History of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 43

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

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"A very worthy, a very clever, a very upright man, he leaves the world respected and regretted. Thick set, not tall, but well knit together, he seemed formed for strength and endurance; of an excellent constitution, well preserved by exercise, cheerfulness and temperance, he had known but little sickness. A year ago, 1839, the last time I had the pleasure to see him, his mind seemed in full vigor, and he gave promise of many years of life and enjoyment." He died in August, 1840, the result of a sudden attack of apoplexy, at the age of seventy-five years.

In a foot note Mr. Miner says: "There was not a family in the country more ardently devoted to freedom than the Hardings. Those who fell at Exeter were taken to the burying ground near Jenkins' ferry and interred. Over their graves Elisha Harding erected a monument. On it is this: 'Sweet be the sleep of those who prefer death to slavery."

Thus, four of the Hardings were in the Exeter massacre-two of them killed- and four, namely, Henry, Stephen, Oliver and Israel, were members of Capt. Durkee's independent company.

So prominent was this family in the history of the early days, that the main facts are necessarily given in preceding pages. For later facts concerning the pos- terity the reader is referred to the biographical part of this work.

Sills .- This family came to Wyoming in 1770, Mr. and Mrs. Sill and two young sons, Elisha Noyes Sill, aged nine, and Shadrack, younger. The family came from Lyme, Conn. Mr. Sill built the second house in Wilkes-Barre, where of late years has stood the dwelling of the late Col. Welles, and in this house was the first wed- ding-a sister of Mr. Sill with Nathan Denison, as related elsewhere. Another of Mr. Sill's sisters soon after married in the same house, Capt. John P. Schott. In 1776 Elisha N. Sill, then aged fifteen, enlisted in Capt. Durkee's company, and soon after his brother Shadrack became a member of the same company. Hon. Charles Miner relates meeting Dr. E. N. Sill at Hartford in 1839, when he described the Millstone battle, in which the Sill brothers participated, correcting the current accounts of historians, or supplying any notice of that event as had most of the chroniclers of the day: "The two companies (Wyoming) which were there alone were out on parade, before sunrise; we saw the British coming over a rise of ground from toward Brunswick, artillery and infantry. Their numbers being too great, our companies retreated about half a mile. The enemy came out with a train of wagons for flour. While retreating we met Col. Dickinson with the New Jersey militia; our troops wheeled and all now charged the enemy, and a short fight put the British to rout."

The two Sills continued in the service in Spalding's company to the close of the war. Shadrack lost his health and was home on a furlough at the time of the Forty fort battle and fled with the exiles. In October, 1779, he removed to Connecticut with his father's family, became a physician, lived to an old age a useful and much respected citizen.

Dr. Elisha Noyes Sill died at Windsor, Conn., May 24, 1845, aged eighty-four.

Athertons. - There were two branches of this name that were among the earliest of the comers to Wyoming. The names of James and John Atherton are recorded as of the forty who came in 1762-3 and settled at Kingston. They were the first of the pioneers, and of those who, as Mr. Miner says, were double sufferers. It seems that James Atherton returned after the massacre, and, undaunted, commenced again the work of clearing the wilderness. In the list of the slain of the Wyoming battle appears the name of Jabez Atherton. Their arms essayed with other patriots to defend their country; their blood enriched its soil, and, as Mr. Miner well says, it is right to record that their descendants are in the full possession and enjoyment of the fruits of their father's toil, enterprise, bravery and sufferings. "In passing

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through Kingston not far above the residence of Col. Denison, looking to the left, you may see embosomed in trees in a most romantic situation a neat dwelling, the farmhouse of a beautiful plantation. Intermarried with a daughter of the late Gen. Ross, here resides a descendant of one of the early settlers. The farm extending from the river to the mountain yields abundance, and it is a pleasure to add that it is the seat of intelligence and hospitality."

Jonathan Fitch was the first high sheriff of Westmoreland county, Conn., when that was the description of this part of Pennsylvania. He was the only man in the one large company of fugitives after the battle who fled across "The Shades of Death." He is mentioned here chiefly because he was one of the early and influen- tial colonists. He was four times chosen a member of the Hartford general assembly. He probably never returned to this place after he conducted the women and children in their flight. At all events, in 1789 he is known to have settled on Fitch's creek, near Binghampton, N. Y. He was a man of high culture and refinement; became in time one of the judges of the court of New York.

