o .M-€>^^ f^jm:^ ■:• V- ,vV ..^^% .^^' ->. 'oo' \^ ^'i <^ , N C ^^^if. 2 ' '^ V 0- ^V c>^ * \' XX .v. A^ 0*^ "O, '■■/ -.'^V-.:^ X -<-' .c,^ .A^ -?i^':':^ OO' •X^ •\ .^''' '^Vv.-^,- X^ \- '---^ "T/.C ^ > '^c. ^ s\^^' ^ .0- -o, ' x\^ \^ ^^ ^,/- vV -/>, ^^^^'%. -,^^" <■• ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY; A RECORD OF INTERESTING EVENTS, TRADITIONS, AND ANECDOTES. FROM THE FIRST SETTLEMENT IN WYOMING VALLEY TO 1866. BY STETART PEAROE. Illustrated by a Map and Engravings. SECOND EDITION. WITH NOTES, CORRECTIONS, AND VALUABLE ADDITIONS. PHILADELPHIA: J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 1866. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1860, by J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO., in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for the Eastern District of Pennsylyania. -0^ TO %^t Wgoming liist0rital anb ^eoIogM S0ti% THIS WORK RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED THE AUTHOR. ? PREFACE. They, who have read the Histories of Wyoming, by Isaac A. Chapman, Esq., Colonel Stone, Charles Miner, Esq., and the Rev. George Peck, D. D., together with the History of Lackawanna Valley, by H. Hollister, M. D.. may conclude, the Annals of Luzerne County is a super- fluous work. It should be remembered, however, that the valuable works of Messrs. Chapman, Stone, and Miner have been out of print for upwards of fifteen years, and are now to be found chiefly only in public libraries, and in those of private citizens of wealth ; that Dr. Peck's work treats principally of incidents of the Revolutionary, and Pennamite and Yankee, wars, culled, in part, from the recollections of men and women who received the narratives from the lips of their forefathers ; that Dr. Hollister's history embraces only the settlement and improvement of the Lackawanna Valley and a few adjoining townships, and that Wyoming and Lacka- wanna valleys are but a portion of the great county i (1) 11 PREFACE. of Luzerne. With this view of the subject I commenced my Annals, not claiming the dignity of History, but being a brief and impartial record of events, in the order, as near as possible, in which they occurred, beginning with the days when the Indians occupied these lands, and closing with the year 1859. If I have succeeded in placing in the hands of the reader an instructive and reliable work, a book containing useful data and sta- tistics, or if I have added any good thing to the store- house of knowledge, I am content. It has been my object to treat each subject under its appropriate head, avoiding, as far as possible, frequent repetition, and to connect with local affairs as much information of a general character as is necessary to a correct comprehension of the whole subject. An account of the origin of steamboats, locomotives, railroads, plank- roads, printing, banks and paper money, and religious denominations, with descriptions of the great lakes and mountains of North America, together with various other facts connected with general history, may be found in this work. Consequently, it is not exclusively of a local character. In addition to the works already enumerated, I ac- knowledge my indebtedness for much valuable informa- tion to the Pennsylvania Colonial Records and Archives, Day's Historical Collections of Pennsylvania, Drake's PREFACE. iii History of the North American Indians, Rev. John Heckewelder's Narrative, Watson's Annals of Philadel- phia, Campbell's Annals of Tryon County, Taylor's Statistics of Coal, and to newspaper files furnished me by Hon. C. Miner, Hon. C. T. Barnum, Steuben Butler, S. D. Lewis, and W. P. Miner, Esqs. ; also, to printed speeches and addresses delivered by the Hon. B. A. Bid- lack, Hon. Andrew Beaumont, Hon. John N. Conyng- ham, and Y. L. Maxwell, Esq. I also own my obligations to the county officers and their clerks, to numerous gentlemen throughout the county, and, particularly, to Mr. R. Sharp of Eckley, Mr. D. Yarington of Carbondale, Colonel W. Lee of Nanticoke, and Mr. Lord Butler and Major A. H. Bowman of Wilkesbarre ; Chester A. Colt, Esq., of Washington City, and Charles Conner, Esq., of Harris- burg. I am happy, also, to tender my acknowledgments to Captain E. L. Dana, for pencil sketches of Indian stone instruments, of Forty Fort, of the Fell House, of Stew- art's Blockhouse, of Sutton's Mill, of Durham boat, and of the Wyoming Yalley ; to Mr. W. H. Sturdevant for a pencil sketch of the Slocum House ; to Miss E. J. Alex- ander for one of the first Academy ; to Rev. R. Nelson for the use of the plate of the Wyoming Seminary ; to L. Hancock for an ambrotype view of the Scranton IV PREFACE. Graded School building; to Mr. W. H. Ward, of Wilkes- barre, for photographs of the jail, and the new court- house ; to Mr. H. P. Messenger, of Pittston, for photo- graph of Gouldsborough Tannery; and to William P. Miner, Esq., of Wilkesbarre, for plate of the old church in the public square. To William Henry Beaumont, Esq., of Wilkesbarre, I am indebted for an account of the expedition of the Wyoming Artillerists to the city of Mexico, during the war. Stewart Pearce. Wilkesbarre, 1860. Note. — The figures 1, 2, 3, &c., in the text of body of the -work, refer to " Notes " in the Appendix following page 562. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. THE INDIANS. Man's origin — Confusion of color and tongues — Migrations — Discovery of America — Indian traditions — Ancient fortifications — Indian relics — Iro- quois, or Five Nations — Shawanese — Delawares — Treaty with Williana Penn — Walking purchase — Council at Philadelphia — Canassatego's speech — Shikellimus — Mohicans — Nanticokes — Indian villages and paths — Mo- ravian missionaries — Rev. George Whitfield — Count Zinzendorf — Conrad Weiser — Gnadenhutten — French War — Sir William Johnson — Shingas — Logan — Neglect of the Provincial Assembly to protect the frontiers — Dis- pute betvreen the Governor and Assembly — Teedyuscung — Indian council at Wyoming — Destruction of white settlements on the Delaware — Madame Montour — Paxinos — Capture of Peter Hess and others — Logan's celebrated speech not true — Forts Augusta and Allen built — Rewards ofi"ered for Indian scalps by Governor Morris and council — Day of fasting and prayer — Councils at Easton — Speeches of Teedyuscung — His reasons for declaring war — Council at Lancaster — Third council at Easton — Teedyuscung de- mands a secretary — Charles Thompson — Peace with the Susquehanna Indians — Houses erected at Wyoming for Teedyuscung — Grasshopper war — Christian Frederick Post — His mission to the western Indians — Meets King Beaver — Fourth council at Easton — Peace with the western Indians — The French surrender Canada to the English — Second Indian war — Death of Teedyuscung — Rewards offered for Indian scalps by Governor John Penn — Peace — Christian Indians at Wyalusing — First bell on the Susquehanna — Departure of the Indians Page 13 CHAPTER 11. THE PENNAMITE AND YANKEE WAR. Charters of Connecticut and Pennsylvania — Purchase of Indian title — Sus- quehanna Land Company — First settlement at Wyoming — Massacre of settlers — Trenton decree — The Forty, or first settlers of Kingston — Forty Fort — Captain Ogden — First arrest of Yankees — Second arrest — Fort Dur- lee built — Its surrender — Flight and suffering of the Yankees — Captain (5) VI CONTENTS. Lazarus Stewart and Colonel Durkee — First blood shed — Fort Ogden sur- rendered by the Pennaraites and burnt by the Yankees — Return of Ogden — Renewed conflict — Capture of Captain Zebulon Butler and others — Fort Wyoming built — Death of Nathan Ogden — Butler and Stewart besiege Ogden — Ogden's tact and escape — Returns with reinforcements — Surrender of the Pennamites — Proposals by Connecticut to negotiate rejected by Pennsylvania — Town of Westmoreland formed and organized — Charleston and Judea destroyed by Colonel Plunket — Plunket marches against Wyo- ming — Is defeated by the Yankees at Nanticoke — Pennamites and Yankees united during the Revolutionary War — Civil strife resumed by Pennsylva- nia — Petition of Yankee settlers to the Pennsylvania Assembly — Compro- mise commissioners appointed — John Jenkins and others appointed a com- mittee to meet the commissioners — Alexander Patterson — His infamous acts — Flight of five hundred Yankees, and their sufferings in the wilderness — Their return — Fort Defence — Battle on Ross Hill — Captain John Frank- lin dispossesses the Pennamites — Wilkesbarre burnt — Battle at Locust Hill — Colonel John Armstrong — His treachery — Arrest of Yankees — Their escape from the Easton jail — The Pennamites besieged — Captains Swift and Franklin wounded — Council of Censors — Battle of the Diamond — Franklin's oath — Susquehanna Company reaffirms its rights — New state proposed — Timothy Pickering — Yankees divided — Confirming Law — Mass meeting at Forty Fort — Club fight — General Ethan Allen — Arrest of Franklin — Meeting of Pennsylvania claimants — Land-jobbing priests — Repeal of the Confirming Law — Capture of Pickering — Compromise Law — Certified townships — Final settlement of the question 58 CHAPTEK III. CAPTAIN LAZARUS STEWART. Birth and education — Joins General Braddock — Returns to Paxton — Hia intended bride murdered by savages — The funeral — Stewart's oath — Marches to Wyoming with his rangers — Burial of the massacred settlers — Conestoga Indians — Reward offered for Stewart's arrest — His declaration — Joins the Yankees- — Captures Fort Durkee^ — Joined by Colonel John Dur- kee — Capture of Fort Ogden — Reward offered for the arrest of Stewart and Captain Zebulon Butler — Arrest of Stewart — His escape — Second capture of Fort Durkee — Plunket's invasion and repulse — Stewart commands the Hanover Company — Council of war at Forty Fort — Is in favor of meeting the enemy in the open field — His death 100 CHAPTEK TV. THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. Patriotic . resolution — Tories — Fort Wintermoot — Independent companies CONTENTS. vii Captain Weisner's company — Captain Strong's company — Companies join Washington — Battle of Millstone — First prisoners from Wyoming — Scalps taken — Widows and wives of soldiers supplied with provisions by the town- -^ Captain Hewitt's company — First American killed by the enemy — Indiar spies — Return of Colonel Zebulon Butler and Captains Ransom and Durke*- — Approach of the enemy — The Hardings — Colonel John Butler — Fort Wintermoot surrendered — Fort Jenkins — Pittston Stockade — Forty Fort — Numbers of the Americans — Council of war — Reasons for engaging the enemy — Battle of Wyoming — Death of Colonel Dorrance — Massacre — Elijah Shoemaker — The fratricide — The Bloody Rock — Burnt alive — Samuel Carey — Flight of the inhabitants — Captain Spaulding meets the fugitives — Colonel Nathan Denison — Surrender of Forty Fort — Wilkesbarre burnt — Queen Esther and her scalps — Departure of the enemy from Wyo- ming — Report of Colonel John Butler — Colonel Thomas Hartley — 'Forts Jenkins, Muncy, and Freedley erected — Return of Colonel Zebulon Butler and Captain Spaulding to Wyoming — Fort Wilkesbarre built — Address of Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania — Unkind sentiments of the council — Williams and Abbott shot — Capture of Tripp, Hocksey, Swetland, and Blanchard — Colonel Hartley's expedition — William Jameson killed — Burial of the dead — Capture of Frances Slocum — Numerous murders by the Indians — Capture of Bidlack — Fort Wilkesbarre attacked — Death of Williams, Pettebone, and others — Washington sends Generals Sullivan and Clinton against the Indians — Death of Captain Davis — Sullivan's army at Wyoming — Marches into the Indian territory — Battle near Elmira — The country of the Six Nations laid waste — Death of Lieutenant Thomas Boyd — Bennett and Hammond — Rogers, Pike, and Van Campen — Skirmish in Sugarloaf Valley — Capture of Harvey and Ransom — Capture of the Frank- lin family — Death of John Jameson and Asa Chapman — Revolutionary pen- sioners — The Monument — List of killed in the battle of July 3d, 1778 120 CHAPTER V. LUZERNE COUNTY. Original counties in Pennsylvania — Northampton formed — Northumberland — Luzerne — Chevalier De la Luzerne — Divisions of Luzerne Connty — Its valleys — Wyoming — Lackawanna — Huntington and Sugarloaf — Mountains — Highest in the United States — Mountains in Luzerne — Their height — Dial Rock — Pulpit Rock — Honey Pot — Prospect Rock — Prospect House — Rivers and creeks — The Duke of Orleans on the Susquehanna — Bridges — Gaseous vapor from the Lackawanna^Lakes and ponds — Great lakes of North America — Harvey's Lake the largest in Pennsylvania — Lake House — Population of Luzerne county — Whites — Colored — Deaths — Marriages — Deaf — Dumb — Blind — Foreigners — Slaves — Comparative increase of popu- lation in agricultural and mining districts 156 viii CONTENTS. CHAPTER VI. BOROUGHS AND TOWNSHIPS. Certified townships — Townships of 1790 — List of townships and boroughs — Description of each in alphabetical order, embracing an account of first settlements — Saw-mills — Churches — Grist-mills — Population, &c. . 182 CHAPTER VII. THE JUDICIARY. No law in Wyoming — Code established by Susquehanna Land Company — Westmoreland county formed — First court, judges, and lawyers under Connecticut — No lawyers in 1781 — Price of grain regulated by the court — Divorcements — Blue Laws — First Luzerne County Court — Judges — Law- yers — First grand jurors — Justices of the peace — Dueling — Log court- house — Hog in the garret — Second court-house — Supreme Judges — Court ceremonies — Balls — The contrast — President Judges — Imprisonment for whispering in court — Sherifis — Additional lawyers — Jail and fire-proof buildings — Third court-house — Laying of corner-stone — Execution of crimi- nals — Deeds — Mortgages — Judgments — Courts in Carbondale — County ex- penditures — Value of taxable property — Criminals sentenced to the peni- tentiary 234 CHAPTER VIII. EDUCATION. Land appropriated by Susquehanna Company — Indian school — Free school — Schoolmasters — School lands sold — Pennsylvania free school system — Ac- cepted in Luzerne county — Adults who cannot read and write — Number of schools and pupils in the several townships — Wilkesbarre Academy — Teachers and students — Kingston Academy — Plymouth Academy — Madi- son Academy — Wyoming Conference Seminary — Wyoming Institute — Wilkesbarre Female Institute — Graded schools . . 262 CHAPTER IX. RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. First minister in Wyoming — Presbyterian Church — Rev. David Brain erd Support of ministers by the Susquehanna Company — First church in Han- over—First in Wilkesbarre— Lottery— The old sexton— The 9 o'clock bell Religious war — New School Presbyterians— Methodist Episcopal Church Rev. Anning Owen — Class and quarterly meetings — Bishop Asbury visits Wyoming— Forty Fort Church— First camp meeting— French infidelity- Baptist Church— Early ministers— Abington Baptist Association— Wyo- CONTENTS. ix ming Association — Lutheran and German Reformed Churches — First min- isters — Protestant Episcopal Church — Early ministers — Roman Catholic Church — Minor churches — Jews — Colored churches — The Mormons — Re- capitulation 275 CHAPTER X. THE MILITARY. Whiskey Insurrection — Luzerne volunteers — John Adams's war — Second company of Luzerne volunteers — War of 1812 — Wyoming Blues — Letter of Captain Slocum and others — Reply of Mr. Jefferson — Wyoming Matross — Cannonading — Battle of Lake Erie — Silver medal — James Bird — Ballad — Matross at Maiden and Detroit — Battle of the Thames — The Bloody 16th — Recruiting stations — Militia march for Baltimore — Soldier beaten to death — Return of volunteers — Rejoicing — Mexican War — Wyoming Artillerists — Lobos Island — Siege of Vera Cruz — First fire of the Mexicans — Battle of Cerro Gordo — Castle of Perote — Burial of the dead — The Black Pass — Siege of Puebla — City of Mexico — Columbia Guards — Lieut. Le Clerc — Return of the volunteers — Reception at home — County volunteer organization 316 CHAPTER XL AGRICULTURE AND MANUFACTURES. Agriculture the true source of prosperity — Recommended by eminent men — False system of education — Our grandfathers and grandmothers — Rivalry among farmers and spinsters — Agricultural societies — First in Luzerne — Markets — Transportation of grain — Conestoga wagon — Price of grain — Spirit of speculation — Decline of agriculture — Second agricultural society — Abington Society — Fourth society — County fair — Specimens of vegetables and fruits — Statistical table — Manufactures — Spinning-wheels — Looms — Carding and fulling mills — AVool-growing — Paper-mill — Forges — Nail fac- tory — Furnaces and rolling-mills — Foundries and steam-engines — Powder- mills — Tanneries — Lehigh lumber trade — Men and capital employed in manufactures in Luzerne county 337 CHAPTER XII. MINERALS AND THE COAL TRADE. Coal first used in England — Indian mines in Wyoming — Anthracite first used in smithshops — Silver, lead, and copper mines — Discovery of coal at Mauch Chunk — Progress and difiiculties of the trade — Judge Fell — His experiment — Efforts of Messrs. Miner, Cist, Smith and others to introduce anthracite into use — Public incredulity — Discovery of coal at Hazelton — ^Eastern Middle coal-field — Bituminous coal — Wyoming coal-field — Its development — The miner — Baltimore Coal Company — Individual operators — Pennsylvania X CONTENTS. Coal Company — Dundee shaft — Lackawanna coal-field — Maurice and Wil- liam Wurts— Delaware and Hudson Canal and Coal Company — Progress of improvements and trade — Area of coal-fields — Quantity and value of anthracite — Increase of consumption — Fossil remains — Iron ore — Lime- stone— ^Cost of manufacturing iron 364 CHAPTER XIII. NEWSPAPERS, BOOKS, POETRY, LITERARY AND BENEFICIAL SOCIETIES. Discovery of the art of printing — First newspapers — Town sign-post — News- papers in Wilkesbarre, Kingston, Carbondale, Providence, Pittston, Scran- ton, Plymouth, and Conyngham — Value of printing establishments — Books printed and published in Luzerne county — Poetry : " Jackson and his Comrades ;" " Columbia ;" " Lines on visiting the Wyoming Monument ;" "Ode;" " The Sons of Wyoming ;" " Shawanee's Farewell ;" " To the Susquehanna ;" " Poor Man and the Doctor ;" " Death of Lieutenant Bowman ;" " Christmas ;" " Upon my life it's true ;" •' Mush and Milk ;" " Address to a Land Tortoise" — Debating societies — Libraries — Bible So- ciety — Sunday School Union — Temperance societies — Free Masonry — Odd Fellows and other beneficial societies — Wyoming Historical and Geological Society 389 CHAPTER XIV. ROADS, MAILS, AND STAGES. First wagon road — Vehicles — Turnpikes — Plank-roads — Railroads — First lo- comotive in the United States — First train of passenger cars in Wyoming — Aggregate length and cost of railroads in Luzerne — First mails and post- offices — Stages, &c 439 CHAPTER XV. NAVIGATION ON THE SUSQUEHANNA. Durham boats — Teamboat — Steamboats — Explosion of the " Susquehanna" — Ship-building — The launch — Lumber rafts and arks — Canals — Breaking ground — First canal boat — First packet boat — First canal boats sent north- ward — Sale of state canals 455 CHAPTER XVI. CLIMATE. Temperature — Extraordinary drought — Fasting and prayer — Ice flood of 1784 — Pumpkin flood — Subsequent floods — Hurricanes — Destruction of the Wilkesbarre bridge — Providence destroyed — Men and women carried away by the wind — Diseases — Deaths — Physicians 476 I \ CONTENTS. xi CHAPTER XVII. WILD ANIMALS.— HUNTING.— FISHING. Panthers — Early hunters — Ishmael Bennett — Wheaton and the panther — Sox and the panthers — Arnold and the panther — Wolves — George A. Crockett — Scott and the bear — John McHenry, the hunter king — Great circle hunt — The beaver and other animals — Shad-fishing — The first seine — The widovf's haul — Connecticut salmon introduced into the Susquehanna — Rock fish — Bass — Trout-fishing — Extraordinary stories — A large pike .... 488 .1 CHAPTER XVIII. MISCELLANEOUS. Banks and bankers — Continental money — Shinplasters — Wyoming and Pitts- ton banks — Banking capital — Rates of discount — Insurance companies — Distilleries — Value of whiskey and other articles ninety years ago — Witches — Politics — Alien and sedition law — Election of Jefferson — Ox roasted — Candidates for ofBce recommended by the grand jury — Elections — Presi- dents — Governors — Congressmen — Members of the legislature — Gershom Prince — Mineral springs — Interesting items — Hominy block — Table of dis- tances 504 APPENDIX. A. Names of settlers in 1763 — B. Names of subsequent settlers — C. Names of prisoners sent to Easton jail — D. Muster-rolls of independent companies — E. List of killed at Wyoming massacre, 1778— F. Muster-roll, 1794 — G. Muster-roll, 1799— H. Muster-roll, 1813—1. Names of militiamen who marched to Danville — J. Muster-roll of Wyoming Artillerists — K. Tax- ables of Exeter township — L. Taxables of Hanover — M. Taxables of Hunt- ington — N. Taxables of Kingston — 0. Taxables of Nescopeck — P. Taxables of Newport — Q. Taxables of Pittston — R. Taxables of Plymouth — S. Tax- ables of Providence — T. Taxables of Salem — U. Taxables of Wilkesbarre — V. Postmasters and offices — W. Statistical coal tables — Coal companies and operators — Railroads — Salt and Iron and Petroleum companies — X. Population in 1860— Y. Floods— Z. The great rebellion . . 535-562 NOTES 563,564 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Indian Relics . ... 19 Teedyusctjng .... 39 Capttire of John Franklin . . 93 Stewart's Block-House . . 115 Forty Fort 126 Frances Slocum .... 139 The Wyoming Monument . . 150 View op Wyoming Valley . 159 First House built in Carbondale 191 The Slocum House . . . 222 Sutton's Mill .... 228 Red House 229 Wyoming Valley Hotel , . 232 Old Court-House, Wilkesbarre 244 Luzerne County Jail . . . 251 New Court-House, Wilkesbarre 252 Court-Hodse, Carbondale . 259 Old Academy, Wilkesbarre . 267 PAOE Wyoming Seminary . . . 271 Scranton Graded School . . 274 Old Church, Wilkesbarre . 282 Old Church, Forty Fort . . 293 CoNESTOGA Wagon . . , 344 Tannery, at Gouldsborough . 361 Fell House .... 369 A Miner 378 Coal Breaker .... 378 Baltimore Company's Coal Open- ing 379 Mail Coach 450 Durham Boat .... 456 Stern Wheel Boat . . . 457 Ship 465 Deer 498 Hominy-Block .... 632 (Xii) ANNALS LUZERNE COUNTY. CHAPTER I. THE INDIANS. Alas ! for them their day is o'er, Their fires are out from shore to shore. No more for them the wild deer bounds, The plough is on their hunting grounds ; The pale man's axe rings through their woods. The pale man's sail skims o'er their floods ; Their children — look, by power oppressed, Beyond the mountains of the West — Their children go — to die ! — Sprague. Rejecting the theories that the human race advanced to its present development, by slow gradations, from infe- rior organizations, such as snails, oysters, and monkeys, or from separate and distinct acts of creation, and that climate and food have produced the various colors of the human family, we express our belief in the account of man's origin as recorded in Holy Writ, and entertain the opinion that the confusion of colors was a miraculous work simultaneous with the confusion of tongues. The word Babel signifies confusion, and is as applicable to color as to language. It was the object of the Almighty to scatter (13) 14 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. the people abroad on the face of the whole earth, and to prevent their reunion ; and it is apparent no surer means could have been adopted by Divine wisdom to effect this end than to confuse their color as well as their language. Nations of the same color, but speaking different lan- guages, may unite by marriage or otherwise, but where language and color are both different, a union is ex- tremely improbable ; and between the extremes of colors there exists, in the superior race at least, an utter ab- horrence of the mingling of blood. It is said the natives in the wilds of Africa instinctively shrink from a marriage relation between themselves and the whites. The great Apostle Paul, in his speech to the Athenians, "in the midst of Mars' Hill," said, among other things, that God " hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habita- tion." Again, we read in Deuteronomy, xxxii. 8 : " When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he sej)arated the sons of Adam," &c. From these passages we understand that the Creator had fixed, or de- creed, in his eternal mind, the time when each nation, or race, should migrate, and also the continent or territory that should be occupied by each. If this be the true con- struction, it is probable that He who made the skin of the negro black, and that of the Indian red, guided the former to Africa, and the latter to the continent of America. The Aleutian Islands are near the coast of Asia, and extend almost to the peninsula of Alaska, a short distance beyond which the north-west coast of America begins. Behring's Straits, separating Asia from America, are only thirty-two miles in width. A canoe, or craft adrift, from the Polynesian islands, will be borne by the currents to the northern extreme of California. Hence, we conclude THE INDIANS. 15 it would not be impossible, or even very difficult, for the ancestors or predecessors of the North American Indians to find their way from the Old to the New World. Within three hundred and fifty years after the confu- sion at Babel, Abraham found Egypt inhabited by a people measurably civilized. The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah had been built and destroyed, and a large portion of Asia was settled. It would be no great strain on one's cre- dulity to believe that in three hundred and fifty years more some colony of adventurers had pushed their explora- tions northward across Behring's Straits, and had made a settlement on the fertile lands of the Western World. Less than three hundred and seventy years ago Columbus had not sailed from Palos on his voyage of discovery; and yet see what millions are now located between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and are pushing their settlements to- wards every point of the compass. It is well authenticated that the Northmen discovered Greenland in the tenth century, and that in the year 1002, Leif, a Norwegian, sailed south-west from Green- land and discovered the coast of New England. Thor- warld afterwards made a voyage in the same ship to the same coast, and was murdered by the Indians, whose enmity he had incurred. This continent, then, was peo- pled to its farthest eastern extremity long before Columbus discovered it. Whether the Indians he found here were the original people has been made a question. Or, whe- ther the Indians, as the Europeans found them, were not degenerated from a higher condition of civilization, than that then existing, has also been made a subject of dis- cussion. In the West are found mounds and fortifications, which indicate an advancement in the arts, to which the Indians were utter strangers. Similar evidences have been found 16 AKNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. on our own Susquehanna. A very slight examination will satisfy any one that there was once a people on these shores who defended themselves by regular fortifications, buried their dead in a peculiar manner, and worked mines of copper, and of other metals, which were not practised by the Red men, when the colonies of Jamestown and Plymouth were planted. Rome, once stern and virtuous, became great and triumphant- over a vanquished world. But with the introduction of the many arts and refine- ments of other lands came luxury and debauchery, which were followed • by the flight of virtue and of valor. The hardy nations of the North, finding no longer virtuous courage to resist their onsets, poured down on the ener- vated empire, and barbarism covered refined and classic Italy. So, possibly, a similar scene may have been enacted in America. The original settlers, bringing with them the arts which flourished in Egypt, when the first Pharaohs were on the throne, may have eventually be- come luxurious and weak, and may thus have fallen an easy prey to barbarous but valorous hordes, who coveted their lands and possessions. Our knowledge of the Indian race begins with the dis- covery of America. They were then, as the vast majority of them are at the present day, hunters, living in rude huts, clothing themselves in the skins of animals, and using the bow, stone hatchet, spear, and arrow-head, as their weapons of attack and defence. They, as a race, have been uninfluenced by anything of civilization, except its vices. The strong-water of the white man has made sad havoc among them, and they are rapidly disappearing from North America. Kagegagahbowh, alias George Copway, an educated Indian of the Ojebwa tribe, informed the writer, that the Indians had a tradition that their ancestors came from THE INDIANS. 11 < the West, and that when they die they go back towards the setting sun to the country whence they came, and on their passage cross the water. That a very bad Indian, when he returns, finds a sterile soil and poor hunting in the Fatherland; that a pretty good Indian passes on through the poor country to other and better hunting- grounds ; and a very good Indian goes still farther, to a land where excellent game is found in great abundance, amid the most attractive scenes of nature. They have also a tradition that their forefathers were engaged in war with another race of people in this country, whom they exterminated, and drove out. This tradition of another people is corroborated by the fortifications and mounds before alluded to, also by heathen gods, imple- ments of husbandry, looking-glasses, and other articles found in Ohio and Western New York. When the forty settlers arrived in Wyoming, in 1769, they found the remains of an ancient fortification, or enclosure, respecting which the Indians could give no information as to its origin or use. Within this enclosure large trees were found growing, one of which, when cut down, was ascertained to be seven hundred years old. This work was located on the west side of Toby's Creek, in Kingston township, a few rods above the present road leading from Kingston to Wilkesbarre, but is now entirely destroyed. It was visited by Mr. Chapman, in 1817, and is described by him, in his History of Wyoming, as being of " an oval or elliptical form, and having its longest diameter from the north-west to the south-east, at right angles to the creek, three hundred and thirty-seven feet, and its shortest diameter from the north-east to the south- west two hundred and seventy-two feet. On the south- west side appears to have been a gateway, about twelve feet wide, opening towards the great eddy of the river, 18 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. into which the creek falls. From present appearances, it consisted probably of only one mound, or rampart, which in height and thickness appears to have been the same on all sides, and was constructed of earth. On the outside of the rampart is an intrenchment, or ditch, formed pro- bably by removing the earth." Mr. Miner, in his History of Wyoming, says, "An- other fortification existed on Jacob's Plains, or the upper flats in Wilkesbarre. Its situation is in the highest part of the low grounds, so that only in extraordinary floods is the spot covered with water. Looking over the flats, in ordinarily high freshets, the site of the fort presents to the eye an island in the vast sea of waters." It was of the same size as the one in Kingston, and also had large trees growing out of the embankment, when the first white settlers arrived in the valley. There was a well of water in the interior. Between this fortification and the river was a burying-ground, where graves were found, with the dead laid horizontally in regular rows. When the canal was excavated, in another direction from the fort, a second graveyard was discovered, in which the dead were buried in a sitting posture. In 1814, Mr. Miner, in company with Chief Justice Gibson and Jacob Cist, Esq., visited the last-mentioned fortification, where they found a medal, bearing on one side the impress of King George I., dated 1714, the year in which he began his reign, and on the other side the likeness of an Indian chief. In 1839, the river washed out the remains of human skeletons near this fort, on the breast of one of which was found a picture of a lady pasted on an oval piece of glass, which had probably been worn as a locket. " Taken in connection with the medal of King George," says Miner, "I express the conviction that the picture must have been that of Queen Anne. '^ms^^^- W 1 ^A sise N°5. Va S3se I. supposed to ie i Speaes of ^toueliatchebs. Soil S>lone._ S.Flm!; arrow head, S.Doiible tdoed Stone Axe— 4. Supposed" Stone flayiao Knife '/& size picke(iuponthe"baTife of the Susc^uehanna luyl/ C.H.Dana .__ 5. Sboae AxUm s^\^e. ]M0 12 6ATiotb.ert.TnoreusualfomoffJint arrowhead 7Coppcr Spear W^^SEeEouniwjQTia the rtniains A-lines o? an Aueieut Fortification miQTi65r,0Ti Slndiannpe oflarthernWsre MruLby Jra. Marey. gJndiauBpe formed d a darldreen Stone IQ An MmRtEaraiRtifourai Ijy A.S.Uam nejr th£ iaiik of SusquchaQim Rwep inEato^omiui C"^ 11 A curious ima^e either of Stone mifk decomposed on perhaps larlhen EvidentlYanaentiiuifflTiear Easton 12 Slone forcrushiafi carn^diaiaetergHmaiyiJDtf THE INDIANS. 19 What greatly strengthens this opinion is the fact that, in 1710, in the reign of that queen, a deputation of chiefs of the Five Nations visited England." He (Mr. Miner) conjectures that the skeleton upon which the picture was found, was one of the two river chiefs, Elow~Oh-Koam, and Oh-Nee-Yeath-Ton-No-Prow, who were of this depu- tation, and were the heads of the Seneca and Oneida Indians. The one, he supposes, occupied the fortification at Kingston, and the other that on the Jacob Plains. But this conclusion is most probably incorrect. The indi- cations are decidedly in favor of the supposition that these fortifications were once occupied by a people very different from the Indians. The growth of large trees on the ramparts and within the enclosure, show that they must have been abandoned hundreds of years before the period when the deputation from the Five Nations visited England. The two populous graveyards, the different modes of burial, a large copper spear-head recently found on the site of the fortification at Kingston, point to two distinct people, who at different periods occupied these lands. The Indians never dug wells, erected forts, or used any other implements of warfare or husbandry than stone, wood, and clay, until after they became known to the whites. The accompanying plate and explanations of Indian relics, collected chiefly within Luzerne county, and depo- sited in the rooms of the Wyoming Historical and Geolo- gical Society at Wilkesbarre, will not be, we trust, unin- teresting to the reader.^ According to the tables, charts, and paintings of the Aztecs, conquered by Cortes in Mexico, the Toltecs, whom the Aztecs said they subdued and exterminated A. d. 1100, arrived in Mexico from the North a. d. 554. It is not improbable these were the people who erected the ancient 20 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. foi dfi cations found here as well as throughout the valley of the Mississippi. When the first whites settled in New England, New York, and Canada, more than two hundred years ago, the oldest chiefs among the Iroquois, or Five Nations, had no knowledge of the early history of their union as a people, other than the tradition that they sprang from five hand- fuls of red seeds, like the eggs of flies. These were sown on the fertile fields of Onondaga, by Manitta, and after nine moons, boys and girls grew up from the seeds, whom Manitta carefully instructed, assigning to each nation its particular duties. He enjoined upon all the remembrance that they were brethren, and should unitedly defend their country from invasion while the sun and moon gave light, and the waters ran in the rivers. The Five Nations were a powerful and warlike confederacy, which held an abso- lute supremacy over a large extent of country. Their domain extended from the head waters of the Allegheny, Susquehanna, and Delaware rivers to the Lakes Erie and Ontario, and on the east to the borders of Vermont ; but they claimed authority over numerous tribes as far west- ward as the Wabash, and southward as Georgia. In 1712, the Tuscaroras being expelled from their homes in the south, were adopted into the confederacy, which was known thenceforth as the Six Nations. The Tuscaroras were an efieminate race, and deficient in courage. The Grand Council fire of the confederacy was kindled in the Onondaga Valley, in the state of New York. Their ter- ritory they styled their Long House. The Onondagas were the chief counsellors ; they guarded the council fire, and to them belonged the duties of a civil character. The Senecas occupied the western portion of the Long House, the Mohawks the eastern, and the Cayugas the southern. Besides these were the Oneidas in the interior. Deputies THE INDIANS. 21 from the confederate tribes met in their great council to consider questions of peace or war, and their proceedings were marked by a decorum and dignity which certain representative assembhes of our day and nation might copy with credit to themselves and their country. They were physically superior to the neighboring tribes — they were brave, upright, but ferocious in battle. The admin- istration of their public affairs was marked by foresight and wisdom, and their eloquence will compare favorably with that of more civilized nations. At an early period they formed an alliance with the Dutch on the Hudson, from whom they procured fire-arms. They conquered the Naragansetts and Mohegans in New England, the Hurons and Eries on the Great Lakes, and the Cherokees in the South. At one time they repelled the encroachments of the French, at another were united with the French in war against the English, and again were the allies of the English against the French. When the American Revolution broke out they took part with Great Britain, and desolated our frontiers with fire and the tomahawk. But when the English troops were with- drawn, after the proclamation of peace, they were no match for the arms and intelligence of the Americans. They have rapidly passed away before the advancement of civilization. A few remnants of these tribes remain on lands reserved for them by government in the state of New York, but their utter extinction is at hand. If they are susceptible of being taught the arts and manners of civilized life, they seem as a race to be wholly incapacitated to withstand its concomitant vices, wh^ch they greedily adopt and practice to an excess that entails speedy ruin. The Indians who inhabited the territory within the present limits of Luzerne county, were the Delawares, Monseys, Shawanese, Nanticokes, Wanamies, and Mohi- 22 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. cans. Tliey were all subject to the Iroquois, or Six Nations, who had conquered them before the first settle- ments were made by the whites in Pennsylvania. They were allowed by their masters to retain their hunting- grounds, on condition of paying an annual tribute, but were liable to removal whenever the grand council at Onondaga so decreed. THE SHAWANESE. In 1608, when the French made their first permanent settlements in Canada, they found the Iroquois engaged in a blood}- war with the Hurons and Eries, who dwelt in the region of the great lakes. The Iroquois, or con- federated tribes, proved , victorious. The Eries, broken and subdued, divided and left their old hunting-grounds, the one portion, named the Kickapoos, going west of the Mississippi, and the other portion, or Shawanese, called by the French the Raccoon Indians, wandering south into Georgia and Florida. Becoming involved in war with the Spaniards and the southern Indian tribes, the Shawanese emigrated north- ward, and about the year 1690 commenced building a town at the confluence of the Wabash and Ohio ; but hearing of the mild and honorable character of William Penn, a number of them applied for permission to settle in Pennsylvania. The Conestoga Indians, who inhabited the country near Lancaster, became security for the good behavior of the Shawanese, who, by order of Penn's cousin and Lieutenant Governor, Colonel Markham, were located with their chief Gachgawatschiqua, on Pequea creek, below Lancaster, in the year 1697. In 1701, William Penn made a treaty with the Susque- hanna Indians, in which the arrangement of Colonel THE INDIANS. 23 Markham was confirmed, and soon after this a number of the Shawanese, under their chief Kakowatchie, settled on the Delaware river, at Pechoquealin, while others took up their abode at Wyoming. During several years prior to the breaking out of the French war, in 1754, there was a constant effort upon the part both of the French and of the English, to secure the aid of the Indians in the event of hostilities. French Jesuits baptized and clothed them in coats trimmed with glittering lace, while the English gave them presents of beautiful pipes, and good rum, &c. The French warned them against the English, whom they represented as desirous to rob the Indians of their lands ; the English reiterated the same charge against the French. A vener- able chief, at a treaty held at Lancaster in 1744, said: " If the English and French have a quarrel, why don't they fight in their own countries beyond the water? Why do you come here to fight on our land ?" The Indians, untutored as they were, understood the question perfectly well, and being only desirous to secure the largest measure of profit for themselves, we're at a loss to decide between the two. The tribes on the Ohio and its tributaries, being more immediately under the influence of the French, were disposed to espouse their cause, while the tribes in Pennsylvania, in the neighborhood of the English, united with them. In 1728, the Six Nations, at the instigation of the French, ordered a number of the Delawares and Shawanese to remove from their old homes to new localities. The Shawanese at Pechoquealin, on the Delaware, below the Durham Iron Works, received orders to remove to Wyoming, at which place they would be more immediately under the eye of the confederacy. This order was obeyed with such promptness that they departed without gathering their corn ; and their sudden 24 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. exit was wholly inexplicable to the governor and council of Pennsylvania, until 1732, when Governor Gordon was informed, by four Shawanese chiefs, that the Six Nations had said to them, with reference to their removal, " We will take Pechoquealin and put it on Meheahowming (Wyoming), and we will take Meheahowming and put it on Ohiah, and Ohiah -^^e'll put on Woabach, and that shall be the warrior's road for the future." They gave as a reason for the change that the Shawanese refused to j&ght the English. The Six Nations claimed authority over the Pennsylvania tribes by virtue of conquest, and removed them at will from one part of the territory to an- other, as policy dictated. In 1731, the number of Delawares and Shawanese in Western Pennsylvania, on the Ohio, Allegheny, and Connemaugh rivers, was 131 families, containing 425 warriors. The Shawanese were those who had been removed from the Susquehanna at the command of the Six Nations. When Kakowatchie and his people arrived at Wyoming, they occupied the wigwams deserted by their brethren, who had gone to the Ohio. These were erected on the west side of the river, near where Plymouth now stands. Here Count Zinzendorf, accompanied by a missionary named Martin Mack and his wife, who spoke the Shawanese language, found them in the autumn of 1742. DELAWARES. The Delawares called themselves Lenni Lenape, or the Original People, and when first found by the English were divided into three tribes, the Mousey, or Minsi, whose emblem was the wolf, the Wanamese or Turtle, and the Unalachitgoes, or Turkey tribe. The Monseys kindled their council fire in the Minisink above the THE INDIANS. ' 25 Delaware Water Gap. We learn that they had a village in the Lackawanna Valley, near Scranton, in the year 1728, and it is probable, for many years before. The other tribes occupied the country on the Delaware from the Water Gap eastward, through a portion of New Jersey, to the ocean. On the 23d of June, 1683, William Penn held a treaty of peace and friendship with these Indians, under a large elm-tree in Kensington, now Philadelphia, which, says Voltaire, was the only treaty ever made without an oath, and the only one kept inviolate. The Indians called Penn Onas, signifying Good, which appellation, we regret to say, could not be given to his heirs, Thomas and John Penn, who deserted the faith and principles of their father, and defrauded the Indians of their lands. They gave the savages rum or fire water, for questionable purposes, and they offered bounties for the scalps of the Delawares. From 1682 to 1686 several purchases of lands upon the Delaware were made from the Indians by William Penn and his agents, but from the want of a knowledge of the geography of the country, certain boundaries were defined in words such as, " as far as a horse can run in a day, or two days ; or, as far as a man can walk in a day," &c. Only one of these boundaries was ever settled by William Penn himself, who, with his friends and a number of chiefs, walked slowly, halting to eat, drink, and smoke, and in this way passed over less than thirty miles in one day. In 1718, a general deed of release was given by the Indians, making the Lehigh Hills the north-eastern boundary of the lands conveyed to the whites. Under this deed, all former instruments with walking boundaries should have been considered abrogated. After Penn's death, however, a copy of one of these walk deeds was 26 ■ ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. found among liis papers, by Thomas and John Penn. They, m 1733, at a council, presented this deed to the Indians, and received from them an acknowledgment of its validity, and under this, an arrangement was made for a walk of one day and a half The Penns advertised for the fastest walkers in the province, offering five hun- dred acres of land and five pounds in money to the man who would walk farthest in one day and a half The under-brush was cleared away, and refreshments were placed at proper intervals along the route, which was laid out in a straight line by the com^Dass, contrary to the understanding of the Indians, who supposed it would lie along the Delaware. The longest days, in September, 1737, arrived, and Edward Marshall, James Yeates, and Solomon Jenings, with three Indians, started at sunrise from a chestnut- tree below Wrightstown meeting-house. In two and a half" hours they arrived at Red Hill, where Jenings and two of the Indians gave out. The other Indian continued on to the forks of the road near Easton, where he also gave out. Marshall and Yeates proceeded, and at sunset reached a point on the north side of the Blue Mountain. They started again next morning as the sun rose, and while crossing a stream at the foot of the mountain Yeates became faint and fell. Marshall continued on, and at noon arrived on a spur of the Broad Mountain, estimated to be eighty-six miles from the place of starting. From the point where Marshall stopped a line was run to the mouth of Shohola Creek, including within the purchase all the good land. The Indians were much dissatisfied, saying, Penn had got all of their good land, and that in the spring each of them would take him a buckskin and have their land back again, and Penn might go to the devil with his poor land. Under this purchase settle- THE INDIANS. 27 ments were made by the whites, but the Indians refusing to give up possession, the Penns applied to the Six Nations to compel them to a surrender. A council was held in Philadelphia in the summer of 1742, at which a large representation of chiefs from the united tribes was present, and also the injured Delawares. The governor, on the part of the proprietaries, opened the council in a speech, in which he set forth that they had purchased the lands in question and paid for them ; and then, address- ing himself particularly to the chiefs of the Iroquois, said, " When the whites settle on your lands and you request us to remove them we do so, and now we expect you to act in the same good faith towards us." Canassa- tego, the great orator and chief of the Six Nations j then stood up, and addressing the Delawares said, " You de- serve to be taken by the hair of your heads and shaken till you recover your senses and become sober. We have seen a deed, signed by your chiefs above fifty years ago, for this very land. But how came you to take upon yourselves to sell lands at all ? We conquered you : we made women of you. You know you are women, and can no more sell lands than can women. Nor is it fit you should have the power of selling lands, since you would abuse it." After talking a considerable length of time, and charging them with many transgressions, he concluded by commanding them to remove from the land instantly, and gave them their choice to go to Shamokin, or Wyoming. He then gave them a belt of wampum, and ordered them to leave the council, as he had some- thing to say to the English. Leaving their wigwams on the banks of their favorite Makeerikkitton (Delaware), the once powerful Lenni Lenape commenced their march westward. A portion went to Shamokin, a village belonging to the Six Nations, 28 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. which stood on the present site of Sunbury. Here, Shi- kellimus, the great Cayuga chief, and father of Logan, resided, and was superintendent of all the Susquehanna tribes. A few of the Delawares settled on the Juniata, near Lewistown, but the greater number of them, under their chief, Tadame, went to Wyoming, where they built a village (1742) on the flats below the present town of Wilkesbarre. The Wanamese, under their chief, Jacob, resided on the east side of the Susquehanna, above Mill Creek, since known as Jacob's Plains ; and the Monseys occupied the Lackawanna Valley, under their chief, Capouse. THE MOHICANS. The Mohicans were probably a branch of the Mohe- gans of New England, who at an early period settled on the head-waters of the Delaware river. They came to Wyoming with the Delawares, in 1742, and under their chief, Abram, built a village above Forty Fort, on the plain known as Abram's Plains. THE NANTICOKES. These Indians occupied the eastern shore of the Chesa- peake Bay. Difficulties arising between them and the whites, and a misunderstanding also existing between the Governors of Maryland and Virginia and the Six Nations, it was agreed to hold a council at Lancaster, and accord- ingly in June, 1744, the representatives of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and the Six Nations, assembled at that place. After several days of deliberation they set- tled all matters in dispute respecting the lands. One object of this meeting was to brighten the chain of friendship, which, the Governor of Pennsylvania told the THE INDIANS. 29 Indians, had become rusted, and to warn them against the seductive influence of the French. At this treaty, UUanckquam, alias Robert White, was present. He was Chief of the Nanticokes, and with eighty of his people, in accordance with arrangements made with the Six Nations, located on the east side of the Susquehanna in Wyoming, in 1748, near the present village of Nan ticoke. Besides these there were a few wigwams on Shick- shinny and Wapwallopen Creeks, and in Salem township, near Beach Grove. There was also a considerable Dela- ware village at Nescopeck, called by the Indians Nesco- pecken, and one on the east bank of the Susquehanna, about two miles above the mouth of the Lackawanna, called Asserughney. There was a Shawanese village west of Ross's Hill, between Plymouth and Kingston. These are all of the known locations of Indians within the limits of Luzerne. The Shawanese had a village at Fishing Creek, near Bloomsburg, and at Catawissa, Co- lumbia county, and also, a small settlement near Brier Creek below Berwick. The Delawares had a villao;e on Taconick (Tunkhannock), Wyoming county, said to have been a very old town. It is referred to by Henry Hess, who was captured by Teedyuscung on the Delaware, in 1756, as containing at that time one hundred men, women, and children. At Wighalusui (Wyalusing), and at other points on the upper waters of the Susquehanna, there were many towns, which, with those already enumerated, formed a continuous chain from the country of the Six Nations to Shamokm (Sunbury). INDIAN PATHS. The runways, or paths of the aboriginal tribes, were almost as numerous as our roads, and may be traced along 30 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. the banks of all large streams, except at points where the distance can be shortened, as by avoiding curves formed by the widening of the river or creek. They had, how- ever, great thoroughfares, called war-paths, two of which began at Diahoga (Tioga). One of these extended almost in a straight line through Bradford and Lycoming coun- ties, crossed the West Branch of the Susquehanna at Dunn's Island (Lockhaven), thence to Bedford, and thence to the Potomac. The other passed -down the North Branch of the Susquehanna, via Wyoming, to Shamokin, thence to the Juniata, near Huntingdon, and thence to Bedford, where it united with the former path. These were the great routes of the warriors of the Six Nations going south to war against the southern tribes. From Wyoming there was a path by the way of War- rior's Gap, uniting, at or near Mauch Chunk, with a path extending from Shamokin to the Delaware and Lehigh rivers. There was also another from Wyoming to Gnad- enhutten and Fort Allen, over the mountains, nearly in the route of the Wilkesbarre and Easton turnpike. Be- sides these, there was a path from Wyoming, via Shick- shinny Creek, through Huntington township, -and across the head-waters of Fishing and Muncy Creeks to the West Branch of the Susquehanna at the town of Muncy. The path from Wyalusing united with the path through Huntington township. The path from Wyoming to Ca- pouse, or the Monseys' Village, near Scranton, passed along the eastern bank of the Lackawanna, branching off at Capouse northward and eastward. The northern branch extended to Oquago, now Windsor, New York, via Leggett's Gap and Abington. The eastern branch ran via Dunmore, crossing the Moosic Mountain near John Cobb's, and thence through Little Meadows, in Wayne county, to Coshutunk (Cochecton) on the Delaware. The first T H E I N D I A N S. 31 wagon road of the Connecticut settlers to Wyoming fol- lowed the path last named. Many of these thoroughfares were trodden, for hun- dreds of years, by the feet of the red men, until in many places they were worn down to the depth of one and two feet. They did not pass over the highest points of land, as some writers suppose, but these elevated places of observation were ascended by side paths connecting with the main routes. THE MORAVIAN MISSIONARIES. These pious adventurers established their first mis- sions in the West India Islands in 1732, and in Greenland in 1733. In 1735 they planted missions in Georgia among the Creek Indians, but the war between England and Spain compelled them to leave their settlement in 1739, when they came to Pennsjdvania. Here they met the celebrated George Whitfield, and by his invita- tion settled on a tract of land, which he had purchased with the intention of establishing a free school for negro children. Mr. Whitfield had laid out and named the town Nazareth, and had commenced the erection of a large stone building, but becoming involved pecuniarily, and the Indians expressing dissatisfaction at the near approach of the whites, the settlement was abandoned. The Moravians then purchased a tract of land lower down on the Lehigh, and laid out the town of Bethle- hem in 1741. During this year Count Nicholas Louis Zin- zendorf, the principal elder of the society of the Moravians, and founder of the secret order of the Mustard Seed, arrived from Europe. Being desirous to extend the mis- sionary field, this self-sacrificing Christian nobleman, in the fall of 1742, resolved to visit the Susquehanna , In- 32 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. dians, and with this view applied to Conrad Weiser''' to accompany him, but pressing business engagements com- pelled him to decline. However, the count secured the services of an interpreter, one Martin Mack, and his wife, and with them he set out on his wilderness journey. On their arrival in the Wyoming Valley, they pitched their tent on the bank of the river, a short distance from the Shawanese village. A council of the Indians was called to hear their errand of mercy, but the savages were not satisfied as to the real object of their visit. They knew that many white men were more anxious about their lands than about their souls, and they viewed the alleged disinterested regard ol Zinzendorf as a mere sham under which he designed to defraud them. Their suspicions increased, and they resolved to assassinate him. Three savages crept stealthily to his tent on this murderous errand. A blanket curtain, suspended upon pins, formed the door of his abode. By gently raising a corner of this curtain the Indians, undiscovered, had a full view of the good man, who sat unconscious of danger, with an expres- sion of devotion on his benignant features. They were awe-stricken by his appearance. It was a cool night in September, and the count had kindled a fire. Warmed by the ilame, a large rattlesnake had crept from its covert, and at this moment was gliding over the limbs of the holy * Conrad Weiser resided among the Mohawk Indians froiii 1716 to 1729, and spoke the languages of several tribes. In 1730, he removed to Tulpe- hocken, in Berks county. He became with Shikellimus, the Cayuga chief at Shamokin, the medium through whom business was transacted between the proprietary government and the Six Nations. lie was a most upright and worthy man, and was viewed by the Indians as their friend and guardian. He made repeated journeys among the Indians of the North and West, and he was no doubt, the first white man who ever trod the soil of Luzerne county. He was elected justice of the peace for Berks county. He kept the first tavern opened in Reading, and was commissioned colonel during the French War. He died in 1760. THE INDIANS. 33 man, whose thoughts were engrossed by his devotions. The serpent escaped his notice, but the Indians, with breathless attention, had observed the movements of the poisonous reptile, and as they gazed upon the aspect and attitude of the Count, and saw the serpent offer him no harm, they changed their minds, says Stone, as suddenly as the barbarians of Malta did theirs, in regard to the shipwrecked prisoner, who shook the viper from his hand without even feeling a smart from its venomous fang. Their enmity immediately changed to reverence, and in the belief that Zinzendorf enjoyed the protection of the Great Spirit, they retired, and reported to their friends what they had seen. The Count was thenceforth regarded by these children of the forest with profound veneration. He remained in Wyoming several days, during which time Conrad Weiser arrived. Arrangements were made for further missionary labors among the several tribes of the Wyoming and Lackawanna Indians, and the Count then returned to Bethlehem. In 1743 he purchased Mr. Whit- field's tract of land at Nazareth, and completed the build- ing he had commenced. Bethlehem and Nazareth now became the centre of the operations of the Moravians. Missionaries proceeded thence to many Indian tribes throughout New England, New York, and Pennsylvania. In their devout zeal they penetrated beyond the Allegha- nies. These Moravians established a mission-house at Shamo- kin, and Shikellimus was brought under the influence of the gospel. He died in 1749, and on his death-bed exhorted his people to embrace the religion of the Saviour. A mission had been planted among the Mohican In- dians at Shekoniko, on the borders of Connecticut, but the whites growing jealous of the Moravians, and difficul- ties arising, they proposed, with the permission of the 34 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY, Six Nations, to remove the Mohicans to Wyoming. To this the Mohicans objected, as Wyoming lay on the war- rior's path from the country of the confederacy to the south. It was arranged they should settle near Bethle- hem, where dwellings were erected for them, and the village called Fredenshutten, or Tents of Peace. The emigration increased so rapidly, to this point, that the Moravians purchased a tract of land, and laid out a town at Mahoning Creek, on the Lehigh. They erected forty log-houses and a chapel, calling the place Gnadenhutten, Huts of Grace. Between this new Christian Indian vil- lage and Wyoming there was a constant intercourse. Hungry savages, in times of scarcity, flocked to Gnaden- hutten, professing Christianity, and filling themselves at the tables of the pious missionaries. When the season for hunting came, they would return to the wilderness in pursuit of game, and with the profits of the chase would procure, from the heartless trader, the terrible fire-water, which causes the red and white man alike to forget their duty and their God. Some, however, were sincere in their professions, and remaining steadfast, died in the faith. The missionaries, Spangenberg, Heckewelder, Zeis- berger, Post, Mack, Butler, Seidel, Schmick, Fry, and others, received Indian names, and proclaimed the gospel to the heathen on both branches of the Susquehanna, on the Lackawanna, and throughout the whole of North- eastern Pennsylvania, wherever the smoke ascended from the rude bark wigwam. THE FRENCH WAR. We have already intimated that the French, through the influence of Catholic missionaries, who are often in advance of other denominations, had secured to their interest the Shawanese, the Delawares, and other Indians THE INDIANS. 35 on the Ohio. However, Sir WiUiam Johnson* had suc- ceeded in dividing the Six Nations. The Mohawks, Oneidas, and Tuscaroras remained attached to the British cause. The Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas declared themselves neutral ; nevertheless, a considerable number of the two last-named tribes took up the hatchet with the Delawares, Shawanese, and other tribes, already in alli- ance with the French. Efforts were made by the French, through the Senecas and Cayugas, to induce the Susque- hanna Indians to declare in favor of Onontio, the French King, as the Indians named him. Their arts and pro- mises were crowned with success. In 1753 they succeed- ed in removing nearly all the Christian Indians from Gnadenhutten to Wyoming, hoping by this to place them beyond the influence of the whites. But the Moravian missionaries, who had a mission-house at that place, as well as at Shamokin, continued to minister to their spiritual necessities even after the warriors had raised the tomahawk against the English.t The news of Braddock's defeat in July, 1755, spread * Sir William Johnson was born in Ireland in 1714, and settled in America, on the Mohawk river, in 1734, on land belonging to his uncle. Sir Peter Warren. He became acquainted with the Six Nations, studied their character and acquired their language, and eventually exercised great influence over thera. In 1757, at the head of the English forces he defeated the French at Lake George, for which victory the House of Commons voted him 5000 pounds sterling, and the King conferred upon him the title of Baronet. At the same time he was tendered the office of superintendent of Indian affairs. He had two daughters, one of whom married Col. Guy Johnson. His son was Sir John Johnson. Sir William died in 1774. f Bishop Spangenberg sent Schmick and Fry to Wyoming, where they arrived November 10th, 1755, with a message to Paxinos, the Shawanese chief, who remained the friend of the English. Paxinos was requested to send to Shamokin and bring Marten Keifer, the missionary, to Wyoming, and then with Christian Frederick Post, who was stationed at Wyoming, all should return to Bethlehem. Frederick Post, as will be hereafter shown, had great influence over the Indians. 