USA > Pennsylvania > Lackawanna County > Ransom > History and directory of Newton and Ransom townships, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania; > Part 12
USA > Pennsylvania > Lackawanna County > Newton > History and directory of Newton and Ransom townships, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania; > Part 12
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37
SUTTON'S MILL
In 1776 James Sutton, in partnership with James Hadsall, put up the first grist-mill in the upper end of Exeter township. It was located on the north side of Sutton's creek (now Coray's creek) near its confluence with the Susque- hanna river. Hadsall was murdered, and the mill was destroyed by the Indians and Tories just before the massacre of 1778, and the mill irons were carried away, except the crank, which is now preserved in the collections of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, Wilkes-Barre, as a relic of one of the earliest mills in the Wyoming Valley.
Several years later Samuel Sutton, a son of James, built a second grist-mill on the same
Connecticut for supremacy over Wyoming regular mail communication was interrupted. and messages were carried to and fro by men employed by the settlers for that purpose.
A post office was established at Wilkes-Barre in 1794, with Lord Butler as postmaster, at tlie corner of River and Northampton streets. It was not until the organization of Luzerne county in 1786, that provision was made for a weekly mail between Wilkes-Barre and Easton. Clark Behee was the post-rider in 1797 (but we have no proof that he was the first over the route), during which year weekly mails were carried from Wilkes-Barre to Berwick, via Nan- ticoke, Newport and Noscopeck, the return route being via Huntington and Plymouth. At this time Wilkes-Barre was the only regularly es- tablished post-town in the county, and mail for residents of the townships mentioned was left at certain houses within their limits chosen by the postmaster at Wilkes-Barre.
A mail route was established between Wilkes-
*A "£" in Connecticut currency was equal to $3.33.
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HISTORY OF THE WYOMING VALLEY
Barre and Great Bend in 1798, and another between Wilkes-Barre and Owego, N. Y. The mails were received by the former route once a fortnight and by the latter once a week. Both were sustained by private contributions chiefly, if not entirely, like those of the early settlers before the Revolutionary War. It is said that subscribers to newspapers had to pay at the rate of $2 a year to the mail carrier for the privilege of receiving them. In 1800 Jonathan Hancock was a post-rider between Wilkes- Barre and Berwick. In 1803 Charles Mowery and a man named Peck carried the mails on foot between Wikes-Barre and Tioga, N. Y., making the trip once in two weeks. In 1810 there were only two post offices in the valley, Wilkes-Barre and Kingston. In 1811 four
SUSQUEHANNA RIVER ARK
A hundred years ago the only method they had of transporting in the Wyoming Valley was by the old-fashioned Susquehanna River Ark, which was floated down the river loaded with all sorts of things. They used arks for trans- porting common produce of all kinds-hay, grain, apples, potatoes, coal, etc. These arks were about eighty or ninety feet long, thirty or forty feet wide, and four feet deep. They were made of rough timber at the place where the shipment started, and after they had reached their destination and were unloaded, the lumber was sold for whatever price they could get for it. In this way, for over twenty years, the coal trade of the valley continued until the canals were built.
A SUSQUEHANNA RIVER ARK, 1808
were established, viz .: at Pittston, Nescopeck, Abington and Providence. The Providence office was located in Slocum Hollow, and Benj. Slocum appointed postmaster. In 1824 another was established in Blakely, and the same year the office at Slocum Hollow was moved to Pro- vidence, and John Vaughn appointed postmas- ter, and William Merrifield commissioned post- master of a new office at Hyde Park. The mail was carried once a week on horseback by Ze- phaniah Knapp, from Easton to Bethany, via. Wilkes-Barre and Providence. Later four and six-horse stage routes were established, and with the first railroad came added mail facilities, which have increased from year to year.
(Courtesy of Wyoming Historical Society)
As can be seen from the illustration, they were floated down the river by two men, who occupied the small hut erected upon the top of the ark.
NORTH BRANCH CANAL
The North Branch Canal was commenced in 1828 and by 1830 completed to Nanticoke. The first boat was the "Wyoming." built at Shickshinny. This was the first canal boat coming to Luzerne county. The second boat, the "Luzerne," came in 1831. This was built on the bank opposite Wilkes-Barre, and that year made a successful trip to Philadelphia and return to Nanticoke dam. In 1834 the canal
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HISTORY OF THE WYOMING VALLEY
was completed as far as Lackawanna. The
boats were kept busy from the Lackawanna to Philadelphia from the day of its opening. It was the great outlet for the vast wealth rapidly developing in the valley. After 1834 the pro- gress of the canal was slow. In 1856, twenty- two years after its completion through the val- ley, the entire line was completed to Elmira. Here it connected with the New York canal.
