USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Wilkes-Barre > Wilkes-Barre (the "Diamond city") Luzerne County, Pennsylvania; its history, its natural resources, its industries, 1769-1906 > Part 2
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FRUM OSCAR J. MAPVEY'S FORTHCOMING "" MISTOPY OF WILKES-BARRE. "" COPYRIGHTED.
THE OLD AQUEDUCT AT THE MOUTH OF MILL CREEK, FROM A PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN ABOUT 1875.
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VIEW SOUTH, FROM THE ROOF OF HOTEL STERLING, APRIL, 1906.
For the encouragement of the "First Forty" settlers, as also of the two hundred who should join them in the Spring, the Company voted to lay out five "gratuity" towns, or townships, of land within the Purchase. Each town was to be five miles square, and three of these towns were to be located on one side of the river and two on the other side-"adjoining and opposite to each other, only the river parting." The "First Forty" were to have their choice of one of these towns, and then the remaining four towns were to belong to the two hundred other settlers-"to be divided out to them by fifties in a town." It was expressly stipulated that these five towns (which subsequently became known as "settling" towns and were respectively named Wilkes-Barre, Han- over, Pittston, Kingston and Plymouth) were to be owned and possessed by the "Forty" and the two hundred other proprietors only upon the following conditions, viz .: That they should continue thereon. "holding and improving the same by themselves, heirs or assigns, under said Company, for the space of five years after their entry." .
The "First Forty" settlers reached Wyoming Valley February 8, 1769, and much to their surprise found that, at or near the spot (at Mill Creek ) where the New England pioneers of 1762-'63 had built their cabins, there had recently been erected a small block-house and several cabins by the Pennsylva- nians (who were dubbed by the Yankees "Pennamites"), a number of whom -- including the Sheriff of Northampton County-were in possession of the same. They also found that some weeks earlier the Pennsylvanians had surveyed two bodies of land, one on the east side of the river (comprehending the present city and township of Wilkes-Barre and part of the township of Plains) which they called the "Manor of Stoke," and one on the west side of the river which they called the "Manor of Sunbury." The Pennsylvania authorities, immedi- ately upon the arrival of the "Forty," began to harass them, and upon two occa- sions during the ensuing two months arrested several of their number, marched them off some sixty-five miles to Easton, Pennsylvania, and locked them up in the Northampton County jail.
Thus, very briefly, we have stated the grounds and given an account of the inception of what is known in Pennsylvania history as the "First Pennamite- Yankee War"-which, combined with the "Second Pennamite-Yankee War" (referred to hereinafter), represented "a controversy over the political juris- diction and right of soil in a tract of country containing more than five mil- lions of acres of land. It involved the lives of hundreds, was the ruin of thousands, and cost Pennsylvania millions of dollars. It wore out one entire generation. This controversy was an event in the history of Wyoming which cast its baneful influences over every activity that contributed to the progress and growth of the settlement, and it affected the inhabitants in all their material relations. Any successes achieved by them were wrought out despite of it, and their failures and misfortunes were of a character more disheartening and lasting by reason of this ever-present menace." Our Pilgrim fathers could recount no such afflictions as our Wyoming fathers were compelled to en- dure !
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At a meeting held at Hartford. Connecticut, April 12, 1769, The Susque- hanna Company voted that the affairs of the settlers at Wyoming should "be under the direction and order of a Committee of Settlers," and that this Commit- tee should "form the whole number present on the land into one body, joined to- gether in one common interest" and settled compactly together (without regard to any particular township), so that they might properly and securely guard and fortify their settlement. The Committee was directed also "to divide and part out the men into parties proper for the various businesses-husbandry, tillage, fortifying, scouting, hunting and other parts necessary and convenient for the whole; and to unite in peace and good order." As the head of this governing, or managing, committee, and as leader and commander of the settlers in their march to Wyoming, the Company appointed Maj. John Durkee, with the title of "President of the First Settlers." He was a resident of Nor- wich, New London County. Connecticut : was at that time a Justice of the Peace by appointment of the General Assembly, and, although only a few months past forty years of age, had had considerable experience as an officer in the French and Indian War and as a man of affairs in time of peace.
