A history of old Tioga Point and early Athens, Pennsylvania, Part 36

Author: Murray, Louise Welles, 1854-1931. 4n
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Athens, Penna. [i.e., Pa.] : [s.n.]
Number of Pages: 726

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Leaving much of his life at Wyoming to Wyoming historians, we will give his part in the history of Athens, as suggested by the late Edward Herrick, Jr. : "In the settlement of Northern Pennsylvania, Franklin was the recognized leader, making annual pilgrimages to New England and bringing back hosts of industrious settlers; and the people whom he brought hither, he never forsook. Their battles he fought in the courts, the assembly, in newspapers, in pamphlets, and, if necessary, with his strong right arm, with a zeal, persistency and fidelity which deserved for the cause he thought to be right, a better fate."

July 13, 1785, the Susquehanna Company, roused to action by Franklin and many prominent men of Connecticut, New York and other states, held a live meeting once more at Hartford (for full ac- count see Penn. Archives, Vol. XVIII, 2d series).21 At this meeting the half-share movement was decided upon, and many other resolu- tions passed, all based upon the one which proclaimed that the Trenton decision had astonished the world, and that the right to these lands in possession was "founded in law and justice clear and unquestion- able, and we cannot and will not give it up." The half-share men were to go on the ground not later than October; the Ulster grant was for their benefit. After this Franklin traveled all through New England and Eastern New York, with a copy of all the resolves of the meeting in his hand, telling the piteous story of the wrongs of the Connecticut settler. Being a natural orator, he soon had the whole country roused and ready to support him in any endeavor. Previously, with the Gores and others, he had formed an association to purchase a large tract of land in New York State, just over the line. He spent

21 Pickering says of this, "After the decree of Trenton the state-claim of Connecticut was forever barred; but the case of the innocent settlers who entered in full faith of the right of Connecticut was entitled to commiseration. The Susquehanna Company ought, like the State, to have abandoned their claim. But they had recourse to intrigue, invited emi- gration of all men on condition they should enter the country armed 'to man their rights,' the land being offered gratuitously. By this the Susquehanna Company hoped to pour in such a mass of young and able-bodied men as would appear formidable to the government of Penn- sylvania." Pickering says this was the project of men of the most respectable standing in Connecticut, and was known as the Half-Share Movement.

269

THE NEW STATE PROJECT

several weeks exploring this tract from. Oquago up the Chenango, and it is written that "Mr. Gore, of this place, sent some time ago to the Assembly of New York with a petition for a grant of land, returned last night, and brought the news that the petition of the Wyoming settlers had been granted, and that he was going up and choose a place." (Capt. Shrawder.) It soon became evident that the Penn- sylvania Legislature was controlled by the land jobbers; Franklin tried in vain to secure a court to try the private right of soil, and in vain to interest the government of Connecticut in behalf of the suffer- ing settlers. What then was left to be done? Manifestly to erect a new state.22. At this time there were, according to Franklin, upwards of six hundred effective men among the Susquehanna settlers, and a large number promised from the west branch. All that seemed neces- sary, therefore, was to bring on a sufficient force to wrest the territory from Pennsylvania. Indeed, Franklin says :

"We were also determined to oppose any authority from Pennsylvania until we could have a regular establishment on constitutional principles, and our lands in some way secured to us."23

This scheme was to bring this valley into far greater prominence than it has ever known except in the annals of those times. For since the erection of the county of Luzerne had defeated the project for that locality, the new state was to be erected farther north, combining lands in Pennsylvania with large unorganized portions of Southern New York, possibly those which Franklin had already examined, and those in the Gore,24 which were leased directly from the Indians by Simon Spalding, Obadiah Gore and fifteen others. According to allusions in many letters of the period, Athens was the destined capital of this new state; because of its proximity to the State line. If it were possible to procure the diary of Col. Franklin (written for C. L. Ward's contemplated history), which was seen by the late Henry C. Baird, doubtless all this mystery would be disclosed, even to the bestowal of the pretentious title of the Grecian city upon the settlement. (Mr. Baird said this diary was in the possession of Steuben Jenkins. )

The new state project had been some time in mind, indeed it has been said it was a project of the early days of the Susquehanna Com- pany (forgetting that those were colonial days). Far more likely it was the natural outgrowth of the oppression suffered at the hands of the Pennamites, increased by the evident fact that the Pennsylvania Legislature was controlled by the speculating land jobbers; therefore Connecticut settlers could not obtain justice.

