USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Families of the Wyoming Valley: biographical, genealogical and historical. Sketches of the bench and bar of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, vol. I > Part 31
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perhaps a more studied description. He was always and every- where the gentleman. Decided in his political opinions, and free in expressing them, his opponents said he was proud. If an unworthy pride was meant, the charge was unjust. But if an election was depending and he a candidate, he would neither shake hands with nor smile on a man with whom he would not have done the same as cordially if he had not been on the lists. His delicacy in this particular was probably carried rather to excess ; for no truer republican ever lived-no one had a more sincere regard for his fellow men-no man was more devoted to the independence and liberty of his country. But his reserve, which enemies construed into hateur, was the result of early associations. His father, the gallant Colonel Butler, who had been much with British officers in the old French war, and with the accomplished French officers in the war of the Revolution, had a good deal of dignity and gravity about him." Lord Butler was for many years one of the most active public men in Luzerne county. Besides the militia offices which he filled, until he rose to the rank of general, he held the commission of the first sheriff of Luzerne county. On August 17, 1791, he was commissioned prothonotary, clerk of the Quarter Sessions and Orphans' Court, and register and recorder of Luzerne county. From October 30, 1789, to December 20, 1790, he was a member of the Supreme Executive Council of the state. Under the constitution of 1790, a senate took the place of a council. In 1801 he was a member of the Legislature of Pennsylvania. From 1815 to 1818 he was one of the commissioners of Luzerne county, and for some time held the position of county treasurer. He was the first post- master in Wilkes-Barre, and held the office from 1794 to 1802. He was one of the incorporators of the Wilkes-Barre academy, and served on the board of trustees from 1807 to 1824, the year of his death. He was for seven years president of the board. From 1806 to 1808 he was a member of the town council of the borough of Wilkes-Barre, and president of the same. He was also burgess of the borough from 1811 to 1814. In all these varied offices General Butler sustained the highest character for faithfulness and ability. No public servant ever deserved better of the public. If he would not condescend to flatter their preju-
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dices, he yet delighted all with his intelligence and zeal to pro- mote their best interests. He was a man of stern integrity, and lived and died highly respected and esteemed ; while in the family and social circle, he was justly and tenderly loved. General But- ler married Mary, daughter of Abel Pierce, who was the son of Major Ezekiel Pierce, one of the original settlers at Wyoming in 1763. He was the ready writer in early days, and for a suc- cession of years clerk of the town, the records being in his handwriting. He had five sons, all grown to manhood, when he removed to Wyoming, and must therefore have been advanced towards the decline of life. Their names were Abel (father of Mrs. Butler), Daniel, John, Timothy, and Phineas. When, in June, 1778, the two independent companies were consolidated into one, under Captain Spaulding, Timothy and Phineas were com- missioned first and second lieutenants. Timothy was one of the three who rode all night before the battle, arrived after the troops had marched out, followed, and fell. John was also slain in the engagement. Major Pierce was one of the members from Westmoreland to the Connecticut assembly in 1775. Among General Butler's children, Sylvina married Judge Garrick Mallery, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county August 8, 1810. He was a native of Middlebury, Connecticut, where he was born April 17, 1784. He was one of the board of trustees of the Wilkes-Barre academy from 1811 to 1832. In 1828 and 1829 he was burgess of the borough of Wilkes-Barre. He was a member of the legislature of Pennsylvania during the years 1826, 1827, 1828, and 1829. He was president judge of Berks county, and afterwards of Northampton county. He died at Philadelphia July 6, 1866. Ruth Ann married Judge John N. Conyngham, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county April 3, 1820, and who was burgess of the borough of Wilkes-Barre in 1827 and 1828, and from 1834 to 1838. He was also a member of the town council in 1849 and 1850. He was a member of the board of trustees of the Wilkes-Barre academy from 1824 to 1838. He was born in Philadelphia in 1798, and died from the result of an accident in Mississippi in 1871. In 1839 he was commissioned president judge of Luzerne county, and, with the exception of the years 1850 and 1851, he remained in commission until his