The North Branch division of the canal, from Northumberland to Elmira, cost the Common- wealth of Pennsylvania $4,658,491.12. Ground was first broken July 4, 1828, at Berwick. A great multitude assembled. The State officials were present, colors were flying and cannons booming. "Nathan Beach held the plow, and the yoke of red oxen were owned and driven by Alexander Jameson."
"July 14, 1858, S. T. Lippincott left Pittston with five boats of coal and reached Elmira, and from there by New York canals to Buffalo, thence by steamboat to Cleveland, which he reached August 8, the first cargo of coal that ever passed beyond the mountains from Luzerne county."
In 1858, only two years after its completion, the State sold the canal to the Sunbury & Erie Railroad company. This was the beginning of the end.
Abram May was captain of the first canal- boat running between Pittston and Falls. He was a descendant of Cornelius Jacobus May who came to this country with the Puritans in 1620, and who was governor of the Mayflower colony.
THE LEHIGH VALLEY RAILROAD.
This great road was incorporated in 1846, under the name of the Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill and Susquehanna Railroad. A bare organization of officers of the contemplated road existed from 1846 until 1851. Up to this time only $444.371% had been expended for both surveying the route and building a frac- tion of a mile of the road merely for the pro- tection of its charter.
October 31, 1851, Asa Packer, who was born in Connecticut in 1805, became the purchaser of a large amount of the stock which had been subscribed, and commenced efforts to get ad- ditional stock subscribed and the road con- structed.
Robert H. Sayre was appointed chief engineer for the construction of the road, September 13, 1852. On January 7, 1853, the name of the company was changed by Act of Assembly to the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, and on the 10th of the month James M. Porter was re- elected president, and John N. Hutchinson, secretary and treasurer.
On February 12, 1853, a contract with Judge Asa Packer for the construction of the road was signed. But a formal agreement was made on the 27th of November, 1852, and Judge Packer immediately commenced on the deep rock cut at Easton. Judge Packer made some of the hardest cuts, and by sub-letting part of the work to other contractors who worked at other places, the work was completed in September, 1855, trains running over it between Easton and Mauch Chunk. In 1865 measures were adopt- ed to extend the road to White Haven, and in 1867 it was extended to Wilkes-Barre. An ex- cursion was run from Tunkhannock to Lacey- ville, July 4, 1869, and by the end of the year the road was finished as far as the New York State line. The second track was laid about 1883.
0 felje Fell
JESSE FELL'S SILHOUETTE
This Silhouette of Judge Fell, the only likeness ex- tant, is given by the courtesy of Oscar J. Harvey, Esq .. from his "History of Lodge No. 61, F. and A. M., Wilkes-Barre."
FIRST NEWSPAPER IN WYOMING
In 1795, two young men, whose names are unknown, came to Wilkes-Barre from Philadel- phia with a small press and a few cases of type.
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HISTORY OF THE WYOMING VALLEY
They printed The Herald of the Times, which
was the first newspaper published in Luzerne
JESSE FELL
Jesse Fell, whose parents were members of county. Prior to this date, all notices, adver- the Society of Friends, or Quakers, was born tisements, etc., were posted up on the town in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, April 16, 1751, sign-posts, the first of which was erected in and died at Wilkes-Barre August 11, 1830. Wilkes-Barre, in 1774. At the second town With his wife and four children he settled in meeting, held April 11th and 12th, 1774, it was Wilkes-Barre in the latter part of 1785, and voted "that for ye present ye tree that now from 1788 until his death he kept an inn at stands northerly from Captain Butler's house the sign of the "Buck," at the north-east cor- shall be ye town sign-post. This house stood ner of the present Northampton and Washing- on the corner of Northampton and River streets ton streets. For many years after his death the in the town-plot, and the tree stood on the river building-then considered modernized-was bank. Without a newspaper, these sign-posts known as the "Old Fell House."
were very important. It was enacted that a Jesse Fell was Sheriff of Luzerne county from sign-post be established in each town, on which October, 1789 till January, 1792, when he was notices of public sales, stray animals taken up, appointed and commissioned Lieutenant of and other notices, should be posted to render county to succeed Col. Zebulon Butler. In this them legal. office he served till April, 1793, when he was
JESSE FELL'S INN, WILKES-BARRE Corner of Washington and Northampton Streets (Courtesy of Wyoming Historical Society)
After a short period The Herald of the Times was sold to Thomas Wright, and published by Josiah Wright under the name of the Wilkes- Barre Gazette. The first number was dated Nov. 29, 1797. The Gazette was a well-edited paper, size 10x16 inches. It was sustained by about 300 subscribers, at $2 per annum. In 1801 it ceased to be published.
