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 89
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The association organized by the election of the following officers: Samuel Hodgdon, President; Samuel M. Fox, Treasurer; John Ewing, Junior, Secretary.
At a meeting of the association, held April 13, 1801, it was "Resolved, that Edward Tilghman retain Daniel Smith, Charles Hall, Ebenezer Bowman, Putnam Catlin and Rosewell Welles, as counsel for the landholders in all civil and criminal proceedings in reference to their lands." At still another meeting, held at Lancaster, February 17, 1802, an estimate was made of the probable amount necessary to be expended by the association to carry the Intrusion Law into effect, as follows:
Agents salaries $1,200.00
Deputy for Luzerne and Wayne. 900.00
Deputy for Lycoming 450.00
Expenses in binding over witnesses and extra pay for subpoenaing them 500.00
Stationery and other necessary expenses. 150.00
$3,200.00
In spite of painstaking effort on the part of the original Commissioners, there was thus little to report by way of actual accomplishment, in the two years ensuing after the passage of the Compromise Act. Claimants were with difficulty induced, on one hand, to appear with their releases, or on the other, to present their evidences of title. Supplemental legislation, however, tended to strengthen the hands of the Commissioners and Court decisions helped to make
*The Subscribers to this Association, which list gives an idea of some of the holdings, were:
Acres
Allihone, Thomas
1,200
Meeker, Samuel
Acres 6,000
Burd, Edward
8,800
Menshall, Christopher, Ex'r to Thomas
Bingham, William
300,000
Paschal . 16,000
Bell, William . 1,800
For self and Wm. Crammond, Adam Kuhn, and assignees of Joseph Thomas ..
45,000
Bond, Phineas
20,000
Peters, Richard .
20,000
Bartholomew, Edward, and J. Patton
3,600
Pickering, Timothy
10,000
Buckley, William
9,500
Pleasants, Samuel.
7,000
Buckley, William and William Parkinson
3,000
Rhoads, Samuel 10,000
Busti, Paul for Holland Land Company
20,000
Self and estate of Daniel Williamson 3,000
Binney. Horace, for self and heirs of Dr. Binney
Francis, Thomas W., for Francis Ann and family. 100,000
Clymer, George
8,000
Sharpless, Jesse,
10,000
Chancellor, William & Co.
5,000
Sergeant, William for etate of Sergeant. J. D. 6,500
Dunwoody, John
6,000
Sergeant, William . 1,000
30,000
Davis, John
3,300
Smith, Robert .
4,000
Field, John
12,000
2,200
Fox, Samuel M . for self and other;
36,000
75,000
Fox, George, and Samuel M
4,000
Turnbull, William . Travis, John
5,000
Howell, Samuel
7,000
Tilghman, William
2,800
Hodgdon, Samuel.
5,000
Warder, Jeremiah, Parker & Co.,
20,000
Harrison, Thomas .
5,000
White, William
12,000
Kuhn, Adam
7,000
Wells, Gideon H
10,000
Lewis, Josiah
6,000
Waln, Robert, for self and others
50,000
Latimer, George
15,000
Wharton, Isaac.
36,000
Latimer, William
1,300
Wharton & Lewis. . 24,000
McPherson, William 5,000
Wharton, Joseph.
7,000
McEwen, Thomas & Co 25,000
Meredith, Samuel . .
80,000
Total Acres, .
1,310,800
6,000
Clifford, Thomas and John . .
5,000
Rush, Benjamin 2,400
Drinker, Henry, for self and others.
150,000
Strawbridge, James
Singer, Abram, for Richard Rundle. .
Tilghman, Edward
4,000
Hollingworth, Levi.
2,400
Bond, Williamina 30,000
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the way plain to a satisfactory conclusion of the whole matter. Early in 1801, a new Commission was appointed which began its labors under promising auspices. Thomas Cooper, Esq., General John Steele* and William Wilson, Esq., f composed the new Board. Judge Cooper brought to the others an experience gained by previous service and was naturally named chairman.
Jesse Fell, later to become one of the County's most distinguished citizens, was chosen Secretary to the Board and continued to act in that capacity until the labors of the Commission were finally terminated.
The new Commissioners announced that sessions would be conducted in the Court House, at Wilkes-Barre beginning July 1, 1801, and by systematizing their work, as well as by inducting a businesslike method of procedure, gained popular confidence.
