History of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. from a period preceding its settlement to recent times, including the annals and geography of each townshipAlso a sketch of woman's work in the county for the United States sanitary commission, and a list of the soldiers of the national army furnished by many of the townships, Part 3

Author: Blackman, Emily C
Publication date: 1873
Publisher: Philadelphia, Claxton, Remsen, & Haffelfinger
Number of Pages: 768

USA > Pennsylvania > Susquehanna County > History of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. from a period preceding its settlement to recent times, including the annals and geography of each townshipAlso a sketch of woman's work in the county for the United States sanitary commission, and a list of the soldiers of the national army furnished by many of the townships > Part 3

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).

On the report of the Commissioners to the Assembly of Connecticut, after their return from Philadelphia, decisive measures were adopted by the Assembly to bring the settlement on the Susquehanna under their immediate jurisdiction. An act was passed early in January, 1774, erecting all the territory within her charter limits, from the river Delaware to a line fifteen miles west of the Susquehanna, into a town with all the corporate powers of other towns of the colony, to be called Westmoreland, attaching it to the county of Litchfield. The town was seventy miles square, and was divided into townships five miles square, though those townships comprised within the Connecticut Delaware purchase were, for the most part, six miles square.

Explanation of Map of Westmoreland-Connecticut Surveys.

The towns marked with a star, thus *, within the Susquehanna Company's purchase, namely, Huntington, Salem, Plymouth, Kingston, Newport, Hanover, Wilkes-Barre, Pittston, Providence, Exeter, Bedford, Northumberland, Putnam or Tunkhannock, Braintrim, Springfield, Claverack, Ulster, are designated in ancient Pennsylvania proceedings as "The seventeen towns occupied or acquir- ed by Connecticut claimants before the Decree of Trenton," and were, with the addition of Athens, confirmed to Connecticut claimants by the Compromising Law of April 4, 1799, and its several supplements.

The Delaware Company's Indian purchases comprised the land west from the Delaware River to the line within ten miles of the Susquehanna.

The Susquehanna Company's Indian purchase at Albany (1754), extended from the line ten miles east of the river, one hundred and twenty miles west, and included the chief parts of M'Kean and Elk counties.

Ranges of towns, west of our map, were granted and surveyed (some as late as 1805) embracing more than a million of acres; the most western on the State line being in M'Kean County. But we have deemed it useful to give place only to those wherein, or in the neighborhood of which, the New England people commenced settlements.

Allensburg, on the Wyalusing, was a grant to Gen. Ethan Allen of Vermont, of several thousand acres, for his expected aid in the grand scheme of treason and rebellion, as it was designated by one party, and of just resistance to unendurable oppression, as it was regarded by the other, in 1787. It is sup- posed he derived no value from the grant.

The square townships in the Delaware purchase contain 23,000 acres. Those in the Susquehanna purchase, being five miles square, contain 16,000 acres.

Bozrah, on the Lackawaxen, shows the compact part of the "Lackawa" settlement, and was the birthplace of the Hon. George W. Woodward.

The mark in Usher (lot No. 39), three miles west from Mont-Rose, designates the place of the author's bark cabin, where, in the spring of 1799, then a lad

HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.

From the date of the act mentioned above until after the Decree at Trenton-nine years-the laws of Connecticut were exercised over the "town" in full force. Accounts of their operation were comprised in what is called the 'Westmoreland Records,' now unfortunately not obtainable, having been either lost or destroyed.

In the mean time, November, 1775, a General Congress of Representatives from all the Colonies was assembled at Phila- delphia to consult upon measures of mutual defence against the British forces; when, in reply to an application of the Wyo- ming settlers for protection, Congress had recommended the contending States of Connecticut and Pennsylvania to cease hostilities immediately, and that settlers should behave them- selves peaceably in their respective claims, until a legal deci- sion could be rendered in regard to their dispute ; but it was expressly stipulated, that nothing in this "recommendation" should be construed into prejudice of the claim of either party. Plunket's expedition "to restore peace and good order in Wyoming," then on foot, was not, however, countermanded ; but, failing to effect an entrance into the valley, his troops returned down the Susquehanna. This was the last military enterprise ever undertaken by the provincial government of Pennsylvania.

