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 87
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8. "The proceedings of the Assembly were so indecisive 'as to inspire neither confidence nor terror.' They adopted a variety of measures, some pacific to conciliate and some hostile to reduce the settlers. With all schemes of adjustment thus 'in the air,' it was inevitable that the two classes of claimants must come into collision.
9. "The action of the Susquehanna Company, after 1782, was inexcusably mischievous and wholly unjusti- fiable. The power and pride of Pennsylvania were sure to he successfully arrayed against them, and it was certain that its authority must finally prevail. At this late day, it will be unprofitable to attempt critical estimates of conduct. and to measure out to the parties severe judgments.
10. "During the years 1785-1786, the conduct of some of the leaders of the Connecticut people, under the reck- less proceedings of the Susquehanna Company, was simply insurrectionary. Pennsylvania was then pursuing no hostile measures towards them, hut, on the contrary, able advocates were springing up in Pennsylvania in their behalf and had already made a deep impression in the councils of the State.
11. "The repeal of 'the Confirming Act.' in 1790, was a bad breach of the public faith; the conduct of the settlers thereafter, and under this provocation, is worthy of all praise."
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While that portion of the settlers, located in districts adjacent to Wilkes- Barré, seem to have accepted the repeal as an undisturbing influence in their affairs and to have affected an assurance that sometime, somehow, their titles would be secured, two forces were at work to bring the troublesome question to a focus. First, was an inability of new settlers to gain an undisputed title to land
HON. HENRY M. HOYT.
in the original territory once under the jurisdiction of Connecticut. This stopped the flow of immigration to the Wyoming district. Since states were bidding against each other for the rush of new comers, who were reaching American shores after the Revolution, Pennsylvania felt itself handicapped in being thus unable to induce the permanent settlement of its vast northeastern acreage because of the uncertainties that its own laws, or rather lack of them, entailed. A second, and still more impelling factor, was the revived activity of the Susquehanna Company, which was making the most of that Commonwealth's indecision. This Company heralded the repeal as merely another link in the chain of injustices to be expected at Pennsylvania's hands. A well advertised meeting of the Company was called at "Athens on Tioga. Point," February 18, 1795. This was attended, so chroniclers of the time inform us, by "up-
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wards of 1000 shareholders." The activities of the Company were no longer concerned with lands of the Seventeen Townships, but with Athens, instead of Wilkes-Barré, as a hub, related to a vast territory in the upper Susquehanna basin from which the counties of Susquehanna, Bradford, and Wyoming were subsequently carved. Colonel Franklin, although at the time serving Luzerne County as Sheriff, was again displaying the same restless energy which had distinguished him as the "Hero of Wyoming." John Jenkins, Elisha Satterlee, Simon Spalding and other former residents of Wyoming were joined with him in open defiance of the authority of Pennsylvania.
In reporting this meeting to his superiors, under date of February 26, 1795, Jesse Fell, then Brigade Inspector of the County of Luzerne, stated in part: "The meeting of the Franklinites (for so I think we ought to call them) is now over, and their resolutions are here. *
* * They have appointed their land officers, the keeper of seal etc., and resolved in favor of the peaceably settling their lands, similar to the Governor's procla- mation in favor of the State; they have added 1400 acres to each right, which will make them 2000 each. The object, I have not the least doubt, is a new state, whatever are the pretences held out- the same old company that were lessees in York State a few years ago-the same that were engaged with Franklin in this State about eight years ago. I know your good intentions will not allow you to make any use of my scribbling which may prove disadvantageous to me." This communication is endorsed: "The above letter was received by me yesterday, and is con- fidentially communicated to the Governor.'
"March 3, 1795 .* "
[Signed] "G. Eddy."
From various other sources, Pennsylvania learned of the Susquehanna Company's activities. An examination of affidavits and other documents, pre- served in the files of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, discloses that much the same program of intrigue and ingenious defiance of law was being prosecuted at Athens which had culminated in the Pickering abduction at Wilkes-Barré; seven years before. The independent state idea was again supported. Expres- sion of opposition views invited violence in the direction of the pacifist. With but few exceptions, the share-holders of the Company represented at its later meetings, were not the same stock which had clung so tenaciously to the lands at Wyoming. There were, in addition to a nucleus of worthy claimants, holders of speculative half share rights, adventurers of high degree and low, all willing to take desperate chances in the game of colonization, which then engrossed the country generally.
