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 83
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108
*21 January 1790. Hollenback receives £40 part of the consideration money. 15 June 1792, balance £49/2/6 paid. tlustus Jones was a resident of Tunkhannock The Return of Field and Company Officers of the Upper Battalion. made in 1788, by County Lieutenant Zebulon Butler (hereinafter published) names him as having been elected Cap- tain of the Company in that place.
1631
J. Jones until he shall be delivered by one course of law. Given under my hand and seal at Wilkes- borough in the County aforesaid March 8, 1788.
[SIGNED] "NATHAN CARY, Coroner."
"Mar. 9, 1788, J. Ryan, Const. served the within mittimus by taking the hody of the said J. Jones."
On the back of the document is a statement of the fees due the Court in which appears:
"To 2 keepers from 11 March till March 28, 17 pence day each or 12 dollar per day- £6, 7s. 6d."
That jurisdiction of civil magistrates was a problem and that animals were vagrant then as now, is recorded in the Macedonian cry of Rosewell Wells, to Lawrence Meyers, J. P. to the effect that "some turbulent person has broken open the pound used by the Proprietors of the Wilkesbarre Flats and has taken my creatures therefrom." The call is further accentuated by a plea to "come over to our side of the River this day and inflict the penalty of the Law on him because I (Welles) cannot carry a Statute Law out of the town, Colonel Picker- ing being absent."
At the time these "creatures" were in controversy, Jabez Fish, Anderson Dana and David Richards of Wilkes-Barré, were "the persons appointed by the Proprietors of the lower flats in Wilkesbarre to superintend the same."
The organization, as well as the conduct of the militia, in this period, was naturally a matter of chief concern to Col. Zebulon Butler, Lieutenant of the County, as it was to the Supreme Executive Council at Philadelphia. Neither the Commonwealth nor its military representative at Wilkes-Barré, could dictate who were to be recruited, as the enlisted personnel of such companies as were authorized. Nor could they control the Company's election of its officers. As a consequence, the Pickering-Franklin controversy found an echo in all such elections and was a constant source of strife within the companies themselves. The Battalion of Lieut. Col. Matthias Hollenback was relied upon as being fairly loyal to the Pickering mission and to Pennsylvania. This Battalion, as has been mentioned, went forth under Sheriff Lord Butler, in search of the Pickering abductors. But that many concerned were, at heart, of the Franklin party, and that Pennsylvania was aware of this fact, is disclosed by the "Archives."
On June 14, 1788, some two weeks before his abduction, Colonel Picker- ing wrote President Muhlenberg, of the Council, as follows:
"Sir.
"Just before I left Philadelphia in January last, a letter from Council dated the 31st of Decem- ber, was put into my hands, desiring among other things, that I, in conjunction with the county lieutenant & others would make enquiry relative to the conduct of those elected militia officers whose commissions were withheld. The inquiry was for a good while omitted, but this Spring, the county Lieutenant, Col. Hollenback & myself, met together, and those persons attended. It did not appear that M Fitch Alden, & William Hyde, were concerned in the disorders consequent on Franklin's capture; particularly they were not in arms. Nesbitt owned he was in arms, and Prince Alden had early crossed the river, & was coming up the bank (alone I believe) with his musket, but was disarmed by Mr. Evans & Major McCormick, all of them, however, gave us positive assurances of their future good behaviour, and determinations to support the laws of Pennsylvania. Upon the whole, it was our joint opinion that it would be expedient to commission- ate them. Prince Alden has since moved up the river to Tioga, & a commission for him would be useless. Since the above mentioned examination, this battalion has had a field day. The officers elect appeared under arms as privates; and the whole battalion behaved very well."