36 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. rapidly over the country, carrying dismay to the hearts of the English settlers. The frontiers of Pennsylvania were threatened with ruin by the victorious French and their savage allies. The government of Pennsylvania did not act with the energy and promptness which the emer- gency demanded. No means were adopted for the pro- tection of the frontier settlements, and murders were com- mitted by the skulking enemy in many places in the north and west of the province. A flourishing German settle- ment at Mahanoy, or Penn's Creek, below Shainokin, was attacked, the inhabitants butchered, and their dwellings fired. John Harris, at the head of forty men, immediately marched to Shamokin to ascertain of the friendly Indians who had committed the outrage. Some of the Delawares seemed displeased at their visit, and four of their number left the town. Others expressed regret and a willingness to fight the French, declaring they had no knowledge of the affair. On the return of Harris's company, and while crossing a creek, they were fired on by Indians in ambush, four of them were killed and four were drowned. A few days after this, on the 2d of November, 1755, the settle- ments at Great and Little Coves were attacked by a war party under the command of Shingas, a western Delaware chief, who, it is said, although a small man, possessed great physical strength, and powers of endurance. Peti- tions and letters from the frontier settlements were sent to Philadelphia, praying the Assembly to adopt measures for the public defence. Scarrooyady, an Oneida, the Belt, Zigarea, James Logan,* John Shikellimus, the * This is Logan, the celebrated Mingo chief, who made the eloquent speech recorded by Mr. Jefferson in his Notes on Virginia. He was probably born at Shamokin, being one of the sons of Shikellimus, who had the supervision of the Susquehanna Lidians. His father, entertaining a high regard for James Logan, Esq., one of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, named him in honor of that gentleman. Logan lived on the Juniata a number of THE INDIANS. 37 eldest son and successor of old Shikellimus at Shamokin, and Andrew Montour, son of Madame Montour, urged upon the Pennsylvania government the immediate adop- tion of prompt measures to repel the French; and some years, and when the whites began to settle about hun, removed west. Judge Brown, who was the first actual settler in the Kishacoquillas Valley, in Mifflin county, of this state, in speaking of the big spring not far from his residence, thus stated an incident in regard to Logan : " The first time I ever saw that spring, my brother, James Reed and myself, had wandered out of the valley in search of land, and finding it very good, we were looking about for springs. About a mile from this we started a bear, and separated to get a shot at him. I was traveling along, looking about on the rising ground for the bear, when I came suddenly on the spring ; and being dry, and more rejoiced to find so fine a spring than to have killed a dozen bears, I set my rifle against a bush and rushed down the bank, and lay down to drink. Upon putting my head down, I saw reflected in the water, on the opposite side, the shadow of a tall Indian. I sprang to my rifle, when the Indian gave a yell, whether for peace or for war, I was not then sufficiently master of my faculties to determine ; but upon my seizing my rifle, and facing him, he knocked up the pan of his gun, threw out the priming, and extended his open palm towards me, in token of friendship. After putting down our guns, we again met at the spring, and shook hands. This was Logan — the best specimen of humanity I ever met with, either white or red. He spoke a little English, and told me there was another white hunter a little way down the stream, and oifered to guide me to his camp. There I first met your father. " We visited Logan at his camp, at Logan's spring, and your father and he shot at a mark for a dollar a shot. Logan lost four or five rounds, and acknowledged himself beaten. When we were about to leave him, he went into his hut, and brought out as many deerskins as he had lost dollars, and handed them to Mr. Maclay, who refused to take them, alleging that we had been his guests, and did not come to rob him — that the shooting had been only a trial of skill, and the bet merely nominal. Logan drew himself up with great dignity, and said, 'Me bet to make you shoot your best — me gentleman, and me take your dollar if me beat.' So he was obliged to take the skins, or afifront our friend, whose nice sense of honor would not permit him to receive even a horn of powder in return." After Logan removed from the Kishacoquillas Valley to the West, his whole family, located on the Ohio, below Wheeling, was murdered " by some white savages, without a shadow of provocation." Not long after, he was accosted by a messenger from Lord Dunmore, who requested his presence at a treaty to be held on the Scioto in 1774. Logan replied to the messenger in the 38 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. of them even went to Philadelphia, and declared to the Assembly that if they did not erect forts, and fight the enemy, all the Susquehanna Indians would desert the English caiise. Scarrooyady said he was disgusted with the neglect and inactivity of the English ; that the Indians could not remain neutral, and would fight on the one side or other ; and that quite a number had already received the hatchet from the French king. The frontier settlers threatened to invade Philadelphia, and compel the Assembly to furnish arms and ammunition for the protec- tion of themselves and their families. The difficulty in obtaining suitable measures for the public defense arose on this wise. Mr. Morris was governor at the time of Braddock's defeat, and in his commission was a clause prohibiting him from doing any act that might encumber the proprietary estates within the bounds of the province. When the state of affairs seemed imperatively to demand the raising of men and money for the war, the Assembly passed an act apj)ropriating 60,000 pounds to be issued following speech, which has, probably, been translated into every language of the civilized world: — " I appeal to any white man to say, if ever he entered Logan's cabin hungry, and he gave him not meat ; if ever he came cold and naked, and he clothed him not. During the course of the last long and bloody war, Logan remained idle in his cabin, an advocate for peace. Such was my love for the whites, that my countrymen pointed as they passed, and said, 'Logan is the friend of white men.' I had even thought to have lived with you, but for the injuries of one man. Col. Cresap, the last spring, in cold blood, and unpro- voked, murdered all the relations of Logan, not even sparing my women and children. There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any living creature. This called on me for revenge. I have sought it : I have killed many: I have fully glutted my vengeance. For mj' country I rejoice at the beams of peace. But do not harbor a thought that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan ? — Not one." A war-club, says Mr. Jefferson, was found tied to Cresap's door, with a letter signed by Captain -J. Logan. XEEDYUSCUNG THE INDIANS. 39 in bills of credit, and provided lor the liquidation of the same by the imposition of a tax on all real and personal estates, including the estates of the Proprietaries. The governor refused to sanction the bill, and long messages passed between the legislative and executive branches of the government, without arriving at a satisfactory adjust- ment of the difficulty. Finally, Governor Morris stated the case to the Proprietaries in London, and Thomas Penn wrote in reply, complimenting him for his adhesion to the tenor of his commission, but agreeing to furnish 5000 pounds from the proprietary rents in the province. The Assembly then passed an act, November 27, 1755, appropriating 60,000 pounds, 55,000 to be issued in bills of credit, and 5000 pounds to be paid by the Proprietaries, while their estates were to be exempt from taxation. But by this time scores of innocent people had fallen under the murderous tomahawk of the savage. When the question relative to taxing the proj)rietary estates was pending between the governor and Assembly, the latter, in one of their messages, said, " What has this government done to offend the Delawares and Shawanese ? Have we not always lived in peace with them ? Why are they offended? 'Let us hold a treaty with them and persuade them." Such was the ridiculous language of the Assembly when the lives of hundreds were trembling in the balance. About this time, Teedyuscung was chosen king of the Delawares at Wyoming in the place of Tadame, who was friendly to the whites, and had been treacherously mur- dered, but by whom was unknown. Teedyuscung was born near Trenton in 1705^ and was one of those who had been forced from his land by the fraudulent consumma- tion of the walking purchase. He was a large muscular man, haughty in his bearing, witty, fond of admiration 40 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. and of rum, a bold warrior, and a sagacious counsellor. " What has this government done to offend the Dela- wares?" asked the Assembly. The words and deeds of Teedyuscung proclann the deep-seated offense and its cause. Sending a large belt of wampum to the Susque- hanna Indians, and even to the Cherokees in the south, he said : " I am in exceeding great danger ; the English will kill me ; come and help me." The Delaware town at Nescopeck was made the rendezvous of the warriors. There assembled Shingas with his western warriors, and Buckshanoath the great Shawanese war chief of Wyoming, With these Teedyuscung attacked the settlements in Berks county on the 16th of November, 1755, spreading fire and death in all directions'. On the 24th of the same month, Gnadenhutten was attacked, a number of the people were murdered, and the buildings were laid in ashes. It is said the murderers of the people at Gnaden- hutten were commanded by a chief of the Six Nations, and not by Teedyuscung. In the beginning of December of the same year a council of war w^as held at Wyoming, by the Delawares, the Shawanese, the Nanticokes, and others, at which it was determined to lay waste the whole country on the Delaware. They danced the war-dance, and sang their death-songs. At the appointed time, the paths between Wyoming and the Delaware, over which the missionaries had so often carried the white flag of peace and good-will, were crowded with hostile savages, on an errand of blood and death. Two hundred warriors rushed from the mountain side upon the defenceless set- tlements. Nearly the whole of Marshall's family, the man who performed the walk, and afterwards declared that the Penns refused to pay him, w^ere put to death. Teedyuscung, at the head of a scouting party, fired into a company assembled at a funeral. He penetrated into THE INDIANS. 41 New Jersey, and even approached within a few miles of Easton. During the month of December, fifty dwelUngs were burned in Northampton county, upwards of one hundred men, women, and children were murdered and scalped, and nearly as many were carried away into cap- tivity. This destruction of life and property is attributa- ble to the quarrel which existed between the governor and Assembly, in reference to taxing the proprietary estates. The Assembly are wholly inexcusable for their neglect of the public defense at that critical period. The great body of the Indians in Pennsylvania, who were dis- posed to arm against the French, being left to themselves and unsupported by the government, were easily per- suaded, by the promises and presents of the French agents, to make war upon the English. John Shikelli- mus, Logan, and nearly all the Shamokin Indians, deserted their former haunts, and repaired to more distant locali- ties, where they became identified with those engaged in hostilities. But The Belt, Aroas, or Silver Heels, Scar- rooyady, and Andrew Montour retired among the English settlements, where they were employed by the governor as messengers. Andrew Montour was the son of an Indian chief, by a French woman, known as Madame Mon- tour, who resided at the Indian village of Ostenwawen, situated on the West Branch, above the present town of Northumberland. Montour Ridge and Montour county have derived their name from her. Andrew was a friend to the English, often brought them important intelligence, and, from his intimate knowledge of the Indian character, could give advice which it was safe to follow. Paxinos, an aged Shawanese chief, residing at Wyoming, has also been mentioned as the fast friend of the English. It was he, who, in the interview with Charles Broadhead, a relative of the Hon. Richard Broadhead, on the 9th of 42 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. November, 1755, at Wyoming, urged upon him to hasten to the governor, and induce him to send a messenger to the Indians in the Valley, with belts of wampum and presents, to secure them to the English hiterest. The message contained a warm and pressing invitation to all the Indians to attend a treaty, or council, to be held on the first day of January, 1756, at John Harris's. But before the messenger started on his dangerous journey, Teedyus- cung had devastated the country of the Delaware ; and, among others, the plantations of Mr. Broadhead, and of Aaron Duphuy, who had been selected to bear the mes- sage to the Wyoming Indians. On the first of January he was engaged, with thirty of his warriors, in scalping the remaining inhabitants, and burning their dwellings, of Smithfield township, Monroe county. To return to Paxinos. He used every argument to dissuade the Del- awares and his own warriors from taking up the hatchet against the English. He pressed his solicitations with such zeal that the Delawares threatened to take his life. When the warriors began to dance the war-dance, he, with Abram and about thirty others, chiefly old men and women, retired to a village west of Kingston, near Blind Town, where he remained until all the Indians departed the valley for the country of the Six Nations. On the first of January, 1756, Buckshanoath, leading a party of savages, attacked and put to flight a compan}^ of forty soldiers, at Gnadenhutten, sent to erect a fort at that place. Buckshanoath was a co-worker with Teed- yuscung in his expedition against the English. At this time Teedyuscung captured Peter Hess, Henry Hess, Nicholas Cileman, Leonard Wesser, William Wesser, and others. On his return to Wyoming with his booty and his prisoners, he encamped for the night on the Pokono Mountain. Here the savages killed Peter Hess, THE INDIANS. 43 cutting him almost in pieces with their knives, and tied the others to trees. They kindled a large fire, but the night was so cold that they could not sleep. At da3'light they set out, and arrived at Wyoming in the evening. They found the valley de.serted. The party pushed on to Tunkhannock, where they found about one hundred men, women, and children, and where the prisoners re- mained until the cold weather was over. They were afterwards taken to Diahoga, and stayed there until they were brought down, and delivered up to their friends, at the treaty at Easton, in the following November. Scarrooyady and Andrew Montour had been sent, in December, by Governor Morris, by the way of Wyoming, with a message to General William Johnson, on the Mo- hawk. They returned to Philadelphia, via Albany, and reported that they had found the warriors in Wyoming collecting, preparatory to their murderous enterprise, and had offered them a peace-belt, which they pushed aside with a stick, and commenced the war-dance. They stated further that John Shikellimus and his two brothers, one of whom was Logan, had joined' the war-party, but that they had taken him aside, and he had promised he would not go. Shikellimus afterwards stated to Conrad Weiser and the council, when interrogated, that he did not go with the warriors, but that his brothers did. If this was the fact, how can we reconcile it with a statement made in Logan's celebrated speech to the messenger of Lord Dunmore, in 1774, in which he says, "During the course of the last long and bloody war, Logan remained idle in his cabin, an advocate for peace. Such was my love for the whites that my countrymen pointed as they passed, and said, Logan is the friend of white men !" The council to be held by Governor Morris at Harris's, on the first of January, 1756, was removed to Carlisle, 44 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. and it may be said to have been a failure. No Indians appeared, except The Belt, Captain Newcastle, Silver Heels, Andrew Montour, and a few others, already in the English interest. It was now determined to erect forts and garrison them, since the Assembly had, at length, placed funds at the disposal of the governor. In January and February six or eight substantial fortifications were built. Among others. Fort Allen, on the Lehigh, which was constructed under the supervision of Dr. Franklin, and named by him in honor of William Allen, the Supreme Judge of the Province. In the following sum- mer Fort Augusta was built at Shamokin, named in honor of Augusta, daughter of George II., who married a Duke of Saxony. In April, Governor Morris, with the approval of the Supreme Executive Council, except James Logan, who entered his protest, issued a declaration of war against the Delawares and their associates, and offered the follow- ing hounties for scalps and prisoners : — For a male Indian prisoner, above twelve years of age, delivered at any of the government forts or towns, $150 ; for every male or female prisoner, twelve years old and under, delivered as above, $130 ; for the scalp of every male Indian above twelve 3'ears old, $130; and for the scalp of an Indian woman, $50. The Quakers and Moravians exclaimed against the barbarous character of the proclamation, and the Assembly was in an uproar. But the war-party was gratified, and the frontiersmen began to hope for deliver- ance from their bloodthirsty foes. The highly excited condition of men's minds at this period produced by the shocking barbarities of the Indians, must be the only palliating excuse for this most unchristian measure. A few days after this, the governor issued his procla- mation, setting forth Friday, the 21st of May, as a day T PI E I N D I A N S. 45 of fasting and praj-er to Almighty God for peace, har- mony, pubHc spirit, and the protection of the frontier settlers from murder, &c. But through the influence of General Johnson, afterwards Sir William Johnson, with the Six Nations, the way was paved for a council with Teedyuscung. The declaration of war was suspended for thirty days, and Captain Newcastle and two other friendly Indians, in May, set out for Diahoga. Passing through "Wyommg, they found that the entire Indian population, from Shamokin to Wyalusing, had gone northward. In the valley there reigned the silence of the grave. At Diahoga, Newcastle found Teedyuscung in council with the chiefs of the Six Nations. But soon the Delawares, Shawanese, Monseys, and Mohicans, assembled to hear what New- castle had to say. He delivered Governor Morris's message, inviting them to a council to be held at Easton, in July. He was favor- ably answered by Teedyuscung and Paxinos, when he took his departure. In July, on the day appointed, Teedyuscung, with a few of his warriors, arrived in Easton, where he was met by the governor and his coun- sellors. The Delaware king opened the council by saying he had come as the messenger of ten nations, meaning the Six Nations, and the four, who were convened to hear Newcastle at Diahoga. He wished to hear what the governor had to say. " If it be good I shall lay hold of it, and carry it to the United Nations, who will smile and be pleased to hear good news ; and if what you say be disagreeable, I will, notwithstanding, kee]3 it close (closing his fist), and deliver it faithfully to the Nations. Hearken to what I say. Abundance of confusion, disor- der, and distraction have arisen among Indians from people taking upon them to be kings and persons of authority. With every tribe of Indians there have been such pretenders who have held treaties, sometimes public, 46 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. sometimes in the bushes. Sometimes what they did was come to be known, and frequent!}^ remained in darkness. To some they held up their belts, but others never saw them. This bred among the Indians heart-burnings and quarrels, and I can assure you that the present clouds do in a great measure owe their rise to this wild and irregu- lar way of doing business, and the Indians will have no more transactions in the dark." Here he presented the governor a string of wampum. Being asked if he had done speaking, he said he had, for the present. The main thing, he added, is yet in my breast, laying his hand on his heart, but this will depend on what words the governor will speak to us. Then he repeated the Delaware word Whish-shiksi/, the same in the Mohawk as lago, with great earnestness, and a very pathetic tone, meaning he strong, look ahoicf, active. The governor then spoke : " Brother, I have heard, with attention, all you have said, and thank you for the openness with which you have declared your sentiments." After delivering a lengthy speech, he pre- sented many belts, and assured the Indians of his desire for peace. To which Teedyuscung replied as follows : — " Brother, this belt," lifting up a large string of wampum, " denotes that our uncles, the Six Nations, have lately renewed their covenant chain with us (meaning the Dela- wares). Formerly we were accounted women, and em- ployed only in women's business, but now they have made men of us, and as such are now come to this treaty, having this authority as a man to make peace. I have it in my hand, but have not opened it, but will soon declare it to the other nations. This belt holds together ten nations. We are in the middle between the French and English. Look at it. This belt further denotes that whoever will not comply with the terms of peace, the ten nations will strike him. See the dangerous circumstances I am in — stronn; men on both sides — T H E I N D I A N S. 47 hatchets on both sides. Whoever is for peace, him will I join. Brother, this is a good day. Whoever will make peace, let him lay hold of this belt." Here the governor took hold of the belt, and said, he was pleased with what the king had said. The figures on the belt were then explained — the English were represented on one end, the French on the other, and the land of the Indians lay between them. Teedyuscung and his son then dined with the governor, soon after which he departed for Diahoga. Pursuant to an agreement made before he left, he returned to another council held at Easton on the 8th day of the following November. He brought with him four chiefs of the Six Nations, sixteen Delaware Indians, two Shawanese, and six Mohicans. The council, which continued nine days, was opened by a speech from Governor William Denny, who had suc- ceeded Governor Morris. He was answered by Teedy- uscung — belts and strings were passed and repassed, the blood was wiped out of the paths, and the tears from the eyes — the leaves, bushes, and briers were cleared away, and plasters were placed on the wounds. In one of his speeches on this occasion Teedyuscung said, " This very ground that is under me," striking it with his foot, "was my land and inheritance, and was taken from me by fraud. When I say this ground, I mean all the land lying between Tohiccon Creek and Wyoming, on the river Susquehanna. I have been served so not onl}^ in this government, but the same thing has been done to me- in New Jersey." When asked what he meant by fraud, he gave the governor instances of forged deeds under which lands were claimed, which the Indians never sold — this is fraud. He continued his remarks, and said, " The Delawares had never been satisfied since the treaty of 1737, when their fathers sold the lands on the Delaware 48 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. river — that although the lands sold were to have extended so far only as a man could go in a day and a half from Nashamony Creek, yet the person who measured the ground did not Avalk, but ran. He was, moreover, as they supposed, to follow the winding bank of the river, whereas he went in a straight line. And, because the Indians had been unwilling to give up the land as far as the walk extended, the governor, then having command of the English, sent for their cousins, the Six Nations, who had always been hard masters to them, to come down and drive them away. When the Six Nations came down, the Delawares met them at a great treaty held at the governor's house, in Philadelphia, for the purpose of explaining to them why they did not give up their lands. But the English made so many presents to them that their ears were stopped. They would listen to no expla- nation, and Canassatego had; moreover, abused them, and called them women. The Six Nations had, however, given to them and the Shawanese the lands on the Sus- quehanna and Juniata for hunting-grounds, and had so informed the governor. But notwithstanding this, the whites were allowed to go and settle on these lands. Two years ago, moreover, the governor had been to Albany to buy some land of the Six Nations, and had described their purchase by points of the compass, which the Indians did not understand, including lands on the Sus- quehanna and Juniata, which they did not wish to sell. When all these things were known to the liidians, they declared they would no longer be friends to the English, who were trying to get all their country away from them. He, however, assured the council he was glad to meet with the English, and smoke the pipe of peace, and hoped that justice would be done to them for all the inju- ries they had received." THE INDIANS. 49 Arrangements were then made for holding another council, at Lancaster, in the following May. At that time and place a number of the Six Nations and of others assembled, with the authorities of Pennsylvania; hut although this appointment was made at the suggestion of Teedyuscung, neither he nor any of his people were present. Nevertheless, this council was attended with good results, for it opened the way for the reconciliation of the Senecas, the fiercest and most terrible warriors of the Six Nations. A message was sent to Teedyuscung, requesting another council to be held at Easton in July, at which time and place he arrived with one hundred and fifty-nine Delawares, and one hundred and nineteen Senecas, men, women, and children. In a few days these were followed by sixty-four more, among whom were Paxinos, the Shawanese chief, Abraham, the Mohican chief, and a number of their people, together with several Nanticokes. This council was conducted by Governor Denny on the one side, and by Teedyuscung on the other, and continued twenty-one days. The Delaware king conducted himself with great dignity, notwithstand- ing he drank large quantities of " fire-water," It is said, he could drink three quarts of rum a day and not lose his equilibrium, or be confused in thought or word. He made everything, on this occasion, bend to his will. He demanded a private secretary, but was refused, being told such a thing was unknown in all former Indian treaties, and that his demand exhibited a want of confidence in the governor and his council. He, however, insisted, and selecting Charles Thompson, master of the Free Quaker School in Philadelphia, and afterwards secretary to the Continental Congress, he conducted him to the table, and seated him beside the governor's secretary. He gave 4 50 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. him an Indian name, signifying " Man of Truth," and then expressed his willingness to proceed to business. He demanded that all deeds, given by the Indians to the proprietaries, should be exhibited, together with cer- tain letters; but this was refused by Mr. Peters, who said he had no authority to exhibit them. Teedyuscung insisted on his demand, which was finally complied with. He then reiterated his former speeches, and demanded that for all lands embraced within said deeds, for which the Indians had not been paid, just compensation should be made. This was agreed to. He further insisted that Wyoming, and certain other lands on the Susquehanna, should be the property of the Indians, for ever ; that the Pennsylvania government should not on any account dis- pose of them ; and that said government should build comfortable dwelling-houses for him and his people at Wyoming, to which j)lace the Delawares, Shawanese, Mohicans, and others, intended to remove in the spring, from Diahoga. Teedyuscung further demanded, that when the Indians returned to Wyoming they should be supplied with missionaries to preach the Gospel, and teachers to teach their children to read and write. These demands were also acceded to. The pipe of peace was then filled with good tobacco, and being smoked, the council closed. The Nanticokes went to Lancaster to remove the bones of their friends to their new homes on the Chemung and Shenango rivers, while the Senecas, Shawanese, Delawares, and Mohicans, being well supplied with presents from the governor, returned to Diahoga. Teedyuscung, with his sons and a number of warriors, remained at Easton and Bethlehem, whence he sent out scouts with the English troops, to watch and oppose the movements of the French and hostile Indians from the Ohio, who were prowling on the frontiers. THE INDIANS. 51 The defeat of the French under Baron Dieskow, at Lake George, hy General Johnson, in September, 1757, and the discovery of a conspiracy, on the part of the French, to destroy the Six Nations, by uniting all the western tribes against them, caused most of the Senecas and Cayugas to take sides with the English. But the Delawares, Shawanese, and others, resident on the Ohio, remained in alliance with the French. In the spring of 1758 the Pennsylvania government, in compliance with their promise to Teedyuscung, erected a number of log- houses in Wyoming, on the site of the old Indian village, below Wilkesbarre. To these repaired Teedyuscung and many of the Delawares, while others, and nearly all the Shawanese, when leaving Diahoga, went to the Ohio, whence they never returned. Mr. Chapman, and all other writers on Wyoming, have given an account of what they call the "Grasshopper War." It is said to have occurred between the Delawares and Shawanese, on the flats below Wilkesbarre, and to have been a contest of the most sanguinary character. It resulted in the expulsion of the Shawanese from the valley. As the story goes, a few Shawanese squaws, with their children, crossed the river into the territory of the Delawares, and, with a number of the Delaware women and children, were gathering wild flowers, when a Shawanese child caught a grasshopper, which was claimed by a child of the Delawares. A struggle ensued, in which the women took part. The Shawanese being worsted returned home, and reported what had taken place, Avhen the warriors armed, and crossing the river a terrible battle ensued, in which hundreds on both sides were slain. We can find no record of any disagreement between the Delawares and Shawanese. All statements made respecting them represent these two peoples living 52 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. ill peace, and entertaining the Moravian missionaries from 1742 to 1756, when they all departed for Diahoga. Neither party had hmidreds of warriors to lose, for the whole number from Shamokin to Tunkhannock, including the Monseys on the Lackawanna, did not exceed three hundred and fifty. We therefore conclude, if there ever was a " Grasshopper War," it was a very small affair, and probaJDly closed as it commenced with a few blows and scratches among women and children. It now became an important object, with Governor Denny and Sir William Johnson, to secure a treaty of peace with the Western Indians. Christian Frederick Post, who had been a pious and zealous Moravian Mis- sionary at Wyoming and at other stations, for seventeen years, was selected to convey to them the white belt of peace and reconciliation. He had been twice married to Indian women, and was intimately acquainted with the Indian character. Teedyuscung protested against his going, de- claring lie would never return alive, but the bold and confident Christian said, it was a mission of peace, that God would protect him, and that he must go. On the 15th of July, 1758, he left Philadelphia with five Indian guides. He carried with him copies of the treaties made with Teedyuscung, belts of wampum, and messages from the Governor. He made his journey by the way of Bethlehem, Shamokin, Lock Haven, &c. It was an ardu- ous and perilous expedition. Twice he got lost in the woods, and one of his guides strayed away, and could not be found. Without food and drenched with rain, night after night he slept on the cold wet ground. Passing within ten yards of the French fort at Venango, says he, in his journal, ''I prayed the Lord to blind them as he did the enemies of Lot and Elisha." Finally he arrived at King Beaver's, who presided over the Delaware Indians T II E I N D I A N S. 53 in the West. King Beaver and his people, especially those to whom he had preached the gospel at Wyoming, were glad to see him. They gave him a public dinner, and danced about him. They sent messengers to all the surrounding tribes to come and hear what the English had to say. The French sent spies to the town to watch him, and insisted on his coming to Fort Du Quesne. They repre- sented to the Indians that when messengers arrived among the whites, it was customary to blindfold them, and lead them into a small room, and then hear what they had to say. ' They desired that Post should be thus led to the Fort. Some of the Indians requested him to go to the Fort, but he refused, and it was agreed he should hold a council with the Indians on the opposite bank of the river. He told the red men he had nothing to do with the French, and that they must protect him. This they promised to do. When all were assembled he laid before them the proceedings of the councils held with Teedyus- cung, but they refused to hear them read, saying, that Teedyuscung could not make peace for them — they had nothing to do with him. ''This day," says he, "I had such great trouble that it made me sweat." He, however, succeeded in making arrangements for kindling a great council-fire at Easton, to which all the tribes promised to send representatives. Post now set out on his return, and had not proceeded far when he heard the thunder of nineteen cannon discharged at the Fort. Under the very mouths of these cannon, he had, singly and alone, with the full knowledge of three hun- dred Frenchmen, laid a plan which sundered the union between them and their Indian allies. In October following, the council agreed upon was held at Easton, where upwards of five hundred Indians assem- 54 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. bled. They were met by the Governors of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and by Sir William Johnson, by Conrad Weiser and his corps de interpretre, Mr. Peters, by the Supreme Executive Council, and members of the Assem- bly, and by hundreds of spectators from Philadelphia. They had convened to light their pipes, and burn that good tobacco, the smoke of which should ascend to the clouds, and be seen by all the Indians to the going down of the sun. Teedyuscung assumed to act as chief speaker, Avhich excited the jealousy of the chiefs of the Six Na- tions, who looked upon the Delawares as subjects, but he sustained himself with dignity. Long speeches were delivered by the governors, by Sir William Johnson, and by a number of the chiefs. A good understanding being established, the council adjourned after a session of nineteen days. The Indians were supplied with hats, caps, knives, jewsharps, powder and lead, paints, and walking sticks (their name for rum). Teedyuscung and other chiefs received each a military hat trimmed with lace, a regimental coat, and a. ruffled shirt. In less than four weeks after the departure of the Indians from Easton, the French evacuated and fled from Fort Du Quesne before the advancing English troops under Gen. Forbes. In Sept. 1759, Quebec surrendered. In 1762 Montreal and other strongholds yielded to the British arms, and in 1763 Canada passed from the French dominion to the British Crown. THE SECOND INDIAN WAR. For a period of nearly five years succeeding the last treaty held at Easton, the frontiers of Pennsylvania were exempt from Indian hostilities or depredations, except the practice of horse stealing, to which the savages were always addicted The Indians frequently visited Phila- T H E I N D I A iV S. 55 delphia in parties, and received attention and presents from the governor. In 1762, the chain of friendship between them and the whites was strengthened and brightened at a great council held at Lancaster, attended by chiefs from the Six Nations, by the western Indians, and by those in Pennsylvania. At this treaty Teedyus- cung withdrew the imputation of forgery made at Easton against the younger Penns, and their agents, but adhered to the charge of fraud as connected with the walking purchase. He, however, signed a release for all claims upon lands on the Delaware, and received, for himself and his people, 700 pounds Pennsylvania currency ($1800) in money and goods. The Moravians re-established their missions at Gnaden- hutten, Wyoming, Wyalusing, and at other points, and the whites, on the frontiers, recovering from the effects of the last long and bloody war, were anticipating the blessings of a prosperous peace. The expectation was a vain one. In April, 1763, Teedyuscung's dwelling was set on fire and consumed, together wdth himself, who was in a state of helpless intoxication. It is strongly suspected that this was the deed of some of the warriors of the Six Nations, one of whose chiefs Teedyuscung had slain in former times. Moreover, the presumption and importance which he had exhibited in the councils held at Easton and Lan- caster, had probably rendered him an object of strong dislike to the leading men of the Indian confederacy. An effort was made by the murderers, or their friends, to induce the belief in the Delawares that Teedyuscung had been killed by the Connecticut settlers, who were now beginning their settlements in the valley. It is not known if the Delawares ever believed so silly and im- probable a story. But in June following, the Delawares 56 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. and Shawanese murdered several white families in the west. They attacked Fort Venango, and put the garrison to death, and carried several women and children into captivity. Governor Hamilton called the Assembly to- gether ; but before the frontiers could be placed in a state of defence the savages had committed most shock- ing barbarities. Many murders and burnings were per- petrated in Northampton, Berks, and Lancaster counties, and the Connecticut settlement at Wyoming was broken up and destroyed. Many of these barbarous deeds were committed by the Indians of New York, and it is more than suspected that by their arts and intrigue the Sus- quehanna Indians, whom the Pennsylvania government had taken so much pains to conciliate, were involved, contrary to their wishes. These unprovoked and unex- plained attacks excited the frontier settlers beyond all bounds. The Christian Indians at Conestoga were sus- pected of, and detected in, harboring hostile savages, and their removal or extermination was resolved upon. A number were killed by the exasperated men of Paxton ; others were collected at Bethlehem, and, under the super- intendence of David Zeisberger and Jacob Schmick, in April, 1764, they set out for Wyalusing, on the Susque- hanna. They rested at Wyoming, and from this place proceeded by water to their place of destination, where they arrived after a journey of five weeks. Here they laid out a town, erected forty log houses and a meeting- house, and named the place Friedenshutten — tents of peace. John Penn, one of the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania, and grandson of William Penn, arrived in Philadelphia, and entered on the duties of governor in the fall of 1763; and in July, 1764, offered the following rewards for In- dian scalps : — " For every male above ten years of age, T H E I N D I A N S. 57 captured, $150; for every male above ten years of age, scalped, being killed, $130 ; for every female above ten years of age, scalped, being killed, $50." Here we have a bounty on murder offered by a descendant of the wise and benevolent William Penn ! The war against the savages was now prosecuted with vigor by General Gage, who sent several regiments of British troops into the western country and destroyed their towns. In Novem- ber, Colonel Bouquet had reduced them to a humiliating submission. The Delawares, Shawanese, and other tribes delivered up, at Fort Pitt and other points, three hundred prisoners, most of whom were women and children. The Christian- Indians at Wyalusing continued to increase, and, in 1767, erected a large and convenient church, with a cupola and bell. This bell was the first that ever sounded over the waters of the North Susque- hanna, In 1769, they made an additional settlement at Sheshequin, thirty miles above Wyalusing; but the whites beginning to crowd into Wyoming and along the river, the Indians became dissatisfied vsdth their location. With Zeisberger at their head they departed, in 1772, for the west, and were united to the Moravian Mission on the Muskingum, Thus they passed away before the fraud and the vio- lence of the white man. Less than a century sufficed to deprive them of their wide domain on the Delaware and Susquehanna. They were driven from their homes, from the graves of their fathers, from all they held dear, by intruders, who took advantage of their simplicity, and induced them to bargain away their all, and when they were unwilling to be so defrauded, they w^ere compelled to yield to the skill and force of the superior race. CHAPTER II. THE PENNAMITE AND YANKEE WAR. The kings of England, in the sixteenth and seven- teenth centuries, had a very imperfect knowledge of their vast and magnificent dominions in North America. They granted with a lavish hand large tracts of country to companies, favorites, and crown creditors, without reflec- tion as to the probable future of the New World, or the probable consequences of the grants they made. Had the wording of these grants been more precise, and the de- scriptions of the boundaries intelligible and consistent, much angry discussion and civil strife would have been avoided. New York disputed with Connecticut in refer- ence to their common boundary. Pennsylvania settled with difficulty her southern boundary with Maryland, contended twenty years with Virginia for her western limits, and was driven into violence and bloodshed, with people claiming under Connecticut, for her northern terri- tory. We purpose to give some account of this last dis- pute in reference to Northern Pennsylvania. In 1620, King James I. granted to the Plymouth Company a charter for the ruling and governing of New England in America. In 1628, the Plymouth Company granted to the Massachusetts colony their territory. In 1631, the president of the Plymouth Company granted a large tract of land to Lord Say and Seal, Lord Brook, and others, which was purchased by the Colony (58) THE PENNAMITE AND YANKEE WAR. 59 of Connecticut. These charters or grants made the South Sea their western boundary. April 20th, 1662, King Charles II. renewed and confirmed this charter to the Connecticut colony, and distinctly recognised it as a part and parcel of the old grant of 1620 by James I. to the Plymouth Company. Nineteen years after this, on the 4th of March, 1681, this same King Charles granted by his letters-patent to William Penn, his heirs and assigns, all that tract of land lying between a point on the south, twelve miles north of New Castle, and a line on the north, dividing the forty-second and forty- third degrees of north latitude, and extending westward five degrees of longitude from the Delaware river. Thus a tract of country, extending from north to south a whole degree of latitude, and from east to west five degrees of longi- tude, was granted to the Connecticut Colony in 1662, and to William Penn in 1681. Both grantees claimed the land under their respective charters. But in addition to a charter two other things were requisite in order to make a valid title — purchase of the soil from the Indians, and possession. William Penn, and the succeeding pro- prietaries, purchased various tracts of land from the Indians, and obtained deeds for the same. And particu- larly by a deed, dated October 11th, 1736, Thomas Penn and William Penn purchased of the Indians the full and absolute right of pre-emption of and in all lands lying within the limits of the charter to William Penn. Also, on the 9th of July, 1754, nine Indian chiefs signed a deed of promise at Albany, " never to sell any lands in Pennsylvania as the same is bounded by New York, except to the proprietaries." November 5th, 1768, the proprietaries of Pennsylvania procured a deed from the Six Nations, at Fort Stanwix, for all the lands not pre- viously sold to the proprietaries lying within the province 60 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. of Pennsylvania. In January, 1769, Stewart, Ogden, and Jennings, on behalf of the proprietary government, took possession of the Susquehanna lands, settling at the mouth of Mill Creek, about one mile above the present town of Wilkesbarre. Thus the three essentials — a charter, pur- chase, and possession — were made and obtained on the part of the Pennsylvania government, at the times above mentioned. On the other hand, the Connecticut claim was based on a charter nineteen years older than that to Penn. As to the second requisite, we find that eight hundred and forty persons, many of them leading men of Connecticut, united in the year 1753, under the title of the " Connecticut Susquehanna Company," with a view to purchase the Indian title to the lands on the Susque- hanna. A deed of purchase was made by this company from the Indians at Albany, dated July 11th, 1754, during the meeting of a Congress of Delegates from a number of the colonies, which purchase included the Wyoming Valley. In 1755, the existence and claims of this company were recognised and acquiesced in by the Assembly of Connecticut. When the Susquehanna Company was organized in 1753, John Jenkins, as surveyor of the company, and some others, were sent out to explore the contemplated territory, and establish friendly intercourse with the Indians. Again in 1755, John Jenkins and Ezekiel Hyde, with their associates, explored more fully the newly-purchased territory. On account of the French war, and the hostile attitude of the Indians, it was not deemed advisable to commence a settlement then. But in August, 1762, John Jenkins, William Buck, and others, members of the compan}'', entered upon, and took posses- sion of, the Susquehanna lands, in the Wyoming Valley. They erected several small log-houses at the mouth of THE PENjSTAMITE AND YANKEE WAR. 61 Mill Creek, sowed a considerable quantity of grain, and returned to Connecticut. In the spring of 1763 they returned to Wyoming, and erected other buildings a short distance below the present site of Wilkesbarre, but on the 15th of October following they were driven away, some being cruelly butchered, it is believed, by the Six Nations.* No more settlers came from New England until February 8th, 1769, when a body of Connecticut Yankees appeared on the ground, only a few days after the arrival of Stewart, Ogden, and Jennings, on the part of the proprietary government. In deciding between the two governments which is the better title, it may be stated as an additional fact, that on the 30th of November, 1664, his Majesty's Commis- sioners appointed "to decide the bounds betwixt his Highness the Duke of York and Connecticut charter," with the approbation and assent of the agents of the Con- necticut colony, fixed a line east of the Hudson river, to he the western hounds of the said colony of Connecticut. And again, in 1683, the Commissioners of Connecticut with the Governor of New York fixed upon a new line, which constitutes the present limits between Connecticut and New York, and it was declared that the line fixed upon " shall be the western bounds of the said colony of Connecticut." Notwithstanding this, Connecticut claimed that she had a right to overleap the province of New York, and resume her ancient boundary. Thus the southern line of her claim, which she contended was the proper northern boundary of Pennsylvania, would cross the Delaware, pass through Stroudsburg, and through Oonyngham in Luzerne county, and cut the Catawissa * For an account of this massacre see Chapter III., Captain Lazarus Stewart ; and for names of settlers see Appendix, A. 62 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. Railroad at Rupert Station, passing westward. The tongues and pens of some of the ablest men, both in Eng- land and in America, were employed in the discussion of the question at issue between Pennsylvania and Connec- ticut. It is evident that much mio-ht be said on both sides in support of their respective claims. However, in the year 1782, five Commissioners appointed by Congress, agreeably to the ninth article of Confederation, met at Trenton, to decide the dispute between Pennsylvania and Connecticut, in reference to these lands. After forty-one days of patient hearing and investigation, in which both parties were fully heard, on the 30th day of December, 1782, the Commissioners gave their decision in these words : — " We are unanimously of opinion that Connecticut has no right to the lands in controversy. " We are also unanimously of opinion that the jurisdic- tion and pre-emption 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." It will be observed that simply the question of juris- diction and pre-emption was decided by this court. The question of the right of soil did not come before the court, and therefore the settlers had not been notified to appear and defend. The state of Connecticut now, with becoming grace, submitted to the decision at Trenton ; but the settlers, who had for thirteen years maintained a fierce struggle for possession, still obstinately contested the claim of Pennsylvania to the right of soil. We go back now to the date when the Susquehanna Company resumed their possession of the disputed lands, which possession had not lapsed, but had been discon- THE PENNAMITE AND YANKEE WAR. 03 tinned for a season, in compliance with an inhibition of his Majest}'^, in 1763, to the effect, that all settlements of lands adjoining the Indian territory should cease, until precautions in pursuance of his Majesty's orders should be adopted for quieting the troubles with the Indians. The treaty at Fort Stanwix, in 1768, had settled the difficulties with the Indians. Accordingly, in that same year, on the 28th of December, the Susquehanna Com- pany held a meeting at Hartford, Connecticut, to make preliminary arrangements for settling the Wyoming lands. It was resolved that five townships, each five miles square, should be granted to two hundred settlers : that forty settlers should set out without delay, and the re- mainder in the following spring. The five townships decreed to be laid out, were afterwards named Plymouth, Kingston, Hanover, Wilkesbarre, and Pittston. It is pleasing to observe that three whole rights, or shares, in each township were reserved for the support of religion and of schools. The first forty who came out were to have the first choice of one of the townships, and to be- come proprietors on condition of actual settlement, and of defending themselves and the soil against rival claimants. On the part of the proprietary government Charles Stewart, a surveyor. Captain Amos Ogden, and John Jennings, sheriff of Northampton county, were commis- sioned to lay out two manors, one on the west side of the Susquehanna, to be called the Manor of Sunbury, and one on the east side, the Manor of Stoke. The governor gave to each of these gentlemen a lease for one hundred acres of land, for seven years, on condition that they esta- blished an Indian trading-house, and defended the soil against all intruders. He also directed them to encourage the speedy settlement of the manors, and to lease the 64 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. same to settlers, stipulating for the payment of the ainiual rent of one ear of corn, and {he defence of the soil against encroachment. It will be observed in this contest, that on one side were many proprietors, claiming the right of soil as vested in themselves ; and on the other, was one great landlord, who claimed the entire country, and who waged war for possession with hirelings, who had at best a mere lease of the land. The masses of the people of any country would naturally sympathize with the former, without inquiring into the nice question of title by charter of ancient date. Hence we find even the people of Pennsylvania reluctant to support the proprietary government in its onslaughts on the Connecticut settlers. Indeed many openly, and more secretly, gave them aid and comfort in their enterprise. We have before stated that, in January, 1769, the par- tisans of the proprietary government located themselves at the mouth of Mill Creek. They took possession of the buildings which had been erected by the Connecticut settlers, who, in 1763, were murdered and driven away by the Indians. When, in the next month, the forty* arrived, under the auspices of the Susquehanna Company, finding the Pennamites in possession of the homes they had expected to occupy, they erected a small block-house in Kingston, across the river. This was afterwards en- larged, and called Forty Fort. In a short time it was resolved to drive away the intruders, Ogden and Jennings, from Mill Creek. They accordingly surrounded Ogden's block-house, and demanded its surrender in the name of Connecticut. Ogden requested a conference, and Messrs. Elderkin, Tripp, and Follett were sent to his quarters for that purpose. But they had no sooner entered his presence than the}^ were arrested by sheriff Jennings, in * For names, see Appendix, B. THE PENNAMITE AND YANKEE WAK. 65 the name of Pennsylvania, and conducted to Easton jail, accompanied by their thirty-seven associates. This ready submission on the part of the Connecticut men, can be explained only by their profound, almost superstitious respect for civil ^^rocess in conformity to law. That men resolved on force and violence should be suddenly sub- dued and taken captive by the exhibition of a writ in the hands of a single man, is to us a matter of some sur- prise. The captives were shut up in jail at Easton, but were almost immediately liberated on bail (Wm. L. Ledley, bailor), when they returned to the valley, fully bent on the prosecution of their enterprise. In a few days Ogden and Jennings returned with a large force, and arresting thirty- one of the Yankees conveyed them to Easton, where, as before, they were permitted to go free on bail. They again returned to the disputed ground. In April, they were joined by one hundred and sixty others* from New England, being the rest of the two hundred which the company had resolved to send out. They at once pro- ceeded to erect a new fortification, to which they gave the name of Fort Durkee, in honor of the gentleman who was chosen to command them. This fort was located near the south-west boundary of the present borough of Wilkesbarre, on the river bank. They also put up a number of small log-houses. On the 24th of May, Jennings and Ogden, with a number of others, arrived in the valley, and finding the Yankees too strongly entrenched to be attacked by them, returned to Easton, and made report of the state of affairs to the governor. The Susquehanna Company now con- sidered this a favorable opportunity to open negotiations with the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania. Colonel Dyer and * For names, see Appendix, B. 66 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. Major Elderkin were sent with full powers to Philadelphia to adjust all matters in dispute relative to the Wyo- ming Lands. This attempt at a peaceful settlement of the question failed. On the 24th of June, an armed force, under the command of Colonel Francis, appeared before Fort Durkee, and demanded a surender. The demand was refused, and as the Connecticut men were too strongly fortified to justify an attack with his small force, Colonel Francis withdrew. Governor Penn, learning from Colonel Francis the condition of things, sent instructions to Jen- nings, sheriff of Northampton county, to raise a large force, sufficient to oust the Yankees ; yet, if possible, without bloodshed. When Ogden heard that Jennings was coming, he with a party of forty or fifty men sud- denly attacked the houses of some of the settlers, and took a few prisoners, among whom was Major John Durkee, commander of the garrison. Major Durkee was taken to prison at Philadelphia. In September, Sheriff Jennings appeared on the ground with two hundred men, and was gratified to learn that Captain Alexander Patterson, one of Ogden's subordinates, had brought up from Fort Augusta (Sunbury) an iron four-pounder to render the siege more effective. The settlers were utterly appalled by this display of force, and by the loss of their com- mander. They agreed to surrender, and articles of capitulation were drawn. It was stipulated as follows : — 1st. That Simon Draper, Daniel Gore, Asa Ludington, and Thomas Bennet should be delivered up as prisoners. 2d. That seventeen men should remain and gather the fall crops, and that all the other men, women, and children should depart for Connecticut. 