History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming counties, Pa.; with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers, Part 50

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 50
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 50
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 50

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).

appearance of air-breathing or true reptiles, the Saurians.

A portion of the middle coal field, its eastern ter- minal basins, is within the limits of Luzerne county. The principal basins of this section are known as the Hazleton, Big Black, Little Black, Lower Black and Green Mountain basins. The largest of these is the Hazleton basin, about fourteen miles in length. The lengths of the others vary between seven and eleven miles; while the greatest width is that of the Hazelton basin, which is three-fourths of a mile. Eastward these basins are drained by Sandy run, Laurel creek and the northerly branches of Quakake creek, tributaries of the Lehigh river; westward by Black creek, a branch of the Nescopeck, whose junction with the Susquehanna river is opposite the town of Berwick, in Columbia county.

The coal seams in these basins do not range higher in the series than the E or Mammoth; which E seam is in many places thicker than in the Wyoming basin except in the locality of Wilkes-Barre; and the lower B, C and D have in general a greater and more even thickness than those of the northern basin. There is no section of the coal fields where mining has been attended with greater success, both as respects economy of operating and finan- cial results.

CHARLES F. INGHAM.

WILKES-BARRE.

ILKES-BARRE, one of the five townships allotted by the Susquehanna Company to the Connecticut settlers in 1768, was sur- veyed in 1770 by David Meade and named in honor of John Wilkes and Colonel Barre, members of Parliament and distinguished advocates for liberty and the rights of the colo- nies before they were won by the war for independence.

EARLY HISTORY AND SETTLEMENT.

In 1742 most of the Delawares, under their chief Tad- ame, came to Wyoming and built a village on the flats below the present site of Wilkes-Barre, the minority set- tling at the same time on the Juniata, near Lewistown. About a mile below this Delaware village, "Maughwau- wame," near the line between Wilkes-Barre and Hanover, the "grasshopper" war is said to have been fought between the Delawares and the Shawanese. By order of the Su- preme Executive Council, probably issued as much with an intent to crush the projects of New Englanders about to colonize in Wyoming as for any especial regard for the wishes of Teedyuscung, in 1758 ten log houses "twenty feet by fourteen in the clear, and one twenty- four by sixteen, of squared logs and dove-tailed," were built for the Delaware chief and his followers. These were the first dwelling houses erected in Wyoming. Other buildings were subsequently erected there, for on the night of April 19th, 1763, the dwelling of Teedyus- cung and twenty others around it were set on fire by a party of Iroquois who had visited the village under the guise of friendship, and the chief, under the influence of liquor, perished in the flames. This was an act of savage vengeance for the death of an Iroquois warrior at the hand of Teedyuscung in 1758.

The settlement of Wilkes-Barre by whites begun within the limits of the present city. According to a certified warrant map of Wilkes-Barre, which has been consulted, the land now embraced within the township limits was granted to the following named persons: Wilbur Ben- nett, Ebenezer Bowman, Samuel Bowman, Robert Ben- nett, Lord Butler, Hugh Conner, Aziel Dana, Anderson Dana, Amelia Durkee, Jabez Fish, Jesse Fell, Hugh

Forseman, Matthias Hollenback, Rev. Jacob Johnson, William Ross, Jonathan Slocum, Stephen Tuttle, Andrew Wickeizer, Conrad Wickeizer and Elizabeth Wigton.

EARLY GOVERNMENT.

Prior to 1772, the small population being busily engaged in the pioneer steps of agriculture, there was no organized local government, nor was such needed under the exist- ing circumstances. Owing to the unsettled condition of civil affairs, arising from disputed proprietorship, the lo- cal government was inseparable from that of the five townships as organized by the Susquehanna Company in 1773; each of which was entitled to three representatives, whose duty it was to meet in Wilkes-Barre every three months for the settlement of any disputes which arose from time to time. June 2nd, 1773, Major John Durkee, Captain Zebulon Butler and Obadiah Gore, jr., residents of Wilkes-Barre, were appointed to serve in such capacity until the first Monday of the following December.

The laws were not elaborate, though sometimes en- forced with undue zeal; they required that the people live orderly, soberly and peaceably and were impartially executed. Idleness and disorder were punished at the whipping-post and at the stocks. The more serious crimes of burglary and adultery were sometimes attended with exclusion from the community or forfeiture of prop- erty.

SOME EARLY LAND SALES.

