, to set all things to right. When the people at large are informed of our sufferings for the laws of Pennsylvania, the eyes of all the brave, the just and good will point to essential and speedy redress. "It cannot be that a number of honest, peaceable citizens, attached to the laws and customs of the State, will be expelled from their fair fields (purchased, and held under the faith, of the Gov- ernment) to make room for a banditti composed of the dregs of all nations, and for many years dis-
1574
owned by all! Such a band of unprincipled ingrates cannot be suffered to possess the well-earned property of those who have lost their all in support of the Government of Pennsylvania! Is the murder of Captain [Nathan] Ogden already forgot? Was the Luzerne law designed as a repository for the remains of Jesse Lukens? Was it necessary to stop the Courts of Justice, and, by a Sum- mary law, or a smuggled Act, at once put an end to all open enquiry or trial by jury?
"We see the design of this Act, and the fatal consequences that may arise from its operation. Should it be carried into effect, whose property is safe, whose title secure? Can any reliance be had on the standing laws of the land, or the Constitution we live under? I learn that General Muhlenberg and Mr. Montgomery have resigned the invidious task of granting away, without judge or jury, our property at Wyoming to that motley group. Thus they have, by this refusal, given further proof of their integrity, hitherto so well known. In a few words-think as you will at Philadelphia, it appears to me that the Luzerne Act, and all the evils it contains, will fall to- gether, as soon as the Legislature meet. It is too base and partial to remain on the records of Penn- sylvania!"
Shortly after the return of Colonel Pickering from Wilkes-Barré to Phila- delphia, General Muhlenberg resigned as a Commissioner under the Confirming Law, and on May 22, 1787, Daniel Hiester, Jr., was elected to succeed him. Two days later (May 24th) Colonel Pickering and Mr. Hiester set out from Phila- delphia for Wilkes-Barré, where, as the Commissioners had formally notified the settlers, they were to sit on Monday, May 28th, "to perform the duties required of them" as Commissioners under the Confirming Law. Relative to their arrival at Wilkes-Barré, Colonel Pickering wrote to his business partner, Samuel Hodgdon at Philadelphia, in part as follows :*
"Wilkesburg, May 29, 1787.
"More lies have been told in my absence. The capital one was that the people of Penn- sylvania were generally dissatisfied with the law for confirming the Connecticut titles, and that it would be repealed. And this, it was said, prevented the coming of the Commissioners; for we did not arrive here till near sunset on the 28th-the day appointed for our meeting-and the people began to be alarmed. Our appearance, however, has exposed these lies. Franklin is not in the settlement."
On Tuesday, the day following the arrival at Wilkes-Barré of Colonel Pickering and Daniel Hiester, Jr., the Courts of Luzerne County were formed and opened, as described in the official records of the County (Minute Book No. 1, of the Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace), in the hand-writing of Colonel Pickering, as follows:
COUNTY OF LUZERNE, to wit. May, 1787.
Be it Remembered, That on Tuesday, the twenty-seventh day of May, in the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, William Hooker Smith, Benjamin Carpenter, and James Nesbit, Esq'rs., Justices of the County Court of Common Pleas for said County, convened at the dwelling house of Zebulon Butler in Wilkesbarre, in the said County, when and where the follow- ing proceedings were had.
Proclamation having been made by the Sheriff of said County, commanding all persons to keep silence, there were read:
I. The Commissions issued by the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania to the said William Hooker Smith, Benjamin Carpenter, and James Nesbit, and also to Timothy Pick- ering, Obadiah Gore, Nathan Kingsley, and Matthias Hollenback, constituting them Justices of the County Court of Common Pleas for the said County.
II. The Dedimus Potestatum to Timothy Pickering and Nathan Denison, Esquires, issued by the Supreme Executive Council, impowering them to administer the oaths to persons who were, or should be commissioned in said County.
III. Then William Hooker Smith, Benjamin Carpenter, and James Nesbit, Esquires, took the oaths of allegiance and of office, and Justices of the Peace, and of the County Court of Common Pleas for said County, (as required by the Constitution of Pennsylvania), before Timothy Pickering, Esq., impowered as aforesaid to administer them.
IV. The Court of Common Pleas was then opened, and Joseph Sprague appointed Crier. V. Then were read the other Commissions granted to Timothy Pickering, Esq., by the Supreme Executive Council, constituting him,
1. Prothonotary of said Court of Common Pleas,
2. Clerk of the Peace,
3. Clerk of the Orphans' Court,
4. Register for the Probate of Wills, and granting letters of Administration,
5. Recorder of Deeds, for said County.
*32: th e "Pickering Papers", LV11 : 224.
1575
VI. The Court, upon application to them made, admitted and appointed Ebenezer Bowman, Putnam Catlin, Roswell Wells, and William Nichols, to be attorneys of the same Court, who were accordingly sworn.
VII. Then appeared Lord Butler, Esq., Sheriff of the same County, and petitioned the Court to take some order relative to the erecting of a jail within the said County, Whereupon
It is ordered, that he immediately apply to the trustees for that purpose appointed, and request them to execute the powers granted them by the law of the State, so far as respects the erecting of a County Jail.
COM
F
COURT
PLEAS,
LUZER
VIRTUE
DENDENCE
TA.
LIBERTY INDE
CO
The following is a copy of an original document to be found among the "Pickering Papers" (LVII : 223), endorsed in the handwriting of Colonel Pick- ering: "Oath of allegiance subscribed by the Attornies admitted at the County Court of Luzerne County, May 29, 1787."
"I do swear (or solemnly, sincerely and truly declare and affirm) that I will be faithful, and bear true allegiance, to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as a free and independent State; and that I will not, at any time, wilfully and knowingly do any act, matter or thing which will be prejudicial or injurious to the freedom or independence thereof.
[Signed] "ROSEWELL, WELLES, "EBEN'R. BOWMAN,
"PUTNAM CATLIN, "WILLIAM NICHOLS."
Writing to his wife from Wilkes-Barré, under the date of May 29th, Col- onel Pickering said:
"I have the pleasure to inform you that we this day opened the Courts of Common Pleas and Sessions of the Peace for Luzerne County, when everything was conducted in perfect quiet and good order. Mr. [Andrew] Ellicott of Baltimore, the Commissioner for running the boundary line between Pennsylvania and New York, happening to be here on his way up the river, delayed his journey a few hours that he might be present at the opening of the first Courts, and, I am told, expressed much satisfaction at the event. Four gentlemen were admitted by the Court to practice as Attorneys in this County. These were Mr. Bowman and Mr. William Nichols, whom you know, and two young gentlemen from Connecticut, who have been here a few months."
The following item appeared in The Pennsylvania Packet (Philadelphia), June 13, 1787:
"The County courts for Luzerne were held the last week in May, in perfect quiet and good order. Four gentlemen were admitted as Attorneys to practice in the County, two of whom are young gentlemen from Connecticut, who took the oath of allegiance to the State of Pennsylvania in open court. They had appointments from The Susquehanna Company as Secretaries to their Board of Commissioners. In regard to the Company's claims, and the state of the settlement, they were deceived by the lies which have been raised and propagated to support their cause."
On June 2, 1787, Mathias Hollenback, and on June 9, 1787, Obadiah Gore and Nathan Kingsley, "took the oath of allegiance and oath of office as Justices of the County Court of Common Pleas in and for the County of Luzerne (as prescribed by the Constitution of the Commonwealth), before Timothy Pickering, by .vir- tue of the powers granted to him by the Supreme Executive Council." Justice Gore was then chosen by his associates "President Judge of the County Court."
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