History of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 45

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

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"Mr. Carey got to the river lower down, and succeeded in swimming across, but the savages had crossed over before him, and he was instantly surrounded by sev- eral. One who seemed to have authority took charge of him, but a small Indian, 19

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pitted with the small-pox, and having lost an eye (as he stood naked, for Mr. Carey had stripped off all his clothes that he might swim), with a malicious smile, drew a knife up and down his breast and abdomen, about an inch from the skin, saying the while, Te-te-te-te. They then made him swim back, bound his hands, and he was conducted to Wintermoot's. The fort had been set on fire by the enemy at the commencement of the engagement, and Mr. Carey saw the remains of one or two of our people, who had been thrown on the burning pile, but they were then life- less. That night he lay on the ground, bound, and without food. 'The next morn- ing an officer struck him on the mouth with his open hand. 'You are the fellow,' said he, 'that threatened yesterday morning you would comb my hair, are you?' He then learned that the Indian who had taken him was Capt. Roland Montour, who now gave him food, unbound, and led him to a young savage who was mortally wounded. What passed he could not then perfectly comprehend, but afterward learned the purpose was to show him to the dying Indian, and ask if his life should be preserved and he be taken to the Indian's parents to be adopted instead of their lost son. He assented, and young Carey's life was saved. They then painted him, and gave him the name of the dying Indian-Coconeunquo-of the tribe of Onon- dagoes.

"When the enemy marched from the valley, Mr. Carey, carefully guarded, was taken with them, and when they reached the Indian country, was handed over to the family into which he had been adopted, where, if he would have conformed to sav- age customs, and have drunk so deep of the waters of forgetfulness as to cease to remember country, connection and friends, he might have remained peaceable, if not happy; but beloved Wyoming, doubly dear from her sorrows, would rise to his slumbers, as it was ever present to his waking hours, and he sighed for liberty and home. He thinks the old Indian and squaw-his savage parents-saw that he- could not mingle in spirit with them, for they used constantly to mourn for their lost boy. Just at day-breaking they would set up a pitiful cry-oh! oh! ho !- and at evening, as the sun was going down-oh! oh! ho !- and with all their stoicism their sorrows would not cease. At times, while here, he suffered much from hunger, having only a spoonful of parched corn a day for several weeks. He thought he should have famished; and in the severe winters, his sufferings from cold were extreme; but he shared like the rest of the family, and they evidently meant, after once adopting, to treat him kindly.

"More than two weary years were passed in this way, when he got to Niagara, where he was detained, though with less suffering, until restored to liberty by the glorious news of peace and independence. It was on June 29, 1784, before the charming valley again met his sight, after having suffered six years of distressing captivity.

"Mr. Carey mentions the fact, stated by others, that Walter Butler, a favorite son of Col. John Butler, was killed by the Americans, near Mud creek, on returning from one of his excursions against our settlements on the Mohawk. He adds- what before I did not remember to have heard-that one of the Wintermoots was killed at the same time. Butler was shot by a rifle ball through the head, aimed at him from an extraordinary distance.

"There was a Joseph Carey and Samuel Carey both killed in the battle, but it does not occur to my recollection whether they were relatives of the Mr. Samuel Carey of whom I now speak. His brother, Nathan Carey, was in the engagement, and fortunately escaped. Their father's name was Eleazer Carey, a name held by one of his descendants, still known and highly respected in the valley.

"Though at the advanced age of seventy-nine, Mr. Carey enjoys tolerable health; his mind active and his memory sound. Though not rich, he is yet, by the industry and frugality of a long life, comfortable in his declining days, and has the happiness of having sons and daughters settled around him, all well to do, and all

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respectable-and some in very independent circumstances. His wife, Theresa, was the daughter of Capt. Daniel Gore; so that if the morning of life was crowded with sorrow and woe, his evening is calm and serene." Mr. Samuel Carey died in 1842, and was buried with military honors.

Mrs. Myers. - Mr. Miner relates graphically a visit he made in company with Prof. Silliman to this lady, who, he says, was the mother of Sheriff Myers, in office, in 1845. Mrs. Myers was a Bennett, and was in the fort at the time of the battle -- sixteen years old. This good woman talked long with the Professor, and told of those scenes she so vividly remembered-of the arrival of "Capt. Durkee, Lieut. Phineas Pearce and another officer. How "just at evening a few of the fugitives came rushing into the fort and fell down exhausted, some wounded and bloody; through the night, every hour, one or more came in; how the enemy marched in six abreast after the capitulation." She told, as she remembered seeing, of the inter- views between Col. John Butler and Col. Denison in reference to carrying out in good faith the honorable terms of capitulation, and asking that the outrages of the Indians be stopped. Butler acknowledged the wrongs, and after repeated promises finally told Denison that he had no power to restrain the savages.