Those acquainted with military affairs might have surmised a certain lukewarmness of conduct on the part of troops attempting to intercept the abduc- tors of Colonel Pickering, as disclosed by a narrative of the expedition in a preceding Chapter. That a mounted body of Light Dragoons was not able to come within "seven or eight miles" of a party on foot, leading a captive and
1632
having only eight hours' start, is not indicative of that initiative which wins wars. Two affidavits, taken in Wilkes-Barre, shortly after the return of this expedition, may serve to enlighten the present day reader of an underlying sentiment of the time, which perhaps accounted for the fact that neither horse nor foot ever actually came in contact with the small band of Colonel Picker- ing's captors. The affidavits follow: "Luzerne County, ss.
"September 13th, 1788.
"Personally appeared before me, Mathias Hollenback, one of the Justices of the Peace for the said County, The person of William Smith, and being duly Sworn, Deposeth and saith That he, this Deponant, on the 27th of June Last, that he, this Deponant, Being one of Capt. John Paul Schoots company of Light Dragoons* on an Expedition up the River Susquehannah in order to retake Colo. Timothy Pickering from the Insurgents, He, this Deponant, often Urged said Capt. Schoots to be more Expeditious on his March, or else this deponant feared they would not come up with the Insurgents. Schoots replyed to this Deponant that he had no inclination to be in too much of a hurry, for he feared the insurgents would be too Strong for them. He chose to delay his March untill the Company of foot came forward. Captain Schoots went no further than Jones that night, which was about Sixteen miles from Wilkesborrogh, and this Deponant further saith that they could have easy went 30 miles where the party lay that Night that took Col. Pickering. This Deponant and many others of the Company, urged said Schoots to push on to Tankhannock, where the insurgents lay that night, which he expressly refused to do; and this Deponant further saith that said Schoots delayeth the March untill nine or Ten o'Clock the next day, (which was the 28th of June) Then, on the said day Capt. Schoots delayed the March as before (the foot not Coming up) and this Deponant continued to urge Capt. Schoots to be more expedi- tious. Then Schoots reply'd to this Deponant that they must do something and make a bluster, in order to satisfy Government, if they went but few miles after them it would be sufficient, for Government would not know but they had done their endeavors to take them, and that they're turning out and making a Bluster would gain the Company a great name; and further this Deponant saith not."
"WM. SMITH."
"Sworn to and subscribed this 13th day of September, 1788.
"Before me,
"MATTHIAS HOLLENBACK."
"Luzerne County, ss.
"The 13th day of Sept., 1788, before me, the Subscriber, one of the Justices of the Peace for said County, Came John Hollenback, and was Duely sworn according to Law, Deposeth & Saith that he, the Deponant, ware in Company with Capt. John P. Schoot, whome at said time Commanded a Company of Light Dragoons and then had his Company on Parade, to pursue a Number of Royetous Persons whome Had taken and Conveyed away the Body of Timothy Pickering, Esq. I seeing, as I thought, Neglect in said Schoot as to the expedition, and also made Mention to Capt. Schoot that I thought by appearance that the Expedition would be of Small Event, Whereupon said Schoot Carelessly Cast his head about and Said it would answer for a show to the State, whereupon the Deponant Turned his Back and further Saith not."
"Sworn & Subseribed the Day above Written, before me,
"WM. HOOKER SMITH, "Justice of the Peace."
Colonel Butler, in the fall of 1788, proceeded to hold elections of officers of the Upper Battalion, pursuant to instructions from the Council. The scattered
*A roster of the Light Dragoons as of May 5, 1788 and among the "Pennsylvania Archives," XI : 97, discloses some familiar names of both the Pickering and Franklin parties. The document reads, as follows:
"We, the Subscribers, Voluntarily Engage to serve in the Troops of Light Dragoons which is to be raised by Capt. John P. Schott, in the County of Luzerne aforesaid, and Promise to Obey all Lawful Orders which we shall from time to time receive from the Supreme Executive Council or our Superior Officers. In Witness whereof we have hereunto Set our hands. "John Paul Schott, William Hyde.
Moses Sill,
Isaac D. Tripp,
William Smitb,
Josbua Pathrirk,
John Stapel,
Jobn Gove,
Henry Stark,
Rosewell Wells,
Jabez Fish,
Willi Gallup,
James Stewart.
