History of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 17

Author: Bradsby, H. C. (Henry C.)
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Chicago : S. B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1532

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This constitutes the Connecticut chain of title to the "Seventeen Sections."

The Penns' Side. - William Penn's charter from Charles II. bears date March 4, 1681, the metes and bounds as are nearly now the boundary lines of Pennsylvania, except one degree south on the north line; whereupon, in taking possession of his domain, he issued the following proclamation:

My Friends : I wish you all happiness here and hereafter. These are to lett you know that it hath pleased God in his Providence to cast you within my Lott and Care. It is a busi- ness, that though I never undertook before, yet God has given me an understanding of my duty, and an honest minde to doe it uprightly. I hope you will not be troubled at your chainge and the King's choice; for you are now fixt, at the mercy of no Governor that comes to make his fortune. You shall be governed by laws of your own making, and live a free, and if you will, a sober and industrious People. I shall not usurp the rights of any or oppress his person. God has furnished me with a better resolution, and has given me His grace to keep it. In short, whatever sober and free men can reasonably desire for the security and improvement of their own happiness, I shall heartily comply with. I beseech God to direct you in the way of righteousness, etc. I am your true Friend,

(Signed) WM. PENN.

October 11 and October 25, 1836, the Six Nations sold to William Penn the "entire country of Pennsylvania." Additional deeds were made to the Penns July 6 and July 9, 1754, and, finally, November 5, 1768, a deed to the Penns by the Six Nations conveys " all that part of the Province of Pennsylvania not heretofore pur- chased of the Indians."

Up to 1768, there is no evidence that any settler under Pennsylvania had set foot in the disputed territory. *

In 1768, as we have seen, the Penns had completed their purchase of these lands at Fort Stanwix. The general council, held then, had made treaties which promised relief from Indian troubles. We have now come to the miserable contest, known in the common parlance of the country as

The First Pennamite and Yankee War .- It was a fair and beautiful and valuable prize, these magnificent valleys of the upper Susquehanna. Both sides prepared for the fray.

In 1768, at Hartford, the Susquehanna company resolved "that five townships, five miles square, should be surveyed and granted, each to forty settlers, being pro- prietors, on condition that those settlers should remain upon the ground; man th eir rights, and defend themselves and each other, from the intrusion of all rival claim- ants." Five townships in the heart of the valley were assigned to these first ad- venturers : Wilkes-Barre, Hanover, Kingston, Plymouth and Pittston. Kingston, the first township occupied, was allotted to "Forty" settlers. The lands were divided into rights of 400 acres each, "reserving and apportioning three whole rights, or shares, in each township for the public use of a gospel ministry and schools in each of said towns." A stockade was erected on the river bank in Kings-

*Gov. Hoyt here overlooks the fact that by Penn's authority the whites had erected the first buildings ever in what is now Luzerne county, in 1753, for the use and occupation of the Indian chief Teedyescung.

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ton, called "Forty Fort." It became the central point of much of the history of the region. With these settlers came Capts. Butler, Ransom and Durkee, some of whom had seen honorable service in the French war, and had shared in the cam- paign at Ticonderoga and Crown Point. They were not without the aid of bold adherents obtained in Pennsylvania-the shoemakers and McDowells, from the set- tlements on the Delaware, above the Blue Hills; and Lazarus Stewart and other's, from Hanover, in Lancaster (now Dauphin) county, reinforced by some excellent Quakers from Rhode Island.

The designated leaders of the proprietaries of Pennsylvania were Charles Stew- art, Capt. Amos Ogden and Sheriff Jennings, of Northampton county. They had able assistants in Capts. Clayton, Francis and Craig.

The Penns had leased to Stewart, Ogden and Jennings 100 acres for seven years, on condition of "defending the lands from the Connecticut claimants."

This lease was the flag they hoisted as the badge of title and possession. They arrived first upon the ground. This was in January, 1769. They took possession of the block house and huts at Mill creek (about one mile above the present city of Wilkes Barre) which had been left by the massacred settlers of 1763. They laid out for the proprietaries two extensive manors: "Stoke," on the east bank, and "Sunbury," on the west bank of the Susquehanna, embracing the heart of the Wyoming valley.

