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 96
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At another time a great dinner was in progress in this room. Talon's butler, always too fond of the wine which he served, spilled some soup on a guest; as he had been repeatedly reprimanded for similar offenses, his master's anger knew no bounds. Yet servants were not plenty in Asylum so Talon called for his faithful friend and land steward, Laporte, and said "Will you serve as butler?" Laporte protested, but Talon refused to forgive the offender, and the feast went on with the wine merchant serving in Wallois' place." From Mrs. Murray's "Azilum."
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Indeed, Asylum became a matter of great curiosity to the whole Susque- hanna basin. The reputed wealth of its inhabitants, their refined style of living, the character of goods for sale in the shops, the flavor of old world romance about it, made the settlement a stopping place for all who travelled. In 1794, Antoine Le Favre was licensed by the Luzerne County Court as an innkeeper at Asylum. He had been proprietor of one of the famous cafés of Paris and pres- ently the reputation of the well furnished table, presided over by Madame LeFavre, had spread far and wide. A year later, a like license was granted to M. Heraud, and in 1797, two more innkeepers, Peter Regnier and John Becdel- liere, procured the Court's permission to cater to the wayfarer's needs at Asylum.
However impractical most of the efforts of the colonists proved in their struggle with the wilderness, they left an impression upon those about them in the character of roads they built, in the cultivation of beautiful gardens, in the establishment of schools, and in their love of music and the arts .* A highway southward to Dushore is still an artery of travel and retains the name of the "French road."
At the height of its fame, Asylum contained not more than fifty houses. But for almost a decade, it was perhaps the most unique settlement in America. Its disintegration was, as had been its beginning, an effect of European politics.
Its settlers had come, not of their own free choice, but to preserve their lives. Most of them never adapted themselves in the slightest degree to frontier life, nor came into association with their American neighbors. When political conditions made possible their return to France, Asylum must have seemed to them a crudely fashioned dream.
As France returned to a sane conclusion that the absence of so large a portion of its population meant the upending of economic conditions, measures looking to a repeal of prescriptive decrees and the restoration of forfeited es- tates were undertaken. The year 1798 saw the first withdrawals from the colony. Gradually these withdrawals became more frequent until merely a handful of the colony was left to take up farming as a serious occupation of life and to abandon an enterprise, the material evidences of which were soon to crumble into decay. The financial affairs of the Company which fostered the settlement were left in bad shape. The reverses of Robert Morris, as well as of John Nichol- son, can be laid almost at the door of this unprofitable adventure. In 1808, a deed of trust for all the property of the Asylum Company was executed to Archi- bald McCall, John Ashley and Thomas Ashley, empowering them to dispose of its property for the benefit of the Company. It was not until 1843, however, that the residue of unsold lands was finally disposed of to the Hon. William Jessup, of Montrose.
What was quite as important an event to Wilkes-Barré, as it proved to Asylum in the summer of 1797, was the visit of the Duke of Orleans, afterward to become Louis Philippe, King of France, accompanied by his two younger brothers.
In Claypool's Daily Advertiser, Philadelphia, October 25, 1796, there appeared in the "shipping intelligence" column the following item:
"In the America, Capt. Erving, Hamburg, 27 days, came, 24 October, ten passengers. Among them is L. P. B. Orleans, eldest son of the ci-devant Egalite, and distinguished in the French Revolution as a Lieut. General at the battle of Jamappes and the final flight of the cele- brated Dumouriez."
*In June of 1923, there was discovered under the floor of a delapidated building known as the "Cole house" at Macedonia, Asylum township, an unfinished bust, nearly lifesize, of what is judged to be a likeness of Louis Philippe as he appeared during his visit. It was the work of a master craftsman for which Asylum was noted and was carved from native oak. The carving, together with other interesting relics of the Colony is preserved in the Tioga Point Museum.
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He was then twenty-three years of age and had sought the shores of America in compliance with the requirements of the French Directory.
DAVID HAYFIELD CONYNGHAM 1750-1834
The ship America was owned by the firm of Conyngham and Nesbitt, then and for many years thereafter one of the most extensive mercantile es- tablishments of Philadelphia. For a time after his arrival, "L. P. B. Orleans" or the Duke of Orleans, was the guest of Mr. David Hayfield Conyngham,* a member of the firm, at the latter's home on Spruce street.