In the latter part of April, 1769, about 110 men rendezvoused at Norwich. Connecticut, whence they set out for Wyoming on horseback, in command of Major Durkee. Entering Pennsylvania at a point in what is now Pike County they were there met by the "First Forty" settlers, who, hoping to avoid further molestation from the Pennsylvanians, had retired thither. The combined band of Yankees reached the head of Wyoming Val- ley on May 12th, and without delay proceeded down the valley, past the huts of the Penna- mites, to a point on the east bank of the Sus- quehanna near the intersection of the present West River Street and Ross Street in Wilkes- Barre, where they encamped. Almost imme- diately after their arrival there they began the erection of twenty odd substantial and commodi- ous one-story log cabins, which they built closely together in the form of a parallelogram. All the cabins were completed and occupied by the 20th of May, and then, by the 1st of June, the cabins were surrounded with a stout wooden stockade. Upon the completion of this the Yankees named their fortified group of cabins "Fort Durkee," in honor of their leader, Maj. John Durkee.
MONUMENT MARKING THE SITE OF FORT DURKEE .*
As soon as the settlers had made their log cabins habitable they proceeded to clear and break up for cultivation land on the flats south- west of their settlement, and by the first of June
. In June, 1899, Wyoming Valley Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, of Wilkes-Barre, erected on the River Common-a few feet from the north side of South Street, at the corner of West River Street-a monument (depicted above) marking the site of Fort Durkee.
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they had 200 acres planted with Indian corn, turnips and pumpkins. In the meantime, while the work of building and planting was going on, the number of settlers was gradually increased from time to time by arrivals from New Eng- land and elsewhere, so that by the 2d of June there were 195 men on the ground under the auspices of The Susquehanna Company. The community was governed and managed in very much the same manner as a military camp in an enemy's country would be regulated and commanded. Scouts were sent out and sentries were posted each day and night; no stranger was allowed to come into the settlement to tarry unless he bore proper credentials from the author- ized representatives in New England of The Susquehanna Company-except he should receive permission from the Committee of Settlers on the ground ; no member of the community was permitted to leave the settlement at any time without a furlough or written pass granted by President Durkee. The latter's office was an important one, for his duties were executive, judicial and military in their character.
About the middle of September, 1769, arrangements were made by the Committee of Settlers at Fort Durkee with respect to the locating and laying out of the five "gratuity," or "settling," towns, or townships, provided for by The Susquehanna Company, as previously mentioned. The first township to be surveyed comprehended the settlement of the Yankees at Fort Durkee and that of the Pennamites at Mill Creek, and it formally and immediately received the name which, some weeks previously, had been bestowed by Major Durkee upon the Yankee settlement-"WILKES-BARRE". This township, as then surveyed, contained an area of about twenty-three square miles, and in- cluded the territory of the present city and township of Wilkes-Barre and a portion of what is now the township of Plains. Further, the island at the bend of the river-for some years now called Fish's Island-was annexed to and considered a part of this township, and for many years thereafter was known as "Wilkes-Barre Island."
Major Durkee was the compounder and originator of the unique name "Wilkes-Barre." It is compounded of the surnames of the Right Honorables John Wilkes and Isaac Barre, two prominent and distinguished citizens of Great Britain who were steadfast friends, and zealous advocates of the rights, of the American Colonies during the troublous times of 1765-'S3.
In the Spring of 1769, when the Wyoming colonists left New England, it was well known that John Wilkes (who had been a member of the British Parliament, and whose name was indissolubly connected with Liberty in the minds of the American colonists and their friends) was suffering what his admirers and followers believed to be an unjust imprisonment in the King's Bench Prison, London. At the same time Isaac Barre (who, in the campaign under General Amherst against the French in Canada in 1760, had been a fellow-officer of Maj. John Durkee and was personally known to him) stood in. the British House of Commons as the foe of America's oppressors, and was almost unrivaled as a brilliant speaker, and hardly surpassed by any of the Opposition party-even by Edmund Burke himself-in violent denun-
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",W JSCAN J. HARVEY'S FORTHE MING " - STORY OF WILLES-BARRE !! COPYRIGHTED.
THE RT. HON. JOHN WILKES.
ciations of the Government. Among the admirers of Wilkes and Barre in Connecticut, during the period to which we refer, it is doubtful if there was one who surpassed in earnestness and devotedness the tried and steadfast patriot John Durkee, who for several years then had been one of the leaders of the wide-extended and influential American patri- otic society known as the "Sons of Liberty."* Other members of the Durkee family in Connecticut were also lovers of Liberty and Free Speech-and so it was that when in October, 1767, a son was born to Maj. John Durkee he gave him the name "Barre"; and when in July, 1768, a son was born to Andrew Dur- kee, cousin of John, he received the name "Wilkes". Andrew Durkee was in Wyoming for a time in 1769.