3d. That private property should be respected. The sufferings of these people on their journey through the wilderness to the East were of the most distressing THE PENNAMITE AND YANKEE WAR. 67 nature. One woman, says Mr. Chapman, roasted and fed her dead child to her surviving children to keep them alive. After the departure of the fugitives. Captain Ogden viola- ted the terms of the capitulation, to his disgrace as a man and as a soldier. He seized upon the horses, cattle, swine, &c., and, carrying them to the adjacent settlements, sold them for the benefit of himself and subordinates. The seventeen left to gather the crops, being deprived of all means of subsistence, were compelled to follow their companions to New England. Leaving ten or fifteen men to garrison the fort, Jennings and Ogden departed to the country below the Blue Ridge with their half-civil and half-military force, where it was disbanded. Such were the events of the strife for the possession of "Wyoming during the year 1769. For four months the valley remained in the undisturbed possession of the Pennamites. It was at this time that Captain Lazarus Stewart, James Stewart, William Stew- art, Lazarus Stewart 2d, Lazarus Young, Matthias Hol- lenback, John Donnahew, Josiah Espy, and several others from Lancaster county. Pa,, who had no love for Governor Penn and the proprietary government, determined to make an arrangement with the Susquehanna Company, and to unite their fortunes with the Yankees. Li the beginning of February, 1770, Captain Lazarus Stewart, at the head of forty Paxton Rangers and ten New England men, attacked Fort Durkee, and compelled the garrison to surrender. Stewart immediately afterwards proceeded to Fort Ogden, at Mill Creek, and removed the cannon, with the other munitions of war, to Fort Durkee. When Captain Ogden, who was at Philadelphia, heard what had taken place, he was greatly astonished and vexed that all his labors and victories should in so short a space of time be brought to nought. But, hastily collecting a (J8 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. body of men, he returned to Wyoming, and took up his quarters at Mill Creek. By this time Major Durkee had returned from prison, and had joined Stewart at the fort. These two commanders now, with drums beating and colors flying, marched forth to attack Ogden. A smart skirmish ensued, in which William Stager was killed, and one or two others wounded. This was the first blood shed in the Pennamite and Yankee war. This attack failed of success. The cannon was next transported to the western side of the river, where it was placed in a block-house erected for the purpose, and a heavy fire opened on Fort Ogden. The firing was kept up for several days without effect, when the cannon was brought back to the eastern shore, and it was resolved to boldly march out and invest the enemy's works. In the attack, a storehouse adjoining the fort, of great import ance to the Pennsylvanians, was fired and consumed The siege was vigorously prosecuted, and Captain Ogden was forced to surrender. Articles of capitulation were signed on the 29 th of April, and Ogden and his men, except six left to take care of his property, departed the valley. But remembering Ogden's violation of good fixith in the preceding September, the Yankees proceeded to eject the six men, and setting fire to the fort and houses, reduced them to ashes. Governor John Penn now applied to General Gage, at New York, for British regulars, to drive the Yankees from his lands. But the general refused the desired aid, stating that it would be highly improper for the king's troops to interfere in a dispute concerning property. In May, to the great joy of those already there, Colonel Zebulon Butler, with a considerable number of settlers, ar- rived from Connecticut. There was now peace in the land. They sowed, they planted, they formed new settlements. THE PENN AMITE AND YANKEE WAR. 69 The spring passed away. The summer followed, and still no foe was upon them. Nevertheless, they could not but feel anxious for the future, for on the 28th of June the Governor of Pennsylvania had issued his proclamation, denouncing the severest penalties on all who might settle on the disputed lands, unless by his authority or that of his lessees. The evil hour was at hand. In September Ogden, with one hundred and forty men, quietly entered the valley, and arrested several of the settlers while at work in the fields. Those in the fort, learning the enemy were near, were thrown into the utmost confusion, and while paralyzed with doubt and consternation, an attack was made, and the fort carried by storm- Colonel But- ler, Mr. Spaulding, and some other leading men, were sent prisoners to Philadelphia, and those of less note were confined in the jail at Eastoh. The gallant Ogden again retired from Wyoming, leaving behind a small garrison of twenty men to hold the fort, and possession of the valley. But, alas ! the uncertainty of human affairs ! On the night of the 18th of December Captain Lazarus Stewart, at the head of thirty men, with a startling " hurrah for King George !" broke into the fort, drove out the half-awake, half-naked garrison, and took possession in the name of Connecticut. The news spreads far and near, and the year 1770 closes on Captain Ogden in a state of bewildering amazement at the audacity and un- tiring energy of his enemies. The year 1771 opens with vigorous efforts on the part of the proprietary government to prosecute the war. Although the severities of winter were upon them, yet, in thirty days after the expulsion of his friends, Ogden appeared before Fort Durkee with one hundred men. He was accompanied by Sheriff Hacklien, of Northampton county, who bore a warrant, issued by Judge Willing, for 70 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. the apprehension of Lazarus Stewart. As the defenses of Mill Creek had been destroyed. Captain Ogden resolved to erect a new fortification nearer Fort Durkee. To this he gave the name of Fort Wyoming, which stood on the river bank, near the western terminus of Northampton street, Wilkesbarre. To Sheriff Hacklien's* demand to surrender, Captain Stewart returned an emphatic nega- tive. The only alternative now was a resort to arms. On the 20th of January, 1771, Ogden made an attack with his force on Fort Durkee, which was located about sixty rods below his own fort, Wyoming. In the conflict which ensued, Nathan Ogden, the cap- tain's brother, was killed, while a considerable number were wounded. The besieging party, repulsed for the present, and disconcerted by their ill-luck, returned to their fortification. That night, Stewart, and twenty-six of his men, resolved to withdraw from Fort Durkee. lie well knew the deep irritation of the proprietary govern- ment against him, and he was aware that if captured he must either die or linger out a sad existence in a dun- geon. The morning following his retreat the gai'rison surrendered, and the sheriff returned to Easton with his prisoners. Captain Ogden heretofore had appeared to consider every repulse and surrender of the Connecticut party as its final overthrow and complete destruction ; and, acting on this impression, had uniformly retired to Philadelphia to repose on his laurels and enjoy the adu- lations and festivities of the city. He now adopted a different policy. He remained with his forces in the valley, and applied himself by every means in his power to strengthen his defenses. He brought to bear, on the wants and peculiarities of his position, all the vigilance and energy of his character. For two months he was undisturbed, but in April following, Captains Butler and THE PENNAMITE AND YANKEE WAR. 71 Stewart, at tlie head of a hundred and fifty men, entered the valley and laid siege to Fort Wyoming. Ogden was closely invested, and the siege vigorously pressed, so that no one conld venture out for food, fuel, or water without great danger. It was evident that, without succor, he must soon surrender ; .if for no other reason, for want of provisions. He, himself, undertook the dangerous task of leaving the fort by night to convey intelligence of his situation to his friends in Philadelphia. He accomplished it by an act of consummate stratagem. He tied up his clothes in a bundle on which he placed his hat. This was attached to a cord, and taking hold of the other end he committed himself and bundle to the water, and floated down the river, his clothes following him. The sentinels, by the starlight, observed the floating object, and riddled the bundle with balls, but as the object continued on its course with a uniform motion, the firing ceased. Ogden escaped to the bank unharmed, dressed himself, and, travelling forty miles a day, was soon in Philadelphia with the unpleasant tidings of the situation of Fort Wyoming. As the news spread through the city the excitement was great and general. Prompt action was taken, and 300 pounds were drawn from the treasury for supplies. Captain Dick started for Wyoming with a strong convoy of provisions. Captain Morris followed with the least delay possible. Butler and Stewart were on the alert. They doubted not forces and supplies were approaching, because they had been made aware of the escape of Ogden. The spies at length brought word that Dick and Ogden were near at hand. An ambush was laid. The pack-horses with the provisions were cap- tured, while the men of the escort escaped into the fort to help to eat up the scanty remnants of the food within. Butler now exerted every nerve to capture the fort before ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. the arrival of reinforcements. It was necessary to make a more fatal use of their arms. To starve out the gar- rison without shedding blood was no longer thought of. Some of the garrison were slain, others wounded : Ogden himself among the latter. Surrender became impera- tive. On the 14th of August, articles of caj^itulation were signed to the effect, that all the Pennsylvania troops should leave the valley, twenty-three only retir- ing with arras in their hands — men with families might remain on the ground for two weeks, and should have the privilege of retaining their effects — the sick and wounded should keep their nurses, and should have leave to send for a physician. Zebulon Butler, Lazarus Stewart, and John Smith signed on behalf of the Yan- kees, and Asher Clayton, Joseph Morris, and John Dick, on the part of the proprietary government. The Con- necticut settlers now poured into the valley in great numbers, for it began to be perceived that the Yankee cause would triumph. About this time the troubles with the mother country were beginning to darken the land, and the proprietary government, unsupported by the peo- ple, withdrew all their forces and left the settlers from the east in undisturbed possession of the lovely valley. Up to the year 1772, it may be said there was no established discipline in Wyoming, no form of govern- ment, no law. Each individual acted as his own sense of propriety, or his notion of right, might dictate. Even the salutary influence of woman, exercised over man in civilized society, was wanting. In May, 1772, there were only five women in Wilkesbarre township. But in this year quite a number of settlers went east for tlieir fami- lies. Lands were surveyed and assigned to claimants, and block-houses were erected on both sides of the river. Many new faces appeared in the settlement, men gatheied THE PENNAMITE AND YANKEE WAR. their relatives about them, and marriages were celebrated. The township of Wilkesbarre was surveyed in the year 1770 by David Meade, and within its limits the struggles for possession of the valley mostly took place. The union of the names of John Wilkes, Esq., and of Colonel Barre, two Englishmen, the latter a brave and accomplished soldier, well known in America, and both celebrated as distinguished advocates of the rights of the colonies against the encroachments of the crown, formed the name Wilhesharre. But the village, or borough of Wilkes- barre, was not laid out until 1772. This was the work of Colonel Durkee, who formed the town plot on grounds immediately adjoining Fort Wyoming, which, as has been already stated, was situated on the river bank near Northampton street. During that year, the people were so busily engaged in preparing to live that there was no time to think of a regular form of government. When difficulties arose in respect to land rights, the dispute was decided by town committees. Those were halcyon days, for there was order without law, and peace without the constable — that was the golden age of Wyoming. Ferries and mills were provided for the people, and finally, towards the close of this year, as soon as practi- cable, that is, December 11th, 1772, provisions were made for the permanent support of the gospel and of schools. Nor was there an exhibition of religious into- lerance, but the views and feelings of the Baptists were consulted by the Presbyterians, who formed much the larger body. At length as the population increased, and the interests of the community became, in some degree, conflicting, it was deemed necessary by the Susquehanna Company, on the 2d day of June, 1773, at Hartford, Connecticut, to adopt a code of laws for the government of the settlement. This code punished crime, enforced 74 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. order, provided for the election of directors, peace officers, and other officers who might be found necessary in every township. Every settler was required to subscribe his name to these regulations, to abide by and to supjDort the same. All males of the age of twenty-one years and upwards were allowed a voice in the elections. It may be noted here that at an early period, even before the code of laws was enacted by the Susquehanna Company, the settlers resolved that any person who sold liquor to an Indian should forfeit his goods and be ex- pelled the colony. But it is probable this order was never observed, for at first, after 1763, there were but few straggling Indians in the valley, and these were mostly Christians connected with the Moravian Society. And in a short time almost the entire body of settlers became drinkers. Whiskey and rum were consumed in astonishing quantities. At that day ardent spirits could be procured in their purity, and as the people were hard workers, and much exposed in the open air, they came to be considered as articles of prime necessity. The effects of their use were wholly different from those produced on the people of our day, by the soul and body destroying mixtures of alcohol and strychnine, and other poisons. In October, 1773, the General Assembly of Connecticut attempted to open negotiations with the Pennsylvania authorities, with a view to the amicable settlement of the dispute pending in reference to the Wj'oming lands. But the governor and council on behalf of Pennsylvania, alleging the total absence of right on the part of Connec- ticut, declined every proposition which the commissioners of the colony advanced. The General Assembly of Con- necticut then, on learning the refusal of the authorities of Pennsylvania to come to any terms, proceeded to exercise those acts of sovereignty which she conceived THE PENNAMITE AND YANKEE WAR. belonged to her. lu January, 1774, all the territory within her charter limits, from the Delaware to a line fifteen miles west of the Susquehanna, was erected into a town, called Westmoreland, and attached to the county of Litchfield. Westmoreland was about seventy miles square, embracing nearly five thousand square miles. Within it were numerous townships, divided into lots, which were sold to purchasers, or were drawn for by proprietors. The governor of Connecticut issued his pro- clamation, forbidding an}- settlement in Westmoreland, except under authority from Connecticut. About the same time the governor of Pennsylvania issued his pro- clamation, prohibiting all persons from settling on the disputed lands, except under the authority of the Proprie- taries. Zebulon Butler and Nathan Denison were com- missioned under Connecticut as justices of the peace, with authority .to organize the town. In March, 1774, the whole people of Westmoreland, being legally warned, met and organized the town, and chose selectmen, a treasurer, constables collectors of taxes, surveyors of highways, fence viewers, listers, leather sealers, grand jurors, ty thing men, sealers of weights and measures, and key-keepers. Eight town meetings were held in the year 1774. The government was of the most democratic character. It cannot be supposed that the whole male population entitled to vote turned out at every meeting, for the number of people in Westmoreland this year was found to be 1922. As earl}^ as 1771 two townships on the West Branch, including the lands on which the present village of Muncy stands, were surveyed under the auspices of the Susque- hanna Company. The names of these townships were Charleston and Judea. In June, 1772, there were a few settlers there from the East, but not numerous enough to 76 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. attract the attention of the proprietary government. The Act of January, 1774, erecting Westmoreland Town, did not embrace these two townships within its provisions. But in May, 1775, an act was passed by the General Assembly of Connecticut, which included Charleston and Judea in the town of Westmoreland, and John Vincent, a resident on the West Branch, was appointed a justice of the peace for the county of Litchfield. Vincent and others succeeded in persuading between eighty and ninety persons to emigrate from Wyoming, and settle in these western townships. This act of Connecticut seems to have roused the provincial authorities of Pennsylvania to check the encroachments of the Susquehanna Com- pany, and to make another attempt to recover the di.s- puted territory. In September, 1775, immediately after the arrival of Justice Vincent and his company. Colonel William Plun- ket, at the head of five hundred Northumberland militia, marched up the West Branch, and utterly destroyed the settlements at Muncy. One man was killed, the rest taken prisoners to Sunbury jail, while the women and children were sent to Wyoming. This success greatly elated the governor of Pennsylvania, as well as the Colonel and the troops who had achieved the triumph. So much were they rejoiced at the victory, that, forgetful of the dictates of prudence, and regardless of all other considerations, it was resolved to make an immediate attack on Wyoming, and drive off the settlers there also. Even the influence of Congress was unavailing to induce an abandonment of the enterprise until the difficulties with Great Britain should be adjusted. By great activity and energy Colonel Plunket was prepared to march early in December of that year, with seven hundred men, a long train of boats, a field-piece, and an abundance of THE PENNAMITE AND YANKEE WAR. 77 ammunition. He was accompanied by William Cook, Esq., high sheriff of Northumberland county, who bore a warrant for the arrest of certain offenders. After four years of peace the storm of war was again gathering over Wyoming. The people there, mindful of their early prowess and success, are in nowise disconcerted or dis- mayed b}^ this display of force against them. Gathering together their military strength, which numbered about three hundred men and boys, they go down to the southern entrance of the valley to meet the invaders. ' Plunket, flushed with his West Branch victory, is loud in his boast- ings as he passes the Nanticoke Falls, and moves into the valley. But the reception he met from Captain Butler, at the breast-work on the west side, and from Captain Lazarus Stewart, on the east side of the Susquehanna river, cooled his ardor and his courage. He began to see the folly of undertaking such an expedition in the depth of winter. Repulsed at every point, with dead and wounded men around him, and the weather beginning to grow severely cold, he retreated, and thus ended this ill- advised and rash undertaking. This was the last attempt of the proprietary government to secure the possession of the contested lands. The colonies were now in the midst of the Revolutionary contest, and in the following year declared themselves free and independent states. While these warlike preparations and deeds were trans- piring, Connecticut resolved that no further additions should be made to the settlement in Westmoreland, with- out special license from the General Assembly. This singular resolution can only be reasonably accounted for by supposing, that it was done either to quiet the fears of the proprietary government, or else with a view to keep at home her own citizens with their resources, at a time when the stern demands of war were making heavy drafts 78 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. on her energies. In May, 1776, John Jenkins, Esq., and Captain Solomon Strong, were elected to the Legislature of Connecticut, and specially instructed to request the Assembly to demand of the Pennsylvania government four thousand pounds for losses sustained by Plunket's invasion. In the early part of this year it became manifest that the Six Nations of Indians were pledged to support the cause of Great Britain against the Colonies, and the most gloomy apprehensions were entertained by the people of Westmoreland, on whose borders and within whose limits many of these Indians had their homes, August, 1776, it was resolved to erect suitable forts, and the people were recommended to work on the same without fee or reward. Yet, notwithstanding the dangers which beset the settle- ment at home, a number of active and able-bodied men were enlisted for the army and marched ^ the head- quarters of General Washington. In addition to this. Congress, being fully apprised of the situation of West- moreland, August 26, 1776, elected Robert Durkee and Samuel Ransom captains of two companies which were ordered to be raised in Westmoreland, on the continental establishment, and to be stationed in proper places for the defence of the inhabitants of said town and parts adjacent. It must excite surprise when it is told that Congress, in December following, ordered these two com- panies to leave the valley and repair to the standard of Washington. They obeyed with patriotic devotion, but it jeopardized the safety of Westmoreland. Nothing but the critical situation of the commander-in-chief and of the common cause, can at all j^alliate the rashness, to call it by no other name, of this order. On the 26th of September of this year the provincial government of Pennsylvania expired, and shortly after, THE PENNAMITE AND YANKEE WAR. on the convening of the General Assembly under her first constitution, with a population of 300,000, she assumed the powers of a sovereign state. About this time the General Assembly of Connecticut erected Westmoreland into a county, and Jonathan Fitch, Esq., received the first commission as high sheriff. Quite a number of persons, in this, as well as in the following year, 1777, came into the valley holding a Pennsylvania title, and denouncing the Connecticut claim as valueless. Besides these, were some tories who came as spies, and who held communication with the British and Indians, giving them information of the state of affairs, and of the most opportune time for striking a deadly blow. They were, of course, objects of suspicion, and some M^ere expelled for their indiscreet words, or treasonable conduct. But in the midst of dangers from abroad, and at home, and though the small-pox was ravaging the settlement, the people slackened none of their energies to improve their condition. A county seat was selected, the county officers appointed, state, county, and toMai taxes levied, and paid and free schools were opened and supported. The assessment of estates for the county of Westmoreland for 1777 exceeded twenty thousand pounds, and the state tax exceeded two thou- sand pounds. From Plunket's battle, until 1782, was a period of six years. During that time the whole valley had been devastated by fire and sword. The Massacre of Wyoming had of itself caused the death of upwards of two hundred settlers, and the Indians had at various periods stealthily murdered at least a hundred more. The details of these losses and murders are recorded in other portions of this work. The settlers, now war-worn and miserably poor, found themselves driven to contend against the whole 80 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. power of Pennsylvania ; for, as before stated, the state of Connecticut had withdrawn all claim to jurisdiction after the Trenton Decree. They petitioned the General Assembly of Pennsylvania for their rights. "We have settled a country," said they, "which in its original state of but little value, but now cultivated by your memorial- ists, is to them of the greatest importance, being their all. We are yet alive, but the richest blood of our neighbors and friends, children, husbands, and fathers, has been spilt in the general cause of their country, and we have suffered every danger this side death. We supplied the continental army with many valuable officers and soldiers, and left ourselves weak and unguarded against the attack of the savages, and of others of a more savage nature. Our houses are desolate, many mothers are childless, widows and orphans are multiplied, our habitations are destroyed, and many families are reduced to beggary." Notwith- standing, as soon as the continental troops were with- drawn from Wyoming, where they had been placed for the protection of the people against the savages, Ca23tains Robinson and Shrawder, with two companies of Pennsyl- vania troops, marched and took possession of Fort Wyo- ming, which they named Fort Dickinson. Shortly after, the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, in pursuance of the petition of the settlers, appointed Joseph Montgomery, William Montgomery, and Moses McClean, commissioners, with instructions to repair to Wyoming and compromise the dispute between them and the Commonwealth. They arrived in the valley in April, 1783, and immediately a spirited correspondence took place between them and John Jenkins, Nathan Denison, Obadiah Gore, and Samuel Shepherd, the committee on the part of the set- tlers. The issue of this was that the state commissioners reported to the Assembly, recommending " that a reasona- THE PENNAMITE AND YANKEE WAR. 81 ble compensation in land in the western part of the state should be made to the families of those who had fallen in arms against the common enemy, and to such other settlers as had a proper Connecticut title, and did actuallj^ reside on the lands at the time of the decree at Trenton ; provided they immediately relinquished all claim to the soil where they now inhabited, and enter into contracts to deliver up full and quiet possession of- their present tenures to the rightful owners under Pennsylvania by the first of April next." This report evidently expressed the sentiments of Alexander Patterson, who had in charge the interests of the Pennsylvania settlers. Patterson had been in the employ of the Penn family, and had aided to arrest the Connecticut settlers in 1769. He was now a justice of the peace under Pennsylvania, and was settled in Wilkesbarre, whose name he endeavored to change to Londonderry. This notorious hater of the Yankees was the head and front of the Pennamite interest. He, with his associate justices, and backed by military force, under the command of Major James Moore, and Captains Shraw- der and Christie, commenced a series of contemptible and cowardly outrages upon the Yankee settlers. The soldiers were quartered upon the inhabitants. Colonel Zebulon Butler, who had just returned from the army, and who boldly denounced Patterson's conduct, was arrested and sent to Sunbury jail. But, as the proceedings had been illegal, he was released. Mr. Miner says, " October 31, the settlement Shawnee was invaded by the military, headed by the justice in person, and eleven respectable citizens arrested, and sent under guard to the fort. Among the prisoners w^as Major Prince Alden, sixty-five years old, feeble from age, and suffering from disease. Compassion yielded nothing to alleviate his sufferings. Captain James Bidlack was also 6 82 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. arrested. He was between sixty and seventy. His son, of the same name, had f^xllen, as previously recorded, at the head of his company in the Indian battle ; another son, Benjamin, had served in the army through the revo- lutionary war. Mr. B. himself had been taken by the savages, and suffered a tedious captivity in Canada. All this availed him nothing. Benjamin Harvey, who had been a prisoner to the Indians, was also arrested. Samuel Ransom, son of Captain Ransom, who fell in the mas- sacre, was most rudely treated on being taken. ' Ah ha !' cried Patterson, 'you are the jockey we wanted; away with him to the guardhouse, with Old Harvey, another damned rascal.' Eleven, in all. were taken and driven to the fort, where they were confined in a room with a mud floor, wet and comfortless, with no food and little fire, which as they were sitting round. Captain Christie came in, ordered them to lie down on the ground, and bade the guard to blow out the brains of any one who should attempt to rise. Even the staff of tlie aged Mr. Alden was taken from him." The men secure, Patterson turned their families out of doors, and placed Pennamite claimants in possession of their lands and houses. In many other cases the widows and orphan children of sol- diers, slain in battle in defence of liberty, were forced from their dwellings, and their few implements of agricul- ture were destroyed, or carried away, by order of the heartless and brutal Patterson. The settlers now (1784) petitioned Congress and the Assemblies of Pennsjdvania and Connecticut for redress of grievances, and the Penn- sylvania Assembly sent a committee to Wyoming to take depositions. These depositions were read before the Assembly, and although Patterson was severely denounced by many members, he was not removed or deprived of his authority. THE PENNA^IITE AND YANKEE WAR. 88 On the 23d of January, 1784, moved by the petition of Zebulon Butler and others, Congress adopted measures for the settlement of the dispute, but on the remonstrance of Pennsylvania the proceedings were discontinued. On the 13th and 14th of May following. Major Patterson's soldiers dispossessed one hundred and fifty families, burnt several houses, and compelled five hundred men, women, and children to march through the wilderness to the Dela- ware river. Several children starved and died in the woods, and the sufferings of the whole impoverished throng, as they wandered night and day over rugged mountains and through deep swamps, were terrible be- yond description. Elisha Harding, who was one of this suffering multitude, says, "It was a solemn scene; parents, their children crying for hunger — aged men, on crutches — all urged forward by an armed force at our heels. The first night we encamped at Capouse ; the second at Cobb's ; the third at Little Meadow, so called. Cold, hungry, and drenched with rain, the poor women and children suffer- ing much. The fourth night at Lackawack; fifth, at Blooming Grove; sixth, at Shehola; on the seventh arrived at the Delaware, where the people dispersed, some going up and some down the river. I kept on east, and when I got to the top of Shongum Mountain I looked back with this thought : shall I abandon Wyoming for ever ? The reply was. No, oh no ! There lie your mur- dered brothers and friends. Dear to me art thou, though a land of affliction. Every way looked gloomy, except towards Wyoming. Poor, ragged, and distressed as I was, I had youth, health, and felt that my heart was whole. So I turned back to defend or die." These cruelties to the settlers excited sympathy throughout the whole country, and the companies of Shrawder and Christie were discharged by state autho- 84 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. rity. But the inhuman Patterson re-enlisted many of the soldiers, and continued to perpetrate his hellish deeds in spite of instructions to the contrary. After an ab- sence of several weeks the Yankees returned and fortified themselves under a cliff of rock, on the Eastern or Wilkes- barre Mountain. This, Mr. Miner says, they called Fort Lillope, but we have in our possession several orders, sent by John Franklin, John Jenkins, and others, from this cave-fortress, to Matthias Hollenback, in Wilkes- barre, for rum, tea, sugar, &c., and these orders are dated at Fort Defence. From this fort three or four persons entered Wilkesbarre under, the promised protection of Patterson, who arrested and beat them with iron ram- rods. Franklin and Jenkins, now having no faith in the promises of anybody connected with Pennsylvania, re- moved in the month of July, with their associates, to Kingston. On the 20th of that month a company of thirty young men, marching to Plymouth, met a body of Patterson's men on Rosshill. A conflict ensued, and Elisha Garrett and Chester Pierce were slain. Several of Patterson's men were wounded, but none of them killed. Forty-two effective and twenty old men, now aroused to vengeance by this bloody deed, placed them- selves under the command of John Franklin. They first marched to Shawnee, and dispossessed the Pennamite families there, then crossing the river at Nanticoke, they drove off all from their dwellings on the east side, and compelled them to take refuge in the fort at Wilkesbarre. This fort Franklin's men proceeded to surround. Patter- son's troops made a sortie from the fort, and set fire to twenty-three buildings, which were consumed. Franklin continued to invest the fort, and demanded its surrender, which was refused. An engagement ensued, in which the THE PENN AMITE AND YANKEE WAR. 85 Yankees were worsted, and deemed it prudent to retire to Kingston. Patterson and forty others were now indicted by the grand jury of Northumberland county, and Sherift' Antis was sent to arrest them. But Patterson and his asso- ciates saved themselves from arrest behind their threat- ening ramparts, and the sheriff was compelled to return without them. On the very day the sheriff attempted this arrest, Major Moore, who was returning from North- ampton county, where he had secured a number of recruits for the Pennsylvania cause, was met by Captain John Swift, at the head of thirty men, on Locust Hill. A conflict ensued. Jacob Everett, one of Moore's men, was killed, and several were wounded on both sides. Moore retired to Easton, while Swift marched back to Kingston. The next movement in this unhappy struggle was the appointment of Colonel John Armstrong, in conjunction with Hon. John Boyd, Commissioners, to restore peace to Wyoming. Boyd was a member, and Armstrong was the secretary, of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsyl- vania. This Colonel Armstrong was the author of the Newburg Letters, had been minister to Spain and France, and was secretary of war in 1812, under the administra- tion of President Madison. The commissioners arrived in the valley on the 8th of August, 1784. Three hun- dred infantry and fifteen horsemen were ordered to be placed at their disposal. They issued their proclamation declaring peace and good-will. They demanded a cessa- tion of strife, and the surrender of arms by both parties. The Yankees werfe fearful of treachery, and hesitated to accept the proffered mediation of the commissioners. But Armstrong pledged his honor as a man and as a soldier to respect his engagements, and make good his promises. 86 A.NNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. The Yankees believed and laid down their arms, when they were immediately arrested. Captain Swift's company of men, who had defeated Moore at Locust Hill, were bound with cords and handcuffed. In this condition they were marched away to Easton jail.'-' Forty-two others were bound and sent to jail at Sunbury. Patterson's men were not disarmed. Armstrong then returned to Phila- delphia covered with infamy. The Sunbury prisoners were released on bail. The Easton prisoners procured their liberty through Edward Inman, a man of great physical strength, who knocked down the jailor, seized the keys, and liberated himself and comrades. Fifteen of them escaped to Wyoming, but eleven w^ere taken and confined in jail three months. An attempt was then made to indict them for the murder of Jacob Everett, who, as before stated, was killed at Locust Hill. The attempt, however, proved a failure, for the grand jury ignored the bill. No bills were found in Northumberland county against the prisoners sent thither by Armstrong. On the other hand, Patterson and Moore were both indicted, which shows that the people generally through Pennsylvania sympathized with the Connecticut settlers in their sufferings. In September, Armstrong returned to the valley with fifty men and arrested Franklin, Pierce, and Johnson, for treason, but they were never convicted. On the 29th of the same month, the Yankees, under Captain Swift, attacked a house which Patterson occupied as head- quarters. They set the building on fire, and two of his associates, Henderson and Read, in attempting to escape to the fort, were shot down. Captain Swift was severely wounded, but his loss did not in the least abate the ardor * For names of these prisoners, see Appendix, C. THE PENNAMITE AND YANKEE WAR. 87 and efforts of his men, who spiritedly invested the Penna- mite garrison. In this conflict, Franklin was wounded in the wrist, Nathan Stevens was shot in the eye and died instantly, William Smith and one or two others were also killed, and finally, the Yankees were compelled to abandon the siege. By the constitution of Pennsylvania, established after the colonies had declared themselves free and independent states, in addition to the Supreme Executive Council and the House of Representatives, there existed a Council of Censors who assembled once in seven years. This body was elected by the people, and had power to send for persons and papers, and to examine into all questions respecting the rights of the people and the administration of justice. &c. After an examination, by the censors, of the Wj'oming difficulties, and after the refusal of the House of Representatives to furnish certain papers, in the autumn of 1784, they issued a declaration enumerating the wrongs committed against the Connecticut settlers, and severely censuring the Supreme Executive Council and the House of Representatives. These bodies, how- ever, disregarded the reproof of the censors, and prosecu- ted the unholy war. Armstrong was promoted to the position of a general, and at the head of one hundred armed men, on the 17th of October, 1784, again entered the valley. The day following, he attacked the Yankees, who had fortified themselves in four log-houses, placed in the form of a diamond, situated above Forty Fort. The contest lasted one hour, when Armstrong was compelled to retreat, having lost Captain Bolin, and having had three or four severely wounded. On the side of the Yankees, William Jackson was dangerously wounded, and as he lay bleeding, Captain Franklin seized his friend's bloody rifle and swore he would never lay down his arms until 88 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. death should arrest his hand, or Patterson and Armstrong should be expelled from Wyoming. The next day, Arm- strong sent thirty of his men to gather the buckwheat on the Kingston flats, but the Yankees, stealthily encircling the workmen, carried away the grain, amounting to about one hundred bushels. At this juncture, the Assembly of Pennsylvania passed an act restoring the dispossessed Yankees to their lands, and recalling Armstrong and Patterson with the forces under their command. This was temporary relief The settlers at once set about the appointment of committees, to organize the militia, to provide for the punishment of offenders, &c. Franklin was elected colonel of the troops. A petition, signed by ninety-six men and women, setting forth their grievances and sufferings, and praying to be permitted to elect their own officers and to be protected in their rights, was sent to the Assembly at Philadelphia. John Jenkins was appointed to wait on the Assembly, and to secure the passage of a law for the final settlement of matters in dispute, and for the permanent establish- ment of the rights of the Connecticut settlers. These efforts proving of no avail, Franklin waited upon the session of Congress, and upon the Assembly of Connecti- cut, and endeavored to interest them in the wretched fate of the Wyoming people. He also made a bold effort to revive the slumbering energies of the Susquehanna Company, which, like Connecticut, had been stunned by the Trenton decree. In this he succeeded. In July, 1785, the Company met and reaffirmed its rights in these disputed lands ; land was voted to recruits, called half- share rights ; committees were appointed, and extensive preparations were made. Franklin returned to Wyoming, held meetings, and addressed the people in the several townships, in regard to a new plan which had been settled THE PENNAMITE AND YANKEE WAR, 89 upon. It remained for the people to carry it out. It had been determined to form a new state out of Northern Pennsylvania, The disputed territory was to be dismem- bered, and down-trodden Wyoming was to be set free from the thralldom of Pennsylvania. Wise heads at Philadelphia saw the gathering storm, and on the 24th of December following the Assembly of Pennsjdvania passed an " Act for quieting disturbances at Wyoming and pardoning certain offenders," This law required the Yan- kees to give bail for their good behavior, but gave them no security in return. It was consequently disregarded. In July, 1786, the Susquehanna Company held another meeting in Connecticut, and Colonel Franklin, Major Jen- kins, and General Ethan Allen, Colonel Butler and others, were appointed a committee to locate townships, to decide upon claims, &c. The ball set in motion by the bold and fearless Franklin was now being rolled onward by such men as Oliver Walcott, Joel Barlow, and General Ethan Allen, the hero of Ticonderoga. Stout hearts and heroes, who had braved the tempest of battle during the revolu- tion, and who sympathized with the widows and orjohans of their comrades in their sufferings and wrongs, were gathering at Wyoming, and the result could not be mistaken. The authorities of Pennsylvania saw at once that the infamous policy which they had pursued was fast leading to a dismemberment of the state, and that the time had arrived for other and prompt measures, A division in the ranks of the Yankees was determined upon, and the question arose. Who can accomplish it ? Timothy Pickering, a native of Massachusetts, and a man of distinguished ability, was at this time engaged in the practice of law in the city of Philadelphia. He was requested to visit Wyoming, and examine into the condi- tion of affairs there. This he did in August and Septem- QO ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. ber, 178G, and returning to Philadelphia, reported "that the Yankees were entirely satisfied with the constitution of Pennsylvania, and were ready to submit to its govern- ment, provided they could be quieted in the possession of their farms." A few daj-s after this report, September 25th, 1786, the Act creating the county of Luzerne passed the Assembly, and Matthias Hollenback, Timothy Picker- ing, and others, were commissioned justices, with power to hold courts, &c. Pickering was also appointed protlio- nothary, clerk of the court, and register and recorder. Lord Butler was commissioned high sheriff. On the 27th of December following this event, the Susquehanna Compan}^ held a meeting at the State House, in Hartford, Conn., when measures were adopted prejDaratory to the organization of the new state. An executive committee of twenty-one persons, among whom appear the names of Oliver Walcott, Joel Barlow, Zebulon Butler, John Franklin, and John Jenkins, was appointed with full powers to organize the government. On the same day, at Philadelphia, the. Assembly of Pennsylvania passed a supplement to the Act creating Luzerne county, by which Timothy Pickering, Zebulon Butler, and John Franklin, were appointed to notify the electors of Luzerne county, that an election would be held there on the first day of February, 1787, for the election of one supreme councillor, one member of the House of Representatives, and a high sheriff. Thus, Pennsylvania succeeded in dividing the Yankees, and now they were no longer one people united against a common enemy. As the first day of February approached the breach widened, and on the morning of the 'election, "for the first time," says Miner, "was presented the spectacle, equally gratifying to foes and painful to friends, of open and decided hostility among the Wyoming people. Colonel Butler, Colonel THE PENNAMITE AND YANKEE WAR. 91 Denison, the HoUenbacks, the Rosses, the famiUes of Gore, Carey, Nesbit, and others, were in favor of the election, while Franklin, the Jenkinses, the Slocums, Satterlies, Dudleys, and others, opposed it." The former were ready and willing to swear allegiance to Pennsyl- vania, and trust to her honor for a confirmation of their titles, and for the securitj^ of their homes ; but Franklin and his adherents, remembering Pennsylvania's oft re- peated and plighted vows, and the outrages of Armstrong and Patterson, would not trust her without security. Confirm us in our titles, and protect us in our posses- sions, said they, and then we will swear allegiance, but not till then. The election was held, but not without riot and confusion. Colonel Nathan Denison was chosen a member of the Executive Council, John Franklin was elected to the House of Representatives, and Lord Butler to the office of high sheriff of the county. It was under- stood if Franklin could be reconciled, the new state pro- ject would be seriously damaged. It was consequently a prime object to seduce him from his former connections. With this view he had been appointed with Pickering and Butler to give notice of the election, and it was with this view he had been elected a member of the Pennsyl- vania Assembl}'. It was doubtless intended as an exqui- site stroke of political management. It was a cunningly- spread net, in which most men would have been caught. But Franklin was not so to be taken, for he stubbornly adhered to his first position, refusing to take a seat in the Assembly or the oath of allegiance. The settlers who had united with Pennsylvania, and who recognised Pickering as their leader, denounced Franklin and his associates as " Wild Yankees," prose- cuting a project which would involve them in endless war. On the other hand, Franklin and his adherents 92 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. proclaimed them as traitors, who had gone over to the enemy, and against whose treachery they, even now, had not the slightest guarantee. On the 28th of March following the election, the As- sembly of Pennsylvania, seeing that all efforts to recon- cile the " Wild Yankees" had failed, passed the Confirming Law, under M'hich Timothy Pickering, Joseph Montgo- mery, and Peter Muhlenberg were appointed commis- sioners, to sit at Wilkesbarre, to hear and decide claims. Both parties now agreed to hold a general mass meeting of all the settlers at Fort}^ Fort, and to discuss the merits of the late Act of Assembly. A stand was erected, and Samuel Sutton was chosen chairman. Timothy Picker- ing opened the discussion by a lengthy and persuasive argument in favor of the law. He declared that Penn- sylvania was honest and sincere, and pledged his honor as security for her good faith. Stephen Gardner, half doubting, said, " Your lips speak fair, but oh ! that there was a window in that breast that we might see and read your heart." Major John Jenkins replied to Pickering, " What gua- rantee have we that Pennsylvania will keep her plighted faith ? She has forfeited her honor time and again. If we accept the provisions of this law, when she finds we are tied hand and foot she will repeal it, and leave us without, hope." John Franklin now followed in a powerful and sarcastic speech. He denounced, in the most bitter and irritating language, the conduct of Pennsjdvania, as well as of those who had taken part with Pickering. The pent-up emo- tions of the excited assembly could no longer be re- strained — a fight ensued, clubs were cut and used, and for a moment serious consequences were imminent. When '& a ft i ii O =4 a s f I THE PENNAxMITE AND YANKEE WAR. 93 order was partially restored a vote was taken, when it was decided to accept the law. The commissioners appointed under this law now opened their court, and decided upon a number of claims ; but, being threatened with violence, they adjourned in the month of August. A constitution for the new state, which the Susque- hanna Company had proposed to form, having been drawn up by Oliver Walcott, and the officers having been decided upon, General Ethan Allen, in September, arrived in the' valley. He found the Connecticut people divided, and he set himself at work to unite them. Among other things he declared he had made one new state, and that with one hundred Green Mountain boys, and two hun- dred riflemen, he could make another in spite of Penn- sylvania. The bold Franklin was indefatigable in his efforts. He addressed the people in Kingston, Hanover, Newport, Pittston, &c., but all in vain. A union was not to be perfected, and Allen returned to New England. Soon after Allen's departure, Pickering and his adhe- rents resolved to arrest Franklin for high treason. A writ was issued by Chief Justice McKean, and placed in the hands of four resolute men, non-residents of Luzerne county. About the close of September, Franklin came to Wilkesbarre, and, says Mr. Miner, "As he stood by Mr. Yarrington's, near the Ferry, about two o'clock in the afternoon, a person whom he knew came up and said, ' a friend at the red house wished to speak to him.' Un- conscious of danger he walked down, when suddenly he was seized behind, and an attempt made to pinion his arms. By powerful efforts he shook himself loose ; was again seized ; but by the most vigorous exertions kept his opponents from their purjDose, till a noose was thrown over his head, and bis arms confined — the power of all 94 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY four being requisite to tie him. To get him on horse- back was the next object. Colonel Franklin now cried out : ' Help, help ! William Slocum ! Where is WilHam Slocum ?' and drawing his pistols, for he went armed, discharged one of them without effect, when a heavy blow struck him for a moment almost senseless, and covered his face with blood. The hour had been judiciously selected — in the midst of seeding time. William Slocum, with nearly all the male population, were at work in distant fields sowing grain. But the spirit of the good Quaker mother was roused. Her Yankee blood was up. A lovely and amiable woman she was, but for the moment she thought of nothing but the release of Franklin. Mrs. Slocum seized the gun, and running to the door, ' Wil- liam,' she cried, 'who will call William? Is there no man here ? Will nobody rescue him ?' " From the river bank Captain Erbe had got his prisoner into the main street, near Colonel Pickering's ; but with tremendous power, in despite of his four captors, Franklin threw himself from the horse, as often as placed on him, when Colonel Pickering was obliged to come from behind the curtain, and decisively to interpose. Accompanied by his servant, William A. George, he ran to the door armed with a loaded pistol, which he held to Franklin's breast, while George tied his legs under the horse, and bound him to one of his captors. Colonel Pickering says, " The four gentlemen seized him — two of their horses were in my stable, which were sent to them ; but soon my servant returned on one of them with a message from the gentlemen that the people were assembling in numbers, and requested me to come with what men were near me, to prevent a rescue. I took loaded pistols in my hands, and went with another ser- vant to their aid. Just as I met them, Franklin threw THE PENNAMITE AND YANKEE WAR. 95 himself off his horse, and renewed his struggle with them. His hair was disheveled and face bloody with preceding efforts. I told the gentlemen they would never carry him off unless his feet were tied under his horse's belly. I sent for a cord. The gentlemen remounted him, and my servant tied his feet. Then one taking his bridle, another following behind, and the others riding one on each side, they whipped up his horse, and were soon beyond the reach of his friends. Thus subdued by six, he was hur- ried with painful speed to the jail at Philadelphia." News of the arrest and abduction of Franklin spread rapidly through the valley, and his friends in retaliation determined to seize Pickering and hold him as a hostage until the release of Franklin. The attempt w^as made, but through the intervention of Colonel Zebulon Butler he was permitted to escape to Philadelphia. Soon after his arrival there, in October, a meeting of the Pennsyl- vania claimants was convened. In relation to this meet- ing Pickering says, " I was advised of a meeting of the Pennsylvania claimants, and requested to be present. The number did not exceed ten or twelve. The Kev. Dr. Ewing, an elderly Presbyterian gentleman, and provost of the state university, was one of the number, and the most zealous for petitioning the Legislature, then in ses- sion, to repeal the Confirming Law. The gentlemen in general appeared to be opposed to that step, and some of them observed that the faith of the state being pledged, its honor required an adherence to the promises of the Confirming Law. ^ What do I care for the honor of the state? I want my money!' was the shameless reply of the reverend gentleman." The Rev. Dr. Smith, who had also been connected with the University, and was a distinguished minister in the Protestant Episcopal Church, was a member of this meet- ing, and, like Dr. Ewing, held a small claim in Wyoming. 96 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. Through the influence of these two men the Confirming Law was repealed. " I beheve," says Pickering, " but for these two reve- rend gentlemen teasing and intriguing with members of the Legislature, the Confirming Law might have been car- ried into execution." Thus w^e find the idea of forming a new state has been abandoned, the Susquehanna company is paralyzed, and Franklin is wasting away in a gloomy prison. The Con- firming Law has been repealed, and the honor of Pennsyl- vania is forfeited. The prophetic words of John Jenkins have been realized, and the faith of the Commonwealth, as well as the interests of the settlers, has been sacrificed to the intrigues of land-jobbing priests. ,, ^. Pickering returned to Wyoming in January, 1788. On the night of the 26th of June following, being in bed in the house* now owned and occupied by General W. S. Ross, Wilkesbarre, he was seized by Franklin's friends, and conveyed up the river into what is now Wyoming county. Here he was kept prisoner, wandering from place to place through the w^oods, with a chain about his body by which he was secured to a tree during the night. Sherift' Butler, with four companies of militia, made pursuit in order to effect a rescue. A conflict between the opposing parties ensued at Meshoppen. The sheriff's party soon exhibited their superiority, and the Wild Yankees wdth Pickering fled into deeper and less frequented shades of the wilderness. Captain William Ross, who commanded one of the sheriff's companies, was severely wounded, and Gideon Dudley, who commanded the Yankees, was wounded in the wrist. Another 'engagement took place between the Yankees and a company of the sheriff's force, under the command of * It was in front of this house that John Franklin was captured by Pickering and his men. THE PENNAMITE AND YANKEE WAR. 97 Captain Roswell Franklin, near Wysox, and Joseph Dud- ley, one of the Yankees, was mortally wounded. The object of Pickering's capture was to procure from him a letter to the state authorities asking for Franklin's release. This Pickering steadily refused to do, when he was, at length, released by his captors. He returned to Wilkesbarre after a captivity of twenty days. Fruitless efforts were made for Franklin's release. Two thousand pounds bail were demanded, and he had offered a number of the Wyoming settlers as bailors, but they were contemptuously refused. He was told no ten of these settlers were worth two hundred pounds, much less two thousand, and that the whole of them were a pack of thieves, &c.,-&c. In November, 1788, a court was ordered to be held at Wilkesbarre for the trial of Franklin and the rioters. Chief Justice McKean presided, assisted by his honor Jacob Rush. Franklin was brought up from Philadel- phia, after thirteen long months of imprisonment. His strong frame was bowed and' weakened by disease. He was charged with high treason, and the grand jury found a true bill. The trial was then postponed, and never afterwards called up. Franklin was admitted to bail. Twenty-five persons engaged in the capture of Picker- ing were indicted, and a number fined or imprisoned, but from policy the sentence of the court was not fully car- ried into effect. Thus were the " Wild Yankees" subjugated, and the authority of Pennsylvania was established, chiefly through the influence of Colonel Pickering, a man of consummate tact and ability. The attempt to establish a new state out of Northern Pennsylvania, if not nipped in the bud, would have led to deplorable consequences. All the wild spirits of New 98 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. England would have flocked to Allen's standard, and the people of Pennsjdvania, being now justly aroused and indignant, would have put forth all the energies of the Commonwealth to crush the efforts to dismember their territory. A violent and bloody civil Avar, of indefinite magnitude and of indefinite length, would have followed, and would possibly have involved the Union in its confla- gration. The promptness, skill, and foresight of Picker- ing and others averted this calamit}^ The Legislature of Pennsylvania, between the years 1788 and 1800, enacted several laws relative to the Wyoming claims and difficulties. But the most import- ant was undoubtedly the Compromising Law of 1799, By this act compensation was offered to Pennsylvania claimants, and by it, with the several supplements thereto, the dispute was finally settled. As under former laws, so by this, commissioners Avere appointed to meet at Wyoming to hold their courts and determine disputes. If it appeared that the Connecticut claimant was an actual settler on the land before the Trenton decree, and that said tract was particular!}^ assigned to said settler before said decree, according to the rules and regulations then in force among the settlers, then a certificate issued to the Connecticut claimant, upon which he received a patent from the land office, by paying into the treasury two dollars per acre for lands of the first class, one dollar and twenty cents for lands of the second class, fifty cents for lands of the third class, and eight and one-third cents for lands of the fourth class. The commissioners were to cause a re-survey of all the lands lying in the seventeen townships claimed by the Pennsylvania claimants, and after forty thousand acres should be released and re-conveyed to the Common- wealth by said claimants, then they were to receive a THE PENNAMITE AND YANKEE T7AR. 99 compensation for the same from the state treasury, at the rate of five dollars for first-class lands, three dollars for second, one dollar and fifty cents for third, and twenty- five cents for fourth-class lands, per acre. These seventeen townships were those laid out by the Susquehanna Com- pany, and after the passage of the Act of 1799 were called certified townships, and those of them in this county are designated on the accompanying map by dotted lines and open letters. The names of these townships are Wilkes- barre, Hanover, Newport, Huntington, Salem, Plymouth, Kingston, Exeter, Bedford, Pittston, Providence, Putnam or Tunkhannock, Ulster, Claverack, Braintrim, North- moreland, and Springfield. The last six lie within the limits of Wyoming, Susquehanna, and Bradford counties. Thus, after thirty years of strife there was peace, peace at last in Wyoming. The record presents a sad com- mentary on the folly of men. Passion and selfishness predominate, and the voice of reason is unheeded. Not until after their energies and substance are exhausted, and every expedient that foll}^ could suggest has been tried, do they open their eyes, and quietly pursue that course which common sense pointed out at the first. The conduct of the state of Pennsylvania is without excuse. Her vacillating legislation, and her bad faith, expose her to the severest censure. The Pennsylvania claimants undoubtedly exercised an undue influence in her legislative halls, and it is to be feared corruptly pro- cured the repeal of measures which at a previous session had been enacted with the best motives for honest pur- poses. It is to be hoped that our great Commonwealth will never again suffer the pages of her history to be darkened and disgraced, by a disregard of the dictates of justicq_aj^(^ of humanity. CHAPTER III. CAPTAIN LAZARUS STEWART. Dauphin county, in Pennsylvania, was originally called Paxton district, and was included, previous to 1785, in Lancaster county. It was first settled by Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, from the north of Ireland, about the year 1726, among whom were the ancestors of Captain Lazarus Stewart. He was born in Hanover township, in Paxton or Pextang district, in the year 1734. His father was a plain honest farmer, who gave his son such education as the frontiers of a new country commonly afford. The Scotch-Irish were generally impressed with the import- ance of mental improvement, and every settlement usually had its schoolmaster "to teach the young idea how to shoot." The subject of this sketch was endowed by nature with excellent abilities, and though his bold and impatient spirit could ill brook the strict school discipline of that day, yet he appears to have made considerable advance- ment in his studies under a Scotch-Irish teacher, who " flourished the birch" in the neighborhood of his father's cabin. For one whose days were destined to be spent in the adventurous scenes of frontier life, amid hardships and alarms, with an axe in one hand and a rifle in the other, his education may be said to have been excellent; He possessed a strong and active body, with a daring and enterprising spirit, which in boyhood gave him superiority among his companions, and in riper years made him a leader and a man of mark, (100) CAPTAIN LAZARUS STEWART. 101 In the year 1755, when the French were striving to prevent the expansion of the EngUsh colonies from the source of the Ohio towards the Mississippi, Stewart, then twenty-one years of age, was placed in command of a company of brave young men, who penetrated the wilder- ness westward, and united with the forces under General Braddock. That heroic but conceited general, who was accounted an excellent officer on the battle-fields of Europe, was altogether ignorant of Indian tactics, and in his infatuated self-reliance met with a most disastrous overthrow. The Indians, following on the track of the retreating remnants of the army, dispersed themselves in bands, and broke into the frontier settlements of Penn- sylvania with fire and murder. Captain Stewart and his comrades hastened home to defend their firesides and loved ones. However, while they were yet on their way, a party of savages, under cover of the night, stole into the northern portion of Paxton, and murdered a whole family. Then securing the plunder and cattle, they fled away into the wilderness. The head of a beautiful young girl of this family was severed from her body, and raised on a pole above the house-top. This lady was Captain Stewart's intended bride, to whom he was to be united in marriage on his return from the campaign. She was an amiable girl, endued with rare beauty, fondly attached to her lover, and was looking forward with pleasing antici- pations to his return, though doubtless with mingled feel- ings of anxiety in view of the chances of war. The hope of future happiness, the bright eye and fair cheek of his promised bride, must have fortified the heart of the young soldier, and smoothed -down the difficulties which he encountered in the depths of the forest, and on the field of battle. On his road to Hanover, he would pass near to the home of his loved one, but as he approached he 102 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. saw in the distance its burned and blackened remains. Suddenly a terrible fear sprang up in his heart, and pale- ness overspread his cheek. When he came near he saw the bodies of the slain fiimily, which had been gathered up and placed in rough coffins by the assembled neigh- bors. We may imagine the deep anguish of the young soldier as he gazed on the mutilated remains of her who was more to him than all the world beside. None but strong and passionate natures can conceive of the fierce emotions which flamed up in his soul, when he thought of those who had done this horrid deed. Hannibal, in obedience to parental authority, swore eternal hostility to ambitious Rome, because she was the rival of his native Carthage; Stewart, standing over that precious but dis- figured form, took an oath of vengeance against the Indians, because they had made his heart desolate, and turned his anticipations of joy to bitterness unspeakable. The inhabitants of Paxton immediately formed them- selves into a military corps, called the Paxton Rangers, and constituted their excellent pastor, the Rev. Mr. Elder, its colonel. In this regiment Stewart was appointed cap- tain of -a company, whose duties were to watch the settle- ments along the Juniata, and those on the w^est and north branches of the Susquehanna, and protect them from the rifle and tomahawk of the savage. Several skirmishes took place between his rangers and the savage foe during a period of two or three years. In these engagements he exhibited that impetuous daring and great firmness which were characteristic of the man. He was always on the alert; his vigilance never slept, and his powers of en- durance were the admiration of all. High mountains, swollen rivers, or great distances never deterred or appal- led him. His courage and fortitude were equal to everv CAPTAIN LAZARUS STEWART. 103 undertaking, and woe betide the red men \vlien tlieir blood-stained tracks once met his eye. In 1763 the frontiers were visited by scalping-parties of Indians, during what was called Pontiac's war. Earl}' in October of that 3'ear, the Stinton family and a number of Irish settlements in Northampton county were mas- sacred by Indians of the Six Nations. These barbarities soon reached the ears of the Paxton men, and they soli- cited their colonel, Rev. Mr. Elder, to obtain permission from the governor to allow them to make an expedition against the enemy. Another object in view was " to destroy the immense quantities of corn left by the New England men at Wyoming, which, if not consumed, would be a considerable magazine to the enemy, and enable them with more ease to distress the inhabitants." At the most earnest solicitation of his men. Colonel Elder allowed twt) of his companies of rangers, respectively under the com- mands of Captain Stewart and Captain Clayton, to pro- ceed to Wyoming. They marched in three days and a half one hundred and ten mil^s on foot. When they reached Wyoming they learned that the murdering party, which had committed shocking depredations in North- ampton county on the 8th October, was probably the same which, on the 15th of that month, had cut off the New England settlers in the valley. At all events, they entered the valley from the direction of Northampton, and took their departure up the river. There is no suffi- cient ground for supposing that the massacre of the settlers of Wyoming, in the autumn of 1763, was done by the friends of Tedyuscung, the great Delaware king, who was murdered in the valley in the spring of that year. All the presumptions are in favor of the opinion that the murderers of Tedyuscung, as well as of the New England settlers, belonged to the Six Nations. From the 104 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. language of Colonel Elder to Governor Hamilton, it would appear as if the colonel, in using the word left, with respect to the corn in Wyoming, thought the New Eng- land men had lied from the valley. And the belief was a natural one, when we consider the exposed condition of that region of country when Pontiac's war was raging along the frontiers. It is certain Clayton and Stewart could not have heard of the Wyoming murder until after they had left home, and had advanced a considerable dis- tance on their expedition. Their object was to intercept the Northampton murderers, as well as to destroy the corn which they supposed had been left by the New Eng- landers. They found and buried, of these New England people, ten persons, nine men and one woman, who had been barbarously butchered. " The woman was roasted, and had two hinges in her hands, supposed to have been put in red-hot, and several of the men had awls thrust in their eyes, and spears, arrows, pitchforks, &c., sticking in their bodies."* The Paxton Rangers, after burning the Indian houses and a quantity of corn, returned to their homes. The scenes which Stewart and his men had already witnessed were eminently calculated to rouse the highest degree of resentment against the Indian. Besides these murdered strangers of another colony, but of the same race and language with themselves, they had seen their neighbors and acquaintances, their friends, and those dearest to their hearts, cold in death, felled by the toma- hawk, tortured and cruelly mangled. The condition of the frontiers now became most alarm- ing. The depredations of the savages grew more fre- quent, and the remote settlements were deserted. In the midst of the peace and quiet of our day, we cannot form * See Appendix, A. CAPTAIN LAZARUS STEWART. 