Lands in Wilkes-Barre, as the town was then bounded, were very cheap in the early days. From records of sales in 1772-3 it appears that lots brought the following low prices : July 6th, 1772, Silas Gore sold to Jonathan Stowell of Ashford, Conn., for £20, one whole settling right, which included " the home or house lot No. 28, the meadow lot No. 50 and the third division or back lot No. 44." August 21st, 1772, Asa Stephens sold to Enoch Judd for £43 one settling right, "being meadow lot No. 20, house lot No. 27, and back lot No. 8." February 22nd, 1773, Elijah Loomis, of Harrington, Litchfield county, Conn., sold to Elisha Swift a whole right, includ- ing "town lot No. 2, meadow lot 28 and back lot No.

193

WILKES-BARRE A COUNTY SEAT-EARLY INHABITANTS.

26," for froo. The old Wilkes-Barre burying ground, with an area of nearly three acres, was purchased in 1772 for £9, rod; and in that burial place were laid to rest many whose names will live in the history of Wyoming long after the monuments erected to their memory shall have crumbled into dust-the fathers and mothers and defenders of the valley.

WILKES-BARRE A WESTMORELAND DISTRICT.

At the first town meeting for the town of Westmoreland, held March Ist and 2nd, 1774, Wilkes-Barre was made a district of the said town, which included all of the settle- ments from the Delaware river to fifteen miles beyond the Susquehanna and from the Lehigh north to Tioga Point.

In 1776 a struggle occurred between Wilkes-Barre and Kingston for the county seat of Westmoreland, which during that year was created a county by the Assembly of Connecticut. The contest terminated disastrously to the last named settlement. The first court of the new county was held at Fort Wyoming, on the river bank at the foot of Northampton street. From 1778 to 1782, when the Connecticut jurisdiction ceased, the courts were held in Fort Wilkes-Barre, on the public square.

In the measures taken by the authorities of the town of Westmoreland for the public weal and progress, resi- dents of Wyoming, the Wilkes- Barre district, bore an important and conspicuous part, holding many offices; but the civil history of Westmoreland, embracing so extensive a territory, cannot be treated in an article relating to the township of Wilkes-Barre, which by a decree of the county court in 1790 became one of the eleven original townships of Luzerne county recently organized. Those honored with positions of trust in the town of Westmoreland were Zebulon Butler, Anderson Dana and other residents of Wilkes-Barre. Captain Butler was chosen moderator at the first and several suc- ceeding town meetings.

After a period of rivalry on the part of the citizens of Kingston Wilkes-Barre was regarded as the most import- ant point in the town, and there most of the public busi- ness was transacted. At the second town meeting, held April 11th and 12th, 1774, it was voted "that for ye present ye tree that now stands northerly from Captain Butler's house shall be ye town sign-post." This house stood on the corner of Northampton and River streets in the town-plot, and the tree stood on the river bank. " This matter of a legal sign-post," says Miner, "is of weightier import than, without explanation, might be imagined. Newspapers in those days were little known save in the larger cities. It had therefore been enacted that a sign-post be established in each town, on which notices of public sales, stray animals taken up, etc., should be nailed or placed to render them legal. It is proper to add that as an accompaniment to the sign-post, which was also the legal whipping-post, a pair of stocks was provided for a punishment of the guilty and warning to deter from crime. These (now abjured) monuments of civilization and law were derived from England, and

brought over, nay, almost venerated by our Puritan fathers." That this tree had previously been used as a public sign-post is evident from a notice dated November 18th, 1772, which can be seen at the rooms of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society. It is a call for a town meeting of the proprietors and shows the perforations of the tacks which held it to the tree. By the operation of the Trenton decree of December 30th, 1782, the jurisdiction of Wyoming was transferred from Connecticut to Pennsylvania and the town of Westmore- land ceased to exist.

WILKES-BARRE UNDER THE COUNTY ORGANIZATION.

Upon the erection of Luzerne county a strife arose be- tween Wilkes-Barre and Forty Fort, in Kingston, as to which should be the county town, which for various rea- sons was ultimately decided in favor of the former. From 1782 to 1786 no courts had been held at Wilkes-Barre, as under the Trenton decree Northumberland was the seat of justice of what had been Westmoreland. The first court of the newly created Luzerne county was held May 27th, 1787, at the residence of Zebulon Butler, at the corner of River and Northampton streets, the site of the present residence of Hon. Stanley Woodward. The public offices were in that building for several years, in charge of the celebrated Timothy Pickering, who per- formed the multifarious duties of prothonotary, register, recorder and clerk of the courts.