Alarmed at the threatening state of affairs to which its repeal of the Con- firming Law had led, the Pennsylvania Assembly hastily wrote upon the statute books another law, too weak to inspire terror, and yet so drastic in aim as to accomplish little more than create further disrespect for all its measures. This was the Intrusion Act of April 11, 1795, the material sections of which provided as follows:
"That if any person shall, after the passing of this act, take possession of, enter, intrude, or settle on any lands, within the limits of the counties of Northampton, Northumberland or Luzerne, by virtue or under color of any conveyance of half share, right, or any other pretended title, not derived from the authority of this Commonwealth, or of the late proprietaries of Pennsylvania before the revolution, such person, upon being duly convicted thereof, upon indictment in any court of oyer and terminer, or court of general quarter sessions, to be held in the proper county, shall forfeit and pay the sum of two hundred dollars, one half to the use of the county, and the other half to the use of the informer; and shall, also, be subject to such imprisonment, not exceeding twelve months, as the court, before whom such conviction is had, may, in their discretion, direct. "And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That every person who shall combine or conspire for the purpose of conveying, possessing, or settling on any lands within the limits aforesaid, under any half share right, or pretended title, as aforesaid, or for the purpose of laying out townships, by persons not appointed or acknowledged hy the laws of this Commonwealth, and every person that shall he accessory thereto, before or after the fact, shall, for every such offense, forfeit and pay a sum not less than five hundred nor more than one thousand dollars,
*The original of this letter is a part of the Collection of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
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one half to the use the county, and the other half to the use of the informer, and shall, also, be subject to such imprisonment, at hard labor, not exceeding eighteen months, as the court, in their discretion, may direct."
Section 6 of the Act exempted any claims of persons claiming under the Confirming Law of 1787, thus removing the Seventeen Townships from the effect of the measure.
Instead of deterring the Susquehanna Company, the passage of this m asure seemed rather to spur it to more feverish activities. The whole of Bradford County was surveyed. Some of the townships laid out after the Intrusion Act was enacted, were: Wethersfield, Alba, Turenne, Armenia, Pompay, Caesar and Apollo. Shares and half shares of the Company, entitling the holders to lands in these surveys, were issued by its duly appointed Commissioners. Pennsylvania was scarcely less busy. It patented the same lands, and by the same metes and bounds, to a sort of absentee landlordism. As was the case at Wyoming, the whole district was soon overspread by two undetermined blankets of title.
It was under this Act, that Colonel Franklin, John Jenkins and others, were indicted by a grand jury, impaneled in Luzerne County, at the August ses- sion, 1801. Being found guilty, their cases were appealed to the Supreme Court. There the Act was held unconstitutional and the defendants subsequently dis- charged .*
From a vantage point of access to documents in the Tioga Point Museum, as well as from a painstaking study of the subject, Mrs. Louise Welles Murray, in an address prepared for the Wyoming Commemorative Association, July 3, 1917, hereinbefore mentioned, gives the following account of further activities of the Franklin party until, as at Wyoming, time and subsequent legislation blotted out their grievances:
"A regular land office was maintained at Athens, with David Paine as clerk, and there are many private letters still existing that are very enlightening at this period. Paine writes that February, 1796, Connecticut was again disposed to favor the cause, and that Colonel Frauklin expected to attend the Assembly of Connecticut in May, especially to prove that papers of im- portance were withheld at the Trenton trial. It was doubtless to report from this effort that a meeting of the company was called in June, 1796. As many as fifteen surveying parties were out at this time, doubtless every effort was being made, and indeed openly avowed to erect an inde- pendent government. The half-share men (according to depositions given at Philadelphia) were advised by Connecticut to submit quietly or to demean themselves, claiming only possessio pedis, thus evading the law until by numbers they were strong enough to act for themselves. At this time a certain prominent Philadelphian, writing to Mr. Paine, said: 'The landholders are in trouble profound, their influence lost or declining. The Committee are for submitting the whole controversy to Congress. There is now in my religious opinion the best prospect there has ever been, wanting only firmness and resolution, to win the day.'"