105 an adequate conception of the perils which encompassed the Paxton settlers at this time. The slaughter of their wives and children drove the men to desperation. Some of the murderers were known to have been harbored by the friendly Indians at Conestoga. This gave rise to a bitter animosity against the-m. Indeed, a feeling of hos- tility was awakened against the Moravians and Quakers, who were disposed to conciliate and protect the Indians. The people in and about Philadelphia, and those portions of the province, secure against the fire and tomahawk of the savage, looked with a lenient eye on his bloody depre- dations. He was a savage, unchristianized, said they, ignorant of 'his duty and his destiny, encroached upon by the white man, and driven from his hunting-grounds. We should pardon much to his wild and untamed nature, and reform rather than punish him. This was the glori- ous doctrine of toleration, calculated for the benevolent and non-resisting Quaker, secure in his life and property. But it was ill-suited for the frontiersman, who had seen his harvest desolated, his house burned, and was now burying for ever from his sight the scalped and mangled forms of his family. Governor Hamilton was besought and petitioned to remove the Conestoga Indians. Rev. Mr. Elder informed the governor if these Indians were removed, and a garrison placed in their room, he would pledge himself for the future security of the frontier. These representations and petitions were disregarded. Murder following murder was perpetrated, and the bloody wretches traced by Captain Stewart and his men to Con- estoga. It was plain that the Indians at Conestoga, under the guise of friendliness, were harboring and assisting their red brethren in the destruction of white men. Their position and character rendered their offence the more heinous. Further endurance ceased to be a virtue. Cap- 106 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. tain Stewart summoned his rangers. They were obedient to tlie call. In the language of Redmond Conjngham, Esq., rilies were loaded, horses were in readiness. They mounted ; they called on their pastor to lead them, lie had mounted, not to lead them on to the destruction of Conestoga, but to deter them from the attempt ; he im- plored them to return, he urged them to reflect : " Pause, pause, before you proceed !" It was in vain ; '' the blood of the murdered cries aloud for vengeance; we have waited long enough on government ; the murderers are within our reach, and they must not escape." Mr. Elder reminded them that " the guilty and innocent could not be distinguished." ''Innocent! can they be called inno- cent who foster murderers ?" Mr. Elder rode up in front, and said, " As your pastor, I command you to relinquish your design !" " Give way, then," said Smith, " or your horse dies," presenting his rifle : to save his horse, to which he was much attached, the aged minister drew him aside, and the rangers were off on their fatal errand. It was the night of the 14th of December, 1763, when these exasperated men approached the village of Cones- toga. The moment they were perceived an Indian fired, and rushed towards them, brandishing his tomahawk. He fell by more than one ball — one cried, " It is the villain who murdered my mother." The village was instantly stormed, and reduced to ashes. But many of the Indians escaped the vengeance of the rangers, and were received by the people of Lancaster, who placed them in the stone workhouse for safety. Stewart sent spies to Lancaster, who reported their condition, and that one of their num- ber, there sheltered, had been concerned in recent mur- ders. Stewart said, " We will go to Lancaster, storm their castle, and carry off the assassin." The plan was arranged. They proceeded to Lancaster. Stewart was CAPTAIN LAZARUS STEVTART. 107 to reuiiiiii outside of the prison, with twelve men, to pre- vent surprise, five more were to guard the keepers from meddhng, while three were to enter, secure the murderer with cords, and hand him over to Stewart. In case of resistance, a gun was to be fired as a signal. The signal was given, the Indians perished, and the rangers mounted and rode hastily to their homes. This occurred on the 27th of December, about two weeks after the affair at Conestoga, while the people of Lancaster were generally at church. These deeds created a wonderful excitement throughout the province. Numerous essays and pamphlets were written, and the press teemed with publications accusing and excusing Stewart and his rangers. The Moravians and Quakers denounced the Presbyterians of Paxton, as aiding and abetting the rangers in their work of blood. The Presbyterians accused the Moravians and Quakers of fostering murderous Indians. All parties blamed the governor for not removing the Indians, as he had been repeatedly urged and warned to do. Crimination and recrimination were the order of the day. Governor Penn issued his proclamation, offering a reward of two hundred pounds for the arrest of Captain Stewart, or any of his men, and the Assembly passed a law declaring that any person accused of taking away the life of an Indian shall not be tried in the county where the deed was committed, but in the city of Philadelphia. This law shows the excited state of the public mind, and never would have been enacted if the frontier counties, which had but ten members in the Assembly, had not been overruled by the city and county of Philadelphia, and counties of Chester and Bucks, which gave twenty-six members. No doubt innocent persons perished at Conestoga and Lancaster, but, considering the circumstances of the case, 108 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. there is every palliation for this deed of men acting in self-defence, and driven to madness by their losses, and their own perilous condition. It is important to know that the destruction of the Conestoga Indians gave quiet to the frontiers. The Rev. Mr. Elder, in writing to Governor Penn, under date of January 27th, 1764, says, in speaking of Stewart and his rangers, ^ The men in private life are virtuous and respectable ; not cruel, but mild and merciful. The time will arrive when each palliating circumstance will be calmly weighed." In another letter, in speaking of Stewart particularly^, he represents him as humane, liberal, and religious. The history of Pennsylvania, from the period of the French war to the commencement of the Revolution, exhibits ample evidence of a gross neglect of the frontiers on the part of the proprietary government. These dis- tant settlements were left single-handed to hold the savages in check, and they were also refused pecuniary aid from the government. The people of the city of Philadelphia and of the lower counties sympathized with the Indians, and could form no adequate conception of the feelings of the frontier people, who lived in the midst of alarms and losses. A feeling of decided unfriendliness existed between the government and the eastern portion of the state on the one hand, and the settlers along the Susquehanna river and its tributaries on the other. -Hence, we must read the letters, pamphlets, and essays of that period, in regard to the Conestoga affair, with many grains of allowance for the excited feelings of hos- tile sections. Stewart and his men continued to live in security in the Paxton district, upheld by their own people, in spite of the rewards and denunciations of the government. CAPTAIN LAZARUS STEWART. 109 But here is Captain Stewart's own view of the matter, as published by himself, in the midst of the stirring excite- ment of the hour. " Declaration. Let all hear. Were the counties of Lancaster, York, Cumberland, Berks, and Northampton protected by government ? Did not John Harris of Pax- ton ask advice of Colonel Croghan, and did not the colonel advise him to raise a company of scouters, and was not this confirmed by Benjamin Franklin ? And yet when Harris asked the Assembly to pay the scouting party, he was told ' that he might pay them himself.' Did not the counties of Lancaster, York, Cumberland, Berks, and Northampton, the frontier settlements, keep up rangers to watch the motions of the Indians ; and when a murder was committed by an Indian, a runner with the intelli- gence was sent to each scouting party, that the murderer or murderers might be punished ? Did we not brave the summer's heat and the winter's cold, and the savage toma- hawk, while the inhabitants of Philadelphia, Philadelphia county, Bucks, and Chester ' ate, drank, and were merry' ? " If a white man kill an Indian, it is a murder far exceeding any crime upon record ; he must not be tried in the county where he lives, or where the offence was committed, but in Philadelphia, that he may be tried, convicted, sentenced, and hung without delay. If an Indian kill a white man, it was the act of an ignorant heathen, perhaps in liquor : alas, poor innocent ! he is sent to the friendly Indians, that he may be made a Christian. Is it not a notorious fact, that an Indian who treacherously murdered a family in Northampton county, was given up to the magistrates that he might have a regular trial; and was not this Indian conveyed into Bucks county, and is he not provided with every neces- 110 ANNALS OF LUZEllNE COUNTY. sary, and kept secured from punishment by Israel Pem- berton ? Have we not repeatedly represented that Cones- togue was a harbor for prowling savages, and that we were at a loss to tell friend or foe, and all we asked was the removal of the Christian Indians ? Was not this pro- mised by Governor Penn, yet delayed? Have we for- gotten Renatus, that Christian Indian? A murder of more than savage barbarity was committed on the Sus- quehanna; the murderer was traced by the scouts to Conestogue ; he was demanded, but the Indians assumed a warlike attitude, tomahawks were raised, and the fire- arms glistened in the sun ; shots were fired upon the scouts, w^io went back for additional force. They re- turned, and you know the event — Conestogue was reduced to ashes. But the murderer escaped. The friendly and unfriendly were placed in the workhouse at Lancaster. What could secure them from the vengeance of an exas- perated people ? The doors were forced, and the hapless Indians perished. Were we tamely to look on and see our brethren murdered, and see our fairest prospects blasted, while the inhabitants of Philadelphia, Philadel- phia county, Bucks and Chester, slept, and reaped their grain in safety ? " These hands never shed human blood. Why am I singled out as an object of persecution ? Why are the bloodhounds let loose upon me ? Let him who wished to take my life — let him come and take it — I shall not fly. All I ask is that the men accused of murder be tried in Lancaster county. All I ask is a trial in my own county. If these requests are refused, then not a hair of those men's heads shall be molested. Whilst I have life you shall not either have them or me on any terms. It is true, I submitted to the sheriff of York county, but you know too well that I was to be conveyed to Philadelphia like a CAPTAIN LAZARUS STEWART. Ill wild felon, manacled, to die a felon's death. I would have scorned to fly from York. I could not bear that my name should be marked by ignominy. What I have done, w^as done for the security of hundreds of settlers on the frontiers. The blood of a thousand of my fellow- creatures called for vengeance. I shed no Indian's blood. As a ranger I sought the post of danger, and now you ask my life. Let me be tried w^here prejudice has not prejudged my case. Let my brave rangers, who have stemmed the blast nobly, and never flinched, let them have an equitable trial; they were my friends in the hour of danger — to desert them now w^ere cowardice ! What remains, is to leave our cause with our God, and our guns. " Lazarus Stewart." The strife at Wyoming, betw^een the Connecticut set- tlers and Pennsylvania, gave Stewart and his rangers an opportunity to gratify their love of adventure, as well as their hostility to the proprietary government. The demo- cratic tendencies of the Susquehanna Compan}^, and the vesting of the title of lands in the occupants of the soil, had strong attractions for men of Stewart's cast of mind. In December, 1769, Stew^art went to Connecticut to nego- tiate with the Susquehanna Company. In consideration of certain lands he proposed to unite his forces with those of the company, and effect the occupation and settlement of Wyoming. The proposition was accepted. He re- turned to Paxton, and informed his comrades that he had obtained the grant of a township of land for himself and them, provided they would settle thereon and defend the soil. They afterwards called this township Hanover, in honor of their old home, Hanover of Paxton. In the beginning of February, 1770, at the head of forty of his 112 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. men, and ten New Englanders, Stewart entered the Valley of Wyoming, and, routing the garrison left by Ogden and Jennings, under the Pennsylvania claim, took possession of Fort Durkee. When news of this event reached Philadelphia, Ogden, with fifty men, immediately set off for the seat of war, where he arrived and took possession of his old post at Mill Creek. Thrice had the Yankees been driven from the valley by the forces of the proprietaries, the men being sent to prison at Philadelphia or Easton, while the women and children were forced on long and dreary marches to Connecticut. Stewart and his men being joined by Major John Durkee, who had been released from prison, marched against Ogden, and compelled him to surrender. They drove him from the valley and burned his block-house, having lost one man, who was killed at the first onset. Stewart and his men now took possession of Hanover, the township granted by the Susquehanna Company. They proceeded to clear their lands and erect houses, preparatory to the removal of their families from Paxton. On the 28th of June, Governor Penn issued a procla- mation, forbidding settlements under Connecticut, and offering a reward of three hundred pounds for the appre- hension of Lazarus Stewart, Zebulon Butler, and Lazarus Young, three persons against whom the governor's ire was specially excited. About the last of August Stewart and his men left Wyoming for Paxton, purposing to return in November with their families. In September, during Stewart's absence, Ogden entered the valley with a large force, captured several men in the field, and, storming Fort Durkee, compelled the Yankees to surren- der. Captain Butler and other leaders were sent prisoners to Philadelphia, and the rest were forced, with women CAPTAIN LAZAKUS STEWAKT. 113 and cliildren, to return on foot to New England. A few days before this event, Stewart was arrested by a posse in Lebanon, under the proclamation of the governor, but seizing an axe-handle, he knocked down the constable and one or two of his aids, and forced his way into the street. The town was in an uproar ; the authorities called on the people to aid in his arrest, but they refused. At this juncture Stewart's comrades, who had heard of his danger, rode impetuously into the village, and bore away their leader in triumph. About the last of October fol- lowing Stewart crossed the Susquehanna with a span of horses, at Wright's Ferry, into York county, where he was going on business. He was immediately arrested by the sheriff of York and his posse, and thrown into the county prison. Fearful of a rescue, he was hurried away, pinioned and handcuffed, early the next morning, to be carried to Philadelphia, to answer for his offence in acting against his native state in favor of the Connecticut settlers. He was in charge of the sheriff, accompanied by three assistants. No sooner had the " Paxton Boys" heard of his arrest, than they proceeded in great haste to York, but they arrived too late. The sheriff was one day in advance of them with his charge. They, the prisoner and escort, tarried for the night at Finley's, many miles on the road towards the city. The night was cold, and the three guards, with Stewart, lay down before a large fire in the bar-room, the prisoner being fastened to one of the men, to prevent his escape. The sheriff slept in an adjoining room, dreaming, doubtless, of his success, and his reception at Philadelphia, with a captive whom Gov- ernor Penn had declared to be the most dangerous man in the province. But. Stewart was wide awake. At the dead of night he cautiously unloosed the rope which bound him to the snoring guard, and with noiseless tread 8 114 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. made his way, unobserved, into the open air. Hand- cuffed, and Avithout coat, hat, or shoes, he tra,veled through the woods and unfrequented thickets to Paxton, where he arrived on the following day. His presence brought great joy to his sorrowing wife and children, and exultation to his rangers. Tidings of the arrest and escape of Stewart had scarcely reached the ears of Governor Penn, before he was in- formed of another serious offence committed by him. At three o'clock in the morning of the 18th of December, 1770, Stewart, at the head of his men, had made a rapid descent on Fort Durkee, and captured it a second time from the Pennsylvania party. A new warrant was now issued for his arrest by Thomas Willing, a Judge of the Supreme Court, and directed to Peter Hacklein, sheriff of Northampton county, who raised an armed force, and proceeded to Wyoming. Arrived at Fort Durkee, Janu- ary 18th, 1771, he demanded admittance. "Stewart informed him from the parapet that none but friends should be admitted ; that Wyoming was under the juris- diction of Connecticut, and that he should recognise no authority whatever in any persons acting under commis- sions from the government of Pennsylvania." Captain Ogden, who had accompanied Sheriff Hacklein, now attacked Fort Durkee, and his fire being returned by Stewart's party, Nathan Ogden, the captain's brother, was killed, and three others wounded. Stewart soon per- ceived his position was untenable. He was short of pro- visions, and the number of his men was much less than that of the enemy. It was impossible to hold out against a siege, and consequently during the night, with the Pax- ton men, he left for the mountains. Governor Penn issued another proclamation, offering a reward of three hundred pounds for the arrest of Lazarus Stewart, and CAPTAIN LAZARUS STEWART. 115 jBfty pounds each for the arrest of James Stewart, Wil- liam Stewart, John Simpson, William Speedy, William Young, John McDaniel, and Richard Cook. But Captain Stewart had marched through the country, and united his forces with those of Captain Butler, who had been released from prison, and these leaders were now prepar- ing for another effort to regain their lost possessions. In April, 1771, Butler and Stewart, at the head of one hun- dred and fifty men, marched into the valley, and finding Ogden strongly entrenched in a new fortification, which he called Fort Wyoming, they besieged it. Reinforce- ments, sent from Philadelphia, were defeated, and their supplies were cut off". The fort at length surrendered, and the Yankees were once more in possession of the much-coveted prize. Stewart's block-house. Stewart owned a large farm in Paxton, and he had married Martha Espy, the daughter of one of the most respectable and wealthy citizens in Lancaster county. But his interests, as well as those of his associates, being 116 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. HOW identified Avith the Yankees, they removed their families to Wyoming. He had obta,ined five tracts of land in Hanover, and he now proceeded to erect a large dwelling or block-house on the river bank, a short dis- tance below the present residence of General E. W. Stur- devant. Emigrants from New England multiplied, and a suitable form of government was established, under which Stewart occupied some important positions. Farm- houses were generally erected, and the entire settlement, unmolested by the Pennamites, was prosperous and happy for a period of nearly three years. In December, 1775, Colonel Plunket, with seven hun- dred men from Northumberland county, invaded Wyo- ming, and was met at Nanticoke by Colonel Butler, with two hundred and fifty settlers. Butler stationed his forces behind a breastwork formed of rocks and logs, near the present residence of Jameson Harvey. As Plunket approached Butler's position he exclaimed, "My God, what a breastwork !" He was greeted by a blank volley from the guns of the Yankees, as the intention was to frighten, not to kill at the first fire. Plunket then sent a detachment to the other side of the river, purposing to enter the valley near the present residence of Colonel Washington Lee. Here the force came in conflict with a party under the command of Captain Stewart. Stewart had unbounded confidence in a volley of bullets, which were poured into the advancing enemy with fatal effect. One man was killed and several wounded. The rest rapidly retreated. Colonel Butler was equally successful on his side, but not until he had resorted to something more effective than blank volleys. Plunket ingloriously returned to Northumberland, and this was the last effort until after the Revolution, on the part of Pennsylvania, to regain possession of Wyoming. CAPTAIN LAZARUS STEWART. 117 When news reached the valley that an invasion was contemplated by the British and Indians, a company was formed in Hanover, and placed under the command of Captain McKerachan, a most estimable and valuable citizen, who, on the morning of the 3d day of July, 1778, when Wyoming was called on to defend herself against an overwhelming force of British, Tories, and Indians, surrendered his company to the charge of Cap- tain Lazarus Stewart in these words : " My pursuits in life have thus far, been those of peace ; you have been used to war, and accustomed to command. On parade I can manoeuvre my men ; but in the field no unnecessary hazard should be run; a mistake might prove fatal. Take you the lead; I will fight under you, with my men, as an aid, or a private in the ranks. Your pre- sence at the head of the Hanover boys will impart con- fidence." The whole force which could be mustered in the valley to resist the enemy amounted to about three hundred men and boys. On the morning of the battle they were assembled in " Forty Fort," when a council of officers was convened to decide on the propriety of marching out to meet the foe. Colonel Butler and others deemed it advisable to remain in the fort. Captain Stewart was prominent among those in opposition, who contended for a prompt and speedy conflict with the invaders in the open field. The debate became animated, and was marked with warm words. Stewart contended that the enemy were increasing in numbers, that they would plunder the settlements of all their jDroperty, that they would burn the dwellings and destroy the crops and leave nothing for subsistence during the coming winter, that there was now no hope of reinforcements on their own side, and that if the savages should carry the fort by storm, when 118 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. they were wasted by fiitigue and famine, they would all, together with their women and children, perish in an indiscriminate slaughter. A large majority were in favor of marching out to encounter the enemy. Who shall say this was not the better policy? True, it resulted in a most disastrous overthrow. But who will dare to say the issue, though protracted, might not ultimately have been even more bloody if the settlers had remained in the fort and awaited the furious onset of the savage foe ? Stewart fell in the battle. When last seen he was surrounded by Indians, his high and daring spirit scorning retreat. Wounded and dying, on bended knee, with unquailing eye, he was repelling the attack of the savages, as seen by the narrator, who was hurrying before the rapid pur- suit. It is supposed he was recognised by the savages as one of their old foes during the French war. It is possible they were striving to take him alive that he might be tortured. But the probability is, he died in the fight. His daughter, Martha, was born two days before the massacre, and when the dreadful news reached his wife^ with the aid of friends, she placed her seven children in a small boat and floated down the river to Harrisburg. She afterwards returned with her family to Wyoming, where she died about the year 1791. The names of her children were James, Josiah, Eliza- beth, Mary, Priscilla, Margaret, and Martha. James married Hannah Jameson. Josiah EHzabeth Mary Priscilla Margaret Mercy Chapman. Alexander Jameson, Esq. Rev. Andrew Gray. Avery Rothborn. James Campbell, Esq. Martha died unmarried. CAPTAIN LAZARUS STEWART. 119 This sketch is written not to glorify Captain Stewart and his descendants, but to defend his character from the calumnies uttered against him by his cotemporaries, and which have come down to us unanswered. It is not pre- tended that he was the great hero, and defender of Wyo- ming. But he was a prominent and efficient actor among the early settlers, and contributed in no small degree to the protection of the settlement, its good order and pros- perity. He was a practical man, sober, enterprising, brave, kind, and generous. He died gloriously struggling to drive back the ruthless invader from the soil whence we draw our sustenance, and on which our firesides are erected. Let us do justice to his memory. CHAPTER IV. THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. " Should a conqueror tread on our forefather's dust, It "would wake the old bones from their gx-aves." News of the ever-memorable battles of Lexington and Bunker Hill had scarcely reached the wilderness-girt vale of Wyoming, before the patriots assembled in town meet- ing at Wilkesbarre, August 1st, 1775, and unanimously resolved to "join their brethren in America in the com- mon cause of defending their country." The whole popu- lation inhabiting the territory, now embraced within the counties of Luzerne, Wyoming, Susquehanna, and Brad- ford, then Westmoreland county in the state of Connecti- cut, numbered about two thousand five hundred souls. Of these, according to a list found among the papers of Colonel Z. Butler, sixty-one afterwards proved to be tories, chiefly from New York. Only three of them were from Connecticut. Among these tories six were of the family of the Wintermoots, four of the Secords, three Paulings, three Lannahays, four Van Alstyns, the remainder being laborers, hunters, and trappers. In 1776, several forts and stockades were commenced, and in August of the same year it was voted by the town meeting " That the people be called upon to work on the forts without either fee or reward from the town." At this time, the Wintermoots, not yet objects of suspicion, erected a fort, which, no doubt, was intended for the occu- (120) THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 121 pation of the enemy, with whom they and others were in secret communication. On the 23d of the same month, Congress resolved to raise two independent companies in Westmoreland, osten- sibly for the jDrotection of the frontier, but, in reality, if necessary, to be withdrawn and embodied in the army under Washington. Robert Durkee and Samuel Ransom were appointed captains, the first to recruit on the east and the latter on the west side of the river. In a few weeks, both companies were full, numbering eighty-four men each.* In November following, Captain Weisner, of the New York line, came to Wyoming to recruit for a part of a rifle company. Obadiah Gore was appointed lieutenant, and carried away with him twenty enlisted men. About the same time, Captain Strong commenced recruiting for the Connecticut line ; John Jameson was appointed lieutenant, and marched away about twenty 'men. Washington was now retreating with his bleeding and destitute, but brave soldiers, through New Jersey, before the British under General Howe, and on the 23d of De- cember, Congress ordered the two independent companies, under Durkee and Ransom, to leave the valley, and join the American army. These patriotic soldiers, with their knapsacks on their backs, with rifles in their hands, and with tears in their eyes, bade farewell to wives and to little ones, to fathers and to mothers, and, with a quick but firm tread, marched away to the battle-field. " The wife whose babe first smiled that day, The fair fond bride of yester eve, An aged sire and matron gray. Saw the loved warriors haste away, And deemed it sin to grieve." * For list of names, see Appendix, D. 122 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. Some of these brave fellows perished before the can- non's mouth, some died of lingering disease, while others, returning in haste to defend their firesides, and without time to look upon the faces of the loved ones, fell in Wyoming's bloody fight. What a fatal error had been committed ! Upwards of two hundred young and vigor- ous men, the bulwark and hope of the valley, in time of war, in time of imminent danger, absent from their de- fenceless homes ! The two independent companies, with the detachments of Weisner and Strong, were united to the Connecticut line, under Colonel Zebulon Butler and Colonel John Durkee. They were in the battles of Bound Brook, Brandywine, Germantown, Millstone, and Mud Creek. At Millstone, in company with a body of militia, in all about three hundred men, under General Dickenson, they attacked four hundred British troops, captured forty wagons, one hundred horses, three field-pieces, a large quantity of provisions, nine prisoners, and killed and wounded several of the enemy. The Americans had several wounded, and Captain Ransom had one of his men, named Porter, killed. Captain Ransom sent one of the wagons to his farm in Wyoming, and Lieutenant Jameson sent home a fine English brood mare, taken in the engagement, from which sprang an excellent stock of horses, well known, many years ago, in Salem township. At Mud Creek these troops stood firm under a heavy fire, where one man, Constant Mathewson, was torn to pieces by a cannon-ball, and several were wounded. The handful of able-bodied men left at Wyoming, with the old men and boys, garrisoned the stockades and forts. They sent out scouting parties to watch the movements of strolling bands of Indians, who were occasionally seen during the time that General St. Leger was besieging THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 123 Fort Stanwix. Several persons suspected of being tories were arrested and sent to Connecticut, but being liberated for want of sufficient proof, they immediately joined the Tor}'- Rangers, under Colonel John Butler, at Niagara. They, no doubt, acquainted him with the defenceless condition of afiairs at Wyoming. A small scouting party, under Lieutenant John Jenkins, were taken prisoners near Wyalusing, by a band of tories and Indians. An old man of the party, named Fitzgerald, was told he must join the king or die. He replied, he would rather die than desert his country. They let him go, but took Jenkins, York, and Fitch away to Canada, where they were liberated. These were the first prisoners taken from Wyoming. In the summer of 1777 the Six Nations of Indians, who had thus far taken no active part in the war, declared against the colonies. England, to her eternal disgrace, offered rewards to the merciless savage for the scalps of our ancestors, her own children, and with it commenced a border warfare, for butchery and blood, almost unparal- leled in the annals of any other country.* In December, 1777, the town meeting voted that the Committee of Inspection should be empowered to supply the wives and widows of soldiers and their families with the necessaries of life. In the spring of 1778, scouting parties of savages began to hover along the frontiers. Messages were sent to the absent companies, Congress * The number of Indians engaged by England during the war was, accord- ing to Campbell, twelve thousand six hundred and ninety warriors. Of this number one thousand five hundred and eighty belonged to the Six Nations, five hundred Delawares, three hundred Shawanese, one hundred and fifty Monseys, and sixty Mohicans, Of scalps, the Senecas alone, four hundred warriors, took one thousatid and fifty-two in three years, two hundred and ninety-nine being women, and twenty-nine infants. They were sent to the governor of Canada, to be sent as a present to the king of England. 124 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. was apprised of the threatening danger, and was requested to order the return of the soldiers, but instead of this, that body resolved to raise a third company in Westmore- land, and commissioned Captain Dethick Hewitt for that purpose, with a view to protect the frontier settlers. Captain Hewitt collected about forty old and young men, with an imperfect supply of arms; but, it is manifest, this was no addition to the force of the settlement. In May, the first man was killed in Westmoreland by the Indians. William Crook, coming out of a house near Tunkhannock, which had been deserted by a tory named John Secord, was shot dead and scalped. In a few days thereafter a scouting party was fired into below Tunk- hannock, and Miner Robbing and Joel Philips were wounded. They escaped over the river in a canoe, but Bobbins died the next day. To lull the unprotected inhabitants of Wyoming into confiding security, and to spy out the land, two Indians and their wives were sent down the river in a canoe. They made great professions of friendship, but being suspected, an acquaintance treated one of them so well that in drunken confidence he re- vealed the true object of their visit. The two savages were confined in Forty Fort, but the squaws were per-, mitted to depart. Messages were again despatched to the absent comjDa- nies at Morristown. Congress and Connecticut were again urged to adopt immediate measures for the defence of the valley, but messengers and petitions implored in vain. Durkee and Ransom, with about thirty privates, most of them married men, with or without leave, stepped from the ranks and hastened away to meet the invaders, and to defend their firesides. The two companies thus reduced were, on the 23d of June, nine days before the massacre, merged into one company, and placed under THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 125 the command of Simon Spaulding, second lieutenant in Ransom's company. Colonel Zebulon Butler, who com- manded one of the Connecticut regiments, procured leave of absence, and arrived in Wyoming just in time to take command of the American forces, and to prepare for the engagement. On the 30th of June Colonel John Butler, with his Tory Rangers, a detachment of Sir John Johnson's Royal Greens, and five hundred Indians, chiefly Senecas ana Cayugas, in all eight hundred men, descended the rive^ and landed on the west side, a short distance below the mouth of Bowman's Creek, in Wyoming county. They marched thence into Exeter township, encamping about three miles north of Fort Wintermoot. On the same day his Indian scouts attacked eight persons, who, not aware of the enemy's approach, had gone to work in a field not far from Fort Jenkins. James Hadsell, James Hadsell, Jr., Daniel and Stukely Harding were killed, John Gard- ner, Daniel Weller, and Daniel Carr were taken prison- ers, and John Harding, a boy, escaped. On the 1st of July the enemy advanced through a pass or gap in the Kingston Mountain, and took possession of Fort Winter- moot, the tories who bore that name now displaying their true colors. From this point they sent out scouts and parties to collect cattle and provisions. A flag was then sent down demanding the surrender of Forty Fort, which was promptly refused. On the morning of the 3d of July, the British Butler was informed that the Americans were preparing to ad- vance and to give him battle. Whereupon he laid aside his regimental dress for a less conspicuous suit, and wrap- ped a black handkerchief about his head. He now pro- ceeded to make ready for the conflict, and by two o'clock in the afternoon his forces were regularly stationed. His 126 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. left wing extended from Fort Wintermoot, resting on the river bank, and was composed of his own rangers and the Royal Greens, commanded by himself. His right wing, composed of Indians and tories, occupied a swamp, and was led by Gucingerachton, He wJxo goes in the Smoke. Thayendanegea, alias Joseph Brant, the celebrated Mo- hawk chief, was not in this engagement. The plain, upon which the battle was fought, was sparsely covered with shrub oaks and yellow pine trees, among which were the British regulars, while in the thickets of the swamp, close to the ground, lay the bands of savage warriors, and the more savage tories, like so many blood-thirsty tigers, eagerly watching for their prey. We proceed, now, to a brief statement of the condition, position, and numbers of the Americans. Fort Jenkins, which was nothing more than a single dwelling-house, enclosed by stockades, was occupied by three old men and a few women and children. The Pittston stockades contained all the women and children of that neighbor- hood, with about thirty men, under Captain Blanchard, for protection and assistance, in case flight should become necessary. In Wilkesbarre there were many women and children, with only a handful of men. Hanover and Ply- mouth were in the same situation. Those of Kingston had been assembled at Forty Fort, with the great body of fighting men, in whom centered the afiections and hopes of aged fathers and mothers, and of hundreds of wives and children. Forty Fort stood a short distance below the site of the Forty Fort Church, about eighty feet from the river. It covered half an acre of ground. It shape was that of a parallelogram, fortified by stockades, which were logs set in the ground five feet deep, and extending twelve feet THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 127 above, sharpened at the top. Its joints were covered by other stockades, which rendered the barrier of nearly double thickness. There was a gateway at each end, and a sentry-box at each corner. The whole American force consisted of about three hundred, and were divided into six companies, as follows : — 1st. Captain Dethick Hewitt's company, composed of forty men (regulars). 2d. Captain Asaph Whittlesey's company, from Ply- mouth, forty-four men. 3d. Captain Lazarus Stewart's company, from Hanover, forty men. 4th. Captain James Bidlack's company, from Lower Wilkesbarre, thirty-eight men. 5th. Captain Rezin Geer's company, from Upper Wilkes- barre, thirty men. 6th. Captain Aholiab Buck's company, from Kingston, forty-four men. In addition to these were those in the train bands, the judges of the courts, and all the civil officers, old men and boys, to the number of about seventy. A council of war was assembled at Forty Fort, to decide upon the policy of meeting the enemy in the open field. One party, with the hope of being reinforced, advocated delay. The reinforcements they expected, or rather hojDed for, were Captain Spaulding, with the remainder of the independent companies, and Captain John Franklin, with about twenty-five men, from Hunt- ington. The other side favored prompt action, declaring the enemy would besiege the fort with their regulars, and as their provisions were short, an early surrender would be inevitable. In the meanwhile, the Indians would sweep over the valley, murder the women and children, drive 128 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. off the cattle, destroj^ all the grain, and burn all the buildings. The better course appeared to be to march out and meet the foe, hand to hand, in the open field, and such was the decision of the council. " But oh alas ! three hundred men ! Was much too small a band, To meet eight hundred men complete, And make a glorious stand." The 3d of July, 1778, was a bloody day for Wyoming. Advancing, in good order, to a point near the present village of Wyoming, the Americans formed in line of battle. The right wing, commanded by Colonel Zebulon Butler, aided by Major Garrett, pushed forward with steady step against the British Butler and his Rangers, while the left, commanded by Colonel Nathan Denison, aided by Colonel George Dorrance, attacked the Indians in the swamp. The action commenced about three o'clock in the afternoon. Volley after volley rolled along the contending lines until they were enveloped in a cloud of smoke, while the flames from Fort Wintermoot, set on fire by order of the British commander, curled and flashed towards the sky, above the "war clouds rolling dun." The American right, steadily advancing and pouring showers of lead into the ranks of the Royal Greens and Rangers, was on the very threshold of victory, when the tide of battle turned. The left wing, contending against savages concealed in thick underbrush, stood its ground manfully until, unperceived, the red foe gained its rear. Then " rose from earth to sky" those appalling shouts and yells, which the fierce Indian gives when the pros- pect of victory i's rising to his view. Five hundred Indians, armed with rifles, hatchets, and spears, in front and rear, now bore down on the one hundred and fifty men com- THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 129 posing the American left. " Stand up to your work, sir," said Colonel Dorrance to a soldier who seemed to falter, and the next moment the colonel fell, pierced by more than one ball. " The enemy have attacked our rear, shall we retreat, sir?" said a lieutenant to Captain Hewitt ; " I'll be d d if I do ;" was the reply, and instantly fell at the head of his little band. Colonel Denison now directed his men to fall back, with a view to regaining their lost position, and placing the enemy in front ; but the command was mistaken for an order to retreat, and the flight soon became general. " We are almost alone," said an officer named West- brook; "shall we go?" 'Til have one more shot," said Mr. Cooper. At this instant a muscular Indian rushed upon him. " That moment was fearful, and mightier foe Had ne'er swung the battle-axe o'er him, When hope nerved his arm for a desperate blow. And the savage fell prostrate before him." Some fled to the fort, while others, hard pressed by the barbarous Senecas and tories, rushed headlong into the river. Elijah Shoemaker, unable to swim, was wading in the water, when Win decker, a tory, called to him, " Come out, I will protect you." The confiding, generous- hearted man, whose hospitality Windecker had often shared, approached the shore, when this fiend in human shape, reaching with one hand as if to aid him, with the other dashed out his brains with a hatchet. The lifeless body of Shoemaker fell back into the water. A patriot named Pencil reached Monockonock, the bloody island, and concealed himself in the underbrush, but being discovered by his tory brother, he came forth 130 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. from his hiding-place, expecting mercy and protection. " Save ni}^ hfe, brother, and I will serve you all my days." " Ah ! save you ! You are a d d rebel;" and, drawing his rifle to his shoulder, he fired and left his brother weltering in his blood.* Captain Bidlack was captured, and was thrown, alive, and held down by a pitchfork upon the burning logs of Fort Wintermoot. Sixteen prisoners were placed in a circle around " the bloody rock" which stands between the village of Wyoming and the river. Each was held by stout Indians, while Queen Esther, who stood upon the rock, dashed out their brains one by one with a toma- hawk. Hammond and Elliott, making desperate efforts, escaped amidst a shower of balls. Nine others, in a like circle, on what is now the Fair Ground, met death, as did the fourteen under the blows of Queen Esther. "Among those thus murdered," says Mr. David Stafford, " was a lad by the name of William Buck — a school-mate * The particulars of this shocking incident are thus given in an extract from the journal of a brigade chaplain in Sullivan's army, vrho made the entry, July 8th, 1779, at Wyoming : — "On a small island in the Susquehanna, below the field of "action, Giles Slocum, having reached thus far in safety, concealed himself in the bushes, where he was witness to the meeting of John and Henry Pencil — John, a tory, Henry, a whig. Henry, having lost his gun, upon seeing his brother, John, fell upon his knees and begged him to spare his life. Upon which John called him a d d rebel. John then went deliberately to a log, got on the same, and began to load his piece, while Henry was upon his knees imploring him as a brother not to kill him. ' I will, I will,' said he, ' go with you and serve you as long as I live, if you will spare my life.' John loaded his gun. Henry continued, " You won't kill your brother, will you ?' ' Yes,' replied the monster, ' I will as soon as look at you. You are a d d rebel.' He then shot him, and afterwards went up and struck him four or five times with a tomahawk, and scalped him. Immediately after one of the enemy coming to him said, 'What have you been doing? have you killed your bro- ther ?' ' Yes,' said he, ' for he is a d d rebel.' The other replied, ' I have a great mind to serve you in the same manner.' They then went ofi" together, and in the evening Slocum made his escape. Slocum is a man of reputation, and his word was never disputed in the neighborhood where he was known." THE REVOLUTIONARY T7AR. 131 of mine — a fine little fellow as ever lived, very neat and clean and tidy, who on account of his ^^outh was not held down. This boy, when he saw what the queen was at, became frightened and sprang to his feet and ran. But a swift Indian soon overtook him and was leading him back, when another' Indian stepped behind him and laid his head open with a tomahawk. They laid him in the circle." " The sun went down, nor ceased the carnage there, Tumultuous murder shook the midnight air.'' Spectators, standing upon the opposite shore of the river, saw naked men forced around the burning stake with spears, and heard their heart-rending shrieks and dying groans. All night long there was a revel in blood, and in the fumes of burning human flesh. Not until the morning light did they cease their demoniac orgies for want of victims. The sun never shed his rays on a bloodier field. From Wintermoot's to Forty Fort, the broad plain was strewn with the dead and mangled bodies of one hundred and sixty-one brave men, who perished in a conflict which no resource of art and courage of soul on their part could render equal. Among the interesting incidents of this bloody day, we will not omit to mention the case of Samuel Carey, a youth about nineteen years of age. He was in Captain Bidlack's company, and was one of the few prisoners taken at the massacre. He was captured by Captain Eoland Montour, an Indian, who led him to a young war- rior, who had been wounded and was dying. He asked him if Carey should be slain, or if he should be conveyed to his father and mother to be adopted into their family in his stead. The young warrior, with expiring breath, requested that he should be received into his father's 132 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. family in his place. Carey was then painted and received the dying Indian's name, Coconeunquo ; and when he reached the Indian country, was taken and adopted as previously arranged. At times he suffered severely for want of food, and after a captivity of six years returned to Wyoming in safety. After the battle. Forty Fort was occupied by Colonel Denison with a handful of weary, worn, and wounded men, together with the Kingston women and children. Colonel Z. Butler, being a soldier of the Continental army, and fifteen regulars — the remainder of Captain Hewitt's company — left, the valley. Colonel Butler re- tired to Gnadenhutten ; and the soldiers to Fort Augusta, to avoid being made prisoners of war. The women and children of the Lackawanna valley fled towards the upper settlements on the Delaware ; those of Pittston and Wilkesbarre toiled over mountains and through the great swamp to the lower settlements ; while those of Hanover, Plymouth, and Newport, escaped to Fort Augusta. No pen can describe the sufferings of these men, women, and children, who, while they themselves were wandering, almost naked and faint with hunger, through a desolate wilderness, were tortured with the painful reflection that the bodies of their fathers, brothers, sons, and husbands, lay mutilated and unburied on the plains they were leaving behind them. When the fugitives reached the nearest settlements, sixty miles distant, and related the dreadful tale of Wyoming's overthrow, and their own terrible sufferings, a panic seized the inhabit- ants, who also joined in the retreat, with their personal goods, towards the more populous portions of the state. There were no troops to defend Fort Augusta, or the military posts on the Delaware ; of course the whole frontier lay open to the ravages of the enemy. Captain THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 133 Spaulding, who was advancing with his company to aid in defending the valley, met the flying fugitives on the mountains, and returned to Stroudsburg. On the morning of the 4th of July, Colonel John But- ler, with his troops and Indians, surrounded Forty Fort, and demanded its surrender, which was to be uncondi- tional for Colonel Z. Butler and the soldiers of the Con- tinental army. As the prudent Butler and his regulars had retired from the valley, the demand had no force as to them ; but Colonel Denison made an honorable capitu- lation of the fort. " By the articles of capitulation," says Stone, " it was mutually agreed that the inhabitants of the settlement should lay down their arms, the fort be demolished,, and the Continental stores be delivered up. The inhabitants of the settlement were to be permitted to occupy their farms, peaceably and without molestation of their persons. The loyalists were to be allowed to re- main in undisturbed possession of their farms, and to trade without interruption. Colonel Denison and the inhabit- ants stipulated not again to take up arms during the con- test; and Colonel John Butler agreed to use his utmost influence to cause the private property of the inhabitants to be respected. But the last-mentioned stipulation was entirely unheeded by the Indians, who were not, and per- haps could not be, restrained from the work of rapine and plunder. The surrender had no sooner taken place, than they spread themselves through the valley. Every house not belonging to a loyalist was plundered and laid in ashes." Wilkesbarre was set on fire and consumed. The men and women in Forty Fort were stripped of every- thing, and some of theni had even the clothing taken from their backs. Colonel Denison was not more respected than others ; for he was compelled to draw ofl" his hunt- ing-shirt, and hand it to a ferocious savage. 13-1 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. The wholesale murderess, and disgusting squaw, Queen Esther, rode away mounted on a stolen side-saddle, placed hind side before, on the back of a stolen horse, with half a dozen bonnets placed one within the other on her head. She carried in her hand a stick on which seventeen scalps were suspended, and which she held up to the gaze of the whites. Colonel Denison remonstrated against these outrageous violations of the articles of capitulation, but Butler answered it was not in his power to prevent them. The work of destruction and plunder being com- pleted, the invaders left Wyoming on the 7th of July, by the way of the Lackawanna Valley. During this march Butler wrote and dispatched to the British colonel, Bolton, a report of the infamous doings of himself and his band of murderers. The document is dated " Lackawanna, July 8th, 1778," and states his force to be five hundred men, whereas it was eight hundred ; that he had one Indian and two rangers killed, and eight Lidians wounded, whereas upwards of sixty were buried in the swamp, near the battle-field ; that two hundred and twenty-seven scalps had been taken, whereas only one hundred and sixty-one Americans were killed; that five prisoners were taken and saved alive, whereas they were all put to death except two. " We have taken," says he, " eight palisades, six forts, burned One thousand dwelling-houses, and all their mills, &c. ; and also killed and drove off one thousand head of horned cattle and sheep ;" all of which is greatly exaggerated, especially the number of dwellings, which did not exceed three hundred and fifty in the whole valley. The report closes with an extravagant eulogium on the conduct of his officers and men ! ! By order of General De Hass, a small company of men were sent to, garrison Fort Augusta, in July, and on the 24 th of the same month, one major, two captains, and THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 13-5 eighty men were stationed at Briar Creek, below Berwick. On the 1st of August, Colonel Thomas Hartley, of the Pennsylvania line, a brave and most judicious officer, arrived at Fort Augusta with two hundred men. By his orders Captain Walker erected Fort Jenkins, five miles below Berwick, which fortification the marvellous Moses Van Campen says he built in the May preceding ! Cap- tain Walker also erected Fort Muncy on the West Branch of the Susquehanna, which Van Campen, in his narrative, likewise claims was built by himself Besides these. Walker built Fort Freedley, on the North Branch below Bloomsburg, and another on the Chillisquaque Creek. On the 4th of August, Colonel Z. Butler returned to Wyoming with Captain Spaulding's company, consisting of twenty regulars and forty militiamen. They proceeded to erect Fort Wilkesbarre on the site of the old fort and court-house in the public square. A number of the male inhabitants of the valley now visited it, with the hope of gathering some remnants of the harvest, and to prepare for the return of their families, who were quartered among: friends in Connecticut, and other secure settle- ments On the 7th of August, the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, in an address to the Assembly, declare, among other things, as follows : " The late fatal catas- trophe which has befallen the Connecticut settlers on the river Susquehanna, deplorable as it is, recollects the dis- puted footing on which these sufferers stood. Compassion for them, as well as justice to this state, require that they be reminded of the precarious nature of their tenure before they re-establish themselves." Soon after the arrival of Colonel Butler and Captain Spaulding, John Abbott and Isaac Williams were shot and scalped on Jacob's Plains, while working in a field. 136 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. Isaac Tripp, Isaac Tripp, Jr., Messrs. Keys and Hocksey, were captured near what is now Scranton. On the road to Oquago, Keys and Hocksey were led aside by the savages and murdered. On the 24th of August, Luke S wetland and Joseph Blanchard were captured at Nanticoke, and hurried away into captivity. Colonel Hartley had projected an expedition into the Indian country, and with this view he assembled his forces at Fort Muncy. Here he was joined by Captain Spauld- ing and his few regulars. While these preparations were being made, the stealthy savages perpetrated several murders on the west branch of the Susquehanna, and almost under the guns of Fort Muncy. On the 21st of September, Colonel Hartley, having perfected his arrange- ments, at the head of two hundred men marched out from the fort. "In our route," says he, "we met with great rains, prodigious swamps, mountains, defiles, and rocks, impeding our march. We waded and swam the river Lycoming upwards of twenty times." They marched into the very heart of the enemy's country, destroyed Queen Esther's town, and put the savages to flight in several engagements. On his return march. Colonel Hartley was attacked below Wyalusing by two hundred Indians, whom he routed with the loss of fifteen killed and thirty wounded, while his own loss was four killed and ten wounded. Arriving at Wyoming, he found Colonel Butler with a small force in possession of the fort at Wilkesbarre. The day after his arrival, four soldiers crossed the river to dig potatoes, when they were fired upon by a party of Indians in ambush. Three of them were instantly killed and scalped. Colonel Hartley left one hundred men to reinforce Butler, and proceeding down the river, arrived at Fort Augusta on the 5th of October. THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 137 A few days after his departure from the valley, on the 14th of October, William Jameson, who had been wounded in the battle, was waylaid by savages, two miles below Wilkesbarre, shot and scalped, but lived two days, though having lost a portion of his brains. In his report Colonel Hartley mentioned in the highest terms the conduct of officers and men. In two weeks he had marched three hundred miles, laid waste the Queen's town, taken twenty-six canoes, and fifty-one head of horses and cattle, and defeated the Indians in numerous skirmishes. On the 22d of October, nearly four months after the battle of Wyoming, the citizens, guarded by the soldiers, assem- bled on the bloody field to bury the remains of the dead. " Their limbs iinburied on the naked shore, Devouring wolves and hungry vultures tore." A long deep trench was dug, in which were deposited all that remained of as brave a band of patriots as ever faced a foe. On the 2d of November, three Indians stealthily approached the house of Jonathan Slocum, not more than one hundred rods from Fort Wilkesbarre. They shot and scalped a boy, Nathan^ Kingsley, who was at the door. Entering the house, one of them seized Ebenezer Slocum, and was about to carry him off", when Mrs. Slocum said, " He can do you no good, he is lame." Releasing the boy, he took up Frances, her daughter, a child about five years of age, and with the brother of the murdered Kingsley, accompanied by the other Indians and a black girl of Mrs. Slocum's, he took his departure. This colored girl was afterwards sold to Colonel John Butler, and kept in his family as a servant at Niagara. In August, 1837, John W. Forney, Esq., was placed 138 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. in possession of a letter, written by G. W. Ewing, of Logansport, Indiana, dated January 20th, 1835. This letter had been sent to Lancaster, Pa., for publication, but the person who received it died soon after, and being found by his widow among his papers, it was handed to Mr. Forney, who gave it publicity through the columns of his newspaper. The letter says : " There is now living near this place, among the Miami tribe of Indians, an aged white woman who, a few days ago, told me that she was taken away from her father's house, on or near the Susquehanna river, when she was very young. She says her father's name was Slocum; that he was a Quaker, and wore a large-brimmed hat ; that he lived about half a mile from a town where there was a fort. She has two daughters living. Her husband is dead. She is old and feeble, and thinks she shall not live long. These con- siderations induced her to give the present history of herself, which she never would before, fearing her kindred would come and force her away. She has lived long and happy as an Indian; is very respectable and wealthy, sober and honest. Her name is without reproach." This letter, as a matter of course, awakened great interest, and her brothers, Joseph Slocum, Esq., late of Wilkesbarre, and Isaac Slocum, of Ohio, repaired to Logansport, w^here they fortunately met Mr. Ewing. The lost sister, receiv- ing notice of their arrival, came to Logansport on horse- back, accompanied by her two daughters, all dressed in fine Indian costume. Frances, before her captivity, had received a blow on her finger in the smithshop, which crushed the bone, and when the brothers saw the wounded hand they embraced her and burst into tears. She related the leading events of her life. She stated she had been adopted into an Indian family, and had been kindly treated. She said young Kingsley had died after a few THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 139 FRANCES SLOCUM, years. When grown up she had married a chief, and her Indian name was Maconaquah, Young Bear. In subse- quent years she was again visited by her brothers, and by other members of the family. A life-size portrait of her was painted, and is now in possession of the family. Congress passed a resolution exempting her, her family, and several of her friends, from the obligation to remove from her old home, with the rest of the Indians, to the far west. She lived long and happily, and died in hope of a blessed immortality. 140 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. November 7th, 1778, the Indians killed and scalped John Perkins in Plymouth. At Nanticoke they took Jackson and Lester prisoners, whence they led them to the mountains and put them to death. November 9tli, Captain Carr and Philip Goss were shot in a canoe, below Wapwallopen Creek, and about the same timo Robert, Alexander, and Amos Parker were found dead, and scalped, in the lower part of the valley. In the same month Isaac Inman, who was hunting wild turkeys in Hanover, was shot and scalped, but his body was not found until the following spring. On the 19th of November a band of savages crossed the river, opposite Shickshinny, and murdered the whole Utley family. They set the house on fire, recrossed the river, and escaped through Huntington. December 16th, William Slocum and Isaac Tripp were shot and scalped within sight of Fort Wilkesbarre, and with this ended the prolonged and horrible tragedies of 1778. But the winter months had scarcely passed away, be- fore the savages resumed their depredatory visits to Wyo- ming. March 21st, 1779, Captain James Bidlack, father of the Captain Bidlack who was killed in the battle of July 3d of the previous year, was seized and carried away into captivity. He was taken at his residence in Ply- mouth. Same day a band of twenty-five Indians appeared on the Kingston flats, in sight of Fort Wilkesbarre. They were attacked by a party from the fort, when they began slowly to retreat, driving before them about sixty head of cattle. But the savages were defeated in their object to draw our people into an ambush. On the 23d of March they displayed their whole force, amounting to two hundred and fifty Indians and tories. They attacked Fort Wilkesbarre, when the old four-pounder was brought THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 141 to bear upon them. It carried death and terror mto their ranks. Among others their chief was slain, when the survivors betook themselves to inglorious flight. But as they fled they burned three houses and the same number of barns. During the same month Elihu Williams, Ste- phen Pettebone, Lieutenant Buck, and Frederick Follet were surrounded by twenty savages, on the Kingston plains. The first three were killed and scalped. Follet was pierced with a spear in no less than seven places, one wound letting out a portion of his entrails. He was also tomahawked and scalped. In this condition he was found and carried to the fort, where, under the skillful attend- ance of Dr. W. Hooker Smith, he finally recovered. General Washington had determined to send a force into the Indian country, sufficient at one blow to break up the savage haunts where these barbarities were planned, and the depredators were harbored. To this end Colonel Broadhead, with seven hundred men, was sent into West- em Pennsylvania, and effectually chastised the enemy. General Clinton, with one thousand men, was ordered to advance from the Hudson to Tioga. General Sullivan was ordered to rendezvous at Easton. From this poin he sent a German regiment of three hundred men tc reinforce Colonel Butler, and on the 19th of April Major Powell arrived at Wyoming, with an additional force of two hundred and fifty men. When Powell's advance arrived on the mountain, about four miles east of Fort Wilkesbarre, a considerable body of Indians, in ambush, fired a volley into their ranks, and instantly fled. Captain Davis, Lieutenant Jones, Corporal Butler, and three pri- vates were killed. On the 18th of June, General Sullivan marched with the main body of his army from Easton, and on the 23d arrived at Wyoming, and encamped below Wilkesbarre. 