USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Annals of Luzerne County; a record of interesting events, traditions, and anecdotes > Part 16
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Plymouth village, called by the early inhabitants Shawaneetown, is located near the site of the Shawanee Indian village, where Zinzendorf, one hundred and eighteen years ago, preached the gospel to the red men. It contains 150 dwellings. There is an academy building in this place, and two churches, and most of the stores of the township are located here.
During the French war, in 1756, Paxinos, a Shawanee chief, and about 30 other Indians friendly to the English, retired from this village to another situated on the west side of Ross's Hill. The remainder of the tribe engaged in the war on the part of the French.
The population of the township, in 1840, including
* For names of taxables, see Appendix, R.
.
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Jackson, was 1765. In that year 58 of the inhabitants were engaged in mining, and 159 in agriculture. In 1850, without Jackson, the population was 1473.
PROVIDENCE TOWNSHIP was separated from Pittston in 1792; but in 1820 its western portion was reannexed to Pittston. Its name was derived from Providence in Rhode Island.
The Muncey or Monsey Indians, the Wolf tribe of the Delawares, had a village in this township near Scranton. They had a famous chief, whose name was Capouse. From 1770 to 1776, the principal settlers in Providence and Lackawanna townships were the Hardings, Careys, Tripps, Frazers, Hickmans, Hockseys, Keys, Nelsons, Philips, Johnsons, Hunts, Allens, Dewits, Reines, Leg- getts, Baldwins, and Dr. Joseph Sprague.
In 1796, including a large part of old Blakeley, and also Lackawanna townships, Providence contained 53 taxables,* 22 horses, 56 oxen, and 80 cows.
Its area is 44 square miles, whose surface is undulating, and underlaid with coal. It was formerly an agricultural, but is now a mining region, and its present inhabitants are chiefly Irish, Germans, and Welsh. One-third of its territory is cleared, and its agricultural products are con- sumed at home.
Dunmore is a villagetcontaining 200 dwellings, 10 dry goods stores, 1 drug store, 3 churches, 2 hotels, and 1 soap and candle manufactory. In addition to these, there are in the township, out of the village, 1 store, 1 tavern, 1 tannery, and 3 saw-mills. Dunmore, in 1840, contained only 4 dwellings.
The population of Providence township, in 1840, including Providence borough, Hyde Park, and Scranton,
* For names of taxables, see Appendix S.
+ Dunmore was incorporated a borough in 1862.
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ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY.
was 1169, of whom 209 were engaged in agriculture, and none in mining. In 1850 the same territory contained 4933 inhabitants.
PROVIDENCE BOROUGH was incorporated in 1849. It was formerly called Centreville, and by some persons Razorville. In July, 1834, this place was visited by a hurricane, which overturned and destroyed its dwellings with terrific violence. In 1840, it contained 10 or 12 dwellings, 1 store, and 1 tavern. It now has 7 dry goods stores, 1 drug store, 1 tannery, 2 axe and scythe manu- factories, 3 churches, 1 academy, 2 hotels, 2 flouring- mills, 2 saw-mills, and 1 steam iron foundry.
RANSOM TOWNSHIP was formed from parts of Exeter and Newton, in 1849, and was named in honor of Cap- tain Samuel Ransom, who commanded the second inde- pendent company of troops raised in Wyoming, in 1777, and who fell in the battle of July 3d, 1778.
The Delaware Indians had a village on the Susque- hanna, near the mouth of Gardner's Creek, called Assa- rughney.
The first grist-mill, in the territory of Ransom, was erected on Gardner's Creek, in 1825, by Philip Sher- wood. About the same time Mr. Twitchel put up the first saw-mill. The first church was built, in 1845, by the Lutherans, under the direction of the Rev. John Lescher.
Ransom contains 21 square miles, one-third of which is cleared land, producing wheat, rye, corn, oats, and buckwheat, which find a market at Scranton and Pitts- ton. Its timber is chiefly oak, chestnut, and hickory.
