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 85
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1643
"I have felt much concern for the eduction of my children, who have suffered since my removal to Wyoming. At present they are provided for by an ingenious young lawyer,* who formerly kept school, who now boards at my house, assists in my office, and who has undertaken the daily task of instructing the children in reading and writing, and Tim in geography. My son John, I am informed, is a good scholar; and now, I suppose, is fit for entering a college. I have had no communications with you on this subject, nor do I know your kind intentions con- ceruing him. I earnestly wish you to write me. He is yet young enough, Fifteen, I think, is early
* enough for a youth to make the best improvement of college advantages: *
To Alexander Hamilton, the statesman of his time, belongs the honor of initiating a movement which was later to result in the creation of the Department of Agriculture which has merited its worth at the hands of the present government.
In 1791, while in the capacity of Secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton wrote many letters to those whom he knew were informed of agricultural developments in their sections.
Among his correspondents of that period was Colonel Pickering, who answered him in terms that indicate what the Wilkes-Barré district raised in such agricultural pursuits as were followed:
"Philadelphia, October 13th, 1791.
"Dear Sir,
"When I received your letter of the 13th of August, I did not consider it with that attention which would have been necessary if at that time I had attempted to answer the questions you propose. Now it appears to me impossible to do it with any degree of precision. It then struck me that certain communications to the Society of Agriculture, of this city, would have furnished the principal documents required on the subject at large. But upon review of them (after a lapse of several years)I find I was mistaken.
"In my late absence from the city I meant to have made inquiries in the counties through which I travelled in this State; but here also 1 was disappointed, not meeting with any farmers sufficiently informed.
"From the farms in my neighborhood (from which you naturally expected me to collect accurate information) no conclusions can be drawn; their peculiar situation, in respect to title, and their quality rendering them exceptions to most of the farms in the United States. Their title, being in suspense between the claimants under Connecticut and Pennsylvania, prevents their due cultivation and improvement; and the parts under cultivation are almost exclusively the bottom (or interval) lands, adjacent to the River Susquehanna and its branches. The residue of the country is without enclosures, where the cattle range at large, and where, till within four years past, the people cut wood for timber and fuel at discretion, without regarding their own lines of property. This singular state of the Wyoming farms precludes the idea of fixing their value. Their contents, generally, are three hundred acres, of which, upon an average, not thirty acres are reclaimed from a state of nature. The average produce of their cultivated grounds I estimate as follows:+
Wheat. 15 Bushels per acre. Rye . 12 14 Oats . 25
= Buckwheat .. .15
Without Manure.
Hay
Indian Corn .25 112 Tons
1
Late in June, 1791, Colonel Pickering left Wilkes-Barré for his second conference with the Six Nations. This led him to Newtown, New York, as evidenced by the following letter to his family from that point:
"Newtown, July 5th, 1791.
"Yesterday we began the real business of the treaty; and, from what at present appears, I suspect it will not be finished under ten days. We have now about nine hundred Indians on the ground, about a hundred and thirty more will be here today or to-morrow. They are all in good temper, and I expect the treaty will close in a very satisfactory manner. The bearer is MIr. Rutherford, a member of Congress, who is on his way home to New Jersey; should he call with the letter himself, you will ask him to breakfast or to tea, if it happens to be convenient."
*The gentleman spoken of as the teacher of the children in the family has been frequently mentioned. Ebenezer Bowman was a graduate of Harvard College, Class of 1782. After teaching school at Cambridge, he left Massachusetts and settled at Wyoming. As has been stated, when Colonel Pickering opened the first Court in Luzerne County, Mr. Bowman was one of four applicants admitted to the har. They were the only lawyers in the county for several years. In 1794 Mr. Bowman retired from practice, but continued in active business. He represented Luzerne in the Pennsyl- vania House of Assembly in 1793. For a long period he boarded in Colonel Pickering's family, and was a faithful and zealous friend. They died in the same year, 1829.
tSee the "Life of Pickering," 1II : 491.