As this confidence grew, and with it was gained an assurance that Penn- sylvania finally was in earnest as to settling the controversy, Connecticut set- tlers on their part went about perfecting their titles with deliberation and such thoroughness as was possible. All the early records of the Susquehanna Com- pany, being vital to the issue, were produced. Minutes of town meetings in the regime of Connecticut and such documents as existed with relation to the lot- tery, by which the town plot of Wilkes-Barré was distributed in 1772, were placed in evidence before the Commissioners. The settlers had suffered much in the loss of their papers and effects at the time of the Wyoming Massacre and upon later occasions. Not half of them could produce a single documentary evidence of title. They had lived in possession of certain tracts of land previous to the Decree or could show, by oral testimony, that their ancestors had preceded them in occupancy. Many valid purchases had been made of whole tracts or their subdivisions, evidenced merely by intent of the vendor as judged from the peace- ful occupancy of his vendee. Probably no claimants for land ever lacked more of customary proofs of title than did the Yankees at Wyoming. Yet their all was at stake and of necessity they proceeded cautiously.
First in the form of documentary evidence presented to the Commissioners, was a volume containing the earliest records of town meetings of Wilkes-Barré.# It is more fully described by the deposition of Jesse Fell which accompanied it:
"Wilkesbarre, July 2, 1801.
"That the book marked Wilkesbarre Town Votes No. 1, purporting to be records of town meetings of Wilkesbarre and the votes and resolutions thereof, and now here produced, was de- livered to this deponent as part of the records appertaining to his office of Town Clerk of the said town of Wilkesbarre, to which office this deponent was duly appointed at a town meeting held the 16, April, 1796, and which he now holds. That he hath always considered and put faith in the said book as containing true and original entries of the proceedings of the town meetings which the Town Clerk at the respective times of meeting in the said book mentioned was appointed to record. That he hath understood that Obadiah Gore, Jr. Esq., now of Tyoga Township in said Co. was Town Clerk of Wilkesbarre during the times and days of meeting noted respectively in the first eight pages of the aforesaid book and the entries therein, viz., from the 17th February to the end of July, inclusive, in the year 1772, are in the handwriting of the said Obadiah Gore, Jr.,
then acting as Town Clerk aforesaid. * * * That the 1st eight paragraphs contain original entries of many of the town and wood lots of the said town of Wilkesbarre, as determined by
*GEN. JOHN STEELE was born at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1758. He was a Captain through the Revo lutionary War, and served at Brandywine and Yorktown In 1780, he commanded Washington's Life Guards. He was collector of the Port at Philadelphia in 1809.
+WILLIAM WILSON was a resident of Northumberland County. Prior to his appointment on the Commission, he held several appointments at the hands of the Commonwealth, notably that of County Lieutenant. In 1816, he was sent to Congress from the district which then embraced Luzerne, Northumberland and other adjacent counties.
#The affidavits following, as well as the summary of the Commission's scope of duties, were copied from original volumes laheled "Extracts from Minutes of, evidence respecting the Titles of Connecticut Claimants in and to the seventeen townships, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania." The original books-3 in number-are now in the possession of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, Wilkes-Barre, having been preesnted to the Society by Jonathan J. Slocum.
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lottery, among the original settlers, under the then rules and regulations of the Susquehanna Com- pany. * * * that the entries in the 1st eight paragraphs of the book aforesaid, relating to the lottery aforesaid, have always been held authentic, and regarded as good evidence among the claimants of lots in the town of Wilkesbarre, under the title and regulations of the Susquehanna Company .* *
* * The deponent hath purchased and paid for town lot No. 30 and part of town lot No. 42 and part of back lot No. 35, resting upon the evidence of the entries respecting the same in the book aferesaid. That he has not known, and has not heard of, tickets, receipts, memorandums or certificates or any other document, as a necessary part of title or otherwise given at the time of the drawing of the said lottery, to the persons whose lot was determined by the same; neither did this deponent receive any such from any of his grantors of his lots before enu- merated, but rested upon the entries in the book aforesaid as acknowledged evidence of title in this respect."
"Sworn to before Mathias Hollenback.
"JESSE FELL."
