History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 14

Author: Craft, David, 1832-1908; L.H. Everts & Co
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia : L. H. Everts
Number of Pages: 812

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July 12, 1780, Lientenant Kingsley was appointed on a court martial, but when, where, or in what company he re- ceived his military title is not known.

At the close of the war he returned to his old home in Wyalusing. His wife and one son, Wareham, had survived the perils of the war, and now he enjoyed a few years of quiet and comfort. On the organization of Luzerne county, Mr. Kingsley, Matthias Hollenback, William Hooker Smith, Benjamin Carpenter, James Nesbit, and Obadiah Gore were commissioned, May 11, 1787, judges of the common pleas and justices of the peace, and constituted the first court held in the county. Under date of Jan. 14, 1790, Mr. Kingsley sent the following letter to the president of the supreme executive council, resigning his commission :

"Nathan Kingsley, of the county of Luzerne, commissioned one of the judges of the courts of quarter sessions and common pleas for the coonty aforesaid, finding it impracticable many times, hy reason of high water, to attend courts, and living sixty miles from the county town, joined to the smallness of the fees allowed him in this behalf, is obliged, from necessity, to inform council that he can- not in fotore serve in his aforementioned capacity. Were bis abode nearer than what it is at present to the coonty town, he would not think of resigning his office, but would continue in it with pleasure and satisfaction. The fall and spring sessions happen at a time when the waters are high, and of consequence make his traveling not only expensive, hut very difficult and dangerous. The time of attending, coming to, and returning from courts takes up so considerable a part of the seasons of smamer and fall that he is obliged to neglect bis agricoltoral pursuits, to the singular injury of his interest. From these considerations, he desires council to accept his resignation, and take such other order in directing the choice of another judge in his district as to them shall seem ineet.

" NATHAN KINGSLEY."

His resignation was accepted on the 1st of the following February, and Lawrence Myers was appointed to fill the vacancy. About 1787 or 1788 he built a distillery on the creek, near the stone quarry, which was probably the first in the township. His wife died, and is buried in the ceme- tery at Wyalusing, but the precise date is not known. Mr. Kingsley is described as a large, tall man, of more than ordinary intelligence, deeply interested in the prosperity of the community and the development of the country. He fell a victim to the habits of the times, lost his property, and in his old age was supported at the public charge. He died in the State of Ohio in 1822, at the age of eighty.

Amos York lived next neighbor above Mr. Kingsley, on what has more recently been known as the John Hollen- back place. He came from Voluntown, Conn. At what period I am unable to ascertain. He purchased a farmi opposite the mouth of Meshoppen creek, in Wyoming county, and there made a settlement. From the Mehoop- any creek up, on the west side of the river, several families were settled prior to 1776. In Joseph Biles' field-notes of the survey of the Susquehanna river, under date of March 30, 1796, he notes " Eight pitches by article of agreement, dated June 14, 1776," which were to contain 1200 acres, of which Elijah Phelps had three lots, numbered 4, 5, and 8; Thomas Millard, No. 2; Amos York, No. 7; Ichabod Phelps, No. 3; Benjamin Kilbourn, No. 6; and Thomas

HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Millard, Jr., No. I. From the records of the commis- sioners, under the act of 1799 :

"Thomas Wigton, sworn in support of the first claim entered by Mrs. York [for about 300 acres], saith that the said Amos York erected a house on, and inclosed a considerable part of, the said traet of land opposite and above the mouth of the Meshopping ; that after he had removed to Wvalusing he, the said deceased, went down and wrought on this land before the Indian battle in 1778, and that Elijah l'helps being entered upon the said land, the deceased infermed the said de- ponent, some time prior to the said battle, that he was going over the riv to warn off the said Phelps, and on his return said he had warned him off."

Mr. York moved to Wyalusing about 1774. His daugh- ter, Sarah, in her narrative, says about four years previous to 1778, although she may have included in this the time they lived at Meshoppen. Manasseh Miner, the father of Mrs. York, was one of the original proprietors in the Susquehanna company, and conveyed this right to his daughter, and Mr. York made the piteh on which the right was to be located at Wyalusing, on some of the Indian clearings. Here he had carried on his improvements with considerable success. He had erected a good log house, a log barn, and had a considerable stock of horses, cattle, sheep, and hogs, and raised sufficient quantities of grain for their support.