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Having accomplished the object of his mission, in concluding a treaty with the Six Nations, which proved of vital importance in cementing their friend- ship to the United States, Colonel Pick- ering immediately set off for Wilkes- Barré, and thence to Philadelphia, to re- port to Secretary of War Knox, his ac- complishments.
While in Philadelphia, under date of August 12, 1791, he wrote the follow- ing to his wife:
"As I left you, these words dropped from your lips, 'I do not think we shall live here always,'-nor will you. This day the President appointed me Postmaster-General. Mr. Osgood has resigned. Next Monday or Tuesday I go to New York to see him, on the business of the de- partment.
"I pray God to preserve you and my dear family, that you may see good after so many evil days; for, if the office should not add to my little fortune, at least I trust we shall live more comfortably, and get our children well educated. * *",
*
"The troubles, cares and trials to which his family had been exposed at Wyoming, undoubtedly made the pros- pect of a removal an inexpressible relief to them, writes Colonel Pickering's biographer, in Upham's "Life of Pickering."
JOSEPH BRANT By Romney. Painted in England during Brant's visit there in 1776.
Thus it happened, after years of service in a position which brought him into intimate touch with Wilkes-Barré and the Wyoming Valley, during a criti- cal state of its peculiar affairs, Colonel Pickering was called, by his old Com- mander in Chief, to the higher service of his countrymen, in affairs of the national government. How he succeeded to the offices of Secretary of War, Secretary of State, and upon his return to Massachusetts, to a dignified closing period of his life as Senator from that Commonwealth, is for his biographer, rather than a writer of local history to record. That Wilkes-Barré has never honored him in the slightest degree, as the most distinguished man who was ever, actually as well as in name, one of its citizens, seems almost incredible. Even the house he built and from which he was abducted does not now bear his name. It, with all his other property and lands in Wilkes-Barré (now assessed at over $18,000,000) was sold as purchasers offered. Gen. William Ross acquired the homestead from Colonel Pickering in 1796 .*
In the fall of 1791, Colonel Pickering entered upon his duties as Post- master General, at Philadelphia. Finding a great scarcity of houses there, it was decided to leave his family at their comfortable Wilkes-Barre home until Spring. That the hospitality of this house was boundless, may be gathered from a knowledge that a teacher, a preacher, and a sister of Mrs. Pickering were all guests there during this particular winter.
A fund had been raised to secure a minister at Wyoming, to which fund, the Pickerings and other New Englanders were subscribers. That a young
*The deed from Timothy Pickering to William Ross for lands in Wilkes-Barre was filed on January 9, 1796 in the Recorder of Deeds office, and recorded on March 25, 1796. The cash consideration amounted to 2600 pounds.
1645
preacher had been found to accept the position is disclosed by a letter from Colonel Pickering, to his wife dated November 8, 1791:
"Mr. Bowman called on me to- day," runs the letter, "bringing with him an agreeable young man, who is going to Wyoming to commence a preacher. * Warm testimonials you will find
enclosed. These testimonials of Mr. Thayer's* worth will be sufficient to in- duce you to embrace every opportunity of contributing to make his residence agreeable to him."
On the same subject, and in- dicative of how schooling of that period was accomplished, Colonel Pickering, the same day wrote the Rev. John Clark of Philadelphia, the following: "Mr. Thayer handed me your letter of introduction. I am glad he is gone to Wyoming. * There is at my * house, where he will also stay, an ingen- ious young man, Mr. Bradley,t of some ABRAHAM BRADLEY reading and a taste for literature. The ensuing winter he will school mine, and some of the neighbor's children."
Appointed Assistant Postmaster General in 1790.
In the spring of 1792, Colonel Pickering found a suitable house at his new place of residence. He wrote of it on March 16th, as follows:
"I have engaged a house in Second Street. "Tis a large house, with two rooms in front. I shall keep my office in them and by that, and other means, stand myself at $300 rent."