Considering the foregoing circumstances in con- nection with the known condition of public affairs which existed in America in 1769, it is easy to understand why Major Durkee was led to coin the name "Wilkes-Barre", t and apply it to the infant frontier township where he was chief in authority as "President of the First Settlers". He, however, as well as many others in his day and later, al- ways wrote the name "Wilkesbarre".
Early in November, 1769, by order of the Pennsylvania Proprietary Government, a force of about 230 Pennamites, under the direction and command of John Jennings (the Sheriff of Northampton County), Capt. Amos Ogden and Charles Stewart (afterwards Commissary Gen- eral of the Continental Army), was assembled in the valley, well armed, and provided with a 4-pounder cannon. By a ruse de guerre Major Durkee and several other Yankee settlers were captured, and Durkee was immediately sent in irons, under an armed escort, to Philadelphia, where he was closely imprisoned in the City Jail. The remaining settlers fled for safety to Fort Durkee, which was soon invested by the Pennamites, who summoned the Yankees to , THE RT. HON. ISAAC BARRE. either surrender or submit to the "immediate destruction" of the fort.
FROM OSLAP J. HARVEY'S FORTHCOMING " HISTORY OF WILKES-BAPRE. " COPYRIGHTED.
* The name borne by this society had been derived from a speech made by Isaac Barre in the House of Commons in 1765, when, during the debate on the Stamp Bill, he characterized the American colonists as " Sous of Liberty." One of the popular mottoes of the "Sous" was " Wilkes and Liberty !"
It may be well to state, for the information of the reader not "to the manner born," that the name of our town-a compound word of three syllables-is pronounced neither Wilks-bar, Wilkes-bar, Wilks-bare-ry nor Wilks-bare-ch, as so often heard, but Wilks-ta-ra-with a slight accent on the first syllable ; "i" in the first syllable being sounded as "i " in " pin," "a" in the second syllable as " a " in "mat ", and the final "e" as "a" in " mate." The parents of Colonel Barre were of French birth and lineage, and their surname was always written as herein printed. The French "e" with the "close " accent has the sound noted above.
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Deprived of their leader, menaced by a superior force, and "persuaded by the dreadful 4-pounder," the Yankees agreed to surrender, and on Novem- ber 14th the capitulation took place-"articles, or conditions, of agreement" being drawn up, and signed by Jennings, Ogden and Stewart "in behalf of the Honorable Thomas Penn and Richard Penn, Esquires, Proprietaries of the Province of Pennsylvania, on the one part, and John Smith and Stephen Gardner, Committeemen chosen and appointed by The Susquehanna Company, in behalf of themselves and the said Company, of the other part." Under the terms of this agreement, or treaty, all the Connecticut settlers were to depart from the valley within three days, except fourteen men who were to remain, occupy six of the houses, and look after the crops, the live-stock, etc., belong- ing to the New Englanders. All the other houses, the fort and the lands were to be "occupied, possessed and enjoyed" by the Pennamites. This was to be the status in quo "until His Majesty's decree or royal order be issued and publicly made known in America in regard to the title of the lands at Wyoming."
Soon after this "treaty" the Pennamite forces-with the exception of a small garrison at the Mill Creek block-house-were disbanded; but not until they had first engaged in an indiscriminate scheme of plunder, and had driven off to market on the Delaware River hundreds of swine, sheep, cattle and horses belonging to the Yankees. Thus closed 1769, the first year of the Pennamite and Yankee contest for the possession of Wyoming.
Major Durkee, having been released from confinement in Philadelphia, returned to Wyoming Valley in the latter part of March, 1770, at the head of a well-armed body of men, and soon thereafter the Pennamites were driven from the valley and the Yankees were once more masters of the situation. New improvements were made, crops were planted, and preparations were be- gun for locating the proprietor-settlers throughout the five "settling" towns previously mentioned.
