History of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 81

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

USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > History of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections > Part 81

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The pioneer store was kept by James Stark, on the hill above the village. This was in 1812 or 1813. The first frame schoolhouse was built here about 1820 and stood near the site of the present schoolhouse. The first school was kept in the

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house standing north of the present schoolhouse, owned by Crandall Wilcox. There is now a two-story schoolhouse in which a graded school is kept. It was built in 1866 and 1867. The pioneer postmaster was one Cortright. He kept the office at his residence, about a mile north of the present office. In 1808 Heury Stark, of Plains, succeeded in burning anthracite coal in a grate. This was the second success- ful attempt and was undertaken soon after Judge Fell's success. The first resident physician was Dr. P. C. Shive, who resides on Main street, nearly opposite the Presbyterian church. He came in 1867. It has 4 general stores, 2 drug stores, 2 hardware, 1 furniture store and a number of small trading places.

PLYMOUTH BOROUGH

Is one of the bright and prosperous towns of Luzerne county; rapidly growing in wealth and inhabitants, and has had sufficient population the two years past to entitle it to the paraphernalia and name of city of Plymouth. It is one of the oldest settled places in the county, where men lived in stockades, fought the foreign invaders and were ever on the alert for the stealthy approach of the wily savage. It is near the south end of the proud Wyoming valley. The rich agricultural valley and then the further discovery that the hill sides were also productive lands attracted the hardy New Englanders to this spot to make their homes and defend them with their lives to the end. They knew nothing and cared little for the far richer coal deposits that had lain through the geological eons beneath the surface. Why should they ? They were a people to plant and grow the food and clothing of their race of simple wants and real purposes.

Hon. Hendrick B. Wright wrote and published in 1873 Historical Sketches of Plymouth, and in the front gives a very nice engraving of "Plymouth Rock," as being the most appropriate motto for his book. This tells all there is to be said of the name, and who were the first settlers of this place. He next dedicates his book to Hon. Henderson Gaylord, with the opening sentence: "Three of your name and kindred were members of Capt. Samuel Ransom's company in the Revolutionary war; another was a lieutenant in Capt. Whittlesey's company, and fell in the battle of Wyoming."

Here Hendrick B. Wright was born, and in writing of it said, that "for more than fifty years have had personal knowledge of the place." (Born 1808).

Of the people he says: "They were a hardy and resolute people as I knew them; and they were, many of them, the same who had erected their residences upon the same places, where the fires had scarcely been abandoned, around which had assembled in council, the Indian braves and sachems. These had gathered up their implements of the chase, wound their blankets around their swarthy shoulders, and with their squaws and papooses, turned their faces and commenced their march toward the setting sun, to give place, under the laws of destiny, to those who were to succeed them. Fifty years ago the town," he says, " was too insignificant to be called a village-a few scattered residences along the river on the thoroughfare." He dates the birth of the town December, 1768, when this became one of the five townships, as told above. The first wave of settlers reached here in 1769, and located in what is now the borough of Plymouth. The list of this first crowd is wholly lost, and the first, or oldest attainable record, is of Rev. Noah Wadham's preaching in 1772.

The first name given the place was "Shawnee flats," because the Indians of that name had there their wigwams. It was a little oasis in the desert. The Indians were here in 1742-a tribe decimated by tribal wars, until their numbers and war powers had passed almost into tradition. Stewart Pearce, good authority, insists that Conrad Weiser was the first white man that ever trod the soil of Luzerne county; and, as he visited Plymouth and preached there, it is safe to say he was the first white man that ever looked upon this valley and its surrounding hills.

Mr. Wright refers to the "old Indian burying-ground, near the bank of the

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little stream, between the railroad and main thoroughfare;" and thinks the "Christian church" building stands directly across the way from where stood Zinzindorf's tent. He locates in the flats, "two miles below the Shawnee village," the beginning of the battle in the "Grasshopper war," between the Delawares and Shawnees.

