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 V > Part 21
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This factor was, of course, destroyed in 1861, when the whole Nation divided into two contending factions, and no higher power was at hand to mediate or intervene.
Probably the most authentic historical narrative of Plymouth yet written is Hendrick B. Wright's "Sketches of Plymouth," which appeared in 1773. Students are especially referred to this excellent work. The first mills in Plymouth Township were built in 1780, Benjamin Harvey building a log gristmill on Harvey's Creek, and Robert Faulkner building another on Shupp's Creek. In the same year the first sawmill was erected on Ransom's Creek, by Hezekiah Roberts. Fifteen years later, in 1795, Samuel Marvin built a sawmill on Whittlesey's Creek. The first store was opened by Benja- min Harvey, Jr., in 1774, in the log house of his father. When the son went into the Continental Army, the father sold the stock and closed the store. Extraordinary as it may seem, Plymouth had no other store until thirty-two years later. Then, in 1808, Joseph Wright, father of Henry B. Wright, opened a small store in the Wright homestead. Goods were brought overland in Conestoga wagons from Easton, or by Durham boat, from Sunbury.
Frame houses probably began to be built in Plymouth in 1795, or soon afterwards. The first stone house was Mr. Coleman's, built in 1806. In this house the first coal burned for domestic purposes in the township was set afire by Abijah Smith, the pioneer coal operator. This probably occurred in 1808, after Jesse Fell had demonstrated in his Wilkes-Barre tavern that anthra- cite coal would burn in an open grate. Abijah Smith boarded in the Coleman house. The first brick house built in Plymouth was by Matthias Nesbitt, in 1817. The first tavern in the township was probably that kept by Widow Heath.
The first township officers were Phineas Nash, David Marvin, and J. Gay- lord, elected in December, 1774, to act for the Plymouth District of the origi- nal Town of Westmoreland. At that time the whole of the Wyoming Valley was, strictly speaking, one town, though each settlement had its separate "district" officers. The other original officers of the "Plymouth District" were: Samuel Ransom, selectman : Asaph Whittlesey, collector of rates; Elisha Swift, Samuel Ransom, and Benjamin Harvey, surveyors of highways; John Baker and Charles Gaylord, viewers of fences ; Elisha Swift and Gideon Bald- win, listers, to make enrollments; Phineas Nash and Thomas Heath, grand jurors ; Timothy Hopkins, tything man; Thomas Heath, key keeper. It was the duty of the key keeper to carry the keys of the church, fort, school- house, pound and swing-gate. The office was not altogether a sinecure, for in the early morning the key keeper must unlock the swing-gate, to permit the men and boys to go to their farming lands, and when the last had passed through at sundown, he must lock it. As poundmaster, also, there were times when his duties caused him some trouble and other expense, for any cattle that ran at large during the day could be impounded, and the owner fined, both of them awkward tasks at times.
The population of Plymouth Township was only 3,558 in 1920, but it has developed several communities of importance. The borough of Plymouth had a population of 16,500 in 1920; Larksville was a borough of 9,438 inhabitants in 1920. West Nanticoke, across Harvey's Creek from Nanticoke, has gone ahead with that borough, now, since 1925, indeed, a city.
In 1926, the supervisors of Plymouth Township were: Jacob Sprow, John Pokego, and William Ives. Number of taxables: 1,705. Assessed valuation : $3,853,716. President of school board: Mason Cragle. Principal: Thomas McCarthy. Thirty-four teachers, including nine for high school.
Pringle Township-See Pringle Borough.
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Ross Township was formed in 1842, territory being taken from Union and Lehman townships for the purpose. It is mainly rugged upland, but, never- theless, has yielded some good farming acreage.
The first settler was Abram Kitchen, who came in 1795, it is said. There is, however, record that Daniel Devore was in the territory in 1793. The place as pioneer is claimed for him. He lived to the venerable age of one hun- dred and four years. Timothy Aaron and Jacob Meeker settled near Grassy Pond in 1796. Four years later, they sold their farms to G. M. Pringle and Hiram Berth. Archibald Berth, a British soldier of the Revolution, settled in the same year, 18co. John Wandell, another Revolutionary veteran, also came in 1800.