Milwaukee is a village consisting of 30 dwellings, 2 saw-mills, 1 grist-mill, 1 store, 1 church, and 1 iron foundry. There are, besides these in the township, 1 church and 1 saw-mill.
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BOROUGHS AND TOWNSHIPS.
The present population of Ransom is chiefly German and of German extraction, from Northampton county.
In 1850 this township contained 797 inhabitants.
Ross TOWNSHIP was formed from portions of Lehman and Union, in 1842, and was named in honor of General William S. Ross, who, at the time of its formation, was one of the associate judges of the Luzerne county courts.
Its area is 46 square miles, of which one-fourth part is cleared land. Its surface is hilly, and its soil produces the usual grains, together with excellent grass. Its mar- ket is at Wilkesbarre. Its timber is principally oak, chestnut, and pine.
There are in the township 5 saw-mills, 1 store, 1 church, and 1 tavern, but no grist-mill.
The population of Ross, in 1850, was 709.
SALEM TOWNSHIP was one of the original townships, and retained its name as one of the 11 townships into which the county was divided in 1790. It received its name from Salem, in Windham county, Connecticut, and its territory has not been diminished since 1793, when Huntington was set off.
The father of the late Nathan Beach, Esq., built the first dwelling, a log-cabin, in Salem, in 1776, on the Beach Grove property, near the river. Several years after he opened the first store in the township.
Prior to the erection of Walker's Mill, the settlers had their grain ground at the Nanticoke Mill, to which place they conveyed it in canoes pushed up the Susquehanna.
The first grist-mill was a log structure, erected by Mr. Walker, about the year 1788, on a small stream which empties into the Susquehanna, a few rods above Beach Haven.
In 1793, Joseph and Alexander Jameson erected a log-
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house on the river bank, on the Jameson estate, adjoining Beach Grove.
In 1796, Salem township contained 44 dwelling-houses, 45 taxable inhabitants,# 28 horses, 19 oxen, and 77 cows.
The extent of Salem is 29 square miles, one-half of which is cleared and cultivated. The surface is river- bottom and rolling land, and its soil produces wheat, rye, corn, oats, and buckwheat, which find a market at home and at Hazelton.
Beach Haven is a village containing about 30 dwellings, 3 stores, 1 grist-mill, 1 grocery, 1 church, and 2 taverns. The collector's and weighmaster's offices of the Wyoming Canal Company are located here. Besides these, the township contains 5 saw-mills, 2 grist-mills, 1 store, 1 tan- nery, and 1 church.
The population of Salem in 1840 was 1009, and in 1850 it was 1130.
SCOTT TOWNSHIP was separated from Greenfield in 1846, and was named in honor of David Scott, who, for many years, was president judge of the Luzerne courts.
In 1800, Mr. Howe built the first grist-mill of logs on the outlet of Chapman's Lake, and James Brown, in 1804, erected the first saw-mill on the same stream. The first church in Scott was built in 1856. Among the early settlers were Nathaniel Simrell, Nathaniel Finch, William Carey, Wilmot Vale, Caleb Brown, and Samuel Callender. Lucy Carey, whose maiden name was Mckay, resides in Scott, and is one hundred years of age.+ She was in Forty Fort at the time of the Indian battle in 1778.
The area of Scott township is 27 square miles, one- third of which is cleared land. Its surface is undulating,
* For names of taxables, see Appendix T.
+ Since deceased.
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and * is adapted to grazing, though it produces the com- mon grains of the country. Its market is at Carbondale and Scranton. Its timber is chiefly beech, maple, hem- lock, and ash.
This township has 4 saw-mills, 1 grist-mill, 1 turning- mill, 1 store, 1 church, and 1 tavern.
Green Grove is a small village of about 15 dwellings.
The population of Scott in 1850 was 1268.