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resignation in 1870. His sons, William L. Conyngham and Major Charles M. Conyngham, are residents of this city. His daughter, Ann, became the wife of Bishop William Bacon Stevens, of the Protestant Episcopal church. Phebe married Dr. Donaldson ; Pierce married Temperance Colt; John L. married Cornelia Richards (mother of Mrs. Judge Stanley Woodward) ; Chester, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county August 8, 1820, and who was a member of the Pennsylvania legislature in 1832, 1838, 1839, and 1843, and from 1846 to 1850 a member of congress from the county of Luzerne. Rev. Zebulon Butler was for many years an esteemed pastor of a Presbyterian congregation at Port Gibson, Mississippi. Lord Butler, youngest son of General Butler by his first wife, was born October 18, 1806. He was a civil engineer by profession, but up to the year 1829 was a farmer and merchant. From 1829 to 1834 he was engineer and superintendent of the North Branch canal. From 1835 to 1839 he was engineer of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Slack Water Company and on the railroad from White Haven to the top of the mountain. He was a pioneer coal operator at Pittston with his brother, Colonel John L. Butler, and his brother-in-law, Judge Mallery, in 1840. He followed the business until near the end of his life, which occurred November 27, 1861, in the brick house now occupied by Brown's book store, on the Public square. This house was built by his father-in-law, Joseph Slocum, in 1807, and was the first brick building, and also the first three-story building, erected in the county of Luzerne. He was a member of the town council of the borough of Wilkes-Barre from 1851 to 1855, and also from 1857 to 1859. Mr. Butler was a warm and personal friend of the late Rev. Reuben Nelson, D. D., and took an active part as one of the trustees of Wyoming seminary. He served as trustee from the opening of the seminary in 1844, and continued a member of the board until 1857. He was secretary of the board of trustees during the years 1852 and 1853. In 1860 he was an elector on the Bell and Everett presi- dential ticket. From 1823 to the day of his death Mr. Butler was an active member of the Franklin street Methodist Episcopal church. He served the church of his choice as class leader, exhorter, Sabbath school superintendent, steward, trustee, and
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teacher. His wife, Abi S., who is still living, was converted at a camp meeting held at Spring Brook, Luzerne (now Lackawanna) county, in September, 1821, and is the oldest surviving member of the Franklin street M. E. church. The first infant Sabbath school for white children in Wilkes-Barre was organized by Mrs. Butler in 1829. Previous to this time, a Sunday school for colored people was held in Rev. Ard Hoyt's kitchen, which was taught by Misses Hoyt, Jewett, and Bowman.
Anthony Slocombe is recorded as one of the forty-six " first and ancient purchasers," A. D. 1637, of the territory of Cohannet, which was incorporated March 3, 1639, with the name of Taun- ton, in New Plymouth, now Massachusetts, and from which the present townships of Taunton, Raynham, and Berkley have been organized. The interests of the several purchasers were in the ratio of six, eight, and twelve, Mr. Slocombe purchasing eight shares. Giles Slocombe, son of Anthony, was born in Somerset- shire (?) England, and, coming to America, he settled in what is now the township of Portsmouth, in Newport county, Rhode Island. He and his wife were early members of the Society of Friends. The Friends' records for Portsmouth, Rhode Island, show that " Joan Slocom, the wife of old Giles, she Dyed at Portsmouth the 31st 6 mo. 1679." He died in 1682. Samuel Slocum, son of Giles, was born probably about the year 1657. He was the heir first named in his father's will in 1681. He probably married and resided in or near Newport, Rhode Island. The records of Newport previous to December 6, 1779, were carried away. during the Revolutionary war, and remained in a vessel submerged in the East river, New York, for three years. The books were recovered, but were in such bad condition that much of their contents was lost past recovery. Giles Slocum, son of Samuel, was born in or near Newport, Rhode Island. He was married there November 23, 1704, by Joseph Sheffield, assistant, to Mary Paine, daughter of Ralph and Dorothy Paine, of Freetown, Massachusetts. He was admitted freeman of Newport in May, 1707, and died there previous to 1724. Hon. Joseph Slocum, son of Giles Slocum, was born in Newport, Rhode Island, January 30, 1706, and was married September 27, 1724, to Patience, daughter of Caleb Carr. They removed to
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East Greenwich township, Rhode Island, where he was admitted freeman in 1732, and became a farmer and dealer in land. He was chosen deputy to the Rhode Island General Assembly from West Greenwich-after the division of the township-in the years 1741, 1742, and 1744. But little has been ascertained concerning his later history. It is presumed that he removed to the Wyoming valley, Pennsylvania, about 1763, as he is named as one of the early settlers there by Charles Miner in his History of Wyoming, and is on the list of the first settlers at Wyoming.