An Irish community grew at a place at first known as Broadway, but later given a post office name more descriptive of its people. As "Irish Lane" this place of the Crocket, Irwin, Holmes, and other immigrant families from Ire- land comes creditably into township records.
The first store was at Bloomingdale. It was opened by Alvin Wilkinson, in 1835. Sweet Valley was the place at which the first schoolhouse was built. in 1820. The first teachers were Joseph Moss and Anna Turner. The first merchant here was Josiah Ruggles.
The early decades of Ross Township were spent mainly in lumbering. In 1865, there were five sawmills active in the township, the stand of timber being thick. With the clearing of the forest, however, the population decreased. It has less inhabitants now than fifty years ago.
In 1926, the supervisors of the township were: Joseph La Bar, S. W. Blaine, and Robert Birth. Number of taxables: 790. Assessed valuation : $349,246. President of school board: George Crockett. Nine teachers, com- mon schools.
Salem Township-When Luzerne County was formed, Salem was one of the townships into which the county was divided. It had earlier entity as such, for the record shows that on April 1, 1773, the proprietors met at Wind- ham, Connecticut, and appointed Nathan Wales, "ye 3d." and Ebenezer Gray, Jr., a committee "to repair to Susquehanna River and make a pitch for a township and survey and lay out the same." The name "Salem" was adopted. and Thomas Gray was appointed clerk of the new township.
On July 7, 1773, the committee, having completed the survey, reported, and as they found one settler already upon the "patch," it was "voted that the 7th lot in the first division now laid out belong to Mr. Nathan Beach . because he now lives on the same." Nathan Beach served in the military forces during the Revolution, and later took leading part in township and county affairs, was justice of the peace, legislator, and an influential promoter of turnpikes. canals, and other public improvements.
On November 7, 1774, Ebenezer Lathrop, Jr., and Asa Edgerton were authorized by the proprietors "to repair to and lay out the town of Salem in lots," after the customary manner of Connecticut. Samuel Gray, Jacob Lyman, "Esqs .. " and Prince Tracy were appointed "to take care of the pruden- tial matters of this township," in other words, to be supervisors.
Thus it is clear that the township was settled and functioning long before it became Salem Township of Luzerne County. The township had forty-five names on its "List of Taxables" in 1796. This would represent a population of two hundred or three hundred. The taxable inhabitants were :
Nathan Beach, William Bryan, John Cortright, Elisha Cortright, Abraham Cortright, Joseph Curry, Christopher Klinetob, Robert Dunn, Elisha Decker, Thomas Dodson, James Dodson, John Dodson, William Gray, Andrew Gregg, Samuel Hicks, Christopher Hans, Joseph Hans, Martin Hart, Moses Johnson, Alexander Jamison, Joseph Jamison, Jonathan Lee, William Love, James
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Lockhart, Jonathan Lewis, David McLain, Andrew Mowrey, Amos Park, John Rhodes, George Smuthers, Henry Smuthers, James Santee, Valentine Santee, Jacob Smuthers, Reuben Skinner, Oliver Smith, Reuben Smith, Sebas- tian Sibert, Jacob Smuthers, Jr., Richard Smith, Jacob Shones, Levi Thomas, Richard Thomas, John Varner, and Anthony Weaver.
Beach Haven, the only community of larger than hamlet size in Salem Township, was founded by Josiah Beach, son of the pioneer settler. He built a gristmill at that point in 1832. However, the first settler in this part of Salem was Elisha Cortright. It is a beautiful spot. Beach Grove in another community, and this place rather than Beach Haven takes its name in honor of Nathan Beach. Beach Haven has four or five hundred inhabitants. The population of the township, in 1920, was 1,841.