142 ANNALS OF LFZERNE COUNTY. He cut a road over the mountains via Wind Gap, Pokono, Great Swamp, and Bear Creek. At the spot where Davis and Jones fell, two boards had been set up with their names inscribed upon them. As the army passed by, Colonel Proctor, from respect for the dead, ordered the bands to play the tune of Roslin Castle. During the encampment of the army in the valley, pre- paratory to their march for Tioga, the Indians were active in all directions. Two hundred and fifty attacked Fort Freedley, near Bloomsburg, where Captain Boon and others were slain. Brant, at the head of his warriors, attacked and laid the whole Minisink settlement in ruins. Others committed depredations along the Lehigh, and even within three miles of the army. On the 31st of July, at the head of three thousand men, General Sullivan, breaking up his camp at "Wyo- ming, began his march up the river. Accompanying the troops were three hundred boats laden with provisions, cannon, and munitions of war, and following in the train were many hundreds of pack-horses. The whole ad- vanced in admirable order, and presented a most imposing spectacle. On the 11th of August the army arrived at Tioga, where it was soon joined by General Clinton. General Clinton had dammed the waters from Otsego Lake, by which he had formed an artificial flood, upon the bosom of which he floated his troops in three hun- dred boats, a distance of one hundred miles to the place of union. From Tioga, Sullivan and Clinton advanced to a point near what is now Elmira, New York, where they met and defeated Colonel John Butler, with all his forces. They burnt and destroyed the Indian villages, their orchards and crops, and spread fire and ruin through- out the whole territory of the Six Nations. On the 13th of September, Lieutenant Thomas Boyd, THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 143 of the rifle corps, in command of twenty-four men, left the main army to reconnoitre. At Little Castle, on the Genesee river, he surprised, killed, and scalped two In- dians. '"'On his return," says Miner, "Boyd was sur- rounded by a strong detachment of the enemy, who killed fourteen of his men, and took him and a soldier prisoners, eight only escaping. The next day the army accelerated its march, with the hope of releasing Lieutenant Boyd. On arriving at the Genesee Castle his remains, and those of the other prisoner, were found surrounded by all the horrid evidences of savage barbarity. The torture-fires were yet burning. Flaming pine-knots had been thrust into their flesh, their finger nails pulled out, their tongues cut off, and their heads severed from their bodies. It is said that Boyd was brought before Colonel Butler, who examined him, Boyd being on one knee, a warrior on each side firmly grasping his arms, a third at his back with a tomahawk raised. What a scene for a limner ! ' How many men has Sullivan ?' ' I cannot tell you, sir.' ' How is the army disposed and divided ?' ' I cannot give 3^ou any information, sir.' ' Boyd, life is sweet, you had better answer me.' ^ Duty forbids, and I would not, if life depended on the word ; but. Colonel Butler, I know the issue, my doom is fixed.' "* October 8th. Sullivan's army returned to Wyoming. After resting two days it marched on the 10th, and on the 15 th encamped at Easton. Captain Spaulding's independent company, and a com- pany of militia under John Franklin, accompanied Sulli- van's army into the Indian country. Colonel Z. Butler remained at home in command of the garrison at Fort * Lieutenant Boyd was a brother of Colonel John Boyd of Northumber- land, who commanded a regiment during the Revolutionary war. 144 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. Wilkesbarre, and, after Sullivan's departure for Easton, with the companies of Spaulding and Franklin, continued to defend the frontier from a general attack. The sav- ages, however, made incursions in small parties, and on the 27th day of March, 1780, Thomas Bennett and his son were captured at Kingston and taken to the moun- tains, where they found Labbeus Hammond tied to a tree. This is the same Hammond who had escaped from the bloody Queen Esther's tomahawk at the massacre. He had been taken only a few hours before, and now, with the Bennetts, he was marched off towards Tioga. At Meshoppen the Indians rested for the night. Here, when deep sleep had fallen on the weary party, Bennett ran one of his captors through with a spear, killing him with- out noise. He then unloosed Hammond and his son, and, with their aid, killed four more of the savages, wounded another, and one escaped unharmed. The next day the victorious captives returned to Wyoming. March 28th. Asa Upson and Jonah Rogers were making sugar a short distance above the mouth of Hun- lock's Creek, when a party of ten Indians rushed down from the mountain, killed and scalped Upson, and took Rogers prisoner. Thence they proceeded to Fishing Creek, near Orangeville. Here they took Moses Van Campen, his father, and Peter Pence, prisoners. They killed and scalped old Mr. Van Campen, and then set off through Huntington, where Captain John Frank- lin, with four men, gave them battle, but was compelled to retire. On the head waters of Hunlock's Creek, in Ross township, they found Abraham Pike and his wife boiling sugar. The Indians wrapped Mrs. Pike's child in a blanket and threw it on the roof of the cabin. Tak- ing Pike and wife with the other prisoners, thej^ hastened forward. After proceeding about two miles, an old chief THE REVOLUTIONARY TTAR. 145 painted Mrs. Pike, saying "Joggo squaw" — go home,%voman. She returned, got her child, and went to Wilkesbarre. Arriving at the Susquehanna, below Tioga, on the first day of April, they encamped for the night. " Pike," says Mr. Rogers, in his account, " fji^op^^^d to kill the Indians. The prisoners were all pinioned but myself, and it was agreed that I should procure a knife, which I did. Pike cut himself loose, and while the Indians were sleeping he took away their guns, and then cut the other men loose. One Indian awakened, and immediately Pence fired at him. Major Van Campen took a hatchet and killed two Indians before they rose, the rest ran. The prisoners all escaped, and arrived safely in Wilkesbarre." Jonah Rogers was thirteen years of age, and was known as a person of truth. His statement conflicts materially with that of Van Campen, who says all the Indians were killed, chiefly by his own hand, and that Pike was an arrant coward.* We have already found Van Campen's stories of other matters to be erroneous, and we are dis- posed to receive the account of Rogers as unqualifiedly true. March 30th. Three men, Avery, Lyons, and Jones, were taken prisoners, near what is now Scranton, and in April the settlement of Mahony, near Mauch Chunk, was attacked, when the Gilbert family, together with Abigail Dodson and some others, in all fifteen persons, were car- ried away captive. The trials and sufierings of this party would form a most interesting chapter. In September, 1780, a party of Indians crossed the Susquehanna near Nescopeck, and entered Scotch, now Sugarloaf Valley, where they attacked a company of thirty-three men under Captain Myers, took thirteen scalps, and all the survivors were made prisoners. They then burnt several buildings, and escaped to Niagara. -^ * See Note on p. 155. 146 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. In December, the house of Benjamin Harvey, in Ply- mouth, was stormed, and Elisha Harvey, G. P. Ransom, Lucy Harvey, and Rachel Bullock were taken prisoners. On the mountain the girls were painted and allowed to go, but Harvey and Ransom were conveyed to Canada. There the savages sold Harvey to a French trader for six gallons of whiskey. Ransom, with other prisoners cap- tured in various parts of the states, was confined in the fortress at Montreal, but an opportunity presenting, thirty-two of them escaped in the night. They were all drowned in the St. Lawrence in their flight, except Ran- som, who, aided by a board, reached the opposite shore. Directing his steps homeward, he traveled several days through the wilderness, eating mice and snakes to sustain life, and finally reached Wyoming in an exhausted con- dition. March 10th, 1781, Samuel Ransom's house, in Plymouth, was attacked hy Indians, but meeting with resistance, and having one of their number killed, they retreated. June 19th. Indians attempted to storm a block-house two miles below Wilkesbarre, but were repulsed. September 7th. The savages attacked Hanover settle- ment, and captured Arnold Franklin and Roswell Frank- lin, Jr. In April, 1782, Roswell Franklin's house was aojain attacked, and his wife with several of the vounsrer children were carried away. Baldwin and nine others went up the river, got ahead of the savages, and on the Frenchtown Mountain had a severe engagement with them. They succeeded in retaking three of the family, but Mrs. Franklin and her small child were killed. July 8th, 1782, John Jameson, his brother Benjamin a boy, and Asa Chapman were riding horseback towards Wilkesbarre. Having approached near the site of the German church in Hanover, they were fired upon by eight THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 141 Indians concealed in ambush. John Jameson fell from his horse, was scalped and left dead in the road. Chapman was wounded, but clinging to his horse escaped to Wilkesbarre, where he died the next day. Benjamin's horse, wheeling suddenly about, carried him back in safety to his home. On that day, the last blood was shed, and the last scalp taken, by Indians, within the present limits of Luzerne county. Encouraged by rewards, offered by England for scalps, the merciless savage tore the ' flesh and spilt the blood of the frontier settlers, with an eagerness and boldness which the love of revenge could scarcely inspire. Down to the moment when the articles of peace were signed, the Indian was busily engaged in bartering scalps for the gold of Chris- tian England. We read of the burning of Moscow, and the disastrous retreat of the French 5 of the siege of Londonderry and the starvation of its inhabitants ; of earthquakes shaking down and swallowing up whole cities, and of huge steam- ships freighted with hundreds of precious lives engulfed in the stormy bosom of the ocean ; and our minds are appalled and stunned by the magnitude of the catastrophe : but to live month after month, and year after year, in constant dread of the rifle and the scalping-knife ; to see or hear constantly of some horrible deed perpetrated on neighbors ; this is more than appalling — it is protracted torture of soul. The inhabitants of Wyoming suffered the horrors of war from 1768 until 1776 in rather its milder form, but during the Revolution no people ever met with greater disasters. Upwards of two hundred and thirty men, women, and children were murdered and scalped by Indians. About fifty others were carried away into captivity, and eight or ten more were burnt alive*. They suffered from hunger, and cold, and disease. 148 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. and iinpri':onments, and bondage, and floods, and fire; and yet, true to their purpose, they never thought for a mo- ment of abandoning their charming valley. Nor were they selfish in their aims. They loved, loved dearly the cause of liberty, and contributed more than any other people in America, in proportion to their numbers and wealth, to sustain the cause of the colonies against the tyranny of the British crown. The first settlers of Luzerne paid a great price, and passed through the severest ordeal, that the land might be free, and that you and I and coming generations might enjoy unmolested the blessings of civil and religious liberty. Let us prize the great gift, let us honor the memory of those who suf- fered and died to procure it, and let us cherish it and defend it, and transmit it unimpaired to those who shall stand in our places when we are gathered to our fathers. REVOLUTIONARY PENSIONERS. On the 4th of September, 1832, fifty years after the Revolution, thirty-one soldiers, residents of Luzerne county, who had served various terms during that war, assembled at the court-house in Wilkesbarre, for the pur- pose of availing themselves of the provisions of a certain law, conferring pensions. They, evidently, had been well formed, athletic men, who had braved many hardships and great dangers. Now, their cheeks were furrowed, their heads were white, and their forms were stooping towards the grave. They were "venerable men, who had come down to us from a former generation." We give their names and ages : Nathan Beach sixty-nine, James Thayer seventy, Samuel Pease seventy-two, James Ward seventy-five, David Doolittle sixty-seven, Thomas Gardner eighty-seven, John Strong seventy-seven, John THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 149 Wort seventy-six, Samuel Breese seventy-four, Levi Bron- son seventy-one, Daniel Wadinan seventy-seven, Asaph Jones seventy-four, Elam Spencer sixty-eight, Francis Brewer sixty-seven, Benjamin Pedrick sixty-eight, John Whitcomb sixty-six, Benajah Fuller seventy-seven, Ro- bert Freeland seventy. Chandler Robinson seventy-one, Elisha Blackman seventy-two, Samuel Yanscoy sixty-six, John Bird seventy-eight, Joseph Knapp seven-one, Tho- mas Hawkins seventy-four, Epaphrus Wadsworth seventy- six, Thomas Taylor seventy-eight, George Stewart seventy- seven, John Warden ninety, Josiah Pell seventy-two, Daniel Spencer seventy-one, Moses Darby seventy-two. There were other soldiers of the Revolution residino; in the county at this time, who received pensions under other Acts of Congress, and who were not present at this meet- ing. A few years after this they, in company with a number of those already named, assembled in Wilkes- barre, and were addressed by the Rev. Benjamin Bidiack, who had served during the war, in the regular army, under Washington. This was the last meeting of Revo- lutionary patriots held in Luzerne county. One by one they have fallen, and disappeared from the ranks of the living, but their names are recorded on the tablet of fame. In freedom's cause they sacrificed their property, their comfort, and their health, and have bequeathed to us an invaluable blessing — a free and independent country. THE WYOMING- MONUMENT. A meeting was convened at the house of James Scovel, in Exeter township, on the 25th of November, 1809, for the purpose of adopting measures to erect a monument to the memory of those brave men who perished in the battle and massacre of Wyoming on the 3d of July, 1778. 150 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. THE WYOMING MONUMENT. Appropriate resolutions were adopted, and a committee appointed for each township in the county, with instruc- tions to collect funds, and report at the next meeting to be held at Wilkesbarre in the following January. At that time the people were generally poor, and in debt for their lands, and, as a consequence, only $300 were col- lected. This was rather discouraging, and here ended the matter for upwards of twenty-two years. The spot where the heroic dead had been buried was unknown until June, 1832, when their remains were dis- covered in one common grave on the farm of Fisher Gay. Almost all the skulls found, eighty in number, exhibited marks of the tomahawk and scalping-knife, and many of the bones were perforated by balls. On the 16th of June, 1832, a meeting of citizens w^as held at Oliver Helm's Hotel, in Kingston, with a view to renew the effort to THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 151 erect a mouument. . Benjamin Dorrance, Calvin Wad- hams, Anderson Dana, Lazarus Denison, David Scott, and G. M, HoUenbach, -svere appointed a committee to confer with Fisher Gay, in reference to procuring a site for the monument. The committee entered into an article of agreement with him, by which he promised to sell and convey land for the proposed monument at the rate of $200 per acre. On the 3d of July following, another meeting was held on the monument-ground, and among the resolutions adopted was one thanking Fisher Ga.y " for his liberality in bestowing the ground necessary for the erection of a monument, and for his attention to the meeting." July 3d, 1833, the corner-stone of the Wyo- ming Monument was laid with imposing display. The ceremony was performed by Elisha Blackman, a veteran, who was in the battle. A box was then deposited in the stone by Samuel Carey, another old soldier, who had also been in the engagement. The box contained a history of the early settlement of the valley ; an account of the battle ; a list of the names of those who fell in the engage- ment ; a copy of the official report of the battle by Colonel Z. Butler ; a copy of the address delivered on that occa- sion by Chester Butler; the muster-roll of a company commanded by Captain Samuel Ransom, and made out September 17, 1777;* copies of the addresses delivered by the Rev. Mr. May and the Rev. Mr. Murray at a former meeting ; a piece of each denomination of United States coin ; a copy of President Jackson's proclamation to the people of the United States, in reference to the hostile attitude of South Carolina towards the Federal Govern- ment ; and a copy of each newspaper then published in * This -was the muster-roll of one of the two independent companies, of which, probably, no copy was taken. What an oversight! 152 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. the county. The bones of the slain were deposited in the ground, and the ceremonies of the occasion were closed by prayer from the Rev, John Dorrance. In 1839, a committee was appointed to visit the General Assembly of Connecticut, and solicit an appropriation of $3000 to complete the monument. The request was refused. The application was renewed in 1841, and again refused. A third time Connecticut was solicited to make this dona- tion, and a third time she refused. In 1839, a meeting was held at P. C. McGilchrist's, in Wilkesbarre, when the following resolution was adopted : — " Resolved, That the Building Committee be requested to obtain a deed in due form of the land, on which the monument is being built, according to the liberal and honorable promise of Fisher Gay, the patriotic proprietor thereof." In 1841, the patriotic ladies of Luzerne resolved to undertake the task of completing the monument, and accordingly formed themselves into a societ}'', called the Luzerne Monumental Association. Mrs. C. Butler was made president; Mrs. Hollenback and Mrs. Carey, vice-presidents ; Mrs. Harri- son Wright, treasurer ; Mrs. R. D. Carey, secretary ; Mrs. C. Butler, Mrs. Drake, Mrs. Beaumont, Mrs. Hollenback, Mrs. Conyngham, Mrs. Ross, Mrs. Bennett, Mrs. Sturde- vant, Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Gilchrist, Mrs. Abbott, Mrs. Nicholson, Mrs. Lewis, and Mrs. Carey, Executive Com- mittee. This society went energetically to work. They obtained donations from various sources at home and abroad; held a fair at Wilkesbarre raised a fund of $2508.15, and proceeded to complete the undertaking, commenced by the lords of creation thirty j^ears before. As a preliminary step, this association of ladies held a meeting in 1842, and adopted this resolution : ^^ Resolved, That we will finish the Wyoming Monu- ment, provided the gentlemen of the old building com- THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 15( mittee will make us a deed of the laud, and give us the foundation of the monument as it now stands, with the stone on the ground, free from all and every encumbrance whatsoever, or direction as to the particular mode of building." It is a matter of regret that the ladies did not adhere to this resolution in every particular. A deed for the land should have been placed in their hands before they commenced the work. This was not done, and after some delay it was determined to commence the structure without a title. In order to raise funds, the ladies had spread a Monu- mental Dinner, in Kingston, on the 24th of June, 1841. It was largely attended, and the Association realized a hand- some return. Rev. T. P. Hunt, Colonel H. B. Wright, and Dr. T. W. Miner delivered appropriate addresses. But the most united and general effort, to secure the money requisite to complete the Monument, was made at the Fair held in Wilkesbarre on the 1st, 2d, and 3d of July following. A great crowd of strangers and visitors were in attendance. The beauty and chivalry of the valley were there, and the masses put on their best attire and culled out a holiday. Such an array of flags, of eatables, and of drinkables ; such an array of fine goods and of fine ladies, had never before been witnessed in Luzerne. By this fair the ladies obtained |2200. The Boston ladies collected, by a fair, $25,000 for the Bunker Hill Monu- ment, but the Luzerne ladies, considering the relative population and wealth, did even better than they. Two thousand two hundred and fifty dollars were expended, and a Monument, sixty-two and a half feet in height, was raised, composed of the granite rocks of Luzerne. On three slabs, inserted in the sides of the structure, are inscriptions. The following, composed by Edward G. Mallery, Esq., is inscribed on the front slab : " Near this 354 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. spot was fought, on the afternoon of the 3d of July, 1778, the battle of Wyoming ; in which a small band of patriotic Americans, chiefly the undisciplined, the youthful, and the aged, spared by inefficiency from the distant ranks of the republic, led by Colonel Zebulon Butler and Colonel Nathan Denison, with a courage that deserved success, boldly met and bravel}^ fought the combined British, tory, and Indian force of thrice their number- Numerical superiority alone gave success to the invader, and wide- spread havoc, desolation, and ruin marked his savage and bloody footsteps through the valley. This Monument, commemorative of these events, and in memory of the actors in them, has been erected over the bones of the slain by their descendants and others, who gratefully appreciate the services and sacrifices of their patriotic ancestors." The second slab has the following Latin inscription: " Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori."* The third slab contains the names of those who were slain in the engagement.^ For seventeen years this Monument has stood in an unfinished condition. No fence surrounds it ; not a tree or shrub casts a shadow at its base, but mutilated and desecrated, it stands a monument not only to the memory of the patriotic dead, but also a monument to our shame. All praise is due the ladies of the Monumental Asso- ciation ; and if gentlemen had properly seconded their efforts and requests, the reproach expressed in the present appearance of the Monument would not exist.^ Will not the ladies of 1860 finish the work so nobly begun and carried forward by those of 1841 ? * " It is sweet and glorious to die for one's country." t See Appendix, E, for names of the slain. THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 155 In 1856 Fisher Gay sold his farm to Payne Pettibone, and provided, in the deed of conveyance, that when the provisions of a certain article of agreement, to which we have already referred, shall be complied with, said Petti- bone shall execute a deed for the monument ground. Mr. Pettibone and wife sold the property to Moses Woodward, and he to Mr. Kesler and others, and in their several deeds reiterated the same provision. Who, then, owns the grave of our fathers, and the Monument erected to their memory ? The mortifying answer is, twenty or more strangers residing in Philadelphia and other parts of the United States. This fact becoming known to the author, he took the earliest opportunity to lay the subject before the Wyoming Historical Society. That Society directed its finance committee to open a correspondence, in reference to the matter, with the Luzerne Monumental Association. A meeting of the surviving members was convened, and the ladies stated that they never succeeded in procuring a deed, and expressed a desire to transfer the whole subject, with $100, the balance in the treasury, to the Wyoming Historical Society. The trust was ac- cepted, and the matter remains in abeyance, we hope, for no great length of time. * Note on Abraham Pike, p. 145. — Abraham Pike was a witty Irishman, who, when quite young, entered the British army and was promoted to the rank of sergeant. When the Revolutionary war broke out he accompanied his regiment to America, and was wounded at the battle of Bunker Hill. Having become dissatisfied with the Royal cause, he deserted to the American army, and after his term of enlistment had expired he came to Wyoming. He was a member of Capt. Hewit's company, and fought bravely in the battle of July 3d, 1778. He acted as guide to Sullivan's army on its march from Wyoming into the Indian country. He was sadly addicted to intemperance, which occasionally led him to the commission of petty thefts. On one occasion he stole a silver spoon, and on being charged with the offense most positively declared his innocence. " Do you say, Pike, on the honor of a soldier that you have not got that spoon V His chin fell to his breast, and taking the spoon from his pocket remarked, " the honor of a soldier is sacred and should never be tarnished." He died a pauper about 30 years ago. CHAPTER V. LUZERNE COUNTY. Near the close of the year 1682, William Penn divided the province of Pennsylvania into the three counties of Philadelphia, Chester, and Bucks. Bucks embraced all the north-eastern portion of the province. The Walking Purchase, an account of which we have recorded in a former chapter, placed the heirs of Penn in possession of the lands on the Delaware ; and the settlements rapidly increasing along that river, Bucks was divided, and Northampton county was organized in 1752, with the seat of justice at Easton. This act placed the lands of the Susquehanna Company within the limits of the new county, and consequently all legal process issued from the courts of Northampton. Prisoners taken in Wyoming were conveyed across the mountains to the jail at Easton. By the Act of the 21st of March, 1772, the county of Northumberland was formed, comprehending within its limits the disputed territory of Wyoming. Sunbury being the county seat, and communication between it and Wyo- ming being along the river, and much more convenient than Easton, it was supposed by the provincial authorities of Pennsylvania, that their laws would be more readily extended over and promptly enforced against the Con- necticut intruders. It was found, however, that the Yankees were as turbulent and ungovernable in North- (156) LUZERNE COUNTY. 157 umberland as they had been in Northampton county. It was now thought advisable to cut off the northern portion of Northumberland, and to erect it into a new county. Accordingly, by the Act of the 25th of September, 1786, Luzerne county was established, and so named in honor of the Chevalier De la Luzerne, formerly minister of France to the United States. De la Luzerne was born at Paris in 1741 ; and adopt- ing the military profession, served in the Seven Years' War, and rose to the rank of colonel. Afterwards aban- doning arms, he turned his attention to diplomacy. In 1778, in the midst of our Revolutionary struggle, he was appointed minister to the United States. He remained here five years, and completely won the hearts of the people of this country by his prudence and wisdom, and by the concern he manifested for their interests. In 1780, when our army was most destitute, and government with- out means, he raised money on his own responsibility to relieve the general distress. He afterwards became am- bassador for France to the Court of London ; and in 1789, when the Federal Government was organized, Jefferson, secretary of state, by order of President Washington, addressed a letter to the Chevalier De la Luzerne, making express acknowledgment of his services, and the sense of them entertained by the nation. No one can fail to see the propriety of selecting the name of this distinguished and generous foreigner for that of the new county. The honor conferred was an appro- priate expression of the respect and gratitude of the people jY their representatives, for the services of a generous friend, who, in the darkest hour of the Republic's peril, had furnished them the means to maintain a successful struggle against tyranny. 158 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. To perfect the boundary lines of Luzerne, in 1804 a portion of the north-western corner was annexed to Lycoming county; and in 1808 there was added to it a part of Northumberland, lying west and south-west of the Nescopeck Creek. In 1810, a portion of Bradford — then called Ontario — and Susquehanna counties, were set off from Luzerne. Had the southern boundary of Susquehanna county been run as intended by the Act of the Legislature, separating it from Luzerne, the pleasant town of Dundaff would still be included within the limits of the latter. A dotted line on the accompanying map shows the true boundary, which probably will never be established. Wyoming county w^as formed out of the north-western part of Luzerne, in the year 1842, and in 1856 a small portion of Foster township was annexed to Carbon county, reducing Luzerne to its present boundaries. The original territory of Luzerne embraced five thousand square miles, exceeding in extent the state of Connecticut. With its present area of one thousand four hundred and twenty- seven square miles, it is still the largest county in the Commonwealth ; containing five hundred square miles more than Lancaster or Berks, and sixty-seven more than the state of Rhode Island. "Like the farm of the old Roman, which, as each successive son took from it his portion, was more productive the smaller it grew;" so Luzerne now has more aggregate wealth than when her territory exceeded thrice its present size. Within the last twenty years Luzerne has made astonishing advancement in population, wealth, and enterprise, as- cribable to the opening of her coal-mines ; but as these will be treated of under the appropriate head, we pass now to a brief description of its LUZERNE COUNTY. 159 VALLEYS. Wyoming Valley — from Maughwauwame, the Indian name, signifying large plains — is situated in the centre of the county, and is one of the most celebrated valleys in the world. Its history has been written by at least four historians ; and its scenery, battles, and thrilling incidents, have furnished rich materials for the pens and pencils of numerous poets, novelists, and artists. It has been visited by Louis Philippe, afterwards king of the French ; by nobles and bards ; by governors, bishops, senators, and travelers from various parts of the civilized world, who have joined, with Campbell in saying, Wyo- ming is " the loveliest land of all, that see the Atlantic wave their morn restore." It is twenty-one miles in length from north-east to south-west, with an average breadth of three miles. It contains forty thousand acres of land ; of which twenty-five thousand are cultivated, the remainder being occupied by groves, streams, &c. The Susquehanna river gracefully winds through the centre of the valley, occasionally inundating and enrich- ing the low alluvial soil, which yields abundant harvests to the labors of the husbandman. The high lands extend- ing from the plains to the base of the surrounding moun- tains, with the aid of manure, produce abundantly, and constitute about one^half of the whole surface of the valley. The mount-ains encompassing this valley vary in height from five hundred to nineteen hundred feet, and are cov- ered with mighty oaks and hemlocks, which have with- stood the blasts of ages. From Prospect Rock, Campbell's or Dial Ledge, from Ross or Dilley's Hill, or from any- other prominent point of observation, this valley, in whole 160 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. or in part, presents to the eye a complete picture. In truth, it is the union of many superb pictures in one grand perfection, and herein consists its superiority over all other landscapes. Lackawanna Valley derives its name from the Lacka- wanna river, which courses through its whole length, and signifies forhs, or union of waters. It is a delightful val- ley, with an undulating surface, extending in length thirty miles from north-east to south-west, and contains about eighteen thousand acres of land, a considerable portion of which is cultivated. From the summit of the Moosic Mountains, this populous valley stretches far away be- fore the eye of the beholder, presenting a scene of rare beauty. Groves, green fields, and sparkling streams inspire admiration, as he looks down upon what has been justly called, by her own historian, " the Sister of Wyo- ming." Not robed by Dame Nature, it is true, in the same charming attractions as Wyoming, but belonging to the same family, settled by the same people, who hand- in-hand braved danger and died together defending their altars and firesides. May their children be for ever bound together in the fraternity of peace ! Huntington Valley derives its name from Huntington township, and lies in the north-western part of the county. It comprehend^ portions of Fairmount and Ross town- ships, and nearly the whole of Huntington township. This valley is ten miles in length from north to south, and five miles wide from east to west, and contains more than thirty thousand acres of red-shale land, three-fourths of which are cultivated. The Huntington creek flows through its whole extent, affording excellent water-power for mills, and forming an essential feature in the grand and picturesque views obtained from the surrounding mountains. Two magnificent views of this fine valley LUZERNE COUNTY. 161 ma}^ be obtained, one from the summit of the Huntington Mountain on the south, at the point where the Susque- hanna and Tioga turnpike road crosses it, and one from the summit of the Great North Mountain, near Keyser's. The former is fifteen hundred, and the latter twenty hun- dred feet above the level of the Susquehanna river, and the prospects presented from these elevated points are among the grandest within the limits of the state. SuGARLOAF Vallet is situated in the south-western extremity of the county, and includes parts of Sugarloaf, Butler, and Black Creek townships. It derives its name from an isolated cone-shaped mountain, five hundred feet high, towering near the centre of the valley. It is ten miles in length, from north-east to south-west, by about three in breadth, and contains twenty thousand acres of red-shale land. The Nescopeck and Black Creeks mean- der through the valley, uniting their waters in the south- west, where they break through the Nescopeck Mountain, and flow onward to the river. Its surface is undulating, and well cultivated by an industrious people. Like the other valleys which have been described, Sugarloaf is surrounded by mountains. The Nescopeck on the north- west, and Buck Mountain on the south-east, lift their craggy heads to the clouds. From their summits the traveler, passing from Wilkesbarre or Berwick towards Hazelton, may gaze on one of the most beautiful of vales spread out beneath his feet. There are some valleys without names, as well as many fine open districts of country in Luzerne, not properly denominated valleys, which will be remarked upon under the head of townships. 11 162 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. MOUNTAINS. '* He who first met the Highlands' swelling blue, Will love each peak that shows a kindred hue, Hail in each crag a friend's familiar face, And clasp the mountain in his mind's embrace." The Alleghany or Appalachian Mountains extend from Georgia to the British possessions on the north-east of the United States, terminating in the bold headlands of Cape Gaspe. Their general direction is from north-east to south-west, and the principal chains are the Blue Ridge, North Mountain, Cumberland, Jackson, and Laurel Moun- tains, which divide the waters flowing into the Atlantic from those that flow into the Mississippi and into the Gulf of Mexico. The height of these ranges varies from eight hundred to twentj-five hundred feet, though there are peaks towering far above these. The Black Moun- tain, in North Carolina, is 6476 feet above the level of the sea, and is the most elevated point in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains. The White Mountains, in New Hampshire, are clad in ice and snow ten months in the year, and range in height above the sea as follows : Mount Washington, 6234 feet; Mount Adams, 5328 feet.; Mount Jefferson, 5058 feet; Mount Monroe, 4932 feet; Mount Madison, 4866 feet; Mount Franklin, 4711 feet. The highest peak of the Otter Mountains, in Virginia, is 5307 feet ; and the highest peak of the Catskill, in New York, is 3804 feet above the level of the sea. The mountains of Luzerne are component parts of the Ajleghanies, having the same general direction, but in- stead of being covered with eternal ice and snow, hurling the sunbeams back to the vaulted sky, they are clad in green to their summits during the greater part of the LUZERNE COUNTY. 163 year. The timber found upon them is chiefly oak, pine, and hemlock, interspersed with ash, maple, beach, and chestnut, which, mingling their foliage, give to the mountain side a variety of beautiful and delicate colors. The North Mountain is the highest in the county, being 2000 feet above the Susquehanna river at Wilkes- barre, and 2636 feet above the level of the ocean. It extends through the north-western corner of the county, crossing the townships of Lake, Ross, and Fairmount. It divides the waters which empty into the North from these emptying into the West Branch of the Susque- hanna, and is said to be the only mountain in the county now inhabited by the panther. . Huntington Mountain extends through Salem and Huntington townships, and is eight hundred feet above the level of the Susquehanna. Shickshinny Mountain, in Salem and Union town- ships, is eight hundred and sixty feet in height above the river, which winds along its base from the Nanticoke dam to the Shickshinny Creek, Plymouth and Kingston Mountains range through the townships of Plymouth, Kingston, and Exeter, form- ing the north-western boundary of Wyoming Valley, and varying in height from five hundred to eight hundred and fifty feet above the river. Capouse Mountain, so named from Capouse, the chief of the Muncy Indians, takes its rise in Ransom township, above the mouth of the Lackawanna river, and extends to Fell township, in the north-east corner of the county. It forms the north-western boundary of Lackawanna Valley, and is eight hundred and fift}^ feet in height above the level of the Lackawanna river. Bald Mountain, on this range, in Newton township, is seventeen hundred and fifty feet in height above the river, and affords an extensive and grand view of the 164 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. surrounding country. Its position gives the observer a complete prospect of Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys. The bridge at Wilkesbarre, twenty-two miles distant, is plainly discernible. Dial or Campbell's Rock, at the south-western point of Capouse Mountain, in Ransom township, is about seven hundred feet above the river, and is frequently visited by travelers and others, on account of the exceedingly beauti- ful and picturesque view of Wyoming presented to the eye from its summit. This rock, lying directly north and south, was the noon-mark of the first inhabitants of Wyo- ming, and hence it was called Dial Rock, which is its pro- per name. Some say a man named Campbell was killed here by the Indians. This statement has, probably^ no more foundation than that of a young lady from Philadelphia, who, in writing to her friends, told them she had stood on the rock where Thomas Campbell wrote his Gertrude of Wyoming ! It is well known that Camp- bell never saw Wyoming, or even the shores of America. Having given a brief ' description of the mountains north and north-west of the Susquehanna and Lacka- wanna, I proceed to a similar account of those south and south-east of these rivers. Lee's Mountain, named from Colonel Washington Lee, extends along the Susquehanna in a south-east direction, through Newport and Hollenback townships, and is eight hundred feet in height above the river. Pulpit Rock, on this mountain, in Hollenback township, is nine hundred feet in height, and is often visited by parties of pleasure. From this point a fine view is obtained of the open coun- try, extending from Beach Grove, in Salem township, to Bloomsburg, in Columbia county, a distance of eighteen or twenty miles. This peak was named Kansal K(ypf by the early German settlers in Hollenback township, which LUZERNE COUNTY. 165 term signifies pulpit rock. Honey Pot is the north-eastern terminus of Lee's Mountain at Nanticoke, and is eight hundred and sixtj-five feet in height. This name was given to it by Major Prince Alden, in 1772, who owned the property, and, on his first entrance, discovered upon it vast quantities of wild bees. From the summit of the Hone}^ Pot, though seldom visited, Wyoming Valley pre- sents more real beauty than from any other point, and the most charming picture of the valley ever obtained was from this position, by Mr. Perkins, some years ago. The Wyoming or Wilkesbarre range of mountains extends through Newport, Hanover, Wright, Wilkesbarre, Bear Creek, and Pittston townships, and constitutes the south-eastern boundary of Wyoming Valley. These mountains vary in height. The Five Mile Mountain is one thousand five hundred and fifty-two feet in height above the Susquehanna ; the summit level of the Susque- hanna and Lehigh Railroad is one thousand one hundred and seventy-two feet, and the Wilkesbarre Mountain, near Wilkesbarre, is one thousand and fifty feet in height. Prospect Eock, two miles from Wilkesbarre, is seven hun- dred and fifty feet above the river, and is the most cele- brated point of observation, because the most convenient. Near this spot is the Prospect House, a large and excellent hotel, kept by Mr. Stiles Williams. The location is very fine, and it is a favorite place of resort in the summer, where the very best entertainment is provided for visitors. Penobscot Knob, on this range, is one thousand six hundred and thirty-nine feet above the river, and is five miles distant from Wilkesbarre. Bald Mountain, in the same range, in Bear Creek township, is one thousand eight hundred and twenty-five feet above the level of the river, and is nine miles from Wilkesbarre. From the summit of this peak the mountains of Centre county, and the waters of the 166 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. West Branch of the Susquehannaj the North Mountain, the Blue Ridge, and the vast expanse of country, with its rivers, lakes, and valleys, embracing innumerable farms, towns, and villages, stretch out before, and lie within, the vision of the beholder. Moosic Mountain, formerly inhabited by the moose, extends through Lackawanna, Blakeley, Providence, and Carbondale townships, and bounds the Lackawanna Val- ley on the south-east. The average height of this range is nine hundred and fifty feet, and, from its summit, about five miles east of Carbondale, a fine view is presented of Salem, Mount Pleasant, and Canaan townships, in Wayne county, together with the mountains of the Delaware, about the mouth of the Lackawaxen and Narrowsburg. Nescopeck Mountain extends from Black Creek town- ship, on the south-western, to Jefferson township, on the eastern boundary of the county. It is very regular in its formation, approximating the regularity of the Great Blue Ridge. Its average height is one thousand feet, and it divides the waters that flow into the Lehigh from those flowing into the Susquehanna. Buck Mountain, in the southern part of the county, extends through Black Creek, Butler, Denison, Sugarloaf, and Foster townships, and is also a dividing line between the waters of the Lehigh and Susquehanna. It is one thousand feet in height. Crystal Ridge, in Hazel township, is an elevated mountain celebrated for its quartz, occurring in pellucid glassy forms, which is found in great abundance. Our object in enumerating these mountains has been to impart correct information with respect to their location and height. The altitude of each, with one or two exceptions, is from actual measurements and surveys made by com- petent engineers. No stranger who visits the valleys of LUZERNE COUNTY. 167 Wyoming and Lackawanna should fail to ascend Penob- scot, or Bald Mountain, the Honey Pot, and Prospect, or Dial Rock. From their summits his eye will rest on scenery which no pen can adequately describe, or artist's pencil paint. Here stood the Indian before the primeval forest disappeared, and looked out upon his wilderness home, admiring nature, and worshiping nature's God. The savage is gone, and in his stead is the white man. who has grafted on the sublimity of nature the beauty of art. We cast our eye over these enchanting views and almost forget the violent struggle, the bloodshed, the con- flagration, and the desolated harvests which followed the departure of the aborigines from their homes and the graves of their fathers. RIVERS AND CREEKS. " See the rivers how they run, Through woods and meads, in shade and sun, Sometimes swift, sometimes slow, Wave suceeding wave, they go A various journey to the deep, Like human life to endless sleep." Susquehanna is an Indian name, signifying hroad, shallow river. It is the largest stream in Pennsylvania, being four hundred and fifty miles in length. It is chiefly formed by the North and West Branches, which unite at Northumberland. The former rises in Otsego Lake and the highlands of Otsego county, in the state of New York. It receives the Chenango at Binghamton, and the Chemung below Athens, and enters Luzerne from Wyoming county on the north, between Exeter and Newton townships. Its length in Luzerne county is forty-five miles, and its average breadth eight hundred feet. Its current is ordinarily two and a half miles an 168 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. hour, but in high water a raft will run five miles an hour. Its fall is two feet per mile, and its course is south and south-west. Perhaps no other river in America rolls onward to the ocean, through fortj-five miles of continu- ous country, so grand and picturesque in its general features. Lofty mountains, craggy clifts, green fields, and groves, thriving villages and crystal-bound islands, alternate along the winding stream. Many writers, known to fame, who have voyaged this distance, have recorded in poetry or in prose their high admiration of its beauties. One day, towards the close of the last century, just as the sun was rising above the hill-tops, three plainly- dressed men stepped into an Indian canoe at Frenchtown- They were foreigners who, after wandering in exile through Lapland, Russia, Sweden, and other countries of Europe, at length found safety in the great republic of the New World. They were princes, born in sunny France. Having heard of the beauties of the Susque- hanna and Wyoming scenery, they had resolved to visit what they afterward declared was one of the fairest spots on earth. They landed at Wilkesbarre in June, 1797, and found comfortable lodgings at Arndt's tavern on River street, lately remodeled, and now occupied by E. P. Darling, Esq. One of these was the Duke of Orleans, another the Duke of Montpensier, and the third Count Beaujoleis, exiles, compelled to leave their native coun- try, then struggling in the throes of her great Revolution. Lackawanna or Lehawhanna river rises in Susquehan- na county, and, flowing south-west about fifty miles, unites with the Susquehanna river immediately above Pittston It is a rapid stream, having an average fall of eight feet to the mile, and, until within a few years, was used for lafting in times of high water. It is about one hundred LUZERNE COUNTY. 169 feet wide at its mouth, and is used as a feeder to the North Branch Canal, the dam being two miles above its confluence. Near Scranton a gaseous vapor rises from the bed of the stream, which ignites and burns freely. It is a curiosity worthy the attention of the traveler. Lehigh, in early times, w^as known as the north branch of the Delaware river. It rises in Luzerne and Wayne counties, flows south-west one hundred miles, and unites with the Delaware at Easton, where it is three hundred feet wide. It forms the boundary line between Luzerne and Monroe counties, and is a turbulent stream, having an average fall of seventeen feet to the mile. The head waters of the Lehigh are 1882 feet above tide. Large quantities of lumber passed down on its swollen tide at an early day, but boats, at present, are chiefly used in con- veying it to market, the river being slackwater from White Haven.* From Mauch Chunk, or a few miles below, the Lehigh runs through a pleasant well cultivated country, but above that point the scenery along its banks is wild and mountainous, and its w^aters plunge and dash against the rocks, stunning the ear with their sound. The principal creeks flowing into the Susquehanna, on the north-west, are as follows : Shickshinnt Creek-j- rises in Ross township, courses south-east through Union, and is eight miles in length ; HuNLOCK Creek, so called from Jonathan Hunlock, who settled near its mouth about the year 1773, rises in Ross township, runs south-east through Union, and is ten miles in length ; Harvey's Creek, named from Benjamin Harvey, who located near its junction in 1775, is the outlet of Harvey's Lake. It flows south-east through Lake, Lehman, Jack- * Lehigh Navigation was destroyed in 1862. See Appendix Y. t Meaning, quick dashing water. 170 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. son, and Plymouth townships, and is twelve miles in length ; Toby's Creek derives its name from Tobyhanna, an In- dian name, signifying alder stream, from the abundance of alders growing on its banks. It rises in Dallas town- ship, and flows south-east through Lehman, Jackson, and Kingston townships. Its length is ten miles ; Abram's Creek, so called from Abram, chief of the Mo- hicans, whose village was located near Forty Fort, rises in Dallas township, and flows through Kingston. It is eight miles in length ; Huntington Creek rises in the Long Pond in Sullivan county, and in Fairmount and Ross townships. It runs south sixteen miles, and empties into Fishing Creek in Columbia county. Prior to the erection of Huntington township it was known as the east branch of Fishing Creek. The largest streams emptying into the Susquehanna, on the south-east, are — Nescopeck Creek, from the Indian, which signifies deep, black water, rises in Denison township, runs south-w^est through Wright, Butler, Sugarloaf, Black Creek, and Nescopeck, and is twenty-eight miles in length ; Big Wapwallopen, signifying the place where the 7nes- sengei's were murdered, rises in Wright, flows nearly west through Dorrance and Hollenback townships, and is twenty miles in length ; Little Wapwallopen rises in Slocum township, and runs through Hollenback. It is thirteen miles in length ; Solomon's Creek was so called from a Mr. Solomon, who settled near its confluence with the Susquehanna in 1774. It rises in Wilkesbarre township, runs through Hanover, and is seven miles in length ; Mill Creek, so called by the first inhabitants who erected LUZERNE COUNTY. 171 the first grist and saw mills upon its banks in 1772, rises in Pittston township, flows through Bear Creek, Jenkins, Plains, and Wilkesbarre, and empties into the Susque- hanna one mile above the borough of Wilkesbarre. Its length is eight miles. Spring Brook has its rise in Covington, runs through Spring Brook and Lackawanna townships, and empties into the Lackawanna river above the village of Pittston. Its length is twelve miles. Black Creek is so called from the dark color of its waters. It rises in Foster and runs west through Hazel, Sugarloaf, and Black Creek townships, emptying into the Nescopeck. It is eighteen miles in length. Nayaug or Roaring Brook rises in Covington, runs through Madison and Providence townships, and empties into the Lackawanna at Scranton. It is twelve miles long. Bear Creek, which is twelve miles in length, rises in Bear Creek township, runs south-west, and empties into the Lehigh. Many of these streams have their sources in the nume- rous lakes and ponds which abound in this county, and others have their rise in small mountain springs. Their waters are generally clear and cold. They afibrd excel- lent water-power, chiefly occupied by grist and saw mills, and abound in trout and other delicious fish. The streams of this county are crossed by numerous and excellent bridges. A few of the largest and most costly may be noticed. The Nescopeck Bridge, across the Susquehanna at Ber- wick, was erected in 1816 by the Nescopeck Bridge Com- pany, incorporated in 1807. It was built by the celebrated bridge builder, Theodore Burr, and was 1250 feet in length. It cost $36,000, a portion of which was furnished by the 172 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. state. This bridge was carried away by the ice and high water in 1836. The second bridge, now standing, was erected in 1837 on the site of the old one, and cost $27,500. The constructors were Eliphalet Edson and Samuel Millard. The Wilkesbarre Bridge was completed in 1818 by the Wiikesbarre Bridge Company, incorporated in 1807. ■ The constructors were Messrs. Wernwag and Powel, who were two years in building it, at a cost of $44,000. In 1819 the pier next to Wilkesbarre was undermined, and two reaches of the bridge were lost. The damage was repaired by the state, at a cost of $13,000. In the winter of 1824 a tremendous hurricane swept over the valley, uprooting trees and blowing down houses. It lifted the whole superstructure of this bridge from the piers, and, carry- ing it several feet up stream, lodged it on the ice. To rebuild the bridge the Legislature appropriated $15,000 of state claims, or liens, due from Luzerne county, and appointed George M. Hollenback, Garrick Mallery, and Calvin Wadhams, commissioners, to carry out the pur- poses of the Act. The commissioners appointed Andrew Beaumont to collect the money, and let the work. Reu- ben Fields became the architect. The state then had $28,000 of stock in the bridge, which was sold a few years ago. It has four arches, each 175 feet in length. The Pittston Ferry Bridge was built in 1851, at a cost of $16,500. It is a wide single-tf-p-ck bridge, with stone piers, and its length is 750 feet. The constructor was Enos Trescott. Paddy's Run Bridge Company was incorporated in 1857 with a capital of $50,000. Their bridge crosses the Susquehanna at Shickshinny. It has a double track, with a railroad laid on the carriage track. It connects the Newport coal-field with the canal, and with the Blooms- LUZERNE COUNTY. 173 burg and Lackawanna Railroad. It is what is called a Burr bridge, with stone piers and stone ice-breakers. Its length is 676 feet. The constructor was Jedidiah Irish.* There are several beautiful and fertile islands in the Susquehanna, within the limits of this county. I men- tion Scofield's, above the mouth of the Lackawanna ; Wintermoot's, a short distance below Pittston; Monocko- 7iock, or Monockacy, above the village of Troy ; Fish's, immediately below Wilkesbarre ; ParFs, at the mouth of Toby's Creek ; RicliarcVs next, about two miles below Park's ; Lyons, at Lyon's Ferry ; S7nitlier''s, near Beach Grove, and Rocky Island, at Beach Haven. These islands contain from five to two hundred acres of land. The largest are cultivated and inhabited. LAKES AND PONDS. "The polish'd mirror of the lake, In which the deep reflected sky appears, A calm sublime immensity below." Carlos Wilcox. North America surpasses all the world besides in fresh- water seas or lakes. These lakes contain more than half of the fresh water of the globe. The lakes on the North- ern Plains in British America are almost innumerable. The whole country is interspersed with lakes, ponds, and rivers. The Great Lakes are five in number — Sui^erior, Huron, Michigan, Erie, and Ontario. Lake Superior is the largest body of fresh water in the New World, and its surface is almost equal to that of all England. It is 600 feet above the level of the Atlantic, and is nearly 1000 feet in depth. It is 355 miles in length, and 160 miles in breadth. * This bridge was carried away by the flood of 1865, and is being rebuilt. 174 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. Lake Michigan is 320 miles in length, and 100 miles in breadth. Its elevation is 578 feet, and its depth 900 feet. Lake Huron is 260 miles in length, and 160 in breadth. It has a depth of 900 feet, with an elevation of 574 feet. Lake Erie is 240 miles in length, and 80 in breadth. Its elevation is 565 feet. It is a basin Of comparatively little depth, but is exposed to tempests and dangerous fogs. Lake Ontario has a mean depth of 500 feet. Its ele- vation is 232 feet, extending in length 180 miles by 33 miles in breadth. It is estimated that these lakes drain 335,515 square miles of territory. The four first named of these lakes discharge their waters over the world- renowned Falls of Niagara. The thickness of the water on the Falls, in the centre of the Horse-shoe, is twenty feet, and it is computed that five thousand million barrels of water are precipitated over them every twenty-four hours. The hydraulic power of the Falls has been esti- mated as equivalent to that of four millions five hundred thousand horses — a power sufficient to set in motion all the manufactories of the world. As we advance southward into the interior of North America the lakes grow smaller. In New York state there are several beautiful and extensive lakes, as the Oneida, Seneca, and Cayuga. In Pennsylvania the lakes are still smaller than those of New York. In Luzerne county their number, great and small, is about forty. Many of them are mere ponds. They are, in truth, springs of pure cold water, having, in most cases, no visible inlet. They furnish fish in abundance, such as pike, pickerel, perch, sun and catfish, but no trout. The LUZERNE COUNTY. 175 shores and bottoms of these lakes and ponds are gene- rally composed of sand and gravel, and the depth of water is seldom less than five feet or more than two hun- dred. Here and there, surrounding these bodies of water, are cultivated fields, with woodlands interspersed, and frowning mountains beyond, forming beautiful scenery, and sheltering the fisherman from the rays of the burn- ing sun, as he rows gently along the shore, or casts his line beneath the trees or in the mountain shadows. Deer are frequently shot at night, as they approach these lakes for water, by hunters in boats with torch-lights. The deer gazes with astonishment at the slow-moving light on the water, his eyes glaring like balls of fire, wlien he suddenly falls before the hunter's rifle. Harvey's Lake, 1000 feet above the level of the Susquehanna, is situated in Lake township, twelve miles north-west of Wilkesbarre. It is an immense spring of pure cold water, with a beautiful clean sand and gravel bottom, and varies in depth from five to two hundred feet. It was first discovered by Benjamin Harvey, who settled upon its outlet prior to the Revolutionary War. It was surveyed in 1794, when covered with ice, by Christopher Hurlbert, who found it extended over an area of 1285 acres, a little more than two square miles. It is the largest body of fresh water in Pennsylvania, and furnishes an abundant supply of fish, which, owing to the purity of the water, are of superior quality. The Lake House, situated on an elevated spot near the south-western shore, is a large, commodious, and well- finished building, kept by an accommodating landlord, Mr. Nicholson, who furnishes boats for rowing or sailing, and, also, an abundant supply of well-prepared food, such as venison, fish, and wild fowls taken from the surround- 176 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. ing forests and from the crystal water. To all persons desirous of a pleasant, healthy, quiet summer retreat, we say, go to Harvey's Lake, where you can have plenty of fresh air, pure water, delightful scenery, and just enough of fashion to make your visit agreeable. The first canoe ever launched upon the bosom of this lake by a white man was made in Wyoming Valley, in 1800, by Andrew Bennet. It was shod with hickory saplings, and was drawn over the mountain by horses, and used in fishing and hunting. Crystal Lakes, in Greenfield and Fell townships, are beautiful sheets of water, and among the largest in the county. The upper lake, partly in Susquehanna county, furnished the first sand for Phinney's Glass Works, in 1832. It covers an area of 300 acres, and is one of the sources of the Lackawanna river. Chapman's Lake, in Scott township, is a tributary of the Tunkhannock Creek, and covers 100 acres of ground. Lake Henry, in Covington township, extends over an area of 300 acres, and is the source of Roaring Creek. It is situated on the high range of the Moosic Moun- tains, which divide the waters of the Lackawanna from those of the Lehigh. It is 1882 feet above the level of the sea. Beaver Lake, in Buck township, is one mile in length and a half mile in breadth. It is the source of Pond Creek, which flows into the Lehigh. Sheik's Pond, Bassett's, Long, Windfall, and Hand- some Ponds are all in Benton township, and extend over an area of from 100 to 300 acres each, and form a consider- able portion of the head waters of the Tunkhannock Creek. Wall. Gravel, and Mud Ponds pour their waters into LUZERNE COUNTY. 177 the South Branch of the Tunkhannock Creek, and lie in Abington township. Cobb's Pond, in Jefferson township, is one mile long by a half mile wide. It has a beautiful sand and gravel bottom, and is 1800 feet above the level of the sea. Its waters empty into the Lehigh. Rattlesnake Pond, in Springbrook township, covers an area of 60 acres, and has a mud bottom. It is one of the sources of Springbrook. Hazard's Pond, in Providence township, empties its waters into the Lackawanna river. Being situated near a densely populated region, its waters are often vexed by fishermen of various skill and character. Triangle Pond, in Wright township, has an area of 150 acres, and is one of the sources of the Little Wap- wallopen Creek. Long and Round Ponds, in^Slocum township, are also sources of the Little Wapwallopen, and abound in fish. The former is about a mile long by a half mile wide ; the latter is smaller. Their depth is from twenty-five to fifty feet. Three Cornered Pond, in Lehman township, is a hand- some body of clear water, and constitutes one of the sources of Hunlock Creek. North and South Ponds, in Ross township, the former covering 250 acres, and the latter about 150, discharge their waters through Hunlock Creek. Mud Pond, in Fairmount township, empties into the Huntington Creek, which also receives the waters of Long Pond, in Sullivan county, near the Luzerne county line. At this latter point, on the summit of the North Moun- tain, 2636 feet above the level of the sea, Mr. C. Ricketts, of Orangeville, Columbia county, erected a large stone hotel. Long Pond furnishes plenty of excellent fish, and 12 178 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. the surrounding woodlands an abundance of game. The mountain air is pure and bracing, and all things conspire to make a visit to Long Pond Hotel agreeable to persons fond of exercise, and in search of good fishing and hunting grounds. POPULATION. Malthus and Sonnenfels have treated at large of the theory of population, its increase and subsistence, in whose works the reader will find much curious information. Some governments have found it necessary to stimulate the increase of their populations. In the earlier days of Rome, the citizen who had the greatest number of legiti- mate children was preferred before all other candidates for office, and the female who remained unmarried until she reached the age of forty-five years, was not permitted to wear jewels. Louis XIV. of France, gave presents to women who were the mothers of ten or more children. It has never been found necessary to increase population by such means in this country. A whole continent of fertile soil, spread out with inviting abundance, has drawn millions to our shores, and the natural increase has been enormous. The statistics of our own county may be taken as a fair specimen of the rapidity with which popu- lation increases in the United States. In 1774, the popu- lation of Westmoreland, then under the jurisdiction of Connecticut, was 1922, scattered over a territory now in- cluded in Luzerne, Wyoming, Susquehanna, Bradford, and a portion of Wayne counties. In 1790, when the same territory, except Wayne, was embraced within the bound- aries of Luzerne, the population was 4904, or one inha- bitant to each square mile. In 1800 it was 12,838, showing an average annual increase of 793. In 1810 the population was 18,109, exhibiting in the preceding LUZERNE COUNTY. 179 decade an average annual increase of 538. In 1820, without Bradford and Susquehanna, it was 20,027, and in 1830 it was 27,304, being an average annual increase of 727. In 1840 the number of inhabitants was 44,006, which shows an increase of 16,702 in ten years. In 1850, without Wyoming, the population of Luzerne num- bered 56,072, a fraction less than 40 to a square mile- In the same year, Wyoming had 10,653 inhabitants, which, added to that of Luzerne, makes 66,725. The following table exhibits the classified population of Luzerne for the years 1850 and 1860 : 1850. 1860. White males ...... 29,465 46,613 Females 26,234 43,327 Colored persons 373 450 Families 9,672 15,065 Dwellings 9,587 14,920 Births 1,976 2,956 Deaths 383 878 Married 597 925 Persons who could not read and write . . 2,228 3,981 Persons over 100 years 3 2 Between 90 and 100 6 8 Blind 10 14 Deaf and dumb 8 12 Insane 12 16 Number of foreigners ..... 