History of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 60

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

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Jesse Fell was named in the act of incorporation as a commissioner to proclaim the first borough election, which was held May 6, 1806. There is no record of the number of votes polled, but it has been estimated at about sixty. As the result of that election Jesse Fell became the first burgess and Mathias Hollenback, Roswell Wells, Lord Butler, Arnold Colt, Nathan Palmer, Charles Miner and Samuel Bow- man constituted the first council. May 14, 1806, the first meeting of the borough council took place, and a more efficient board never met. They were all first-class men socially and in business life. Messrs. Hollenback and Butler were the principal merchants of the town. Messrs. Wells and Palmer were lawyers of ability. Charles Miner, the subsequent historian of Wyoming, was a printer and the editor of the Federalist, and a leader in borough affairs as long as he remained a member of the council. Arnold Colt, a blacksmith by trade, was a man of sterling qualities. Peleg Tracy was appointed clerk. Soon after organizing, the council adopted a series of rules for the government of its proceedings, the last of which imposed a fine of 25 cents upon the councilman for non-attendance at regularly authorized meetings. These regulations were thirty-two in number, and are said to have been drawn up by Charles Miner. Rule 32 first had application in the case of Col. Hollenback, who was absent at the second meeting of the council and was accordingly fined.

Under an act of the legislature of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania for the reg- ulation of boroughs, passed in 1851, a new charter was granted to Wilkes-Barre borough at the April term of court in 1855, under which it existed until 1871.

The city of Wilkes-Barre was incorporated by an act of assembly approved May 24, 1871, and included the borough of Wilkes-Barre and all of the township of Wilkes- Barre lying west of the Empire road, projected northerly to the township line of Plains and southerly to the township line of Hanover. It was divided into fifteen wards.

The first municipal election resulted in the choice of the following officers: Ira M. Kirkendall, mayor; F. D. Vose, high constable; Isaac S. Osterhout, Adolph Voigt and J. A. Rippard, anditors. The following named gentlemen composed the first board of councilmen: J. E. Clarke, M. Regan, J. C. Williamson, H. B. Hillman, Hiram Wentz, William A. Swan, Walter C. Sterling, H. C. Fry, George H. Parrish, Charles A. Miner, C. P. Kidder, Joseph Schilling, Anthony Helfrich, C. B. Dana and John Gilligan.

The following named persons have served successively as mayor: 1871-3, Ira M. Kirkendall; 1874-6, M. A. Kearney; 1877-9, W. W. Loomis; Thomas Brodrick 1880-6; C. B. Sutton 1886-92. Present mayor, F. M. Nichols, elected in April, 1892.

In 1772 the population of Wilkes-Barre was so small that there were within its borders only five white women; but during the year several of the settlers went East to bring out their families. The whole number of buildings in 1778 was twenty-six, and twenty-three of these were burned by the Pennamites during that year. The population of the village in 1800 is not definitely known; but the entire number of taxables in the township, as then bounded, the previous year was 121. At the date of the incorporation of the borough (1806) the number of persons living within its limits is said to have been about 500, and there were only forty-eight houses between North and South streets. The borough had attained to a population of 732 in 1820. In 1830 it was 1,201; in 1840, 1,718; in 1850, 2,723; in 1860, 4,259. About this time the borough began that rapid growth which caused the number of its inhabitants to reach 10,174 in 1870 and to increase to 23,340 in 1880; 1890, 37,718, out of a total of 201,120 for Luzerne county; and from the different school censuses and other semi-official sources it is estimated that at present (October, 1892) the city has a population of over 45,000.

John F. Dille

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HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

The history of the city of Wilkes-Barre has never been written. Those early events which have made its name and location famous to all readers of the pioneer history of Pennsylvania have been recorded from time to time in the various works relating to Wyoming and its tragic past, and isolated articles have appeared which treated of special elements in its growth and prosperity, while a few of the opera- tions incident to its earlier advancement have formed no uninteresting portions of the words above referred to; but the history of the city, as a fact, as a separate identity, remains to be unfolded. Of course, practically for half a century after the first settlement it had really no other history than that of the valley, of which it was a part and parcel merely. Even after it became a borough it was still a part of the township, and therefore it really had no distinct history of its own until it began to approach the importance of a city.