Early in June, 1770, the town-plot of Wilkes-Barre was planned by Major Durkee, and under his direction was surveyed and plotted by Samuel Wallis, a skilled surveyor (then of Philadelphia, but later of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania), assisted by Joseph Jacob Wallis, his half-brother, and others. The plot was laid out on the level stretch of land, comprising some two hun- dred acres, lying just north-east of Fort Durkee. It was in the form of a parallelogram, its longer sides being parallel with the river, and it was bounded on the north-east by what is now known as North Street; on the south-east by the present Pennsylvania Avenue; on the south-west by South Street, and on the north-west by River Street. The parallelogram was intersected by three cross streets, now known as Northampton, Market and Union, while length- ways it was intersected by Main Street. No names were given to any of these streets until some years later. River Street was continued for some distance below the town-plot, while Main Street ran south to the township of Hanover and north to Pittston. It was a number of years later before Franklin and Washington Streets were laid out, and still later before Jackson and Fell (now State) Streets were opened to the public.
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In the center of the town-plot was laid out a diamond-shaped space con- taining some four acres of ground, which remained a part of the common, or public, undivided lands of the township. A few years later this open space received the name of "Center Square", but for some time now it has been known as "Public Square". The land lying between River Street and the river-upwards of thirty-five acres in extent, and now known as the "River Common"-also remained a part of the public, undivided lands of the town- ship, and was not included in the town-plot. The latter was divided into forty- eight lots ; but as the regulations of The Susquehanna Company required that
FROM OSCAP J HARVEY'S FORTHCOMING " HISTORY OF WILKES-BARRE" COPYPLANTED.
RIVER COMMON-SOUTH. (In the middle ground at the left stood Fort Wyoming. See page 26.)
there should be fifty "house-lots" apportioned among the fifty proprietors of the township, it was found necessary to lay two lots outside the town-plot proper. One of these was at the south-east corner of River and South Streets, while the other was at the south-east corner of Main and South Streets.
An apportionment of the lots in the town-plot was made to the proprietors of the township of Wilkes-Barre through the medium of a lottery June 29, 1770. Just twelve weeks later Nathan Ogden (a brother of Capt. Amos Ogden
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previously mentioned), at the head of about 140 armed Pennamites, made a foray into the valley and captured a number of the New England party- among whom were Maj. John Durkee, Maj. Simeon Draper and Capt. Zeb- ulon Butler -- who were immediately marched in irons to Easton. Messrs. Durkee, Draper and Butler were sent thence under guard to the jail at Phila- delphia some two or three weeks later. Fort Durkee at Wilkes-Barre, having been taken possession of by the Pennamites, was garrisoned by a detail under the command of Col. Asher Clayton.
About the middle of the following December Major Draper returned to Wyoming Valley from his imprisonment at Philadelphia, and in January or February, 1771, Captain Butler, having been released, repaired to his home in Connecticut. Major Durkee, however, was kept a prisoner in the Philadel- phia City Jail until August, 1772-a period of twenty-three mouths, during which he underwent many hardships and was occasioned much distress of body and mind. Upon his release from custody he repaired to Norwich, where his wife and children were still residing. In 1773 and '74 he made brief visits to Wyoming and performed certain duties as a member of the "Committee of Settlers". When the Revolutionary War broke out he was one of the first of the old French and Indian War officers in Connecticut who joined the patriot army. In April, 1775-shortly after the fight at Lexington-John Durkee was commissioned Major of the 3d Connecticut Regiment (Israel Putnam being Colonel and Benedict Arnold Lieutenant Colonel), and June 17, 1775, the regiment participated in the battle of Bunker Hill. In July, 1775, Major Durkee was promoted Lieutenant Colonel of the 3d Regiment ( then known as the "20th Regiment, Continental Foot"), and in August, 1776, he was promoted Colonel of the regiment. In October, 1776, he was appointed and commissioned Colonel of the 4th Regiment, Connecticut Line, and in January, 1781, was transferred to the colonelcy of the 1st Regiment, Connecti- cut Line. He remained in command of this regiment until May 29, 1782, when he died "from exhaustion induced by the service."
Colonel Durkee saw much active and severe service and participated in many important battles during the seven years that he was an officer in the Revolutionary Army. But his services as the chief man among the Wyoming settlers of 1769-'70, his brilliant record as a soldier in the War for Indepen- dence, and, above all, the fact that he was the founder and namer of Wilkes- Barré, have been either overlooked or entirely disregarded by our local his- torians and monument erecters. In all the years since his death not a single effort to perpetuate the memory of Colonel Durkee has been made by the citi- zens of the town which he laid out and named, and for the founding of which he suffered unjust imprisonment. Is it possible that "blind forgetfulness and dark oblivion" have buried the name and fame of JJohn Durkee beyond resur- rection !