" The Indians, to show their entire independence and power, came into the fort, and one took the hat from Col. Denison's head; another demanded his rifle frock, a dress much worn by officers, as well as soldiers. It did not suit Col. Denison to be thus stripped, whereupon the Indian raised his tomahawk menacingly, and Col. Denison was obliged to yield; but seeming to find difficulty in taking off the gar- ment, he stepped back to where the young women were sitting. The girl who sat by Miss Bennett was one of Col. Denison's own family-she understood the move- ment, and took from a pocket in the frock a purse, and hid it under her apron. The frock was delivered to the Indian, and the town money (for the purse, containing a few dollars, was the whole military chest of Wyoming) was saved.

"Mrs. Myers represents Col. Butler as a portly, good-looking man, perhaps forty-five, dressed in green, the uniform of Butler's rangers, with a cap and feather. Col. Butler led the chief part of his army away in a few days, but parties of Indians continued in the valley burning and plundering. Her father's house was left for a week; she used to go out to see if it was safe. One morning as she looked out from the fort, fire after fire rose, east, west, north and south, and casting her eyes toward home, the flames were bursting from the roof, and in an hour it was all a heap of ruins."

The splendid farm half a mile above the Dorrance place was at the time Mr. Miner wrote the property and residence of a son of the boy, Bennett, who was a captive with his father, and escaped as related above (this was John Bennett). As stated, one of the sons of Mrs. Myers was sheriff; another was for years a magis- trate; a daughter married Rev. Dr. Peck. In 1845 Mrs. Bennett, widow of the Bennett who was captured and escaped, was eighty-three years of age-blind-but her mental faculties, Mr. Miner says, were as clear as in her prime, and her recol- lections of the bloody days in the valley were full, and as told by her, remarkably interesting. She was an eye-witness of many

Of most disastrous consequences-hair-breadth 'scapes.

The Bennetts were conspicuous in the trials and sore tribulations of the early day in war and in peace, and several lineal descendants are now among the citi- zens of the county. Her father and brother, and Lebeus Hammond, were at one time all at work in the field, when they were captured by six Indians and hurried north. May 3, when they went into camp at night, the prisoners had made up their minds from certain indications that the Indians intended to massacre them the next day, and, pretending sleep, watched their opportunity, when Bennett killed the Indian on watch, and the three killed five of the captors, when the last one fled. Joyfully they returned to their friends, bringing the arms and scalps as trophies.

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HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

Joseph Elliott was in the battle of July 3, and of him has been handed down much of the blood-curdling stories that furnished the aftermath to the battle. He was one who, in after life, " oft shouldered the crutch and showed how " the wicked Brant and the yet more cruel Queen Esther breathed death and slaughter upon the prisoners who were bound and helpless.

Joseph Elliott, in 1845, was living at Wyalusing at the age of eighty-nine years; born October 10, 1756; his father had died in 1809, aged ninety-seven years. A family of unusual longevity and large physical development. The family came from Stonington to Luzerne county in 1776. The next year Joseph Elliott, a mem- ber of a detachment of eighty men under Col. Dorrance, which scouted up the river, ascending to Sheshequin. When the British and Indians invaded the valley, and the battle of July 3 followed, Elliott was in the ranks of the American army and fought in Capt. Bidlack's company. He was taken prisoner, and on his authority and oft repetition of the story, even Mr. Miner was misled into the current stories of the time as to the Indian chief, Brant, and the presence here of the bloody Queen Esther. Elliott was wounded as he fled from the field, while swim- ming the river at Monocacy island, being struck in the left shoulder. His escape was remarkable and he reached the fort, and his wound dressed, and, no doubt, his life saved by the presence and skill of Dr. William Hooker Smith. He often told that he remembered seeing Jeremiah Ross, Samuel and Joseph Crooker, Stephen Bidlack and Peter Wheeler butchered on that day.