Of the first settlers Mr. Wright says: "Most of them were men of strong minds; a few were eccentric characters, and now and then one was addicted to drink, but all were industrious." He marks their bitter hatred of the Indians, and says: "Even in my day, Col. Ransom, Abraham Nesbitt, Jonah Rogers, or Abraham Pike, would have shot down an Indian, if they had met with him, as unhesitatingly as if he were a wolf or panther." He thinks this anti-Indian feeling was probably more bitter in Plymouth than anywhere else. The story of Jonah Rogers, Abraham Pike and others, who had been carried off captives by the Indians, is told elsewhere. Thirty of the Plymouth men laid down their lives at the battle of Wyoming, and the Revo- lutionary war many more. The people have passed the ordeal and baptism of fire, and to all this came to them in its heaviest form some of the long struggle with the Pennamites, and here, too, was a battle-ground.

The first directors, under the Susquehanna company, for Plymouth, were Phineas Nash, Capt. David Marvin and J. Gaylord; these formed the first judicial body ever in Plymouth. In 1774 there were seven selectmen appointed and Samuel Ransom was one of the seven; seven collectors, Asaph Whittlesey was one of them; twenty-two surveyors, and three of these were Elisha Swift, Samuel Ransom and Benjamin Harvey; John Baker and Charles Gaylord were two of the fence review- ers; of twelve grand jurors two were. Phineas Nash and Thomas Heath; Timothy Hopkins was one of the tythers. Voted: " That ye tree now stands northerly from Capt. Butler's house be ye Town Sign Post." Some bad blood grew out of this "sign-post'' question. The people on the east side of the river wanted it placed there, and those on the west side determined to keep it. The "public sign-post" in those days was the public hall, a meeting place of the people to hold elections or transact public business-the center of all public affairs and business. "The town meeting " is a thing of the past, but all the same it was better democracy than our present form. The old settlement or village had a "common field," certain designated land belonging to the public, on which no person was allowed to reside (in this case " except the Widow Heath "). The parade ground was on " Ant hill." Mr. Wright says: "I have little doubt, the old schoolhouse upon Ant hill and the old elm was the public sign and whipping-post of Plymouth" of (now) 120 years ago. The old elin was still standing.

Nearly every one of the early settlers owned a lot on the flats, and here they toiled-one road led to the flats, and it was entered by the "old swing gate," while their dwellings were scattered along the main road.

After the flood of 1784 the idea of fencing the flats was not renewed until about 1820. Hezekiah Roberts was the ancient "pound-keeper" at one time, an impor- tant office, and called the "key-keeper."

A list of the early settlers include the names of Calvin and Noah Wadhams, Benjamin Reynolds, Abraham and James Nesbitt, Samuel and James Pringle, Thomas Davenport, William Currie, George P. Ransom, Mrs. Rosanna Harvey, Abraham, Nicholas aud Stephen Van Loon, Hezekiah Roberts, Joshua Pugh, Jonah and Joel Rogers, Charles Barney, John and Daniel Turner, Jesse Coleman, Moses Atherton, Jacob and Peter Gould, Philip Andrus. These were all here at the beginning of this century; and without the saying, some of them were with the first " forty " who gathered to take possession.

The day of the founding the coal industry at Plymouth is that of the founding of the soon-to-be city of Plymouth. In 1865 W. L. Lance sunk a shaft, now No. 11, just at the borough line on the northeast, and for the first time demonstrated that here was a series of veins of the most valuable coal that aggregated over

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seventy feet of solid coal bed, reached at a depth from 400 to 600 feet. The little struggling hamlet now began to look to the future.

November 2, 1865, a petition was circulated, signed by Draper Smith, J. W. Eno, H. Gaylord, John B. Smith, Peter Shupp, and fifty-three others, praying the court to establish a borough. April 23, 1866, a charter was duly granted and Plymouth borough incorporated. An election for officers was held, John J. Shonk and Ira Davenport inspectors, and Oliver Davenport judge. Officers first elected: E. C. Wadhams, burgess; council: Samuel Wadhams, Henderson Gaylord, Peter Shupp, Ira Davenport and Frank Turner. The auditor was J. W. Eno, and Theo- dore Renshaw high constable. The borough commenced with two wards, in 1876 had eight wards, and now eleven wards.