Next was introduced a volume of original records of the County of West- moreland, under jurisdiction of Connecticut. The following affidavit accompanied this documentary evidence:
"Wilkesbarre, July 3rd, 1801.
"The volume purporting to be a volume of original records of Westmoreland, together with two other volumes of the same purport, said volume paged from 1 to 1397, came into the posses- sion of this deponent as follows, to wit: About the year 1792, this deponent's father, the late Col. Zebulon Butler, removed from the town plott of Wilkesbarre onto his farm, which rendered it inconvenient for those that might have occasion to examine these records to apply to him, he therefore put them into this deponents hands to be kept until he called for them, or that the settlers should otherwise dispose of them by vote at a public meeting-and that ever since he has known these records they have been considered and admitted by all those concerned in the Con- necticut title, as the authentic records of the County of Westmoreland-referred to and acknowl- edged as such by the grantors and grantees under said title, so far as has come to the knowledge of this deponent.
"LORD BUTLER."
"Sworn to before Jesse Fell.
Older in point of time, but following the others in introduction as evidence before the Commissioners, were the original records of the Town of Westmoreland. The accompanying affidavit explains their purport:
"Wilkesbarre, July 7, 1801.
"The volumes now before me produced, purporting to be the volumes of original records of Westmoreland township under the jurisdiction of the State of Connecticut, and paged from 1 to 1397. That ever since he bas known them they have always been considered and admitted as authentic records, and referr d to as such .; And that they have been so admitted in the Court of Common Pleas of the said County of Luzerne and antecedent to the jurisdiction of Pennsylvania, in the Westmoreland Township and County in cases of disputed title and otherwise. That the accounts and entries of such as were original settlers under the Susquehanna Company in the District of Wilkesbarre as contained in the book of records now produced hath always been considered as original and authentic, as this deponent hath ever understood and believes. That Ezekiel Pierce whose signature among the said entries as Recorder of Deeds for the township of Westmoreland in Litchfield Co., and afterwards Westmoreland Co., did for a long time act in that capacity for the township of Westmoreland aforesaid. That the signatures in said volumes purporting to be by him are (as this deponent well knows to be) the proper handwriting of the said Pierce (except in some few pages in the said book which this deponent believes to be wrote by some one of the sons of the said Ezekiel Pierce, who were employed or did at various times record Deeds to this deponent's knowledge, as this deponent frequently saw them at the said employment. *
* * That the said Pierce was the known and the acknowledged officer for that purpose in the township of Westmoreland during the period of six years or thereabouts.
"Sworn to before Jesse Fell.
"MATHIAS HOLLENBACK."
With this mass of authentic and accepted records of the early settlers before them, the Commissioners fell promptly to work, and rapid strides were made in the performance of their duties. On the "Minutes of Evidence" herein- before mentioned, the following "General Observations on the Connecticut Titles in the Seventeen Townships" were entered by Judge Cooper, and appear
*A copy of the list of names and the number of the lots drawn in the town plot of Wilkes-Barre, April 30, 1772. will be found in pages 727 and 728 of Vol. 11. The original list is on file in the collection of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society.
TA list of settlers at "Susquehanna" or Wyoming in general, taken from the above records will be found on page 732, with a supplemental list, page 736 of Vol. 11.