The new state scheme can be better understood by perusal of the following letters, orders and various communications from Vol. XV,

22 It should be remembered that at this time the Articles of Confederation were still in effect, which compelled Congress to refrain from interfering in the domestic affairs of any State.

23 Miner says, "Immediately on Col. Franklin's return to Wyoming Valley, he called meetings at Kingston, Plymouth, Nanticoke and Hanover, explaining what had been done at Hartford, inviting adventurers and offering half share rights as bounties; being engaged many days in issuing certificates." These efforts may well be called the beginning of the "Wild Yankee" movement, and must be thought of as the forerunner to the settlement of this valley.

24 See "Connecticut Gore" at close of this chapter.

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OLD TIOGA POINT AND EARLY ATHENS

Col. Records, Vols. X and XI, First Series, Pennsylvania Archives, and from a Mss. volume in the collections of the American Philosophical Society (founded by Benjamin Franklin). The latter is labelled :

"Contents partly copied from State Records and partly from reports of Judge Gibson and Judge Thos. Cooper."25

A careful study of all these volumes and Mss. reveals that when Wyoming troubles subsided, Tioga Point became the storm centre of the land controversy.

It was no longer between state and state, but between the Con- necticut settlers and, as a rule, the Pennsylvania land jobbers ; a lamen- table fact, admitted even by the wise and just Timothy Pickering.

In quoting from these Archives there may be some repetition, as it seems wise to present these extracts in full. They begin soon after the decree of Trenton, a report being sent, March, 1783, to John Dick- inson, as President of the Executive Council of Pennsylvania, saying :

"That the conduct of the inhabitants resembled a conquered Nation very much, secret meetings being held, etc .; also that Mr. Gore had returned with a favorable answer from the New York Assembly to a petition of Wyoming set- tlers for a 'grant of land near the head of the river Susquehannah.' Simon Spalding was reported as the truest of any seen yet."

A little later John Jenkins informs the commissioners, "We do not mean to become abject slaves," etc. However, there are a good many familiar names in the list of householders of Wyoming who do wish to support the laws of Penn- sylvania. Notice was given to Dickinson that a messenger had been secretly dispatched to Connecticut to obtain lists of original settlers, etc. Notice that the Assembly of Connecticut, in October, 1783, appointed Eliphalet Dyer and others agents for the State to pursue enquiries, etc .; it having been reported that at Trenton evidence was concealed and suppressed. A month later a messenger was sent from Connecticut to the Pennsylvania Assembly, and to Congress concern- ing the rights of the "Susquehannah Settlers, who are recommended to the Commiseration rather than the Rigor of the State of Pennsylvania."

In March, 1784, President Dickinson writes a vigorous letter to the Governor of Connecticut; claiming that the charges of suppression of evidence, and of cruelty, are unfounded ; also asserting it to be too plain what the consequences will be if Connecticut as a state makes common cause with the Body of Men who "are tempting bold and needy Adventurers from every Quarter to join them;" and closes by hoping for a satisfactory adjustment.

Just previous to this, Dickinson had written to the Pennsylvania delegates in Congress "The attempts of Connecticut are very extraor- dinary, and are to be opposed with the most persevering vigilance," asking them by all means to prevent any step toward a revision of the Trenton decree. To Governor Clinton he writes :

"We flattered ourselves that so respectable a determination would have put an end to all contests. * But with regret we find that the dispute is reviving in a variety of forms."

He therefore appeals to Clinton and the State of New York to as- sist, as far as possible, in settlement of the controversy.

There are various notices in 1784 concerning affairs at Wyoming, violations of peace, abuse of commissions, and similar acts.

25 Attention was called to it by the courtesy of Mr. O. J. Harvey.

271

FIRST GRANT OF OLD ULSTER

February, 1785, a writer says: "The Wyoming dispute rests at present, and we hope it will for some time." Soon after this, how- ever, Waterman Baldwin was heard to say that, if they could not hold the lands at Wyoming by law, they would by force of arms; and a little later a list is given of those who bore arms at Wyoming in 1784. About thirty of them were among the original proprietors of Athens ; and Swift and friends were heard to boast that they would be the death of every Pennamite.

As these excerpts must be chronologically interwoven with the val- ley history, let us resume that ; for it was evidently at this juncture that it was decided to open more townships at the north.