The civil history of Wilkes-Barre under the Luzerne county organization is even more difficult to trace than that of a prior date, there being no regularly kept town- ship records in existence. The township increased stead- ily in population after it was known that settlement would be allowed to proceed peacefully. In 1799 the list of taxable inhabitants of the township was as follows :

Charles and Stephen Abbott, Edward Anstin, Christopher Avery, Thomas A. Alkin, William Askan, John Alexander, Asa Bennett, Charles Bennett, Wilbur Bennett, Eleazer Blackman, Cain Billings, Timothy Behee, Clark Behee, Isaac Bowman, Stephen Barnes, John Carey, Hugh Conner, Arnold Colt, Matthew Cover, Putnam Catlin, Cor- nelins Courtright, Henry Conrtright, John Courtright, James Conlin, Peter Corbit, Nathan Draper, Isage Deeker, Daniel Downing, Daniel Downing, jr .. Reuben Downing, Joseph Davis, Aziel Dana, Alexander Dana, Silvester Dana, Thomas Duane, James Dixon, William Dixon, Ar- thur Eiek, Jacob Ely, Jabez Fish, Jesse Fell, Daniel Foster, Daniel Gore, Timothy Green, Willard Green, William Augustus George, Daniel Grid- ley, Matthias Hollenback. Jonathan Haneock, Godfrey Hitchcock, Oliver Helme, Jacob Hart, Lewis Hartsouff, Solomon Johnson, Jacob Johnson, Jehoiada P. Johnson, Christiana Jolinson, Jacob Jenong, Luther Jones, Renben Jones. John Kennedy, jr., James Kennedy, Daniel Kelly, Joseph Kelly, James Morgan, Richard Maybury, Thomas Marshal, Enoch Ogden, Jacob Osseneup, Samuel Pease, Nathan Palmer, Benjamin Perry, Ben- janin Potts, John Potts, Mary Phillips, John Pooder, David Richards, Williant Ross. Eleph Ross, Jolm Rosecrants, Jacob Roseerants, Widow Rosecrants, Thomas Read, William Russell, John Paul Schott, William Slocum, Joseph Sloeum, Benjamin Sloeum, Ebenezer Sloeum, Jonathan Slocum. Ennice Sprague, Polly Stevens, Obadiah Smith, Paul Stark, Henry Stark, William Shoemaker, Joshua Squire, Henry Tilbury, Stephen Tuttle, Benjamin Truesdale, Elias Vandermark, Nathan Waller, Phineas Waller. Eliab Waller, Andrew Wiekeizer, Conrad Wickeizer, Joseph Wright, Thomas Wright, Philip Weekes, Thomas Weekes, Jona- than Wildman, Henry Wilson, James Westbrook, Richard Westbrook, Justice Wollcott, Crandal Wilcox, Isaae Wilcox, William Wright and Roswell Wells.

By subsequent alterations of the township limits the lands owned by many of the above named persons fell within other township boundaries. The area of Wilkes-

194

HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

Barre township has been reduced as follows at the dates given : By the erection of Wilkes- Barre borough, March 17th, 1806; by the erection of Covington township in January, 1818; by the setting off of a portion to form part of Plains township, November roth, 1851; by the erection of Bear Creek township, April 7th, 1806; and by the erection of the city of Wilkes-Barre, May 4th, 1871.

As a matter of interest, the names of some of the early constables are appended, though it has been found im- possible to complete the list. The successive constables elected by the combined vote of the township and bor- ough, previous to 1819, were as follows : Josiah Lewis, 1806; Enoch Ogden, 1807; Jonathan Bulkley, 1808; Isaac Carpenter, 1809; Peter Yarrington, 1810; Joseph Vonsick, 1811; Andrew Coget, 1812; John Hancock, 1813-15; Phineas Walker, 1816; James Gridley, 1818. The first high constable elected was George Griffin, a member of the Luzerne county bar. He did not qualify for the reason that it was decided that the two positions were incompatible. A special election was ordered to fill the vacancy thus occasioned, and Peter Yarrington was elected and sworn in. The first constable elected by the voters of the borough for "Wilkes-Barre, county town," was Barnet Ulp, in 1819. John Hancock, son of Jonathan Hancock, was his deputy.

BOROUGH HISTORY.

The Wilkes-Barre town plot was surveyed in 1772, by Colonel John Durkee. It was near the center of the township north and south, on the river, and embraced two hundred acres of land, laid out in eight squares, with a diamond (the public square) in the center. By the opening of Washington and Franklin streets these squares were afterward divided into sixteen parallelograms.