The Revolutionary War was begun and ended without the aid of a single man drawn from the country now constituting Susquehanna County ; as not a civilized inhabitant was then within her borders. But that part of Westmoreland in the

Explanation of Map of Westmoreland-Continued.

of nineteen, assisted by Mr. John Chase (the pleasant bar-keeper at Wilson's Hotel, Harrisburg), he commenced a clearing.

The mark further west in Usher shows the boyhood residence, in 1800, of the Hon. Andrew Beaumont.

The designation of "Barnum," at Lawsville, in the town of Cunningham, shows the log-cabin tavern (1800) of that prince of hotel keepers, afterwards of Baltimore.

The triangle marked "Hyde," west of Usher, indicates the head-quarters of Col. Ezekiel Hyde, Yankee leader in the Delaware purchase in 1800. Also the store of Enoch Reynolds, Esq. (in 1799), afterwards at the head of one of the Bureaus in the Treasury Department, at Washington, for many years ; and since, till his decease, the residence of Judge Jabez Hyde.

To avoid embarrassing the map by the insertion of too many names, letters are placed in Wilkes-Barre, Exeter, and Pittston, as points of reference, and their explanation is made here. A, Fort Durkee ; B, Fort Wyoming ; C, Fort Ogden ; D, Wintermoot's Fort ; E, Jenkin's Fort; F, three Pittston Forts ; G, Monockacy Island.

After years of search, two maps only of those Connecticut Surveys could be found. Our efforts probably have rescued them from oblivion.1

1 From 'Miner's History of Wyoming.' In accordance with a more minute and accurate survey (see Map of Manor) we have altered the relative positions of Montrose and that of individuals.

HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.

vicinity of Wilkes-Barre furnished, on the first call, two com- panies, and these, with individuals afterwards enlisted, amount- ed to nearly three hundred men given to the Continental service. It was this drain upon the new settlement that left it so unpro- tected at the time of the massacre by Indians and tories on the memorable 3d of July, 1778. The reader is referred to the graphic descriptions of Chapman, Stone, Miner, Peck, and others, for full accounts of that distressful time. Patriots of the Revolutionary contest have since honored our country by a residence within it, and their remains hallow our soil; while descendants and relatives of those who fell in the Wyoming massacre are still among us.

Fifteen days after the surrender of Lord Cornwallis, a petition was presented to Congress " from the Supreme Executive Coun- cil of Pennsylvania, stating a matter in dispute between the said State and the State of Connecticut, respecting sundry lands lying on the east branch of the river Susquehanna, and praying a hearing in the premises, agreeable to the ninth article of the Confederation." Arrangements to this effect were made, and one year later, November 12, 1782, a court composed of five commissioners convened at Trenton, who, after a sitting of forty-one judicial days, in which the parties, represented by their counsel (four gentlemen on behalf of Pennsylvania, and three agents from Connecticut), had proceeded with their pleas, gave their decision in these few and astounding words :-

" We are unanimously of the opinion that Connecticut has no right to the lands in controversy.

" We are also unanimously of opinion, that the jurisdiction and pre-emp- tion of all the territory lying within the charter of Pennsylvania, and now claimed by the State of Connecticut, do of right belong to the State of Penn- sylvania."

Thus, with the close of 1782, and the Trenton decree, the jurisdiction of Connecticut ceased. Before that decree, the court had expressly stated that the right of soil did not come before them, and thus the settlers were content to be transferred from one State to the jurisdiction of another ; but events soon made it apparent that expulsion, or the entire abandonment of their possessions was to be preliminary to any adjustment of existing difficulties. The land had been purchased by Penn- sylvania speculators,1 while it was occupied by those who held it under title from the Susquehanna Company; and the Legis- lature of Pennsylvania, by its commissioners appointed in 1783,

1 The landholders who stimulated the Assembly to unjust measures against the Wyoming people, were generally claimants under leases from the proprieta- ries, or warrants of 1784. The landholders under warrants of 1793 and 1794- the Tilghmans, Drinkers, Francises, etc., are in no respect implicated in the censure .- Miner.

HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.

to inquire into the circumstances of the Wyoming inhabitants, expressly declared: "It cannot be supposed that Pennsylvania will, nor can she consistent with her constitution, by any ex- post facto law, deprive her citizens of any portion of their pro- perty legally obtained." This of course, implied the loss to the Connecticut settlers of all they had paid to the Susquehanna Company, in favor of prior "citizens" of Pennsylvania who had " legally obtained" possession of the land. This was the origin of the second Pennamite war, which fortunately extended over only one year-1784-and resulted in the restoration to the " Yankees" of the lands from which they had been cruelly driven during the spring of that year.

The years 1785 and 1786 were marked by renewed activity among the holders of lands under the Connecticut title, Col. John Franklin being the leading spirit among them ; while, on the other side, Col. Timothy Pickering had been appointed by Pennsylvania to introduce her laws and support her claims in Wyoming. "Col. P. had executed with fidelity and approba- tion, the office of Quartermaster-General of the army. A native of Massachusetts, after the peace he had settled at Philadel- phia." [See Franklin and Harmony.] "But the first healing measure adopted by the State of Pennsylvania was the erection of the county of Luzerne from Northumberland in 1786, "to give the people an efficient representation in the Council and Assembly, so that their voice might be heard, their interests explained, and their influence fairly appreciated." Col. P. was appointed Prothonotary, Clerk of the Peace, Clerk of the Orphans' Court, Register and Recorder, for the county.

" A crisis was depending of the highest moment, pregnant with civil war and revolution. A constitution for a new State was actually drawn up, the purpose being to wrest Wyoming and the old county of Westmoreland from the jurisdiction of Pennsylvania, and establish a new and independent government, as Vermont was established in despite of New York." Col. Franklin would not take the oath of fidelity to Pennsylvania, nor accept (at that time) a post of official importance to which he had been chosen with a view to conciliate the one whose opposition was the most bitter. Even the famous Gen. Ethan Allen, from Vermont, appears upon the scene as one pledged to furnish men and means towards the establishment of the new State; but the arrest of Franklin on a charge of high treason, and his subsequent long confinement in prison, put a quietus to the project.

Luzerne County, in 1786, included all the New England emigrants, except those in the ancient Lackawack settlement, and a few on the Delaware, being one hundred and twenty miles north and south, or from the mouth of the Nescopec to

HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.

The years 1785 and 1786 were marked by renewed activity among the holders of lands under the Connecticut title, Col. John Franklin being the leading spirit among them ; while, on the other side, Col. Timothy Pickering had been appointed by Pennsylvania to introduce her laws and support her claims in Wyoming. "Col. P. had executed with fidelity and approba- tion, the office of Quartermaster-General of the army. A native of Massachusetts, after the peace he had settled at Philadel- phia." [See Franklin and Harmony.] "But the first healing measure adopted by the State of Pennsylvania was the erection of the county of Luzerne from Northumberland in 1786, " to give the people an efficient representation in the Council and Assembly, so that their voice might be heard, their interests explained, and their influence fairly appreciated." Col. P. was appointed Prothonotary, Clerk of the Peace, Clerk of the Orphans' Court, Register and Recorder, for the county.

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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.

the north line of the State, on which its extent was from the sixth mile-stone to a point fifteen miles west of the Susquehanna River where it enters the State a second time. The relative position of what is now Susquehanna County, is given on the accompanying map of Old Luzerne; for more than a quarter of a century all of her settlers were amenable to the courts held at Wilkes-Barre. What privation and inconvenience this occa- sioned the remote inhabitants of Willingboro' (Great Bend) and Nine Partners (Harford), one can only imagine when taking into consideration the want of roads, and the peril of traveling through the then literally howling wilderness. Doubtless, the difficulty of executing justice often permitted lawlessness of certain kinds, when either to enter a complaint or serve a writ involved a formidable outlay of time and courage in over- coming distance, as well as physical obstacles. A story is told of the late Judge Hyde, who, when sheriff of Luzerne County, came on horseback from Wilkes-Barre to Silver Lake, more than fifty miles, to serve a jury notice, and received for his fee the sum of twenty five cents.