"Sept. 13, [1796] another meeting of Susquehanna Company was held, and Colonel Franklin made chairman of committee on resolutions, which were submitted to adjourned meeting on the following day. The first and most important was that this 'Compy. will, in every legal and Con- stitutional way, support their claim and title to the land included in purchase made of the Natives July, 1754.' The report before the next legislature of the committee respecting the Connecticut intrusion, told of the activity of the company, said the civil authority of the State was laid pros- trate, and that 'the names of John Franklin, John Jenkins and Simon Spalding stand conspicu- ous as principal promoters of enormities.' The committee were decidedly of the opinion that 'nothing short of military force could introduce order, support justice and afford protection to grantees under Pennsylvania.' They therefore recommended that a large force of State militia be posted at Tioga Point and such other places as deemed expedient, accompanied by magis- trates authorized to enforce the laws, even to the destruction of the settlement and ejection of the 'Intruders,' etc., etc.
"Now it was reported from Athens that there had been many new purchases by persons of respectability, property and influence in New England, with full knowledge of all the circumstances and a firm belief in the equity of the Connecticut title. The Government of Connecticut, having been visited by Franklin and Paine, were taking measures to obtain a rehearing ou the Trenton decision.
"In March, 1797, the House of Representatives passed a resolution authorizing the Gover- nor of Pennsylvania to station troops as recommended, but Athens reported that there were no less than twelve or fifteen thousand Connecticut Claimants on the ground. It seemed to be the policy *Commonwealth vs. Franklin, et al., 4 Dallas 255, 316.
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of Pennsylvania to pass violent laws and spread terrifying reports. What was done? Money was collected to send messengers to the highest power, the President of the United States. the suggestion having been made that he could legally interfere in this exigency. Secretary Paine, writing to Colonel Franklin, says: 'It is not reasonable, very improbable and hardly possible that the U. S. will allow ten or fifteen thousand staunch supporters of good government to he driven from their homes by a few overbearing land jobhers' (wish we might quote all this letter of a hright, far-seeing man). He continues: 'It is suggested that the principals in Suisqu'a, Compy. be taken and put under honds, Franklin, Jenkins, Satterlee and Paine. I am willing to rise and fall with you. As the Lord liveth and suffers me to live, I will hold on and hold out until the end-and persevere in just methods to obtain our just rights" etc.
"The hill heing rejected hy the Senate and apprehensions subsided for a time. again Colonel Franklin 'journeyed to Connecticut to aid the cause in the legislature,' but this time he was disappointed, especially as he found their capitalists neglected 'the money part of the business' and some had even sold Connecticut rights to Pennsylvania claimants. At this period there was a great stagnation of business everywhere-the settlers became dispirited and gloomy. No new enterprises were pursued. Franklin was not re-elected, (to the Legislature) the Intrusion law was not enforced Pennsylvania was compared to a farmer exhibiting scarecrows to terrify the birds feeding on his fields, yet not succeeding in driving them entirely away. The next two years were comparatively quiet ones, times were hard, and finally in 1799, judicial courts in several of the Eastern states declared null and void all notes given for Susquehanna lands."
Colonel Franklin was a member of the Legislature, when on April 4, 1799, the beginning of the end of dispute and disquiet within the Susquehanna Pur- chase was in sight. "The Compromise Act of 1799", by which this measure was subsequently to be known, was passed on that date. In general purport, its provisions were much the same as those of the ill fated Confirming Law, avoiding however, its unconstitutional mandates. But the times were ripe for a settlement of the long drawn controversy. While the terms of the Act specifically included only the Seventeen Townships, these terms, by sufferance as well as by subse- quent amendment, were eventually applied to the upper Susquehanna territory as well.