It is an oft repeated tale that the settlement of this entire valley was made by Sullivan's soldiers, who admired the fertile river plains cultivated by the Indians, and hastened to return. While doubtless these men were more willing to attempt the settlement, because of their knowledge of the region, they were well aware that the attempt was to be an organized defiance of Pennsylvania, and that fighting was likely to be in order. A number of the men who came with Sullivan had previously made pitches along the river, even as far north as old Sheshequin, but were driven back by fear of the Tories and Indians. Old Ulster had been applied for and granted in 1775 to Asahel Buck,26 Lockwood Smith27 and others. Its upper boundary was supposed to be the State Line, but after Maclay's survey, that was found to be farther north, leaving room for another township.28 The issue of lottery warrants being known, no time was to be lost, the territory must be occupied for the sake of the new state scheme.

And now enters on the scene a new and incendiary spirit, Dr. Joseph. Hamilton, of the City of Hudson, N. Y .- March 24, 1786, we

26 Asahel Buck was one of the family who afterward settled in Buckville or Chemung. He was killed in the Wyoming Massacre.

^7 Lockwood Smith seems to have been the only original proprietor of the first Ulster Grant, who returned to take up his original claim. He was a native of New England, an- cestry unknown. He removed from Connecticut to the town of Nine Partners, in Dutchess County, New York, and thence to the Wyoming Valley, some years prior to the Revolution, walking all the way, his wife and their personal belongings on the horse beside him. He was one of the original proprietors of Old Ulster in 1775, and seems to have had residence on his claim, but returned to Wyoming and lived in Kingston for two years. Although it is well known that he was in active service in the Revolution, no record can be found. His brother Joseph's record has been. They are buried side by side in unmarked graves in the Milan Cemetery, which land was given by him. He told his children that he was one of those who conducted the refugees after the Wyoming massacre to places of safety in the east. He seems to have had three wives. Name of the first unknown; the second, Deborah Buck. About 1783, in company with the Buck and Platt families, he came by way of Catskill and the Hudson across country to present Great Bend, whence they came in Indian canoes down the river. They finally reached the old Ulster claim, although the Bucks did not settle per- manently. Lockwood Smith's claim was about a mile south of Buck's Creek, and when pat- ented in 1812 consisted of 391 acres, later known as "the Elms," or "Snell farm." They were lots 4 and 5 in old Ulster, "which claim was fully established." Lockwood had thirteen children, eight by Deborah Buck. After her death he married Mrs. Jonathan Platt of Sack- ett's Mills (Candor), and had five more. Their names, in probable order, are Enos, Nancy (Knapp), William (married Leah Currie), Asahel, Deborah (Buck), Phoebe (Phelps), Lock- wood, Silas, Platt, Rachael, Polly, Abigail, Zeruah. Many of this family went west. Abigail married her cousin, Henry Smith, and they were the parents of Hulon C. Smith, now of Athens, In his old age, feeble in mind and body, Lockwood Smith imagined ever that he heard drums and fifes, and was called to battle. He considered it a religious duty to hate an Englishman and a Tory.

28 A complete history of Ulster will be given in Chapter XVII.

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OLD TIOGA POINT AND EARLY ATHENS

find him writing to Col. Franklin as follows (p. 752, Vol. X, Penna. Archives) :

"Dear Sir. This I send you with Mr. T. Gilbert, and three young men with him to settle in that Country. I wish *

* you would direct them where to find my lands. * * I continually exert every Nerve in the Cause. I endeavor to rouze every Body and every thing & spare no cost that I can be at. There are a considerable number of men of abilities in the Country acting briskly in your favour, *

* but remember no consideration will act so strong in your favour as your absolute desperacy, this with a moderate degree of Policy will make it utterly impossible you should ever be Conquered, in the meantime every Imple- ment of defense should be stored either at Tioga or betwixt that and. Lake Otsago, as also the Books of Records which are at Windom. * * You write you fear to lose your half share men, if a meeting dont provide for laying out, etc. Good Sir I see no need of a meeting, you have all the Power in your hands -locate your Towns for them on the Company's cost with the rights you have, -- it would be well however for the sake of preserving good order that the Com- mittee for laying do joyn with you herein. But above all preserve good order and a proper subordination and harmony among yourselves, men thus Planted and desperate. The angels from Heaven unless Divinely Commissioned could not dispossess. *

* My friends go on, go on, but for God sake preserve rule and good order among yourselves, but let no man be among you but who feels himself Interested let him be pleased with his situation if possible, this is the only true policy. Thus Sir I have thrown out a few of my Fireside thoughts -they are sincere and what I am bold in, and will ever endeavor to support. Present my best compliments to your Supreme Committee etc. Pray God bless you all. Your friend and brother in Tribulation Hope and earnest Expectation, "Jos. HAMILTON."