The Durkees .-- Maj. John Durkee had been in Col. Lyman's regiment at the taking of the "Havana." He is named in our annals as heading a party of the first emigrants in 1769-70. Arrested by Capt. Ogden and sent to Philadelphia, several months' imprisonment extinguished his ardor for the settlement of Wyoming, and he returned to Norwich. His name stands on the old records as one of the original forty settlers in Kingston. On the breaking out of the Revolutionary war, Maj. Durkee entered zealously into the contest. A paper published September, 1774, announces, "On Sunday morning 464 men, well armed, and the greater part mounted on good horses, started for Boston, under the command of Maj. John Durkee." Subsequently, in a subordinate station, he was with Putnam in the battle of Bunker Hill. Commissioned a colonel of the Connecticut line, on the continental establishment, this "bold Bean Hill man," as he was sometimes called, "accompanied the army to New York, fought at Germantown," and continued to serve with rep- utation to the close of the arduous struggle. He died in Norwich at his residence on, or near, Bean Hill, in 1782, aged fifty-four years. Military honors were accorded at his funeral, and the display on a similar occasion in that city had never been surpassed. It is evident he left property in Wyoming. Thomas Dyer, Esq., many years afterward, took out letters at Wilkes-Barre, and administered upon his estate.

That Robert Durkee, his brother, received a commission as captain of one of the independent companies; that when congress refused, notwithstanding its solemn pledge, to allow the soldiers to return to Wyoming, menaced as it was by impending danger, he, like Ransom, resigned his commission, and hastened home to defend his family; that he entered as a volunteer into the battle and fell, is all on record. His residence was in Wilkes-Barre on the main avenue, below Gen. Ross' farm. The ancient house is still standing-the property including the old stone wall near where the State road turns off. His widow married Capt. Landon, a respectable citizen of Kingston, and a surveyor. She died September 3, 1803, aged sixty-five. Amelia Durkee, a daughter, resided on the farm, and in August, 1804, married Philip Weeks (whose family were such terrible sufferers in the battle). Some years afterward they moved to Oquago, and so far as our knowledge extends the name in Wyoming has ceased to exist but in remembrance.

He was the proprietor and founder of what is now the city of Wilkes-Barre-a place that for all time would have been signally honored to have borne his name. How striking it is in going over these ancient records that so few localities bear down to posterity the names and thereby the once green memories of those who were the actors, founders or creators of those very places or things that should most appropriately carry in their names the record of names that were not born to die.

Gen. Simon Spalding is a name always familiar to those who know anything of

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HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

the early and trying days of Wyoming. A history of those troublous times are his record. In 1841 his son-in-law, Joseph Kingsbury, in a letter to Hon. Charles Miner, from Sheshequin, wrote of him as follows:

"Gen. Simon Spalding was a native of Plainfield, Conn. He was born in 1741, married to Ruth Shepard in 1761, and died the 24th of January, 1814, aged seventy- three. [I may add that, frequently visiting Sheshequin from 1800 to 1812, I often saw Gen. Spalding. He was a large man, of imposing and pleasing appear- ance. His merits and services deserve a much more extended memoir, and no one is more capable of doing justice to the subject than Col. Kingsbury .- MINER. ] He was a captain in the Revolutionary war, and from good testimony, I have no doubt but that he was a brave officer. But Gen. Spalding, as a captain in the war, never had justice done to him. The affair of Bound Brook was a performance of his. He recovered the forage the British had gathered at the time, and took several prisoners. But just as the skirmish was over and victory secured, an officer of superior rank came up (I forget his name) and to him was the honor of the victory given, when he had no more to do with it than you or I had. Gen. Spalding first discovered this unjust account in Weems' little history of the Revolutionary war, and it morti- fied the real actor of the scene very much.