No sooner was Elliott recovered, and his wounded shoulder sufficiently healed than he entered again upon acceptable services. On Sullivan's advance into the Indian country a line of expresses, to connect with Wyoming, was established, when Mr. John Carey and Joseph Elliott were selected to perform the duty. And, says Mr. Elliott, " after eighty days' constant service I was taken sick, and can not tell what should be the cause, unless too often sleeping out in the wet, overdone with fatigue and being very hungry." Joseph Elliott was an actor in another trying scene- the making prisoners of all Rosewell Franklin's family by the Indians, 1782. His account of the affair, so far as he was concerned, was this: Several parties were marshaled to pursue the savages. One of these assembled at Mill creek, numbering nine persons. They chose Thomas Baldwin to be their leader, and himself to be second in command. Making their way up the river with all possible celerity, they were satisfied, when they reached the path on the mountain nearly opposite French- town, that the enemy had not passed. Taking up a position on the hill which was deemed most eligible, being out of provisions, two of the men, expert hunters, went out for venison, when the Indians, thirteen in number, with Mrs. Franklin, her babe, two little girls and a boy about four years old, as prisoners, were reported by the advanced sentinel to be near. To call in their scattered hunters was of course impossible. There they were seven to thirteen, and it was bravely resolved to give battle. The fire was sharp on both sides. Capt. Baldwin received a rifle ball in the hand which nearly disabled him, but Thomas Baldwin was every inch a soldier, and still exerting himself he led on and cheered his men. How near they were is evident from the children knowing the voices of our party, and with instinctive sagacity they rau from the Indians, and clung to the knees of their friends. Mrs. Franklin, who had been ordered to sit still, raised her head on hearing the joyous cry of her children, and the savages instantly shot her. Pressing forward, the Indians were compelled to retreat, leaving two or three of their number dead on the field. The infant was borne off in their flight, and its fate never known. The two little girls and younger boy were, after the burial of their mother, decently as cir- cumstances permitted, brought safely to Wyoming, and restored to the arms of their father. Mr. Franklin had been with another party in eager pursuit, but had failed to find the enemy. Gen. William Ross used to say the battle for Mr. Franklin's family was one of the best contested in Wyoming.

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HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

A pension of $65 a year has contributed to render the evening of the days of Elliott comfortable. Below the middle bight, he was well built, and of that cast best shown by experience to be adapted to endure fatigue. June 25, 1845, when we called on the old gentleman to hear his narrative, he was at work in his garden. In early life Joseph Elliott must have been handsome, for, except the loss of his right eye, he still looks well. His face is round and lighted up by a benevolent smile. Half his thin hair is still dark, and his manner mild and pleasing. But when he is in full tide, relating the events of battle-"when the Indians came down on us like so many raging devils," age is forgotten, and he is full of anima- tion. His habits have been simple, his life virtuous, his conduct in war meritorious as fidelity and bravery could render it. He lives universally respected, and it is hoped, may enjoy his pension these many coming years. With pleasure we add that his son was, at the last session, a member of assembly from Bradford county.

Silas Harvey was one of the victims of that fatal field of July 3. He was a son of Benjamin Harvey, who came with his family from Lyme, Conn., an intimate friend, neighbor and confidant of Col. Z. Butler, not any in the old State before they came here, but in the trying times they passed in the valley. Benjamin Harvey had three sons; the eldest, Benjamin, joined the independent companies in 1776 and served under Gen. Washington and died in the army; Silas, mentioned above, died as stated. In December, 1780, the savages made an incursion and captured several prisoners, of whom were Benjamin Harvey and his youngest and only remaining son, Elisha. They were driven to Canada and during the winter their sufferings were intense. In 1784 Benjamin was cruelly imprisoned by the Pennites.

Elisha Harvey married Rosanna Jameson. Their son, Jameson Harvey, was one of the earliest to make a fortune of the rich coal mines here.

Phebe Young .- Her maiden name was Phebe Poyner. Her father was a Huguenot, who was compelled to leave France and come to this country, in conse- quence of persecution for religious opinions. An active and intelligent man, he was a commissary in the old French war. The name of her mother was Eunice Chap- man, a native of Colchester, Conn., but married to Mr. Poyner at Sharon, Nine- partners, New York-where the subject of this notice was born, in 1750. Her father died of small-pox at Albany, and her mother married Dr. Joseph Sprague, a widower, who had several children by his first wife. The united families removed to Wyoming in 1770-Mrs. Young being then twenty years old.