SCRANTON BOROUGH was incorporated in 1856, and is situated in what was known as Slocum Hollow, or Capouse. This name was pronounced, by the old in- habitants, Capows. Capouse was a chief of the Monsey Indians, whose village stood near the site of Scranton. Here, Frederick Post, the Moravian missionary, found them, more than a hundred years ago .**
In the year 1788, Philip and James Abbott put up a log grist-mill on Roaring Brook, a few rods above the present grist-mill at Scranton. It had one run of stone, and a bolter made of perforated deerskin. In 1798, this mill passed into the hands of Benjamin and Ebenezer Slocum, who enlarged it. The Messrs. Slocum, in 1799, built a saw-mill, and, in the following year, a forge in the some locality. These buildings, with 2 distilleries and 3 dwellings, constituted, for many years, the entire settle- ment in Slocum Hollow or Capouse.
In 1839, this region was explored by Mr. W. Henry, who discovered anthracite coal and iron-ore on the Slocum property and adjoining lands. He, in conjunction with Colonel George W. and S. T. Scranton, S. Grant, and P. H. Mattes, purchased these lands in 1840. On the 11th of September, of the same year, the first day's work was done towards the erection of a blast furnace, and the place was called Harrison, in honor of General William Henry Harrison, who was then the candidate of the whig party
* Scranton was incorporated a city in 1866, and includes Providence borough and township, and the borough of Hyde Park.
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THE SLOCUM HOUSE.
for President of the United States. This name was after- wards dropped for that of Scrantonia, which was finally changed to Scranton. Such was the beginning of one of the most flourishing towns in Pennsylvania, and which is destined to become a place of even far greater importance than it is now.
Scranton is laid out with regularity, nearly all the streets crossing each other at right angles. Business is thriving, and many spacious brick buildings are being erected. The town is supplied with water from the Lackawanna, being forced up by steam-power into a reservoir, and thence distributed in pipes through the borough. The streets are lighted by gas, and the side- walks are paved with plank and stone. The capital of the company which erected the gas and water works is $100,000. The place contains 59 groceries and stores of all descriptions, 18 stationary steam-engines, 10 churches, 2 printing offices, 4 foundries and machine-shops, 2 bakeries, 7 hotels, 4 smelting furnaces, 1 rolling-mill, 1 planing
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mill, 2 banking-houses, 6 insurance agencies, 2 flouring- mills, each with 4 run of stone, 1 brewery, 2 resident dentists, 12 doctors, and 13 lawyers.
In 1850, there was but one brick building in Scranton, now there are 80. In 1854, the population was 4241, of whom the American-born were 1151, the rest being Ger- mans, Irish, Welsh, and English. The population is now estimated to exceed 12,000, of whom about one-half, it is thought, are native-born Americans.
SLOCUM TOWNSHIP was separated from Newport in 1854, and was named in honor of Joseph Slocum, Esq., late of Wilkesbarre. The first settlement in Slocum was made by two brothers, named Lutsey, about the year 1785, at what is known as the Lutsey settlement. They were great hunters, and the mountains abounding in game, their location was peculiarly suited to their love of adventure.
Its area is 16 square miles, one-fifth of which is cleared land. It is a mountainous section of country ; but rye, corn, oats, and buckwheat do well. The timber is mainly oak and hemlock.
This township contains 2 saw-mills, and 2 stores, but has no grist-mill, no church, and no tavern.
SPRINGBROOK TOWNSHIP was formed from parts of Cov- ington and Pittston in 1853.
Among the first settlers in Springbrook was Abraham Turner, who, assisted by others, cut a road from Dale- ville to Rattlesnake Creek. He and his companions com- menced what is known as the Welsh settlement in 1832. Mr. Turner was soon followed by James Jones, David Davidson, Morgan Daniel, Morgan Pugh, Isaac Cary, William Thomas, and others, who, by industry and fru- gality, have converted the wilderness into the fruitful field, and have laid up a store for a joyous old age.
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ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY.
The first saw-mill in Springbrook was put up on Rattle- snake Creek, in 1836, by Henry Yeager. The first grist- mill was erected, on the same creek, by William Hughes, in 1838. In 1839, the first church was built by the Welsh Methodists.