The boundary of the borough starts at the river, near No. 11, "Lance breaker," and passes north nearly one mile, then west, then south to the river, a little over two miles from the starting point. The north boundary line ran back in the hills and more territory was included than the valley part.

The leading families within the borough were the Davenports, Van Loons, Wrights, Reynolds and Frenches in the lower end, and in the central part the Wadhams and Turners, and in the upper end the Gaylords, Shonks and Nesbitts.

The first meeting of the first council was held at the house of E. C. Wadhams, burgess, May 16, 1866. Ira Davenport was elected treasurer and Frank Turner secretary.

Present borough officers: Peter C. Roberts, burgess; council: James Snyder, James Sprague, Daniel Long, C. J. Boyle, John H. Case, George R. Conner, R. N. Smith, Henry Samies, Edward Hopwood, Henry Lees, John G. Thomas. Other officers are: J. Q. Creveling, secretary; Asa K. Dewitt, treasurer; Michael Melvin, chief of police; E. E. Jones, assistant chief; John Henderson, street commissioner; James Lee, sewer inspector, and John Johns, high constable.

Main street is handsomely paved with vitrified bricks nearly its entire length. Shonk and Harris streets are paved with cobble, and the work of paving Center street with vitrified brick is now (September) in course of construction. There are many elegant three and four-story business houses on Main street, and the hights around have been improved and on them are many elegant residences built in modern style. There are four school buildings, one an elegant and commodious ten-roomed high school. The old academy, so full of history and such a monument to those who have passed before us, was adopted into the free-school system, and has been a schoolhouse these many years.

First National Bank, Plymouth, was organized in September, 1865. Capital stock, $100,000. First officers: J. B. Smith, president, and Henderson Gaylord, cashier. Present officers are: John B. Smith. president; A. K. De Witt, cashier; directors: J. B. Smith, Draper Smith, R. N. Smith, Peter Shupp, Edwin Daven- port, John R. Lee. Capital stock, $100,000; deposits, $290,000; surplus, $26,000.

The Wren Iron Works were built in 1871, casting mine machinery, iron fences and general ornamental work.

Harvey Brothers & Co., planing-mill, commenced operations in 1871 in the old machine shops. Product, doors, sash, molding, etc.

E. C. Wadhams built the first brick store in 1850. The building became the use and property of the coal company. The next was a two-story hotel by George P. Richards. Then Peter Shupp built the three-story brick block at the corner of Main and Center streets; occupied by his son Charles Shupp's store. J. B. Smith built the opera house in 1871-2. Orange Gould, in 1871, put up a two- story brick store building. G. P. Richards built the Plymouth house and store in 1872. Sol Hirsch built the Duffy block about the same time; James McAlarney built his drugstore in 1873. The many other brick blocks and elegant brick and stone residences were built in the immediate and following years, until to-day Plymouth presents much of the appearance of a prosperous city along Main street.

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HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

Plymouth Light, Heat and Power Company, Oscar M. Lance, superintendent, was chartered December 10, 1886. Corporators: John T. Cowling, W. W. Lance, A. D. Shonk, E. F. Stevens, George W. Shonk and W. P. Ryman. Present officers: Draper Smith, president; Peter Shupp, secretary; and A. K. De Witt, treasurer.

The old Gas company was started October 15, 1875, and was consolidated with the electric light company. Its corporators were Draper Smith, G. W. Chem- berlin, J. A. Opp, William Davis, John J. Shonk, Peter Shupp, J. W. Eno.

The present company furnishes gas and incandescent electric light.

Water company, Oscar M. Lance, superintendent, was organized in 1875. Officers: Draper Smith, president; Peter Shupp, secretary; A. K. De Witt, treas- urer. Commenced by sinking back on the mountain side four artesian wells, ranging in depth from 400 feet to 1,950 feet. The capacity of these is 15,000 gallons a day. These were sunk in 1880; then the company have four large reser- voirs, fed by springs and surface water. These have a capacity of 10,000,000 gallons. They are on the mountain side, with a fall the highest of 600 feet; they also are supplied by the Spring Brook Water company from their works above Pittston, and in emergency have pumps at the river that pump directly into the mains; so there can be no such thing as a scarcity of water under any circum- stances.