Asher Miner established The Luzerne Fed- eralist, at Wilkes-Barre, Jan. 5, 1801. The press on which it was printed was brought from Norwich, Conn., on a sled, by Charles Miner and S. Howard. In 1809, it was purchased by Steuben Butler and Sidney Tracy. They en- larged the paper in 1811, and changed its name to The Gleaner. In a few months Mr. Tracy withdrew and was succeeded by Charles Miner. The Gleaner was discontinued in 1818.
commissioned Brigade Inspector of the "Lu- zerne Militia Brigade." In February, 1798, he was commissioned by Governor Mifflin one of the Associate Judges of the Courts of Lu- zerne County, and this office he filled with dig- nity and credit for a period of thirty-two and a half years, terminated only by his death. In 1806 he was elected the first Burgess of the borough of Wilkes-Barre. Subsequently he served five consecutive terms as Burgess, from Mav, 1814 to May, 1819. He was a member of the Town Council for many years, and served as its President from May, 1809 to May, 1810; May, 1811 to May, 1814 and May, 1820 to May, 1823. He held various other offices of trust and importance in the community.
Jesse Fell was the first person to burn anthra- cite coal in a grate for fuel. This was on Feb.
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IHISTORY OF TITE WYOMING VALLEY
11, 1808. He made the experiment in the bar room of his hotel at the corner of Washington and Northampton streets. He made a grate of small iron rods, ten inches in depth and ten inches in height, and set it up in the fireplace. After lighting the fire he found it worked very satisfactory. Such was the effect of this pleas- ing discovery, that in a few days there were a number of grates put in operation. This brought the stone coal into popular notice.
LUZERNE COUNTY
Near the close of the year 1682, William Penn divided the province of Pennsylvania into the three counties of Philadelphia, Chester and Bucks.
Northampton, with the county seat at Sunbury. The Connectient settlers were then within the limits of this county. As the population in- creased, it was thought advisable to form a new county from the northern portion of Northum- berland. Accordingly, Luzerne county was or- ganized by the Act of September 25, 1786, and was named in honor of the Chevalier De la Lu- zerne, minister from France to the United States. He was born in 1741 at Paris. Then Luzerne county included parts of Bradford, Sul- livan and Carbon, and all of Susquehanna, Wy- oming and Lackawanna counties,
Bradford county (called Ontario till March 24, 1812) was formed of parts of Luzerne and Lycoming counties, Feb. 21, 1810, and the same
THE OLD FELL HOUSE ROOM AND FIRE PLACE
The first and only picture of the room where Jesse Fell made his experiment, burning anthracite coal in a grate, Feb. 11, 1808. From a pen and ink drawing by J. H. Parrott, made in 1895, now in the Historical Society Building, Wilkes-Barre. (Courtesy of Wyoming Historical Society)
Bucks embraced all the north-eastern portion of the province. The "Walking Purchase" of September, 1737, placed the heirs of Penn in possession of the lands along the Delaware. The settlements rapidly extended northward, along the river. On March 11, 1752, Bucks county was divided, and Northampton county organiz- ed, with the seat of justice at Easton. This act placed the Wyoming Valley within the limits of the new county, from which all legal pro- cesses were issued. Prisoners taken in Wyom- ing were conveyed across the mountain to the Easton jail.
By the Act of March 21, 1772, the county of Northumberland was organized from a part of
day Susquehanna was organized from a part of Luzerne; Wyoming, April 4, 1842 and Lack- awanna August 13, 1878. The original terri- tory of Luzerne embraced five thousand square miles, exceeding in extent the state of Connec- ticut. In 1800 the population was 12,838, and 18,109 in 1810.
WILKES-BARRE
Wilkes-Barre was planned and laid out early in June, 1770, by Colonel John Durkee. The plot, containing about two hundred acres, was laid out on the level land lying just north-east of Fort Durkee. In the centre of this plot was laid out a diamond-shaped space, containing
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HISTORY OF THE WYOMING VALLEY
about four acres, which was called the "Centre Square," but for several years has been known as "Public Square." The land between River street and the river, containing some thirty-five acres, also remained as public property, and is now known as the "River Common." Wilkes- Barre was named in honor of John Wilkes and
ONE OF JESSE FELL'S GRATES The only one now extant, and now in Historical Society Building.