Those events, which ocourred within the limits of the present city subsequent to the first settlement of Wyoming, and during the trying periods of the Revolutionary and Pennamite wars, were so intimately related to others whose locale was up and down and across the river, in adjoining villages and townships, that it has been found impossible to consider them separately from those other events which, with these, formed the material for the thrilling history of Wyoming .. As a remarkable chain of tragic occurrences they have, in their entirety, excited remark from the pens of distinguished historians, poets and novelists on both sides of the Atlantic. They have taken their place in the annals of the commonwealth as without parallel for the many terrible elements which rendered the beautiful Wyoming valley an abiding place for horror, rapine and murder, and to the general history of the county the reader is referred for such record as they have seemed to deserve at our hands. The erection of Forts Durkee, Wyoming and Wilkes-Barre within the bor- ders of the town plot, Fort Ogden, just within the border of Plains and Fort Jenkins on the Wilkes-Barre mountain; the capture of John Franklin in 1787, and of Timothy Pickering, June 26, 1788; the zeal of Wilkes-Barreans in the Revolu- tionary cause; the burning of the village, July 4, 1788; the capture of Frances Slocum by the Indians and her subsequent interesting story; the sojourn of the Duke of Orleans, the Duke of Montpensier and the Count of Beaujolais, French exiles, at Arndt's tavern in June, 1797, and other noteworthy occurrences, are most of them among those referred to above, and all help to form the events in a history as striking and as full of tragic interest as that of any part of the United States. Those events of which the forts mentioned were the centers would, if they could be written of as isolated occurrences, properly belong to the history of the township and present city of Wilkes-Barre. Those events and measures which have contributed to the growth and prosperity of Wilkes-Barre successively as a frontier settlement, a charming country village, a thriving borough and a busy city, it is designed to consider in the following pages.

"The leading families of Wilkes-Barre," says Clark, "are nearly all direct descend- ants of the pioneers of Wyoming valley, and are cultured to an enviable degree. * * * A few of the familiar names may be cited as exhibiting the social status of the city. Here is the Ross family, historical as descended from Gen. William Ross; the Hollenbacks, tracing with pride to the old colonel, of whom every household in northern Pennsylvania has heard; the Butlers, from Gen. Zebulon Butler; the Dorrance family, from Col. Benjamin Dorrance; the Pettebones, from Noah Pette- bone, an old hero in the early struggles; the Johnsons, from Rev. Jacob Johnson; the Myers family; Shoemaker family; the Denisons, from Col. Nathan Denison; the Swetlands, McKerachans and Careys; the Ransom and Jenkins families; Inmans, Ives and Abbotts; Blackmans and Starks; the Harding and Dana descendants, now prominent in local history; Beach, Jameson, Perkins, Searle and Gore; Young, Durkee, Sill, Fitch, Atherton, Harvey, Pierce, Gere, Gaylord, Miner, and a long line of others too numerous to mention." Mr. Steuben Butler, a son of the colonel commanding, and a daughter of Col. Denison (Mrs. Sarah Abbott) who was second 25

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HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

in command on the field of massacre, are the last living immediate descendants of that fated band of heroic men who fought so desperately on the plains at Wyoming in opposing the savage invaders of the valley in 1778.

There were numbers of young men ready to embark in mercantile enterprises in the new territory to the full extent of their means, anticipating large return profits for their limited outlays. The first settlers brought their first year's supplies with them, and a merchant would have found small resultant profits who depended upon the early settlers alone for his patronage; but here was a promising field for Indian commerce-a great volume of the peltry trade, extending from the Nanticoke falls up the Susquehanna river to Seneca lake and thence to Niagara, the central point of the Indian traffic in furs-both before and after the Revolutionary struggle.

It is pretty certain that there were Indian traders in Wyoming before the first advent of the Yankee colonists in 1763, and subsequently in 1769; but of these traders there is no record among the archives of the Susquehanna company, though it is a well established fact that John Jacob Astor visited the valley as early as 1775, and made the tour to Niagara with Matthias Hollenback as his guide and partner in trade. It was during this journey that Mr. Hollenback marked out his future program as a trader from Wilkes-Barre to Niagara. He came to the valley from Lebanon county, whither his father had come from Virginia, and another branch of the family had settled in Montgomery county. It is quite certain that Mr. Hollen- back kept a store on South Main street, just below the corner of Northampton, pre- vious to the battle of July 3, 1778; and this store was kept after the restoration of peace up to about 1820, when it was removed to the new brick store of George M. Hollenback. Mr. Hollenback was the first regular merchant of Wilkes-Barre, and one of only two merchants in Westmoreland in 1781. His business extended for many years after the war up the Susquehanna river to Niagara, with branches at Wysox, Tioga, and a fur trading house at Niagara, in which he had succeeded John Jacob Astor in 1783.