In February, 1769, the first forty Connecticut settlers arrived. Finding the block-house in possession of Ogden, they sat down, midwinter as it was, to besiege it and starve out the garrison. Ogden proposed a conference. "Propose to a Yankee to talk over a matter, especially which he has studied and believes to be right, and you touch the most susceptible chord which vibrates in his heart." It was so here. Three of their chief men went to the block house to "argue the mat- ter." Once within, Sheriff Jennings arrested them on a writ, "in the name of Pennsylvania." They were taken to the jail at Easton. Friends there bailed them, and they returned to Wyoming. Ogden then raised the posse of Northamp- ton county, stormed the Yankee fort and carried the whole forty to Easton. They were all immediately liberated on bail, and all immediately returned to Wyoming.

In April, the quotas of four townships-200 men-arrived. These with the others constituted a force of nearly 300 now on the ground. They erected "Fort Durkee" on the river bank, and thirty huts. [The fort stood at the lower end of the "river common" in Wilkes Barre, the town itself being laid out by Maj. Durkee, and named after Cols. Wilkes and Barre, two members of par- liament friendly to the colonies. ] They had full possession now, and went vigor- ously at felling forests and planting fields. As the colony of Connecticut was as yet taking no part in this struggle, the Susquehanna company undertook to gain time and get delay by opening negotiations, but kept right on with the more rigor- ous preparations to recover the disputed ground.

In September the indefatigable Ogden appeared before Fort Durkee with 200 men, the posse of Northampton, for so far all was done under civil process. A four- pound iron cannon had been brought up from Fort Augusta (Sunbury). Capt. Durkee was captured by the adroit Ogden, and under the persuasion of the dreadful four-pounder, the whole garrison surrendered, and the Connecticut people were compelled to leave. This closed the year 1869, Wyoming remaining in the posses- eion of Pennsylvania.

Og len, believing he had made thorough work, disbanded his troops, and, leaving a small garrison in his fort at Mill creek, went to Philadelphia to enjoy his honors. In February Capt. Lazarus Stewart, of Hanover, Lancaster county, and his "forty " settlers (mostly Pennsylvanians these, who had purchased the township which he named for his own home, Hanover), appeared in the valley. They ousted Ogden's men from his fort, and captured the "four- pounder." This brought Ogden

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rapidly back from Philadelphia with fifty men, and he re-possessed his Mill creek fortress. In a sally made upon him here, the Connecticut people were repulsed, and lost one man, killed-the first blood shed as yet. Ogden was obliged to surrender in April, and retired from the valley.

Planting time had come, peace reigned, and confidence began to prevail. Spring and summer came, and the harvests were ripening, and no foe.

Pennsylvania, for some reason, had not crushed this dispute. In point of fact, the proprietaries having appropriated the best part of the valley to themselves, the people very generally sympathized with the settlers, and wished them success. However, with a new force, Ogden appeared once more in September, and by strata- gem, most of the inhabitants being in their fields, without arms, once more captured the fort, dispersed the settlers and destroyed their crops. For the fourth time he retired to Philadelphia, in the full belief that the contest was at an end. At the very close of the year, December 18, Capt. Lazarus Stewart, with thirty men, again swooped down upon Ogden's garrison, and the year closed with the valley in posses- sion of the Yankees.

Promptly with the opening of 1771, Pennsylvania again sent her forces to recapt- ure Fort Durkee and the fields of Wyoming. Capt. Ogden abandoned his fort- ress at Mill creek, and defiantly erected a new one, Fort Wyoming, within sixty rods of his adversary. Capt. Stewart commanded at Fort Durkee. It was Greek against Greek now. Ogden demanded the surrender of Fort Durkee. Stewart replied "that he had taken possession in the name and behalf of the colony of Connecticut, in whose jurisdiction they were, and by that authority he would defend it." Ogden assaulted, but failed, a number being killed and wounded in this affair. In turn he was besieged. Escaping himself by a ruse, his garrison surrendered under formal articles of capitulation on the 14th of Angust, 1771.

