History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming counties, Pa.; with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers, Part 117

Author: Munsell, W.W., & Co., New York
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: New York, W.W. Munsell & co.
Number of Pages: 900

USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming counties, Pa.; with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers > Part 117
USA > Pennsylvania > Lackawanna County > History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming counties, Pa.; with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers > Part 117
USA > Pennsylvania > Wyoming County > History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming counties, Pa.; with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers > Part 117

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

At about the time of chartering this company the char- ter of the Washington Coal Company was granted to

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HISTORY OF LACKAWANNA COUNTY.

some parties in Honesdale. In 1847, after a repose of nine years, this charter was sold to Messrs. Wurts and others. " An act incorporating the Luzerne and Wayne Rail- road Company, with a capital stock of $500,000, with authority to construct a road from the Lackawaxen to the Lackawanna," was passed in 1846. The charter of this company and that of the Washington Coal Company were purchased, and by an act of the Legislature merged in the Pennsylvania Coal Company in 1849.

The road was commenced in 1847, and completed in 1850. It has a length of forty-seven miles between Port Griffith and Hawley. It passes through Lackawanna, Scranton, Dunmore, Roaring Brook and Jefferson, in this county. It is a gravity road. The ascent of the moun- tains is made by a series of planes, with stationary en- gines, and the descent by gravity over another track. The road is used almost wholly for the transportation of coal, which it is found can be thus transported with less expense than by any other means. From Dunmore to Hawley passengers are carried, though not in large num- bers. Tourists and pleasure seekers frequently pass over this portion in summer to enjoy the romantic scenery which is presented along the route. Connections are made at Port Griffith with the Lehigh Valley, at Dun- more with the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western, and at Hawley with . the Hawley branch of the New York, Lake Erie & Western Railroads. The present capacity of this company's mines and of the road is estimated at 1,800,000 tons per annum.

John B. Smith has been superintendent since the com- mencement of the road, and it is not too much to say of him that in his administration of the business he has been without reproach.

CHAPTER III.

THE 13TH REGIMENT OF THE NATIONAL GUARD OF PENNSYLVANIA.

HE 13th regiment N. G. P. was organized in October, 1878, at the time of the general re- organization of the State militia, upon the foundation offered by the battalion of the Scranton City Guard. The four companies composing the S. C. G., now companies A, B, C and D of the 13th regiment, were the outgrowth of the brave and historic "Citizen Corps " recruited upon the call of Mayor McKune for the preservation of law and order at the time of the labor troubles in the summer of 1877; forty of whose members hastily as- senibled at a moment's notice, under the leadership of Captain Bartholomew of the present Company B, and dispersed the mob that had attacked the mayor. The original officers of the regiment were:

Field and Staff .- Major H. M. Boies, commandant; First Lieutenant F. L. Hitchcock, adjutant ; Captain H. A. Kingsbury, commissary : First Lieutenant James Rutliven, quartermaster; First Lieutenant N. Y. Leet, assistant surgeon ; eliaplain, S. C. Logan, D. D.

Non-Commissioned Staff .- H. N. Dunnell, sergeant major ; S. G. Kerr. quartermaster sergeant ; G. H. Maddox, commissary sergeant; W. W. Ives, hospital steward; M. D. Smith and Edward Brady, principal mu- sicians; Jolin J. Coleman, battalion elerk.

Line Officers,-Company A : Captain, A. Bryson, jr .; first lieutenant, H. A. Knapp; second lieutenant, E. J. Smith. Company B: Captain, R. B. Merriam ; first lientenant; D. Bartholomew ; second lientenant, William Kellow. Company C: Captain, H. A. Coursen ; first lieutenant. James E. Brown ; second lieutenant, L. A. Watres. Company D : Cap. tain, E. H. Ripple; first lieutenant, J. A. Linen ; second lientenant, Samuel Hines.