In the borough are 5 attorneys, 1 bank, 2 bottlers, 1 brickyard, 1 dealer building materials, 9 carpenters, 3 carpet weavers, 2 carriage manufacturers, 5 cigar factories, 5 clothing, 10 breakers in borough and immediate vicinity, 2 door and sash factories, 7 drugstores, 5 dry goods, 1 embalmer, 2 stamping, 1 engine and mine ventilator shop, 1 express, 3 fancy goods, 1 feedmill, 1 ferry, 1 flour and grainmill, 4 fruit dealers, 2 undertakers, 3 furniture stores, 26 general stores, 1 gents furnishing, 39 grocery stores, 3 hardware, 2 harness, 1 hat and cap, 1 hay and feed, 1 hose factory, 5 hotels, 2 laundries, 3 livery stables, 7 meat markets, 2 merchant tailors, 3 milk dealers, 7 milliners, 1 mining and drill factory, 1 newsdealer, 3 newspapers, 1 notions, 1 oil dealer, 1 opera house, 4 paper hangers, 3 paints and oils, 1 photog- rapher, 11 physicians, 1 organ and music store, 1 picture frames, 1 planing-mill, 1 Y. M. C. A. reading-room, 1 restaurant, 1 stone quarry, 5 stove and tinware dealers, 2 tailors, 1 telegraph and telephone office-the latter also long distance, 4 jewelers. For lawyers, doctors, and newspapers see respective chapters.

PLYMOUTH TOWNSHIP.

This township dates back to December 28, 1768. The Susquehanna company at Hartford on that day, by resolution, formed the five townships of which this was one, each five miles square. It was eventually enlarged in 1790 to include what is now Plymouth and Jackson townships, and was one of the eleven townships of the county. By setting off Jackson in 1844 and a part of Hunlock in 1877 Plymouth was reduced to its present size, containing twenty-one square miles. In 1796, then including Jackson township, it had ninety-five taxables. Population, 1840, 1, 765; in 1850, 1,473; 1870, 4,669; 1880, 7,323; 1890, 8,363.

In many respects this is one of the richest townships in the county, as both in agriculture and mining it has been a leader at all times.

In 1865 W. L. Lance drilled and sunk a shaft, No. 11, just outside the borough, and demonstrated that there were veins of coal in the valley equaling eighty feet of solid bed. Previous to that time it had been "drift" mining or simply taking coal from the top veins. There are heavy deposits of coal reaching back to the mountains and the valley and hill lands are capable of a high state of cultivation.

The settlement period, in the history of Plymouth, extends from 1768 till after the close of the Revolutionary war. The first attempt at, a settlement was made in 1769. The Susquehanna company allotted lands in Plymouth township to forty settlers, most of whom came during this year and settled along the river where the borough of Plymouth now stands.

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HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

By an enrollment of the resident inhabitants of the valley, made in 1773, in the handwriting of Col. Zebulon Butler, the following persons are known to have been settlers in Plymouth: Noah Allen, Peter Ayres, Capt. Prince Alden, John Baker, Isaac Bennett, Daniel Brown, Naniad Coleman, Aaron Dean, Stephen Fuller, Joseph Gaylord, Nathaniel Goss, Comfort Goss, Timothy Hopkins, William Leonard, Jesse Leonard, Samuel Marvin, Nicholas Manville, Joseph Morse, James Nesbitt, Abel Pierce, Timothy Pierce, Jabez Roberts, Samuel Sweet, John Shaw, David Whittlesey and Nathaniel Watson.

Immediately after this enrollment Caleb Atherton, James Bidlack, Henry Barny, Benjamin Harvey, Samuel Ransom, David Reynolds, Benedict Satterlee, Noah Wadhams, Silas Wadhams and Elijah Wadhams came into the township, if some of them were not there before. An old deed is mentioned by Hendrick B. Wright, in his Sketches of Plymouth as having been found in the valley archives, bearing date November 5, 1773, from "Samuel Love of Connecticut to Samuel Ransom, late of Norfolk, Connecticut, now living at Susquehanna." This is thought to have been for the Ransom homestead property. Another deed, bearing date September 29, 1773, from Henry Barney to Benedict Satterlee is to be seen among the same col- lection.

