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 IV > Part 11
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68
The first organized company of emigrants from the North of Ireland to America, of which we have any certain knowledge, ar- rived at Boston in 1718. In the years 1719 and 1720 five or more shipfuls of families from the North of Ireland were landed in New England; and during the next ten years thousands of emigrants from the North of Ireland arrived in America. These Scots-Irish brought with them to their new home their national characteristics-per- severance, energy, ambition, sturdy stubbornness ("dourness," they called it) and blunt speech. When they came to America they were not only the most industrious and virtuous, but they were as a whole, like the early settlers of New England, the best educated of the English speaking race.
"In the great Scots-Irish immigration of 1718-1720 there came over two Georges, two Samuels, a John and a James of the Dorrance family. They were brothers and cousins, and they settled near the Connecticut-Rhode Island boundary-line.
"In June, 1721, the town of Voluntown, Windham County, Connecticut, was formally and legally organized, and thirty-seven persons were admitted inhabitants. In September or October, 1722, the Rev. Samuel Dorrance received an informal request to preach to the people of Voluntown. He responded and on the 17th of December following, received from the town a formal invitation to preach "on trial" until May, 1723. He accepted this invitation the same day. His preaching was so satisfactory to the people that they met together in town-meeting April 17, 1723, and voted unani- REV. JOHN DORRANCE, D. D. monsly to extend a eall to Mr. Dorrance to become their pastor. At the same time a committee was appointed "to arrange for and oversee the building of a meeting-house and to select a spot for a burying-place."
"Mr. Dorrance accepted the call to Voluntown in July, 1723, and at a town-meeting held in the following month a committee of eight inhabitants was appointed to apply to the Congregational Association at its next meeting with
1860
respect to the ordination of Mr. Dorrance. Shortly thereafter the Association communicated its action to the Volun- town people in the following words:
".Whereas, Reverend Mr. Samuel Dorrance has laid before this Association his testimonials from several associa . tions in Scotland and Ireland of his being licensed to preach ye Gospel, and was a person of a sober and good conver sation: which credentials we give credit to and are well satisfied with-and you having unanimously chosen him for your minister * : * * we do hereby signify that we approve.' " * * *
"On October 10, 1723, the General Assembly of Connecticut granted liberty to the Voluntown inhabitants to form a Church, and five days later a fast was kept by the prospective Church members, preparatory to the ordination of their minister. A sermon was preached in the morning and one in the afternoon, after which such as were in full communion, and clothed with satisfactory testimonials, subscribed to certain obligations and the Westminster Con- fession of Faith.
"Some writers have stated that this Voluntown Church, 'thus adopting the Westminster Confes ion of Faith was the first and long the only Presbyterian Church in Connecticut.' This is undoubtedly an erroneous statement , for, although the Voluntown Church subscribed to the Westminister Confession, adopted the Presbyterian form of govern- ment, and in 1760, voted 'to remain Presbyterian,' the Church was never regularly Presbyterian, for it had no connec- tion with any Presbytery or Synod in this country or elsewhere. In the latter years of his life the Rev. Samuel Dor- rance declared that he had never sat in, or had any connection with, a Presbytery in this country.
"October 23, 1723, was fixed upon for the ordination of Mr. Dorrance, and invitations to be present at the ser- vices were sent to the Congregational ministers of New London, Plainfield, and other nearby places. 'But,' says Miss Larned, in her 'History of Windham,' 'On this day (October 23) a violent opposition was manifested. Various con- flicting elements were working among the people. A large number of new inhabitants had arrived during the Summer. Mr. Dorrance had been accompanied to New England by several families of Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, who had followed him to Voluntown and settled there, buying land in various localities. * *
* The advent of these foreigners -though men of good position and excellent character-was looked upon with great suspicion by the older settlers.' "The Congregational ministers assembled in Council at Voluntown on the day named, and were proceeding regular y to business, when a number of people appeared, determined to obstruct the ordination of Mr. Dorrance. In a riot- ous, disorderly and unchristian way, without waiting for prayer or ceremony, they presented the following remonstrance: 'We whose names are underwritten, do agree that one of our New England people may be settled in Voluntown to preach the gospel to us, and will oblige ourselves to pay him yearly, and will be satisfied, honoured gentlemen, that you choose one of us, to prevent unwholesome inhabitants-for we are afraid Popery and Heresy will be brought into the land.' "
"Great clamor and confusion followed. The members of the Council passed the day in hearing these opposers repeat their reasons over and over, and the next day, after having advised Mr. Dorrance 'to continue to preach and the people to endeavor a more regular and comfortable call,' they departed for their respective homes. Subsequently a new Council was summoned, which met at Voluntown December 12, 1723, when Mr. Dorrance was formally ordained and installed minister of Voluntown Church and township.