In August of that year the Honesdale Guard (Com- pany E-Captain, George F. Bentley; first lieutenant, D. R. Atkinson; second lieutenant, H. G. Young) and the Van Bergan Guards (Company F, of Carbondale-Cap- tain, John O Miles; first lieutenant, Thomas M. Lindsay; second lieutenant, William M. Thompson) were recruited and added to the battalion, which was subsequently or- ganized as a regiment by the addition of the Zouaves of · Susquehanna (Company G-Captain, James Smith; first lieutenant, S. L. French; second lieutenant, George A. Post) and Captain Boone's company of the old 9th regi. ment from Pleasant Valley (Company H.)

In 1878 the Pleasant Valley company was disbanded and a new Company H organized in Providence, under the command of Captain F. W. Pearce, former major of the old 9th, with Frank Courtright first lieutenant, and R. E. Westlake second lieutenant. The regiment has a fine band, whose uniform and instruments belong to the Scranton City Guard, and carries a handsome State color presented by the ladies of Scranton to the S. C. G. It was highly commended by the adjutant general of the State, in his report for 1878, for its discipline and drill, and has gained an enviable reputation all over the State. Colonel Boies was the first regimental commander in the State to organize and institute a system of rifle practice in his command, and probably has contributed largely to encourage the cultivation of a taste for this gentlemanly science among the guardsmen of the State. As a result of the first year's practice 51 members of the Scranton City Guard companies were qualified as marksmen, and were presented with badges by the governor and staff on the evening of the annual inspection, December 6th, 1878. The following year 135 members of the regiment were quali- fied as marksmen, under the rules of Wingate's Manual, Company D qualifying 79 per cent. of all on its rolls.

The regiment went into camp for instruction and drill at Long Branch, N. J., in August, 1879, for seven days, where its appearance and demeanor were highly com- mended by many military men and the newspapers gener- ally. The following is the present roster of the officers:

Field and Staff .- Colonel Henry M. Boies, commandant ; lieutenant olonel, F. L. Hitelicoek ; major, E. II. Ripple; Major H. N. Dunnell, surgeon ; Captain H. A. Kingsbury, commissary; First Lieutenant James Ruthven, quartermaster; Captain George L. Breck, paymaster and inspector of rifle practice ; First Lieutenant R. Macmillan, adjutant; First Lieutenant W. H. Cummings, assistant surgeon ; chaplain, S. C. Logan, D. D.

Non-commissioned Staff .- E. F. Chamberlin, sergeant major ; M. I. Corbett, quartermaster sergeant ; L. M. Horton, commissary sergeant ; - Walters, hospital steward ; Frederick Beeker, jr., prineipal musi- eian.

Line Officers .- Company A : Captain, H. A. Knapp ; first lieutenant, E. J. Sinith ; seeond lieutenant, J. C. Highriter, jr. Company B: Captain, D. Bartholomew : first lieutenant, William Kellow; second lieutenant, H. R. Madison. Company C: Captain, H. A. Coursen ; first lieutenant, L. A. Watres; second lieutenant, T. F. Peninan. Company D: Captain, J. A. Linen ; first lieutenant, Samuel Hines; second lieutenant, E. S. Jackson. Company E: Captain, G. F. Bentley ; first lientenant, D. R. Atkinson: second lieutenant, H. G. Young. Company F: Captain, Thomas M. Lindsay ; first lieutenant, Sheldon Norton ; second lieuten- ant, W. H. Langfelder. Company H : Captain, E. W. Pearce ; first lieu- tenant, F. Courtright; second lieutenant, R. E. Westlake.

THE CITY OF SCRANTON

AND DUNMORE BOROUGH.

THE TOWNSHIP OF PROVIDENCE.

ITHIN the limits of the city of Scranton are included the former boroughs of Hyde Park, Scranton and Providence, and a por- tion of Dunmore as formerly bounded. The land now embraced by the boundaries of Scranton and Dunmore was formerly included in the township of Providence, now extinct. Hence a necessary introduction to the history of Scran- ton and Dunmore will be a sketch of that of Providence.

Providence, named from Providence, R. I., was formed in 1770, the sixth of the townships allotted by the Susque- hanna Company to the Connecticut settlers. That por- tion of the Lackawanna valley between the Delaware town of Asserughney, near the mouth of the river, and "Capoose," the Monsey village, the site of which is within the Scranton city limits, was explored as early as 1753. When Pittston was laid out it extended from the junction of the Lackawanna with the Susquehanna five miles up the valley, and Providence, which was surveyed five miles square, occupied the valley for the same dis- tance up from the northeast boundary of Pittston, its re- motest limit being ten miles from the mouth of the Lack- awanna.