On the breaking out of the Revolutionary war, he was known as an active and ardent Whig, which arrayed against him the enmity of his Tory neighbors. Apprehending trouble from the Indians, in the fall of 1777 he went down to Wyoming to seek the advice of friends, and make ar- rangements for the removal of his family. It was there thought there would be no danger from the savages in the winter, and if in the spring they continued to favor the interests of the British, there would be ample time to seek the protection of the lower settlements. The capture of some of his neighbors occasioned new alarm, but there seemed to be no alternative but run the risk of being undisturbed until spring. To move his family sixty miles through a pathless wilderness, in the depth of winter, could not be thought of.

On Feb. 12 and 13, 1778, there occurred a severe snow- storm. Each evening a negro from the old Indian town came to Mr. York's, on a trifling excuse, and remained until late in the evening. On the 14th the storm ceased, and Mr. York determined to find out the reason for the negro's strange conduct. Immediately after breakfast he set out on horseback on an errand to Mr. Pauling's. As to what followed will be nearly in the words of his daughter Sarah, who at the time was fourteen years of age. She says, "The snow was two feet deep. In the afternoon, Miner, his little son, ran in and said the Indians were coming. The family looked out and saw Indians and white men, quite a company,* and the children said they were not afraid, for father was with them. Parshall Terry came in first, Tom Green next, and father next. Father took his seat on the bed and drew his hat over his eyes. I went to him and said, 'Father, what is the matter ?' He made 'no answer, but the tears were running down his cheeks. Terry used to boat on the river, and often stopped at our

house. When he came in, mother said, ' How do you do, Terry ?' He replied, ' Mrs. York, I am sorry to see you.' Mother said, ' Why, have you taken my husband prisoner ?' He answered, 'Ask Tom Green.' Mother said, 'Tom, have you taken my husband prisoner ?' He said, ' Yes,' but added, that he should not be hurt, only that he must take an oath that he will be true to King George. My mother appealed to him and Terry by the many acts of kindness they had done, represented to them the peaceable, generous, and obliging disposition of her husband, and de- plored the wretched condition of the family.

" After a while Terry lit his pipe and said to Green, ' It is late, and we must be going.' They then drove the cattle into the road, stripped the house of everything of value they could carry away, broke open the chests, tied up the plunder in sheets and blankets, and put the bundles on the backs of the men. Father had to take a pack of his own goods. When they got prepared to start, my father asked permission to speak to his wife,-he took her by the hand, but did not speak. When the company started, my father was compelled to walk, carry a bundle, and assist in driving his cattle, while his favorite riding-mare carried Terry."

The journey was a tedious, toilsome one for the captive. He was held a prisoner for about nine months, during which time he was subject to exposure and want, and en- dured all manner of hardship and suffering, not the least of which was the constant anxiety for the welfare of his family, who were left destitute in the midst of winter, and far from friends on whom they could call for aid in their distress.

The narrative continues: " After the company had gone, and no more was to be seen of father, my mother and sister,. Wealthy, started down to the town of Wyalusing, to see what had been done there. When they came to the village they found only two women, the wives of Page and Berry, and some children, whose I do not recollect. My mother stayed there a while and then came back. . . . That night we expected every moment when the Indians would come and kill us, or take us prisoners. We sat up and waited for the Indians all night. Next morning my mother and the older children concluded to move the family down to Wyalusing. We had eight fat hogs in the pen and a crib of corn. The bottom of the crib was opened and the hogs let out, so they could get what corn they wanted, and we all started for the village, taking what we could of neces- saries. My oldest sisters went every day and brought some things out of our house. We lived in this village, in one of the cabins, about three weeks. One night, a man came to our cabin and handed my mother a letter from my father. His name was Secoy (John Secord), a Tory. While he was in the house, my brother Miner came in and said there were three men coming. Secoy said, ' Mrs. York, for God's sake, hide me!' She threw some bedding over him on the floor, and then went and stood in the door. The men came up. They were Captain Aholiab Buck, her son-in-law, Miner Robbins, my mother's sister's son, and a Mr. Phelps. My mother told them not to come in, but to cross the river and stay at Eaton's that night; that Eaton was the only man left in the settlement; that early in the morning she and the children would be ready to go with them. They crossed

# There were forty or fifty io the whole company, of whom only fourteen went to Mr. York's house.

HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

over as my mother advised. She then told Seeoy he might get up. He said he was hungry, and mother gave him something to eat. He said she had saved him, and he would save her; that his son was at the head of a body of Indians elose by, and he was sent as a spy to see if there was any armed men there.