Jonathan Slocum, son of Joseph, was born in East Greenwich township, Kent county, Rhode Island, May 1, 1733, and was married to Ruth Tripp, daughter of Isaac Tripp, February 23, 1757, by Ebenezer Slocum, justice of the peace. After marriage they resided in Warwick, Rhode Island. The tide of emigration which had set in a few years before this date from Connecticut to Wyoming-then claimed by Connecticut-had increased, and some residents of Rhode Island joined the movement. Joseph Slocum, his father, and Isaac Tripp, his father-in-law, removed thither about 1763, and Jonathan, leaving his family behind, followed them about 1771, as is shown by the following record :
" A lot surveyed to Colonel Lodwick Ojidirk in ye township called ye Capoose Meadow passed into the hands of Jonathan Slocum in 1771 on account of Slocum's Doeing ye Duty of a settler for Ojidirk."
This lot was within or near the limits of the city of Scranton, Pennsylvania. It appears that Jonathan Slocum returned to Rhode Island, as his name is again found on the records there as " of Warwick," in a sale of land under date of April 16, 1774. At this time his household numbered fourteen head as follows : ten children, two negro and two Indian servants. It is highly probable that he returned to the Wyoming valley the same year. He settled with his family in a house now near the corner of Canal and Scott streets, in Wilkes-Barre, and there his daughter, Frances, was seized by Indians November 2, 1778, under the following circumstances: A party of Delaware Indians visited Wyoming, and directed their way to Mr. Slocum's residence. Nathan Kingsley had been made prisoner by the Indians, and his wife and two sons were taken in by Mr. Slocum, and afforded
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the protection and comforts of a home. When the Indians came near, they saw the two Kingsley boys grinding a knife before the door. The elder of the lads was dressed in a soldier's coat, which it is presumed was the special reason of his being marked as a victim. One of the savages took deadly aim at this young man, and he fell. The discharge of the gun alarmed Mrs. Slocum, and she ran to the door, where she saw the Indians scalping the young man with the knife which he had been grinding. She secreted herself until she saw a stalwart Indian lay hold of her son, Ebenezer, a little lad who, by an injury in one of his feet, had been made lame. The idea that the little fellow would fail to keep up with the party, and would be cruelly butchered, rushed with such force upon the mind of the mother that she forgot all considerations of safety, and, running up to the Indian, and pointing at the foot of the boy, exclaimed, " The child is lame! he can do thee no good." Little Frances, about five years old, had hid, as she supposed, under the stairs, but had been discovered by the Indians. The savage dropped the boy, and seized the little girl, and took her up in his arms. All the entreaties of the mother in this case were treated with savage scorn. The oldest daughter ran away with her youngest brother, Joseph, the grandfather of the subject of our sketch, about two years old, with such speed and in such affright that the savages, after yelling hideously at her, roared out laughing. They took the remaining Kingsley boy and a colored girl, and away they went, little Frances screaming to "mamma " for help, holding her locks of hair front her eyes with one hand and stretching out the other. Charles Miner, in his History of Wyoming, says : " The cup of revenge was not yet full. Decem- ber 16, 1778, Mr. Slocum and his father-in-law, Isaac Tripp, an aged man, with William Slocum, a youth of nineteen or twenty, were feeding cattle from a stack in the meadow in sight of the fort when they were fired upon by Indians. Mr. Slocum was shot dead, Mr. Tripp wounded, speared, and tomahawked. Both were scalped. William, wounded by a spent ball in the heel, escaped and gave the alarm, but the alert and wily foe had retreated to his hiding place in the mountain. This deed, bold as it was cruel, was perpetrated within the town plot, in the centre
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of which the fortress was located. Thus, in a little more than a · month, Mrs. Slocum had lost a beloved child, carried into cap- tivity, the doorway had been drenched in blood by the murder of an inmate of the family, two others of the household had been taken away prisoners, and now her husband and father were both stricken down to the grave, murdered and mangled by the mer- ciless Indians. Verily, the annals of Indian atrocities written in blood record few instances of desolation and woe to equal this." In August, 1837, fifty-nine years after the capture, a letter ap- peared in the Lancaster Intelligencer, written by Colonel G. W. Ewing, of Logansport, Indiana, dated January 30, 1835, a year and a half previous, stating : " There is now living near this place, among the Miami tribe of Indians, an aged white woman, who, a few days ago, told me that she was taken away from her father's house on or near the Susquehanna river when she was very young. She says her father's name was Slocum ; that he was a Quaker, and wore a large brimmed hat; that he lived about a half a mile from a town where there was a fort. She