In February, 1797, the Duke was joined by his brothers, the Duke de Montpensier, age seventeen, and Count de Beaujolais, age twenty-one, after their release from the political prison at Marseilles.
Senex, in his "Interesting Reminiscences" states that the three exiles set out for Luzerne County on horseback, in the summer of 1797.
*David Hayfield Conyngham was the father of Hon. John Nesbitt Conyngham, for so many years a resident of Wilkes-Barre and President Judge of the Courts of Luzerne County.
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Whether the royal brothers visited Wilkes-Barre on their way to and from Asylum, or only upon returning from a two weeks' stay with their country- men of the colony, is a matter upon which historians differ.
Confirming the Senex statement, there is contained in a sketch of the old Arndt Tavern, (mentioned hereinafter) a narrative as follows:
"The visit of the princes to Asylum was mainly to see and confer with Matthias Hollen- back, he having been selected by Robert Morris to arrange for their permanent house in America should that become their fate. They visited Wilkes-Barre on the way up and also returned, coming in on the old Sullivan road, stopping here to rest."
During the period of his ambassadorship to France, when Louis Philippe was King, Lewis F. Cass in "France, its King and its People," becomes authority for what is probably the real record of the journeyings of the brothers in the summer of 1797. From correspondence, he shows that upon leaving Philadelphia, the three, accompanied by one servant and equip- ped as western traders, made the journey to Pittsburgh on horseback. Thence they pro- ceeded on foot to Niagara Falls and on to Can- andaigua where they visited Thomas, the son of Robert Morris. At Newtown, now Elmira, N. Y., they lodged for ten days with Henry Towar, a French innkeeper. Towar fitted them out, according to the Cass narrative, with a Durham boat in which they descended the Chemung to Tioga Point, thence proceed- ing down the Susquehanna to Asylum.
While at Asylum they were entertained at the "Queen's House" with fetes and hunt- ing parties and many social gatherings. Talon was not at this time the directing head, nor even a member of the colony. Its financial affairs were beginning to show the strain of loose management, and this doubtless in- fluenced the royal guests in a decision not to remain there.
THE DUKE OF ORLEANS. LATER LOUIS PHILIPPE, KING OF FRANCE (Courtesy Louise Welles Murray.)
But that they did visit Wilkes-Barré at least upon their return to Phila- delphia, is beyond controversy. Strange as it may now appear, there is little of local record descriptive of this visit. True, the Duke of Orleans was not then in direct line for the crown of France, even if the monarchy should be re- stored. Furthermore, Wilkes-Barré had become so accustomed to visits of members of distinguished families of France, in connection with the unusual settlement to the northward, that the particular visit in question excited no unusual comment. The struggling local newspaper of the time carried no men- tion of the arrival, and no faithful diarist, like Colonel Pickering, then recorded his impressions, of so notable an event, to be preserved as a heritage among a mass of papers.
The brothers stopped for several days at the Arndt Tavern, on South River street, which then stood ou the site of the present Darling residence, and com- manded the best the tavern's host could place at their disposal. In the Senex "Reminiscences" it is narrated that the tavern was kept by a "Mr. Morgan."
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This is in error, as John P. Arndt then, and for many years thereafter, was its proprietor. What evidently confused Senex was the later marriage of one of the daughters of Mr. Thomas Morgan, to David Wilmot, of Towanda, (in a room in the old tavern which was pointed out in later years with great pride by both townspeople and proprietor as the one which had been used as a parlor by Louis Phillippe). Mr. Morgan was at that time proprietor of the tavern. David Wil- mot was the author of the famous "Proviso," an historical episode in the pro- tracted slavery contest between States.
A year after the publication of his "History of Lodge 61, F. and A. M., of Wilkes-Barré," in 1897, the late Oscar J. Harvey came upon some hitherto unknown correspondence of the period which indicated that prominent members of that Lodge undertook to make the visit of the royal brothers as interesting and comfortable as possible during their brief stay.
Louis Philippe was a Free Mason, having been admitted to a lodge in Paris in 1792. His father, the notorious "Egalite," then Duke of Orleans, was at that time Grand Master of Masons in France.