The government of Pennsylvania, finding that the Connecticut forces had strongly fortified themselves-that their numbers were rapidly increasing, and believing, from the boldness and confidence of the intruding Yankees, that the government of Connecticut was sustaining them, gave orders for the withdrawing of the troops, and left the Connecticut party in quiet possession of the valley.

In answer to a letter from Mr. Hamilton, president of the council, to Gov. Trum- bull, of Connecticut, inquiring under whose authority "these violent and hostile measures" were prosecuted, Gov. Trumbull thus cautiously replies, October 14, 1771: "The persons concerned in these transactions have no order and direction from me, or from the general assembly of the colony, for their proceeding upon this occasion, and I am very confident that the general assembly, friends as they have ever been to peace and good order, will never countenance any violent, much less hostile, measures in vindicating the rights which the Susquehanna company sup- pose they have to lands in that part of the country within the limits of the charter of this colony."

Connecticut had not yet " asserted its title" to the country. The inhabitants of Wyoming established a government for themselves. They laid out townships, formed settlements, erected fortifications, levied and collected taxes, passed laws for the direction of civil suits, and for the punishment of crimes established a militia, and provided for the common defense and general welfare of the "plantation." "Neither the Greciau nor Roman States, in their proudest days of republicanism, could boast of a government more purely democratic than was now established at Wyoming.

For the two years, 1772-3, peace and prosperity reigned. The "settlers" showed themselves competent to defend themselves, and their footing seemed securely established. In October, 1773, the general assembly of Connecticut " Resolved, That this assembly, at this time, will assert and, in some proper way, support their claim to those lands contained within the limits and boundaries of their charter, which are westward of the province of New York."

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HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

Commissioners were appointed, who went to Philadelphia, in December, to bring the controversy to an amicable conclusion. The case was there fully gone over on both sides, but the negotiation failed of results. It was conducted with the most stately courtesy and ability. A strong Pennsylvania advocate says of his adversary: "I should have been glad to have seen the excellent temper and abilities of their penman engaged in another cause."

In January, 1774, an act was passed by the general assembly of Connecticut, erecting all the territory within her charter limits, from the river Delaware to a line fifteen miles west of the Susquehanna, into a town, with all the corporate power of other towns in the colony, to be called Westmoreland, attaching it to the county of Litchfield. As might have been expected, this greatly strengthened the settlers, and was hailed with much satisfaction. They were now under the law and protection of the ancient and high-standing colony of Connecticut. "A sense of security existed, a feeling of confidence ensued, which gave force to contracts, encouraged industry, and stimulated enterprise."

The Wyoming region was in Northampton county until the year 1772, when it went into Northumberland, according to the municipal division of Pennsylvania.

On July 3-7, 1772, Col. Plunkett, of Northumberland county, under orders of the government, destroyed the settlements of Charleston and Judea (Milton), on the West Branch, which had been made under the auspices of the Susquehanna company, in which affair some lives were lost. With about 500 armed men, in December, 1775, Col. Plunkett, with his train of boats and stores of ammunition, moved up the north branch to drive off the Connecticut settlers from the Wyoming country. About 300 of these settlers met him at Nanticoke and repulsed him, with some loss of life on both sides. At this point, congress interfered and " Resolved,

* * * that the contending parties immediately cease all hostilities, and avoid any appearance of force until the dispute can be legally settled." It is evident that the dispute had widened into national importance.

After Col. Plunkett's failure, all "appearance of force " did cease until after the decree of Trenton, in 1782.

In 1775 the number of inhabitants of Wyoming was something more than 3,000 (a little less, Miner thought).

In November, 1776, the town of Westmoreland was erected into a county of Connecticut, to be called Westmoreland, and thereupon its civil and military organ- ization was complete.