"Gen. (then Capt. ) Spalding was with Gen. Sullivan in his expedition into the Genesee country. In this tour he discovered and took a fancy to Sheshequin. On his return to Wyoming he made known his intention to settle at this place. In 1783, in company with his family and several of his neighbors at Wyoming, with their families, he removed from thence to Sheshequin. They arrived at this place on May 30. I have heard Gen. Spalding say that the Indian grass upon the flats at the time he came here, was as high as his head when he sat upon a horse. These pioneers set fire to it, and such a fire was never seen before by any one present; it ran from one end of the intervale to the other, a distance of about four miles, and no doubt was very destructive to the animals which made their homes in its dense covers.

" When the settlers took possession of Sheshequin there were a few Indian families resident upon Queen Esther's flats, and one family on this side of the river, but none of any note among them. These Indians proved very friendly, and the next year mostly moved off to the west.

"Gen. Spalding was a man calculated to gain the love and esteem of even a savage. A better hearted man I was never acquainted with. He had a peculiar tact in pleasing the redskins and usually when passing through the place on treaty business to Philadelphia, he would set some sporting on foot. I remember of hearing it told of a feat performed by a couple of these redskins at a time when a large company of Indians were on their return from the city of Brotherly Love. They always made it a point to stop a night with their old friend, who never failed in providing them something to eat. At this time he selected two long-legged hogs and informed the chiefs that these hogs were a present for their supper and breakfast, on these condi- tions however: the Indians to select two of their fleetest runners. they to catch the hogs in a fair running race. This pleased the red men greatly. The young racers were stripped to leggins and clouts, armed with a scalping knife; the hogs turned loose on the flats and the sport began. Such ecstasy as the Indians and even the gathered pale faces were in at the rare sport, which lasted for nearly an hour. The hogs were at first too swift for their pursuers. Once and a while the two- legged would catch the four-legged animals, when seizing them by the tail would be thrown sprawling or dragged a distance, and then on their feet again and the race renewed as well as the shouts of the spectators. Finally the hogs were killed, and the racing frolic was followed by the barbecue of the animals, which were thrown on the log fire "feathers and all" and hastily prepared for the royal feast.

Capt. William McKerachan was the first officer of the Hanover company.

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Evincing at once a spirit of singular modesty and patriotism, he said to Capt. Stewart on the morning of the battle: "My pursuits in life have thus far been those of peace; you have been used to war and accustomed to command. On parade I can maneuver my men, but in the field no unnecessary hazard should be run; a mistake might prove fatal. Take you the lead; I will fight under you with my men as an aide or a private in the ranks. Your presence at the head of the Hanover boys will impart confidence." So it was arranged, and they fell together.

McKerachan was an Irishman, coming from Belfast in the summer of 1764, a young man; landed at Philadelphia, and taught school in Chester county at Nant- meal; thence to Bucks county, spent a year or two there and in New Jersey in teach- ing. He came and settled in Nanticoke in 1774, where for a period he taught school. In time he opened a store and purchased lands. A man much esteemed in his time; was commissioned a magistrate by the Connecticut authorities. He fell at the head of the column July 3, 1778, linking his name immortally with that of his adopted country as a noble sacrifice on the altars of its liberties.

The Gores .- A family whose woes were a most important chapter in the suffer- ing and trials incurred in the establishment of a free country; a large family of big men, women and children, as patriotic and heroic as ever the sun shed light upon. Already much has been written of the different ones of the family in other portions of this book, but one can not refrain from here condensing into the briefest space what was written of them by Mr. Miner in the Traveller, and published in 1845:

" Having given a sketch of the Bidlack family, it is proper to say that Bidlack's wife was a daughter of Obadiah Gore and a sister of Obadiah Gore, Jr., the latter so many years associate justice of Luzerne county. The family came from Norwich, Conn. At this time [1838] Mrs. Bidlack is eighty years old, but as active as at forty [she died soon after]; was twenty years of age at the time of the battle, and in the fort, and to the day of her death was considered the clearest authority on those things that came under her eyes at that bloody day."