The township was under the ordinances adopted by the Susquehanna Company at a meeting at Hartford, June 2nd, 1773, until they were annulled; and at the time and place above referred to Gideon Baldwin, Timothy Keyes and Isaac Tripp were appointed directors and pro- prietors of Providence, to serve until the first Monday of the following December.

PROVIDENCE IN "YE NORTH DISTRICT."

From the erection of Westmoreland to the Trenton decree, eight years later, Providence was within its civil jurisdiction. At the first town meeting held in West- moreland, at which the town was divided into eight districts, Providence was included, with " Exeter and all the lands west and north of ye town line," in "ye North District." The following were chosen to fill the offices

mentioned for the ensuing year: Isaac Tripp, selectman; John Dewitt, surveyor of highways; John Abbott, fence viewer; Gideon Baldwin, lister; Barnabas Garey and Timothy Keyes, grand jurors; James Brown, tithing man. The names of some of those mentioned above will be recognized as those of some of the earliest settlers within the present limits of Scranton, at "Capoose Mea- dows." Isaac Tripp refused to serve.

At the same meeting it was "voted that ye Indian apple tree, so called, at Capoose shall be ye town sign post for ye town of New Providence." Each of the seventeen townships had a tree recognized as the town sign post, and all notices affixed to it were considered as legal and binding as the seal of a court of common pleas can make a notice now. In the absence of a printing press within the county such notices were always written. This apple tree, planted more than a century and a half ago, perhaps by the peaceful hand of Capcose, yet stands by the road- side between Scranton and Providence, but a few hundred feet above the site of the wigwams of Capoose. Under its shelter the settlers met for business purposes until the valley was depopulated by the massacre of 1778. August Hunt and Frederick Vanderlir, because they acted with the Pennamites, were expelled from the township.

December 20th, 1775, there was an important meeting held under the Indian apple tree to draw for lots in the township of Putnam (now Tunkhannock). Among those who drew lots were John Gardner, Paul and Job Green, William West, Zebulon Marcy and Isaac and Job Tripp.

A TOWNSHIP IN NORTHUMBERLAND AND LUZERNE COUNTIES.

After the decree of Trenton, in 1782, Providence be came one of the townships of Northumberland county which had been organized in 1772 and embraced the territory in dispute between Connecticut and Pennsylva- nia. Upon the erection of Luzerne county, four years later, it was included within its boundaries; but it was not organized as a township of said county until 1792, when it was separated from Pittston. As a township, Providence has lost its identity. In April, 1819, a portion was set off as a part of Blakeley; January 4th, 1829, the

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HISTORY OF LACKAWANNA COUNTY.

western portion was reannexed to Pittston township; March 14th, 1849, Providence borough was erected from its territory; Hyde Park borough, May 4th, 1852; Scran- ton borough, February 14th, 1856; Dunmore borough, April roth, 1862; April 23d, 1866, Scranton city, which includes all of the boroughs named except the greater portion of Dunmore and what little of the original town- ship had not been included in their limits.

The justices of the peace in the districts of which the township of Providence formed the whole or a part pre- vious to the adoption of the constitution of 1838 have been mentioned on page 56. The incumbents of the office after that date until the extinction of the township are named below, the term of office being five years from about the middle of April in the year given: John Vaughn, 1840; Alva Heermans, 1840; Silvester Bristol, 1842; Ebenezer Leach, 1845; Benjamin Fellows, 1846; Charles WV. Potter, 1850; Daniel Ward, 1851; Henry W. Derby, 1855; Calvin Spencer, 1856, 1860; Thomas Collins, 18-", 1862; Patrick Collary, 1863.

In October, 1854, there were 2,137 taxable inhabitants in the township of Providence.

CAPOOSE AND THE MONSEYS.