There were only five white women in Wilkesbarre township when she arrived; Mrs. McClure, wife of James McClure; Mrs. Sill, wife of Jabez Sill; Mrs. Bennett, grandmother of Rufus Bennett, the brave old soldier, who was in the battle; another of the same name, wife of Thomas Bennett, mother of Mrs. Myers, and a Mrs. Hickman. At Mill Creek, just above the large merchant mills of Mr. Hollenback, a fort was erected-containing, perhaps, an acre. A ditch was dug around the area- logs, twelve or fourteen feet high, split, were placed perpendicularly in double rows, to break joints, so as to enclose it. Loop-holes to fire through with musketry were provided. There was one cannon in the fort, the only one in the settlement, until Sullivan's expedition in 1779; but it was useless, except as an alarm gun, having no ball. Within this enclosure the whole settlement was congregated; the men, generally armed, going out to their farms to work during the day, and returning at night. The town plot of the borough had been laid out, but not a house built. It was a sterile plain, covered with pitch pine and scrub oak. Mr. John Abbott (who fell by the hands of the savages, the father of Mr. Stephen Abbott of Jacobs Plains) put up the first house, on the southwest corner of Main and Northampton streets. Mr., afterward Col. Denison, and Miss Sill, were the first couple married at Wilkes-Barre. The wedding took place at the house where the late Col. Wells' house stands. Mrs. McClure gave birth to the second child born here-a son. But let us look in upon them. The houses, store and sheds were placed around against the

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HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

wall of timbers. Matthias Hollenback, then about twenty, full of life and enterprise, had just come up the river with a boat load of goods, and opened a store of various articles exceedingly needed. On the left was the house of Capt. Z. Butler. Next on the right was the building of Dr. Sprague, the physician of the settlement, and who kept a boarding-house. Here Mr. Hollenback and Mr. Denison had their quarters. Capt. Rezin Geer, who fell in the battle, was here. For bread they used pounded corn; mills there were none; nor a table, nor a chair, nor a bedstead, except the rude manufacture of the hour. Dr. P. would take his horse, with as much wheat as he could carry, and go out to the Delaware to get it ground. A bridle path was the only road, and seventy or eighty miles to mill was no trifling distance. The flour was kept for cakes, and to be used only on extraordinary occasions. But venison and shad were in abundance. All were elate with hope, and the people for a time were never happier. But sickness came, Zebulon, a son of Capt. Butler, died -two daughters of the Rev. Mr. Johnson; two men, Peregrine Gardiner and Thomas Robinson; then Lazarus Young, a brother of Mrs. Young's husband, was drowned. Soon after Capt. Butler and Mr. Young, her husband, were taken prisoners by the Pennites and carried to Philadelphia. Dr. Sprague died in Virginia. A son fell in the Wyoming battle. Phebe Young's husband was at the Narrows with Col. Butler, July 1, and in the battle on the 3d, but escaped. Mrs. Young was at Hanover, with Mrs. Col. Denison and her two children (Col. Lazarus Denison and Betsey, the late Mrs. Shoemaker). These three, with Mrs. Sheriff Fitch, Mrs. Young and two children, entered a canoe, rowed by Levi Vincent, and fled down the river to Harrisburg. Mrs. Young was the last survivor of the port at Mill Creek. She died at the good age of eighty-nine years.

Jamesons .- This family came here in 1776 from Voluntown, Conn. Robert Jameson, the father, was born in 1714, and, consequently, was sixty-two years old when he came, bringing his sons, all grown, Robert, William, John, Alexander and Joseph. His one daughter married Elisha Harvey, and their daughter married Rev. George Lane, long and well known in this part of the State. Elisha Harvey was taken a prisoner and taken to Canada by the Indians. Robert and William Jameson were in Capt. McKerachan's company in the Wyoming battle. Robert was killed and William's gunlock was shot away. William Jameson was murdered near Careytown in the fall of 1778, as was John in 1782 near the Hanover meeting house. Thus three of the five sons fell victims of the savages. John Jameson, one of the killed, had married a daughter of Maj. Prince Alden, and left two children- son and daughter. Hannah, a third child, was born soon after his decease and married Elder Pearce, a distinguished minister of the Methodist Episcopal church. Polly was married to Jonathan Hunlock, and Samuel, the eldest child, resided at the original farm in Hanover, where he died in 1845, having sustained the char- acter of an upright and amiable man. For several of the last years of his life he was a member of the Presbyterian church. The two other sons of the old gentle- man resided on their beautiful plantation in Salem adjoining that of N. Beach,. hav- ing at their command and hospitably enjoying all the good things that could make life pass agreeably. Joseph, one of the pleasantest and most intelligent men of our early acquaintance, chose to live a bachelor, the more unaccountable as his pleasing manners, cheerful disposition and inexhaustible fund of anecdote rendered him everywhere an agreeable companion. Alexander was for a number of years a mag- istrate. He was a man of active business habits. Both these brothers, besides the deep sufferings of their family, were themselves participators in the active scenes of the war and endured hardships that the present inhabitants can form no true con- ception of. Their mother's maiden name was Dixon, of the family from which the Hon. Dixon, senator in congress from Rhode Island, was descended. Their father died in 1786, aged seventy-two. On the main road between Beach Grove and Ber- wick, a distance of six miles, in 1856 there resided the following named persons