In the year 1797, Lodge No. 61, F. and A. M., of Wilkes-Barré, was three years old. It numbered sixteen members, and its meeting place was the home of Captain John Paul Schott, on North Main street.
Louis Philippe visited this lodge during his Wilkes-Barré stay. The Duke who could, and did in time, effectively display all the dignity of a French monarch, seems to have produced a favorable impression wherever he went.
The only account of incidents of his visit, preserved by older historians of the Wyoming region, is found in Peck's "Wyoming," page 99. It, and much other data of his volume written in 1858, was based on statements made by Mrs. H. D. Alexander, a daughter of Capt. William McKerachan, killed at Wyoming. In referring to her Peck states: "To Mrs. Alex- ander, a stepdaughter of Judge Hollenback we are greatly indebted and we owe many thanks to her granddaughter, Miss E. P. Alexander for a beautiful manuscript, in which these facts are neatly and comprehensively written down." In its issue of June 27, 1878, the Wilkes-Barre Leader published some of this manuscript of Miss Alexander under the title "A Sketch of the Arndt Tavern" in which the following appears: "They dined at Col. Hollenback's. All that met them on that occasion were delighted with them. * * * The future king was rather despondent and absorbed. The others were more lively, especially the Duke de Mont- pensier, who was very affable and lighthearted. She (Mrs. Alexander) mentioned him particularly as being dressed entirely in white, his cravat and ruffles being of costly lace, were the envy and admiration of the ladies of the household. They returned to the Valley by boat and proceeded to New York from thence soon after (1800)
ABILUN
BOULDER AND TABLET MARKING THE SITE OF THE PUBLIC SQUARE A1 ASYLUM
The tablet is inscribed as follows:
This monument is erected to commemorate and perpetuate the memory and deeds of the French Royalist Refugees who escaped from France and the horrors of its revolution and from the revolution in San Domingo settled here in 1793 and located and laid out the town of ASYLUM under the auspices of the Viscount de Noailles and Marquis Antoine Omer Talon In 1796, Louis Philippe, Duke of Orleans afterward King of France, visited here. The Prince de Talleyrand The Duke de la Rochefoucauld de Liancourt and many other distinguished Frenchmeu were visitors or residents for a short time, at Asylum
Erected in 1916, by John W. Mix and Charles d'Autremont, Jr.
descendants of French refugee settlers
Land donated by George Laporte heirs.
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sailing to England. Another celebrated party who were 'put up' at the old tavern were Herman Blennerhasset with his beautiful and accomplished wife. It was after their downfall and ruin as prominent victims of Aaron Burr's treasonable conspiracy. On their way to Montreal they came here to see the sister of Mrs. Blennerhasset, Mrs. Dow, who lived upon a farm long known by their name, situated in what is now the borough of Ashley."
Another who met him narrated that "though his voice was far from melo- dious, he spoke in a pleasing tone without the slightest suggestion of that con- densation peculiar to the elders of his family." "This" continued the narrator, "with a kindly twinkle of the eye, constituted an expression which quickly dis- pelled all awe-inspiring notions of royalty in general."
In "Some Early Recollections," a paper read before the Wyoming His- torical and Geological Society, November 16, 1917, by the Hon. George R. Bedford, and printed in Vol. XVI, of the publications of that Society, the fol- lowing account of the visit is given :
"Near sunset on a summer day in 1797, a small boat was moored at the river's shore and three distinguished looking strangers debarked and sought lodging at the old tavern. The strangers, it transpires, were princes born in sunny France, Louis Philippe, Duke of Orleans, who later became King of the French, and his two brothers, Duke of Montpensier and Count Beaujolais, exiles compelled to leave their native land, then struggling in the throes of revolu- tion. They were at the time on their return to Philadelphia from a visit to the French refugee settlement at Asylum. More than fifty years later, at an audience granted by the King to George Catlin, the Indian painter, who was a native of Wilkes-Barré, the king referred to his sojourn in America and incidentally to his visit to Asylum, and his stay "at a little village named Wilkes-Barré," when Catlin, very much interested, exclaimed, "Why, that was my native place."