The earliest occupants of any portion of the land now within the borders of the city of Scranton were the Monseys, or an important branch of that tribe of Indians, who left the Minisink as early as any authentic history of the Lenni-Lenapes is known to us. Between Scranton and Providence, on the flat west of the Lackawanna, was located their chief village, though they were scattered through the valley. This locality was known to the early white inhabitants as "Capoose Meadow," in honor of Capoose, a chief of the Monseys, who is said to have been friendly and partially civilized. Count Zinzendorf visited this village in 1742, and the date of its first occu- pancy by the Monseys must have been thirty years before. The old Scranton race-course lies within its limits. A quarter of a mile up the river, on the high bank of the Lackawanna, was their burial place, long since obliterated by the cultivation of the spot by the whites. Here in 1795 were discovered a nun ber of Indian graves, which were opened, according to Hollister, "by a party of settlers in search of antiquarian spoil." He continues: "As one of the mounds seemed to have been prepared with especial attention, and contained, with the bones of the warrior, a great quantity of the implements of the deceased, it was supposed, erroneously, no doubt, to have been the grave of the chieftain Capoose. These graves, few in number, perhaps pointed to the last of the group of Monsey war- riors who had offered incense and sacrifice to the great spirit of 'Capoose.'"

On a low piece of land through which passes the Scranton and Providence Street Railway, east of the track, stands the apple tree previously mentioned, and a monu- ment, it is supposed, to whatever of civilization was pos- sessed by the Monseys. This tree, which is large, is the last remaining one of an orchard. Evidences that there had at one time been permanent residents in the vicinity

were discovered by the first whites who visited the valley. Other apple trees were cut down early in the present cen- tury. One hundred and fifty concentric circles were counted in one felled in 1801. " The domestic habits of the Monsey tribe," says Hollister, " when not engaged in warfare were extremely simple and lazy. Patches of open land or 'Indian clearings' early were found in the valley, where onions, cantaloupes, beans and corn, and their fa- vorite weed, tobacco, were half cultivated by the obed- ient squaw." The Monseys accompanied the Delawares to Ohio, and subsequently were merged in the latter tribe.

EARLY SETTLEMENT.

The first whites who located in Providence, as origin- ally bounded, were Timothy Keyes, Andrew Hickman and Solomon Hocksey, in 1771. They erected a cabin where Taylorville now is, on the bank of the creek which has since been named in honor of Mr. Keyes. Mrs. Hickman was one of the first five women in Wyom- ing. The lands of "Capoose " originally fell into the hands of Captain John Howard, as a purchase from the Susquehanna Company. He was unacquainted with their location or their suitability for immediate cultiva- tion. They had been to a considerable extent cleared by the Monseys, and where they had not been cleared the heavy timber had much of it been blown down by whirl- winds. Captain Howard interested Christopher Avery and Isaac Tripp with him in the lands. Both of these men were among the "wild Yankees," and came to Wyoming as early as 1769. Near the vacated wigwams of the Indians Mr. Tripp built his log cabin in 1771, and without clearing a foot of land planted and raised a crop of corn the first season, on the plantation deserted but a short time before.

Like Tripp, John Stevens was one of the proprietors of the Susquehanna Company, his land lying in "ye township called ye Capoose Meadow." He bequeathed to his step son, John Youngs, a "settling right " at "Capoose Meadow." A lot surveyed to Colonel Lod- wick Ojidirk passed into the hands of Jonathan Slocum in 1771, on account of Slocum's "Doeing ye Duty of a settler " for Ojidirk. August Hunt, before mentioned, was a settler in 1782. Major Fitch Alden purchased lot No. 2, containing 370 acres, of John Stevens, of Wilkes-Barre, for £15. Other purchasers in the town- ship between 1772 and 1775 were Solomon Strong, Chris topher Avery (before mentioned), John Aldren, Major Fitch, Jonathan Slocum, John Stevens, Gideon Baldwin, James Leggett, Ebenezer Searles, Matthew Dalson, Ben- jamin Bailey, Thomas Pukits, Solomon Johnson, Isaac Tripp, jr., Frederick Curtis, Andrew Hickman and John Dewitt. Strong, Fitch, Searles, Aldren and Stevens, like Ojidirk, had no interest in the township other than a speculative one.