Nathan Beach was the pioneer settler in Salem Township. He came to Wyoming Valley in 1769 with the two hundred settlers. His mother, Desire Herrick (Bixby) Beach was the first white woman to cross the Blue Moun- tains into this valley. Nathan Beach was long one of the most distinguished inen of Luzerne County, for many years a justice of the peace, and for a long time postmaster of Beach Grove, being the first postmaster of this township. He represented Luzerne County in the Legislature, was a Revolutionary sol- dier, and a major in the War of 1812. He was always in the front rank of every enterprise, including building turnpikes and mills. He took an active part in the construction of the Wyoming Valley Canal, and was one of the party that broke ground for that enterprise. He was the owner of much coal land, the Mocanaqua and Shickshinny coal beds, and owned and opened the Beaver Meadow mines in 1813. The Beach family was from Wallingford, Connecticut. His relative, Zerah Beach, had much to do with the early history of Wyoming Valley. It was he who wrote and signed the Articles of Capitula- tion at the surrender of Forty Fort, after the massacre in 1778. This docu- ment was traced to Great Britain and finally to Quebec, among the Haldimand papers. Mr. D. M. Rosser, County Commissioner, has restored and lives in the beautiful colonial house of Nathan Beach, Esq., of Beach Grove, Penn- sylvania.
In. 1926, the supervisors of Salem Township were: Leo Turner, Enoch S. Walton, and Clyde Bower. Number of taxables: 1,402. Assessed valuation : $792,341. President of school board: Robert Elliott. Twelve teachers, com- mon schools.
Slocum Township was organized in 1854, from part of Newport Township. Its first settlers were: John and William Lutsey, who came with their fami- lies in 1785. By 1799, the taxable inhabitants in this part of Newport were: John Alden, John Lutsey, James Millage, Jacob Mullen, James Mullen, James Mullen, Jr., Henry Fritz, and Jeremiah Vandermark. The following settled early in the next century : Ira Winters, John Ogin, Jacob Weiss, Jacob Paine, Richard Paine, Jacob Finks, John Rosencrans. also the Fredericks and Dela- mater families. The township is almost wholly agricultural, and many of the old families are still occupying the original homestead tracts.
The village of Slocum was at first known as "Lutsey," at least as a post office, in the early days. Mails then came in once a week, from Nescopeck. John Rosencrans was postmaster. The first store was that opened by Silas Alexander in 1848. It later passed to the Myers family. They still live in Slocum. So also do the Lutseys. In 1837 William Lutsey built the first frame house. Hiram Rosencrans was the first blacksmith. Below the Myers residence, in 1838, a building was erected to serve as church and schoolhouse. The first teacher was John Rosencrans. The Ogin Cemetery was given to the town by John Ogin, who was buried there, in 1844.
Slocum Village has a population of about 350. That of the township was
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only 511 in 1920. The township supervisors, in 1926, were: Wesley, Clarence, and H. A. Ogin. Number of taxables: 447. Assessed valuation : $197,763. President of school board: Frank Yeager. Four teachers, common schools.
Sugarloaf Township-This cone-shaped elevation known as Sugarloaf Moun- tain, which seems to stand guard over the valley at this point, furnished the inspiration for the township name. Sugarloaf Township was organized in 1809, from Nescopeck.
The most tragic incident of its early history was an Indian raid and massacre. The story has been given place in Mr. Harvey's narrative of early days in the Wyoming Valley, and need not be further mentioned here.