Between this time and the year 1777, Mason F. Alden, Isaac Benjamin, Benjamin Clark, Gordun Church, Nathan Church, Price Cooper, Charles Gaylord, Ambrose Gaylord, Daniel Franklin, Asahel Nash, Ira Sawyer, John Swift, Aziba Williams, Thomas Williams, Jeremiah Coleman, Jesse Coleman, Benjamin Harvey and Seth Marvin came into the township.

The growth of the settlement was very slow from this time until about 1800, the settlers being greatly harassed by the Indians, the Pennamites and the British and tory forces during the Revolutionary war. In 1796 the following names appear in the list of taxables:

Samuel Allen, Stephen Allen, David Allen, Elias Allen, William Ayres, Daniel Ayres, John Anderson, Moses Anderson, Isaac Bennett, Benjamin Bennett, Joshua Bennett, Benjamin Barney, Daniel Barney, Henry Barney, Walter Brown, Jesse Brown, William Baker, Philemon Bidlack, Jared Baldwin, Jude Baldwin, Amos Baldwin, Jonah Bigsley, Peter Chambers, William Craig, Jeremiah Coleman, Thomas Davenport, Asahel Drake, Rufus Drake, Aaron Dean, Henry Decker, Joseph Dod- son, Leonard Descans, Joseph Duncan, Jehiel Fuller, Peter Grubb, Charles E. Gay- lord, Adolph Heath, John Heath, Samuel Hart, Elisha Harvey, Samuel Harvey, Josiah Ives, Josiah Ives, Jr., Crocker Jones, T. and J. Lamoreux, John Leonard, Joseph Lenaberger, Samuel Marvin, James Marvin, Timothy Meeker, Ira Manville, Ephraim McCoy, Phineas Nash, Abram Nesbitt, Simon Parks, Samuel Pringle, Michael Pace, David Pace, Nathan Parrish, Oliver Plumley, Jonah Rogers, Elisha Rogers, Edon Ruggles, Hezekiah Roberts, David Reynolds, Joseph Reynolds, George P. Ransom, Nathan Rumsey, Michael Scott, Lewis Sweet, Elam Spencer, William Stewart, Jesse Smith, Ichabod Shaw, Palmer Shaw, Benjamin Stookey, John Taylor, John Turner, Abraham Tilbury, Mathias Van Loon, Abraham Van Loon, Nicholas Van Loon, Calvin Wadhams, Noah Wadhams, Moses Wadhams, Ingersol Wadhams, Amariah Watson, Darius Williams, Rufus Williams and John Wallen.

None of these were living at the time of the publication of the Sketches of Plymouth, by H. B. Wright, in 1873.

About 1815 Joseph Keller, Peter Snyder, George Snyder, Stephen Devens, Leonard Devens, a Mr. Cooper, and one Howard, settled northeast of the village, around the location of the Boston mines. The settlement of that part of Plymouth lying between Jackson and Hunlock townships was not begun until 1827, when Henry Cease, George Sorber and Jacob Sorber moved into the woods and began clearing land. They all sold out and moved farther into the woods.

The first schoolhouse in the lower end of the township was built by Jameson

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Harvey, near the mouth of Harvey's creek, in 1834. Miss Anna Homer was the first teacher here. She had taught one summer, previous to the building of the schoolhouse, in a washhouse of Mr. Harvey's.

The people of Plymouth bore their full share of the hardships of early times. On the breaking out of the Revolution they erected a small fort on "Garrison hill," in the lower part of the present Plymouth borough. The only use to which this fort was put was defence against Indians.

On December 4, 1785, was fought the most serious of all the battles of the Pennamite war, known as Plunkett's battle. The rocks along the river just above the mouth of Harvey's creek were the battle field, and Plymouth furnished the majority of the fighting men under Col. Butler, who commanded the settlers.