"We have gone thus fully into the history of the origin and beginning of the Voluntown Church for two reasons; First, to show that in early days in New England the matter of selecting a pastor for a Church was sometimes attended with contentions and dissensions of a somewhat bitter character. Second, because a considerable number of the first New England settlers in Wyoming Valley came from Voluntown, where they had sat under the min- istrations of the Rev. Samuel Dorrance (some of them being related to him by ties of either Venutus Acad consanguinity or marriage); and, having estab- Christiano Sectori' lished themselves here, became actively in- strumental in organizing the religious body Salutem which ultimately became The First Presby- terian Church of Wilkes-Barre.
"Mr. Dorrance continued to serve as min- ister of the Voluntown Church until March 5, 1771-a period of forty-seven years and more -when, in the eighty-sixth year of his life, he resigned his pastorate 'and was dismissed in peace.' He died at his home in North Volun- town, November 12, 1775, and was buried at Oneco, where his grave-stone is still standing. The Providence Gazette, of December 16, 1775, referring to the death of Mr. Dorrance, de- clared that 'he was a zealous Contender for the Faith once delivered to the Saints, and an Ornament to the Religion he professed.'
-
"The Rev. Samuel Dorrance was married (1st) at Voluntown, August 1, 1726, to Elizabeth Smith. She having died September 11, 1750, Mr. Dorrance was married (2d) at New London, Connecticut, July 1, 1775, to Mrs. Mary Owen, widow of the Rev. John Owen. By his first marriage Mr. Dorrance became the father of six sons and one daughter who grew to maturity. "At Windham, Connecticut-distant only a few miles from Voluntown-there was organ- ized. in July, 1753, by some 250 inhabitants of REV. SAMUEL DORRANCE'S SHEEPSKIN eastern Connecticut, an association under the , style and title of 'The Susquehanna Company. the object of which was to purchase from the Six Nation Indians, and settle upon and improve, a large tract of country lying along the Susquehanna River and known as the 'Wyoming region.' The Rev. Samuel Dorrance and two of his sons-Gershom and John-were original members of this Company, and were named among the grantees in the Indian deed which was executed at Albany, New York, in July, 1754. John Dorrance, aforenamed, settled in Wilkes-Barré in 1769, under the auspices of The Susquehanna Company, but later removed to Kingston Township, where, with some interruptions, he resided until his death in 1804.
"In the Autumn of 1773, George Dorrance (born March 7; 1736), third child of the Rev. Samuel and Elizabeth (Smith) Dorrance, removed from Voluntown to Wyoming Valley, and settled in Kingston Township. In 1774, he was Con table of the town of Westmoreland (Wyoming), and in 1776, was one of the Selectmen of the town. When the 24th (oc Westmoreland) Regiment of Connecticut militia was organized in 1775, with Zebulon Butler of Wilkes- Barré as its Colonel, George Dorrance was commissioned lieutenant of the 2d Company. In May, 1777, he was Major of the regiment, and in the following October was promoted Lient. Colonel. At the battle of Wyoming, July 3, 1778, he was wounded and captured by the enemy, who subsequently put him to death.
George Dorrance was married (Ist) at Voluntown, Janury 24, 1758, to Mary (born 1737), only daughter of Robert and Mary Wilson of Voluntown. Mrs. Dorrance having died February 19, 1765, Mr. Dorrance was married (2d) in 1766. to Elizabeth - of Windham County.
"The eldest child of this second marriage was Benjamin Dorrance, who was born in Windham County, in 1767. With his mother and other members of the family he fled from Wyoming after the surrender of Forty Fort, July 4, 1778, and proceeded to Windham County-remaining there until 1784 or '85, and then returning to Wyoming. He was Captain of 'The Wyoming Blues'-a Luzerne County Militia organization-in 1801, and in that year was elected Sheriff of Luzerne County. A few years later he was elected a County Commissioner. In July, 1807, he was elected and commissioned Lieut. Colonel, commanding the 35th Regiment, 9th Brigade, 2d Division, Pennsylvania Militia. This office he held for a number of years.