It was at the suggestion of Col. Pickering that a large num- ber of the people united in a petition, setting forth that seventeen townships, of five miles square, had been located by the Connecticut settlers before the Trenton decree, and the lots averaging 300 acres had been set off specifically to settlers and proprietors; and praying that these might be confirmed : where- upon the Assembly, on the 28th of March, 1787, passed the Confirming Law-an act " for ascertaining and confirming to certain persons called Connecticut claimants, the lands by them claimed within the county of Luzerne," etc. This allowed to Pennsylvania claimants an equivalent, at their option, in the old or new State purchases. The act was suspended by an act of March 29, 1788, and finally condemned and repealed by an act of 1st April, 1790, being called " unconstitutional," as inflicting a wrong upon Pennsylvania claimants.

But, since it was only just that the persons complying with the provisions of the act of March 28, 1787, while the law was in' existence, should be entitled to the benefit of the same; it was enacted, March 9, 1796, that the board of property ascer- tain from the documents placed in the Secretary's office what sums ought to be allowed to the respective owners, and that " the Receiver-general shall thereupon deliver a certificate of such sum or sums to the respective owners, and enter a credit in his books for the same, which may be transferred to any per- son, and passed as credit." Claimants compensated under this act, were obliged to release to the commonwealth their res- pective claims to the lands in question, before receiving certifi-

HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.

cates to the foregoing effect; the latter were sometimes styled " Wyoming credits."

In 1795, the Intrusion Law warned off all settlers not apply- ing for land under a Pennsylvania title.

April 4, 1799, an act for offering compensation to the Penn- sylvania claimants of certain lands within the seventeen town- ships of Luzerne, often spoken of as the " certified" townships, was passed, and is known as the Compromising Law.

April 1, 1805, redemption of certificates under act of March 9, 1796, was commenced.

At the period when the Confirming Law was passed, the State was proprietor of a large portion of the lands so con- firmed to the settler, and the result has been that with one ex- ception, the government of Pennsylvania has refused to recog- nize any right in warrant holders, whose titles originated in the seventeen townships after the Confirming Law. But settlers within the limits of what is now Susquehanna County, could not come within the provisions of that law, since they were outside of the seventeen townships to which it was limited; how then could they expect any title to hold good, except one derived from the State of Pennsylvania ? And all the more was this expectation foolish, after the passage of the Intru- sion and the Compromising Laws. "By the latter law all Pennsylvania claims to lands in the seventeen townships, which originated before the date of the Confirming Law, were to be paid for by the State, and Connecticut claimants were to pay for lands of the first class $2 00 per acre, of the second, $1 20; of the third, fifty cents : of the fourth, eight and a half cents. And those claims under Connecticut within townships on which settlement had been made after the Trenton Decree, then numerous and rapidly increasing, threatening wide and extended mischief, forthwith fell before this act of mingled policy and justice." But the "Yankees" were hard to be con- vinced. With them, might did not make right; and the fact that the United States (and Pennsylvania by her vote) accepted from Connecticut, about the year 1800, a formal release of all claim to jurisdiction or soil, west of the eastern limits of New York, excepting to that of the Western Reserve; and granted letters patent for that tract, served but to corroborate her claim. By this act, Congress recognized the right of Connecticut west of New York, and the Hon. Charles Miner pertinently asks : "How could she have a right west of Pennsylvania, and not through Pennsylvania, when her charter was nineteen years the oldest ?"

HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.

CHAPTER IV.

THE INTRUSION LAW.

AN act of Assembly, passed April 11, 1795, was designed "to prevent intrusions on lands within the counties of North- ampton, Northumberland, and Luzerne." The first section reads :-

" If any person shall, after the passing of this act, take possession of, enter, intrude, or settle on any lands" within the limits of the counties aforesaid, " by virtue or under color of any conveyance of half share right, or any other pretended title, not derived from the authority of this commonwealth, or of the late proprietaries of Pennsylvania, before the Revolution, such persons upon being duly convicted thereof, upon indictment in any Court of Oyer and Terminer, or Court of General Quarter Sessions, to be held in the proper county, shall forfeit and pay the sum of two hundred dollars, one half to the use of the county, and the other half to the use of the informer ; and shall also be subject to such imprisonment, not exceeding twelve months, as the court, before whom such conviction is had, may, in their discretion, direct."