Three companies of troops were raised there for the continental establishment, and were part of the Twenty-fourth regiment of the Connecticut line. -

The Decree of Trenton .- After the failure of Col. Plunkett's expedition, in 1775, we left the Yankees in possession. It required some considerable self-control and more patriotism in Pennsylvania to drop the controversy at that stage. But, under the request of congress, she did so. Promptly on the appearance of peace, after the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, the State, by petition of her pres- ident and supreme executive council, prayed congress to appoint commissioners "to constitute a court for hearing and determining the matter in question, agreeably to the ninth article of the confederation." Connecticut asked for delay, "because that sundry papers of importance in the case are in the hands of council in England, and can not be procured during the war." Congress overruled the motion, and on the 28th day of August, 1782, issued commissions to William Whipple, of New Hampshire; Welcome Arnold, of Rhode Island; David Brearly and William Churchill Houstin, of New Jersey; Cyrus Griffin, Joseph Jones and Thomas Nel- son, of Virginia, or any five or more of them, to be a court of commissioners, with all powers, prerogatives and privileges, incident or belonging to a court, "to meet at Trenton, in the State of New Jersey, on Tuesday, the 12th day of November next, to hear and finally determine the controversy between the said State of Penn-

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sylvania and State of Connecticut, so always as a major part of said commissioners, who shall hear the cause, shall agree in the determination."

The commissioners, except Joseph Jones and Thomas Nelson, met and formed the court November 19, 1782. Messrs. William Bradford, Joseph Reed, James Wilson and Jonathan D. Sergeant appeared as counsel for Pennsylvania; and Messrs. Eliphalet Dyer, William S. Johnson and Jesse Root, as counsel for Con- necticut.

Upon the assembling of the court the agents for Connecticut, after reciting the possession and improvements of large numbers of persons holding under the Sus- quehanna company, moved that "the tenants in possession, holding as aforesaid, be duly cited to appear and defend."

The court rightly overruled the motion "that the same can not be admitted according to the construction of the ninth article of the confederation."

The commission under which they acted was founded on the second clause of the ninth article. The determination of the claims of private property, or right in the soil, would have been ceram non judice, that jurisdiction being derived from the third clause of the article, the two jurisdictions could not be blended.

Connecticut then moved an adjournment to procure evidence, especially "a certain original deed from the Indians of a large parcel of the land in dispute obtained from their chiefs and sachems, at their council in Onondaga, in A. D. 1763, and now in England.

The court did not grant the postponement.

The agents of Pennsylvania set forth their claims as follows:

1. The charter of King Charles II. to Sir William Penn, dated March 4, 1681.

2. That said Penn and the succeeding proprietaries purchased from the native Indians the right of soil in some parts of the territory; and that the Indians had conveyed to Thomas and Richard Penn, particularly on the 25th day of October, 1736, " The full and absolute right of pre-emption of and in all the lands not before sold by them to the said proprietaries, within the limits aforesaid."

3. They stated the limit of the said charter.

4. That by virtue of the Declaration of Independence the articles of confed- eration, and the act of the Legislature of 27th November, 1779, the right of soil and estate of the late proprietaries was vested in the State, and that "Pennsylvania was entitled to the right of jurisdiction and right of soil within all the limits aforesaid."

5. The claims of certain settlers under title derived under Connecticut, and the assertion of title by the State of Connecticut.

The agents for Connecticut exhibited a statement of the claim of that state, in which they deduced the title from the crown, through the Plymoth council, and the charter of Charles II., dated April 23, 1662, described the limits of that charter; set forth the exception of New Netherlands, afterward New York; alleged that in 1753, the state having located and settled their lands on the east side of New York, and being in a condition to extend their settlements in the western part of their patent, for that purpose permitted certain companies of adventurers to purchase large tracts of land of the native Indians, on the Susquehanna and Delaware, within the limits of their charter; " and in A. D. 1754, said companies proceeded and made settlements on said lands, so purchased, as aforesaid, and ever since have, though with various interruptions, continued to hold and possess the same, under the title of the colony of Connecticut, and the legislature have approved of the purchases and settlements of the adventurers aforesaid, and have actually erected and exercised jurisdiction in and over said territory, as part and parcel of said colony."

The court was in session forty-one judicial days. On Monday, December 30, 1782, they pronounced the following judgment:

We are of the opinion that the state of Connecticut has no right to the lands in controversy.

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We are unanimously of the opinion that the jurisdiction and pre-emption of all the territory lying within the charter boundary of Pennsylvania, and now claimed by the State of Connecticut, do of right belong to the State of Pennsylvania.