has two daughters living. Her husband is dead. She is old and feeble, and thinks she shall not live long. These considerations induced her to give the present history of herself, which she never would before, fearing her kindred would come and force her away. She has lived long and happy as an Indian ; is very respectable and wealthy, sober and honest. Her name is without reproach." This letter, as a matter of course, awakened great interest, and her brothers, Joseph and Isaac Slocum, repaired to Logansport, where they fortunately met Mr. Ewing. The lost sister received notice of their arrival, and came to Logansport on horseback, accompanied by her two daughters, all dressed in fine Indian costume. Frances, before her captivity, had received a blow on her finger in the smithshop which crushed the bone, and when the brothers saw the wounded hand, they embraced her and burst into tears. She related the leading events of her life. She stated that she had been adopted into an Indian family, and had been kindly treated. She said that young Kingsley had died after a a few years. When grown up she had married a chief, and her Indian name was Maconaquah, Young Bear. In subsequent years she was again visited by her brothers and other members
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of the family. A life-size portrait of her was painted, and is now in possession of Mrs. Abi Slocum Butler, of this city. When arrangements were being made by the government to settle the Indians of Indiana west of the Mississippi, Mr. Slocum did not forget his sister. He petitioned congress in her behalf, and succeeded in enlisting powerful support. Hon. B. A. Bidlack took charge of the bill, and John Quincy Adams made one of his strong speeches in its support, and it became a law. The bill provided that one mile square of the reserve, embracing the house and improvements of Frances Slocum, should be granted in fee to her and her heirs forever. She remembered the kind- ness, and went down to the grave in a goodly old age with the gratitude of a warm heart, and wishing many blessings upon her brother. During her last sickness, which was brief, Frances Slocum refused all medical aid, declaring that, as her people were gone and she was surrounded by strangers, she wished to live no longer. She departed this life March 9, 1847, aged seventy-four years. She had Christian burial, a prayer being made at her house, and her remains conducted to the grave by a clergyman. Frances Slocum sleeps upon a beautiful knoll near the confluence of the Missisinewa and the Wabash by the side of her chief and her children, where her ashes will rest in peace until the morning of the resurrection. Mrs. Slocum died at Wilkes-Barre May 6, 1807. William Slocum, who was wounded at the time his father and grandfather were killed, was elected sheriff of Luzerne county in the year 1795, when it included the present counties of Luzerne, Lackawanna, Susquehanna, Wyom- ing, and the greater part of Bradford. He held that office until 1799, and then retired to his farm in Pittston township, where he was elected justice of the peace in 1806. He was classed among the prominent and influential men of his county. Judith, the oldest daughter of Mr. Slocum, married Hugh Forsman, a farmer in Wilkes-Barre. He was a subaltern in Captain Hewitt's company during the Wyoming massacre, and was one of the fifteen of that corps who escaped the slaughter, and he was the only one who brought in his gun.
Joseph Slocum, son of Jonathan, was born at Malden, Rhode Island, April 9, 1777. He settled in Wilkes-Barre, and was
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a blacksmith and farmer. He was chosen the first captain of the " Wyoming Blues " military company in 1805. On April 28, 1851, he was appointed by Governor Johnson one of the associate judges of Luzerne county. He was a member of the town council of the borough of Wilkes-Barre during the years 1818, 1819, 1829, and 1830. He was one of the incorporators of the Wilkes-Barre academy, and was a member of the board of trustees from 1807 to 1838, twenty-five years of which time he was its treasurer. The township of Slocum and Slocum post- office were named in his honor. He married, in 1800, Sarah, a daughter of Jesse and Hannah Welding Fell, natives of Bucks county, Pennsylvania. His fourth daughter, Abi S., the mother of the subject of our sketch, was born June 22, 1808, in Wilkes- Barre, Pa., and became the wife of Lord Butler.
Joseph Fell, son of John and Margaret Fell, was born at Longlands, in the parish of Rochdale, county of Cumberland, England, October 19, 1668. He learned the trade of carpenter and joiner with John Bond, of Wheelbarrow Hill, near Carlisle, and worked at it as long as he remained in England. He married Elizabeth Wilson, of Cumberland, in 1698, and in 1705 immigrated to America with his wife and two children. They sailed in the Cumberland, and made the capes of Virginia in twenty-nine days from Belfast. Landing at the mouth of the Potomac, they made their way by land and water via Choptank, Frenchtown, and Newcastle, where they took boat for Bristol, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. He died in Buckingham, in the same county, in 1753. The family were members of the Society of Friends or Quakers.