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to outline not only the plan of procedure of the Commissioners, but to explain the purpose of their efforts, so that no questions might arise in future to further complicate the situation:
' The Commissioners, viz: Thos. Cooper, Esq. Genl. John Steele, and Wm. Wilson, Esq. appointed in 1801 under the Act of 4th April, 1799, entitled an 'Act for offering com- pensation to the Penna. Claimants of certain lands within the seventeen townships in the County of Luzerne and for other purposes therein mentioned,' soon after they met in Wilkesharre in June, 1801, agreed to divide between them the business of the Cominis- sion as follows, viz: The investigation of the Connecticut title, the forms of proceeding, the
bservations on Pennsylvania title, and all the le gal part of the business was committed to Mr. Cooper. The management of the surveys and the valuation of the land were undertaken by General Steele and Mr. Wilson, so that al- though the general principles of the proceed- ings were considered and agreed upon by the Commissioners jointly in their occasional con- versations on the subject, and although mu- tual communications took place from time to time on all the various parts of the business of the Commission, Mr. Cooper is principally re- sponsible for the details of title in the ensuing pages, and the general observations connected with them. This division of labour seems recognized and authorized by sections 7 and 8 of the further supplement to the preceeding HON. THOMAS COOPER. law, passed April 6, 1802 (State Laws, Svo. Ed., p. 204). By the law of 1799, the Commissioners were confined, in the prosecution of their duty, to such lands within the seventeen townships as were claimed under a Pennsylva- nia title, under a patent or location or warrant before the Decree at Trenton in which a survey had been executed and returned agreeably to Law (paragraph 1); nor had they any right to enter even upon such lands, unless they had been previously released to the State by the Pennsylvania claimant thereof (paragraph 5). But by paragraph 9 of the further Supplement to the last men- tioned Act, they were authorized to survey, value and certify not merely such parts and portions of the tracts of land claimed under the title of the Susquehanna Company within the seventeen townships as had been or might be released to the Commonwealth by the Pennsylvania claimants thereof, but the whole of each tract of land claimed by a Connecticut claimant who should estab- lish his title thereto in the manner prescribed by the Act of 4th April, 1799 whether released to the Commonwealth or not. This Supplement took away among other obstacles that which respected a part of the seventeen townships lying within what is called the 'New Purchase.' The manner prescribed by the Act of 4th April, 1799, is contained in the 5th paragraph of that Act, viz: '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 actual 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 Dccree agreeably to the regulations then in force among them.' The word 'required' appears to be a mistake in transcribing for 'acquired.' The Confirming Law (of March 27, 1787) which the Law of 1799 herein copies, has 'acquired.' Hence the Commissioners had authority to ascertain all the rights and lots which were either occupied by and assigned to Connecticut claimants before the Decree of Trenton, agreeably to the regulations then in force among them, or acquired by or assigned to Connecticut claimants before the said Decree, agreeahly to the same regulations, provided the persons so oc- cupying or acquiring were actual settlers there at or before the time of the said Decree.
"The Decree of Trenton was the 30th December, 1782.
"On this clause arises the following questions: Ist .- What were the regulations then in force among them, and how are they ascertained? 2nd .- What was occupancy of a right or a lot agreeably to those regulations? 3dly .- How were rights or lots acquired agreeable to those regu- lations? 4thly .- What is meant by 'settlers there'?
"1st. What were the regulations then in force among them? These were the Rules and Regulations of the Susquehanna Company in the public meetings of that company; and the Rules and Regulations of the Committees of that Company, resident at Wyoming and authorized to grant townships, decide on contested rights, &c., previous to the Decree of Trenton. For what was done by the Company or its Committees subsequent to that d:cree cannot now he considered as binding. The Commissioners procured, in the Summer of 1801, by means of Jesse Fell, Putnam Catlin, Lord Butler and Rosewell Welles, Esquires, from Col. John Franklin the known Clerk of the Company, a copy of those Rules and Regulations from 1754 to 1786, attested by Mr. Gray, the former Clerk, whose handwriting was known, and which bore evident marks of authenticity
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internally, and were officially transmitted by Colonel Franklin, and acknowledged by the above mentioned gentlemen, as the Rules and Regulations of the Susquehanna Company. This was one source of information on the subject. Besides this, Lord Butler, Esq., who was officially the Recorder and Register of Deeds after Timothy Pickering, Esq. since the change of jurisdiction, furnished the Commissioner with four volumes of the Records of Westmoreland; Vol. I paged from 1 to 622; Vol. II. from 623 to 1033; Vol. III. (containing the earliest records) from 1034 to 1397; and Vol. IV. from page 1 to 170-therefore by the Decree of Trenton and the change of jurisdiction at Wyoming all that part of the Connecticut claim was called the District of Westmoreland, and appears to have been annexed to the County of Litchfield in Connecticut. A Recorder of Deeds, as it should seem, was appointed, but no minute of such appointment appears at any time under any authority of the State of Connecticut. From the Fall of 1772, for many years, Ezekiel Pierce acted as Recorder; after him Colonel Franklin and Obadiah Gore, Esq., were severally appointed to that office. These appointments seem to have been under the sole authority of the Susquehanna Company to whose lands alone they related. How these volumes came into Mr. Butler's hands appears by his deposition respecting them, heretofore given. These Récords contain, interspersed, several Rules and Regulations of the Susquehanna Company's Committees; and this was another source of information to the Commissioners, as to the Rules and Regulations mentioned in the Act. Other information was procured by the examination of Obadiah Gore, Nathan Denison, and Mathias Hollenback, Esquires, now Judges of the Court of Common Pleas of Luzerne County who were actively engaged in the business of the Company from the commencement of the regular settlement of Wyoming soon after the year 1770, until the change of jurisdiction. Their information compared with that of Col. John Franklin (generally under oath) had enabled the Commissioners to judge with more accuracy of the validity or otherwise of several votes and resolutions of the Committees and sub-committees of the Company. It is from these sources that the Commissioners have been able to ascertain what were the 'Rules and Regulations' then in force among the Settlers.