"Colonel Dorrance represented Luzerne County in the State Legislature for eight terms between 1807 and 1831. He was the first President of The Wyoming Bank (now The Wyoming National Bank) of Wilkes-Barre, holding the
1861
office from November, 1829, to November, 1830, and from May, 1831. to May 1832. He died suddenly at his home in what is now the borough of Dorranceton, in Kingston Township, August 24, 1837. In an obituary, printed in a Wilkes-Barré newspaper at the time of his death, occurred these words:
"If asked who, for the last half-century, has been the happiest man in the county, the county, I think, would say Colonel Dorrance. *
* * He was an extraordinary man; throughout life popular without envy, without an enemy, and never yielding his independence or integrity.'
Col. Benjamin Dorrance was married November 25, 1795, to Nancy Ann (born 1767; died 1834) daughter of Jedediah and Martha (Clark) Buckingham, and they became the parents of three sons-John, Charles and George, "John Dorrance, the eldest of these brothers, was born February 28, 1800, in what is now Dorranceton. He re- ceived his preparatory education in the schools of Kingston and in The Wilkes-Barre Academy-entering the latter in 1811. (Twenty-five years later he became one of the Trustees of the Academy.) In 1819 he entered the College of New Jersey (Princeton), from which he was graduated with the degree of A. B. in 1823. Three years later he received his A. M. degree, and in 1859, the honorary degree of Sacra Theologie Doctor (S. T. D.) was conferred upon him by his Alma Mater. A few months after his graduation from college, Mr. Dorrance matriculated as a student at Prince- ton Theological Seminary, where he spent three years in special preparation for the ministry.
"In the Autumn of 1825, having received a commission as a missionary to preach the gospel in Louisiana (which then had a population of less than 100,000 souls, and only fourteen years previously had been admitted to statehood in the Union), Mr. Dorrance set out from Wilkes-Barre for Louisiana on horseback, accompanied by the Rev. Zebulon Butler (a native of Wilkes-Barré) as a fellow-traveler and co-worker. In November, 1827, Mr. Dorrance was ordained to the ministry of the Presbyterian Church by the Presbytery of Mississippi, and was installed pastor of the Presby- terian Church at Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
"The next month (December 6, 1827) Mr. Dorrance was married, near Baton Rouge, to Penelope (born at Pitts- burgh, Pa., in 1807), daughter of Samuel Mercer, a native of Lancaster County, of Quaker ancestry. She had lived in Pittsburgh until about 1814, when, on the death of her father she had removed with her mother to Ohio to live with her maternal grandparents. When she met and married Mr. Dorrance, she was visiting her married sisters in Louisiana.
"Mr. Dorrance served as pastor of the Baton Rouge Church until the Summer of 1830, when, at the earnest solici- tation of his parents, he resigned his pastorate and, accompanied by his wife and two young children, returned to his parents' home in Kingston Township. There he remained about a year, in the meantime supplying vacant pulpits and doing missionary work along the upper Susquehanna and Lackawanna Rivers, in places remote from organized Churches.
"In 1831, he was called to be pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Wysox, Bradford County, Pennsylvania, and there he labored until called to the First Presbyterian Church of Wilkes-Barre, to succeed the Rev. Nicholas Murray, who had resigned in June, 1833.
"During the ensuing twenty years, and more, Mr. Dorrance's labors were not confined to Wilkes-Barre. He was, in the best sense of the word, a missionary, and his field extended from Nanticoke to Carbondale, on the east side of the Susquehanna. For a time he preached regularly at Nanticoke and Newport, at intervals at Pittston. and occasion- ally at Providence and other points in Lackawanna Valley. Men and women from Lackawanna (Pittston) and Pro- vidence (Scranton), communicants of the 'First' Church, journeyed to Wilkes-Barre on communion occasions, and were entertained over Sunday in the hospitable homes of the village.
"From 1833, until about 1842, Mr. Dorrance had, at one time or another. as missionaries under his charge in Wyo- ming and Lackawanna Valleys, the Reverends Thomas Owen, John Turbot, Orrin Brown, John Rhodes and Isaac Todd. They gave special attention to the Lackawanna field, and in February, 1842, through the exertions of Mr. Dorrance. a Presbyterian congregation was organized at what is now Scranton, was called the Church of Lackawanna, and embraced a membership scattered all the way from Providence to Pittston. In 1846, largely through the influence of Mr. Dorrance-who bought and paid for the lot on which the building was erected-a house of worship was built in Pittston. A Church having been duly organized, the Rev. N. G. Parke (who had come to Wyoming Valley at the instance of Mr. Dorrance in 1844, and since then had been preaching at various points in and near the valley) was installed as pastor, in June, 1847. The Church was incorporated as 'The First Presbyterian Church of Pittston,' January 22, 1848. When Mr. Parke was installed the understanding was that he should preach at Pittston in the morn- ing and in the afternoon at Harrison (rechristened Scrantonia, in April, 1850, and finally named Scranton, in January, 1851), on each Sunday.