After the peace of 1783 and the return of the fugitive settlers to Wilkes-Barre there was no lack of storekeepers. Among the first if not the very first was Lord Butler, on the corner of River and Northampton streets. This establishment was continued up to 1820. About the same time John P. Schott opened a retail store on River street between Lord Butler's and South street, but did not continue long in trade. As early as 1795, or perhaps earlier, Thomas Wright and Thomas Duane opened a store in Wilkes-Barre, on the corner of the public square and North Main street, which in 1801 was removed to Pittston Ferry and made an adjunct of Wright's "Old Forge." In 1800 Rossett & Doyle opened quite an establishment on the corner of Market and River streets, which they continued to 1803 or 1804. They were succeeded by Jacob and Joseph L. Suitan, who in 1816 removed to the corner of Franklin and Market streets, where they flourished for many years on the ground where now stands the Wyoming bank. In 1803 Allen Jack came from the north of Ireland to Wilkes-Barre and opened a store on South Main street in the residence of Dr. M. Covell, where he sold goods until his death, in 1814.

In 1840 Benjamin Perry kept a small store on the corner of Northampton and Main streets, and on the opposite corner Nathan Palmer dispensed dry goods and groceries. Both these establishments were short-lived. Mr. Palmer sold out to Zebulon Butler, who discontinued the business after a brief period. Ziba Bennett came from Newton (now Elmira), N. Y., in 1815, and began trade in company with Matthias Hollenback. In 1826 he embarked in business singly, on North Main street, where he continued in trade until his death, in 1878, having been connected with the mercantile business of Wilkes-Barre over sixty years, and having enjoyed the distinction of being recognized as the oldest merchant in Luzerne county.

These were the principal storekeepers of that early period, when the goods were brought from Philadelphia to Harrisburg by wagons and shipped in Durham boats up the Susquehanna to Wilkes-Barre.

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HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

From 1800 to 1802 Joseph Hitchcock was the leading builder, and was suc- ceeded by George Chahoon, who did a very large business up to 1816.

In the early days hominy blocks were plenty in the township. The necessity for these rude appliances was done away with in 1782 by the erection of a grist- mill on Mill creek, near the river-the extreme northern city limits. The builder was James Sutton, who had previously erected mills in Kingston and Exeter town- ships.

In 1804 there were six distilleries in Wilkes-Barre township. A shipyard was established on the public common, and the construction of ships was begun in the hope that they could be navigated to the ocean by way of the Susquehanna, and there disposed of profitably. In 1803 a small ship named the "Franklin," in honor of John Franklin, was built and reached the ocean in safety. A stock com- pany was organized, and begun operations in 1811; and early in the following year a vessel named the "Luzerne," of between fifty and sixty tons measurement, was finished. The builder was Mr. Mack, but J. P. Arndt was the principal proprietor. It was launched early in April, and a few days later started on its voyage down the river, only to be dashed to pieces on the rocks at Conawaga falls, near Middletown. The loss of this vessel was a disaster, not only to its proprietor, but to many who had hoped to drive a profitable trade in timber, and to others who hoped to reap profit from the sale of lots when the ship-building interest should become perma- nently established. But like many another alluring project before and since, this had failed, and no more ships were built at Wilkes-Barre.

A small cut-nail manufactory was established by Francis McShane in 1811, and for several years a somewhat extensive wholesale and retail business was carried on. There were other enterprises, which were begun early and flourished for longer or shorter periods, leaving their impress on the advancement and prosperity of the village and township, though the men who conceived them have long been dead.

Abel Yarrington kept a house of entertainment, which was probably the first in Wilkes-Barre, on the ground now occupied by the Judge Conyngham homestead, on River street, at a very early period. In his journal John Franklin mentions hav- ing been at Mr. Yarrington's, February 28, 1789, and again in the following month. Mr. Yarrington removed to what was afterward the Wyoming hotel, on Main street, below the public square.