The extent of Springbrook is 35 square miles, of which only about one-sixth is cleared land. It is a mountainous region, and is adapted to grazing; but produces rye, corn, oats, and buckwheat. Its market is Pittston and the Lackawanna Valley. Its timber is chiefly oak, beech, and hemlock.
This township contains 5 saw-mills, 1 grist-mill, 1 church, and 1 shovel and hoe-handle manufactory.
SUGARLOAF TOWNSHIP was formed from a portion of Nescopeck in 1809, and received its name from the Sugar- loaf Mountain, which rears its conical peak 500 feet above the valley of the same name.
In the year 1785, the year after John Balliet settled in the territory embraced in Butler township, George Easterday built a log-cabin near the Indian path, at the foot of Buck Mountain, now in Sugarloaf. Mr. Easterday was followed by Christian Miller, Anthony Weaver, Jacob Mace, Jacob Rittenhouse, Jacob Drumheller, Sr., Jacob Spade, Christian Wenner, and others from Northampton county. These, with the early settlers of Butler and Black Creek, were the pioneers of South-western Luzerne.
John Cawley erected the first saw-mill on the Nesco- peck Creek in 1810, and the first grist-mill was built by George Koening in 1825. The first church was put up in Conyngham in 1815.
The area of Sugarloaf is 20 square miles, of which seven-tenths is cleared land, embracing a considerable portion of Sugarloaf Valley. The common grains of our climate are produced in Sugarloaf, and their market is at
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Hazelton. Oak, chestnut, hemlock, and hickory are found in its forests. It contains 8 saw-mills, 3 grist-mills, 4 stores, 2 churches, and 5 taverns.
Conyngham village, in this township, was named in honor of Captain Gustavus Conyngham, who commanded a privateer during the Revolutionary War, and who first carried the American flag into the English Channel. It contains about 50 dwellings, 2 stores, 3 taverns, and 1 church.
The population of Sugarloaf in 1850 was 1023.
UNION TOWNSHIP was formed from parts of Huntington and Plymouth in 1813.
The first settlement in Union was made in 1773, by Jonathan Hunlock, on Hunlock's Creek, near the furnace of William Koons.
Isaac Benscotter erected the first saw-mill on the Shickshinny Creek in 1802, and the first grist-mill was put up by George Gregory on the same stream in 1804. The first church was built in 1832. Among the first set- tlers were the Benscotters, Fenks, Dodsons, and Youngs.
The extent of Union is 39 square miles, of which a fifth part is cleared and cultivated. Though a mountain- ous region, the cultivable portions yield the usual grains, which find a market at Hazelton and Wilkesbarre. Its timber is chiefly oak, chestnut, and hickory. It contains 8 saw-mills, 3 grist-mills, 4 stores, 3 taverns, 2 churches, and 2 blast furnaces, including the one at Shickshinny, which stands within the Salem township line.
Shickshinny village*is situated at the point where the Shickshinny Creek empties into the Susquehanna. It contains about 20 dwellings, and bids fair to become a thriving place. It is connected with Newport by a sub- stantial bridge across the Susquehanna, and enjoys the
* Shickshinny was incorporated a borough in 1861.
15
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ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY.
advantages of the canal and of the Lackawanna and Bloomsburg Railroad.
Muhlenburg is a collection of 6 or 8 dwellings.
The population of Union in 1850 was 1308.
WAVERLY BOROUGH was incorporated in 1854, prior to which it was generally called Abington Centre. It is located in the midst of a fine agricultural district, one mile distant from the Delaware, Lackawanna, and West- ern Railroad. It contains 5 stores, 1 large hotel, 1 steam saw and grist mill, and 3 churches. The public schools of Waverly are graded. The buildings are frame and neatly built, and the streets are provided with good side- walks. Its population is about 400.