On May 10, 1792, Colonel Pickering made his last visit to Wilkes-Barré to escort his family to this new home. By way of concluding his official business at Wyoming, he penned the following report to Governor Mifflin:
"Sir,
"Philadelphia, August 16th, 1791.
"It is proper for me to inform you that the President of the United States has been pleased to appoint me to the office of Postmaster-General. This, or course, vacates the offices which I held under Pennsylvania; and, though I do not feel myself under any obligations to the county of Luzerne, yet I shall be pleased to see its welfare promoted. I shall be pleased to see that part of Pennsylvania prosper; and I shall also be pleased, Sir, to see your administration approved and applauded.
"In the first place, give me leave to assure you that the business in all these offices together is of but small extent, and consequently of small emolument, too small to admit of a division. "In the Register's office, during a space of more than four years, but about half a dozen wills have been presented. Letters of administration have been more numerous. I think between eighty and ninety have been issued; but these have been chiefly on the estates of persons who were dead before the change of jurisdiction in 1782; and of these the greater part fell victims to the Indians in 1778. The run of these is over, and scarcely half a dozen letters are now issued in a year.
"In the Orphan's Court, all the proceedings do not fill a quire of paper.
"In the Court of General Quarter-Sessions of the Peace, as little business has occurred as in the Orphan's Court.
*Nathaniel Thayer D.D. was a native of Hampton, New Hampshire, and a graduate of Harvard, in the class of 1789. In 1793, he settled at Lancaster, Massachusetts and continued in his ministry there until his death, in 1840.
fAbraham Bradley, mentioned above, later became a resident of Hanover township. In 1800 he was appointed Assistant Postmaster General of the United States at Colonel Pickering's suggestion. In 1802 he published "A New Theory of the Earth," copies of which hook are still found among old libraries of Wilkes-Barre.
1646
"In the Recorder's office, the deeds and mortgages are recorded in separate hooks; and, if united, would fill about three-fourths of one folio volume of demi, or about five quires of paper. "The Prothonotary's office furnished -most business; but this arose from the like cause with the letters of administration; the business had been damned up during several years; the law, introduced, opened the gates, and, during three years, there was a run of from twenty to forty actions at a term. But the sources have failed, and the stream is greatly reduced. At the last term, the number of actions was about eighteen; and when I left home, ten days ago, there stood on the docket hut a solitary action for the ensuing term, commencing this day two weeks.
"These facts I state from my memory (which, however, I believe is pretty correct) not expecting such occasion to use them; for, till I reached Bethlehem, I knew not that any office under the United States was vacant.
"Permit me now, Sir, to mention a gentleman there who can well execute, and who well deserves all those offices. I mean Abraham Bradley, Esquire, whose prudence, steadiness, and sobriety are exemplary-whose integrity is unblemished, whose industry has no rival, and whose judgment and law knowledge have there no superior; I should speak more accurately if I should say no equal. In pleadings and the necessary forms, he is decidedly superior to all. But he came later into the practice than the other attorneys, was younger, somewhat diffident, and has not formed a habit of speaking. He has therefore had few cases to manage, and his fees have been trifling. He studied law and wrote in the office of Tapping Reeve, Esquire, an eminent lawyer at Litchfield, in Connecticut. He writes a fair, strong, legible hand, perfectly adapted to records. During my frequent absences in the last two years, he has done the business in the Court and in my office with great propriety. "Tis a business in which he takes pleasure. His law knowledge renders him peculiarly fit to hold all the offices before mentioned and will give great facility in the execution. And his law knowledge will not be stationary; it will advance. For he has an inquisitive mind, and a taste for literature in general.
"This, Sir, is not the language of hyperbole. 'I speak the words of truth and soberness,' from an intimate personal acquaintance with Mr. Bradley. I think he was, last spring, admitted an attorney in the Supreme Court; but Mr. Burd can inform you.