" Next morning Captain Buck came over, and we all started on foot and traveled ten miles towards Wyoming, with no traek except what the three men made eoming and going. The first house we came to was Mr. Van der Lippe's. My mother and two of the older sisters went on next day with Captain Buck, the rest of the children stayed at Van der Lippe's* until spring, when Mr. Phelps took us away in a eanoe to his house. Afterwards Miner Robbins took us in a eanoe to Wyoming fort, where mother was."

. As affording some idea of the value of Mr. York's im- provements at Wyalusing, Mrs. Carr (Sarah York) says the Indians took off one yoke of oxen, one yoke of four years' old steers, one horse, eleven good cows, a number of young eattle. There were besides cight fat hogs, store hogs, sheep, fowls, etc. ; that he had sufficient hay for his stock, three hundred bushels of corn in the erib, besides other grain. When it is remembered that this was on band the latter part of February, we may infer that his erops were quite abundant. Including clothing and bedding taken off by the enemy, she estimates the loss to the family at $1395.

While living at Wyalusing, Mrs. York gave birth to two sons : one named Amos, born July, 1775, and died April 27, 1776, probably the first death in the township; the other born June 27, 1777, consequently about six months old at the time of his father's capture.

Mrs. York and her family took refuge in the Forty fort, where she maintained herself by cooking for the garrison stationed therc. Here she remained until after the battle in which Capt. Buck fell, in the twenty-seventh year of his age, leaving an infant daughter, born March 25, 1778, and who afterwards became the wife of Major Taylor, of Wya- lusing. Speaking of the evening of the battle, Mrs. Carr, whose narrative I have quoted, says, "Some erawled in ou their hands and knees, covered with blood, during the night. The scenes of that night cannot be deseribed,-women and children screaming and ealling, 'Oh my husband ! my brother ! my father !' etc.

" Next morning after the battle this Parshall Terryt eame with a flag and written terms from Tory Butler to Col. Denison. He told Denison if he surrendered peace- ably not a soul should be hurt, but if he refused the whole fort should be put to the tomahawk. My mother went to Col. Denison and told him that this was the man who bad deprived her of a husband and her children of a father, and she could not bear to see him come into the fort; that she had no confidence in his promises, and if he was allowed to come in she would go out. Denison said she must not go out. She declared she would, ealled her children to her, went to the gate and demanded a passage out. The sentry

presented his bayonet to her breast and asked Col. Denison if he should let her pass. The colonel said no. He then pushed the bayonet through her clothes so that it drew blood. She said to Col. Denison, ' I will go out with my children, or I will die here at the door.' The colonel said, ' Let her pass.' We went down along the bank of the river. We could see burning houses on both sides of the river, which the Indians had set fire to. We went on until we got opposite Wilkes-Barre. We saw a woman on the other side of the river, and mother ealled to her to bring a boat over. The woman was a Mrs. Loek, a Duteh- woman. We all got into it, and Mrs. Loek pushed it down the river with all her might. We run all day, and at night we stopped at a house near the bank. Not long after we had been in the house a boy informed us that Lieut. Fors- man was on the bank with a boat-load of wounded men. We all got into our canoe again, and Forsman took a man [Richard Fitzgerald] from his boat to manage the eanoe for us, and we run all night. We went down to Paxton, where we stayed until October. At Paxton my mother buried her youngest child, a son of thirteen months. He died at the house of Col. Elder.

" After a time mother received letters from Wyoming stating that she might return with safety. In October we went up to Wyoming in company with a Dutch family. Capt. Buck's widow was with us. We stayed about two weeks at Wilkesbarre; but, as there was frequent murder- ing in the neighborhood, mother would not stay. There were three men going through the big swamp; mother and her family accompanied them on foot, resolved to make her way to her father's in Voluntown, Conn. One of the men was Asahel, brother of Capt. Buck. We lay one night in the swamp. When we got through it the men left us. We traveled on foot to New Milford, Conn., where mother was taken sick, and it was a fortnight before she was able to travel.

" When we were at the North river, where Gen. Wash- ington lay, an officer informed him that there was a woman in distress. Gen. Washington ordered her to be brought to his tent. She told him her story, and Washington gave her fifty dollars. But we did not need money to bear traveling expenses, for the people on the road treated us with great sympathy and kindness.