Colonel Isaac Barre, members of the British Parliament, and warm friends of the American colonies during the Revolution. The first dwelling within this plot was a log-cabin built in 1769, by John Abbott, on the south-west cor- ner of Main and Northampton streets. In 1772, there were only five white women in Wilkes- Barre, but, several others came that summer. In 1784, the whole number of buildings amounted to twenty-six, of which twenty-three were burnt by the Pennamites.
Wilkes-Barre was incorporated a borough, March 17, 1806, and Jesse Fell was elected the first burgess. The population at that time was about 500.
The city of Wilkes-Barre was incorporated by an Act of Assembly, approved May 24, 1871, and included the borough of Wilkes-Barre and all of the township of Wilkes-Barre lying west of the old Empire road, projecting northerly to the township line of Plains and southerly to the township line of Hanover. The population was then (1870) 10,174. In August, 1898. Wilkes-Barre became a third class city. It is divided into sixteen wards, containing about five square miles or 3,682 acres. The population in 1900, was 51,721 and 67,105 in 1910.
LUZERNE COUNTY COURT HOUSES
"The Act of Assembly forming Luzerne coun- ty, named Zebulon Butler, Jonah Rogers, Simon Spaulding, Nathaniel Landon and John Phil- ips, as trustees to locate and to erect a court-
house and jail. This they did, on the site of the old fort in the public square in Wilkes-Bar- re. This building was about 25x50 feet, con- structed of hewn logs, two stories high, with outside steps leading to the court room on the second floor. The first story was used as a jail and the jailor's residence. This primitive tem- ple of justice was completed in 1791, and Ste- phen Tuttle, whose good wife placed her cake and beer sign over the door of the first story, was appointed first jailor.
"On one occasion, during the sitting of the Supreme Court, an unusual noise disturbed his Honor, Judge McKean, who, in a stern voice, commanded silence. The noise, however, con- tinued, when the court sent for Mr. Tuttle, who evidently much incensed, informed his honor that the d-d hogs had got at his corn in the
CHEVALIER DE LA LUZERNE (Courtesy of Wyoming Historical Society)
garret by coming up the outside steps in the morning. Mr. Tuttle was ordered to eject the intruders forthwith. There proved to be but one hog, which rushed forth with a tremendous grunt, capsizing Mr. Tuttle, together with the gravity of the court. After a few years it was resolved to erect a new building for the courts.
THE SECOND COURT-HOUSE
"In 1801, Lawrence Myers, Eleazer Black- man and Thomas Wright, county commission- ers, procured the plan of a court-house in Fred- ericksburg, Maryland, for which they paid $17.07. The old log court-house was removed
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HISTORY OF THE WYOMING VALLEY
THE PUBLIC SQUARE, WILKES-BARRE, 1845 (From "Day's Historical Collection of Pennsylvania"
by Joseph Hitchcock, the contractor for the con- struction of the new edifice, but it continued to be occupied by the courts until 1804, when the new building was completed, and the old one was converted into the Wilkes-Barre Academy. The new structure, in the form of a cross, de- clared by the commissioners to be 'most elegant and convenient,' was erected on the site of the old log court-house. Including furniture and fixtures, it cost $9,356. 06. There were thirty- two and one-half gallons of whiskey used at the raising of this building; a fact which demon-
THE THIRD COURT-HOUSE
"In 1855, a bill authorizing the erection of a new court-house passed the General Assembly, and became a law. The commissioners of Lu- zerene county invited Lodge No. 61, Free and Accepted Ancient York Masons to lay the cor- ner-stone of the third court-house, August 12, 1856 in the public square in Wilkes-Barre, upon the site of the former building. Hon. John N. Conyngham was invited by the lodge to deliver an address appropriate for the occasion. A
SOUTH, MAIN STREET, WILKES-BARRE FROM THE PUBLIC SQUARE. 19(8. (From "Board of Trade Journal")
strates either the great capacity of the people of that day for ardent spirits, or else the pres- ence of a large number of consumers.
"The bell, the tones of which have quickened the pulsations of the hearts of so many prison- ers, of plaintiffs and of defendants, was cast in Philadelphia, by George Hedderly, in 1805.
"The judges of the Supreme Court, who sat in this court-house and in the original log-build- ing, were MeKean, Tilghman, Breckenridge, Smith and Yeates.
large concourse of citizens, including a number of ladies, were in attendance to witness the pro- ceedings. The main building, used for county offices, was 100 feet in front by 55 feet in depth. The court-room was 50x75 feet. The rear building, 30x65 feet, was occupied by the judges, lawyers and jury rooms. The tower was 118 feet in height. The architect was J. C. Wells of New York. It cost about $85,000, including furniture, etc."-Annals of Luzerne County.