"Give me leave, Sir, to close this long letter with a few words relative to the county Judges. Mr. Joseph Kinney was pretty early appointed a Judge of the Common Pleas; but, fully expecting to remove to the State of New York, he sent to the Court a letter of resignation; but I do not know whether his resignation was ever declared to the late Executive Council. I believe it was not. He lived near Tioga, where Esquire Hollenback was sometimes present, and to which neighbor- hood Esquire Murray moved up from Shawnee. Mr. Kinney was disappointed in respect to the lands in York State to which he meant to go, and has remained in Luzerne. Christopher Hurlbut, Esquire, is now a Justice of the Peace, and of the Court of Common Pleas for that county. These two gentlemen I name before all others who can have any pretensions to the office of Judge of the Common Pleas under the new Constitution; because they are decidedly men of superior discern- ment, of minds more improved and still improving; because they are inquisitive, have a taste for reading, and a thirst for knowledge. I do not know that the other Judges can be better chosen than from among the gentlemen who have held seats in the legislature and Executive Council, whom you personally know. The characters of the gentlemen I have described, I think, are drawn with truth. If I were never to see you again, if I were going to quit this country or world, I should freely write what I have here written.
"Should you' honor me with any questions relative to the County of Luzerne, I shall answer them with pleasure, and with the same candor that I should have given you information at any period of my life.
"I have the honor to be respectfully, Sir, your most obedient and humble servant, "T. PICKERING.
"Thomas Mifflin, Esq., Governor of Pennsylvania."
To conclude a reference to the closing days of Colonel Pickering's adminis- tration without further record of the career of his chief antagonist, Col. John Franklin, might seem neglectful. Miner, in his History, page 438, makes an incorrect assumption that Colonel Franklin was released from confinement after the session of the Supreme Court in Wilkes-Barré, in 1788. As a matter of fact, he was to suffer nearly a year's further confinement at the hands of Pennsylvania. We have seen in the preceding Chapter how and when he was removed from Wilkes-Barré to the jail at Easton. In the collection of "Franklin Papers," of the Tioga Point Museum, it appears that he was, for some reason not apparent to Wyoming, in December, 1788, returned to the Philadelphia jail, January 8, 1799, and sent to Easton again, May 24, 1799. Documents in the Archives of Pennsylvania, were not arranged for publication when Miner wrote (1845) or he might have found two letters therein written by Franklin, in 1789, while still a prisoner at Philadelphia. One of these follows:
"May it please your Excellency,
"Philadelphia Gaol, March the 5th, 1789.
"In my address the 17th ult., I stated to your Excellency that I was unable to provide myself with fuel and Clothing necessary to guard me against the Inclemency of the season, (the
1647
Clothing then alluded to was bedding,) I was at the same time in want of Sundry articles of wearing apparel, but it was at that time, and still is my wish to be patient under all my afflictions, and to avoid as much as possible all complaints. I, at that time had a hope that I should shortly be Liberated from Prison. I still entertain the same hope, but at what period that will take place is to me unknown.
"A long Confinement, remote from my friends, and the expence I have been put to together with the loss of my property wasted and Dispoiled at Wyoming since, and in consequence of my Imprisonment has reduced me to Indigent Circumstances, and rendered me wholy unable to make any provision for my own subsistance.
"If it had been my fortune to have been imprisoned near my own home, where my friends and Connections were around me, I might have take care of my subsistance, and Probably been provided with the necessaries of Life, without any expence to the Public, but being confined in a place strange to me, and a large proportion of my confinement being severe and retired, has prevented.
"I shall not attempt to enumerate the articles of Cloathing that I stand in need of to make my life Comfortable, as well as to appear Decent, but say in a word, I am almost Destitute of Cloathing of all kinds.