March 17th, 1806, the borough of Wilkes-Barre was duly incorporated, embracing the town plot and the pub- lic common bordering the river, according to the follow- ing survey:

Beginning at a stake at low water mark, on the south side of the north- east branch of the Susquehanna river, and running thence southi thirty- four degrees forty minutes east, ninety-four perches, to a stake on the main street ; thence on the south side of said street south thirty-four degrees forty minutes cast, sixty-four perches and two-tenths of a perch, to the south corner of said town plot; thence on the southeast side of said back street, and continuing that course fifty-five degrees twenty minutes, four hundred and five (405) perches, to a post where that line intersects the north side of Jacob Johnson's lot; thence on the line of said lot north fifty-one degrees thirty minutes west, ninety-nine perches to a post ; thence south fifty-five degrees twenty minutes west, one hundred and eighteen perches, to a post on the north side of North street; thence north thirty-four degrees forty minutes west, fifty-six perches, to shi iron bolt in a rock at low water mark of the said Susque- hanna rive . . thenee down the said river the several courses thereof at low water mark to the place of beginning.

By act of Assembly approved March 13th, 1847, the borough limits were changed as follows:

That portion of the borough lying northeasterly of North street, which runs sontheasterly and northwesterly below the tannery of Bow- man & Lewis in said borough is separated from the borough and at- tached to the township of Wilkes-Barre, and the upper or northeasterly side of said North street extending from the Susquehanna river to the southeasterly line of the borough shall be the northeastern boundary, and the line between the borough and township of Wilkes-Barre.

By an act passed in 1868 the limits were a second time changed, as follows:

Beginning at a point on the Susquehanna river, at low water mark, in line with the northerly side of North street ; thence along North street to the road leading to Coal brook ; thence along the northerly side of said road about twenty rods ; thence by a line nearly parallel with Canal street to the southerly side of the towing path of the canal ; thence along the southerly side of the towing path of the North Branch Canal to a point in line with the division between lots number 22 and 23 of cer- tified Wilkes-Barre; thence along that line about one hundred and fifty. three rods toward the river Susquehanna ; thence by a line parallel with River street to a point on the river aforesaid, at low water mark; thenee up the said river to the beginning.

By an ordinance approved May 2nd, 1870, the follow ing territory was added to the borough:

Beginning at the southwesterly corner of the borough, thence south- westerly by the prolongation of the southiwesterly line of the borougli to a point on the westerly side of the Careytown road; thence south- westerly and along the westerly side of said road to a point opposite the division line of the lands of E. W. Sturdevant aud of the estate of Mary Richards, deceased; thence southieasterly by the said division line and the prolongation thereof to a point on the easterly side of the roadway of the Lehigh and Susquehanna railroad; thence northerly along the easterly side of said railroad roadway to the westerly bank of Coal Brook; thence northerly along the westerly bank of said brook to the southerly bank of Mill creek; thence westerly along the southerly bank of Mill creek to the Susquehanna river at low water mark; thence southwesterly down the river at low water mark to the northwesterly corner of the borough; and thence by the nortberly, easterly and south- erly lines of the borough to the point of beginning.

By an ordinance approved October 29th, i870, another addition was made to the territory of the borough, as follows:

Beginning at a point on the easterly line of the borough in the pro- longation of the southierly line of Stanton street or road toward the borough lines ; thence by said line and the southerly line of said Stanton street or road southeasterly to the easterly side of the Empire road; thence northeasterly along the easterly side of said Empire road to the northerly side of Coal street ; northwesterly to a point in the prolonga- tion of the line between lands of Mrs. Ellen J. Wells and the Hollenback Coal Company; thence by said line northwesterly to a point on the easterly line of the borough in the line of the prolongation of the south- erly side of Union street, and thence by the easterly line of the borough to the point of beginning.

The act creating the borough did not separate it from the township of Wilkes-Barre nor constitute it an inde- pendent election district, but left its citizens still inhabit- ants of the township, its voters being voters at the town- ship elections for the township officers until 1818 or 1819, when the borough ceased to have any connection with the township election and from that time forward elected its own constable under the somewhat lengthy title of "Constable of Wilkes-Barre, County-Town;" but it was not until 1835 or 1836 that the borough was made a sep- arate election district and ceased to vote with the town- ship at general election. The first mentioned of the two changes above referred to was effected by an action of the voters in Wilkes-Barre township outside the borough limits, who took possession of the election board and ballot boxes and denied the right of any resident of the borough to vote for township officers; and at the suc- ceeding session of the Legislature the borough was em- powered to elect its own constable, of which right the voters availed themselves as above stated.