All the public, corporate rights of Connecticut, as to jurisdiction and property in the land, were embraced within the jurisdiction of this court, and this decree was final and conclusive between the States which were parties to the canse.

That this determination did not touch the private rights of property not only appears by the record, but is placed beyond doubt by the written opinions of the members of the court that had dedided the case. The individual claims of those who had purchased of the Connecticut company, it was understood by the unani- mous court, were not effected by the decree. However, these facts were not given the public for a long time.

After the decree at Trenton, a petition was presented to congress by Zebulon Butler and others, claiming the private right of soil under Connecticut, and praying for a court of commission to determine their claims.

January 23, 1784, congress resolved to institute a court for the purpose. At length, however, the resolution was repealed, because the petition doth not describe, with sufficient certainty, the tract of land claimed by the said Zebulon Butler and others, nor particularly name the the private adverse claims under grants from the common wealth of Pennsylvania." Congress seemed to have acted on the theory that each claimant should bring forward a separate petition, the land claimed, and name the adverse claimants with certainty. They do not seem to have entertained any doubt of the right to such special trials, independent of the decision at Trenton.

But the settlers were poor, oppressed, and wasted by war; and by this time, 1786, the heavy hand of civil and military power was raised to crush them. Before another petition could be brought forward the new constitution was adopted, and as a matter of course the federal courts succeeded to all jurisdiction vesting in the special courts of commissioners.

It has generally been considered that the decree of Trenton was made rather out of consideration of policy than right; that Connecticut had pre-arranged the case with Pennsylvania and congress, and that, out of the arrangement, she was to get the " Western Reserve." The theory is based on a report on finances made in con- gress on January 31, 1783, a month after the decree, in which it is said, incidentally, "Virginia and Connecticut have also made cessione, the acceptance of which, for particular reasons, have been delayed." These cessions came thus.

At theclose of the American Revolution, the circumscribed States contended that all unlocated lands of the States which ran to the " South sea" should, beyond some reason- able bounds, belong to the United States in common, as a prize equally contended for by all. Congress recommended that this be done. Massachusetts, New York, Connec- ticut, Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia severally passed such sessions. In 1786 it was " Resolved, That congress, in behalf of the United States, are ready to accept all the right, title, interest and claim of the State of Connecticut to certain western lands," etc. When the session was offered, the absolute acceptance of it was opposed by Pennsylvania, whose members in congress moved a proviso that it should not be con- strued or understood to affect the decree of Trenton. This proviso was rejected. They then moved that congress should not accept the session, because it might virtually imply a sanction of what was not ceded; but if Connecticut would first relinquish to New York, Pennsylvania, and the United States, respectively, all her claims of jurisdiction and property west of the eastern boundary of New York, the United States would then release to Connecticut the property, but not the jurisdiction of a tract of land of 120 miles in extent, west of Pennsylvania. This resolution was neg- atived. A proviso was then moved, that the acceptance of any cession of western territory from any State which had been or might be made, should not be " con-

Orsnacknight.

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strued or understood as confirming or in any way strengthening the claim of such State to any such territory not ceded," which also received a negative. Again it was moved, to be accepted on this condition, that it should in no degree affect the claims of any State to any territory, ascertained by the decree of the Federal court, to be within the territory or jurisdiction of such State, or to injure the claims of the United States under acts of cession from any individual State. This was also negatived. At last the acceptance was passed in these unqualified terms: "Resolved, That congress accept the said deed of cession, and that the same be recorded and enrolled among the acts of the United States in congress assembled."

This has been regarded as a substantial recognition of the Connecticut charter by the United States.

By the deed Connecticut grants " all right, title, interest, jurisdiction, and claim to certain western lands, beginning at the completion of the forty-first degree of north latitude, 120 miles west of the western boundary line of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, as now claimed by the said commonwealth, and from thence by a line drawn north parallel to, and 120 miles west of said west line of Pennsylvania, and to continue north until it comes to forty-two degrees and two minutes of north lati- tude."

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History of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 17

Author: Bradsby, H. C. (Henry C.) Publication date: 1893 Publisher: Chicago : S. B. Nelson Number of Pages: 1532

Author: Bradsby, H. C. (Henry C.)
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Chicago : S. B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1532