Peter Geer, Jabez Sill. Lord Butler.
Jonathan Stevens,
Assa Stevens,
Silas Jackson,
Ben. Brown,
Hallet Gallup, Ebenezer Slocum.
Benedict Satterle,
Eleazer Bowman,
Ira Manvile,
John Downing,
Ely Manvill.
Christian Ochmig.
John Yutte.
Naphtaly Hurlbut, Lemuel Gaylord Isaac Williams,
Nathaniel Walker, Adm. Diller.
Sim Chatduck."
Ichabod Blackman,
Eleazer Blackman,
Benjamin Dorrance,
William Jackson.
Jehoida P. Johnson,
Moses Atherton.
"Wilkesbarre, in Luzerne County, May 5th, 1788.
"JOHN HOLLENBACK."
1633
settlements of the upper Susquehanna were dominated by "Half Share Men" and in these also, the newer settlers were adverse to the jurisdiction of Pennsylva- nia. The return of Colonel Butler of this election must have been a bitter blow to adherents of Colonel Pickering. The roster, as will be found, discloses no other than the implacable John Jenkins chosen as Lieutenant Colonel, the redoubtable John Swift as Major, and at least five other officers who had been indicted in connection with the abduction of Pennsylvania's Commissioner. The Common- wealth however, still held the whip hand. The Council itself must issue the actual commissions. These necessary documents were never forthcoming. The perverse return of the County Lieutenant follows:
"A Return of Field & Company Officers, elected in the upper Battalion in the County of Luzern, 1788.
John Jenkins,
Lieut. Col.
John Swift,
Major.
Soloman Bennet, -
Capt.
Tioga Compy.
Lucas Detrick,
Lieut.
John Depew,
Eusn.
( John Spalding,
Capt.
Sheshequena Compy.
Samuel Gore,
Lieut.
Samuel Southworth,
Ensn.
Rosewell Frankling,
Capt.
Wyasock Compy.
Jehiel Frankling,
Lieut.
Isaac Strope, Ensn.
Martin Dudley,
Capt.
Meshoping Compy.
Joseph Kilburn,
Lieut.
( David Wooddward,
Ensn.
( Justus Jones,
Capt.
Tunkhannuck Compy. { Ebenezer Stephens,
Lieut.
( Joseph Arthur,
Ensn.
Daniel Shaw,
Capt.
Joseph Elliot,
Lieut.
Stephen Durell, Ensn.
Capt.
Pitts Town Compy.
Henry Harding,
Lieut.
Roger Searls,
Ensn.
Peter Harris,
Capt.
Exeter Compy.
Thomas Harding
Lieut.
.Oliver Harding,
Ensn.
"The foregoing is a true Return as made to me by the several Inspectors agreeable to Law. "Wilks-Barre, August 25th, 1788.
"His Excellency the President in Council.
"ZEBN. BUTLER, "County Lieut."
In explanation of the above Return and offering a loophole to the Council, Colonel Butler, the following day, wrote that body, as follows :*
"This may inform your Excellency and Council, that agreeable to request, I held the election of officers for the upper Battalion, and the enclosed are the persons who were chosen to command the Battalion and the several Companies, which compose said Battalion. John Jenkins and John Swift, by Esquire Gore, I am informed are out of the State; and it is pretty generally known, that they are making all possible preparations to remove their families. This circumstance, I thought necessary to mention that Council might give further directions for a new election. I would likewise Inform Council, that by the advice of authority, I held the last election in differ- ent places. The reasons why I adopted this method, were the inconveniency of the people's assembling at one place. This I suppose was not altogether conformable to the law regulating elections; but when I inform that the district is exceedingly lengthy; perhaps the method by Council, may not altogether be deem'd improper or ineligible. If it should be, your Excellency's and Council's pleasure will be, (I trust) signified in the directions for holding another election.
"In the meantime I have the honour to be, your Excellency's most obedient and very humble servant.
"ZEB'N. BUTLER."