The Act was entitled, "An act for offering compensation to the Pennsylvania claimants of certain lands within the seventeen townships, in the county of Luzerne, and for other purposes therein mentioned." Its material sections are as follows (the others refer to details of execution), the first section fixing the status of the Pennsylvania claimants, the fifth, that of the Connecticut claimants:
SECTION 1. That Isaac Whelen, of Chester county; Thomas Boude, of Lancaster county ; and General William Irvine,* of Cumberland county, he, and they are hereby appointed com- missioners, whose duty it shall be carefully to examine and ascertain quantity, quality, and situa- tion of all lands lying within what have heen commonly called and known BY THE NAME OF THE SEVENTEEN TOWNSHIPS IN THE COUNTY OF LUZERNE, held or claimed under a Pennsylvania title, under a patent, or a location, or warrant, before the decree of Trenton, by which the right of juris- diction was declared to be in Pennsylvania, on which a survey has been executed and returned agreeably to law, and to divide the same, according to their value, into four classes, distinguished by the name of the first, second, third, and fourth class, the first class to contain the lands of the greatest value, and the second, third, and fourth classes those of inferior valne, preserving a due proportion between each, and shall adjudge what sum per acre each Pennsylvania claimant shall receive, not exceeding the rates hereinafter mentioned: Provided, always, That nothing herein contained shall authorize the said commissioners to proceed to the performance of the duties enjoined upon them by this act, until persons claiming land to the extent of forty thousand acres under grants made hy Pennsylvania, shall have conveyed and released the same to the State by deeds, duly executed, and filed in the land office, for the purpose and for the considerations expressed in this act, and until persons commonly called Connecticut settlers, claiming land to the extent aforesaid, shall have signified in writing, under their hands and seals, duly executed in the presence of two witnesses, and filed in the land office, that they will submit to and abide by the determination of the said commissioners; And provided, That if part of the said land, but not to the extent aforesaid, shall have been released, or if the Connecticut claimants, to the extent aforesaid, should not make their submissions according to the provisions herein contained, then such releases as shall have been made by Pennsylvania claimants, as aforesaid, shall be null and void, and the property which shall have been so, as aforesaid, released, shall vest and be held in
*GEN. WM. IRWINE of the American Revolution. Born near Enniskillen, Ireland, in 1741. Graduated at Dublin University. Studied medicine and was Surgeon in British-French War of 1756-64. Came to America in 1764. Member of Provincial Congress in Philadelphia in 1774. Colonel in invasion of Canada in 1776. Brigadier General in expedition against Staten Island. Commanded troops on Western Frontier in 1782. Agent of Public Lands in 1785 and suggested purchase of 'triangle' that gave Pennsylvania an outlet on Lake Erie. Represented Pennsylvania in Continental Congress, in 1786, and was one of commission to settle account of United States with the individual states Member of Congress 1793-1795. Superintendent of military stores in Philadelphia, in 1801. President of Society of Cincinnati at the time of his death, in Philadelphia, in 1804.
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the same manner as if this act had not been passed: Provided, also, That the lines of the respective tracts of lands. so, as aforesaid, submitted to the examination of the commissioners, shall be the same as those bounding the original grants, and that the said commissioners shall not examine any lands but those which the Pennsylvania claimants shall have agreed, as aforesaid, to submit to their examination. * * *
"SECTION 5. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That it shall be the duty of the said commissioners also to ascertain all the rights or lots within THE SAID SEVENTEEN TOWNSHIPS, which were occupied or required by Connecticut claimants, who were actually settlers there at or before the time of the said decree of Trenton, and which rights or lots were particularly assigned to the said settlers prior to the said decree, agreeably to the regulations then in force among them, and to divide the said rights or lots into four classes, to be distinguished in the manner herein before mentioned, according to their respective value, taking into consideration both the quality and situation, and make out certificates therefor, with a draft of the survey thereto an- nexed; and in case the said original settlers, their heirs or assigns, shall make application to the Land Office at any time before the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and one, and agree to pay to the Commonwealth, by eight equal annual installments, at the rate of two dollars per acre for lands of the first class; at the rate of one dollar and twenty cents per acre for lands of the second class; at the rate of fifty cents per acre for lands of the third class; and at the rate of eight and one-third cents per acre for lands of the fourth class; with interest upon each installment till the same is paid; whereupon patents for lands so certified shall be issued from the proper office, paying the legal fees for such patents, and also the surveying fees: Provided never- theless, and it is hereby expressly ordered, That no patents shall issue to affect any lands, the titles whereof shall be in any person or persons claiming under Pennsylvania until such person or per- sons have conveyed their title to the Commonwealth: And provided also, That the lands to be granted to any Connecticut claimants by virtue of this act, shall be mortgaged by such claimant or claimants, for the payment of the principal and interest of the aforesaid instalments due to the Commonwealth as aforesaid."