According to Pierce, the first settler in Sugarloaf Township was George Easterday. Following him came Christian Miller, Anthony Weaver, Jacob Mace, Jacob Rittenhouse, Jacob Drumheller, Sr., Jacob Spade, Christian Wenner-a group of sturdy men of German origin. They came from North- ampton County. In 1818, the following names appeared on an election paper, as inhabitants eligible to vote in the township:
Valentine Seiwell, Henry Gidding, John Wolf, John Gidding, Jacob Drum- heller, Jr .. Conrad Harman, Casper Horn, Henry Winter, Jeremiah Heller, Jacob Keifer, Philip Woodring, James Lormison, Archibald Murray, Jacob Drum, Richard Allen, Andrew Decker, George Drum, Jr., Joseph McMurtrie, George Drum, Sr., Abraham Smith, Daniel Shelhamer, Samuel Harman, Phineas Smith, James Smith, Andrew Wolf, John Merrick, Michael Funton, Henry Yost, Michael Boesline, Jacob Spaid, Henry Boesline, Jacob Boesline, Daniel Maurer, Jr., George Fenig, Sr., Christian Weaver, George Clinger, Anthony Weaver, Andrew Oxrider, Philip Yost, Michael Markley, Peter Stoehr, Michael Frous, Samuel Yost, George Wener, Valentine Line, John Cool, Philip Drum, George Thresher, Michael Shrieder, Archibald Murray, Jacob Foose, Peter Claiss, Jacob Thresher, Conrad Bellasfelt, Abraham Mil- ler, Philip Root, George Hoofman, George D. Strain, Solomon Stroam, Jacob Taffecker, Abraham Steiner, John Adam Winters, David Seickard, Jacob Drumheller, Sr., Christian Wenner, and John McMurtrie. Total, sixty-six.
Sugarloaf Township then, however, included Black Creek, Butler, and Hazle townships also. It will be noticed that the Pennsylvania Dutch pre- dominance was maintained. Sugarloaf Township has, indeed, throughout its century and a quarter of existence, been peopled largely by this sturdy reliable stock-men who till the soil steadily six days a week, and go to church on Sunday. Christ Church, of Conyngham, dates from 1800, when a log church was raised by the Lutheran and Reformed churchmen on a site given by Redmond Conyngham.
Conyngham Village was so named in honor of Captain Gustavus Conyng- ham, who commanded a privateer during the Revolution. The first settler within the village was George Drum. Next came George Woodring. The McMurtries were among the early settlers, though not within the village. William Drum was the first postmaster, being appointed in 1826. Conyngham was at one time known as "Venison Market"; it is now a borough, with a population, in 1920, of three hundred and eighty-five.
Seybertsville, another village in Sugarloaf. is about two miles northwest of Conyngham. Benjamin Koenig was a tavern-keeper at this point in 1825, but Henry Seybert, who opened a general store nearby, in 1833, was the chief factor in the growth of the village. A subscription schoolhouse was erected in 1836. Seybert was postmaster for many years.
In 1926, the supervisors of Sugarloaf Township were: C. E. Kirken- dorfer, Claude E. Miller, Ami Welsh. Number of taxables: 988. Assessed valuation : $956,951. President of school board: A. B. Klinger. Eight teachers, common schools.
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Union Township-Part of the original township of Huntington was taken. in July, 1813, to form Union Township. Shickshinny Borough was within the township limits until 1861, and was the first to be settled ; but outside of it the first settlement was made in 1790, northwest of River Mountain, by Peter Gregory and George Fink. They located in Shickshinny Creek and erected a sawmill-the first in the township.
Soon after these two brothers-in-law settled, another two brothers-in-law brought their families and settled near where Muhlenburg is. They, Stephen Arnold and Moses Derby, developed good farms, and induced other farmers to settle. Immigration was steady from about 1793. Among the early families were the Marvins, Roberts, Culvers, Shaws, mostly from New England. A Dutch settlement gathered strength in the Van Scoter, Bellas, Davenport. Hans, Muchler, Huff, and Cragle families. Others who came in 1799, or during the next few years, included : William Moore, from Maryland, and the Huffman, Harned, Post, Bonham, Wolfe, Johnson and Santee families.
Shickshinny, of course, has been the outstanding community of Union Township, but others are: Muhlenburg, a village of two hundred inhabi- tants ; Reyburn, a community almost as large ; Koonsville, and Town Line, a place of one hundred inhabitants. The old families are still represented in the township.
In 1926, the supervisors were: D. A. Hartman, J. C. Walton, and Frank Search. Number of taxables: 553. Assessed valuation : $304,426. Presi- dent of school board : Edward Vosler. Seven teachers, common schools.
Wilkes-Barre Township-Necessarily most of the early history of Wilkes- Barre Township has already been given, its story being, in the main, that of the county seat. Wilkes-Barre was one of the original townships, or "dis- tricts," under the Connecticut jurisdiction, and it became one of the original eleven townships of Luzerne County, under Pennsylvania government.