"I feel myself unhappy that I am unable to provide myself with such things as I stand in need of. But from the Circumstances before related it is not in my power, I have therefore thought fit to state my case to your Excellency (that If Proper) it may be represented to your Honble Council, that such measures may be taken for my relief as to your Excellency and Honble Body shall be thought expedient.
"I am may it please your Excellency,
with Due respect, your Excellency's most obedient and humble servant, JOHN FRANKLIN." "Directed,
"His Excellency, Thomas Mifflin, Esq., President in Council.
Colonel Franklin seems to have been given his liberty in September, 1789, and to have made his way back to Wilkes-Barré. Broken in health and spirits, he appears, from what few references of that period are available, to have devoted several months to settling up his affairs in Huntington Township, and pre- paring to remove to Athens, which had been the scene of many of his activities, and which was to become his future home. He left Wyoming for Athens, April 26, 1790, walking the entire distance in a five days' journey. From an address prepared for delivery at the 139th anniversary of the Battle of Wyoming, in 1917, by Mrs. Louise Welles Murray, and published by the Wyoming Commemo- rative Association, many facts of the later life of the "Hero of Wyoming," may be gleaned. An account of his second marriage is narrated therein, as follows :*
"The wary politician and military commander was not only holding himself true to his promises to Pennsylvania, but he became an ardent farmer, not only for himself, but for many of his friends. It is quite possible that at this time Franklin had no available funds; at any rate he was a veritable whirlpool of activity, proving that his imprisonment by no means depleted his strength. At the close of the busy season, he repaired to Wilkes-Barre in November. He records that he made this trip in a canoe, carrying five passengers, that he sold it on his arrival for three dollars to pay a debt. After visiting among all his old friends for a week he thus records his Thanksgiving celebration: "This day I was about the town of Wilkesbarre, and at evening followed the example of good old Jacob, I took me a wife, and may the Lord send Jacob's blessing.' His permanent house, still standing, was not erected until 1798, but there was on his property a little log house built by the first settler in this locality, and here he soon installed his new bride and their two groups of children, and his life with them proved him to be as devoted a father to one group as to the other."
It was not until 1792, that a pardont for Colonel Franklin was forthcoming. In the "Pennsylvania Archives," Vol. XI : 105, is found the following draft of the document issued by Governor Mifflin, January 9, 1792:
"Pen'a, ss.
"In the name and by the authority of the Com'th of Penn'a.
"Thomas Mifflin, Governor of the said Comm'th.
"To all to whom these Presents, shall come, sends greeting:
"Whereas, it appears that 'At a Court of Oyer and Terminer, &c., held at Wilkesbarre, for the County of Luzerne, the fourth day of November, 1788, Before the Honorable Thomas M'Kean, Esquire, LL.D., Chief Justice, and the Honorable Jacob Rush, Esq., Justice of the
*A further sketch of Colonel Franklin appears on page 1227, Vol. II of this History.
+Colonel Franklin's copy of his pardon is now among the "Franklin Papers," in the Tioga Point Museum.
1648
Supreme Court, &c., John Franklin, late of Wilkesborongh, in the County aforesaid, Yeoman, was duly and legally Indicted for High Treason, and upon such Indictment arraigned, and pleaded not Guilty.
"From the Records. "GEO. DAVIS, for "EDW. BURD, CI. Cur. Oyer.'
"And Whereas, the expediency of granting a Pardon to the said John Franklin, under the peculiar circumstances attending his case, has been suggested to me by all the Judges of the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth aforesaid, for that, in their unanimous opinion, a trial of the offence aforesaid, after so considerable an interval of time has elapsed,, will not contribute to the general interests of the Commonwealth. Now, Know Ve, that in consideration of the Premises, and in full confidence that the said John Franklin, having repented of any unlawful acts which he may heretobefore have committed, is resolved to be and remain a good and faithful Citizen of the Commonwealth, I Have granted, and by these Presents I Do grant unto the said John Franklin, a full and free Pardon, for and on account of the said offence of High Treason, whereof he was Indicted as aforesaid, and for and on account of any other act or acts of High Treason, or misprison of Treason, by him in anywise heretofore committed. Given, &c.,
"Indorsed,
"By the Governor."