In 1775 James Leggett emigrated from New York and located at the mouth of the creek now bearing his name. He was the first to make an improvement above Provi- dence village. In the Connecticut Susquehanna Com- pany's original plat of the township this spot had been al-

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EARLY SETTLERS IN PROVIDENCE.

lotted to Abraham Stanton, in 1772. The next year it was transferred by Stanton to John Staples. On account of some dereliction of duty Staples's claim was declared forfeited, and in 1774 it was granted to Davis Thayer. When he sold it to Leggett, in June, 1775, with several other tracts of land in the vicinity, the forest with which it was covered was unbroken. Benjamin Bailey, who has been mentioned as an early purchaser, bought a lot of Solomon Strong, below Leggett's location, in 1775. and in 1776 sold it for a flintlock gun and a not very valuable lot of furs (about the same consideration for which he had purchased it), to Mr. Tripp. The next year Matthew Dalson, who had come some time previously, purchased 375 acres adjoining Leggett's southern boundary, which purchase included the lands since known as " Un- cle Joe Griffin's farm." A new-comer in 1774 was Isaac Tripp, a grandson of the Isaac Tripp already men- tioned. He was then quite young. Isaac Tripp 3d came from Rhode Island in 1786, accompanied only by his son Stephen, then ten years old. In 1788 his family made their permanent residence at Capoose.

During the same year Enoch Holmes erected the first house on the site of Providence village, near what is now the corner of Oak and Main streets. It was a double log cabin and no doubt an imposing structure for the time and locality. Settlers in 1790 were Conrad Lutz, John. Gifford, Constant Searles, John House, Jacob Lutz, Ben- jamin Pedrick, Solomon Bates and the Athertons. This year Holmes removed north of Leggett's creek, after leading a precarious life for two years, consumed in cul- tivating the land in the spring, summer and autumn, and the manufacture of brooms, baskets and snow shoes in the winter, which he carried to Wilkes-Barre to exchange for necessities at the store. Daniel Waderman, of Ham- burg, Germany, was the second settler on the village site. He had been seized by a press gang in London in 1775, and compelled to serve with the forces of the English until 1779, when he was captured by the Americans and served with them until the close of the war with great credit. He erected a rude cabin in 1790 on the site since occupied by the residence of Daniel Silkman. Twenty-one years later he removed farther up the val. ley, where he died in 1835.

The Griffin family have from an early date been well known in Providence. The first of the name in the township was Stephen, who came from Westchester county, N. Y., in 1794 and located near Lutz's fordway. In I811 Thomas Griffin came; James in 1812 and Joseph and Isaac in 1816. Says Hollister: "The far-seen hill below Hyde Park, crowned on its western edge by a noble park reserved for deer, is known throughout the valley as 'Uncle Joe Griffin's place,' where he lived for half a century. He filled the office of justice of the peace for many years. In 1839-40, conjoined with the late Hon. Charles Butler, he represented the interests of the county in the State Legislature with credit. With the exception of Isaac Tripp, sen., sent to Connecticut from Westmore- land in 1777, Joseph Griffin, Esq., was the first man thus honored by the people of the valley."

The Tripps, who have been briefly referred to, are deserving of more particular mention. "Isaak Tryp," as the name was spelled in the Westmoreland records, was, says Hollister, " one of the proprietors of the Susque- hanna Company. He had seen some service in French and Indian wars." Coming to Wyoming in 1769, he served prominently in the Pennainite war.

In the Revolutionary war the British, for the purpose of inciting the savages to more murderous activity along the frontier and exposed settlements, offered large rewards for the scalps of Americans. From the reliable source previously quoted we learn that " as Tripp was a man of more than ordinary efficiency and prominence in the colony, the Indians were often asked by the British why he was not slain. The unvarying answer was that Tripp was 'a good man.' He was a Quaker in his religious no- tions, and in all his intercourse with the Indians his man- ner had been so kind and conciliatory that when he fell into their hands as a prisoner the year previous, at Capoose, they dismissed him unharmed, and covered him with paint, as it was their custom to do with those they did not wish to harm. Rendering himself inimical to the tories by the energy with which he assailed them after- ward in his efforts to protect the interests of the Wyoming colony at Hartford, whither he had been sent to repre- sent its grievances, a double reward was offered for his scalp; and, as he had forfeited their protection by the re- moval of the war paint, and incurred their hostility by his loyal struggles for the life of the republic, he was shot and scalped the first time he was seen; this was in 1799, near the Wilkes-Barre fort. Isaac Tripp 2nd also event- ually died at the hands of the savages. Colonel Ira Tripp is a descendant of this historical pioneer family.