Then speaking of the terrible sacrifices, Mr. Miner says: "Take the instance of the Gore family: The old gentleman was one of the aged men left in Forty fort for its defence. He was a magistrate under the Connecticut authority. His eldest son, Obadiah Gore, was lieutenant in the service and in the line before New York. In the battle of July 3, 1778, were his sons, Samuel Gore, Daniel Gore, Silas Gore, George Gore, Asa Gore -- the father in the fort, and five sons marching out to the conflict! Nor was this all. John Murfee, who married a daughter of Mr. Gore, was also in the ranks; and Timothy Pearce, another brother-in-law, having ridden all night, came in and joined our army in the battle-field. Thus there were seven in the battle, while an eighth was in service with the regular army, and it proved a most bloody and disastrous day to the family. At sun setting five of the seven were on the field, mangled corpses. Asa and Silas were ensigns, and were slain, George was slain, Murfee was slain. Timothy Pearce held a commission in the regular army, but had hurried in. He also was killed. Lieut. Daniel Gore was near the right wing, and stood a few rods below Wintermoot's fort, close to the old road that led up through the valley. Stepping into the road, a ball struck him in the arm; tearing it from his shirt he applied a hasty bandage. Just at that moment Capt. Durkee stepped into the road at the same place. "Look out! " said Mr. Gore; "there are some of the savages concealed under yonder heap of logs." At that instant a bullet struck Capt. Durkee in the thigh. When retreat became inevitable, Mr. Gore endeavored to assist Capt. Dur- kee from the field, but found it impossible; and Durkee said, "Save yourself, Mr. Gore-my fate is sealed." Lieut. Gore then escaped down the road, and leaping the fence about a mile below, lay couched close under a bunch of bushes. While there, an Indian got over the fence and stood near him. Mr. G. said he could see the white of his eye, and was almost sure he was discovered. A moment after, a

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yell was raised on the flats below, the Indian drew up his rifle and fired, and instantly ran off in that direction. Though the wave of death seemed to have passed over and spent itself, yet Lieut. Gore remained under cover till dusk, when he heard voices in the road near him. One said to the other, "It has been a hard day for the Yankees." "Yes," replied the other "there has been blood enough shed." He thought one was Col. John Butler, but could not say for certain. After dark Mr. Gore found his way to the fort and met his brother Samuel, the only survivors of the seven. The distress of Mrs. Murfee was very great. She feared her husband had been tortured. When she learned he fell on the field, she was less distressed; and, begging her way among the rest of the fugitives, traversed the wilderness and sought a home in the State from which she had emigrated, having an infant born a few days after her arrival among her former friends.

The mother of the Gore family survived to see her remaining children highly prosperous. Born in 1720, she lived until 1804, when she died at the house of her son in Sheshequin, aged eighty-four years.

In another chapter is an interesting account given by Samuel Gore of his part in the battle, embodied in his petition for a pension.

Maj. Ezekiel Pierce, whom Mr. Miner designates as the ready penman, who wrote all the early records of Westmoreland town when this was a part of Con- necticut, came with his five grown sons in 1771. The sons were Abel, Daniel, John, Timothy and Phineas. In June, 1778, when the two independent companies were consolidated under Capt. Simon Spalding, Timothy and Phineas were com- missioned first and second lieutenants, Timothy being one of the three who rode all night and the next day to hurry to the battle and death on that fatal July 3. John was also slain at the same time. Abel, the father of Mrs. Lord Butler, became a prominent citizen here. His son Charles was killed while yet a lad in the bloody struggles of civil strife, over the possession of the soil in the valley. A daughter became the wife and widow of Capt. Daniel Hoyt, and was living in Kingston in 1845.

The Finch Family .- Three of the Finch family - John, Daniel and Benjamin - were killed at the time of the invasion -two in the engagement, one murdered by the Indians the day previous near Shoemaker's mill.

Thomas Brown .- The names of Thomas Brown and John Brown are in the list of slain. Thomas, in the retreat, had nearly crossed the river, another person being in company. Overtaken by the enemy he was induced or forced to return, and on reaching the shore was instantly speared and tomahawked. His companion witnessed the deed but escaped. The particulars of the fall of John we have not learned. Daniel Brown, a brother, was then a lad in Forty fort. He now resides (1845) very independently near the Wyalusing, a neighbor to the gallant and fortunate Elliott, who escaped from the fatal ring with Hammond, having also near him Mrs. Wells, who was a Ross, and several other of the ancient Wyoming people. One of the stockades at Pittston was called Brown's fort, that family having erected it on their own land. Though not named, it is evidently referred to in the dispatches of Col. John Butler as one of the three that capitulated.