12,567 23,486 1830, foreigners 785. In 1790, Luzerne contained 11 slaves and 13 free colored persons; in 1800, the slaves were 18, free 78; in 1810, slaves 8, free 99 ; in 1820, slaves 2, free 111 ; in 1830, there was 1 slave and 186 free; in 1840, 1 slave, 194 free, and in 1850 there were 373 free persons of color. Among the old county records, we find the following : " To Lord Butler, Clerk of the Peace, &c. "June 19th, 1796. I, John Hollenback, of the town- ship of Wilkesbarre, county of Luzerne (miller), do certify, that I have a negro female child, by the name of Maria, born of a negro woman, which is my property. The child was born the 19th day of February last, and is 180 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. four months old to-day. This negro child I desire you to record, agreeably to a law of the state, passed March 29th, 1788." This law was passed in order to obviate certain evils and abuses which had grown up under the law of March 1st, 1780, enacted for the gradual abolition of slavery in this Commonwealth. When the law for the extinguishment of slavery was passed, there could not have been more than about 3500 slaves in the state, still nearly seventy years elapsed before it entirely disappeared from among us. It may be mentioned as a curious fact, that though the colored people numbered only about one- seventh of the whole population of the United States in 1850, yet in the year preceding the taking of the census, 318 of them died, while but 163 whites died, of the age of 100 years and upwards. To show the difference in the increase of population in the agricultural and mining townships of Luzerne, we give the following statistics of townships, which were not divided between 1840 and 1850. Agricultural Townships. 1840. 1850. Fairmount, ..... 594 958 Benton, 733 849 Huntington, 1510 1747 Salem, 1009 1130 3846 4684 Mining Townships. 1840. 1850. Blakely, ...'... 570 1703 Hazel, including Hazelton, . . 895 2081 Providence, including Scranton, Hyde, Park, &c., 1169 4469 2634 8253 LUZERNE COUNTY. 181 The agricultural districts show an increase of less than 22 per cent., while the mining regions exhibit an increase exceeding 213 per cent., the latter being nearly ten times greater than the former. In 1860 the population of the foregoing townships was as foUows : Agricultural Toimiships. Fairmount, 1190 Benton, . . . . . . 1150 Huntington, . . . . . 1548 Salem, 1396 Mining Townships. Blakelj, 3751 Hazel, including Hazelton, . . 5539 Providence, including Scranton, Hyde Park, &c., 16,671 Thus from 1850 to 1860 the agricultural districts show an increase of 15 per cent., while the mining regions exhibit an increase of 300 per cent. * CHAPTER VI. BOROUGHS AND TOWNSHIPS. The original townships, laid out by the Susquehanna Land Company, are named on the accompanying county map in open letters, and their boundaries are designated by dotted lines. These were called Certified Townships, for the reason that the compromise law of 1799, and its supplements, required certificates to issue for purposes fully explained near the close of the chapter on the Pennamite and Yankee War. In 1780, the Luzerne Court divided the county into eleven townships, namely : Wilkesbarre, Pittston, Han- over, Newport, Exeter, Plymouth, Kingston, Salem, Tioga, Wyalusing, and Tunkhannock. The three last embraced nearly all the territory included in Bradford, Susquehanna, and Wyoming counties. The names of most of the original townships were retained, while others, as Bedford and Putnam, were dropped. The Connecticut or certified townships embraced only the best land, but the new division by the court extended the old lines, and included in each a portion of the more sterile and mountainous country. By referring to the county map the reader may learn the location of every borough and township ; the names and number of post-offices ; the canals ; the common, turnpike, and railroads; and, by tracing the dotted lines, can ascertain what proportion, if any, of each township, (182) BOROUGHS AND TOWNSHIPS. 183 is embraced within the coal-fields. Descriptions of the mountains, rivers, creeks, lakes, and ponds, have been given in another portion of this work, and consequently will not be referred to in the following sketches of the boroughs and townships. The order, as to time, in which the several boroughs and townships, now constituting Luzerne county, were formed, is as follows : — 1790, Wilkesbarre, Hanover, Newport, Pittston, Exeter, Kingston, Plymouth, and Salem. 1792, Nescopeck and Providence. 1793, Huntington. 1806, Abington, and Wilkesbarre borough. 1809, Sugarloaf 1813, Union. 1816, Greenfield. 1817, Dallas. 1818, Blakely and Covington. 1829, Lehman. 1831, Carbondale. 1833, Buck. 1834, Fairmount. 1836, Jefferson. 1838, Benton and Lackawanna, 1839, Butler, Denison, and HazeL 1840, Dorrance. 1841, Lake. 1842, Ross, and the borough of White Haven. 1843, FrankHn. 1844, Newton and Jackson. 1845, Madison, Hollenback, and Fell. 1846, Scott. 1848, Black Creek. 184 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. 1849, Eansom, and the borough of Providence. 1851, Plains, Wright, and the city of Carbondale. 1852, Jenkins, and the borough of Hyde Park. 1853, Springbrook, and Pittston borough. 1854, Slocum, and the borough of Waverly. 1855, Foster. 1856, Bear Creek, and boroughs of Scranton and Hazelton. 1857, West Pittston borough. 1858, Kingston borough. 1859, The borough of New Columbus. 1861, Shickshinny borough. 1862, Dunmore borough. Abington Township, which received its name from Abington, in Windham county, Connecticut, was formed from Tunkhannock township, in 1806. The first set- tlements were made by people from Connecticut and Rhode Island, in the year 1794. Among them was Ephraim Leach, who made a small clearing, and erected a log-cabin near where Humphreyville now stands, a neat village, containing about twenty dwellings. Stephen Parker and Thomas Smith, also, cleared land and erected cabins north of Humphreyville, and Deacon William Clark and his two sons reared their cabin at Clark's Green, now containing about twenty dwellings. Besides these. Job Tripp, Robert Stone, George Gardner, James Dean, Ezra Dean, and Mr. Wall, settled here in the same year. The first saw-mills were erected on branches of the Tunkhannock in 1806, by James Dean and Wil- liam Clark, and the first church was built in 1809. "We entered the wilderness," says Mr. Clark, " with our knap- sacks on our backs, our rifles and axes in our hands, and depended on game for food until we cleared, and raised corn, which we pounded in a wooden mortar, or conveyed on our backs through the woods to Slocum's mill, at what BOROUGHS AND TOWNSHIPS. 185 is now Scranton." Mrs. William Clark was the first white woman in Abington, and the fifth was the wife of the Rev. John Miller. This township contains 41 square miles, two-thirds of which are cleared and culti- vated, and, with the exception of Huntington, sustains the best agricultural character of any township in the county. The land is rolling, and the timber generally is maple, hemlock, ash, and poplar. It produces excellent grass, and large quantities of butter are made here, a considerable portion of which is sent to New York city. Wheat, rye, corn, oats, &c., are raised, the chief market of which is the Lackawanna Valley. In this township are 4 churches, 3 grist-mills, 9 saw-mills, 4 stores, 1 carding-machine, and 3 taverns. Its population, in 1850, was 2886. (For 1860, see Appendix X.) In 1840, 335 persons were engaged in agriculture. Bear Creek Township was formed from portions of Wilkesbarre, Pittston, Buck, Plains, and Jenkins, in 1856. It was settled chiefly by Jerseymen. The first log-cabin was built in 1786, on the old Sullivan road, about nine miles from Wilkesbarre ; and the second was erected by Arnold Colt, Esq., on the site of the tavern-stand now occupied by Jonathan Pursel, at the time Mr. Colt was constructing the Easton and Wilkesbarre turnpike. The first saw-mill was put up on Bear Creek, in 1800, and it was owned in 1807 by Oliver Helme. This is the largest township in the county, containing 67 square miles. Only one-twelfth part of it, however, is culti- vated. Lofty mountains cross it, interspersed with fer- tile spots which produce oats, corn, and buckwheat. The inhabitants being chiefly engaged in the lumber trade, consume more than they raise. The dense forests of pine and hemlock afford ample ranges for deer and the black bear, from which last the creek and township derive 186 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. their name. It has 1 church, Methodist Episcopal, erected in 1857; 1 store, 1 tavern, and 8 saw-mills. Benton Township was formed from Nicholson in 1838, prior to the organization of Wyoming county. It was named in honor of Thomas H. Benton, United States Senator from Missouri. It was settled chiefly by emigrants from New England and New York. It contains 28 square miles, one-half of which is cultivated. Its timber is principally maple, hemlock, ash, and poplar. The land is rolling ; and while wheat, rye, corn, and oats are raised, it is well adapted to grazing. In course of time, it is pro- bable, some of the best dairy-farms in the country will be found in this township. Improved farms rate from $25 to |45 per acre. Its market is at Scran ton and Car- bondale. Being an agricultural township, and undivided since the census of 1840, Benton will afford in 1860 fair data for comparing the increase of its population with that of the mining townships. The township contains 1 grist-mill, 8 saw-mills, 2 churches, and 2 taverns. Its population in 1840, was 733; and in 1850, it was 849. Benton Centre, located near the middle of the township, is a pleasant village of about 30 dwellings. Black Creek Township was formed, in 1848, from Sugarloaf It was originally settled by farmers from Northampton county, between 1785 and 1790. Bernard Hutsinger, 'George Miller, Mr. Heaster, William Ritten- house, and William Idenes, were among the first who put up log-cabins in the township. Mr. Idenes erected the first saw-mill, in 1789 ; and Mr. Rittenhouse the first grist-mill, in 1795 — both on Black Creek. The first church was erected in 1817. It contains 21 square miles, one-third of which is improved. Its timber is chiefly oak, chestnut, and hemlock. The land is roll- ing, and is adapted to wheat, rye, buckwheat, corn, and BOROUGHS AND TOWNSHIPS. 187 oats. A market for its surplus produce is found at Hazel- ton, Jeansville, and Beaver Meadows. It has 5 saw- mills, 2 grist-mills, 2 stores, 1 church, 1 tannery, and 2 taverns. Its population, in 1850, was 425. Blakely Township, was formed from Greenfield and Providence in 1818 ; and was named in honor of Captain Johnson Blakely, who commanded the United States sloop of war Wasp, and distinguished himself in an engagement with the Avon, a British sloop of war. The first settlement in Blakely was made by Timothy Stevens, in 1786 ; and in 1814 he erected the first grist- mill, known as Mott's Mill, on the Lackawanna. In 1795, Nicholas F. Leuchens, the father of God Save Nicholas Francis Leuchens, built a log-cabin on the site of Pecksville. Captain John Vaughn settled in the township in 1797; and Moses Dolph in 1798. The area of Blakely is 48 square miles, with an undu- lating surface, one-third of which is cultivated. It pro- duces wheat, rye, corn, oats, &c., and being in the coal region has a home-market. There are several villages in this township. Archbald, named in honor of James Archbald, for many years chief engineer of the Delaware and Hudson Canal and Coal Company, contains about 300 dwellings, 6 stores, 3 churches, 2 taverns, and 1 saw-mill. Jessup, named in honor of William Jessup, contains 50 dwellings, 1 store, and 1 tavern. Pecksville has 20 dwellings, 1 store, 1 grist-mill, 2 saw- mills, 1 sash factory, and 1 paling-mill. Oliphant contains about 100 dwellings. It is a coal town, belonging to the Delaware and Hudson Canal and Coal Company, and has lately sprung into existence. Besides those in the villages there are in the township 5 saw-mills, 1 store, 1 tavern, and 1 church. 188 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. The population of Blakely in 1840 was 610, and in 1850 it was 1703. This township was not divided be- tween 1840 and 1850, and exhibits the rapid increase of population in the mining districts. About one-half of its present inhabitants are Irish, Germans, and Welsh. In 1840 only 4 persons were engaged in mining, and 119 in agriculture. Buck Township was formed from Covington in 1833, and derived its name from George Buck, who was one of its early settlers, and who kept the, first tavern, after- wards known as Terwiliger's. John Nagle was the first settler in Buck. He built his log-cabin on the old Sulli- van road, near the Lehigh, in 1782, fourteen miles from any human habitation. Conrad Sox, Justice Simonson, Samuel Wildrick, and Thomas Tattershall settled here soon after. Mr. Simonson is nearly one hundred years of age, and within the past four years has walked to Wilkesbarre, a distance of fifteen miles. The first saw-mill was erected in 1806 by Hugh Conner, on the site of Stoddartsville, and in 1816 the first church was built there by John Stoddart. In 1810 the Great Swamp, which extends over a con- siderable portion of Buck, was purchased by a company of Philadelphia speculators. A president and eighteen councilmen were elected ; and the " City of Rome" was laid out, one hundred miles from the seaboard, in a dark gloomy swamp, called the " Shades of Death" by those who fled through it from Wyoming after the massacre in 1778. Three or four shipbuilders and a number of arti- sans of various trades were actually induced to purchase lots and remove to the " city," where reptiles and wild- beasts should alone have habitation. A respectable mer- chant of Philadelphia meeting a citizen of Wilkesbarre seriously inquired, "Will not the new and flourishing BOROUGHS AND TOWNSHIPS. 189 City of Rome become a dangerous rival of your town ?" The scheme was at length exposed through the columns of the " Gleaner," by Charles Miner, Esq., but not until many poor men had invested their means and removed to the " Shades of Death." Buck contains 50 square miles. Its lumber is hemlock, spruce, and pine, and lumbering is the chief employment of the inhabitants. It has 11 saw-mills, 3 stores, 3 taverns, and 1 church ; and the people consume more of agricultural products than they raise. Stoddartsville is a town, located on the Lehigh, con- taining about 30 dwellings, and lies partly in Luzerne and partly in Monroe counties. It was laid out by John Stojidart, Esq., of Philadelphia, in 1815, who erected a large stone mill — the walls of which are yet standing — at a cost of $20,000. It was supplied with grain from Wyoming. Gouldsborough, pleasantly situated on the Lehigh, con- tains about 30 dwellings, 1 store, 2 churches, and a large and commodious hotel. It is connected with the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad by a good plank-road. The large and extensive tannery of D. W. Lee, Esq., described in another place in this work, is located here. The population of the village is 450. Beaumont is a small village of 14 dwellings, with 1 store and 1 tavern. It was named in honor of the late Andrew Beaumont of Wilkesbarre. The population of Buck township in 1840 was 307, and in 1850 it was 539. Butler Township was separated from Sugarloaf in 1839, and was named in honor of Colonel Zebulon Butler. In 1784 John Balliet, " solitary and alone," made the jfirst settlement in Sugarloaf Valley, within the limits of what is now Butler township, on the Beisel farm, about one 190 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. mile from Drum's. He, in company with a number of others from Northampton county, had visited the valley, a year or two previous, for the purpose of burying the dead soldiers who had been killed by the savages. Bal- liet was soon followed by Philip Wood ring, Henry Davis, Andrew Mowery, and George Drum, father of Abraham Drum, late sheriff of this county. Samuel Woodring erected a log grist-mill with one run of stone, and also a saw-mill attached, on the Nescopeck Creek in 1788. These were the first mills in Sugarloaf Valley. The area of Butler is 31 square miles, two-thirds of which are cleared. It embraces a portion of Sugarloaf Valley, and the remainder of its surface is undulating. Its timber is oak, hickory, and pine ; and its farms pro- duce wheat, rye, corn, buckwheat, oats, &c., which find a market at Hazelton and Jeansville. It has 10 saw- mills, 2 grist-mills, 2 stores, 3 taverns, and 2 churches. Mount Surprise is a pleasant village in Butler, contain- ing about 20 dwellings. The population of the township in 1840 was 514, and in 1850 it was 725. Carbondale Township was formed from Blakely and G-reenfield in 1831. C. E. Wilbur, now a resident of Jefferson, and upwards of ninety years of age, was one of the first settlers in Carbondale, about the year 1800. It was he who first discovered the coal, near the Lacka- wanna, now in the third ward of the city of Carbondale. In 1812 William Wurts, under the guidance of Mr. Wil- bur, explored this region, and discovered coal at several places in the township. This induced him and his brother Maurice to purchase property here, then owned by Mr. Russell, of Northumberland county. These enter- prising men, in 1824, erected the first log-house in Car- bondale for the accommodation of themselves and laborers. BOROUGHS AND TOWNSHIPS. 191 But there was then no outlet or market for coal, and little or nothing was accomplished in this business until the organization of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, and the completion of the railroad to Carbondale in 1828. The township contains an area of 23 square miles. Its surface is rugged though not sterile, and being un- derlaid with anthracite coal, like other mining regions, agriculture has not received much attention from its inhabitants. In 1840 the number of persons engaged in mining was 252, and in agriculture 32. Its population in 1840, including the city, was 2398. In 1850, without the city, it was 459. (For 1860, see Appendix X.) FIRST HOUSE BUILT IN CARBONDALE. Carbondale Citt was incorporated by Act of Assembly in 1851. Prior to that time it was a borough which, in 1850, contained 4945 inhabitants. The first dwelling in the place was built by Maurice Wurts, Esq., in 1824, and for some years was used as a boarding-house, and called the " Log Tavern." In the year 1828 a Catholic church was built; also a 192 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY, Union church, occupied by Protestants, and a school- house. With a few exceptions, the following-named gentlemen are the only persons residing in Carbondale, who located there prior to 1830 : Dr. T. Sweet, D. N. Lathrop, John M. Poor, S. E. Rayner, Samuel Mills, R. E. Marvin, Henry Johnson, Stephen Rogers, and D. Yarington. There are a court-house and jail here, and a recorder's court for the city is held four times in each year by the Hon. John N. Conyngham. There is also a mayor's court held four times a year. The city contains 56 dealers in merchandise, 24 restau- rants, 5 hotels, and 8 churches; also 2 machine shops, and 3 foundries. There is only one brick building in the city. The present population is estimated at 7000, of whom probably three-fourths, including the children of foreigners, are native born Americans. (See Appendix X.) About one- half of the adult population is thought to be foreign born. Covington Township was formed from Wilkesbarre in the year 1818, and was named in honor of Brigadier- General Covington, of the United States Army, who fell in the battle of Williamsburg, Canada West, during the war of 1812. Between 1787 and 1791, Henry Drinker, Jr., of Phila- delphia, father of H. W. and Richard Drinker, purchased 25,000 acres of beech land, known as "Drinker's Beech," lying in Luzerne, Wayne, and Pike counties. In 1792 John Delong was employed to cut a road to these lands from the Lehigh, and in 1815 a clearing was made, and the first log-house was erected in Covington by H. W. Drinker, Esq. The land was sold at ^5 per acre, and began to be settled by a hardy pioneer race of men, among whom were Michael Mitchell, Lawrence Dersher- BOROUGHS AND TOWNSHIPS. 198 mer, John Webster, Ebeiiezer Covey, John and William Ross, William Copeland, J. and L. Stull, J. Wragg, John Simpson, and E. Wardell. Mr. Wardell erected the first house in Daleville. Holmes & Eastley put up the first saw-mill in 1821 ; the first church was erected in 1828, and the first grist-mill, by Levi Depew, in 1830, on Bear Creek. Covington- contains 34 square miles, one-eighth of which is cultivated. Its timber is beech, maple, and hemlock, and its soil is adapted to grass and the coarse grains. There are in the township 6 saw-mills, 3 taverns, 2 stores, and 2 churches. Its villages are Daleville and Turnersville, the former containing about 12 and the latter about 8 dwelling-houses. The population of the township in 1850 was 650. Dallas Township was formed from Kingston in 1817, and embraces a portion of one of the certified townships called Bedford. It was named in honor of Alexander J. Dallas, of Philadelphia. Ephraim McCoy, a revolutionary soldier, erected the first log-cabin in Dallas, near the site of McClellandsville, in 1797. E. and D. Spencer, J. Mears, J. and J. Honey- well, Jr., J. Wait, J. Kelley, and Isaac Montanye were among the first settlers. The first saw-mill was built by Jude Baldwin, on a branch of Toby's Creek, in 1813, and the first church in 1851. The area of this township is twenty-one square miles, three-fifths of which are cleared and cultivated. Its timber is pine, oak, chestnut, and hickory. Its surface is undulating, and its soil is adapted to grass, as well as wheat, rye, corn, &c. Improved farms are valued at from $30 to $45 per acre. It has 8 saw^- mills, 2 stores, 1 tavern, and 1 church. Its market is at Wilkesbarre and Pittston. Large quantities of butter, packed in tubs, are monthly taken to Wyoming 13 194 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. village, and sent thence on the Lackawanna and Blooms- burg Railroad to Goshen, New York. From that place it is transported to New York city market. The best butter produced by our dairy farmers, not only in Dallas but in other townships, goes to a foreign market. The town of McClellandsville contains 15 dwellings. The population of the township, in 1850, was 904. Denison Township w^as formed in 1839 from Hanover, and was named in honor of Colonel Nathan Denison. It w\as first settled by Germans, from Northampton county, about the year 1798. It contains 39 square miles, one-eighth of which is cleared. Its surface is nigged and mountainous, and its timber is principally hemlock, pine, and oak. Lumbering is the chief employment of the inhabitants, who consume more than they raise of agri- cultural products. It has 9 saw-mills, 1 store, and 2 taverns, but no grist-mill and no church. Their school- houses are occupied for religious services. There is a small village in Denison called Port Jen- kins, situated at the head of the Lehigh navigation. The population of this township, in 1850, then in- cluding White Haven and Foster township, was 1517. Dorrance Township was formed from Newport, in 1840, and was named in honor of Lieutenant-Colonel George Dorrance, who fell in the battle at Wyoming, July 3d, 1778. Its original settlers came from North- ampton county, about the year 1785. It contains 28 square miles, of which one-fifth is cleared. Its surface is rough and mountainous, but produces rye, corn, buck- wheat, oats, &c., which find a market at Wilkesbarre and Hazelton. Oak, hemlock, white and yellow pine, are the prevailing species of timber. There are 4 saw- mills, 1 grist-mill, 1 tavern in Dorrance, but no store BOROUGHS AND TOWNSHIPS. 195 and no church. Preaching is done in the school-houses. The population, in 1850, was 420. Exeter Township is one of the original or certified townships, and retained its name on the division by the court, in 1790. Its name is derived from Exeter, in Rhode Island. James Sutton put up the first saw and grist mills in Exeter, in the year 1776, on a small stream four miles above the battle-ground. The mills and his dwelling, all log-buildings, were burnt by the enemy in 1778, and the mill-irons were carried away, except the crank, which may now be found in the collection of the Wyoming His- torical and Geological Society. Forts Jenkins and Winter- moot were located in this township, and a portion of the ground, where the battle of July 3d, 1778, was fought, lies within its bounds. The township line crosses the plain a short distance below the Old Jenkins House, which stands on the site of Wintermoot Fort. In 1796, when it included Ransom and Franklin townships, it con- tained 70 taxable inhabitants,* 41 horses, and 165 head of horned cattle. On the 22d of February, 1794, a subscription for funds to erect a meeting-house was started in Exeter, and the following subscribers, with the sums to be given, were obtained : — John Jenkins, £5 James Scovell, Benjamin .Smith, Elisha Scovell, Thomas Jenkins, The oldest residents of the township are William Love, aged 77, John Shales, 75, Mrs. Hoover, 75. For names of taxables, see Appendix, K. 196 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. Extiter contains an area of 23 square miles, of wliicli one-half is cleared and imj)roved, producing the usual grains of the country. Its markets are Pittston, Scranton, and Wilkesbarre. It has 3 saw-mills, 1 grist-mill, 1 plaster-mill, 1 church and 1 tavern. The population in 1850 was 833. Fairmount Township was formed from Huntington in 1834, and lies in the north-west corner of the county. The first saw-mills, in Fairmount, were erected about the year 1837, on Huntington Creek and Maple Run, by Shadrach Lay cock and Peter Boston. This township contains 44 square miles, of which one- tenth is cleared and cultivated. The surface is undu- lating, and the soil yields wheat, rye, corn, buckwheat, and oats. The timber is principally pine, hemlock, and oak. Hazelton is the market for its produce. It has 15 saw-mills and 1 tavern, but no grist-mill and no church. Its population in 1840 was 594, and in 1850 it was 958. Fell Township was formed from Carbondale in 1845. It occupies the extreme north-east corner of the county. It was named in honor of Jesse Fell, Esq., who, for many years, was an associate judge of our county courts. Its area is 19 square miles, being generally rugged and mountainous, with a few arable spots. Its timber is hemlock, oak, and pine chiefly. Only one-seventh of the township is cleared, which produces rye, oats, and buck- wheat. These find a market at Carbondale. It has 2 saw-mills, 1 store, 1 tavern, 1 large tannery, and 1 sash factory, but no church and no grist-mill. Its population in 1850 was 356. Foster Township was formed from Denison in 1855, and was named in honor of Asa L. Foster, one of its early settlers. The few original settlers were from Northampton county; but mining becoming the chief employment, the BOROUGHS AND TOWNSHIPS. 197 present population are mostly Germans, Irish, Scotch, and Welsh. Thomas Morrison made the first clearing in 1837, and erected a saw-mill on Pond Creek in 1851. To this James Morrison attached a grist-mill in the same year. In 1854, Richard Sharp, George Belford, Francis Weiss, William Reed, A. L. Foster, and John Leisenring, explored a considerable tract of land belonging to the estate of the late Tench Coxe of Philadelphia, with a view to the establishment of coal works. Their examination proving satisfactory, they erected a steam saw-mill, at a cost of $7000, and commenced operations at Fillmore, now Eckley, but then a wilderness. In 1855, they shipped 2000 tons of coal, and have since increased it to 110,000 tons per annum. Foster contains a territory of 50 square miles, but only a small portion of it is adapted to agriculture, being generally mountainous. Its inhabitants consume of agri- cultural products more than they raise. Eckley is a village containing 130 dwellings, 1 store, a large and commodious hotel, 2 churches, 2 private schools, and about 800 inhabitants. Franklin Township was formed from portions of King- ston, Exeter, and Dallas in 1843, and was named in honor of John Franklin, one of the first settlers of Wyo- ming. It was settled principally by people from New Jersey and New York. The first saw-mill in its territory was erected on Sutton Creek by Mr. Munson in 1808. The first and only grist-mill was built in the same year on the same stream by Elijah Brace, and was rebuilt, in 1828, by Conrad Kunckle. The first church was put up in 1835. William Brace, Benjamin Chandler, and James Hadersel are among the oldest inhabitants now living in the township. Franklin contains 16 square miles, one half of which 198 • ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. is under cultivation. Oak, hemlock, and pine abound in its forests. The soil is adapted to grazing, and excellent butter is made in this locality, which also pro- duces the usual grains. Its market is at Pittston ; and though small in territory, its agricultural capacity is very fine. The township has 2 saw-mills, 1 store, 1 church, and 1 tavern. Orange is a pleasant village, containing 14 dwellings. The population of Franklin in 1850 was 642. Greenfield Township was separated from Abington in 1816, and then included a portion of the country known as the " Beech Woods." Its original settlers came from Connecticut and Rhode Island in 1797, but since then many Germans have purchased lands and located within its bounds. Among the first settlers in this and the adjoining township of Scott, were Elijah Hobbs, Hosea Phillips, Joseph Sackett, Joseph Barry, Isaac Finch, Joseph Waller, Daniel Waller, Nathan Weatherly, Levi Weatherly, Mr. Howe, and Newton Nokes. The wife of Mr, Nokes was lost, at one time, in the woods for five days, subsisting on roots and berries, and spent one night in a tree-top, surrounded by howling wolves. The first saw-mill here was put up by the Rev. William Robinson in 1813. Henry Austin erected the first grist-mill, and the Methodists the first church in 1851. Greenfield has an area of 25 square miles. Its surface is undulating, one-third of which is cleared, and it pro- duces wheat, rye, oats, buckwheat, corn, &c., which find a market at Carbondale. It is adapted to grazing and stock growing. Within its territory are 5 saw-mills, 1* grist-mill, 2 churches, and 1 tavern. Its population in 1850 was 869. Hanover Township is one of the original townships laid out by the Susquehanna Land Company. It was BOROUGHS AND TOWNSHIPS. 199 called, in the first place, Nanticoke, from the Nanticoke Indians, who had a village near the site of the present village of Nanticoke. But in 1770 it was granted to Captain Lazarus Stewart and his associates, who changed the name to Hanover, from the region of country called Hanover, their former home, now included in the county of Dauphin. The first building in Hanover was a block house, erected by Captain Lazarus Stewart in 1771. Itis location was near the Susquehanna, on the lot belonging to the estate of the late- Alexander Jameson, Esq., two miles below Wilkesbarre. It was one and a half stories high, with an overshoot and loopholes, and it had four rooms on the first floor. The second house was put up by Lieutenant Lazarus Stewart, in the same year, on the lot now the property of Messrs. Stewart Sively and Benjamin Pfouts. The first church, also the first in the county, was put up in 1777, near the site of the German Reformed Church. The first grist-mill was a log structure with one run of stone, built by Mr. Delano, on the site of the present Beehe Mill, in 1783. On the division of the county into eleven townships, in 1790, the boundaries of Hanover, as before stated, were extended, and in 1796, when it included Wright, Denison, and Foster, it contained 91 taxable inhabitants,-}" 58 horses. 111 oxen, and 152 cows. The present area of Hanover is 25 square miles, two-thirds of which are cleared; but as a considerable portion of the land is owned by coal companies, farms, once well cultivated and ' productive, are now neglected. There are several farms, however, in a good state of " cultivation, which yield abundantly to the profit of their =" owners. It has within its territory 3 grist-mills, 2 saw-^® mills, 4 stores, 3 churches, 2 taverns, and 1 tannery. '^' * See p. 115, for engraving of this building, t For names of taxables, see Appendix, L. 200 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. The villages of Nanticoke, Peastown, and Hendricks- burg, contain each about thirty dwellings. The population of Hanover, in 1850, including Wright, was 1506. In 1840 there were 53 persons engaged in mining, and 200 in agriculture. Hazel Township was formed from a portion of Sugar- loaf, in 1839, and was so called from the great quantity of hazel bushes growin-g in its territory. The first saw-mill in Hazel was erected on Hazel Creek in 1810, and stood within the present limits of the borough of Hazelton. John Charles, while digging in the earth for a ground-hog in 1826, discovered the first coal at the old Hazelton mines. The oldest residents in the township are Anthony Fisher, Joseph Fisher, Casper Thomas, Conrad Horn, and Adam Winters. Lewis Davenport is the oldest resident of the borough of Hazelton, The area of Hazel is 49 square miles, but being a mountainous country, only a small portion of it is sus- ceptible of cultivation. Its timber is chiefly yellow pine, used for props in the mines. Mining is the principal employment of the people. Jeansville derives its name from Mr. Jeans, the original owner of the coal lands and projector of the works in the vicinity. Its population is about 1500. It contains 1 church, 1 store, 1 tavern, and 1 foundry and machine- shop. The coal mines are now worked by William Milnes & Co. ; Stockton contains about 130 dwellings, 1 church, 1 s store, and 1 tavern. Its mines are worked by Packer, gLockhart & Co. Jeddo is a village of about 100 dwellings. The popu- ation of Hazel, in 1840, was 893, of whom 21 were lai BOROUGHS AND TOWNSHIPS. 201 engaged in agriculture, and 207 in mining. In 1850 the pojDulation was 2081. Hazelton Borough was incorporated in 1856, and owes its prosperity mainly to the Hazelton Coal Company. The streets cross each other at right angles, and the dwellings generally are constructed of wood. It has 4 dry goods stores, 1 drug store, 3 churches, 4 taverns, 1 foundry and 1 machine shop, and 1 steam grist-mill. HoLLENBACK TowNSHiP was Separated from Nescopeck in 1845, and was named in honor of Matthias Hollenback, Esq., one of the first associate judges of the county courts. It has been said by some of the oldest inhabitants of Hollenback that the famous Grasshopper War between the Delaware and Shawnee Indians occurred on a plain lying at the junction of the Wapwallopen Creek with the Susquehanna, where numerous aboriginal graves have been found. A few substantial German farmers, from Northampton county, settled in the territory of Hollenback as early as 1789 ; but in 1796 it did not contain more than 10 tax- able inhabitants. The area of this township is 38 square miles, one-fifth of which is cleared. The surface is undulating, and the soil, naturally good, is improving under judicious cultiva- tion. It produces wheat, rye, corn, oats, &c., which find a market at Hazelton. Its timber is pine, oak, hemlock, and chestnut. It has 6 saw-mills, 3 grist-mills, 2 powder- mills, 3 churches, and 1 tavern. Its population in 1850 was 742. Huntington Township was formed from a portion of Salem in 1793, and named in honor of Samuel Hunting- ton, a native of Windham, Connecticut, and who was one of the immortal signers of the Declaration of Indepen- dence. 202 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. The first settlement in this township was made on the Huntington Creek by John FrankUn, in 1775. He erected a log-cabin, and spent the summer alone in the wilderness, not beholding the face of a white man for five months. The first grist-mill was a log structure, with one run of stone, and a saw-mill attached, erected by Mr. Hop- kins, in 1788, on a branch of the Huntington Creek. The tract on which the mill stood had been donated for that purpose, several years before, by the Susquehanna Land Company. In 1798, Nathan Beach, Esq., put up a mill on Marsh's Creek, now known as Rogers's Mill. Bacon's fulling and carding mill was erected in 1817. The first church, used also for school purposes, was erected in 1808, and the Pine Grove Church in 1818. In 1796 Huntington contained 92 taxable inhabitants,* 27 horses, 165 head of horned cattle, and 90 dwellings and other buildings. This township has an area of 29 square miles, of which one-half is cleared and cultivated, producing excellent crops of grain. It is perhaps the best cultivated township in the county. Large quantities of its produce are con- veyed to Hazelton, Jeansville, and to other places, for consumption. Their land is greatly benefited by the application of lime, which the farmers procure from the kilns near Berwick in Columbia county. In Huntington are 10 saw-mills, 6 grist-mills, 6 stores, 7 churches, 3 taverns, and 2 carding and fulling mills. Harveyville, Cambria, and Town Hill are pleasant vil- lages, containing from 10 to 25 dwellings each. The population of the township in 1840 was 1510, of whom 252 were engaged in agriculture. In 1850 the population was 1747. * For names of taxables, see Appendix, M. BOROUGHS AND TOWNSHIPS. 203 Hyde Park Borough was incorporated in 1852, prior to which it was a portion of the township of Providence. It has improved, for several years, with great rapidity. It has 13 dry goods and grocery stores, 4 churches, 3 hotels, 1 foundry and machine-shop, and 1 tannery. In 1840 it contained only 6 or 8 dwellings, and was called originally "Fellows' Corner," from Mr. Fellows, an old resident. There are two coal openings or slopes in the borough, belonging to Thomas Howell & Co., and to the Hyde Park Company, both connecting with the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad. The buildings are chiefly of wood, two-stories high, and neatly painted. The private residences and streets are ornamented with shade- trees. Its population is about 1300. (See Appendix X.) Jackson Township was formed from a portion of Ply- mouth in 1844, and was named in honor of General Andrew Jackson. The first settlement was made by Palmer Ransom in 1795. He was followed by John Lomereaux, Levi Brunson, Jesse Brown, Major B. Fuller, Joseph Reynolds, and others. The area of Jackson is 15 square miles, of which a fourth part only is cultivated. Its timber is chiefly oak, hemlock, and pine. Its surface is undulating, and its soil produces the usual grains, which find a market at Plymouth and Wilkesbarre. It is improving, particularly as a dairy township. A considerable quantity of lumber is manufactured, and taken to the canal and railroad below West Nanticoke. It has 9 saw-mills, 3 grist-mills, 1 church, 1 store, and 1 tavern. The church, store, and tavern are located in Huntsville, which contains about 30 dwellings. This village received its name from Mr. Plunt, one of the early settlers. The population of Jackson in 1850 was 592. 204 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. Jefferson Township was separated from Blakely in 1836, and was named in honor of Thomas Jefferson, It was settled chiefly by Jerseymen and Germans. The first settlement was made in 1784 by Asa Cobb, and the second, near the Wayne county line, by Mr. Potter in 1795. Dr. Hollister, in his work on the Lackawanna Valley, relates that the wife of John Cobb once found a wolf destroying her husband's stock during his absence from home, and boldly attacked and killed the beast with a pitchfork. Forwarding the scalp to Wilkesbarre^ she re- ceived the lawful bounty. Jacob Keiser, in 1831, erected a saw-mill on Reiser's Creek. Jefferson contains 39 square miles, of which one-sixth part is cleared land. It is mountainous in part, with some good farms interspersed in the small valleys. It produces abundantly of the coarser grains, and its market is at Scranton and Dunmore. The prevailing species of timber are oak, chestnut, beech, and hemlock. It has 5 saw-mills, 1 store, 1 church, and 1 tavern. The population of this township in 1850 was 414. Jenkins Township was separated from Pittston in 1852, and was named in honor of Colonel John Jenkins, one of the first settlers in the Wyoming Valley. It is the smallest township in the county, extending over an area of only 14 square miles. The first grist-mill in Jenkins was erected on Gardner's Creek, in 1794, by Joseph Gard- ner and Isaac Gould. Peter Winters, aged 74, and Letitia Cotant, aged 71, are the oldest inhabitants in this town- ship. About one-half of its territory is cleared, but is chiefly the property of the Pennsylvania Coal Company, for which the company annually pays taxes exceeding 11800. BOROUGHS AND TOWNSHIPS. 205 Port Griffith, named in honor of Mr. Griffith, one of the original stockholders in the Pennsylvania Coal Com- pany, is a village containing 2 stores, 1 tavern, and 150 dwellings. It is the terminus of the company's railroad. Port Blanchard, named in honor of John Blanchard. one of the first coal operators, contains 5 dwellings and 1 tavern. The population of the township is chiefly Irish and Welsh. Kingston Township is one of the townships formed under the authority of the Susquehanna Land Company ; and is also one of the eleven, with enlarged boundaries, into which Luzerne was divided in 1790. It has since been considerably diminished by the formation of new townships. It derived its name from Kingston in Rhode Island, and was called by the first settlers " Kingstown." Among the forty persons who entered the Wyoming Valley in 1769, under the auspices of the Susquehanna Land Company, was Mr. Ezra Dean, whose wife was a native of Kingston, in Rhode Island. After the several tracts had been assigned by lot, and the party was seated under a tree on the flats, Mr. Dean proposed to furnish a .art of good Connecticut whiskey for the privilege of naming the township. The proposition was accepted, and in compliment to his " better half" he gave the name Kingstown ; whereupon each one of the company, one after another, repeated " Kingstown," and then moistened his mouth with a little whiskey. A portion of the plain lying in this township was called Abram's Plain, from Abram a chief of the Mohican Indians. These Indians also had a village near Forty Fort, on Abram's Creek. Forty Fort stood within the present limits of Kingston 206 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. on the river, a short distance below the present church, about 80 feet from the water. The first saw-mill was erected by James Sutton, on Toby's Creek, in the spring of 1778. In 1796, Kingston, then including Dallas and parts of Lake and Franklin, contained 100 taxables,* 78 horses, and 241 head of horned cattle. The area of Kingston is 29 square miles. It embraces several excellent farms, but, like other townships in the coal-field, its lands do not sustain the high agricultural character of which they are capable. The highlands are adapted to grass, and in common with the territory lying west of the Kingston and Plymouth, or Shawnee Moun- tains, they are destined to become an excellent dairy and stock growing region. Kingston township contains 8 grist-mills, 6 saw-mills, 1 chopping-mill, 6 churches, 6 stores, 4 tanneries, 2 card- ing and fulling mills, 3 taverns, and the works of the Kingston Coal Company. Wyoming Village, formerly called New Troy, contains about 40 dwellings, 3 stores, 2 churches, and 2 taverns, and is situated in the neighborhood where the battle was fought. The Monument, Wyoming Institute, and the Fair Grounds are in the same locality. Trucksville contains about 30 dwellings, 1 store, and 1 church. Forty Fort is a collection of 6 or 8 dwellings, with 1 store, and 1 church. It was the formidable rival of Wilkesbarre for the county seat, in 1786. In 1840 there were 11 persons engaged in mining Id this township, and 273 in agriculture. In 1850 its population was 2454. * For names of taxables, see Appendix, N. BOROUGHS AND TOWNSHIPS. 207 Kingston Borough was incorporated in 1858, and con- tains about 80 dwellings, 4 stores, 2 churches, and 2 taverns. The Wyoming Seminary is located here. Lackawanna Township was formed from portions of Providence and Pittston, in 1838. The first saw and grist mills in Lackawanna were built by the town (then Pittston), at the Falls on the Lacka- wanna river, in the year 1774. The next year they passed into the possession of Solomon Strong, and soon after were swept away by a flood. In 1779, Mr. Keys put up a saw-mill on Keiser's Creek, and the lumber for Lord Butler's dwelling-house, in the village of Wilkes- barre, was manufactured here and floated down the river. A ,saw-mill and a small log grist-mill were erected on Mill Creek, by Samuel Miller, in 1782. Among the oldest residents are Erastus Smith, Joh Knapp, H. H. Winter, Michael Frederick, James Scott, and Charles Drake. John Atherton is the oldest native- born resident of the township, being 68 years of age. Lackawanna contains 15 square miles, two-thirds of which are cleared, producing wheat, rye, corn, oats, and buckwheat, which are consumed within its own bounds. It has 5 saw-mills, 1 grist-mill, 1 powder-mill, 3 stores, 3 churches, and 3 taverns. Taylorsville contains about 200 dwellings, and is the place where the Union Iron and Coal Company carry on their operations. Belleview is a collection of about 50 dwellings, where there are 4 coal openings, the property of the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad Company. Hampton has 30 dwellings, which is also the property of the last-mentioned company. At the Dunson Works there are 4 coal openings, and about 40 dwellings. 208 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. The New York and Scranton Coal Company have 1 coal opening, with 30 dwellings. In 1840 no one was engaged in mining in this territory, but there were 61 persons, employed in agriculture, and its whole population was 363. In 1850 it was 389. Lake Township was formed in 1841 from parts of Lehman and Monroe, and took its name from Harvey's Lake, which is located in this township. In 1842 a portion of the township was cut off, in the formation of Wyoming county. ^ Its area is 34 square miles, of which an eighth part is cleared. It is mountainous and hilly, and adapted to grazing. Its timber is pine, oak, and hemlock mainly. It has 5 saw-mills, 1 planjng and lath mill, and 1 grist-mill, but no store, no church, and no tavern. Religious meetings are held in the school-houses. The mills of Hollenback and Urquhart are located on the outlet of Harvey's Lake, where 1,000,000 feet of lumber are annually manufactured. Harvey's Lake is destined to become one of the most popular summer retreats in the state. Many thousands of dollars have been expended in a building on its shore for the accommodation of visitors, whose number is an- nually increasing. It is to be hoped that all persons, owning timber lands surrounding the lake, will protect them from the woodman's axe, that the locality may not be shorn of its primitive grandeur and beauty. The population of Lake in 1850 was 383. Lehman Township was separated from Dallas in 1829, and was named in honor of Dr. William Lehman, of Philadelphia, who, at that time, was a member of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, and had strenuously advocated the extension and immediate completion of the state canals. BOROUGHS AND TOWNSHIPS. 209 The Ides and Browns were the first settlers m this township. In 1806 Joseph Worthington settled on Har- vey's Creek, and cut a road from the place where Elijah Ide now lives to Harvey's Lake. At this time there was not a single house within three-quarters of a mile of the lake. Lehman contains 22 square miles. Its surface is undu- lating, one-third of which is cleared and cultivated, being adapted to grazing and the coarser grains. Its market is at Wilkesbarre. It has 9 saw-mills, 2 churches, 1 store, and 1 tavern, but no grist-mill. Lehman Centre is a village of about 15 dwellings, where the 2 churches of the township are located. The population of Lehman in 1850 was 558. Madison Township was taken off from Jefferson and Covington in 1845, and was named in honor of James Madison, one of the Presidents of the United States. The first settlements in Madison were made in 1824 by John Besecker, Barnabas Carey, Richard Edwards, Nathaniel Carter, Jacob Swartz, and John Koon. The first saw- mill was erected in 1826, on Roaring Brook, by Peter Rupert. The first church was built in 1849. The area of Madison is 28 square miles, one-third of which is cleared, producing wheat, rye, corn, oats, &c. Some parts of the township are rugged, and the prevail- ing timber is beech, hemlock, and ash. Madison contains 1 grist-mill, 1 saw-mill, and 2 churches not in the villages. Moscow is a flourishing village, on the Delaware, Lack- awanna, and Western Railroad, containing 30 dwellings, 2 churches, 2 stores, 2 tanneries, and 1 saw-mill. Dunning, named in honor of A. Dunning, Esq., con- tains 25 dwellings, 2 saw-mills, 1 tannery, 1 church, 1 store, and 1 tavern. 14 210 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. The population of the township in 1850 was 579. New Columbus Borough was incorporated in 1859. It contains 50 dwellings, 3 stores, and 1 tavern. The office of the Huntington Valley Insurance Company is located here ; also an excellent Academy, under the charge of A. J. Furman, Esq. ; students during past year, 270. The first dwelling was erected in New Columbus, by the Hon. John Koons, about fifty years ago. Its population in 1850 was included in that of Hun- tington township. Nescopeck Township was separated from Newport in 1792. Jacob Smithers, Jacob Shover, Martin Arner, and Jacob Seyberling settled in the territory of this township in 1791, on the banks of the Nescopeck Creek, near its mouth. In 1796, including HoUenback, Sugarloaf, But- ler, Black Creek, and Hazel townships, it contained 31 taxables,* 36 horses, 58 head of horned cattle, 3 grist- mills, and 3 saw-mills. In 1797 Harvey D. Walker built a grist and saw-mill about one mile from Nescopeck Vil- lage. The first church was erected in 1811, on the turn- pike, by the Lutherans and German Reformed members, about four miles from the village. This township contains 28 square miles, a portion of which is mountainous, and the remainder is flat or river bottom and rolling land. Its timber is chiefly oak, chestnut, and hemlock, and its soil is adapted to wheat, rye, oats, and com. Its market is Hazelton. It has 3 saw-mills, 2 grist-mills, 1 carding and fulling mill, 1 forge, 2 stores, 2 churches, and 3 taverns. Nescopeck Village is built on the site of an ancient town of the Delaware Indians. It was the rendezvous of the hostile savages, during the French and Indian war, * For names of taxables, see Appendix, 0. BOROUGHS AND TOWNSHIPS. 211 upwards of one hundred years ago. It has about 20 dweUings, 1 store, and 1 tavern. The Nescopeck Insur- ance Company has its office here. The southern line of Luzerne crosses the Susquehanna at this place, cutting the Nescopeck bridge diagonally about midway. The population of Nescopeck township in 1850 was 920. Newport Township was one of the original townships under Connecticut jurisdiction, and retained its name in the new division made by the court in 1790. It derived its name from Newport in Rhode Island. The first set- tlement in Newport was made by Major Prince Alden, in 1772, on the property now owned by Colonel Wash- ington Lee. A few years after this his sons, Mason F. and John Alden, erected a forge on Nanticoke Creek. In the same year Mr. Chapman put up a log grist-mill, with one run of stone, neair the forge. This was the only mill ill Wyoming that escaped destruction from floods and from the torch of the savage. In 1780 this mill was guarded by armed men, and, as far as possible, it met the wants of the public, but many of the settlers were com- pelled to carry their grain to Stroud's mill, at Strouds- 'burg, a distance of fifty miles. Newport, in 1799, including Slocum and Dorrance, con- tained 49 taxable inhabitants,* 31 horses, 130 head of horned cattle, 3 mills, and 1 forge. The area of this township is 19 square miles, one-half of which is cleared land. It is very undulating, and at one time produced a considerable quantity of grain ; but for several years past its farming interest has been declin- ing. Considerable tracts of land have passed into the hands of coal companies, and a good portion of the old * For names of taxables, see Appendix, P. 212 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. farming population lias removed to other localities. The companies seem to take no interest in the improvement of their lands, further than to rent them for sufficient to pay the taxes. Its fences and buildings generally indicate a mining district, and that its agricultural glory has departed. Its timber is principally oak, hickory, and hemlock. It contains 2 saw-mills, 2 grist-mills, 1 store, 2 churches, and 3 taverns. In 1840 it had but 1 person engaged in mining, and 148 in agriculture. Its population in 1850 was 868. .Newton Township. When Wyoming county was set off" from Luzerne, the dividing line passed through what was then called Falls township, and that portion of it remaining in this county was organized in 1844, under the name of Newton. This name is derived from New- ton, in Sussex county. New Jersey.' Among the first settlers in this township were Henry Litts, Elias Smith, Jacob Biesecker, and Henry Beemer. They were chiefly from New Jersey. Elias Smith erected the first saw-mill, on Gardner's Creek, in 1818. The first church was built in 1848. The area of Newton is 24 square miles, two-thirds of which is cleared land. The surface is undulating, and its soil produces the usual grains of the country. A con- siderable quantity of butter is made in this township. Its produce finds a market at Pittston and Scranton. It has 4 saw-mills, 3 stores, 2 churches, 2 taverns, and 1 carding and fulling mill, but no grist-mill. Newton Centre, a village of 30 dwellings, contains the stores and churches before mentioned. The population of Newton township in 1850 was 819. Pittston Township was one of the old Connecticut townships, which retained its name on. tlie second divi- BOROUGHS AND TOWNSHIPS. 213 sion in 1790. It was named in honor of the distinguished Enghsh statesman, William Pitt, the elder, and was ori- ginally called " Pittstown." The first house in Pittston was a log building put up in 1770, by Zebulon Marcy. During the next five or six years settlements were made by the Browns, Benedicts, St. Johns, Baldwins, Bennets, Hopkins, Careys, and Blanchards. In 1776, Mr. Brown erected a block-house, whose loca- tion is now within the borough of Pittston, to which two stockades were added. In 1778, during the Indian battle, they were occupied by women and children, who w^ere guarded by 30 men, under the command of Captain Blanchard. The first saw-mill in the township was built on the Lackawanna, in 1780, by Solomon Finn and E. L. Stevens. In 1796, including Jenkins and parts of Lackawanna, Springbrook, Bear Creek, and Plains, Pittston contained 65 taxable inhabitants,* 37 horses, 147 head of horned cattle, and 1 slave. The present area of Pittston is 36 square miles, one- half of which is cleared land. It is generally hilly, and being a mining region, agriculture is a secondary pursuit. Rye, corn, oats, and buckwheat are produced here, which are consumed at home. Pittston contains 3 saw-mills, 1 grist-mill, 3 stores, 1 church, 1 foundry, 1 tannery, and a large powder-mill. The present population is chiefly Irish, Welsh, and German. In 1840 the population was 1110, of whom 4 were coal operators, and 248 were engaged in agriculture. In 1850 the inhabitants were 4048. * For names of taxables, see Appendix, Q. 214 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. PiTTSTON Borough was incorporated in 1853, and in the following year its boundaries were enlarged. Prior to 1838 it contained only 8 or 10 dwellings. The oldest house now standing in Pittston, is the Hart house, on Main street, erected by Jacob Hart and God- frey Perry, about the year 1790. Shortly after, William Slocum built a large frame-house below the old Sox tavern. There was an old frame building about 14 rods south-west of the present residence of Mr. John Sox, in which a store was kept, in 1799, by Messrs. Wright & Duane. Adjoining this stood another building, which was one of the first in Pittston township, and which was purchased and removed by Mr. William Tompkins in 1825. The Stockbridge house was erected in 1830, at which time Mr; John Alment kept store in a frame-house oppo- site the Butler Hotel. Mr. Alment also, at one time, resided and kept the post-office in this building. Messrs. Butler & Mallery commenced operating in coal in this township in 1838, since which period the borough has rapidly advanced to its present high position among the incorporated towns of the county. It now contains 22 dry goods, 8 clothing, 5 grocery, 1 hardware, and 3 drug stores, 2 steam grist-mills, 7 hotels, and 8 churches. It is supplied with water forced from the Susquehanna into a reservoir, and distributed thence through the town in pipes. (For population in 1860, see Appendix X.) Plains Township was formed from portions of Wilkes- barre and Pittston in 1851. The Waname Indians, a tribe of the Delawares, once resided within the limits of this township, and one of their chiefs being named Jacob, the whites called the territory Jacob's Plains. From this the township derived its name. The original Connecticut settlers, in 1762, built their BOROUGHS AND TOWNSHIPS. 215 log-houses immediately above tjie confluence of Mill Creek with the Susquehanna. These buildings were afterwards seized by the Pennamites, w4io enclosed them with stock- ades, and called the enclosure Fort Ogden. The first grist-mill in the Wyoming Valley was erected on Mill Creek, within the bounds of Plains, by Nathan Chapman, in 1772. It was a log structure with one run of stone, and stood on the side of the creek opposite the present mill of the late Mr. John Hollenback. It was carried away by the high water soon after its erection. In 1813, on the same creek, Mr. Hezekiah Parsons put up the first fulling and woolen factory. The second grate for burning anthracite coal was set up by Henry Stark, in Plains township, in 1808, shortly after Judge Fell's successful experiment at Wilkesbarre. The first church here was built in 1843. The oldest residents in Plains township are Hon. Charles Miner,*Messrs. Parly Lyons, Henry Shafer, Ben- jamin Courtright, John Clark, and Henry Stark. The extent of Plains is 15 square miles, of which one- half is cleared. Its surface is partly hill}^ and partly flat or river bottom land. Its soil produces wheat, rye, corn, oats, and buckwheat, and its market is at Wilkesbarre and Pittston. It has 1 saw-mill, 3 grist-mills, 2 stores, 2 churches, 2 taverns, 1 powder-mill, and 4 collieries. Plymouth Township was one of the old Connecticut townships, and also one of the eleven of 1790. Its name was derived from Plymouth, in Litchfield county, Con- necticut. In 1775, a battle was fought in Plymouth between the Yankees and Pennamites, near the coal-mines of Jameson Harvey, Esq. In 1776, a stockade was put up, for the defence of women and children in times of attack by the savages, near the site of the village of Plymouth. * The Hon. Charles Miner died in 1865. 216 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. In 1780, Robert Faulk^ier erected a log grist-mill on Shou^D's Creek, below the site of the present Shoup Mill, and about the same time Hezekiah Roberts put up a similar mill on Ransom Creek. In the same year Benja- min Harvey built a log mill and dwelling-house on Har- vey's Creek, which were occupied by his son-in-law, Abraham Tillbury. Samuel Marvin, in 1795, erected a saw-mill on Whits- ley's Creek, above the present residence of Samuel Wad- hams, Esq. In 1796, this township, including Jackson, contained 95 taxable inhabitants,* 61 horses, and 262 head of horned cattle. The area of Plymouth is 29 square miles, of which a portion is river bottom, and the rest hilly and mountain- ous land. One-third of it is cultivated, producing the usual grains of the country, which find a market at home. It has 2 saw-mills, 2 grist-mills, 9 stores, 2 churches, 3 taverns, and 14 coal-mines. Plymouth village, called by the early inhabitants Shawaneetown, is located near the site of the Shawanee Indian village, where Zinzendorf, one hundred and eighteen years ago, preached the gospel to the red men. It contains 150 dwellings. There is an academy building in this place, and two churches, and most of the stores of the township are located here. During the French war, in 1756, Paxinos, a Shawanee chief, and about 30 other Indians friendly to the English, retired from this village to another situated on the west side of Ross's Hill. The remainder of the tribe engaged in the war on the part of the French. The population of the township, in 1840, including * For names of taxables, see Appendix, R. BOROUGHS AND TOWNSHIPS. 217 Jackson, was 1765. In that year 58 of the inhabitants were engaged in mining, and 159 in agriculture. In 1850, without Jackson, the population was 1473. Providence Township was separated from Pittston in 1792; but in 1820 its western portion was reannexed to Pittston. Its name was derived from Providence in Rhode Island. The Muncey or Monsey Indians, the Wolf tribe of the Delawares, had a village in this township near Scranton. They had a famous chief, whose name was Capouse. From 1770 to 1776, the principal settlers in Providence and Lackawanna townships were the Hardings, Careys, Tripps, Frazers, Hickmans, Hockseys, Keys, Nelsons, Philips, Johnsons, Hunts, Aliens, Dewits, Reines, Leg- getts, Baldwins, and Dr. Joseph Sprague. In 1796, including a large part of old Blakeley, and also Lackawanna townships. Providence contained 53 taxables,* 22 horses, 56 oxen, and 80 cows. Its area is 44 square miles, whose surface is undulating, and underlaid with coal. It was formerly an agricultural, but is now a mining region, and its present inhabitants are chiefly Irish, Germans, and Welsh. One-third of its territory is cleared, and its agricultural products are con- sumed at home. Dunmore is a villagefcontaining 200 dwellings, 10 dry goods stores, 1 drug store, 3 churches, 2 hotels, and 1 soap and candle manufactory. In addition to these, there are in the township, out of the village, 1 store, 1 tavern, 1 tannery, and 3 saw-mills. Dunmore, in 1840, contained only 4 dwellings. The population of Providence township, in 1840, including Providence borough, Hyde Park, and Scranton, * For names of taxables, see Appendix S. f Dunmore was incorporated a borough in 1862. 218 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. was 1169, of whom 209 were engaged in agriculture, and none in mining. In 1850 the same territory contained 4933 inhabitants. Pkovidence Borough was incorporated in 1849. It was formerly called Centreville, and by some persons Kazorville. In July, 1834, this place was visited by a hurricane, which overturned and destroyed its dwellings with terrific violence. In 1840, it contained 10 or 12 dwellings, 1 store, and 1 tavern. It now has 7 dry goods stores, 1 drug store, 1 tannery, 2 axe and scythe manu- factories, 3 churches, 1 academy, 2 hotels, 2 flouring- mills, 2 saw-mills, and 1 steam iron foundry. Eansom Township was formed from parts of Exeter and Newton, in 1849, and was named in honor of Cap- tain Samuel Ransom, who commanded the second inde- pendent company of troops raised in Wyoming, in 1777, and who fell in the battle of July 3d, 1778. The Delaware Indians had a village on the Susque- hanna, near the mouth of Gardner's Creek, called Assa- rughney. The first grist-mill, in the territory of Ransom, was erected on Gardner's Creek, in 1825, by Philip Sher- wood. About the same time Mr. Twitchel put up the first saw-mill. The first church was built, in 1845, by the Lutherans, under the direction of the Rev. John Lescher. Ransom contains 21 square miles, one-third of which is cleared land, producing wheat, rye, corn, oats, and buckwheat, which find a market at Scranton and Pitts- ton. Its timber is chiefly oak, chestnut, and hickory. Milwaukee is a village consisting of 30 dwellings, 2 saw-mills, 1 grist-mill, 1 store, 1 church, and 1 iron foundry. There are, besides these in the township, 1 church and 1 saw-mill. BOROUGHS AND TOWNSHIPS. 