In 1809 or 1810 H. C. L. Von Storch, a German, set- tled in the township. He had previously located in Blakeley, and had passed some time in Philadelphia as a clerk in a store. Afterward he traveled through the country selling goods to the inhabitants and gaining the confidence of all with whom he dealt. At the date men- tioned he located across the road from where the resi- dence of his son Theodore stands. There he opened a store. He bought land below Hyde Park, above the site of Carter's factory, where he erected his dwelling and store. On account of failing health he was obliged to abandon business, and died in 1826. He amassed a con- siderable fortune. Many of his descendants are living in the vicinity. The Von Storches were among the earliest in this section to engage in the coal trade. There were outcroppings on the bank of the river. Mr. Von Storch mined coal to burn in his own house, as did many other of the carly residents. His sons mined and sold coal in limited quantities from 1830 to 1854. At the latter date their land was leased to the Von Storch Coal Company. In 1859 the leases were transferred to the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company.

We now proceed to the consideration of the settlement at " Deep Hollow," as the site of the Scranton beginning was early known. Early in 1788 Philip Abbott, a native of Connecticut, who had come to Wyoming before the

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HISTORY OF LACKAWANNA COUNTY.

Revolution, owned land under the Connecticut title, which he transferred to his brother James, and had been expelled, with the latter, by the tories and Indians in 1778, came to the Hollow from his old home in Wind- ham, Conn., where he had spent most of the interim, and in May marked out his clearing. He erected a log hut, the first domicile where Scranton afterward grew up, on a ledge of rocks near the locality of the old Slocum house. Fle was joined by his brother James in the fol- lowing October, and in the spring of 1789 Reuben Taylor came to the Hollow and built the second house there, on the bank of the brook a little below Abbott's. A clearing was made on the elongated point of land between Roar- ing brook and the Lackawanna, on which a crop of wheat and corn was harvested that year. Taylor had previously located on land which included the Uncle Joe Griffin place, only a few acres of which he redeemed from the forest, and which he disposed of for a trifle.

The Howes, two brothers John and Seth, purchased the improvements made at the Hollow. John had a family. Seth was unmarried and lived with them in the house vacated by Taylor. In July, 1798, Ebenezer Slo- cum and James Duwain purchased of the Howes the un- divided land at "Deep Hollow." Duwain was soon succeeded by Benjamin Slocum. This transfer on the part of the Howes, who had settled at the Hollow with the intention of making it their permanent abiding place and a theatre for the exercise of their energy and enter- prise, was hastened, says Hollister, by a domestic tragedy. " Lydia, the eldest born of John Howe, depressed by some disappointed visions of girlhood, was found dead in her chamber, having hanged herself with a garter attached to her bedpost. The effect of this suicide-the first in the valley-removed every speculating considera- tion or cavil from a trade which placed the mill and the wild acres around it in the hands of the Slocums." The father of the new owners of the land at the Hollow was Jonathan Slocum, who emigrated from Rhode Island to Wyoming in November, 1777, and was slain and scalped by the Indians near the Wilkes-Barre fort, with Isaac Tripp, his father-in-law, in December, 1778; and the Slo- cum brothers were nephews of Frances Slocum, the In- dians' captive and adopted daughter, whose name is fa- miliar wherever the pioneer history of our country is known.

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History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming counties, Pa.; with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers, Part 117

Author: Munsell, W.W., & Co., New York Publication date: 1880 Publisher: New York, W.W. Munsell & co. Number of Pages: 900

Author: Munsell, W.W., & Co., New York
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: New York, W.W. Munsell & co.
Number of Pages: 900