It is not known how many were killed in this battle, but as the people of the town of Westmoreland voted (on December 29, 1785), to collect "the charity of the people for the Widow Baker, the Widow Franklin and the Widow Ensign," Baker and Franklin being known to have been Plymouth men, it is known that they were killed. August 24, 1776, " at a meeting legally warned and held, in Westmoreland, Wilkes-Barre district," it was voted to build forts for the defence of the people. In accordance with this resolution the people of Plymouth proceeded to erect a fort upon "Garrison hill," Capt. Samuel Ransom hauling the first log, and Benjamin Harvey planting the flag upon the turret. Samuel Ransom was appointed a cap-

. tain by congress, August 26, 1776, with authority to raise a company to be "stationed in proper places for the defence of the inhabitants of said town." Rely- ing upon the promise of congress that they should not be called away from home, the men of Plymouth and neighboring townships soon enrolled themselves to the number required, eighty-four, to make up the company.

But on December, 12, 1776, congress ordered Capt. Ransom to report to Gen. Washington with all possible expedition. The names of the following Plymouth men appear in the list of Capt. Ransom's company: Caleb Atherton, Mason F. Alden, Isaac Benjamin, Olmer Bennett, Benjamin Clark, Nathan Church, Pierce Cooper, Daniel Franklin, Charles Gaylord, Ambrose Gaylord. Timothy Hopkins, Benjamin Harvey, Asahel Nash, Ebenezer Roberts, George P. Ransom, Samuel Sawyer, Asa Sawyer, John Swift, Thomas Williams, Aziba Williams, Jeremiah Cole- man, Jesse Coleman, Nathaniel Evans, Samuel Tubbs and James Gould.

It is very probable that other Plymouth men enlisted in the companies of Capts. Wisner and Strong, which had been previously recruited in the valley. It is certainly known that Benjamin Bidlack served through the entire war, but his name appears in none of the lists. Many of the Plymouth men, leaving the army in June, 1778, arrived in time to take part in the bloody battle of Wyoming. Capt. Asaph Whittlesey, with forty-four men from Plymouth, was engaged in the battle. Of these forty-for the names of Samuel Ransom, Asaph Whittlesey, Aaron Gaylord, Amos Bullock, John Brown, Thomas Fuller, Stephen Fuller, Silas Harvey, James Hopkins, Nathaniel Howard, Nicholas Manville, Job Marshall, John Pierce, Silas Parke, Conrad Davenport, Elias , Roberts, Timothy Ross, -Reynolds, James Shaw, Joseph Shaw, Abram Shaw, John Williams, Elihu Williams, Jr., Rufus Williams, Aziba Williams and William Woodring appear upon the Wyoming monu- ment as having been slain in the battle.

The women and children of Plymouth fled down the river the night of the battle, making their way to Fort Augusta and Plymouth, then but little better than a wilderness. As soon as the enemy had retired from the country the people began to find their way back to their homes, and to build new houses where their former ones had stood. By the fall of this year all were comfortably housed in log build- ings. Depredations were committed by the savages for some time after this. John Perkins was killed November 17, 1778, in the lower end of the township. Elihu Williams, Lieut. Buck and Stephen Pettebone were killed in March, 1779, and Capt. James Bidlack, Jr., was taken prisoner. He made his escape about a year after- ward.

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HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

The elder Mr. Harvey, Elisha Harvey, Miss Lucy Bulford, Miss Louisa Harvey and George P. Ransom were captured. The women were set at liberty upon the arrival of the Indians at the top of the Shawnee mountains. Mr. Harvey was tied to a tree and the young Indians cast their tomahawks at his head. As they failed to hit him, the chief set him at liberty, declaring him to have a charmed life. Elisha Harvey was released in an exchange of prisoners about two years afterward. George P. Ransom, after enduring cruelties and indignities without number, succeeded in making his escape from an island in the St. Lawrence river, and with two others made his way through the forests to Vermont, and thence to Connecticut. No person was killed by the Indians in Plymouth after this date.

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History of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 81

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