In Wilkes-Barre Township (including the village of Wilkes-Barre, Cov- ington, Buck and major parts of Plains and Bear Creek townships) there were one hundred and twenty-one names on the "List of Taxables" in the year year 1799. They were :
Charles Abbot, Stephen Abbot, Edward Austin, Christopher Avery, Thomas A. Alkin, William Askam, John Alexander, Asa Bennett, Charles Bennett. Wilbur Bennett, Eleazer Blackman, Cain Billings, Timothy Beebe, Clark Beebe, Isaac Bowman, Stephen Barnes, John Carey, Hugh Conner, Arnold Colt, Mathew Covell, Putnam Catlin, Cornelius Courtright, Henry Court- right, John Courtright, James Conlin, Peter Corbit, Nathan Draper, Isaac Decker, Daniel Downing, Daniel Downing, Jr., Reuben Downing, Joseph Davis, Aziel Dana, Anderson Dana, Sylvester Dana, Thomas Duane, James Dixon, William Dixon, Arthur Eiek, Jacob Ely, Jabez Fish, Jesse Fell, Daniel Foster, Daniel Gore, Timothy Green, Willard Green, William Augustus George, Daniel Gridley, Matthias Hollenback, Jonathan Hancock, Godfrey Hitchcock, Oliver Helme, Jacob Hart, Lewis Hartsouff, Solomon Johnson, Jacob Johnson, Jehoida P. Johnson, Christiana Johnson, John Johnson, Jacob Jenong, Luther Jones, Reuben Jones, John Kennedy, Jr., James Kennedy, Daniel Kelly, Joseph Kelly. James Morgan, Richard Maybury, Thomas Mar- shal, Enoch Ogden, Jacob Ossencup, Samuel Pease, Nathan Palmer, Benja- min Perry, Benjamin Potts, John Potts, Mary Philips, John Pooder, David Richards, William Ross, Eleph Ross, John Rosecrans, Jacob Rosecrans, the Widow Rosecrans, Thomas Read, William Russell, John P. Schott, William Slocum, Joseph Slocum, Benjamin Slocum, Ebenezer Slocum, Jonathan Slo- cum, Eunice Sprague, Polly Stevens, Obadiah Smith, Paul Stark, Henry Stark, William Shoemaker, Joshua Squire, Henry Tilbury, Stephen Tuttle, Benjamin Truesdale, Daniel Truesdale, Elias Vandermark, Nathan Waller.
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Phineas Waller, Eliad Waller, Andrew Wickeizer, Conrad Wickeizer, Joseph Wright, Thomas Wright, Philip Weekes, Thomas Weekes, Jonathan Wild- man, Henry Wilson, James Westbrook, Richard Westbrook, Justice Wool- cott, Crandal Wilcox, Isaac Wilcox, William Wright, Rosswell Wells.
In 1926, the number of taxables were 3.337. The assessed valuation then was $7,851,568. Since December 7, 1899, Wilkes-Barre has been a first-class township. In 1926, the township commissioners were: Thomas Golden. Joseph Weiss, Joseph Strobel, Jr., Isaac Ford, Alex Cominsky. President of school board: Cornelius Ward. Supervising principal : John P. Shannon. Forty-five teachers, including eight for high school.
For other information regarding Wilkes-Barre Township, the general history given of the city of Wilkes-Barre and environs might be studied.
Wright Township, formed in 1851, was so named to honor Colonel Hendrick B. Wright, of Plymouth, whose "Sketches of Plymouth," published in 1873. are so valuable a contribution to Luzerne County's historical records.
The first settler in the territory that became Wright Township was Conrad Wiekeiser, in 1798. He lived near where James Wright some time later had a tavern. That part of Wright, however. eventually passed to Fairview Township. The first settler in what is Wright Township was Cornelius Gar- rison, who came in 1833 or 1834, and built a sawmill on the Big Wapwallopen Creek. He set out the first orchard. But most of Wright Township's early history passed from it with Fairview Township, when the latter was formed, in 1889, for within what was then made Fairview most of the early settlements of Wright Township were made.