"In October, 1848, what is now The First Presbyterian Church of Scranton, was organized by Messrs. Dorrance and Parke, and was incorporated as 'The Presbyterian Congregation of Scrantonia,' November 6, 1850.
"During all these years, when Mr. Dorrance was working hard to build up and strengthen his Wilkes-Barré con- gregation, and at the same time was traveling up and down Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys, and preaching the gospel in school-houses and private residences, he was in receipt of the munificent salary of $500. per annum.
"Owing to the incompleteness of the records, the number of communicants who united with the Church during Dr. Dorrance's ministry of twenty-eight years cannot now be given accurately; but, as stated by him in a sermon delivered on the twenty-fifth anniversary of his pastorate. in 1858, there had been received up to that time 540, of whom 370 were on profession of their faith, and 170 by letters from other churches.
"'One of the most important results perhaps, of Dr. Dorrance's work,' wrote his daughter, Mrs. G. Murray Rey- nolds, in 1898, 'was the large number of young men who, through his influence, were led into the ministry. Among them were Prof. John W. Sterling, Henry H. Welles, John Brown. Alexander Dilley, Henry Rinker, John F. Baker, Charles J. Collins, A. D. L. Jewett, William M. Baker, Benjamin C. Dorrance, Evan Evans and Theodore Byington.'
"Dr. Dorrance also took an active part in educational matters. As previously mentioned, he was a Trustee of The Wilkes-Barre Academy as early as 1836. From 1841 until his death, he was a Trustee of Lafayette College. In 1850, he became one of the corporators, and. President of the Board of Trustees, of the Luzerne Presbyterial Institute, at Wyoming. In 1854 he was one of the corporators of the Wilkes-Barre Female Institute (now the Wilkes-Barre Institute), and continued to be a member of its Board of Trustees until his death.
"In 1849, the church edifice which had been dedicated in 1833, at the beginning of Dr. Dorrance's pastorate was torn down, and on its site was erected the brick building which, with some modifications, has been owned and occupied by The Osterhout Free Library, since the Summer of 1888. This building, which cost in the neighborhood of $15,000 (raised mainly through the efforts of Dr. Dorrance,) was dedicated in December, 1851. While it was in course of con- struction the congregation worshipped in 'Old Ship Zion' on Public Square.
"Dr. Dorrance died, April 18, 1861, after a brief illness, at his residence on South Franklin Street, where his wife had died January 7, 1860. In the newspapers of the town only a brief announcement of his death was printed. In view of his activities and prominence in the community for twenty-eight years this seems very surprising, until we recall the fact that, only six days previously, the American Civil War had been begun by the attack on Fort Sumter; and that on the morning of the day Dr. Dorrance died, the first company of Wyoming Valley volunteers to join the Union forces at 'the front' set out from Wilkes-Barre, for Harrisburg. The local newspapers, apparently, had little space then for anything but war news.
Dr. and Mrs. Dorrance were the parents of seven children, who grew to maturity, as follows: (i) Frances Gertrude, born January 23, 1840: married October 27, 1852, to John Colt Beaumont of Wilkes-Barré, who at the time of his death , in 1882, was a Rear Admiral in the United States Navy; she died June 15, 1855. (ii) Benjamin Charles, born November 8, 1832; died February 2. 1859, unmarried, at the residence of his parents in Wilkes-Barré. (iii) John Breckinridge, born June 1, 1834; died October 18, 1855, unmarried. (iv) James Mercer, born August 10, 1836; he be- came a student at Lafayette College, Class of 1855, and spent three years there. He died at the home of his parents, March 22, 1855, only a few months prior to the graduation of his class. (v) Charles Buckingham, born January 1. 1839; entered the United States Navy; killed in action at Mobile Bay, October 9, 1864. (vi) Stella Mercer, born December 3, 1840 ; married May 4, 1866 to G. Murray Reynolds; died at Wilkes-Barré, November 13, 1904. (vii) Emily Augusta, born September 1, 1844; married July 18, 1865, to Alexander Farnham ; died February 7, 1909.