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HISTORY OF THE WYOMING VALLEY
THE FOURTH COURT-HOUSE
The present court-house was completed in 1909, at a cost of nearly $1,000.000. This is a handsome building, erected at the northern end of the River Common, near the Luzerne County Jail. The jail was erected in 1869. It is an expensive and substantial building of stone and brick. The old court-house was torn down in 1909.
MATCHES
Friction matches are a comparatively modern invention. They were first made in the United States in 1836 by L. C. Allin, of Springfield, Mass. Before this time a clumsy form of match
SCENERY AND HISTORY OF WYOMING Written by E. I. Wolfe.
Various Indian villages were located here as recently as one hundred and fifty years ago. Two of the most important are known to have been at Forty Fort and at Firwood, South Wilkes-Barre. Aside from a few handfuls of relies, almost the only remaining vestige of the inhabitants here at that time, appears in the word Wyoming.
The first white settlers here found an oval- shaped embankment resembling the work of the Mound Builders of the Ohio Valley, and located a few rods northwest of where the D. L. & W. Depot at Kingston now stands. This and
THE SECOND COURT-HOUSE IN LUZERNE COUNTY, 1804. (Courtesy of Wyoming Historical Society)
was imported from France, which had to be dipped into a bottle of sulphuric acid before it was lighted.
This took a great deal of time and trouble, and Allin, seeing the necessity of friction matches set about to make them, and succeeded. He neglected to patent them, however, and on finally applying for a patent, found that a man named Phillips, who was a peddler, had dis- covered through a third person the secret of making the matches and had already obtained a patent. Allin, though the real inventor, was forced to become a mere manufacturer under another man's patent.
other similar mounds leave little doubt that at least two races before our own have found and occupied "Fair Wyoming." But those earlier people, who may have been prosperous and powerful here many years ago. have left us not even a word to remember them by.
Of the aboriginal inhabitants then, we have few facts and almost no monuments. On the other hand, this valley fairly bristles with points that became historically interesting dur- ing those strenuous first years of white settle- ment. One hundred and fifty years-only two lifetimes-ago, there was not a single white man living in Wyoming Valley. With the settle-
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HISTORY OF THE WYOMING VALLEY
ment, began the struggle; and the tragedy of Wyoming is one of the most thrilling as well as one of the most heart-rending in all history.
All northern Pennsylvania was included in a grant made by the King to Connecticut several years before the same land was granted in mis- take. to William Penn. The Connecticut peo- ple also were first to purchase the land from the Indians, and first to take possession; so that this section, when first settled, was understood to be located in Litchfield (afterwards West- moreland) county in the State of Connecticut. The authorities of Pennsylvania disputed the claims of the Connecticut settlers as to both ownership and jurisdiction; which resulted in
of the Connecticut settlers at that time.
Twenty miles from Tilbury Knob, and at the opposite end of the valley, stands Camp- bell's Lodge, so named in honor of Thomas Campbell, English poet and author of "Ger- trude of Wyoming." From the summit of Campbell's Ledge, you may gaze over the en- tire area of Wyoming Valley and a vast terri- tory besides. Or you may look several hun- dred feet straight down to where at the base of the cliff ran the great Indian highway of com- munication between the Long House of the Iroquois and their tributary people on the Le- high and Delaware rivers. This path came down the river past the Ledge, crossed the
OLD FORTY FORT CHURCH The Oldest Church in Wyoming Valley, 1807
a series of persistent and often bloody strug- gles, beginning in 1769, continuing for nearly twenty years. These are known in history as the Pennamite Wars.
Two simple monuments on the River Com- mon in Wilkes-Barre show the location of two forts that figured prominently in the Penna- mite Wars. Fierce fights occurred in the neighborhood of these and several other small forts; but perhaps the most famous of these wars was known as the Battle of Nanticoke Falls. This spot, the site of the present Nanti- coke Dam, is at the extreme southwestern end of the valley and at the foot of the beautiful ledge called Tilbury Knob-a place well worth visiting either for its natural beauty or for its lristorical interest. Here on Christmas Eve, 1775, Colonel Plunket with seven hundred milita, mostly from Northumberland, was met and utterly defeated by the three hundred men and boys constituting the total effective force
Lackawanna, and struck over the mountain to- ward where Easton now is.
Nearly midway between these famous and beautiful ledges, and three or four miles east of the Wyoming Seminary, is Prospect Rock, which richly deserves its name. Just beyond the Rock, on the road to Laurel Run, a tasteful marker shows where on April 20, 1779, a com- pany of soldiers marching to Wyoming to pro- tect what was left of the settlements here was ambushed and six, including two officers were killed.
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