The difference in treatment of Colonel Franklin by the new Constitutional government of Pennsylvania* as distinguished from the regime of the Council, was sharply defined in the same year, when Governor Mifflin commissioned Col. John Franklin "High Sheriff of Luzerne County," following his choice for that office at the fall election of 1792 .*
*The first general elections in Luzerne County, conducted under the new Constitution, occurred in the fall of 1790. Those elected and the surprisingly small total vote for each are named below: GOVERNOR.
Thomas Mifflin, ninety-one. Arthur Sinclair, twenty-nioe.
SENATOR.
William Montgomery, one hundred and twenty. REPRESENTATIVES.
Obadiah Gore, forty-six.
Nathan Denison, thirty-four.
Rosewell Welles, thirty-two.
Joha Paul Schott, seven. SHERIFF. Jessie Fell, one hundred and fifteen.
Arnold Colt, fifty-six
Lord Butler, three.
Nathan Carey, forty-eight.
John P. Schott. two.
Abraham Westbrook, one
Dwyer Plant, one.
Peter Crubh, one.
John Ryon, four.
Ahraham Bradley, one.
CORONER.
Abel Yarington, one hundred and thirteen.
Abel Price, one hundred and seven.
Jabez Fish, seven.
Nathan Carey, one.
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS.
John Hageman, one hundred and fifteen.
John Hollenback, one.
(Signed)
Timothy Pickering. William Hooker Smith, John Hurlbut,
Judges, etc."
The five election districts in Luzerne County
at that period were Wilkes-Barre, Kingston, Tioga, Tunkhannock and Salem. The total vote polled it those districts is recorded as follows: GOVERNOR.
Mifflin
249
St. Clair
62
Montgomery
Smith
43
REPRESENTATIVE
Gore.
129
Welles 99
Denison 66
Schott.
12
CORONER
Yarington
289
Pierce
271
SHERIFF.
Fell 267
Colt
144
Butler
56
Carey 52
Denison
7
COMMISSIONERS. 284
Hageman
Hollenback
1
SENATOR. 264
1649
In 1793, he was named as a Lieutenant Colonel of Militia by the same appointive agency. In the following Chapter, devoted to the quieting of titles of lands of the County, it will be found that Colonel Franklin's activities in reviving the Susquehanna Company's claims led him again into direct conflict with Penn- sylvania. But neither then, nor until his death, was the popularity of Col. John Franklin impaired among the settlers of the Susquehanna basin. From 1794 to 1804, he was intermittently a member of the legislature from the upper District, with but few dissenting votes, whenever he stood for office. Opposing at every turn, various laws, as will later appear, which adversely affected the Claim of Con- necticut, he was a thorn in the flesh of Pennsylvania. In desperation, the Com- monwealth finally adopted the expedient of setting off that part of Luzerne County, containing his residence, to Lycoming County; but in ignorance of the exact location, they set off the part west of the river. The bill being read in his presence, Colonel Franklin realized its intent, rose in his seat and calmly informed the chair that he lived east of the Susquehanna, doubtless affording merriment as well as chagrin. The bill was then altered to include his residence in the dis- membered portion. This caused great indignation among his home folks, and it was written "though Yankees are wild, they will not thus be tamed." In this movement even the legislature thought only of the Wyoming region. But Tioga Point was heard from. Franklins' constituents were not in lower Luzerne. They had influence in all Lycoming, and once more he was elected by a trium- phant majority, taking his seat at Lancaster to the chagrin and mortification of his enemies. This was called his crowning and closing victory. But it should be recorded again and again, that the general features of the compromising law passed in 1799, were mostly the result of his labors with the pen and in the legis- lative halls. He had at last the proud satisfaction of seeing his theory of the right of soil prevail."*
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