Jesse Fell kept the "Old Fell house" before the beginning of this century, it having been erected in 1787 or 1788.

Another old-time inn, and one that had historic associations, was the Arndt tav- ern, which stood on River street below Northampton, on the site of the residence of E. P. Darling. The proprietor was John P. Arndt, who, with his brother Philip, came from Easton at an early date and engaged in various business enterprises. Thomas H. Morgan succeeded Mr. Arndt, and he in turn was followed by Maj. Orlando Porter, whose stay was brief, he soon taking charge of the then new Phoenix, out of which has grown the Wyoming Valley hotel. The fame of the old tavern declined gradually, and it eventually became a dwelling-house. The old Arndt tavern sheltered the royal fugitives of France, princes of the Orleans-Bour- bon line, afterwards Louis Phillippe, king of the French, and his two brothers, the Duke de Montpensier and Count de Beaujolais, on their way to Bradford county, where Robert Morris had purchased for them 1, 200 acres of land lying on the Sus- quehanna river. This place is still known as Frenchtown. Another noted visitor at the old inn, which was pre-eminently the center of social gaiety, was the beauti- ful and accomplished wife of Herman Blennerhasset, so graphically described by William Wirt in the trial of Aaron Burr for treason. This visit was made subse- quent to Burr's conspiracy, which resulted in the ruin of the Blennerhassets.

At a later date a hotel at the corner of Market and River streets was kept by a little round fat man named Richardson, and afterward by a widow Johnson. Thomas Duane, John Paul Scott, and afterward Jonathan Hancock kept a hotel

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HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

where the Luzerne house now is. The latter also kept open house at the corner of Market and Franklin streets. Archippus Parrish kept a hotel on the public square near the site of the Daily Record office. It was set fire to and burned down in warming it for a Washington's birthday ball. Mock's tavern, on the hillside just below South Wilkes-Barre, is well remembered by many of the present citizens of Wilkes-Barre.

When Col. Durkee laid out the town plot of Wilkes-Barre he donated the public square and the common for "the use of the public forever," and they were succes- sively under the jurisdiction of the town of Westmoreland, the township of Wilkes- Barre and the borough and afterward the city of Wilkes-Barre. The original. boundaries of the common were probably the same as those of the present day. Years ago it was much wider than now, numerous floods having washed away a por- tion. "As I first remember this common," wrote Mr. James A. Gordon, "it was a beautiful lawn extending from South street along the river bank to North street. Between Union and North streets, along the base of Redoubt hill, was a low, wet marsh, very imperfectly drained, or rather not drained at all. Immediately at the northern base of the redoubt, lived Mollie McCalpin, in rather a hard-looking shanty, built by herself with the aid of Job Gibbs, who was at that time reputed to be the laziest man in Wilkes-Barre. But Mollie was not the only trespasser upon these public grounds." Mathias Hollenback's warehouse, and another, the property of John P. Arndt, stood on the common; but both disappeared long since, and mother McCalpin's shanty is seen no more. At various times enterprising or speculative business men have attempted to lease portions of the common for the erection of buildings in which to carry on commerce. . In 1808 an effort was made by cer- tain parties to drain that part lying between North and Union streets, the ulterior object being to obtain and hold possession of the land for the benefit of the proposed drainers; but that and all subsequent attempts failed, it having been decided that the borough had no authority to lease the common nor any portion of it; and it remains to-day the property of the public, a place much frequented by both resi- dents and visitors, and one of the most attractive spots in the city. Forts Durkee and Wyoming stood on the common, which, because of its historical associations, will long remain a point of interest.

The early settlers were too poor to build a bridge between the settlements of Wilkes-Barre and Kingston, 'but they had recourse to a cheap and convenient means of crossing in the way of a ferry. When the borough of Wilkes-Barre was incor- porated the borough authorities were granted the exclusive right to maintain a ferry between the two localities, and, until it was superseded by the bridge, it was let annually to enterprising parties, who paid certain rentals into the borough treasury.