Thomas Fell, the eighth child of Joseph Fell, married Jane Kirk, of the county of Bucks. Their first child was Jesse Fell, who was born in Buckingham April 16, 1751. On August 20, 1775, Jesse Fell and Hannah Welding, of Bucks county, were joined in marriage by Isaac Hicks, Esq., one of the justices of the peace of Bucks county, "by virtue of a marriage license by them produced under the hand and seal of the Hon. John Penn, Esq., governor and commander-in-chief of the province of Pennsyl- vania." In the latter part of the year 1785, Jesse Fell removed, with his wife and four children, to the Wyoming valley for the
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purpose of engaging in mercantile pursuits. He purchased the property at the corner of Washington and Northampton streets, and since known by his name, for forty pounds, on December 21, 1787. Here he carried on a store and tavern for many years. For a long time it was the sojourning place of the judges and lawyers upon the circuit, and the rendesvous of many local celebrities. During 1797-98-99 the sheriff's sales of real estate were held at the " Buck," as Mr. Fell's tavern was named. Mr. Fell continued to occupy these premises and to keep open house until his death, and for many years thereafter the place was, and is now, known as " the old Fell House." A very small portion of the building is still standing, and is kept as a hotel by Charles S. Gable. On October 21, 1789, the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania commissioned Mr. Fell sheriff of Luzerne county for two years. On October 23, 1790, Sheriff Fell was re-com- missioned, and served a further term of two years. On January 10, 1792, Mr. Fell was appointed lieutenant of the county of Luzerne by Thomas Mifflin, governor of Pennsylvania. On April 11, 1793, Governor Mifflin appointed Mr. Fell brigade inspector of the Luzerne Militia brigade for the term of seven years. Although he was a Quaker and a professed noncomba- tant, Mr. Fell accepted the office and performed the duties thereof until the spring of 1798, when he was succeeded by Putnam Catlin, a member of the Luzerne county bar. Major Fell's first military experience has been described as follows : On the morn- ing of the first parade of his brigade he took it into his head to drill a little by himself. Dressed in full regimentals, he marched out on the back porch of his house, and, placing himself in a military attitude with his sword drawn, exclaimed " Attention, Battalion ! Rear rank three paces to the rear. March !" and he tumbled down into the cellar. His wife, hearing the racket, came running out saying, " Oh! Jesse, has thee killed thyself!" " Go to, Hannah," said the hero; " what does thee know about war?" On February 5, 1798, Mr. Fell was appointed by Governor Mifflin an associate judge of the courts of Luzerne county, to serve during good behavior. This position he filled with dignity and credit for a period of thirty-two years and a half, and terminated only by his death. In 1798 Mr. Fell was ap-
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pointed town clerk of Wilkes-Barre, which position he held for several years. While the commissioners, Judge Thomas Cooper, General John Steele, and William Wilson, were settling the contested land claims, under the Compromise Act of 1799, Judge Fell was constantly employed as their clerk. He was from the beginning their right hand man-for information or for advice -- and his services were inestimable. In 1804 he was appointed assistant clerk to the county commissioners. This position he held until January, 1819, when he was appointed clerk, and in this office he continued until his death. Few men wrote so plain and beautiful a hand as Judge Fell ; his handwriting was indeed so excellent as to be an enviable accomplishment, and was of much value to him. On March 17, 1806, the act incorporating the borough of Wilkes-Barre was passed by the Legislature of Pennsylvania. Judge Fell was named in the act as a commis- sioner to issue the proclamation for holding the first election for borough officers. The proclamation was issued April 25, and the election held May 6. He was elected burgess, and served in that office for one year. Subsequently, he served four terms as burgess, from 1814 to 1818. He was a member of the borough council for many years, and he served as its president from May, 1809, to May, 1810; May, 1811, to May, 1814; and May, 1820, to May, 1823. He was a member of the first board of trustees of the Wilkes-Barre academy, which was incorporated March 19, 1807, and filled that position until his death in 1830. He was four years secretary, and three years president, of the board. In 1 808 occurred that event which more than any other circun . stance in the life of Jesse Fell has caused his name to be known and remembered by the people of this section of our common- wealth down to the present day. Judge Fell had seen anthracite coal burnt by blacksmiths in their fires, and he himself had used it as early as 1788 in a nailery for making wrought nails. Obadiah Gore, an early settler of Wyoming, is supposed to have been the first person who attempted to use the coal. In 1768 or 1769 he found by experiment that it was valuable in blacksmith- ing, and soon its use became general among the blacksmiths of the valley to the entire exclusion of charcoal. Mr. Fell was satisfied that it would burn in a grate properly constructed, and
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