The Pennsylvania claimants refused or neglected to execute their releases. They were to be paid in land or money. The Connecticut claimants, with the memory of the repeal of the "Confirming Act," still fresh, exhibited little in- clination at first to take the benefit of the law.
This was remedied by the Act of 6th April, 1802, which required the Commis- sioners to survey, value, and certify the whole of each tract claimed by a Con- necticut claimant, and turned the Pennsylvania claimant, not releasing, over to a jury to award compensation.
By the Act of 4th April, 1805, "Westmoreland Records," were authorized to be deposited with the Recorder of Deeds in Luzerne County, and certified copies made in evidence.
By Act of 9th April, 1807, Pennsylvania claimants of lands under title previous to the "Confirming Act"' of 28th March, 1787, were permitted to release, and the Commissioners in examining Connecticut claims, submitted and to be submitted, "Shall not require the same lands to have been occupied prior'to the Decree of Trenton, but the same lands to the several applicants certify, if under the rules and regulations of the Susquehanna Company, at any time they should otherwise thereto be entitled."
By Act 28th March, 1808, all powers of the Commissioners were suspended, and they were required to deposit their books, records, papers, &c., with the Secretary of the Land Office.
Thus, in the year 1808, nearly forty years from the time that the first blood was shed on the fertile soil of Luzerne County, in a struggle for the owner- ship of this soil, was the word finis written to legislation which forever settled the controversy.
Interesting as are the various statutory measures finally adopted by Penn- sylvania to unravel the most perplexing tangle of titles in American jurisprudence, the decisions and interpretations of courts, State and Federal, offer further enlightenment to the student who seeks to trace through, to a logical conclusion, the unique processes by which titles in Luzerne and other counties erected from it were eventually quieted.
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The most celebrated case to reach the United States Supreme Court, in connection with the controversy, was the case of [Cornelius] Vanhorne's Lessee vs. [John] Dorrance, 2 Dallas, 304. It was a test case, pure and simple, the lands involved being an inconsiderable tract of 12 acres. It came on to be tried, April 21, 1795, in the Circuit Court of Pennsylvania, Eastern District. The plaintiff, a non-resident of Luzerne County, was financed by subscriptions from other claimants, under Pennsylvania titles, who naturally selected the best test case at their disposal.
Jared Ingersoll, Jonathan D. Sergeant, and William Tilghman appeared for the plaintiffs. William Rawle, William Lewis, and Joseph Thomas appeared for the defendants. There was the fullest latitude in the testimony .* All the charters and deeds, hereinbefore referred to, were put in evidence. The surveys and possession of the tract in controversy were given. Colonel Denison, for the defendant, detailed his entry upon the lot in 1770, and the incidents of the first Pennamite war. William Gallop gave in evidence an account of "the mass- acre." Colonel Pickering narrated the events of the second Pennamite war, and of the reception of the Confirming Act. Robert Morris stated how, while a member of the Assembly in 1786-7, he, at first, was in favor of calling out the militia to expel the Yankees, but became an advocate for the Act. The resolves of Con- necticut-the records of the Susquehanna Company-Smollett's History-acts of Congress- the conduct of Patterson and Armstrong's troops-Colonel John Henry Lydius' deposition as to the execution of the famous Indian deed of 11th July, 1754 (Mr. Tilghman handed this deed to Court and Jury, to show its sus- picious face), were all put in evidence.t
It was such a case as had never been tried in Europe or America. It suffic- iently appeared that the defendant had the earliest and a continued possession. The plaintiff claimed under a "warrant of survey" executed 15th March, 1771.
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