"Col John Franklin Motto Perseverance.

"Supplement to the 24 of March.

"Sir. Your Paper negotiations are Political in several views; in the first place they Interest different men in your favor and thus serves to disarm, and secondly may procrastinate, however arguments will not do unless they are set home upon the Conscience by a view of a quick operating Phisic.29 This Phisic Doctor Smith in his Letter Informs you, keep by you, if so and you administer well, you will be all good Doctors. (Hint.) Burgoyne fell because he did not pre- serve a retreat to the Northward, you will observe that we have not as yet been disturbed on the strip of Land two miles wide on the North side of our Purchase.30 We have bought it of the natives, & Pennsylvania does not claim it, no man has even a pretence to trouble us there, and State Troops cannot be marched out of the State without breaking confederation, these appear to me to be considera- tions very momentuous in our present situation. Even Magazines and Warlike stores to defend against the Indians who it is said now threaten may lawfully be deposited there Cannon, etc. N. B. you may depend on a visit from the Head Doctor from the North (by the 15th) of the next of the Petitions with his ap- paratus Glister Pipe and all. Capt. Strang is very buisy and will soon be there. Mr. Beach is much wanted in those parts, in short I should not know how to do without his assistance *

* we want resolution here as well as there, and it will not do to Strike a man in the Streets in view of the Public without telling for what it is, for this we must constantly do in the Public Prints and every where else, otherwise we bring the resentment of the Public upon us. J. H."

It is impossible to fully understand this hidden style.

In this year, 1786, the Wyoming settlers were only nominally un- der Pennsylvania law. Col. Jenkins, Col. Franklin, Capt. Schott, Ebenezer Johnson and Dr. William Hooker Smith were chosen by the people (says Miner) as "a Committee to regulate the police of the Set- tlement." Unquestionably Smith took advantage of his association with

29 This physic is supposed to be powder and lead.

30 Unquestionably the strip called the Gore, see end of chapter.

273

PROPOSED ARREST OF SWIFT AND SATTERLEE

these men and acted as a spy. Franklin intimates in one of his journals that they were determined to support their claims.

The time was now ripe for the attempted establishment of Athens, the eighteenth township.

Some consideration of events at Wyoming since the decree of Trenton here seems necessary, for while this settlement was made in connection with the New State project, there were certain Connecticut men more willing than others to leave Wyoming, who, from their firm adherence to the cause, had been associated with riotous acts, and were under the ban of Pennsylvania. In 1784 Col. Armstrong, Penn- sylvania's agent, or, as he has been justly called, "the tool of the Penn- sylvania land claimants," reported from Wyoming that the Yankees had made an attack on his quarters, which had been vigorously met and repulsed.

Some years since the late Edward Herrick, Jr., found in the loft of the old capitol at Harrisburg a large handbill or Proclamation re- lating to this event, a copy of which is now in Tioga Point Museum, in such fine print that it cannot be well reproduced. But as the early historians of Wyoming either slight this event, or give incorrect dates, some quotations direct will here be made.

In a long preamble explaining the necessity for action, and men- tioning principally the unprovoked murder of Jacob Everett at Locust Hill by Swift's band31 of Yankees, of whom Elisha Satterlee was one; the President of the Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania proclaims that they had appointed as commissioners, Boyd, Armstrong, Reed and Oakly, September 9, 1784, and who im- mediately repaired to Wyoming.

"And Whereas, on the night of Sunday, the 28 day of last month, the set- tlers aforesaid attacked the houses in which sd. commissioners were lodged, firing several balls into the same, whereby the sd. commissioners were in great danger of being killed, *

* and in the next succeeding night the sd. settlers again attacked one of the sd. houses, and mortally wounded Capts. Samuel Read and Andrew Henderson, late officers of the Pennsylvania Line. * * The public reward of Fifty pounds shall be pd. to any person or persons who shall apprehend and secure John Swift, Elisha Satterlee and others."