" At New Milford my sister, Buck, was among her husband's relatives. She and sister Esther remained there all winter. From New Milford we were carried in a wagon a hundred miles to Windham, from there we traveled on foot a day and a half to Voluntown. When within a mile of her father's, a man met her and said, 'How do you do, Mrs. York ?' Mother said she did not recolleet him. He told us who he was, and said, ' Have you heard about your husband ?' She said she had not. Said he, 'I will tell you. He is dead and buried.' Mother looked around on her children, but did not speak. Not another word was spoken by her until she got to her father's. This was the first intelligence we had of father from the time he was taken, except the letter Seeoy brought. He was detained a prisoner at different places nine months, and was ex- changed at New York. After his release he went to Mr. Miner's to make inquiries after his family, but could get no

# Mr. Fitzgerald and probably some others from up the river were staying in this neighborhood.

+ Col. Butler, in his report, says he sent Lieut. Therry with a flag. A different spelling.

HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

intelligence from them. He declared that he would start in two days, and would find his family if living ; but was taken sick, and died eleven days before his family arrived. We all visited his grave that night."

. The following is a copy of Col. Butler's pass to Mrs. York, the original of which is still in existence :

" Permit the Bairor, Mrs. York & family consisting of Nine to pass from this to Stonington in Connectiont. And I do also Recommend to all Authority both Sivil and military to Assist the above family as they arc of the Distressed [inhabitants] which were drove from this Town by Indians and tories, and her husband has been a prisoner with the enemy for eight months.

" ZEBN. BUTLER, Lt. Col. Comdg.

" WESTMORELAND, Oct. 13, 1778."

I have given the narrative thus full because it presents a vivid picture of the fortitude and heroism of the women of this period of our country's history. Mrs. York was only one of thousands, especially on the border, who endured similar sufferings, and were compelled to exhibit like firm- ness and self-reliance in the hour of danger or of necessity.

Miner Robbins, a nephew of Mrs. York, came to Wyalu -. sing probably at the same time as his nnele, and lived either with him or on the next place above, on the Wyalu- sing creek. He married a Miss Phelps, of the family living opposite Meshoppen. He retired either to Meshoppen or Kingston in the autumn of 1777. Here he was identified with the patriots in the defense of the settlements and the protection of the inhabitants. About the middle of June, 1778, he was fatally wounded while on a scout up the river. Under date of June 17, Mr. Jenkins says, " Miner Robbins killed, and Joel Phelps wounded." Elisha Harding gives the following account: "Soon after six men with two canoes went up the river as far as where Osterhonts now live. They landed, and ascended the bank, and saw an armed force of Indians and Tories running towards them. They ran to their canoes, and strove to get round the point of the island to escape the fire of the enemy, but they were too nigh, were fired on, and two were wounded,-a Miner Robbins, one of Captain Hewitt's men, who died next morn- ing, the other Joel Phelps, severely." In another place lie says, " Miner Robbins was buried near where the burying- ground is near Carpenter's. Elijah Phelps said in my hear- ing that he was in the party, and fired on the men in the canoe when his brother was wounded and his brother-in- law was killed."

The liberal policy adopted by Roger Williams induced a considerable immigration from the north of Ireland, Scotch- Irish, who settled in the southeastern part of Rhode Island. From these families quite a number emigrated to Wyoming, and some of them found their way into this county. Prom- inent among these was

Captain Robert Carr, who, before his coming to Wyo- ming, had been a sea-captain. He was one of the original proprietors of Springfield, and made his settlement there somewhere about 1774. He lived on the flats just above, and near the mouth of the creek, and included in his pitch the island opposite, which for a long time was known as Carr's island. In the " Long township" laid in 1774, this was known as lot No. 29, but in the later survey of Spring- field it was Nos. 51 and 52. By deed, bearing date Aug. 12, 1776, he sold bis improvement to James Forsyth, and

purchased a lot in Durell. He was, however, living in Wyalusing, June 21, 1777, as at that date he sold his Durell lands to a Mr. Ketchum. He seems to have been interested in mill property, and may have been a mill- wright by trade. He at one time owned half the grist- and saw-mill on Mill creek, above Wilkes-Barre, at another a saw-mill on Tuscarora creek in Wyoming county, and in Bradford his purchases were on creeks, evidently with an eye to their being snitable mill sites. He was one of the committee of inspection appointed Angnst 8, 1775. In the antninn of 1777 he retired to Wyoming, at least he is found there in December of that year. On the 9th of November, 1778, being in company with David Goss below Wapwallapen, they were attacked by a band of Indians, and Carr was shot through the thigh, tomahawked, and scalped. Goss was also killed. Carr was probably a single man, at least I can find no evidence of his having a family.