WEST PITTSTON BOROUGH was incorporated in 1857, and is situated on the Susquehanna, opposite Pittston, with which it is connected by a substantial bridge. It is regularly laid out, and the location is a most desirable one for private residences, particularly for persons engaged in business in Pittston. There are 1 large hotel and 1 store in the place.
WHITE HAVEN BOROUGH was incorporated in 1842, and derives its name from Josiah White, Esq., of Philadelphia, to whose genius and energy the origin and completion of the Lehigh navigation is chiefly attributable. The town is pleasantly located on the Lehigh river and canal, 20 miles south-east from Wilkesbarre, with which it is connected by the Susquehanna and Lehigh Railroad. White Haven is steadily improving, and the proposed enlargement of the locks on the Lehigh, so as to admit the passage of steam- boats of 250 tons burden, and a corresponding enlargement of the Delaware Canal, will divert, it is thought, almost the entire Wyoming coal trade in that direction, and will give the town an impetus, which will speedily advance it to the position of one of the most active and progressive
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places in the state .* It contains 250 dwellings, 3 churches, 5 dry goods stores, 2 drug stores, 4 hotels, 6 saw-mills, 3 planing and lath mills, and 1 foundry and machine-shop. The town is supplied with pure mountain spring water, and excellent and commodious hotels, which, combined with its high elevation and pure air, render it a desirable place of resort during the sultry months of the year.
WILKESBARRE TOWNSHIP was originally laid out by the Susquehanna Land Company, and was also one of the eleven townships into which Luzerne was divided by the court in 1790. It derives its name from the union of the names of John Wilkes and Colonel Barre, distinguished advocates for liberty and the rights of the colonies.
The first dwelling-houses in Wyoming, erected by white men, were built on the flats, below the borough of Wilkes- barre, in 1758, by authority of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, for the use of Teedyuscung, king of the Delaware Indians, and his tribe.
Fort Durkee stood on the bank of the river in this town- ship, immediately below the Wilkesbarre borough line.
The first massacre and destruction of the white settle- ment occurred in this township in 1763.
In 1782, James Sutton, who had previously built mills in Exeter and Kingston townships, erected a grist-mill on Mill Creek near the river. This was the first mill in the present limits of Wilkesbarre. It was constructed of hewn logs, and had one run of stone, and a sentry-box on the roof, from which the valley could be overlooked, and the movements of an enemy observed. This mill was swept away by the pumpkin flood in 1786.
In 1799, including Wilkesbarre borough, Covington, Buck, and a large portion of Plains and Bear Creek town-
* The Lehigh Slackwater Navigation was destroyed by the great flood of 1862, and has not been rebuilt. (For particulars, see Appendix Y.)
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ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY.
SUTTON'S MILL.
ships, it contains 121 taxable inhabitants,* 112 horses, and 301 head of horned cattle. The total valuation of property for taxable purposes was $71,390.
The area of this township is 15 square miles, and three- fourths of it is cleared land. The surface is flat and rolling, with a portion of the Wilkesbarre Mountain in its territory. It produces wheat, rye, corn, and oats, which are consumed at home. It contains 10 stores, 5 grist-mills, 2 iron foundries, 2 planing-mills, 4 churches, 1 soap and tallow chandlery, 1 powder-mill, 1 brewery, and 6 coal-mines.
The population of Wilkesbarre township, including parts of Plains and Bear Creek, in 1850, was 2928.
WILKESBARRE BOROUGH was incorporated in 1806, and is the oldest town in the county. It was laid out in 1772 by Colonel John Durkee, and embraced 200 acres of land. It was originally laid out in eight squares, with a diamond in the centre. The squares were subsequently
* For names of taxables, see Appendix, U.
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divided into 16 parallelograms by the formation of Frank- lin and Washington streets.
The first dwelling, within the limits of the town plot, was a log-cabin built by John Abbott on the south-west corner of Main and Northampton streets, in 1769.