In August, 1788, an echo of the Pickering abduction is found among the "Butler Papers," in a bill of Colonel Butler, "account of duty done as County Lieutenant up to August 26th." Items of the bill follow:
*See "Pennsylvania Archives," XI : 384.
.
Wylusink Compy.
( Jonathan Newman,
1634
"5 days spent going to Wyalusing, attending election and returning-3 pounds, 2 shillings, 6 penee.
"9 days attending elections and going to and returning from the Upper Battalion.
"6 days in turning out parties to recover Colonel Pickering and detect the rioters and in delivering arms and ammunition, etc .- 3 pounds, 15 shillings."
That other complications were arising in connection with his thankless task of properly recruiting a military force, required of the County, is evidenced by a later description of conditions penned by Colonel Butler to the Council, in October. It reads as follows:
"I received your Letter of the 22d August last, I am sorry to inform you that my best exer- tions have as yet failed to procure legal Returns of the Persons subject to militia Duty in this County, among the first elected Officers of the first Battalion. Capt. Ross, Capt. Alden, Lieut. Nezbit, Ensign Hide, & Eusign Alden, were not immediately Commissioned. Since Capt. Ross has received his commission, Col. Pickering, with myself and others, were appointed to examine the others and report to Council. Col. Pickering informed me he made report, but I have not received their Commissions. Ensign Alden has left the State, Ensign Hyde has engaged in the Horse.
"The elected officers in the second Battalion I have been informed are not to be commis- sioned. As soon as I receive Orders from Council for holding a new Election, I shall proceed in the Business & use my best endeavours to organize the Militia and make Returns; I have no returns for the years 1785, 1786, and 1787."
The subject of roads within the County, as well as suitable highways to points outside, appears of record at an early date in the Pickering regime. On April 5, 1787, the Commissioner brought this matter to the attention of the Council, in a letter valuable for its explanation of the routes then most available to Philadelphia. The letter reads as follows:
"Dear Sir,
"The Assembly having granted £150 for the purpose of opening a road from the mouth of Nescopeck Creek to the Lehigh* (a distance of about three & twenty miles,) two persons will undertake to perform the work, if that sum can be appropriated to that use. They proposed getting an additional sum by subscription, to be called for if the public grant proved inadequate. But this seemed a beginning at the wrong end; and after a full consideration of the matter, I proposed the following plan of proceedure viz.
"That application should be made to Council to appoint Evan Owen a commissioner to explore, survey, & mark the best route for the road-and that Jacob Weiss should contract to open it, so as to render it fit for the passing of Waggons carrying a ton weight.
"This proposal I made on this principle-That persons deeply interested in having the shortest and best road cut, would be the fittest to be employed to execute the work.
"Mr. Owen is an intelligent man, and (I find on enquiry) a man in whom the public may repose great confidence. He owns a tract of land opposite the mouth of Nescopeck, which he has laid out into lots for a town, and has no intermediate interest. He, therefore pursuing his own interest will seek the shortest & best route; and is so solicitous to have the work done, that he has consented to undertake the trust; and as the public grant will probably be insufficient for opening a good road, he will perform the duty of Commissioner & Surveyor, gratis; the public only furnishing, out of the £150 granted, provisions and paying the hands necessary to be em- ployed as chain carriers and markers, this service of his to come in place of the sum he would otherwise subscribe to the work.
"Mr. Weiss has an interest near the hither end of the proposed road, and is equally anxious to have it opened. He will contract to do it, for the remainder of the £150, trusting to obtain by subscriptions what shall be requisite to complete the road, if that remainder should be insufficient.
"Mr. Owen will explore & Survey the road, & return a plan of it to Council, by the last of this month; and if the Council approve of it, Mr. Weiss will open it without delay; and he thinks he can complete it by midsummer; provided he can begin to work early in May and is furnished with a part of the money to lay in provisions &c.