"2nd. What was occupancy of a right or lot agreeable to those Rules and Regulations? (here follows description of rights, half rights, etc. * * *)
"3dly. How were lots or rights acquired under these regulations?
"Each township 5 miles square, and to contain 16,000 acres according to the custom in New England States-to be divided into 53 shares of 300 acres each, making 15,900 acres, it was con- venient to the Co. to grant half shares, 1 of which would entitle a holder to 300 acres in some township. This 53rd part of a township was therefore a whole right in the township, and a half share right under the Co. Such a township right was afterwards divided into lots according to the convenience and fancy of the owners of the several townships at public meetings for that purpose. Sometimes these lots were laid out at once and in one division of lots as in Northmoreland; sometimes in 2, 3, 4, or even 5 divisions of lots of various sizes, and at various distances of time as in Wilkesbarre, Plymouth, &c. These rights were occupied under the Rules and Regulations of the Susquehanna Company, either by the owner himself or by some person appointed by him, and subject to the privileges and limitations hereinafter mentioned. Of the 53 rights, 3 were public, whereof 1 was appropriated to the 1st. settling minister of the gospel; 1 to support ministry hereafter; 1 to support a school. The townships were divided into settling townships, viz: Wilkes- barre, Kingston, Plymouth, Hanover, Pittstown; Suffering townships-wherein rights lost or im- properly forfeited, were relaid and commuted-this was Providence; and Proprietary townships. These last included all the rest. Hence in the 5 settling townships each right was required to be settled; for it was held under the condition of manning the right by the claimant or some one for him. In the rest 20 rights manned in 3 years gave a title to the rest. It appears most clearly not only from the general testimony of all persons living at Wyoming during the War, of whom the Commissioners have had an opportunity of making inquiries, but from the general tenor of the votes of the company, and from the township resolutions of the 5 settling towns in particular, that the state of the County was such for many years as made it absolutely necessary for the sake of defense that the inhabitants should concentrate their force as much as possible and live as near together as they could. This was in fact settling the country in the best possible way for the time being; the best way for the general success of the country, but the most disadvantageous way for the settlers themselves, could they have helped it. In pursuing this investigation of title under the Connecticut (or rather under the Susquehanna Co.) much difficulty has arisen in consequence of the loss and destruction of public and private papers and documents during the War in this part of the country, and particularly in the destructive Summer of 1778, when on the 3rd of July the Wyoming Settlers were defeated by the Indians and British under the command of Col. John Butler, and above 300 of them killed. This defeat was followed by a general devastation, which made the preservation of title papers and minutes of public meetings an object of secondary concern. Hence the Commissioners had been compelled in very many instances to dispense with the production of papers which would otherwise have been insisted on, and accept of part evidence sere' 388.) * in their stead. (Adhering to the decisions relating to this subject-Whitfield vs. Fossett 1 Vis * * All the leading facts are recorded (in the Commissioners Minute-book.) Not that this record is necessary to establish any certificate they may give: those certificates will be given because the consciences of the Commissioners are satisfied that the persons in whose favor they are granted are entitled to them; not that this record should be used to impeach any certificate or to examine into the propriety of granting it, or to give any means or authority to the officers of the Land Office of investigating whether the Commissioners did right or wrong in establishing any title or granting any certificate, for this book does not contain all the reasons and motives that influenced the decisions, nor do the Commissioners mean it for this purpose; their certificate, and that alone, is the sufficient evidence to entitle the holder of it to a patent, and they
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protest against any use being made of the following records to re-examine before any other tribunal the Connecticut titles on which they have decided. *
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