In 1772, there were only 5 white women in Wilkes- barre; and, in 1784, the whole number of buildings amounted to 26, of which 23 were burnt by the Penna- mites. Of the three buildings saved from the flames, two are yet standing-the westerly end of the Hollenback House, on Main street, and the old red house on River street. The former was erected by Judge Hollenback, and the latter by Captain John P. Schott, in 1783.
RED HOUSE.
In 1807, Joseph Slocum, Esq., erected a three story brick dwelling-house on the south side of the Public Square, now occupied by his son-in-law, Lord Butler, Esq. In the same year, Benjamin Perry, Esq., put up the brick dwelling now standing on the corner of Main and North-
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ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY.
ampton streets. These two were the first brick buildings in Wilkesbarre.
The following taken from the Federalist of March 30, 1810, will give some idea of Wilkesbarre 50 years ago :-
" Memorandum of a Stranger in Luzerne.
" Cloudy day-rain towards night-4 o'clock, came in sight of a small town in this county-a delightful and extensive valley, sufficiently watered by Susquehanna and its tributary streams. Set this county down rich-the soil undoubtedly will reward the labors of the husband- man with an abundant harvest.
"Came down into the town (Wilkesbarre)-found it regularly laid out-handsome place, though too many small houses for beauty. Streets terribly muddy-almost impossible to get along. Wonder the inhabitants don't have a side-walk, at least, so that foot people may not have their legs pulled out by the roots. Mem .- Stone enough on the mountain at a small distance. Query- Would not a good pavement raise the value of property sufficiently to defray the expense ?
" Came down into the street-extends north and south. What ! two men running horses !! Mud knee deep- Well, they sputter it agoing bravely. They spout it around like Mount Etna in a fit of the colic. Huzza ! there goes a man and his horse heels over head-spatter, dash, souse all over in the mud-ha ! ha! ha !- a new way of dismounting. Mem .- Never run horses in slippery weather. Walked up to the centre of the place-saw a meeting-house-good sign, though seldom seen in this county-court-house-an academy, I guess, with one end of it fenced in-a jail probably, by the high yard fence-four public buildings, religion, justice, knowledge, and iniquity -curious compound. Wonder what old huge, antique stone-building that is with new roof and
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windows-contrary to Scripture-put no new cloth upon an old garment. Query-Is this not what they call the Gothic order of architecture ? Mem .- Never build in that style-looks like the devil-this is the first building that bears such strong marks of antiquity, and which appears to have been too rough for the devouring jaws of time, which I have seen in America. I can find no date upon it-conjecture, built about the time of the second Olym- piad. Went a little further-found six great, strong robust men playing cards without any concealment. Inquired if they had any laws in this state, or, perhaps, their magistrates are blind, like Justice of old. Went down to the river-a delightful bank, save the mud, which, for the purpose of brevity, I wish might always be excepted, when this place is mentioned hereafter. A big house on the bank-foundation all gone from one end -a little more will tumble it down the hill-a good simile for the government of the U. S. A. Saw a man drunk- he had business on both sides of the way. Mem .- There was once an insurrection in this state on account of taxing whiskey. Saw another man moving with great obliquity -- made inquiry-found he was a candidate for sheriff. Query-Do all sheriffs in Pennsylvania step quick two or three times, and then with a long side-way stride ? The river is wearing away the bank very rapidly-from ap- pearance it seems to incline side-ways, like the man I saw just now.
" Two men rode up from the river-one horse kicked up and threw the rider head and heels in the mud-the people all flocked around just as they do to see dogs fight -made inquiry, and found the man was a Methodist minister. Well, if I remember right, this sect of Christ- ians hold to falling. Mem .- It may do well in theory, but it is hard enough. in practice.
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ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY.
" I went down a little further-saw a tavern with the sign of the vessel. Mem .- Look in the morning, and see if this be a seaport town. Heard a bell ring-made . inquiry, and found there was a Methodist meeting. After tea went, and found a great many people there. The minister delivered a forcible, impressive, eloquent, and scriptural sermon. Under such preaching there must be many Christians. Retired to my lodgings very weary.
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