The first assessor of Wright Township was Eleazor Carey: the first post- master, William G. Albert: the first miller, James Wright. When the new township was formed, with the dividing line between school districts I and 2 made the dividing line between Wright and Fairview townships, the new township took from the old the only village it had, and left the old township with a population of only one hundred and fifty-two. In the last three decades, however, the population of Wright Township has increased to four hundred and seventy-five.
In 1926, the supervisors were: George A. Week, F. W. Thomas, A. P. Childs. Number of taxables: 795. Assessed valuation : $4,495,513. Presi- dent of school board: Mrs. Beatrice L. Williams. Five teachers, common schools.
CHAPTER LVII-(Continued). THE CITIES AND BOROUGHS OF LUZERNE COUNTY.
The first part of this chapter has been devoted to township history. This part, which traces the histories of those township communities that rose to corporate entity as boroughs and cities, takes second place in the narrative for the simple reason that all are offsprings of townships. In all cases, settle- ment began under township government. To facilitate reference, also, the compilation will follow an alphabetical course. Thus it comes about that apparently unimportant townships and communities are given notice in advance of obviously important municipalities and cities.
Luzerne County, as constituted in 1920, consisted of three cities, thirty- seven boroughs and thirty-five townships. There has been some change since 1920, the Greater Wilkes-Barre movement, which did not wholly succeed, but which absorbed two boroughs on January I, 1927, was perhaps the most important, though the advancement of Nanticoke to city dignity, and the merging of Kingston and Dorranceton, as Kingston Borough, were also most important municipal changes.
In reviewing the histories of the boroughs and cities, the writer does not lose sight of the fact that all were, at one time, integral parts of townships. It, therefore, seemed proper to include in township history much of the early history of those hamlets and villages that passed from township jurisdiction when chartered as boroughs. Hence, the following brief sketching of the municipalities will be found to have been amplified by township records, and in very many cases by the general county narrative, also by the many special chapters.
Until the 'forties of the nineteenth century, there was only one borough in Luzerne County. Wilkes-Barre, the county seat, was raised from village to borough status on March 17, 1806, the year in which Abijah Smith, and his brother, John, settled at Plymouth, prepared to make the mining and market- ing of coal their vocation-not their avocation, as some earlier miners of anthracite coal had done.
Half a century of subsequent industrial effort gave Luzerne County many more boroughs, many in which the main business of the bulk of the gainfully employed was coal mining.
The boroughs established prior to the Civil War were: Wilkes-Barre, Whitehaven, Pittston, Hazleton, Kingston, New Columbus, and West Pitt- ston. Shickshinny was incorporated in November, 1861 ; Plymouth in 1866, and Sugar Notch in 1867. In the 'seventies the number of boroughs in Luzerne County was doubled, the newly chartered places being : Ashley, Avoca, Jeddo, Nanticoke, Parsons, Freeland, Yatesville, Hughestown, and Dallas. In the 'eighties the villages incorporated were: Laurel Run, Luzerne, Miners' Mills, Exeter, Edwardsville, Wyoming, Dorranceton, Forty Fort, Laflin, Swoyers- ville, and West Hazleton. Four municipalities came into corporate existence in the last decade of last century: Courtdale, West Wyoming, Warrior Run, and Nescopeck. In the first decade of the twentieth century five new boroughs were made : Conyngham, Larksville, Nuangola, Duryea, and Pringle. Dupont, chartered in the next decade, completes the list of municipalities.
Luzerne County, in its political sub-divisions, townships, boroughs and cities, possessed 248,537 taxable inhabitants in 1926. The assessed valuation of the property of these taxables in that year was $414,423,512. Of these
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aggregate figures, Wilkes-Barre city's share was 50,007 taxables and $97,136,- 866 of property.
The history of Wilkes-Barre has already been reviewed; but of the other incorporated places (boroughs and cities) individual reviews follow, in alpha- betical order :
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