The second section of this act provided punishment for combinations to convey, possess, and settle under pretended titles-payment of " not less than five hundred, nor more than one thousand dollars," and "imprisonment at hard labor not exceeding eighteen months."

This act went no further, verbally, than to make intrusions punishable-prohibition being only implied.

An act supplementary to this, passed February 16, 1801, authorized the governor (sect. xi.) to issue his proclamation,

" Forbidding all future intrusions, and enjoining and requiring all persons who have intruded contrary to the provisions of the act to which this act is supplementary, to withdraw peaceably from the lands whereon such intru- sions have been made; and enjoining or requiring all officers of government, and all good citizens of the commonwealth, to prevent, or prosecute by all legal means, such intrusions and intruders," etc.

April 6, 1802, an act of Assembly provided that "no convey- ance of land within the counties of Luzerne, Lycoming, and Wayne, shall pass any estate where the title is not derived from this State or the proprietaries before the 4th of July, 1776." It imposed a penalty upon any judge or justice for receiving proof of, or recorder for recording, a deed of a different de- scription. "No person interested in the Connecticut title to act as judge or juror, in any cause where said title may come in question," etc. An exception was made in favor of the inhabi- tants of the seventeen townships, only as far as related to judges, 2

HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.

sheriffs, or jurors. This law was required to be made known by a proclamation from the governor, and took effect May 1, 1802.

From that date, whatever "right" persons may have had under titles derived from Connecticut, it was sheer folly to defend. But all the overtures of the State were still scorned by many, as we learn from the Luzerne Federalist of January, 1803, which stated :-

" In the district of Rindaw (Rush) one hundred and fifty persons not only avowedly, but firmly and positively, believe in the Connecticut title and no other. In Willingboro (Great Bend) perhaps thirty. But in all the districts nearer two thousand than one thousand could be found who would risk their all in defence of their Connecticut title, if Pennsylvania ever attempts to drive them off by force of arms."

Newspaper controversy upon the subject was particularly rife that year, but extended over a much longer period.

The following letters of Henry Drinker, of Philadelphia, a large holder of lands in this section, under title derived from the State of Pennsylvania, reveal the intrusion on his tracts.

" PHILADELPHIA, 5 mo. 22d, 1801.

" Respected Friend,

ABRAM HORNE, EsQ.

" There are in the hands of Timothy Pickering, Esq., two maps, one of them of a considerable body of lands situate on the waters of Tunkhannock Creek and extending to the head waters of Salt Lick Creek; the other represents lands bounding on the State line between this State and New York, and to the eastward of the Susquehanna-these maps Col. Pickering has promised to deliver thee when called for.

" I now deliver herewith a map of a large body of lands, principally on and near the waters of Meshoppen Creek, and including branches of Wyalusing, Tuscarora, and Tunkhannock.

" The townships laid out by the companies (Connecticut) are distinguished by dotted lines, which may be of some use to thee in traversing that country. I have also obtained the names of about 50 settlers from Connecticut, etc., and the parts they are settled on : tho' there may be some variation as to the particular tracts they occupy, yet I presume the following statement may be nearly right, viz :-

No.

TOWN OF USHER.

Dan Metcalf,

Ebenezer Whipple,

157,

Abner Griffith,

156,

AUBURN. Lloyd Goodsell,

Holden Sweet, 156

Myron Kasson,

James Carl (Carroll ?), 158

Charles Morey,

Samuel Maine,

107, 108

Ezekiel Morey,

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Author: Blackman, Emily C Publication date: 1873 Publisher: Philadelphia, Claxton, Remsen, & Haffelfinger Number of Pages: 768

Author: Blackman, Emily C
Publication date: 1873
Publisher: Philadelphia, Claxton, Remsen, & Haffelfinger
Number of Pages: 768