The Wyoming historian Chapman tells of this attack (p. 153), although, according to the proclamation, his dates are incorrect. He gives the true reason for the attack of September 28 and 29, 1784, as does Franklin in his statement to the Council, to wit: that Armstrong had by an act of treachery deprived the Connecticut settlers of their arms, which they recovered on the night of the attack already men- tioned. No Wyoming history relates, as did Franklin and Satterlee in after years, that the men were arrested, taken to the Sunbury jail, and rescued the same night by some companions, who, with levers, raised the logs at one corner of the building while the fifteen prisoners crawled out and fled to the woods. Yet it is probably a true story, long ago written down by descendants of Franklin.

31 Swift's band had gone out at this time to resist or prevent the advance of the Penn- sylvania Commissioners.

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OLD TIOGA POINT AND EARLY ATHENS

One could digress at length here to tell of various contemptible acts of Armstrong, which led even John Dickinson, the humane and just President of the Executive Council, to protest against his return to Wyoming. Armstrong was evidently the tool of the Pennsylvania land claimants, and his actions illustrated the old saying that "the whole controversy was a land-jobbers quarrel." "Swift's Band" com- prised many of the pioneer settlers in this region, and their pursuit by Pennsylvania justice would easily drive them away from Wyoming. Possibly some had already settled on the old Ulster grant, whose upper line was at present Pine Street or just below.

Soon after Hamilton's incendiary letters, as testified by John Franklin in a lawsuit at Athens a few years later :

"In April, 1786, General Ethan Allen paid us a visit at Wyoming and proposed to settle among us, Ethan Allen and to bring on a number of his Green Mountain Boys, and assist us in supporting and defending our rights against the Pennsylvania claimants. A large number of Proprietor's Rights were given to General Allen to espouse our cause."

Franklin also deposes :

"In April, 1786, a number of persons interested in Susquehanna claims, among whom were Elisha Satterlee and Elisha Matthewson,32 wished a new township laid out. A meeting was held and Col. Jenkins33 and I proceeded to lay out a township, Elisha Satterlee along. I assisted in getting outlines fixed and left them [deposition illegible here] Commissioners of Susqua. Co. agreed on grant of Twp. I carried it to Connecticut to Windham to be recorded."

These depositions plainly indicate that the settlement of Athens was decided upon in connection with Allen's coming.

Let us pause here. Can you guess why this haste, and what it all meant? Pennsylvania, alarmed by the arrival of so many half- share men, or "Wild Yankees," had put on her thinking cap, with- drawn the soldiers, and proposed to erect the disputed territory into a new county (Luzerne). There was not a moment to be lost ; Franklin, if not calm, was at least clear-headed. The time had come for the New State, and it was resolved to erect it at once, with the help of Ethan Allen, "and the notorious Daniel Shays of Massachusetts, who had come on with many of his deeply wronged followers." Allen, in his cocked hat and regimentals, was blustering around with some of his famous Green Mountain Boys in his wake. It is said he declared he had made one state and, "by the Eternal God and the Continental Congress" he would make another. Was ever such profanity? No wonder the scheme failed !

John Franklin and William Jenkins evidently made application to the commissioners at Wilkes-Barre, for on the back of a tattered

32 Biographies of these, men will be given in following chapter.

33 Col. Jenkins was for many years a prominent man in Wyoming (son of a patriot and surveyor). He was the recognized twin leader with Franklin. "He was quiet but obstinate; said nothing, yielded nothing, always resisted Pennsylvania." Having traversed the whole Susquehanna district during the Revolution, both as soldier and prisoner, he was very familiar with the topography of the country, and became the official surveyor of the Susquehanna Company, being styled "Superintendent of Surveys."

GRANT AND HASTY SURVEY OF ATHENS TWP. 275

and faded document (labelled by E. Herrick, Jr., "the Original Grant of Athens") is the following statement :

"Agreable to the request of John Franklin Esq, and Wm Jenkins agents in behalf of the above mentioned proprietors for a grant of the above described township, confirming the same to them as a part of their granted or general rights in the purchase. The same is hereby granted to them, agreable to the rules and regulations of the Susqua. Co. By the name of Athens provided it does not interfere with any other regular grant; in confirmation whereof we have here- unto set our hands this 9th day of May A. D. 1786.

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A history of old Tioga Point and early Athens, Pennsylvania, Part 36

Author: Murray, Louise Welles, 1854-1931. 4n Publication date: 1908 Publisher: Athens, Penna. [i.e., Pa.] : [s.n.] Number of Pages: 726

Author: Murray, Louise Welles, 1854-1931. 4n
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Athens, Penna. [i.e., Pa.] : [s.n.]
Number of Pages: 726