Asa and John Stevens .- Asa and John Stevens are named in the old records as inhabitants of Wilkes-Barre as early as 1772. Rosewell Stevens was one of the patriotic soldiers that entered the service in Ransom's independent company. Asa Stevens was an officer holding the commission of lieutenant in the militia, and was slain in battle. Like the Danas they were particularly distinguished by their zeal for the establishment of free schools, and the advancement of learning. This congeniality of sentiment led to the most intimate connection - Anderson Dana and Sylvester Dana marrying sisters of the Stevens family. Removing from Wilkes-Barre, Jonathan Stevens settled in Braintrim, and afterward in Bradford county, where, on the organization of that county, having long exercised with

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intelligence and firmness the duties of a magistrate, he was appointed one of the associate judges.

Nathan Beach, of Beach Grove, for many years one of the most distinguished citizens of Luzerne, furnished Mr. Miner a brief sketch of his life. Mr. Beach was a magistrate for many years, and for a still longer time postmaster at Beach Grove. In 1807-8 Beach and Miner represented the county of Luzerne in the assembly, then sitting in Lancaster. Room-mates as well as colleagues, a friendly intimacy commenced, which never suffered the slightest interruption. Active, enter- prising, having a mind quick to perceive, a memory extraordinarily retentive, and a faculty to communicate with remarkable clearness and spirit the incidents occurring in his eventful life, a more pleasant or instructive companion, in respect to ancient affairs, could rarely be met with. Even at the age of eighty-two (1845), his graphic account of the surrender of Cornwallis possessed more interest than any we have ever read or heard. Fortune has smiled on his exertions, and the poor exiled boy is now able to ride in his carriage and pair, abounding in wealth, still blessed with health, and buoyant in spirits, esteemed by a large circle of friends and acquaint- ances.

"In the year 1769 my father removed with his family from the State of New York to the valley of Wyoming, now Luzerne county, where he continued to reside within the limits of said county, until the 4th day of July, 1778, the day after the Wyoming battle. When the inhabitants, to wit, all those who had escaped the tomahawk and scalping knife, fled in every direction to places of security, about the first of August following I returned with my father and Thomas Dodson, to secure our harvest which we had left in the fields. While we were thus engaged I was taken prisoner by the Indians and tories; made my escape the day fol- lowing. In the fall of the same year, 1778, my father and family went to live at Fort Jenkins. I was there employed, with others of the citizens, and sent out on scouting parties by Capt. Swany, commander of the fort, and belonging to Col. Hartley's regiment of the Pennsylvania line, continued at said fort until about the first of June, 1779, during which time had a number of skirmishes with the Indians. In May, 1779, the Indians, thirty-five in number, made an attack on some families that lived one mile from the fort, and took three families, twenty-two in number, prisoners. Information having been received at the fort, Ensign Thornbury was sent out by the captain in pursuit of the Indians, with twenty soldiers; myself and three others of the citizens also went, making twenty-four. We came up with them -a sharp engagement took place, which lasted about thirty minutes, during which time we had four men killed and five wounded out of the twenty-four. As we were compelled to retreat to the fort, leaving our dead on the ground, the Indians took their scalps. During our engagement with the Indians the twenty-four prisoners before mentioned made their escape and got safe to the fort. The names of the

heads of those families taken prisoners as aforesaid, were Bartlet Ramey, Christo- pher Forrow and Joseph Dewey; the first named, Bartlet Ramey, was killed by the Indians. Soon after the aforesaid engagement, in June, I entered the boat depart- ment. Boats having been built at Middletown, Dauphin county, called continental boats, made for the purpose of transporting the baggage, provisions, etc., of Gen. Sullivan's army-which was on its march to destroy the Indian towns in the lake country, in the State of New York. I steered one of those boats to Tioga Point, where we discharged our loading, and I returned to Fort Jenkins in August, where I found our family. The Indians still continued to be troublesome; my father thought it advisable to leave the country and go to a place of more safety; we left the Susquehanna, crossed the mountains to Northampton county, in the neighbor- hood of Bethlehem; this being in the fall of 1779. In May, 1780, the Indians paid a visit to that country, took and carried away Benjamin Gilbert and family, and several of his neighbors, amounting to eighteen or twenty in all. Said Gilbert was

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History of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 43

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