"I confess that I cannot conceive of a more eligible mode of executing this business; and I hope it may be agreeable to Council "Tis an object of great importance. At present the only way in which any necessary goods can be transported to the county of Luzerne, is by land from Philadelphia to Middletown, 98 miles, or to Harrisburg upwards of a hundred miles; and then by boats up the Susquehanna about 120 miles to Wyoming. This circuitous route is so expensive as to forbid the attempt to bring any produce from Wyoming to this city.
' I trust this matter will appear to you deserving of the immediate attention of Council; and that the necessity of the measure, and the ease and certainty with which, in the way above proposed, it may be executed, will be motives sufficient to induce Council to adopt it if it be possible to furnish the money, and I hope the circumstances of this case may warrant an extra- ordinary exertion.
"I feel the greater solicitude on this subject, because I fear a direct road to Wyoming, (for which the Assembly granted £300) cannot soon be opened. The sum being double what is granted *This road was completed and opened in 1789.
1635
for the other road, cannot so conveniently be spared; and perhaps it will be proper to have another examination of the country before the route is fixed. When last at Wyoming I had good information that a road might be opened from thence to this city, without ascending or descending a single mountain; and that the part of it which would cross the Great Swamp would be easily made good; and yet the distance would not probably exceed 110 or 115 miles.
"I wished to have conversed with you on this business, & called this evening at your house, but you were not at home. If I could learn the opinion of Council upon it, before I set off for Wyoming, it would give me great pleasure & therefore I pray you to introduce it to-morrow morning. "I am respectfully sir,
"Your most obedt. Servt.
"T. PICKERING."
"General Muhlenberg.
Of a road from the Water Gap to Wyoming, Colonel Pickering advises the Council of April 7, 1787, as follows:
"Since I saw you this afternoon I have consulted with Col'o Denison on the subject of a road to Wyoming, and we are clearly of opinion that it will not be expedient to open one until the country is farther explored. We have such information as to induce us to believe that a road may be cut from the Water Gap of Lehigh to Wilkesbarre, without ascending or descending a single mountain; there being very practicable gaps in all the mountains which intervene; and the taking the advantage of those gaps, it appears to us, will not materially increase the length of the road; or whatever that increase may be, the greater facility of making & travelling the road, will more than counter-balance the greater length. On Mr. Balliots route several bad mountains appear ; & he passes them by many detours, or zigzag directions; and the making in such places a toler- able waggon road, will occasion a great expense; and tis an expense which will never have an end; for such steep roads are generally in bad condition, because every great rain will destroy what much labour has effected; and however well repaired, still the toil of horses & cattle in passing them is severe and perpetual. Whereas a road thro' a swamp or morass, when once well made, will last an age, and is passed with loaded teams with perfect ease. But what is called the Great Swamp is generally hard ground; and all the miry parts on the present route, (being what is called Sullivan's road,) which is by no means deemed an eligible one would not together exceed two miles. This is the opinion of a man who has passed it a hundred times. *
Two years later, in referring to the Wind Gap route to Easton, thus in- ferring that no better then existed, Colonel Pickering, in a letter to his wife, dated April 1, 1789, gives the following discouraging information:
"We got to Tobyhanna last night with difficulty and slept, with our horses, in Luce's old hut. It was very well we brought provisions with us, as there was nothing to eat in the house. This morning we came to Learn's for breakfast. * * * It began to snow the day before and snowed all the way to Learn's."
Of the existing roads in the Valley at this time, the Kingston road, 6 rods, or 99 feet in, width, was surveyed in 1770. It was then, as now, the widest of the Community's thoroughfares. Its trace is followed today by Wyoming Avenue from Kingston to West Pittston, leading past the Wyoming monument. An extension of this road across the lower Kingston flats was later opened to connect with the ferry to the County Seat. Another road had been laid out along the east bank of the Susquehanna to Pittston, connecting with a ferry at that point. It was this road and its extension to the upper Susquehanna country, that Gen. Sullivan followed in 1779, and is now a part of the survey for the proposed "Sullivan Trail." Still another road ran along the Wilkes-Barré flats to Hanover and Newport Townships.