One of the inscriptions on the Beacon Hill monument in Boston, Massa- chusetts, reads as follows: "Americans, while from this eminence scenes of luxuriant fertility, of flourishing commerce, and the abodes of social happiness meet your view, forget not those who by their exertions have secured to you
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these blessings !" With two or three verbal changes, to meet local conditions, what an appropriate inscription this would be for a splendid monument to be erected to the memory of Col. John Durkee by the wealthy citizens of Wilkes- Barre (descendants, many of them, of the early settlers of Wyoming) upon the River Common, or in the center of Public Square when the present dilapidated and discreditable Court House shall have been razed to the ground, together with its faithful, cast-iron guardian, the inartistic deer! Read again that expressive and significant Beacon Hill inscription-with the needed changes made: Wilkes-Barreans, while from this spot scenes of luxuriant fertility, of flourishing industries, and the abodes of social happiness meet your view, forget not those who by their exertions secured to you these blessings! To these words might be added, in letters of gold :
"Sires of old, your fame is writ in gold !
Your heritage we treasure, and your mandates heed. While Time shall last, no stain shall e'er be cast
To dim the light that shines above each patriot deed."
Although the Pennamites were in possession of Fort Durkee and were the sole occupants of Wyoming Valley, and John Durkee, Zebulon Butler, and other New Englanders were being restrained of their liberty by the Pennsylvania authorities, The Susquehanna Company was not yet defeated. On the 18th of December, 1770, at Fort Durkee,
"When all the doors were fastened,
And all the windows shut, There was yet one little window, And that one was forgot."
Without the slightest warning the sleeping garrison-too confidently secure, even, to keep a sentinel on duty-was aroused about three o'clock in the morn- ing by a "Huzza for King George ""' and Capt. Lazarus Stewart," with twenty- eight men, took possession of the fort "in behalf of the Colony of Connecticut." Six of the Pennamite garrison. leaping nearly naked from the parapet of the fort, escaped to the mountains, while the others were as unceremoniously ex- pelled-after their firearms had been taken from them -- as had been the previous Yankee occupants.
One month later, however, the unexpected happened at Wilkes-Barre! In the minds of the Pennsylvania authorities a strong sensation had been created by the bold exploits of Captain Stewart, and a warrant for his arrest was is- sued by one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of the Province. The Sheriff of Northampton County was directed to proceed with the posse comitatus from Easton to Wyoming to execute the writ. Capt. Amos Ogden was once more
* Capt. Lazarus Stewart was a native of Hanover Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, of Scots-Irish descent. He raised and commanded in 1755 a company of Provincial volunteers which took part in the dis- astrous expedition of General Braddock against the French and Indians. During the French and Indian War which ended in 1762 Captain Stewart commanded a company of " Rangers," detailed to guard the English set- tlements along the Juniata River in Pennsylvania. During Pontiac's War ( mentioned on page 15) he com- manded a company of the " Paxtang Rangers," or "Paxtang Boys," a mounted military battalion of several companies composed of men of the Paxtang region in Lancaster County under the colonelcy of the Rev. John Elder. In February, 1770, Captain Stewart and some forty of his former "Rangers" came to Wyoming Valley, in pursuance of a compact made with representatives of The Susquehanna Company, to aid the New Englanders in maintaining possession of their settlements on the Susquehanna. Captain Stewart settled iu Hanover Township, a short distance below Wilkes-Barre. He took part in the battle of Wyoming, July 3, 1776, and fell early in the conflict.
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called to the front and placed at the head of the military contingent, and acted as the undisputed leader of the expedition. This "posse," consisting fully of one hundred well-armed and equipped men, arrived in Wyoming Valley Jan- uary 18, 1771, and immediately began the erection of a strong wooden fort (subsequently called Fort Wyoming) on the river bank, about eight or ten rods west by south of the junction of the present River and Northampton Streets (see page 23), and about 125 rods distant from Fort Durkee-for the reduction of which it was built. Capt. Lazarus Stewart still commanded at Fort Durkee.
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