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HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

who died at an advanced age: Alexander Jameson, ninety-five; Joseph Jameson, ninety-two; Elizabeth Jameson, eighty-eight; Mary Jameson, eighty-five; Nathan Beach, eighty-four; Mr. Hughes, ninety; two of the Messrs. Courtright, each about eighty, and Mr. Varner, ninety-one. Besides these there were a number who lived to an age exceeding seventy-five years.

The Perkins Family .- "Among the many instances of Indian barbarity the mur- der of Mr. John Perkins has been narrated. He was from Plainfield, Windham county. On the enlistment of the two independent companies his eldest son, then an active young man of about twenty, enrolled his name in the list and marched to camp under Ransom. Hence the family were special objects of hatred to the enemy. Aaron Perkins continued in the army to the close of the war, having given his best days to the service of his country. David Perkins, the next brother, took charge of the family, and, by great prudence and industry, kept them together and not only preserved the plantation but improved and enlarged it so that now it is among the most valuable in Kingston. For a great number of years Mr. Perkins executed the duties of a magistrate to the general acceptance. A son of his held the commission of major in the United States army.

Numbers of his children were well married and settled around him or not far distant. The late Mrs. James Hancock, whose amiable character endeared her to all who had the pleasure of her acquaintance, was the daughter of David Perkins. The beautiful farm of Mr. Han- cock, embracing more than 100 acres of rich alluvial land, contains the lower part of the ancient Indian fort, the upper part running into the no less valuable planta- tion of John Searle, whose grandfather fell in the battle; so that the children, descendants of both those ancient sufferers by savage barbarity, now disport in peaceful triumph on the ruined palace of those haughty and cruel warriors by whose hands their forefathers fell.

"David Perkins still lives [1845] in the enjoyment of fine health and an easy fort- une. Aaron, the old soldier, one of the extreme remnant of Ransom and Durkee's men, broken with age and toil, you may yet see slowly pacing his brother's porch or in summer a day taking his walk along those beautiful plains. If not enjoying much positive pleasure he yet seems to suffer no pain. Linger yet, aged veteran! Ye winds blow kindly on him! Beam mildly on his path, thou radiant sun that saw his father slaughtered! and must have witnessed the gallant soldier in many a noble conflict. Plenty surrounds him. Peace to his declining years! As a most interesting memorial of the past we love to look upon you! "

Such is the glowing tribute of Mr. Miner to this worthy family.

Luke Swetland was the grandfather of William Swetland, for many years a prominent business man whose elegant country seat was a short distance above Col. Denison's place. Mr. Miner says:

"Luke Swetland bore arms in defence of Wyoming, although it is not certainly known whether he was in the battle. Immediately after the expulsion, he, with twenty-five or thirty others of the inhabitants, united together and joined (not enlisted) the company of Capt. Spalding. The fact is shown by the receipt they gave to Col. Butler for continental arms, issued to them at Port Penn. Their aid thus strengthening Spalding's company enabled him earlier to march to Wilkes- Barre and arrest the depredations of the Indians. Mr. Sweetland was taken pris- oner with Joseph Blanchard, near Nanticoke, where they had gone to mill (this was August 24, 1778), and were carried by the savages to their country, near Geneva lake. Besides the constant dread of torture, his sufferings from cold and want of food during the winter were intense. A man of ardent piety, the confidence and hope imparted by religion sustained him. To trace his weary days of captivity would be but a repetition of ever-recurring sorrows. After having failed in several attempts to escape, he was at length rescued by our army under Gen. Sullivan. Returning to his native Connecticut, he had a narrative of his captivity and suffer-

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History of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 45

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