219 The present population of Ransom is chiefly German and of German extraction, from Northampton county. In 1850 this township contained 797 inhabitants. Ross Township was formed from portions of Lehman and Union, in 1842, and was named in honor of General William S. Ross, who, at the time of its formation, was one of the associate judges of the Luzerne county courts. Its area is 46 square miles, of which one-fourth part is cleared land. Its surface is hilly, and its soil produces . the usual grains, together with excellent grass. Its mar- ket is at Wilkesbarre. Its timber is principally oak, chestnut, and pine. There are in the township 5 saw-mills, 1 store, 1 church, and 1 tavern, but no grist-mill. The population of Ross, in 1850, was 709. Salem Township was one of the original townships, and retained its name as one of the 11 townships into which the county was divided in 1790. It received its name from Salem, in Windham county, Connecticut, and its territory has not been diminished since 1793, when Huntington was set off. The father of the late Nathan Beach, Esq., built the first dwelling, a log-cabin, in Salem, in 1776, on the Beach Grove property, near the river. Several years after he opened the first store in the township. Prior to the erection of Walker's Mill, the settlers had their grain ground at the Nanticoke Mill, to which place they conveyed it in canoes pushed up the Susquehanna, The first grist-mill was a log structure, erected by Mr. Walker, about the year 1788, on a small stream which empties into the Susquehanna, a few rods above Beach Haven. In 1793, Joseph and Alexander Jameson erected a log- 220 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. house on the river bank, on the Jameson estate, adjoining Beach Grove. In 1796, Salem township contained 44 dweUing-houses, 45 taxable inhabitants,* 28 horses, 19 oxen, and 77 cows. The extent of Salem is 29 square miles, one-half of which is cleared and cultivated. The surface is river- bottom and rolling land, and its soil produces wheat, rye, corn, oats, and buckwheat, which find a market at home and at Hazelton. Beach Haven is a village containing about 30 dwellings, 3 stores, 1 grist-mill, 1 grocery, 1 church, and 2 taverns. The collector's and weighmaster's offices of the Wyoming Canal Company are located here. Besides these, the township contains 5 saw-mills, 2 grist-mills, 1 store, 1 tan- nery, and 1 church. The population of Salem in 1840 was 1009, and in 1850 it was 1130. Scott Township was separated from Greenfield in 1846, and was named in honor of David Scott, who, for many years, was president judge of the Luzerne courts. In 1800, Mr. Howe built the first grist-mill of logs on the outlet of Chapman's Lake, and James Brown, in 1804, erected the first saw-mill on the same stream. The first church in Scott was built in 1856. Among the early settlers were Nathaniel Simrell, Nathaniel Finch, William Carey, Wilmot Vale, Caleb Brown, and Samuel Callender. Lucy Carey, whose maiden name was McKay, resides in Scott, and is one hundred years of age.-|" She was in Forty Fort at the time of the Indian battle in 1778. The area of Scott township is 27 square miles, one- third of which is cleared land. Its surface is undulating, * For names of taxables, see Appendix T, f Since deceased. BOROUGHS AND TOWNSHIPS. 221 and it is adapted to grazing, though it produces the com- mon grains of the country. Its market is at Carbondale and Scranton. Its timber is chiefly beech, maple, hem- lock, and ash. This township has 4 saw-mills, 1 grist-mill, 1 turning- mill, 1 store, 1 church, and 1 tavern. Green Grove is a small village of about 15 dwellings. The population of Scott in 1850 was 1268. Scranton Borough was incorporated in 1856, and is situated in what was known as Slocum Hollow, or Capouse. This name was pronounced, by the old in- habitants, Gajpows, Capouse was a chief of the Monsey Indians, whose village stood near the site of Scranton. Here, Frederick Post, the Moravian missionary, found them, more than a hundred years ago.* In the year 1788, Philip and James Abbott put up a log grist-mill on Roaring Brook, a few rods above the present gristrmill at Scranton. It had one run of stone, and a bolter made of perforated deerskin. In 1798, this mill passed into the hands of Benjamin and Ebenezer Slocum, who enlarged it. The Messrs. Slocum, in 1799, built a saw-mill, and, in the following year, a forge in the some locality. These buildings, with 2 distilleries and 3 dwellings, constituted, for many years, the entire settle- ment in Slocum Hollow or Capouse. In 1839, this region was explored by Mr. W. Henry, who discovered anthracite coal and iron-ore on the Slocum property and adjoining lands. He, in conjunction with Colonel George W. and S. T. Scranton, S. Grant, and P. H. Mattes, purchased these lands in 1840. On the 11th of September, of the same year, the first day's work was done towards the erection of a blast furnace, and the place was called Harrison, in honor of General William Henry Harrison, who was then the candidate, of the whig party * Scranton was incorporated a city in 1866, and includes Providence borough and township, and the borough of Hyde Park. 222 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. THE SLOCUM HOUSE. for President of the United States. This name was after- wards dropped for that of Scrantonia, which was finally changed to Scranton. Such was the beginning of one of the most flourishing towns in Pennsylvania, and which is destined to become a place of even far greater importance than it is now. Scranton is laid out with regularity, nearly all the streets crossing each other at right angles. Business is thriving, and many spacious brick buildings are being erected. The town is supplied with water from the Lackawanna, being forced up by steam-power into a reservoir, and thence distributed in pipes through the borough. The streets are lighted by gas, and the side- walks are paved with plank and stone. The capital of the company which erected the gas and water works is $100,000. The place contains 59 groceries and stores of all descriptions, 18 stationary steam-engines, 10 churches, 2 printing offices, 4 foundries and machine-shops, 2 bakeries, 7 hotels, 4 smelting furnaces, 1 rolling-mill, 1 planing BOROUGHS AND TOTTNSHIPS. 223 mill, 2 banking-houses, 6 insurance agencies, 2 flouring- mills, each with 4 run of stone, 1 brewery, 2 resident dentists, 12 doctors, and 13 lawyers. In 1850, there was but one brick building in Scranton, now there are 80. In 1854, the population was 4241, of whom the American-born were 1151, the rest being Ger- mans, Irish, Welsh, and English. The population is now estimated to exceed 12,000, of whom about one-half, it is thought, are native-born Americans. Slocum Township was separated from Newport in 1854, and was named in honor of Joseph Slocum, Esq., late of Wilkesbarre. The first settlement in Slocum was made by two brothers, named Lutsey, about the year 1785, at what is known as the Lutsey settlement. They were great hunters, and the mountains abounding in game, their location was peculiarly suited to their love of adventure. Its area is 16 square miles, one-fifth of which is cleared land. It is a mountainous section of country ; but rye, corn, oats, and buckwheat do well. The timber is mainly oak and hemlock. This township contains 2 saw-mills, and 2 stores, but has no grist-mill, no church, and no tavern. Springbrook Township was formed from parts of Cov- ington and PittstOn in 1853. Among the first settlers in Springbrook was Abraham Turner, who, assisted by others, cut a road from Dale- ville to Rattlesnake Creek. He and his companions com- menced what is known as the Welsh settlement in 1832. Mr. Turner was soon followed by James Jones, David Davidson, Morgan Daniel, Morgan Pugh, Isaac Cary, William Thomas, and others, who, by industry and fru- gality, have converted the wilderness into the fruitful field, and have laid up a store for a joyous old age. 224 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. The first saw-mill in Springbrook was put up on Rattle- snake Creek, in 1836, by Henry Yeager. The first grist- mill was erected, on the same creek, by William Hughes, in 1838. In 1839, the first church was built by the Welsh Methodists. The extent of Springbrook is 35 square miles, of which only about one-sixth is cleared land. It is a mountainous region, and is adapted to grazing ; but produces rye, corn, oats, and buckwheat. Its market is Pittston and the Lackawanna Valley. Its timber is chiefly oak, beech, and hemlock. This township contains 5 saw-mills, 1 grist-mill, 1 church, and 1 shovel and hoe-handle manufactory. SuGAELOAF TowNSHiP was formed from a portion of Nescopeck in 1809, and received its name from the Sugar- loaf Mountain, which rears its conical peak 500 feet above the valley of the same name. In the year 1785, the year after John Balliet settled in the territory embraced in Butler township, George Easterday built a log-cabin near the Indian path, at the foot of Buck Mountain, now in Sugarloaf. Mr. Easterday was followed by Christian Miller, Anthony Weaver, Jacob Mace, Jacob Rittenhouse, Jacob Drumheller, Sr., Jacob Spade, Christian Wenner, and others from Northampton county. These, with the early settlers of Butler and Black Creek, were the pioneers of South-western Luzerne. John Cawley erected the first saw-mill on the Nesco- peck Creek in 1810, and the first grist-mill was built by George Koening in 1825. The first church was put up in Conyngham in 1815. The area of Sugarloaf is 20 square miles, of which seven-tenths is cleared land, embracing a considerable portion of Sugarloaf Valley. The common grains of our climate are produced in Sugarloaf, and their market is at BOROUGHS AND TOWNSHIPS. 225 Hazelton. Oak, chestnut, hemlock, and hickory are found in its forests. It contains 8 saw-mills, 3 grist-mills, 4 stores, 2 churches, and 5 taverns. Conyngham village, in this township, was named in honor of Captain Gustavus Conyngham, who commanded a privateer during the Revolutionary War, and who first carried the American flag into the English Channel. It contains about 50 dwellings, 2 stores, 3 taverns, and 1 church. The population of Sugarloaf in 1850 was 1023. Union Township was formed from parts of Huntington and Plymouth in 1813. The first settlement in Union was made in 1773, by Jonathan Hunlock, on Hunlock's Creek, near the furnace of William Koons. Isaac Benscotter erected the first saw-mill on the Shickshinny Creek in 1802, and the first grist-mill was put up by George Gregory on the same stream in 1804. The first church was built in 1832. Among the first set- tlers were the Benscotters, Fenks, Dodsons, and Youngs. The extent of Union is 39 square miles, of which a fifth part is cleared and cultivated. Though a mountain- ous region, the cultivable portions yield the usual grains, which find a market at Hazelton and Wilkesbarre. Its timber is chiefly oak, chestnut, and hickory. It contains 8 saw-mills, 3 grist-mills, 4 stores, 3 taverns, 2 churches, and 2 blast furnaces, including the one at Shickshinny, which stands within the Salem township line. Shickshinny village* is situated at the point where the Shickshinny Creek empties into the Susquehanna. It contains about 20 dwellings, and bids fair to become a thriving place. It is connected with Newport by a sub- stantial bridge across the Susquehanna, and enjoys the * Shickshinny was incorporated a borough in 1861. 226 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. advantages of the canal and of the Lackawanna and Bloomsburg Railroad. Muhlenburg is a collection of 6 or 8 dwellings. The population of Union in 1850 was 1308. Waverlt Borough was incorporated in 1854, prior to which it was generally called Abington Centre. It is located in the midst of a fine agricultural district, one mile distant from the Delaware, Lackawanna, and West- ern Railroad. It contains 5 stores, 1 large hotel, 1 steam saw and grist mill, and 3 churches. The public schools of Waverly are graded. The buildings are frame and neatly built, and the streets are provided with good side- walks. Its population is about 400. West Pittston Borough was incorporated in 1857, and is situated on the Susquehanna, opposite Pittston, with which it is connected by a substantial bridge. It is regularly laid out, and the location is a most desirable one for private residences, particularly for persons engaged in business in Pittston. There are 1 large hotel and 1 store in the place. White Haven Borough was incorporated in 1842, and derives its name from Josiah White, Esq., of Philadelphia, to whose genius and energy the origin and completion of the Lehigh navigation is chiefly attributable. The town is pleasantly located on the Lehigh river and canal, 20 miles south-east from Wilkesbarre, with which it is connected by the Susquehanna and Lehigh Railroad. White Haven is steadily improving, and the proposed enlargement of the locks on the Lehigh, so as to admit the passage of steam- boats of 250 tons burden, and a corresponding enlargement of the Delaware Canal, will divert, it is thought, almost the entire Wyoming coal trade in that direction, and will give the town an impetus, which will speedily advance it to the position of one of the most active and progressive BOROUGHS AND TOWNSHIPS. 227 places in the state.* It contains 250 dwellings, 3 churches, 5 dry goods stores, 2 drug stores, 4 hotels, 6 saw-mills, 3 planing and lath mills, and 1 foundry and machine-shop. The town is supplied with pure mountain spring water, and excellent and commodious hotels, which, combined with its high elevation and pure air, render it a desirable place of resort during the sultry months of the year. WiLKESBARRE TowNSHiP was originally laid out by the Susquehanna Land Company, and was also one of the eleven townships into which Luzerne was divided by the court in 1790. It derives its name from the union of the names of John Wilkes and Colonel Barre, distinguished advocates for liberty and the rights of the colonies. The first dwelling-houses in Wyoming, erected by white . men, were built on the flats, below the borough of Wilkes- barre, in 1758, by authority of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, for the use of Teedyuscung, king of the Delaware Indians, and his tribe. Fort Durkee stood on the bank of the river in this town- ship, immediately below the Wilkesbarre borough hne. The first massacre and destruction of the white settle- ment occurred in this township in 1763. In 1782, James Sutton, who had previously built mills in Exeter and Kingston townships, erected a grist-mill on Mill Creek near the river. This was the first mill in the present limits of Wilkesbarre. It was constructed of hewn logs, and had one run of stone, and a sentry-box on the roof, from which the valley could be overlooked, and the movements of an enemy observed. This mill was swept away by the pumpkin flood in 1786. In 1799, including Wilkesbarre borough, Covington, Buck, and a large portion of Plains and Bear Creek town- * The Lehigh Slaekwater Navigation was destroyed by the great flood of 1862, and has not been rebuilt. (For particulars, see Appendix Y.) 228 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. Sutton's mill. ships, it contains 121 taxable inhabitants,* 112 horses, and 301 head of horned cattle. The total valuation of property for taxable purposes was $71,390. The area of this township is 15 square miles, and three- fourths of it is cleared land. The surface is flat and rolling, with a portion of the Wilkesbarre Mountain in its territory. It produces wheat, rye, corn, and oats, which are consumed at home. It contains 10 stores, 5 grist-mills, 2 iron foundries, 2 planing-mills, 4 churches, 1 soap and tallow chandlery, 1 powder-mill, 1 brewery, and 6 coal-mines. The population of Wilkesbarre township, including parts of Plains and Bear Creek, in 1850, was 2928. Wilkesbarre Borough was incorporated in 1806, and is the oldest town in the county. It was laid out in 1772 by Colonel John Durkee, and embraced 200 acres of land. It was originally laid out in eight squares, with a diamond in the centre. The squares were subsequently * For names of taxables, see Appendix, U. BOROUGHS AND TOWNSHIPS. 229 divided into 16 parallelograms by the formation of Frank- lin and Washington streets. The first dwelling, within the limits of the town plot, was a log-cabin built by John Abbott on the south-west corner of Main and Northampton streets, in 1769. In 1772, there were only 5 white women in Wilkes- barre; and, in 1784, the whole number of buildings amounted to 26, of which 23 were burnt by the Penna- mites. Of the three buildings saved from the flames, two are yet standing — the westerly end of the Hollenback House, on Main street, and the old red house on River street. The former was erected by Judge Hollenback, and the latter by Captain John P. Schott, in 1783. RED HOUSE. In 1807, Joseph Slocum, Esq., erected a three story brick dwelling-house on the south side of the Public Square, now occupied by his son-in-law. Lord Butler, Esq. In the same year, Benjamin Perry, Esq., put up the brick dwelling now standing on the corner of Main and North- 230 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. ampton streets. These two were the first brick buildings in Wilkesbarre. The following taken from the Federalist of March 30, 1810, will give some idea of Wilkesbarre 50 years ago : — " Memorandum of a Stranger in Luzerne. " Cloudy day — rain towards night — 4 o'clock, came in sight of a small town in this county — a delightful and extensive valley, sufficiently watered by Susquehanna and its tributary streams. Set this county down rich — the soil undoubtedly will reward the labors of the husband- man with an abundant harvest. "Came down into the town (Wilkesbarre) — found it regularly laid out — handsome place, though too many small houses for beauty. Streets terribly muddy — almost impossible to get along. Wonder the inhabitants don't have a side-walk, at least, so that foot people may not have their legs pulled out by the roots. Mem. — Stone enough on the mountain at a small distance. Query — Would not a good pavement raise the value of property sufficiently to defray the expense ? " Came down into the street — extends north and south. What ! two men running horses ! ! Mud knee deep — Well, they sputter it agoing bravely. They spout it around like Mount Etna in a fit of the colic. Huzza ! there goes a man and his horse heels over head — spatter, dash, souse all over in the mud — ha ! ha ! ha ! — a new way of dismounting. Mem. — Never run horses in slippery weather. Walked up to the centre of the place — saw a meeting-house — good sign, though seldom seen in this county — court-house — an academy, I guess, with one end of it fenced in — a jail probably, by the high yard fence — four public buildings, religion, justice, knowledge, and iniquity — curious compound. Wonder what old huge, antique stone-building that is with new roof and BOROUGHS AND TOWNSHIPS. 231 windows — contrary to Scripture — put no new cloth upon an old garment. Query^ — Is this not what they call the Gothic order of architecture ? Mem. — Never build in that style — looks like the devil — this is the first building that bears such strong marks of antiquity, and which appears to have been too rough for the devouring jaws of time, which I have seen in America. I can find no date upon it — conjecture, built about the time of the second Olym- piad. Went a little further — found six great, strong robust men playing cards without any concealment. Inquired if they had any laws in this state, or, perhaps, their magistrates are blind, like Justice of old. Went down to the river — a delightful bank, save the mud, which, for' the purpose of brevity, I wish might always be excepted, when this place is mentioned hereafter. A big house on the bank — foundation all gone from one end — a little more will tumble it down the hill — a good simile for the government of the U. S. A. Saw a man drunk — he had business on both sides of the way. Mem. — There was once an insurrection in this state on account of taxing whiskey. Saw another man moving with great obliquity — made inquiry — found he was a candidate for sheriff. Query — Do all sheriffs in Pennsylvania step quick two or three times, and then with a long side-way stride ? The river is wearing away the bank very rapidly — from ap- pearance it seems to incline side-ways, like the man I saw just now. " Two men rode up from the river — one horse kicked up and threw the rider head and heels in the mud — the people all flocked around just as they do to see dogs fight — made inquiry, and found the man was a Methodist minister. Well, if I remember right, this sect of Christ- ians hold to falling. Mem. — It may do well in theory, but it is hard enough in practice. 232 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. " I went down a little further — saw a tavern with the sign of the' vessel. Mem. — Look in the morning, and see if this be a seaport town. Heard a bell ring — made inquiry, and found there was a Methodist meeting. After tea went, and found a great many people there. The minister delivered a forcible, impressive, eloquent, and scriptural sermon. Under such preaching there must be many Christians. Retired to my lodgings very weary. " N. B. Get up early in the morning and buy cloth for a coat. " March 21. Rose at 6 — walked out upon the bank — saw only one man up, and he, from his looks, will be down before night. At 7, went to the store opposite the ferry — found all closed and silent — perhaps this may be holy time with them — inquired if they be Jews, and this be the Passover. Walked on — saw a new white house —very handsome situation — fence all gone around it. Query — Has it not been a hard winter here? What! the printing office — 0, yes — where that important agri- cultural information came from — information so complete that it had only one fault, and that the trifling one of having no application on this side of the Atlantic. Saw another store — went on, found it open and doing business — good many people in — inquire if this man does not tend his own store, and, of course, make more money. Going back, saw a man without a hat — his hair pointing to every quarter of heaven — his mouth open, and both hands working daylight through his yet closed eyelids — hope he has a large patrimony to doze over. Returned to the tavern — found a good many men come in to get their morning charge. Query — Arn't these men ashamed to let their wives and families know how much they drink? After breakfast walked round town — at 11 o'clock went by the Academy — steeple as big as an eel- 3 72 -5 a ^ :: 3 ? 3 ^ CR ■ J5 = 3 M £; BOROUGHS AND TOWNSHIPS. 233 basket — saw a number of great tall boys gaping, and leaning against the side of the house, and stretching as if for victory. Query — Are they preparing to stretch hemp without anything to stand on ? Heard a man talk very loud within — " ' With what a braying noise he muttered, And thought, no doubt, hell trembled as he uttered.' " Went on — saw things which I shall never forget — returned to my lodgings sick — evening pleasant — many people came in, and as they poured down the whiskey they drowned out the politics. Query — If they should drink less, talk less, and read more, won't they under- stand the subject better ? Went up street — going by the court-house heard a stamping, like that of a livery stable in fly time — made inquiry, and found there was a danc- ing-school kept there. Mem. — " ' He that will not work, by right, should not eat. And he that has no head may use his feet.' "March 22. In the morning — Over! over! halloo, ferryman ! " P. S. I shall return this way." The Allen Jack brick store-house, on Main street, was erected in 1813, and the G. M. Hollenback store and dwell- ing, on the corner of Market and River streets, in 1816. Wilkesbarre contains 22 dry goods and grocery, and 11 exclusively grocery stores; 12 clothing, 10 boot and shoe, and 7 drug stores ; 2 exclusively liquor, 1 hat and cap, 2 leather, 3 book and stationery, and 6 millinery and fancy stores ; 5 watch and jewellery, 3 saddle and harness, 5 tin and stove establishments ; 7 bakeries and confec- tioneries, 2 extensive iron founderies, 1 sash factory, 3 breweries, 4 tobacconists ; 3 hardware, 2 crockery and glassware stores ; 2 planing and saw mills, and 1 flour- ing-mill; 3 banks, 2 insurance offices, 3 broker offices, 234 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. 5 restaurants, 11 hotels and taverns, 1 female seminary ; 1 Presbyterian, 1 Methodist Episcopal, 1 Protestant Epis- copal, 1 Baptist, 2 Roman Catholic, 1 German Reformed? and 1 colored Methodist Episcopal church. The Methodist Episcopal church in Woodville, and the Lutheran church in the township, are located near the borough line, and are supported in part by members resi- dent in Wilkesbarre. The side-walks of the town are well paved with flag- stones. The streets are lighted with gas, and the place is supplied with excellent water. The Gas and Water Works cost each about $30,000. The population of Wilkesbarre in 1820 was 732. In 1830 it was 1201 ; in 1840, 1718 ; and in 1850, 2723.* Wright Township was formed from Hanover in 1851, and was named in honor of Col. Hendrick B. Wright, of Wilkesbarre. The first settlement was made by Conrad Wickeiser, in 1798, near where the tavern-stand of James Wright was subsequently erected. He was soon followed by Wright, who built the first saw-mill in the township, on the Wapwallopen Creek, in 1820. The area of the township is 34 square miles, of which an eighth part only is cleared land. The country is moun- tainous, and the timber is chiefly pine and hemlock. There are 8 saw-mills in Wright, 5 of which are first class, costing from $5000 to $10,000 each. Lumbering is the principal employment of the inhabitants. There are 4 taveri;is here, but no church and no grist-mill. * For population in 1860, see Appendix X. CHAPTER VI I. THE JUDICIARY. Each state must have its policies : Kingdoms have edicts, cities have their charters ; Even the wild outlaw in his forest walk, Keeps yet some touch of civil discipline. From* the first settlement at Wyoming until 1773, the inhabitants had no authoritative code of laws, or tribunal of justice. The settlers were from the first viewed by the authorities of Pennsylvania as an intruding mob, claiming and in possession of lands to which they had no title. The proprietary government steadily issued its warrants against them, and sent her civil officers, sup- ported by bodies of armed men, to arrest them, or drive them away. The settlers did not acknowledge the laws of Pennsylvania, and were not themselves recognised by the laws of Connecticut ; consequently they were without law, and every man, in defending his person and property, trusted to his rifle and to the justice of his cause. To remedy this state of affairs, the Susquehanna Land Com- pany framed a code of laws, or articles of agreement, in 1773, to which every male inhabitant of the age of twenty- one years and upwards, was required to subscribe his name, or depart from the settlement. This compact provided, — 1st. For the election of three committeemen or directors in each township, who should meet at least once in each (235) 236 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. month, to hear and decide all disputes, and to try petty offences. 2d. The directors of the several townships were required to meet together four times a year at Wilkesbarre, consti- tuting the quarterly meeting for general business purposes, and for hearing and deciding appeals from the decisions of the township directors, except in cases where titles to land were in question, when the appeal was to be car- ried to the Susquehanna Company. Breaches of the peace, stealing, drunkenness, swearing, gaming, idleness and the like, came under the jurisdiction of the township directors; but adulterers, burglars, and some other offenders were tried by the quarterly meeting, or supreme court. For stealing, drunkenness, idleness, &c., the guilty were required to make public confession, and perhaps imdergo punishment at the whipping-post, or in the stocks. Adultery and burglary were punished by whipping, banishment from the settlement, and confiscation of all personal and real estate. Counterfeiters were sent for trial to the province or jurisdiction whose coin or money had been counterfeited, and murderers were conveyed to Connecticut for trial. There were then no regularly admitted practicing law- yers,— "Men of great profession that could speak To every cause, and things mere contraries, Till they were hoarse again, yet all be law." In those days there was a period in the history of a lawsuit, a stopping-place, a conclusion. The time had not yet arrived when he who was so unfortunate as to fall into the clutches of the law, must contend "with rejoinders, or replies. Long bills and answers stuflfed with lies ;" THE JUDICIARY. 237 and when the vigor of life and his substance were spent in the strife, would be compelled to say — "For twenty yeai-s the cause was spun And then stood where it first begun." In 1774 the Susquehanna Purchase, embracing what are now the counties of Luzerne, Wyoming, Susquehanna, and Bradford, was formed into one town, after the man- ner of New England, and called Westmoreland. It was attached to the county of Litchfield, and enjoyed all the rights and privileges of a town under the laws of Con- necticut. Having a sufficient population, it was entitled to two representatives in the General Assembly. Zebulon Butler and Nathan Denison were commissioned justices of the peace by Governor Trumbull, with power to call and preside at town-meetings, and to hear and decide certain causes; but high oifences and important civil cases were to be tried before the Litchfield county courts. In 1776 Messrs. Butler and Denison, who had been chosen to represent Westmoreland in the state Assembly, returned from Hartford, bringing the joyful intelligence that the town had been promoted to the position and dignity of a county. A dispute now arose between Wilkesbarre and Kingston, relative to the seat of justice, but the decision being finally made in favor of the former place, the first court was held in Fort Wyoming, on the river bank, about sixty rods below the present Wilkes- barre bridge. Among the names of the judges appointed and commissioned for Westmoreland, by the Governor of Connecticut, from year to year, we find those of Avery, Beach, Butler, Dana, Denison, Gore, and Franklin. Lieutenant John Jenkins was appointed the state's attor- ney, but Anderson Dana and Amos Bullock were the only professional lawyers, of whom we have any record, prior to the Indian battle in 1778. In that battle Dana, 238 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. Bullock, and several persons who had acted as judges, were slain. From 1779 to 1782, when the Trenton Decree put an end to the jurisdiction of Connecticut, the courts were held in Wilkesbarre Fort, erected, after the massacre, on the site of the old court-house in the public square. In March, 1781, the court made the following regula- tion : — " Whereas, there is no authority in this county for the assistance of those who are unable to make proper repre- sentations of their own case before the court ; therefore. Resolved, That until farther or otherwise ordered, either plaintiff or defendant may be allowed liberty of counsel to lay their matters, and plead them, before the court, without having admitted or sworn attorneys." At November Court, 1781, "Ordered, that a tax of two pence in the pound be levied, to be paid in hard money, or in specific articles," grain, &c., to be delivered and received at the county treasury at rates fixed by the court. At the same term the court ordered that Abigail Had- den be divorced from Simeon Hadden, and the said Abigail was declared " single and unmarried." At the December Term,, 1782, " Mary Pritchard is found guilty of unnecessarily going from her place of abode, on the Lord's Day, on the 10th of November last ; therefore. Ordered, that she pay a fine of five shillings, lawful money, to the town treasury, and costs." At the same term J. H. T. having been found guilty of stealing, the court ordered that he " receive ten stripes, well administered, on his naked back." In 1782 D. G. W., for stealing a deerskin, valued at nineteen shillings, and not being able to pay damages or costs, was assigned by the court to two years' service to THE JUDICIARY. 239 H. M., from whom he stole the skin, and power was given to H. M. to assign or dispose of his service for said period "to any of the subjects of the United States." The punishment of Mary Pritchard has a deep tinge of Connecticut's Bhie Laws. The enforcement of the observance of the Sabbath, to such a point of nicety, appears ridiculous to us ; but, it is possible, a future generation may entertain very different views on this subject with those prevalent in our day. The increased humanity and civilization of later times have abolished the whipping-post, and those barbarous punishments which permanently marked and mutilated the bodies of persons convicted of crimes. Experience has shown that a criminal code, inordinately severe, defeats the ends of justice, for a natural sympathy arises in the breasts of jurors for one who may suffer a punishment out of pro- portion to the offence committed. One of the objects of punishment is the determent of others from the commis- sion of crime : but as the perpetration of offences against the good order of society is the result mostly of a strong evil impulse in the offenders, laws should be framed rather with reference to their moral reformation than to the infliction of physical pain. Although Westmoreland was nominally in the county of Northumberland after 1772, yet the laws of Pennsyl- vania were utterly disregarded by the people until 1782, when the judgment of the United States Commissioners abolished the jurisdiction of Connecticut. During the next four years following the Trenton Decree, the seat of justice, for what had been known as Westmoreland, was properly Sunbury, situated about sixty miles further • down the river. The formation and organization of Luzerne county, in 1786-7, may be viewed as the act of the practical mind of Benjamin Franklin, who foresaw, 240 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. in that plan, the effectual means for thwartmg the de- signs of John Franklin, Ethan Allen, and others, an account of which we have given elsewhere. On the 27th day of May, 1787, Timothy Pickering, James Nesbitt, Obadiah Gore, Nathan Kingsley, Benja- min Carpenter, Matthias Hollenback, and William Hooker Smith, who had been commissioned justices of the Court of Common Pleas, &c., as provided in the first constitution of this state, assembled at the house of Colonel Zebulon Butler, on the corner of Northampton and River streets, in Wilkesbarre, and proclamation being made by Lord Butler, high sheriff, for all persons to keep silence, the commissions of the county officers were read, and the oaths of office were administered by Timothy Pickering and Colonel Nathan Denison. This was the first court held for Luzerne county. The duties of prothonotary, register, and recorder, and clerk of the court, were per- formed by Timothy Pickering, who was a lawyer of fine abilities, and was otherwise eminently qualified to organize a new county in the midst of an injured and rebellious people. Soon after the organization of the court, Roswell Wells, Ebenezer Bowman, Putnam Catlin, and William Nichols, Esqs., were admitted and sworn as attorneys at law. In 1794 the first two mentioned were the only lawyers in Luzerne county, and when, in the same year, Noah Wad- hams and Nathan Palmer, Esqs., were admitted to the bar, it was stated to the court that Messrs. Bowman and Catlin had then arranged to quit practice altogether. Daniel Stroud and John Price were admitted in 1795; Thomas Cooper in 1796; M. J. Biddle and Samuel Roberts in 1797; E. Smith, J. Wallace, and William Prentice in 1799 ; George Griffin in 1800, who subse- quently removed to the city of New York, and, becoming THE JUDICIARY. 241 eminent in his profession, received the title of LL. D. In 1802 Thomas Dyer, yet living, was admitted, and is the oldest survivor of the bar in the county * Colonel Wash- ington Lee, who is the next oldest survivor, was admitted in 1806. Among the practitioners at the Luzerne bar, the fol- lowing gentlemen have been promoted to judgeships in Pennsylvania : Thomas Cooper, LL. D. ; Garrick Mallery, LL. D. ; ' David Scott ; Joel Jones ; Luther Kidder ; Oris- tus Collins ; John N. Conyngham ; George W. Woodward, LL. D., of the Supreme Court ; Warren J. Woodward, and David Wilmot. Three gentlemen, first admitted to this bar, have been promoted to judgeships -in other states : Ben- jamin D.Wright, Florida ; E. 0. Hamlin, Minnesota ; Parker, Wisconsin ; and Ovid F. Johnson, a lawyer of excel- lent talents, became Attorney-General of Pennsylvania. The second court was held in September, 1787, Oba- diah Gore, president, at which the following-named persons appeared as grand jurors : Abel Pierce, foreman. Mason F. Alden, Jonah Rogers, John Hollenback, Shubal Bidlack, William Trucks, Daniel Gore, Christopher Hurlbut, Henry McCormick, Zachariah Hartsuff, Jacob Fritley, Adam Mann, William Jackson, Thomas Reed, William Hebbard, George Cooper, Elnathan Cary, James Lassley, Timothy Hopkins, John Kennedy, Andrew Wartman, and William Warner. The first indictment presented was against John Franklin, for assault and bat- tery on Eliphalet Richards, and the grand jury found a true bill. The trial was postponed until the December Term ; but scarcely had the September Term closed, when Franklin was arrested by virtue of a warrant issued by Chief Justice McKean, for high treason, and lodged in prison in Philadelphia. This act, the particulars of which * Thomas Dyer died in 1861. 16 242 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. we have given elsewhere, set the people in an uproar, and "no venires issued for December Term," say the records, " by reason of the peculiar state of the county." At the March Term, 1788, Putnam Catlin, acting as state's attorney, first displayed his legal abilities in that capacity against T R , indicted for stealing chickens. Several cases of assault and battery were tried at this and the following Terms. In November, 1788, the Supreme Court convened at Wilkesbarre for the trial of Franklin, and his half-share boys. Judges McKean and Rush were met on the Wilkesbarre Mountain, and escorted to comfortable quarters. As stated in a former chapter, Franklin's trial was postponed, and being released on bail, no further proceedings were ever instituted against him. In 1790, after the division of the county into town- ships without regard to the townships formed under the Connecticut law, Luzerne was further divided into ten districts for the election of justices of the peace. 1st District was composed of Huntington, Salem, and Nescopeck townships, having 215 taxables, who elected Nathan Beach, Charles E. Gaylord, Jacob Bittenbender, and John T. Miller, as their first justices of the peace. 2d District, composed of Wilkesbarre, Hanover, and Newport townships, with 290 taxables, elected William Ross, Joseph Wright, James Campbell, and George Espy, the first justices. 3d District, composed of Plymouth, Kingston, and Exe- ter townships, taxables 442, elected Noah Wadhams, Jr., Peter Grubb, Lawrence Myers, Benjamin Carpenter, and Benjamin Newbury, the first justices. 4th District, with 282 taxables, embraced Pittston and Providence townships ; but the names of the first justices of the peace are not recorded. THE JUDICIARY. 24:1 5th District was Tunkhannock township, whose 140 taxables elected Elisha Harding justice of the peace. 6th District was formed from Braintrim and Wyalu- sing, having 225 taxables, who elected as their justices H. D. Champion, Jonathan Stevens, and Guy Wells. 7th District, composed of "Wysox and Burlington, having 274 taxables, elected Moses Coolbaugh justice of the peace. 8th District, embracing Ulster, Tioga, and Orwell townships, with 294 taxables, elected Joseph Kinney and David Paine, first justices. 9th District was Rush township, whose 103 taxables elected Isaac Hancock their first justice of the peace. 10th District, composed of Willingborough, Lanesville, and Nicholson townships, with 286 taxables, elected as its first justices John Marcy, Thomas Tiffany, and Asa Eddy. ■ In 1791, Zebulon Marcy was indicted by the grand jury of Luzerne county for challenging A. Atherton to fight a duel. The Act of Assembly forming Luzerne county, named Zebulon Butler, Jonah Rogers, Simon Spaulding, Na- thaniel Landon, and John Philips, as trustees to locate and to erect a court-house and jail. This they did, on the site of the old fort in the public square in Wilkes- barre. This building was about 25 by 50 feet, constructed of hewn logs, two stories high, with outside steps leading to the court room on the second floor. The first story was used as a jail and the jailor's residence. This primi- tive temple of justice was completed in 1791, and Stephen Tuttle, whose good wife placed her cake and beer sign over the door of the first story, was appointed first jailor. On one occasion, during the sitting of the Supreme Court, an unusual noise disturbed his Honor, Judge 244 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. OLD COURT-HOrSE, WILKESBARRE. McKean, who, in a stern voice, commanded silence. The noise, however, continued, when the court sent for Mr. Tuttle, who, evidently much incensed, informed his honor that the d d hogs had got at his corn in the garret by coming up the outside steps in the morning. Mr. Tuttle was ordered to eject the intruders forthwith. There proved to be but one hog, which rushed forth with a tremendous grunt, capsizing Mr. Tuttle, together with the gravity of the court. After a few years, it was resolved to erect a new building for the courts. In 1801, Lawrence Myers, Eleazar Blackman, and Thomas Wright, county commissioners, procured the THE JUDICIARY. 245 plan of a court-house, in Fredericksburg, Maryland, for which they paid $17.06. The old log court-house was removed by Joseph Hitchcock, the contractor for the con- struction of the new edifice, but it continued to be occupied by the courts until 1804, when the new building was com- pleted, and the old one was converted into the Wilkes- barre Academy. This new structure, in the form of a cross, declared by the commissioners to be "most elegant and convenient," was erected on the site of the old log court-house. Including furniture and fixtures, it cost $9356.06, There were 32J gallons of whiskey used at the raising of this building; a fact which demonstrates either the great capacity of the people of that day for ardent spirits, or else the presence of a large number of consumers. The bell, the tones of which have quickened the pulsa- tions of the hearts of so many prisoners, of plaintiffs, and of defendants, was cast in Philadelphia, by George Hed- derly, in 1805. In the cellar of this building, at an early period, thQ lovers of beefsteak found a good market. Within its walls dancing was taught by exquisite j)ro- fessors of the art, and holy men of God proclaimed the doctrines of divine truth. For more than half a century it was used for judicial purposes. Judge Conyngham in his address, in 1856, delivered on the occasion of the laying of the corner stone of the present, the third, courtr house, remarked, " Upwards of fifty years seems a long period for litigation and dispute among an active and a growing people; yet, it is believed, that the scales of Justice have been balanced as evenly within these walls as human knowledge and human frailty would allow." The judges of the Supreme Court, who sat in this court-house and in the original log-building, were McKean, Tilghman, Breckenridge, Smith, and Yeates. " There 246 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. were some ceremonies," says Judge Conyngham, in the address before quoted, " connected with the courts, now entirely abrogated, and which in fact would be annoying in the present day, which are worthy of being noted in the records of the past. At the opening of every term, the sheriff, with his staff of office, attended by the crier of the court, and frequently by several constables, waited upon the judges at their lodgings, and then conducted them in formal procession to the court-house. Judges McKean, Smith, and others, of the Supreme Court, always wore swords when they attended court — some bearing rapiers and others heavier weapons." " In this secluded spot, the weeks of court, years since, attracted more of interest in the inhabitants than is found at present. They were decidedly, as tradition remem- bers and brings down to us, gala days, and periods of fun and frolic. The lawyers were assembled from various parts of the state, and, while business was not so burden- some and pressing as it is now, much time was afforded for amusements. It was but a day or two since, in con- versation with a lady of our town, about these bygone days, that she seemed to be young again in the liveliness and vivacity of her recollections, as she described the public and private gatherings, and especially the court ball, which was held every term in the upper room of the court-house." Mr. Brown says of Judge McKean, " He was rigid in the observance of the court ceremonies, jealous of his authority, and rough and overbearing in maintaining it." Judge Breckenridge does not appear to have been so dignified as some others. In warm weather he sat in court clad in a loose gown, and in his bare feet, which he sometimes elevated on the railing over the head of the clerk. THE JUDICIARY. 247 Some of the early judges of the Supreme Court, as well as some president judges, who administered the law in this region, appear to have been jovial fellows, not averse to whiskey, cards, and fun. The pioneer judges and lawyers were not blessed with the facilities and conveniences which surround those of the present day. They had no comfortable offices with their easy chairs, and shelves groaning under the weight of hundreds of volumes. No spring carriages or railroad cars bore them swiftly and without fatigue from one county to another. They carried their law in their heads, and their libraries in a pair of saddle-bags holding half a bushel, and the lawyers generally met their clients for the first time at the court-house door. Judge Jessup, in his address delivered at the inauguration of the new court-house, in January, 1859, says, that he well remem- bered " when the court set out from Wilkesbarre, followed by the bar on horseback, through Cobb's Gap, Wayne, Pike, and Susquehanna counties, bringing up at Bradford county." John Brown, Esq., an early resident of Berwick, Co- lumbia county, informed the author that he kept a house of entertainment in that place, at an early day, and that the j udges of the Supreme Court always lodged with him over night, on their way up the river to hold court at Wilkesbarre. The tavern was a low log-building, and occupied the ground where Mr. Bowman's store now stands. " The Judges," said he, " were sociable clever fellows, and could eat as much rye bread as any set of men I ever saw. I gave them good straw beds to sleep on, and put their horses in a shed adjoining the back part of the house, and when they were in bed they could hear their horses eating their corn, for there was nothing 248 ANNALS OF LUZERNE * COUNTY. but a log wall between the feed trough and their sleeping- place." The president judges, who sat on our bench, are Judges Rush, Cooper, Chapman, Gibson, Burnside, Scott, Jessup, and Conyngham. From 1787 to 1791, the courts of the county were held by justices before mentioned. After the adoption of the constitution of 1790, Jacob Rush, commissioned as president judge, held his first court here, December Term, 1791. He continued to preside until 1806. He was succeeded by Thomas Cooper, who held his first court, August Term, 1806. Mr. Cooper was born in England in 1759. He had been a practicing attorney in Luzerne before his appointment as judge. He was a man of learning, and of a sprightly imagina- tion. He was in advance of the age, in his knowledge of minerals and of geology. He carried with him a hammer and acids, breaking rocks and testing their mineral quali- ties, and was supposed by some ignorant persons to be, on that account, impaired in intellect. He was the firm friend of freedom, and his bold pen caused his imprison- ment under the Alien and Sedition Laws. After his libera- tion. Governor McKean appointed him one of the com- missioners to carry into effect the Compromising Law of 1799 and its supplements. To his energetic action were due the quiet and harmony that speedily ensued in this long troubled and unhappy country. He was sometimes exceedingly stern and severe as a judge. On one occa- sion a gentleman named Croup, seated in the court-house, leaned over and whispered something in the ear of Ste- phen HoUister, constable of Kingston. For this trivial act Judge Cooper sent them both to jail for several hours. The next week Mr. Hollister published a communication, over his own signature, in the " Federalist," in wliich he denounced Judge Cooper as an English tyrant, and called THE JUDICIARY. 249 on the people to unite against him, to secure his removal and the appointment of an American judge. He was impeached for tyranny, and wrote a pamphlet in his de- fence. He died in South Carolina in 1839. Seth Chapman was commissioned to take the place of Mr. Cooper, and held his first court, August Term, 1811. Judge Chapman resided in the town of Northumberland. During the holding of the courts in Luzerne he boarded at some private house in preference to a tavern, but by no means despised whiskey, as was evidenced by the atmosphere of his room. He could not be reckoned a talented man, and was a judge of inferior abilities. Years after he had ceased to preside in Luzerne he was im- peached, and resigned his judgeship rather than risk the exposure and issue of a trial. In 1813, John Bannister Gibson follow;ed Judge Chap- man, and held his first court here, July Term of that year. This eminent judge was a Pennsylvanian by birth, born November 8th, 1780. After presiding here with great ability for three years, he was elevated to the Supreme Bench of the state in 1816, where he maintained his position and high reputation until his death on the 3d of May, 1853. Thomas Burnside succeeded Judge Gibson, at the August Term of 1816. Judge Burnside was also finally elevated to the Supreme Bench. /^ David Scott held his first court here, August Term, 1818. He was a native of Connecticut, born in 1782. He came to Wilkesbarre when a young man, and studied law. He possessed a naturally strong and active mind. He was a good lawj^er, a good judge, and an exemplary citizen. He eventually became so deaf as to be unable to discharge the duties of his ofiice. He died in 1839. William Jessup was commissioned, and held his first 250 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. court, August Term, 1838. Judge Jessup is a native of Long Island, state of New York. He went to Montrose soon after the organization of Susquehanna county, and commenced the practice of law. He is a good lawyer, and an able judge. When on the bench he despatched business with admirable promptness and facility. John N. Conyngham succeeded Judge Jessup at the April Term of 1841. Judge Conyngham, the present incumbent, is a native of Philadelphia, and came to Wilkesbarre when a young man, and commenced the practice of law. It is said that his decisions stand the test of the Supreme Court better than those of any other judge in the state. Judge Scott was a member of a Christian church, as are also Judges Jessup and Conyngham. These latter gentlemen are active and among the foremost in benevo- lent and philanthropic enterprises. They are ever found throwing the moral influence of their exemplary charac- ters on the side of religion, and in favor of the best interests of their fellow-men. Matthias Hollenback, who had been made one of the justices for holding court in 1787, was appointed associate judge under the Constitution of 1790, and sat in that capacity until 1829, a period of 42 years. Jesse Fell occupied the position of associate judge from 1798 until 1830, when he was succeeded by General William S. Ross. Matthias Hollenback was also the first treasurer, and was succeeded by Abel Yarington in 1789. Jonathan Fitch was the first sheriff under Connecticut jurisdiction for the county of Westmoreland. Lord Butler was first sheriff for the county of Luzerne. Among the gentlemen who occupied this office in the early his- tory of the county, we find the names of John Franklin, THE JUDICIARY. 251 William Slocum, Ezekiel Hyde, Arnold Colt, Thomas Wheeler, Jacob Hart, Benjamin Dorrance, Jabez Hyde, Jr., Elijah Shoemaker, Stephen Vanloon, Isaac Bowman, Jonathan Bulkely, Napthali Hurlbut, and Oliver Helme. In addition to the names of the eminent lawyers, already mentioned as practitioners at the Luzerne bar, we may add Thomas Graham, W. D. Nicholson, John Evans, T. B. Overton, Charles Catlin, T. B. Miner, H. King, Lewis Hepburn, James Bowman, James McCHntock, Benjamin D. Wright, Samuel Bowman, and Lewis Paine. LUZERNE COUNTY JAIL. The present jail was commenced in 1802, and com- pleted at a cost of $5846.43. The stone fire-proof build- ing for the public offices, which stood in the square adjoin- ing the court-house, was commenced in 1809, and com- pleted in 1812, and, with the jail-yard wall, cost about 18500. The total cost of these buildings, together with the court-house, amounted to nearly the sum of $24,000. 252 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. MEW CODRT-HOUSE, WILKESBAERE. This was paid by a population not exceeding 11,000 in 1800, or 19,000 in 1810, and when the wealth of the county was but a small fraction of what it is now. In 1855, a bill authorizing the erection of a new court- house passed the General Assembly, and became a law. August 12th, 1856, on invitation of the commissioners of Luzerne county, Lodge No. 61 Free and Accepted Ancient York Masons laid the corner-stone of the third court- house in the public square in Wilkesbarre. Hon. John N. Conyngham was selected, and invited by the lodge to deliver an address on the occasion. The committee of arrangements, appointed by the lodge, made every pre- paration to secure a general attendance of the citizens of the county. After prayer by the chaplain of the day^^ THE JUDICIARY. 253 Rev. Dr. George Peck, the ceremony of laying the stone was gone through with. There was deposited in the stone, a copy of the Holy Bible; an American dollar and its parts; lists of the names of members of the several lodges of masons in the county ; list of names of the county officers ; list of names of members of the bench and bar ; list of names of the municipal officers of the borough of Wilkesbarre ; a copy of each paper published in the county ; a copy of Judge Conyngham's address. A large concourse of citizens, together with a number of ladies, were in attendance to witness the proceedings. The ceremonies were closed with prayer by the Rev. Mr. Hickock. The main building, appropriated to county offices, is 100 feet in front by 55 feet in depth. The court-room is 75 by 50 feet, and the rear building, occupied by the judges, lawyers, and juries' rooms, is 65 by 30 feet. The tower is 118 feet in height. The cost of this structure, including furniture, was about $85,000. The style of architecture is the Romanesque, an order invented in later ages in imitation of the Roman. The architect was Mr. J. C. Wells, of New York, but the building was erected under the immediate superintendence of Mr. D. A. Fell. It is regarded as a substantial and commodious fire-proof edifice. It was commenced and pushed forward almost to completion under the energetic administration of Benjamin F. Pfouts, William A. Tubbs, and Silas Dodson, Esquires, county commissioners. The jail, already mentioned as having being commenced in 1802, does not comport either in plan or system with the enlightenment of the age, nor with the elegance and commodious character of the new court-house. The Pennsylvania prison system has been endorsed 254 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. and approved, not only by other states of the Republic, but by inspectors sent hither by European governments, as being the best in the world. It has been adopted by Lancaster, Chester, Dauphin, and other counties, and has in no case disappointed public expectation. Our old jail is now overflowing with idle prisoners, crowded together in small and unhealthy apartments, and supported exclu- sively from the treasury of the county. It would be economy, it would be sound policy, to erect a prison on a large scale, having in view the rapidly-increasing wealth and population of the county, and to adopt the improved system of discipline. Each prisoner would then occupy a separate and well-ventilated room or cell, and have his daily labor, whereby he would become a producer instead of an idle consumer. EXECUTIONS. The first sentence of death, followed by execution, within the limits of what is now Luzerne county, occurred under military law. Lawrence Miller and Michael Rose- bury induced men to desert from General Sullivan's army, then lying at Easton. They were tories, and were arrested ; and the army having in the mean time marched to Wyoming, they were tried here by court martial, and condemned to be hanged. A gallows was erected on the river bank at Wilkesbarre, and on the 1st of July, 1779, the two criminals, placed in a cart with their coffins, were borne to the place of execution. Rosebury had manifested no concern whatever during his trial, and subsequently had utterly disregarded the instructions and admonitions of his spiritual advisers, the chaplains of the army. He exhibited the same callousness and indifference on the gallows, and died with firmness in the presence of the whole army. Miller, on the other hand, had a wife and THE JUDICIARY. 255 a numerous family of children. He had shown deep con- trition for his offense, and his respectful and sorrowful air on his trial had propitiated the favor of his judges, who had recommended him to mercy. His former good conduct also spoke loudly in his favor, and he had listened to and profited by the spiritual advice of the chaplains. Fifteen minutes had elapsed since Rosebury was swung off, and the executioner was advancing to adjust the rope about the neck of the unhappy Miller, when General Sul- livan announced his pardon. This sudden and unexpected turn in his fate was too much for Miller's nerves. He fainted ; but recovering, he took his place in the ranks, and ever after proved an obedient and faithful soldier. At the August Term of 1829, Judge Scott sentenced to death Henry Keck, who had shot and killed his father about a half a mile below Wilkesbarre. Henry's mother viewed the killing as a family affair, which concerned nobody but themselves, and expressed surprise when the officers of the law came to arrest her son. He was, how- ever, pardoned by Governor Shultz. This was considered an act of unbecoming and improper clemency, and excited great indignation among the people. Keck and the governor were both hanged and burnt in effigy in the public square at Wilkesbarre. After conveying the straw- criminals in a cart through the streets, with caps ready to be drawn over their faces and with ropes about their necks, Cuff Hicks, the executioner, proceeded to discharge his duty in these words : " Henry Keck and Mr. Gobernor Shultz, you hab just two and a half minutes to stay on dis earth, and if you hab anything to say, say it now, or eber after hold your peace." The effigies were suspended by their necks in the presence of a great multitude of people. Keck afterwards became insane, and wandered about the country from place to place. 256 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. Daniel Gilligan was waylaid and murdered below Wilkesbarre by James Cadden. Cadden had his trial and was found guilty at the August Term of 1848. He received his sentence from the lips of Judge Conyngham, and was executed in the jail-yard on Friday, March 2d, 1849, William Koons being sheriff. Throughout the period of his imprisonment and trial down to the moment of his execution, he spoke but seldom, and practiced a studied reserve of manner. A few moments before his death, his spiritual adviser, at his instance, thanked the officers of justice for their kindness and attention; and warned all young men against bad associates and the use of ardent spirits. This was the first execution under the laws of Pennsylvania since the organization of Luzerne county. At April Term, 1853, Reese Evans was tried and con- victed of murder in the first degree. He was sentenced to death by Judge Conyngham, and was executed in the jail-yard, G. W. Palmer being sheriff, on Friday, Sep- tember 9th, 1853. Evans was a young Welshman about twenty years of age, who had induced Lewis Reese, a Jew, residing in Wilkesbarre, to accompany him to Kingston under pretence of procuring money there, to pay the Jew for clothing purchased of him. While crossing the fields, on the Kingston flats, he shot Reese with a pistol in the back part of his head ; then plunder- ing the pockets of his victim, whom he left dead on the ground, he fled. When his death-warrant was read to him a few weeks before his execution, he trembled, and covering his face with his hands, sank sobbing on the floor. During his imprisonment, his sister frequently visited him, and on one occasion brought a basket which she set down by the door of her brother's cell. By per- mission of the jailor, Evans walked out with his sister in THE JUDICIARY. 257 the jail-yard, and on his return, as he passed the basket, he took out a bundle from it. The bundle contained a female dress in which the prisoner intended to escape; but its discovery by the jailor extinguished the last hope of the unhappy youth. In his confession he stated he had committed several robberies, and attributed his awful end to his keeping late hours and bad company. James Quinn took the life of Mahala Wiggins, by dashing out her brains with an axe, near the Nanticoke dam, as they were passing down the canal in a boat. He escaped, but was arrested in the West, and conveyed to the Wilkesbarre jail. He was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to death by Judge Conyngham, at the January Term of 1854. The same year, on Friday, the 21st of April, Abraham Drum being sheriff, he was executed in the jail-yard. When his death-warrant was read, he manifested considerable excitement, but soon regained his usual composure. He did not believe in a future state of rewards and punishments. He ran up the steps to the platform of the gallows, and surveyed the rope with a degree of self-possession and calmness which astonished every beholder. A physician, utterly astounded at such perfect composure, approached the prisoner a few moments before his execution, and placing his fingers on his pulse, found it beating with amazing ra,pidity, and giving evi- dence of intense excitement. The exterior appeared calm, but within there was a raging tumult of emotion. William Muller killed George Mathias, in his own house, on the Easton and Wilkesbarre Turnpike, a few miles from Wilkesbarre. The instrument used in the commission of the crime was a hatchet, and the murderer concealed the body of his victim in the well. He was tried and found guilty at the January Term of 1858, Judge Conyngham presiding, and was executed in the jail- 17 258 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. yard on Friday, April 30th, of the same year, Jasper B. Stark b(3ing sherifif. He ascended the steps leading to the scaffold with a quick but self-possessed movement, and addressed those present, for several minutes, in tho Ger- man language. His address was then read in English by his spiritual adviser. The young man expressed his faith in the merits of the Redeemer, and warned all who heard him against rum and vicious companions. It is said he believed that the physicians could restore him to life after the hanging, provided his neck was not broken. The fall, however, rent the vertebrae of his spinal column nearly two inches asunder. Since 1836, there has been a large influx of a mixed population, consequent on the development of the mineral resources of the county. Crime and litigation have in- creased accordingly, during the last quarter of a century. Civil suits have increased to hundreds, while Common- wealth costs have grown from an average of $300 per annum, prior to 1836, to $1000, the average since that year. The number of deeds and mortgages recorded since the organization of the county is 48,823. The largest num- ber of deeds and mortgages recorded in any one year is 2257, which was done by Charles Hays, Esq., Recorder, and his clerks in 1856. . The number of executions, issued from 1787 to the close of August Term, 1859, is 37,084. The largest number issued in any one year (1857) is 1979. The number of judgments entered, since the formation of the Judgment Docket, in 1827, is 46,124. The largest number entered in any one year (1858) is 3855. In 1859, Luzerne was constituted one, the lltli. Judi- cial District, having 4 Courts of Oyer and Terminer, &c., annually, besides 6 Courts of Common Pleas. In addi- THE JUDICIARY. 