While the French colony at Asylum left but little permanent impress upon the trend of events in Luzerne County, and seems to have escaped all but the briefest notice at the hands of the American public in general, world events of the last decade of the eighteenth century thrust themselves prominently before the country. Such outside newspapers as were brought to Wyoming were passed from home to home and from settlement to settlement. The rise of the French republic was greeted with rejoicing, although the violence and excesses of its accomplishment were deplored.
But what was of more immediate concern, was the mighty contest then raging on land and sea between England and France. As the contest assumed the character, more and more definitely marked, of a struggle for ascendancy in the rule of the world, the feelings and judgments of thoughtful men in America were put to the severest test. It was apparent to the reflecting mind that the ultimate success of neither of the contestants boded well for the United States. If France should become the master of Europe, its imperial sway would brook no delay in becoming the master of America. The whole course of that power proved that it considered the aid rendered the United States in accomplishing their severance from British dominion as giving it a title to demand their subserviency. On the other hand, if England, as the champion of thrones should prevail, and the old regime be everywhere reestablished, the chances seemed small for a single republican experiment, not yet cemented into the strength of maturity, being able to survive.
Yet the very nature of the contest made it impossible for the United States to side with either cause, and Washington, as well as his advisors, announced a policy of strict neutrality which, under no circumstances was to be violated.
France was mortally offended that the United States would not make common cause with her. She had expected and claimed an active alliance for the aid she had given America in its war for independence. Naturally a majority of Americans sympathized with France, and for a time the French Party, as it
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became known, seemed to sway all but Washington and his immediate counsellors.
Exploiting this sentiment in her favor, and considering that high officials of the government stood alone in opposing her designs, France appointed am- bassadors who, in the most insolent and audacious manner, ignored the funda- mentals of established diplomatic relationships, and entered into correspondence, conference and co-operation with the party opposed to the administration. More- over, they openly violated American law in purchasing and fitting ont vessels in American ports, to cruise against the commerce of nations with whom we were at peace.
In the year 1797, the difficulties of the United States Government with France, consequent upon the ratification of Jay's treaty with Great Britain, reached a point little short of war. Through fear of a French invasion in 1798, additions were made to the regular army, and further additions were provision- ally authorized. President Adams appointed General Washington Commander- in-chief, with the rank of Lieutenant General, and Alexander Hamilton was appointed Inspector General, with the rank of Major General.
During the years 1798 and 1799, there was great excitement throughout the country, and the patriotic impulses of citizens were everywhere and on all occasions, encouraged and stimulated: the orator on the platform, the clergy- man in the pulpit, and the Judge on the bench, engaging in political and patri- otic harangues to the people when opportunities were afforded. July 3, 1798, a general meeting of the militia officers of Luzerne County was held at the Court House, in Wilkes-Barré, "for the purpose of taking proper action upon the sub- ject of enrolling and organizing the militia for active service." Gen. Simon Spalding, of Sheshequin, was elected President, and resolutions were passed with great enthusiasm, declaring among other things, that "no sensations of gratitude, no relics of enthusiasm, remain to distract us from our duty as American citizens to our country." The officers present then proceeded to formally offer their services to the State "whenever the emergency arises in which she needs them."
The following is a portion of a charge delivered to the Grand Jury, in the Court House at Wilkes-Barré, at August Sessions, 1798, by the Hon. Jacob Rush, the first President Judge of the Courts of Luzerne County. This charge, compared with charges delivered by Judges in our day, may be characterized as quite extraordinary and unique :
"Gentlemen of the Grand Jury: I congratulate you on the dissolution of the political ties that have been the means of connecting us for several years with the French Nation. Thank Heaven, the Gordian knot is at last cut, and we are separated, I trust, forever!
"The 17th day of July, Congress, hy law, disannulled our treaties with that country, and declared them to he no longer binding upon the United States. It would take up too much time, and is foreign to my present purpose, to go into a full detail of the numerous reasons that have long required, and now fully justify, this procedure on the part of our Government. From the date of our treaties with France, in the year 1778, no event occurred between the two Nations worthy of notice till the commencement of the war in Europe. The French are, I believe, the first Nation upon earth that have publicly renounced the obligatory force of treaties, and assumed the profligate position that they may be broken whenever the circumstances of either party may require it.