James Forsyth was the youngest of three sons, whose father emigrated from Edinburgh, Scotland, to Rhode Island. James was among the earliest settlers at Wyo- ming, where he is found with the Coonecticut party. In August, 1769, the Wyoming settlers petitioned the general assembly of Connecticut to take the settlement under their protection, and establish civil government over them. James Forsyth was among the petitioners. On the 14th of No- vember of that year, the Pennsylvania party, under Jolin Jennings, Amos Ogden, and Charles Stewart, seized and sent to Philadelphia Capt. John Durkee, and compelled the whole Connecticut party to surrender their possessions to the agent of the governor of Pennsylvania. In the articles of agreement entered into between the parties, it was stipn- lated that fourteen men of the Connecticut settlers might remain on the ground for the purpose of gathering the crops and preserving the property of their friends, until the question of jurisdiction should be settled. James Forsyth was one of the party left in pursuance of this agreement. In 1773 he was a resident of Kingston, in which township he held a settling right. He was one of the original pro- prietors of Springfield, and drew lot No. 53, which covered the flats on the creek now owned by the heirs of Bascom Taylor. He probably moved his family to Wyalusing in 1776, as in August of that year he sold his dwelling in . Hanover and his interest in the Nanticoke fishing company to Josiah Pell, and purchased of Robert Carr " Number 29 of the township of Washington so called, with an island called Carr's island," in consideration of £55, deed dated Ang. 12, 1776. Having purchased of David Smith a right in the Susquehanna township of Standing Stone, which was laid in the upper part of present Frenchtown, he removed there in 1777, and in the autumn of the same year returned to Wyoming, where he is lost sight of in this valley. No- vember 18, 1788, at the snit of Benjamin Baily vs. James Forsyth, Lord Butler, sheriff of Luzerne county, sells to Rosewell Welles " three hundred acres on Shoefelt's flats." As indicating something of the habits of the times, when the whipping-post and cropping ears were not unusual methods of punishment, the following may be of interest :

"Westmoreland on Susquehanna, in the Colony of Connecticut- Whereas James Forsyth, Junr., of said Westmoreland, In February, 1774, by accident from ye bite of a horse lost a great part of his left

HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

ear, Now James Forsyth, Doctor William Hooker Smith who was called as a ehirgion to inspect ye case and dress ye wound, did per- sonally appear before me Nathan Denison one of his majesty's Jus- tiees of the Peace for ye town of Westmoreland in ye Colony of Connecticut, and being sworn declare by ye bite of a horse yo sd. James Forsyth lost a part of his left ear.

"Sworn by me NATHAN DENISON, Justice of ye Peace." (Westmoreland County Records.)

Abraham Bowman, the same person whose name appears . on the Springfield list as Ephraim Bowman, and elsewhere as Ephraim Boardman, was a native of Germany; emi- grated to New York ; lived for a time in Scoharie, then Albany Co., N. Y., from which place he came to Wyalu- sing in the spring of 1777, and bought of James Forsyth. The deed bears date May 27, 1777, and describes the land as lying in the district of SPRING, so called, being lots Nos. 51, 52, 53, including an island called Carr's island. On account of a mistake in the name, this was followed by a deed of confirmation dated June 19 of the same year. He went to Dover, York Co., Pa., where he died previous to June 3, 1785, as at that date his consin administers upon his estate. In the deed given by the administratrix, she recounts that the said Bowman died intestate and unmar- ried, and she is his only near relative in this country.

Ephraim Tyler came from Wyoming, and lived on the Merryall Flats one season. He was one of the original proprietors of Springfield, and drew lot No. 27, which was afterwards a part of the Thomas Lewis farm. Mr. Tyler was at Wyoming in the battle; his father, Ephraim, died soon after. During the trouble known as the second Pen- namite war he was an active partisan on the Yankee side and one of the abductors of Timothy Pickering. He was an early settler in Wyoming county, after the Revolutionary war, and removed to Susquehanna county, where some of his descendants still reside. Mr. Tyler's residence in this county was known and described as " Tyler's Flats" in the early records.

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History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 14

Author: Craft, David, 1832-1908; L.H. Everts & Co Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Philadelphia : L. H. Everts Number of Pages: 812

Author: Craft, David, 1832-1908; L.H. Everts & Co
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia : L. H. Everts
Number of Pages: 812