The pressing need for the further extension of this nucleus of a road system, was emphasized by the action of the Court, upon various occasions, in early ap- pointing viewers and supervisors. In 1788, as appears in the first Record Book of the Courts of Luzerne County, incorrectly labeled "Road Docket No. 1," Benjamin Carpenter, Abel Pierce, Lawrence Meyers, James Sutton, Benjamin Smith and John Dorrance were appointed "to view and lay out additional roads in Kingston township." The viewers for Hanover township, appointed at the same terin, were: Christopher Hurlburt, Shubal Bidlack, Richard Inman, Conrad Lyon, John Hurlburt, Elisha Decker and Nathan Nartrop. For Plymouth township, Samuel Allen, Rufus Lawrence, William Reynolds, Luke Swetland, Hezekiah Roberts and Cornelius Atherton were appointed. In Salem township, the Court
.
1636
favored Nathan Beach, George R. Taylor, George Smithers, Amos Park, Jacob Shower and Giles Parman with a similar appointment.
In 1789, the Court's attention was again occupied by road matters. At this term, John Jenkins, Stephen Harding, Peter Harris, David Smith, S. Dailey and J. Phillips were appointed viewers for Exeter and for Wilkes-Barré township, Zebulon Butler, J. P. Schott, John Hollenback, Nathan Waller, Abraham West- brook and John Carey were named.
Roads being few, and distances between the settlements great, occasioned considerably difficulty in co-ordinating the services of the County's Justices of the Peace upon such occasions as they were expected to sit in concert. Wilkes- Barré was beginning to feel itself of sufficient importance to ask for a second Justice, as a co-jurist with Justice Matthias Hollenback. Colonel Pickering's advice was sought on the subject, whereupon he wrote to President Mifflin, on January 29, 1789, explaining in detail, the size of the County, its difficulties of travel and, in order to inform the Council as to the customs prevailing, the letter sets forth clearly the difference between the use of the word "town" in a Connecticut and in a Pennsylvania sense. Interesting, also, is a discussion of the name of the County Seat and its first correct spelling in all the correspondence of the period. The letter follows:
"Matthias Hollenback Esquire has just informed me that application has been made to him about appointing an election of a justice of the peace in this town. I observed to him that Council must previously grant permission for it. I therefore now beg leave to suggest the matter for the consideration of Council. I bad some time since thought of doing it, on account of the diffi- culty which had repeatedly occurred in assembling justices enough to hold an Orphans' court, but on reading the last law on the subject, passed the 20th of February 1788, it appeared uncertain whether the difficulty would be removed, for this district in which Wilkesborough, the county town, is situate, is upwards of 50 miles long; and the additional justice might be elected 30 miles from it. But on examining the preceding law, passed the 4th of March 1786, I find the county town may have two justices within it, whenever the president in Council shall think proper to grant the same. And that you may be possessed of the necessary data in the present case, I beg leave to remark-That this county is about 120 miles in length-that 'tis divided only into three districts, in each of which there have been two justices of the peace commissioned, altho at this time there are but four in the county, two having resigned: That in the first district, (extending from Tagues creek to Nescopeck, a length of 50 miles, or more) the two justices dwell in the township of Wilkes- borough, tho' one only lives in the town, in the Pennsylvania sense of the word, that is, in that part of the township which was laid out in lots for the site of a town; in which there is a public square, where the new England people formerly erected their court house & jail, & where the present court house & jail of the county have lately been built: That in the second district (of like extent with the first) the only justice in commission lives in Kingston township, and about 4 or 5 miles from Wilkesboro,' on the opposite side of the river; and that of the two candidates for the vacant office of justice in the district, one lives in Kingston, and about a mile from Wilkes- borough, and the other in Plymouth, & about four miles from Wilkesboro': That the nearest justice in the 3d district lives 50 miles from hence; and the candidates for the vacant office in the district live, one about 80, the other about 84 miles from Wilkesboro'.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.