The Wilkes-Barre Bridge company was incorporated in 1807. The bridge was completed in 1818, at a cost of $44,000, and they were two years engaged in its construction. In 1819 the pier nearest to Wilkes-Barre was undermined and two reaches of the bridge lost. The damage was repaired by the State at an expense of $13,000. In 1824 the entire bridge was lifted from the piers by a hurricane and deposited on the ice several feet distant from its original location. Fifteen thousand dollars, to be devoted to its repair, was appropriated by the State, which by this added sum became possessed of $28,000 stock in the concern, which was subsequently sold. The bridge, with occasional repairs and renewals of certain portions, existed until 1892, when the superstructure was replaced with the present iron bridge with its street-car track on the south side.

The bell on the old courthouse was made in Philadelphia in 1805, and during the years that followed served to summon the inhabitants of the town to meetings of every kind common to such a community. It called the criminal to receive his sen- tence, and the man who had not been proven guilty to receive his acquittal; it sum- moned the people to hear the preaching of the gospel and the eloquence of political advocates; if the people were to be assembled for any purpose the old courthouse

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HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

bell was generally brought into requisition. Various were, the uses to which the courthouse was put, serving for all judicial and deliberative proceedings and as a public or town hall. It is said to have been utilized as a dancing academy and as a church, and it is authoritatively stated that a meat market was kept in the basement at one time, as Mistress Tuttle had, before its time, sold cakes and beer in the lower . story of the old log building. June 11, 1810, an ordinance was passed by the council of Wilkes-Barre ordaining that until a suitable market house could be erected the cellar of the courthouse should be used as a market place "on and after July 13 next." Two days in the week were set apart as market days, Wednesday and Sat- urday being so distinguished, and the place was ordered to be kept open from 5 to 10 A. M. and the clerk of the market was authorized to erect one or more stalls, benches and blocks, and provide scales and other articles necessary to the traffic of the place.

In 1777 a post route was opened between Hartford, Conn., and Wyoming.

A postoffice was established at Wilkes-Barre in 1794, with Lord Butler as post- master. It may easily be conceived that his official labor must have been the reverse of arduous, and that his office, at the corner of River and Northampton streets, must have contrasted greatly with the city postoffice of the present day. But it was not until after the close of the Revolution, and the organization of Luzerne county in 1786, that provision was made for a weekly mail between Wilkes-Barre and Easton. Clark Behee was the postrider, but whether the first over the route does not appear, though there is evidence that he filled that position in 1897, during which year weekly mails were carried from Wilkes-Barre to Berwick via Nanticoke, Newport and Nescopeck, the return route being via Huntington and Plymouth. At this time Wilkes-Barre enjoyed the distinction of being the only regularly estab- lished post town in the county, and mail for residents of the township mentioned was left at certain houses within their limits chosen by the postmaster at Wilkes- Barre.

A mail route was established between Wilkes-Barre and Great Bend in 1798, and another between Wilkes-Barre and Owego, N. Y. The mails were received by the former route once a fortnight and by the latter once a week. Both were sus- tained by private contributions chiefly, if not entirely, like those of the early settlers before the war. It is said that subscribers to newspapers had to pay at the rate of $2 a year to the mail carrier for the privilege of receiving them. In 1800 Jona- than Hancock was a post rider between Wilkes-Barre and Berwick. In 1803 Charles Mowery and a man named Peck carried the mails on foot between Wilkes-Barre and Tioga, making the trip once in two weeks.

The history of the advance in mail facilities from this time forward is coincident with that of " staging," nearly all the stages having carried the mails. With the first railroad came added mail conveniences, which have been increased from year to year since, until the residents of the city in 1892 can have but a faint conception of the difficulties under which their forefathers labored in this respect one hundred or seventy-five or even fifty years ago.

Fire Department .- W. P. Ryman contributed to the Historical Record concern- ing the early fire department; the borough of Wilkes-Barre was incorporated in 1806, thirty-seven years after the first house was erected and thirty-four years after the town was first laid out.

Among the first things to occupy the attention of the officers of the new borough was the question of how best to protect it from fire, and the first action taken was at a special meeting of the council called for this purpose March 31, 1807. There were present Mathias Hollenback, president pro tem., Nathan Palmer, Charles Miner, Arnold Colt and Samuel Bowman. On motion of Miner it was " resolved to appoint a committee to obtain information as to the expense of a fire engine."

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History of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 60

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