"It is one thing to transgress the laws of truth and virtue, and another to maintain the lawfulness of the action. The very Algerines and Savages would blush at the thought. * * * Having in vain endeavored to drag us into the vortex of the European war, they have since sys- tematically pursued a plan for the extirpation of our commerce."
The Judge then referred to the infidelity of the French people, to the laxity of their marriage and divorce laws, to their abolishing the Sabbath, etc., and continued as follows: ·
"Our country has been too long allied to France! It was the connection of unsuspecting youthful virtue with an old bawd, at one period disguised in the robes of Monarchy, at another
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in the less fascinating garb of a Republican dress-but invariably the same. Let us, however, gentlemen, indulge the animating hope that the period of our deliverance from this complication of evils is dawning upon us. The 17th day of July draws a line, and tears up the foundation of our National connection. Hail, auspicious day! Henceforth the absurd claim of National grati- tude will be no longer rung in our ears by ungenerous benefactors. Let the 17th of July be had in everlasting remembrance! Upon the anniversary of that day let the voice of joy and gratitude be heard through our land. From calamities infinitely more to be dreaded than those commem- orated upon the 4th of July, it is calculated to secure us. The one shielded us only from political dependence and subjection, but the other, we flatter ourselves, will be the means of saving us from religious, moral and political destruction."
To this charge the Grand Jury presented a reply, beginning:
"Hon. Jacob Rush-Sir: We thank you for the address delivered to us at the opening of the present Court. It contains sentiments so just, principles so well founded and correct, that we take much pleasure in approbating the charge," -- etc.
This was signed by Capt. Samuel Bowman, Capt. Eleazer Blackman, Cornelius Cortright, Naphtali Hurlbut, and fifteen others who composed the Grand Jury.
Failing to induce this government to declare war against her enemies, and becoming jealous of the growing intimacy between us and England, the object of her inveterate hate, France adopted measures destructive of the com- merce and derogatory to the honor of the United States. She dismissed the American minister, and her ships of war captured and confiscated several of our merchant vessels. The United States, after several attempts at negotiation had failed, prepared for war. Hostilities commenced in January, 1799, on the ocean, by the surprise and capture of the American sloop of war Retaliation, Lieutenant Bainbridge, by the French frigate Insurgent of forty guns. In February following, the United States frigate Constellation, of thirty-two guns, Captain Truxtun, fell in with and engaged the Insurgent, and in one hour and a half com- pelled her to strike her colors. In a few days after, the Constellation engaged the French frigate Vengeance, of fifty-four guns. The engagement lasted from eight o'clock in the evening until one in the morning following. The Vengeance struck her flag twice, but on account of the darkness of the night it was unper- ceived by Truxtun. The Constellation lost her mainmast, and being unable to make pursuit, the Vengeance escaped, but with great loss.
On the 25th of January, 1799, Samuel Bowman was commissioned by President Adams, Captain in the Provisional Army, and in April he received from the Adjutant-General of the Army a copy of the "Rules for the Recruiting
Service." He immediately set about enlisting recruits and organizing his company, and in order to expedite matters he inserted in The Wilkesbarre Gazette of May 11, 1799, and posted in public places, printed on large sheets, the fol- lowing advertisement :
"To all brave, healthy, ablebodied and well disposed young men, who have any inclination to join the troops now raising under General Washington for the defense of the Liberties and Inde- pendence of the United States against the hostile designs of Foreign Enemies,-Take Notice! That constant attendance will be given by Capt. Samuel Bowman at the house of Jesse Fell in Wilkesbarre, with recruiting parties of his company belonging to Maj. John Adlum's battalion of the 11th regiment of infantry. * * *
"The encouragement to enlist is truly liberal and generous, vis., a bounty of $12, an annual and fully sufficient supply of good and handsome clothing, a daily allowance of a large and ample ration of provisions, together with $60 a year in gold and silver money.
"Those who may favor the recruiting party with their attendance as above, will have an opportunity of hearing and seeing, in a more particular manner, the great advantages which these brave men will have, who shall embrace this opportunity of spending a few happy years in viewing the different parts of this beautiful continent, in the honorable and truly respectable character of a soldier; after which he may, if he pleases, return home to his friends, with his pockets full of money, and his head covered with laurels.
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