"(ii) Benjamin Charles Dorrance was graduated at the College of New Jersey (Princeton) in 1852, with the degree of A. B. Three years later he received the honorary degree of A. M. Shortly thereafter he entered the ministry of the Presbyterian Church. Owing to ill health he went to Minnesota. in the latter part of 1857, and remained there until July, 1858, when he returned to Wilkes-Barre. Upon learning of his death the Minneapolis Journal printed the following concerning him;
1862
"Dr. Dorrance extended the field of his labors throughout the county, preaching for a tiine regularly at Nanticoke and Newport, also at regular intervals at Pittston and Providence, and intermediate points in the Valley of the Lackawanna, thus holding the ground and preparing the way for missionaries and the organization of Churches. The influence of the Church was much extended and several Churches were afterwards organized within the localities thus visited: one in Tunkhannock and one in Falls, Wyoming County, and one in Providence, composed mainly of members of this Church resident in that neighborhood. Out of the Providence Church soon afterwards grew the Church of Scranton and the Church of Pittston. At a later period a Church organization was effected at White Haven, and the Coalville chapel was established, now the Pres- byterian Church of Ashley.
Dr. Dorrance was assisted in these labors, and in other missionary work in this region, by several missionaries stationed here from time to time under his charge, among them were the Revs. Thomas Owen, John Turbot, Orrin Brown, John Rhoades and Isaac Todd. Their field of labor was chiefly the upper Susquehanna and vicinity.
Under the auspices of this Church also, the Wilkes-Barre Female Institute was established in 1854, and a substantial brick building was erected for the purposes of the school at a cost of about $12,000. During Dr. Dorrance's ministry the frame building that had served as a house of worship since 1833, was removed, and on its side was erected a handsome brick structure. The building was begun in 1849 and finished soon afterward at a cost of $15,000. It was occupied by the congregation until 1888.
The Methodist congregation appears to have used the second floor room of the Court House from approximately 1822 to 1831, as during that period the meeting house was almost invariably referred to as the "Presbyterian Church." The exclusive use of the larger building by the latter congregation was not however, without protest on the part of the Methodists.
Minutes of the latter Society show that on October 25, 1829, a meeting of members of that church as well as others interested, was held in the Court House to consider "the manner in which the Wilkes-Barre Meeting House was occupied." The meeting appointed a committee to determine if "even justice" was being done by the Presbyterians in excluding other societies from a joint use of the building and the following letter was drafted to those who had com- posed the building committee of "Old Ship Zion" at the time of its completion : "To Gen. Ross, David Richards and Maj. E. Blackman :
"Gentlemen,
"The undersigned were appointed a committee on behalf of the Meth. Ep. Church to as- certain whether this Church has a right to hold meetings of Religious worship in the Wilkesbarre Meeting House-and to obtain this information it is highly necessary that we have a list of the names of those persons who subscribed towards building said House. Learning that you composed the Committee that superintended its erection we deem it expedient to ask you to furnish us with such list of names, or such part of them as may be practicable.
"Your immediate attention to this subject is respectfully requested.
"Signed JON. BULKELEY GILBERT BARNES LEWIS WORRELL ZIBA BENNETT SHARP D. LEWIS
"Nov. 9, 1829."
Committee.
Evidently the former building committee complied with this request, as later the Society's investigators addressed a letter to each person, or his representatives, who had contributed to the original building, the list being as follows:
"NATHAN PALMER. BENJAMIN PERRY, TIMOTHY BEHEE, ANDERSON DANA, PUTNAM CALLIN, EBENEZER SLOCUM DOCT. DAVIS,
'REUBEN DOWNING, GARRICK MALLERY, CHESTER and JOHN BUTLER, Administrators of Estate of L. Butler, dec'd. WM. L. BOWMAN, Ad. of S. Bowman dec'd.
"This announcement, though not altogether unexpected, will be read by many in Minneapolis and St. Anthony with tender sadness. The deceased came here a perfect stranger in the early part of last Winter, and remained till the beginning of July By his untiring efforts in seeking out and collecting the scattered members of the Presbyterian Church and inspiring them to work for the building up of a Church of their own; and by his faithful preaching and earnest, edifying prayers, as well as by his uniformly kind, cheerful intercourse with the people, he won the respect of all who knew him.' "
1863
STEPHEN TUTTLE, Rep. of S. Tuttle, dee'd.
GEORGE DENISON. DOCT. MINER, JAS. W. BOWMAN, Ad. of E. Bowman, dee'd.
JEHOIDA P. JOHNSON.
SAMUEL PEASE,
WM. Ross,
JOHN W. ROBINSON.
DAVID RICHARDS.
JOSEPH SLOCUM,
NATHAN WALLER,
AMASA DANA, ALVIN DANA,
Heirs of Aricd Dana, dec'd.
JOSIAH WRIGHT, Heir of Thos. Wright, dec'd.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.