Jesse Fell was named in the act of incorporation as a commissioner to proclain the first borough election, which was held May 6th, 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 Matthias Hollenback, Ros- well Wells, Lord Butler, Arnold Colt, Nathan Palmer, Charles Miner and Samuel Bowman constituted the first

C. D. FOSTER.

Charles D. Foster was born in the township of Dallas, Luzerne county, where his parents were residing tem- porarily, on the 25th of November, 1836. His father was Phineas Nash Foster, of the substantial Yankee stock from Connecticut; his mother was Mary P. Johnson, a granddaughter of the Rev. Jacob Johnson, the pioneer Congregational minister of Wyoming. Mr. P. N. Foster was a prosperous farm- er of Jackson township, near Huntsville, having inherited his ancestral acres, upon which he lived from the age of seven years to the day of his death. Charles D., being the sole heir, is now the owner of one of the most exten- sive farms in this part of Luzerne county, cover- ing an area of over a mile square, lying part- ly in Jackson and part- ly in Dallas. Mr. Fos- ter assisted his father in doing the usual work on the farm until he arrived at the age of twenty years, in the meantime attending the district schools during the winter months. At that age he entered Wyoming Seminary, at Kingston, Pa., and re- mained there three years, graduating with the first of his class. After this he taught the village school in Jack- son one year ; he also taught school in the State of Illinois for a short time. Returning to his father's farm he remained there about a year, after which he entered as a law student the office of Lyman Hakes, of Wilkes-Barre, and in due time was admitted to practice as a member of the bar of Luzerne county.

Mr. Foster early identified himself with the Republican party, and has labored in a quiet way for the promotion

of the principles of that party ever since; he has never sought nor obtained any office in the gift of the people. He was solicited to become a candidate for represent- ative for the Wilkes-Barre district in the campaign of 1880, but he preferred the ease of a quiet home to the perplexities of a Pennsylvania legislator, and made no effort to secure the nomination.

Charles. D. Foste

In 1862 he joined a company of home guards, shouldered a musket, marched with the Pennsylvania mili- tia into Maryland and stood ready to defend the integrity of the commonwealth, within sound of Mcclellan's and Lee's guns at the bloody field on the banks of the Antietam creek.

On the 4th of Octo- ber, 1865, Mr. Foster married Miss Mary Jane Hoagland, daugh- ter of Amos Hoagland, of Newark, N. J. They have two daughters, Narcissa Florence and Lillie Blanche, but no sons.

Mr. Foster's resi- dence is an unpretend- ing one on Franklin street, below Market; and though his busi- ness is strictly that of a lawyer with large practice, he takes great pleasure in overseeing and managing his large farm in Jackson, and makes frequent visits thither with his fine team of horses ; not only as a matter of business but also to gratify his filial devotion to his aged mother, who still resides at the modest farm-house where she has spent the greater part of her long life, and prefers the familiar scenes and objects of her early womanhood to all the wealth and · splendor that a city can afford.

Petro Sursel

PETER PURSEL (DECEASED).

The subject of this sketch, a prominent and influential citizen of Wilkes- Barre for many years, was born in New Jersey, October 17th, 1814, and was married April 9th, 1836, to Mary Pursel, of Bucks county, Pa. In 1839 they removed to Wilkes-Barre and soon afterward rented a farm of William Swetland, near Wyoming. It was not long, however, before Mr. Pursel bought a large lumber property in Bear Creek township, which proved to be profitable under his management. Thence he removed to Pittston, where for several years he had charge of the Maryland Coal Company's works; thence to Easton, Pa., thence again to Bear Creek township, where Mr. Pursel purchased the Williams tract and re-engaged in lumbering on a very extensive scale. After awhile he a second time made Wilkes-Barre the family home, carry- ing on a successful omnibus business until it was render- ed unprofitable by the growing railway interests of the section, when he embarked in the livery business and other similar pursuits.

It has been said by one who knew him that " Mr. Pursel was always a successful man in business; a man of strong will; a true friend but a good hater." Like every man with such a character, he had many friends and ex- erted a decided influence on the public and private affairs of the community in which he lived. He was, in

fact, a strictly self-made man, and as an index to his success in life it may be stated that he was for some years postmaster of Wilkes-Barre; and at the time of his death, which occurred January 8th, 1874, was president of the Wilkes-Barre Savings Bank, president of the Lee Park Trotting Association, and one of the six special members of the city council, to which honorable office Judge Garrick M. Harding appointed him, although of opposing political views, a mark of trust and distinction to which his official conduct proved him to be justly en- titled. Politically, he was a steadfast and uncompromis- ing Democrat.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming counties, Pa.; with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers, Part 50

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