259 tion, by the Act incorporating the city of Carbondale, the President Judge of the district is made Recorder of that city, and required to hold Recorder's Court. Moreover, there are from 2 to 4 special courts annually held in the county. COURT-HOUSE, CARBONDALE. From 1787 to 1800, the average annual expenditures of the county were $3600. From 1800 to 1810, during which the second public buildings were erected, the ave- rage was 17200 annually. From 1810 to 1820, without Bradford and Susquehanna counties, the average was $9000, but it must be borne in mind that a portion of the debt incurred in the construction of the county buildings was paid during this decade. From 1820 to 1830, the average was $7800 a year. From 1830 to 1842, when Wyoming county was stricken off, the annual expendi- tures averaged $12,500. From 1843 to 1865, inclusive, the expenditures have been as follows : — 260 ANNALS OF LUZEENE COUNTY. For 1843 $ 9,863.90 For 1855 111,990.70 1844 10,278.07 1856 43,094.23 1845 13,091.19 1857 29,536.11 1846 14,669.36 1858 33,685.00 1847 14,551.83 1859 35,936.77 1848 14,050.07J 1860 28,921.76 1849 12,419.87 1861 31,768.77 1850 13,148.05 1862 40,828.93 1851 12,172.37 1863 37,101.76 1852 12,645.50 1864 30,140.00 1853 15,106.22 1865 28,983.56 1854 12,022.76 In 1801 the valuation of property in Luzerne for tax- able purposes amounted to $767,643, and in 1809 to $1,050,700. In 1845, without Bradford, Susquehanna, and Wyoming counties, the valuation was $4,825,081, and in 1857 it was $7,779,301; in 1865, $10,500,000. The state tax has increased since 1845 from $13,000 to $25,000, being about $1.20 for each taxable inhabitant. The following table shows the number of persons, and the term of years for which they were sentenced to the Penitentiary by the courts of our county, from 1787 to 1860, together with the crimes for which they were pun- ished. The total number of offenders is 167, of which 119 were tried and found guilty since 1836. THE JUDICIARY. 261 Crimes. I Number of Criminals. Term of Years. Murder in the 2d degree, 2 18 t< 1 15 <( 1 12 (( 2 10 c< 1 9 « 3 8 <( 2 6 <( 1 5 l( 2 4 Total, 15 Manslaughter, 2 2 2 Highway Kobbery, 1 7 (< 1 5 It 1 3 1 Burglary, 3 7 (( 2 3 (C 1 n (( 2 8 I Larceny, 99 99 varying from 1 to 6 Passing counterfeit money, 11 " 1 to 7 11 Forgery, 10 10 " 1 to 5 Bigamy, I 10-12 1 2 n Receiving stolen goods, 2 2 2 Conspiracy, . 1 l' 2 Perjury, 1 1 1 2 1 in county jail Assault and Battery with intent to kill, . 5 5 varying from 1 to 3 In possession of counterfeit money, &c.. 1 1 3 3 Misdemeanor, 3 varying from 2 to 5 Rape, .... 1 21 << 1 3 " 1 3 167 1 CHAPTER VII I. EDUCATION. The clouds may drop down titles and estates, Wealth may seek us — but wisdom must be sought. Young's Night Thoughts. The Susquehanna Company, appreciating the advan- tages of education, appropriated about 500 acres of land in each township, as a basis for the estabhshment and support of schools among the first settlers. The com- pany also appropriated several thousand acres of land, in the eastern portion of their purchase, for the benefit of the Indian school of Dr. Wheelock, in Connecticut, at which several Delaware Indians, and the celebrated Mohawk chief. Brant, were educated. This school was the foundation of Dartmouth College, of which Dr. Whee- lock was the first president. These facts evince the deep interest felt by the com- pany in the education not only of the whites, but also of the red men of the forest. Prior to 1773, no organized efibrt had been made by the early inhabitants for the establishment of schools among them ; but in that year, by a vote of the town, a tax of three pence on a pound was levied for the support of a free school in each township. In the following year, the first school committee, consisting of Captain Lazarus Stewart and fifteen others, was appointed with power to erect school-houses and to employ teachers. (262> EDUCATION. 263 Some of their teachers were men of ability, learned, energetic, and faithful in discharge of their duties. Others, it would appear, are described in the character of Ichabod Crane, as given in the "Legend of Sleepy Hollow." The Yankee schoolmaster generally " boarded around" among the patrons of his school, attended all the quiltings and singing-schools, sometimes neglected his scholars, did not neglect the girls, and was usuall}^ devoted to one in particular. At some of his stopping-places he fared sumptuously, at most places he had to put up with "pot luck," while at a few places his sides and jaws ex- hibited a decided collapse at the close of the boarding week. The early schoolmasters were a very useful, but poorly remunerated class of the people. We do not learn that any of them ever received land for their services, as did some of the " orthodox ministers of the gospel." After the jurisdiction of Connecticut and the Susquehanna Com- pany ceased, several of the school tracts of land were leased for a term of years. Finally, nearly, if not all the tracts were sold, and the proceeds added to the township funds, under the authority of a legislative enactment of this state. The constitution, or laws of every state in the Union, provide, to a greater or less extent, for educating the rising generation. Pennsylvania, though late in her movements in this direction, has, nevertheless, advanced steadily in her course, until her system of education is equaled by few, and surpassed by no other among civilized men. The incipient steps of our system were the laws of 1809 and 1824, which provided for educating poor children at the public expense. From 1824 to 1833, when the free school system was introduced, Luzerne county expended $3509 for this purpose. This appears like a small sum for educating the poor during a 264 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. period of ten years in a county like Luzerne. We have no doubt, however, that it was sufficient to meet the demand, as the people were not then fully aroused to the importance of the subject. By the provisions of the common school law of 1833, the people were to express their approval or disapproval of the measure by electing, or refusing to elect, six direc- tors in each township. In September, 1834, a vote was taken in 26 townships, when 23 approved of, and three, Hanover, Newport, and Nescopeck, disapproved of the law. In November following, the directors elected assem- bled, as instructed by Act of Assembly, at the court-house in Wilkesbarre, and resolved to levy a school tax equal to double the sum appropriated and allotted by the state to Luzerne county. The sum so allotted was $1331.20, and consequently the whole amount appropriated for public education in this county for that year was $3993.60. This was a creditable and flattering commencement. In the following year a tax of $3000 was levied, and, with the exception of two or three townships, the . excellent system of free education was permanently established among us. It is now in full operation in every ward, borough, and township in the county, carrying its en- lightening and ameliorating influence into every family. But we are forbidden to believe that every individual among us feels this influence directly. The system has not been long enough in operation, nor has it yet attained to that degree of perfection which we anticipate for it. In 1850, there were 55,000 adults in this state who could not read and write, and of these 2228 were inhabitants of Luzerne county. This great Commonwealth, in spite of an almost overpowering public debt, has gradually built up her splendid system of education at an enormous expense. She annually appropriates hundreds of thou- EDUCATION. 265 sands jf dollars for this purpose, and, strange to say, there are some townships in the state which have not to this day availed themselves of the advantages of the school law. It has been made a question in some sections of the country whether the right of the elective jQranchise ought to be extended to those persons who are unable to read. It would certainly be a powerful incentive to parents and others if the right to vote depended on a certain degree of mental culture to be readily acquired under our school system. If eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, it may be said no vigilance can be effectual without educated mind to direct it. The following table exhibits a statistical view of the public schools in Luzerne county, taken from the Report of the Superintendent for the year 1865 : No. of No. of Amt. of tax levied School Districts. Schools. Scholars. for sch'l purposes. 1. Abington . . 19 875 $2,643 02 2. Bear Creek 2 75 3. Benton 9 339 1,260 00 4. Black Creek 4 190 500 00 5. Blakeley 11 1095 2,775 86 6. Buck .... 5 118 462 18 7. Butler 7 333 914 93 8. Carbondale city . 10 1219 3,575 57 9. Carbondale township . 4 145 461 29 10. Columbus, New . 1 45 106 49 11. Covington . 7 282 930 65 12. Dallas . 8 292 597 82 13. Denison 4 139 661 02 14. Dorrance . 4 147 626 58 15. Dunmore 7 571 1,500 00 16. Exeter 6 299 531 00 17. Fairmount . 8 333 825 00 18. Fell . 5 174 590 75 19. Foster . 5 295 2,198 26 20. Franklin 5 193 647 94 21. Greenfield . 9 281 400 00 22. Hazel .... 15 1475 5,598 93 23. Hazelton borough 5 563 2,160 71 24. Hollenback. 8 312 1,260 49 25. Hanover 9 538 1,800 00 26. Huntington 10 459 1,129 10 27. Hyde Park . 6 431 1,893 32 266 ANNALS OP LUZERNE COUNTY. School Districts. No. of Schools. No. of Scholars. Amt. of tax levied for Bch'l purposes. 28. Jackson 29. Jefferson 30. Jenkins 31. Kingston boroueh 32. Kingston townsnip 33. Lackawanna 34. Lake . 35. Lehman 36. Madison 37. Nesoopeck 38. Newport 39. Newton 40. Pittston boi-ough 41. Pittston township 42. Pittston, West . 43. Plains 44. Plymouth . 45. Providence borough 46. Providence township 47. Ransom 48. Ross . 49. Salem. 50. Scott . 51. Scranton 52. Shickshinny 53. Slocum 54. Spring Brook 55. Sugai-loaf . 56. Union . 57. Waverly 58. White Haven 59. W'ilkesbarre borough 60. Wilkesbarre township 61. Wright 6 ^ 6 2 11 - 8 6 6 8 5 4 6 13 7 3 4 10 5 4 4 7 10 11 15 2 2 3 7 9 3 4 16 m 2 419 232 151 478 117 519 751 182 177 385 270 133 200 1110 484 204 364 715 344 429 138 274 422 557 2976 112 350 380 145 250 687 662 72 25,534 417 42 457 70 1,213 40 315 40 1,492 36 2,389 50 372 00 434 31 755 29 759 20 633 00 592 67 2,865 52 1,250 00 771 16 859 95 1,519 63 1,700 00 1,200 00 311 30 400 00 1,152 40 669 82 8,871 05 322 45 298 37 246 00 950 50 600 00 467 36 980 38 3,404 40 2,265 53 100 00 $77,088 98 EDUCATION". 267 OLD ACADEMY, WILKESBARRE. WILKESBARRE ACADEMY. After the erection of the new court-house, in Wilkes- barre, in 1804, the old building, which had been removed to a point a few feet west of the present court-house, was converted into an Academy. It was incorporated under the style and title of the Wilkesbarre Academy, and was the first institution of learning, superior to the common log school-house, in Luzerne county. The first teacher or principal was the Rev. Mr. Thayer, an Episcopal clergy- man, who was followed by Mr. Finney. Mr. Finney was succeeded by Garrick Mallery in 1809. The trustees requested Dr. Dwight, of Yale College, to send them an active, intelligent, and competent teacher and graduate. The doctor sent them Mr. Mallery, under whose superin- tendence the school advanced to considerable eminence. Greek, Latin, the mathematics, and all the higher English 268 ANNALS OP LUZERNE COUNTY. branches were taught here. Soon the institution became very popular, and students from abroad came in such numbers that the trustees, by the advice of Mr. Mallery, engaged Andrew Beaumont as assistant. Mr. Beaumont was then an active, intelligent young man, just arrived in the valley. Messrs. Mallery and Beaumont were suc- ceeded by Joel and Joseph H. Jones. Then followed Woodbridge, Baldwin, Granger, Orton, Miner, Talcott, Ulmann, Hubbard, and Dana. Finally, the old edifice was sold to Colonel H. F. Lamb, who removed a portion of it to his lot in Franklin street, where it was used in the erection of the building now occupied as a dwelling. Such was the end of the first court-house and academy in Luzerne county. There are among us men and women who can look back twenty, thirty, forty, or even fifty years, with fond recollection to the days when, with bounding youth and health, they assembled with their companions within the walls of the old academy, or sported on its play-grounds. Some, within its venerated walls, have filled their minds, as from a storehouse, with useful knowledge, and have so disciplined their intellectual faculties as to have been enabled to rise to positions of distinction and profit. Others there were of brilliant talents, bright prospects, and surrounded by all the advantages of social position, who went forth from that institution and became mere ciphers in society. They have gone down to their graves unhonored and unsung. In 1842 a new brick academy was erected on the site of the old one, and a high school prospered there for several years, under the tuition of Messrs. Owen and Jackson, but eventually dwindled to a common day school. In 1858, the building was sold to E. B. Harvey, Esq., who removed and converted it into his present resi- dence on Union street. EDUCATION. 269 It may not be amiss to mention the names of some of the teachers and students of the Wilkesbarre Academy, who have risen to eminence in the world. Garrick Mallery, LL.D., was a president judge of the state courts, and is now one of the first lawyers in the nation. Andrew Beaumont was a statesman, who ably represented his constituents in the State Legislature and in Congress, and who held important trusts under the federal government. Daniel Ulmann is an eminent lawyer in New York, and was a candidate for the office of governor of that great state. Joel Jones has been a president judge, and is now a prominent lawyer in Phila- delphia. H. B. Wright is an able lawyer, and has repre- sented this district in Congress. B. A. Bidlack also represented this district In Congress, and afterwards became the United States minister at the capital of New Granada, where he died. Luther Kidder was a lawyer of note, and a president judge. George W. Woodward is one of the supreme judges of Pennsylvania. Dr. S. D. Gross is Professor of Surgery in the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. Ovid F. Johnson was a brilliant lawyer, and the attorney-general of this state. Samuel Bowman, D.D.,was the acting bishop of the Protestant Epis- copal Church in Pennsylvania. J. S. Hart was lately the eminent principal of the Philadelphia High School. There are also Zebulon Butler, D.D., of Mississippi, and George Catlin, a celebrated painter. E. W. Morgan was major of the eleventh United States regiment of infantry during the Mexican War, and is now principal of the military school at Newport, Ky. Major A. H. Bowman of the United States Army, and Lieutenant J. C. Beaumont of the United States Navy, were also pupils in this academy. In 1812 the citizens of Kingston erected a large two story frame building, to be used for the purposes of an 270 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. academy. This school was first taught by Thomas Bart- lett, who had been an assistant under Mr. Mallery, in the Wilkesbarre Academy. He was followed by Bennett, Severs, Bissel (Governor of Illinois), Ketchum and others, under whose discipline and instruction the institution prospered for many years. It was finally supplanted by new and enlarged schools, and the building becoming dilapidated, it was demolished by Mr. E. Reynolds, who erected his present residence on or near its site. In 1815 the citizens of Plymouth erected a large two story frame building for educational purposes. Schools were taught in it by Steel, Park, and others, until 1828, when the first classical school was organized under the direction and principalship of Benjamin M. Nyce. He was succeeded by Patterson and Severs. This building is still standing, and is the oldest academy in the county. Like the one in Kingston, it had a bell, and was used for many years as a place of religious worship. With these venerated old school-houses and teachers, the plain, substantial, old-fashioned system of education has passed away. They have been replaced by new and splendid edifices, occupied by new teachers, adopting new systems, new books, and imparting new ideas. MADISON ACADEMY. The late H. W. Nicholson, Esq., opened a select school at Abington, now Waverly, in 1836. He was succeeded by one of his pupils, G. S. Bailey, who, with the assist- ance of Dr. A. Bedford and others, laid the foundation of Madison Academy. This academy was incorporated in 1840. The building is frame, two and a half stories high, and is located on an elevated point of ground, overlooking the town and surrounding country. It is one of the most healthy and pleasant locations in the county. During EDUCATION. 271 the first five years the average number of students in attendance was one hundred, which was afterwards reciuced to about eighty. The principals have been Messrs. Dimock, Walker, Johnson, Richardson, Shafer, Granger, and Dalpe, the last-named gentleman being the present incumbent.* The establishment of this institu- tion, and its successful operation under the direction of active teachers and enterprising trustees, does great credit to the energy, intelligence, and public spirit of the people of Waverly and the surrounding country. This school has been advantageous not only to the immediate neigh- borhood, but its beneficial influence has been felt abroad. WYOMING CONFERENCE SJijillNARY. This flourishing institution is pleasantly situated in the village of Kingston. It was opened on the 24th of Sep- tember, 1844, with 30 students, the faculty at the time consisting of Rev. R. Nelson, A. M., Principal, and Mr. E. F. Farris and Miss Ruth Ingalls, Teachers. The open- ing address was delivered by the Rev. J. P. Durbin, D.D. The anticipated success of this seminary has been fully realized. The yearly number of students has increased to upwards of 700, which fact establishes the character of Mr. Nelson and his assistants, together with the Board of Trustees, for competency, energy, and good govern- ment. The original building cost about $6000, one-fourth of which was contributed by Thomas Myers, Esq. In 1851 William Swetland, Esq., contributed $3000 for the erection of Swetland Hall, and the Hon. Ziba Bennett donated $500, as the foundation for a library. On the 15th of March, 1853, the entire establishment was con- sumed by fire, but through the noble liberality of William Swetland, his son George and his son-in-law Payne Petti- bone, who together donated $8000, of Isaac C. Shoemaker, * This academy is now conducted by Rev. J. N. Lukens and Mr. II. W, Mitchell. Students, 100. 272 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. who gave $1000, and of Urban Burrows and A. Y. Smith, who each contributed $500, the institution was at once raised from its ashes. Judge Bennett also made another liberal donation to replace the library. The entire pro- perty of this institution is now valued at $50,000. The seminary is under the general superintendence of the Wyoming Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, but the trustees and board of directors are composed of able men, without regard to denominational preferences. The present faculty is composed as follows : — Kev. Keuben Nelson, D. D., Principal and Professor of Intellectual and Moral Science. Rev. B. D. Sturdevant, A. M., Professor of Natural Science. George Forsyth, A. B., Professor of Languages and Vocal Music. Conrad S. Stark, A. M., Professor of Mathematics. Miss Hannah M. Price, A. M., Preceptress and Teacher of English Literature. Miss Penelope E. Baldwin, Teacher of Instrumental Music. Mrs. Jane S. Nelson, Teacher of Drawing and Painting. George Forsyth, A. B., Librarian. COMMERCIAL COLLEGE.* Faculty. Winfield S. Smyth, A. M., Principal and Professor of Science of Accounts and Lecturer on Political Economy. Bev. Horatio R. Clarke, D. D., Lecturer on Commer- cial Ethics. Caleb E. Wright, Esq., \y , ^ . , t ^ - -, r>. r., , TM ^ Lecturers on Commercial Law. Conrad S. Stark, Esq., ] J. A. Wickersham, Professor of Plain and Ornamental * The Wyoming College Journal is connected with this department. Motto : " The time has come when every young man must have abusiness education." EDUCATION. 273 Penmanship and Book-keeping. A. J. Erdman, Teacher of Practical Telegraphing. THE WYOMING INSTITUTE. This Institute is located in the pleasant village of Wyoming, and was established chiefly through the agency of the Rev. Thomas P. Hunt, Thomas F. Atherton, Esq., and the Rev. J. D. Mitchell, its first Principal. The buildings are commodious and well arranged, being divided into separate departments for the two sexes. The first classes were formed in 1849, and the institution was incorporated in the following year. It has a library, and a philosophical and chemical apparatus. It has been successively under the teachings of the Rev. R. Lowrie, missionary to China, Rev. C. R. Lavie, Rev. P. E. Ste- venson, and A. B. King, the present incumbent. The school is prosperous, and though not sectarian, it is under the principal direction of the Presbyterian Church. THE WILKESBARRE FEMALE INSTITUTE. This is a fine airy three-story bric'k building, standing on River street, in the borough of Wilkesbarre. It was chartered in 1854, and in October of that year opened with 50 female pupils, under the superintendence of the Rev. J. E. Nassau. Mr. Nassau was succeeded by the Rev. J. S. Howes, A.M., the present principal.* The institution is under the general direction of the Presbytery of Luzerne county. It has a library, a philosophical and chemical apparatus, and is in successful operation with about 80 pupils. This institution, becoming pecuniarily involved, was extricated from its embarrassment by the liberality of Colonel G. M. Hollenback and others. * This flourishing school now numbers upwards of 100 pupils, and is conducted by Rev. W. S. Parsons, A. M. 18 274 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. SCRANTON GRADED SCHOOL. Ill addition to the above incorporated institutions, select schools have been established at various periods in Wilkesbarre, Pittston, Scranton, Carbondale, Huntington, and other places in the county. Large and spacious buildings have been erected at Scranton, Providence, and Waverly, where preparations are making, in accordance with the true intent and meaning of the common school laws for the establishment of graded schools. Perhaps no county in the state can boast of better and more extensive means for educating the youth of the land ; and though there is gross ignorance in some localities, yet much intelligence is diffused among the great body of the people. Noble, generous-hearted, and benevolent men, as well as the Commonwealth, have done all in their power to advance the cause of education among us. Let us bear in mind that the acquirement of useful knowledge should be one of the first objects of every American, for its pos- session is the surest protection against poverty and oppression. CHAPTERIX. EELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. It has been the impression that the Count Zinzendorf was the first white man who ever visited the Wyoming Valley, but it is probable this is a mistake. Conrad Weiser had been employed, long before the arrival of the Count, as interpreter and agent, by the proprietary government. He frequently visited the councils of the Six Nations, bearing messages and presents, and arrang- ing the preliminaries for forming treaties. As the grand council fire of the Iroquois was kindled in the state of New York, his direct road thither was through our valley. It is probable it was in view of his acquaintance with the country, as well as its inhabitants, that Count Zinzendorf applied to Weiser to accompany him to this region. Zin- zendorf, however, was undoubtedly the first minister of the gospel who proclaimed the glad tidings of salvation to the red men of our forests. The doctrines of Jesus Christ were announced for the first time, on the banks of our river, one hundred and eighteen years ago. We have given, elsewhere, an account of the doings of the zealous Moravian mission- aries. We proceed now to give a brief history of the first introduction and establishment of the principal religious denominations in our county, together with some facts and statistics relative to their present condition. (275) 276 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. The Presbyterian Church in the United States is the offspring of the Scottish and Scotch-Irish Churches in Scotland and Ireland. It differs from the Congregation- alism of New England only in form of church govern- ment. The former acknowledges the authority of Pres- byteries, Synods, and the General Assembly ; the latter views each congregation as entirely independent, and vests all ecclesiastical authority in each local church . The Presbyterians, who settled in Pennsylvania, Mary- land, and- Virginia from 1670 to 1690, received their pastors from the Presbyteries of the Old World, whereas the Puritans, who settled New England, acted indepen- dently of the Mother Church. As the first settlers in Wyoming were chiefly New England Congregationalists, their form of church government w^as adopted here. But during the administration of the Rev. Mr. Murray, prior to 1833, the Presbyterian form of church government took the place of the Congregational, and the church in Luzerne is now embraced in the former organization. The first Presbytery in the United States was organ- ized in 1704, and the first Synod in 1716. In March, 1744, the Presbytery of New York sent the Rev. David Brainerd, a native of Haddam, Conn., as a missionary to the Indians on the Delaware. At the Forks, where Eas- ton stands, he began his labor of love among the wild men of the forest. In the following October, accompa- nied by the Rev. Mr. Bayram, the minister at Mendham, New Jersey, he set out for the Susquehanna. His jour- ney over the mountains and through the wilderness was attended with great hardships and misfortune. In pass- ing over some rocks his horse broke one of her legs, and RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. 277 he was compelled to kill her, and proceed on foot. They arrived at length at the Delaware town, at the mouth of the Wapwallopen Creek. He preached here to the In- dians for several days, and then returned to the Delaware river. In 1745 and 1746 he traveled along the Lower Susquehanna, and up the West Branch, preaching to the Indians at Shamokin (Sunbury) and at other points. On one of his missions he was compelled to shelter himself, during a cold and stormy night, in the branches of a tree, and getting very wet, he contracted a severe cold, of which he died. He was succeeded by his brother John, who resided on the Delaware, but who frequently visited Wyo- ming, and preached to the Indians there. On the break- ing out of the French war, both the Moravian and Pres- byterian missionaries were compelled to retire from the frontiers. Among the earliest acts of the Connecticut Susque- hanna Land Company, was a regulation providing support for a minister who should accompany the first emigrants to the valley in 1763. The Eev. William Marsh, a pastor of the Congregational persuasion, was selected to minister to the spiritual necessities of the colony. He discharged the duties of his calling until the fatal 15th of October, 17^3, when he and about twenty others were murdered by the savages in the village of the whites, which stood on the river bank, below the site of Wilkesbarre.* At a meeting held by the company at Hartford, in 1768, the standing committee was directed to procure a pastor to accompany the second colony, called the First Forty, for " carrying on religious worship and services according to the best of his ability, in a wilderness coun- try." He was to receive " one whole share or right in the * For names of persons killed, see Appendix, A. 278 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. purchase, and such other encouragements" as others were entitled to have and enjoy. The company recommended the settlers to provide their pastor " with sustenance, according to the best of their ability." The services of the Rev. George Beckwith, Jr., of Lyme, Mass., were engaged, and he arrived at Wyoming, with the fir^t forty, February 8th, 1769. For the support of schools and " an orthodox gospel ministry," the company now appropriated three shares of land in each township, one for schools, one for the erec- tion of a church and parsonage, and one for the support of a pastor. Each tract or share contained about 300 acres, but with one or two exceptions the will of the com- pany was not carried out, owing to the unsettled condi- tion of affairs down to the organization of Luzerne county. After that the church and school lots alike were sold, and the proceeds passed into the treasuries of the townships. Mr. Beckwith remained at Wyoming about one year, and was compensated for his services from the treasury of the Susquehanna Company. In 1770, the company engaged the Rev. Jacob Johnson, of Groton, Conn., to supply the place of Mr. Beckwith. Mr. Johnson hastened to his new field of labor, and ministered as best he could in holy things, in the midst of civil strife. Hq^ remained but a few months, when he returned to Connecticut, leaving the Rev. Elkanah Hobnes in charge of the belligerent flock of Yankees and Paxton Boys. In 1772, the Rev. Noah Wadhams, who had graduated at Princeton College, N. J., in 1754, and on whom Yale College had conferred the degree of A. M. in 1764, came to Wyoming, and soon after settled in Plymouth. Here he preached at stated seasons, and extended his pastoral labors to Kingston also. In 1773, the Rev. Mr. Johnson received a call from RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. 279 the settlers at Wilkesbarre. He faithfully performed his pastoral duties, preaching in private dwellings until 1791, when the new log court-house was erected in the public square. Here public worship was conducted for a num- ber of years. About this time a Dutch or German Reformed Congre- gational minister, named Von Benscotten, arrived in the valley from the Hudson. He was very zealous in the cause of religion, and established the first Congregational society in Hanover township. Here the Pax ton Boys were settled, who were chiefly Presbyterians, and who had erected a frame church, the first in the county, near the present German Presbyterian church, four miles below Wilkesbarre. In 1792, Von Benscotten was succeeded by the Rev. Andrew Gray, a Scotch Irish preacher of considerable ability. Shortly after assuming his pastoral duties he married one of his thirty communicants. Miss Mary, daughter of Captain Lazarus Stewart. He, with Mr. Johnson of Wilkesbarre, and Mr. Wadhams of Plymouth, constituted the entire clerical force of Congregationalism at this time in the valley. In 1795, Mr. Johnson died, and was buried in a grave, prepared by his own hands, on Bowman's Hill above Wilkesbarre. Mr. Gray removed to the state of New York, where he preached for many years, and departed this life in a green old age ; while Mr. Wadhams, becoming advanced in years and superannuated, di^d in Plymouth, in 1806. After the departure of these ministers the Congrega- tionalists had no settled clergyman among them, and Luzerne county became missionary ground, to be supplied by the Connecticut Missionary Society. Divine service was performed only occasionally by the missionaries, 280 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. among whom were the Revs. J. W. Woodward and D. Harrowell, who were paid a stipulated sum for each ser- mon preached. But we are anticipating the order of events. In 1788, John Franklin, the indomitable Yankee leader, and his associates, who had captured Timothy Pickering, were arraigned before the Supreme Court, at Wilkesbarre, Judge McKean presiding. Franklin was released on bail, and the rest were tried for riot. The trials being closed, and sentence having been pronounced on a number of the offenders, the action of the court was denounced by the great body of the population. In par- ticular, Mr. Johnson took occasion to condemn the whole proceedings from the pulpit. By order of Judge McKean, he was brought before the court, and required to give bonds for his -good behavior. After the completion of the log court-house, in 1791, as before stated, it was occupied by Mr. Johnson's con- gregation for divine service ; but their pastor did not feel at home in a building appropriated to the uses of what he considered an unholy court. " He was of that stubborn crew, Presbyterian true blue, Who prove their doctrine orthodox. By apostolic blows and knocks." With a determined will Mr. Johnson set about to erect a church for his congregation, and in 1791, through his exertions, the town of Wilkesbarre was induced to appoint a committee to select a site for the edifice. The com- mittee was composed of Zebulon Butler, Nathan Waller, J. P. Schott, Timothy Pickering, and Daniel Gore. In 1792, another committee w^as appointed by the town to secure subscriptions, to which was added the proceeds RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. 281 from the sale of the public ferry. It was not, however, until 1800 that the contract to build was let to Joseph Hitchcock, and the foundation of the " Old Ship Zion" was laid on the site, selected by the first committee, in the public square. Mr. Johnson did not live to see the commencement of the church on which his heart was set so ardently, and nearly all his older members followed him to the grave before its completion. In June, 1801, the building was enclosed, and its lofty steeple was finished, but soon after, for want of funds, it was -deserted by the workmen, and remained in an incomplete condition for years. During that period the tall spire was struck three times by light- ning, which was considered by some as loud spoken warn- ings to the people to complete the Lord's House. Some poet, about this time, rhyming on things generally in Wilkesbarre, thus notices the church : " No lofty towers here in grandeur rise, No spires ascending seem to seek the skies, Save one that bears aloft the lightning rod, To ward the bolts of an avenging God ; This rod alone essays his shafts to stay, For none within attempt to watch, or pray." It was now thought it would be a vain attempt to com- plete the work, unless there was a pastor or religious head among them, who would devote his time and abilities to the undertaking. The congregation accordingly called the Rev. Ard Hoyt, who, with ministers of other denomi- nations, held religious services in the court-house. Mr. Hoyt labored zealously to induce the people, and parti- cularly the more wealthy portion of the community, to contribute the necessary funds to enable the contractor to resume his work, and bring it to completion. But no effectual effort was made until 1808, when it was resolved 282 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. to finish the Lord's house through the instrumentaHty of a lottery. Matthias Hollenback, Esq., and twelve other commissioners, advertised an "admirable scheme of 3125 tickets at $8 each." Still the receipts from this source were inadequate, and subscriptions were solicited from members of all denominations of Christians. OLD CHTJBCH, WILKESBAEEE. Finally, in the year 1812, after protracted and arduous efforts, Mr. Hitchcock was enabled to finish the most elegant church in northern Pennsylvania. The bell, which was hung in the belfry, and which tolled the funeral knell of scores of the old settlers, and of hundreds RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. 283 of their descendants, was manufactured in Philadelphia, by George Hedderly, August 6, 1811. Its weight was 680 pounds. This bell is now on the Presbyterian Church in the borough of Pittston. There is inscribed on it the Latin words, " Gloria in Excelsis Deo — Fili Dei Miserere" and the English sentence, " I will sound and resound unto thy people, Lord, to call them to thy word." John Miller was the first sexton. He was succeeded by John Michael Keinzle, who officiated in that capacity for upwards of thirty years. Michael was a native of Geneva, in Switzerland, and came to Wilkesbarre about the year 1802. After the town was incorporated in 1806, Michael was elected high constable, which position he held, to the terror of all boys, until the day of his death, in 1846. He was a small, active, violent-tempered man, and when excited by the pranks of mischievous lads, flourished his constant companion, a sword-cane, with great vigor and dexterity, proclaiming to all within the sound of his voice, " I beesh de high* coonstopple of de borough. I makes you boys to Squire Dyer, and den I makes you to de jail !" Michael was also keeper of the town hay-scales at his bachelor residence, in the old store and warehouse, on the river bank. He also had charge of the town pound. As sexton he was particularly faith- ful. He rang the church bell every evening precisely at 9 o'clock,* and told the day of the month. To exhibit his fearlessness and activity, he occasionally ascended to * "The curfew tolls the knell of parting day." This -was a custom established in England .by William the Conqueror, who required the town bell to be rung at 8 o'clock in the evening, as a sig- nal for the people to cover their fires (which is the signification of the French word curfew), and to retire to rest. This custom was established in Wilkes- barre in 1812, and was continued during Michael's life, and for a short time after his decease. 284 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. the lofty spire of the church by the lightning rod, and stood on the great ball, appearing to the spectators be- neath no larger than General Tom Thumb. In 1817, the Rev. Ard Hoyt, notwithstanding the membership during his ministration had increased from 30 to 80, failed to receive a competent support. He retired from this field of labor, and became, a missionary among the Cherokee Indians. From that time until 1821, there was not a settled Congregational or Presbyterian clergyman in Luzerne county. The shepherdless flocks received occasional visits from Connecticut missionaries, and the spirit of piety was not suffered to die entirely out. The labors of the Rev. H. Taylor were particularly successful. He organized the first church in Kingston, in 1818, of which he afterwards became the settled pastor. In 1821, the Rev. Cyrus Gildersleve was called to the churches at Wilkesbarre and Kingston. Desiring to ex- tend the borders of the church, he occasionally preached to the people in Pittston, Providence, Plymouth, Hanover, and Newport. In 1829, he was succeeded by the Rev. Nicholas Murray, the author of Kirwan Letters. About this time a dispute arose between the Presbyte- rians and Methodist Episcopalians, respecting the occu- pancy of the church in Wilkesbarre, the former asserting their exclusive right, and the latter declaring it was a Union church, towards the construction of which they had liberally contributed. "When Greeks joined Greeks, then was the tug of war." The Presbyterians held the keys, and the doors were locked against the invading Methodists. Committees RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. 285 were appointed by the outs, but the ins refused to confer. At length the followers of "Wesley assembled in the court- house, and resolved to enter the church at all hazards. They, accordingly, with the approval of their pastor, the Rev. Morgan Sherman, appointed Joseph Slocum, Abraham Thomas, Daniel Collings, and others, a com- mittee to storm the Lord's house. Mr. Slocum forced the windows with a crowbar, and Mr. Thomas, like Sampson at Gaza, lifted the door from its hinges. The people entered the building, and, by direction of James McClintock, Esq., attorney for the Methodists, broke the locks from the pulpit and pew doors. Mr. Sherman then approached the sacred desk, and commenced religious worship by giving out the hymn commencing, "Equip me for the war, And teach my hands to fight." In his opening prayer the minister thanked the Lord for many things, but particularly that they could " wor- ship under their own vine and fig tree, few daring to molest, and none to make them afraid." At the close of his discourse Mr. Sherman said, " With the permission of Divine Providence, I will preach in this house again in two weeks from to-day." Whereupon Oristus Collins, Esq., arose and said, " At that time this church will be occupied by another congregation." Mr. Sherman re- peated his notice, and Mr. Collins repeated his reply, after which the benediction was pronounced, and the con- gregation quietly dispersed. On another occasion the Methodists entered the church, on Sunday morning, in advance of the Presbyterians. Just as the Rev. Benjamin Bidlack was about giving out the first hymn, Matthias Hollenback, Esq., accompanied by the Rev. Mr. Tracy, a Presbyterian clergyman, entered 286 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. the house, and walking a few steps up the aisle, thus addressed the preacher, "What are you doing here?" " Page 144, short metre," said Mr. Bidlack. " What is that you say ?" inquired Mr. HoUenback. " I say, page 144, short metre," was the reply. Whereupon Mr. Hol- lenback and the Rev. Mr. Tracy retired from the church, while Mr. Bidlack proceeded with the religious exercises. A full detail of this religious war would be long and tedious. It was finally terminated by the sale of the Presbyterian interest in the building to the Methodists. They occupied it for a number of years, when it was sold to a company; and in 1857, it was taken down and removed. During the ministration of Mr. Murray, from 1829 to 1833, communicants to the number of 66 were added to the church. Besides the change at that time already adverted to, from the Congregational to the Presbyterian form of church government, his members erected a new frame church in Wilkesbarre, and another in Hanover township. In 1833, the Rev. John Dorrance,^on whom was con- ferred the degree of D. D., in 1859, by Princeton College, was called to the pastoral charge of the Wilkesbarre con- gregation. During his administration, an elegant brick church was erected on the site occupied by the old one, the number of communicants has increased from 126 to 307, and the revenue of the charge has advanced from hundreds to thousands of dollars annually. The names of the gentlemen who have entered the ministry of the Presbyterian Church from Wilkesbarre, are as follows : Rev. Mr. Hoyt ; Jos. H. Jones, D. D. ; Rev. J. S. Hart, licentiate, late Principal of Philadelphia High School; Rev. John Watters; Rev. Edwin Rheinhart; Rev. John RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. 287 W. Sterling, Prof, in Wisconsin University; Rev. Alex- ander Dilly ; Rev. Henry Rinker ; Rev. William E. Baker ; Rev. Benj. C. Dorrance, licentiate ; Rev. Mr. Chamberlin ; Rev. Zebulon Butler, D. D. ; Rev. John Dorrance, D. D. ; Rev. David J. Waller ; Rev. Samuel Helme ; Rev. Henry H. Wells ; Rev. John Brown ; Rev. John F. Baker ; Rev. Charles J. Collins ; Rev. David Jewett. In 1832, the Rev. Alexander Heberton received and accepted a call from the congregation at Kingston ; since which time that charge has sustained its own pastor, and erected a comfortable frame church. The congregations in the Lackawanna Valley continued to be supplied by missionaries, appointed by the Susque- hanna Presbytery, until 1842. At that time the Pittston church, called the church of the Lackawanna, was organ- ized. Among the missionaries who ministered to the spiritual wants of the several congregations in that valley, were the Rev. Owen Brown, Rev. Charles Evans, and the Rev. N. G. Parke. In 1846, the Lackawanna congregation was divided, and the Rev. Mr. Parke was called to the church at Pittston in 1847, and the Rev. J. D. Mitchell to the church at Scranton in 1848. Down to the year 1843, Luzerne county was embraced in the Susquehanna Presbytery, at which time, by order of the General Assembly, the Luzerne Presbytery was organized, embracing the counties of Luzerne, Schuylkill, and Carbon, and the township of Brier Creek in Columbia county. Since then the churches in Tunkhannock, and in Northmoreland township, Wyoming county, have been added from the Susquehanna Presbytery. The churches organized in the county, by authority of the Luzerne Presbytery, with the dates of their organization, are as follows : 288 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. Wyoming, Scranton, White Haven, Hazleton, Scranton (German), Plymouth, Eckley, organized, Sept. 21, 1847. Oct. 18, 1848. Dec. 10, 1850. May 8, 1854. June 25, 1856. Oct. 5, 1856. Jan. 24, 1857. The following table has been made up from the minutes of the General Assembly (Old School) for 1859, and exhibits the numerical condition, &c., of the several con- gregations in the county. No. Com- Foreign Congre- Churches. Pastors. muni- No. S. S. and Do- gational cants. Scholars. mestic Missions. purpoees. Wilkesbarre . . . Jno. Dorrance, D. D. . 307 400 1325 $1000 Scranton M.J. Hickok, D.D. . 239 300 135 2200 Pittston . N. G. Parke . . . 235 200 60 1500 Newton . W. E. Holmes . 119 180 28 Hazelton . Jno. Armstrong 91 325 79 850 Conyngham Jno. Johnson . 87 15 Kingston H. H. Wells . 54 100 100 Wyoming Henry Rinker . 45 30 46 Plymouth E. H. Snowden 39 2 40 Eckley . Jonathan Osmon 35 60 22 250 Hanover . T. P. Hunt . . 23 White Haven Jonathan Osmon 21 80 11 200 Scranton (German) No Report, 1295 1675 823 6040 There are, in the United States, of the Old School Presbyterians, 2577 ministers, 3487 churches, 279,630 communicants, and the entire revenue of the church was ,835,147. NEW SCnOOL PRESBYTERIANS. The church in Carbondale was organized in 1829 by the Rev. Joel Campbell, who was succeeded by the Rev. RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. 289 T. S. Ward, the present pastor* When the division of the church occurred, in 1838, the Carbondale congregation united with the New School branch. It has 225 com- municants, and, with the churches at Archbald, Provi- dence, Hyde Park, Abington, and Dunmore, constitutes the greater portion of the Montrose Presbytery. The membership of the New School, Cumberland, Associate, &c., Presbyterians, in the United States, ex- ceeds 350,000. THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. Methodism originated in a prayer or experience meet- ing held in London, in 1739, under the direction of the Rev. John Wesley, a minister of the Episcopal or Esta- blished Church of England. It was introduced into America, by emigrants from Ireland, in 1766, at which time the first society was formed in the city of New York, by Philip Embury, a local preacher. The following year, Captain Webb, of the British army, came to America to take command of the military post at Albany, and, having professed religion under the preaching of Mr. Wesley in England, he joined with Mr. Embury in proclaiming their peculiar doctrines to the people of New York, Philadel- phia, and other places. The Captain did not neglect his military duties, but when the opportunity occurred he was ready and willing to preach the gospel. In 1769, Mr. Wesley sent two preachers from England to assist in the revival of religion in this country, and in 1773 the first Methodist Conference was held in Philadelphia, when the number of preachers was 10, and the membership 1160. The origin of Methodism in Luzerne county was on this wise. Prior to 1778, Anning Owen, a blacksmith, erected a small log-house and smith-shop, on the great road in Kingston, a few rods above the present residence of * Died in 1864, and was succeeded by Rev. Oliver Crane. 19 290 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. Colonel Charles Dorrance. Here Owen toiled at his trade until July 3d, 1778, when he shouldered his musket in common with his neighbors, and went forth under Butler and Denison to encounter the British and Indians. He stood his ground bravely, until compelled to give way in the general retreat. Flying from the lost field, he found himself hotly pursued by a fierce savage, who, with a swift foot, was hastening to bury a tomahawk in his brain. Eternity seemed near at hand, and he called on his God for help and deliverance, vowing, if preserved, to repent of his sins and to lead a new life. Redoubling his efforts, as if inspired with fresh strength and energy, he escaped from his pursuer, and concealed himself in a thicket until nightfall. Under cover of darkness, he made good his retreat to the fort. Sometime after this, being then in the East, he attended a Methodist meeting, where the preacher with great zeal and solemnity reasoned of righteousness and of a judgment to come. Owen remem- bered his vow to God, and his great deliverance : he con- fessed his sins, and found mercy through faith in the Saviour. His conversion was complete, and he evinced great sincerity and earnestness in his efforts to save his own soul and the souls of his fellow-men. He received license as an exhorter, and afterwards returned to the valley. Here, in addition to his weekday labor in the smith-shop, he appointed Sunday prayer meetings to be held at his own house, w^hen he exhorted the people to seek the salvation of their souls. The seed, thus sown by a plain and uneducated but pious and zealous blacksmith, took root, sprang up, and began to bear fruit. Similar meet- ings, at which Mr. Owen exhorted, were held at Jonathan Smith's, in Newport ; at the widow Jameson's, in Hano- ver ; at Captain John Vaughn's, at Old Forge, in Lacka- wanna ; at Lucas', on Ross Hill, in Kingston ; at the RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. 291 widow Coleman's, in Plymouth, and at other places in the valley. In 1791, this region of country was taken into the Methodist Conference, and attached to the New York District, under the name of Wyoming, That district then embraced Newburgh, New York, New Rochelle, Long Island, and Wyoming. The Rev. Robert Cloud was, that year, made presiding elder of the district, and the Rev. James Campbell was appointed to the Wyoming Circuit. When Mr. Campbell arrived at his new field of the itinerancy, he found 100 professors of religion, the fruit of the labors of Anning Owen, and of others. A class was formed in Hanover, and Stephen Burrett was appointed leader. It met once a week, at the house of Aaron Hunt. Another was formed, with James Sutton as leader, to meet at the house of Captain Vaughn. There was also a class in Kingston, one in Plymouth, one in New- port, and one in Wilkesbarre. At all of these places Mr. Campbell preached, sometimes in private dwellings, some- times in barns, and at other times in the open air. One of the first Quarterly Meetings was held in a barn, in Hanover, belonging to the widow Jameson, and was attended by Methodists from Briar Creek, in Columbia, then Northumberland county, and from other parts of the country thirty and forty miles distant. Anning Owen was received into the conference in 1795 'as a traveling preacher, and was efficient and acceptable until 1813, when he became superannuated. According to the regulations of the Methodist Episcopal Church, their preachers itinerate, or pass from one circuit to another every year, or every two years. Therefore, in 1792, Mr. Campbell was succeeded by the Rev. William Hardesty. In July, 1793, Bishop Asbury visited Wyoming and other portions of the district. At a glance his great 292 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. knowledge of human nature and of the world enabled him to comprehend the character of the people, and the condition of the country. At the Conference, in August following, he appointed the Rev. Valentine Cook, Presid- ing Elder, and placed the Rev. William Colbert, and Rev. Anthony Turck, on Wyoming circuit. During this con- ference year the membership increased from 100 to 183. In 1794, James Paynter traveled Wyoming circuit, and was succeeded by the Rev. A. White, in 1795, who re- mained two years. In 1796, a new district, called the Susquehanna dis- trict, the Rev. Thomas Ware, P. E., was formed, extend- ing from Philadelphia to Western New York, and divided into nine circuits. Wyoming was included in it. In 1797, the Rev. Roger Benton traveled Wyoming, and in 1798 he was followed by the Rev. William Colbert. In 1799, the Rev. William M'Lenahan was presiding elder, and Wyoming and Northumberland circuits united were traveled by the Reverends James Moore, Benjamin Bidlack, and David Stevens. In 1800, Rev. Joseph Everett was presiding elder, and Ephraim Chambers, Edwafd Larkins, and Asa Smith, were the preachers. In 1801, Ephraim Chambers and Anning Owen, and in 1802 Ephraim Chambers and Wil- liam Brandon were the preachers. In 1803, James Smith became presiding elder of the district, and James Polemus and Hugh McCurdy were appointed preachers. In 1804, Morris Howe and Robert Burch were the preachers, and the Susquehanna district was transferred from the Philadelphia to the Baltimore Conference. During this year the membership increased from 300 to 446. About this time, the Presbyterians and Methodists RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. 293 in Kingston united and built what is now the old church at Forty Fort. This was the first finished church in the county in which religious services were held ; for though the church in Hanover, erected by the Paxton Presbyterians, was commenced before this, yet it was never completed. • In 1805, Anning Owen was presiding elder, and James Paynter and Joseph Carson were the preachers. -[> s.iijSS^-' OLD CHURCH, FORTY FORT. In 1806, Christopher Frye and Alfred Griffith traveled Wyoming circuit, and the number of members was 523. Gideon Draper and William Butler were the preachers in 1807. In 1808, the Susquehanna district was again placed under the jurisdiction of the Philadelphia confer- ence, James Herron became presiding elder, and the tra- veling preachers for Wyoming were James Reily and Henry Montooth. The next year, 1809, Gideon Draper was presiding elder, and George Lane and Abraham Dawson were the traveling preachers. During this year 294 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. the first camp-meeting in Luzerne county was held near the village of Wyoming. A rough board stand was con- structed, which was occupied by the preachers during Divine service, and a circle of tents was formed round about, composed of wagon and bed covers stretched over hooped saplings. The floors of the tents were the bare ground concealed by a sprinkling of straw, while the beautiful green foliage of the forest was spread out above them. Multitudes of people collected from far and near, attracted, many by novelty, and some by a desire to do good and to get good. The sermons preached were delivered with astonishing energy and feeling. The tremendous emotions of the speaker were communicated to his audience, and an excitement was produced of which we in this day can have but a faint conception. The cries of the penitent, and the shouts of rejoicing Chris- tians, mingled with the deep tones of the preacher, pro- duced a marked effect even on the most obdurate infidel. At some of these meetings, strong men, pale and trembling, fell to the earth, imploring mercy. Great congregations of men and women, moved by some strong sensation, sudden and powerful as the electric shock, seemed struck with consternation. Crowding thousands hung in breath- less silence on the lips of the impassioned orator. No sound would be heard save the thrilling tones of the elo- quent appeal, when suddenly a cry, bursting from the agony of an alarmed soul, would send dismay and terror and conviction to the hearts of hundreds. The preacher ceased, his voice was drowned in the tumult, for there were cries, and sobs, and tears, and shoutings all around him. The infidel doctrines of the French Revolution had swept over America, producing a most disastrous effect on the religious sentiment of the country. During our own RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. 295 Revolution, and for a few years after, great efforts were made to further the cause of religion here, and with encouraging success. But when France overturned her monarchy, and with it her altars of religion, the people of the United States, while sympathizing, with her in her struggle for liberty, imbibed her atheistical notions. In the eighteen years from the time the first Methodist con- ference was held in 1773, to 1791, the membership of that church had increased from 1100 to 76,000. But the pernicious doctrines of the French philosophers having become widely disseminated, there was no longer an increase ; the membership even grew less, so that ten years afterwards, in 1801, there were but 72,000 church members. But about this time a great revival of religion commenced in America, and at the end of the next ten years, 1811, the membershij) numbered 184,000, being an increase, since 1801, of 112,000. One of the most efficient agencies in bringing about this great result was camp-meetings. Almost immediately on their general introduction, tens of thousands were annually added to the church, and the doctrines of Jesus Christ soon became far more popular than the infidel sentiments of the French revolutionists. Camp-meetings are said to have had their origin on this wise: In 1799, two brothers, John and William McGee, the former a Methodist, and the latter a Presbyterian minister, were traveling together in Ken- tucky. Having reached a point on Red river, they tarried by invitation of the Rev. Mr. McGeady, and participated in the sacramental services of his church on the following day. John McGee preached, and was followed by the Rev. Mr. Hoge, a Presbyterian minister, who preached with great power ; so much so, that a good woman in the congregation shouted aloud in praising God. A great revival of religion was the result of this effort, and the 296 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. people gathered in such numbers that the meeting was protracted and removed to a grove. Tents were erected, household utensils and provisions were procured, and here for several days the Presbyterians, in union with the Methodists, held the first camp-meeting in America, of which there is any record. These union camj)-meetings were continued for two or three years, and resulted in a secession from the Presbyterian Church of those members who took the name of Cumberland Presbyterians. In 1810, Thomas Wright and Elijah Metcalf succeeded Messrs. Lane and Dawson on the Wyoming Circuit, and these were followed in 1811 by Noah Bidgelow and William Brown. In 1810, the Genesee Conference was formed, comprehending the Susquehanna District within its bounds, and a number of new circuits were carved out of the larger ones, so that the membership of Wyoming that year was reduced to 363. In 1812, George Harmon became presiding elder of the district, and John Kimberlin and Elisha Bebins were appointed traveling preachers for Wyoming Circuit. In the following year, 1813, the proportions of this circuit were further curtailed, so that only one preacher, Mar- maduke Pearce, was appointed to minister to the spiritual necessities of the people. He was followed, in 1814, by Benjamin G. Paddock. In 1815, Marmaduke Pearce was made presiding elder of the district, and George W. Dens- more was placed on Wyoming Circuit, who was succeeded by Elias Bowen, who remained here two years — 1816 and 1817. George Peck was the preacher in 1818, and he was followed in 1819 by Marmaduke Pearce, who had been presiding elder of the district for the preceding four years. George Lane succeeded Mr. Pearce in the presid- ing eldership, and in 1820 Elisha Bebins was the traveling preacher. In 1821 EHsha Bebins was continued, assisted RELIGIOUS D:pNOMINATIONS. 297 by John Layer. In 1822, the preachers were J. D. Gil- bert and W. W. Rundel, and these were followed in 1823 by George Lane and Gaylord Judd, Fitch Reed being presiding elder. George Peck became presiding elder in 1824, and Morgan Sherman and Joseph Castle were the preachers of the circuit. These last were succeeded in 1825 by John Copeland and Philo Barbery. During 1826, 1827, 1828, Horace Agard was presiding elder, and the preachers for those years were George Peck and Philo Barbfery, S. Stocking and Miles H. Gaylord, Joseph Castle and Silas Comfort. In 1827, the Genesee Confer- ence was held in Wilkesbarre. In 1829, the Oneida Con- ference was organized, and Wilkesbarre became a station in the following year. In 1852, the Wyoming Confer- ence was formed, which does not embrace one-third more territory than did the Old Wyoming Circuit 60 years ago. The great body of the early Methodist preachers w^ere plain, uneducated men, who had come immediately from the masses of the people. They were acquainted with the views and feelings of their congregations, and their sermons were adapted to people like themselves. The itinerating system brought them in contact with an im- mense variety of character, imparting a most valuable knowledge of human nature, while their extensive cir- cuits furnished sufficient of exercise to develope and strengthen the physical powers, and to give robust con- stitutions. They were pious, earnest men, imbued with a deep sense of their responsibility, and with a solemn concern for the souls of their fellow-men. They did not confine their ministrations to the highways and to the densely populated districts, but they penetrated along the by-paths into the secluded valleys, and among the moun- tains. They preached in school-houses, in private dwell- ings, in barns, and in the open air, once every work-day 298 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. in the week, and twice or thrice on Sunday. They went into the new settlements, preached, reached the hearts of their hearers, formed classes, enjoined on them to read the Word of God, to meet often for prayer, and " gave out" that at such a time, the Lord willing, they would be along again. Wherever they went the people received them gladly, for, apart from their sacred office, they were a most interesting class of men, who possessed an immense fund of information, gathered in their travels from obser- vation and from the conversation of others. Still, theirs was a life of hardships. The country was a wilderness, the roads were generally in a most wretched condition, and the people were poor. Their annual salary was $64, and traveling expenses, and none but most devout Chris- tians, who looked to a future state of happiness as the only thing worth striving for, could have been so indefati- gable in their labors, and so self-sacrificing in their lives. They and their flocks have almost all gone to that great undiscovered country for which they made such earnest preparation. But they have left a wonderful monument of their labors and self-denial behind them. On the foundation they laid, and on the structure they raised, a vast multi- tude of busy hands have been engaged since their de- parture, and that grand Monument is rising higher and higher towards the heavens, and attracting more and more the attention of mankind. That was but a small beginning in 1773, when ten preachers, being the entire Methodist ministry, assembled in the first Conference at Philadelphia. At the commencement of the present cen- tury, after struggling through the demoralizing influences of the American and French Revolutions, the number of ministers was 287, and the membership 64,894. But mark the rapid increase during the next few years. In RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. 299 1813 the ministry numbered 678, and the membership 214,307. This year (1859) the Church North numbers 956,555 members, and the Church South 699,194, making a total membership in the United States of 1,655,749.* The traveling preachers number 9273, and the local preachers 12,514. The total annual revenue of the Church was 12,856,235. Luzerne county is divided between the Wyoming and Baltimore Conferences. The latter embraces Hunting- ton, Salem, Fairmount, Union, Nescopeck, Black Creek, and one or two townships in the south-west, composing the two circuits of Bloomingdale and Luzerne. The following table exhibits the number of members, Sunday-school scholars, preachers' salaries, &c., in Lu- zerne county, in the year 1859 : Foreign Salaries Amount Sunday- and Do- of paid Pre- stations and Circuits. Members School mestic Preach- siding Scliolars. Missions. ers. Elder. Wilkesbarre 257 280 $105 $600 $100 Woodville . 130 180 . 20 510 40 Plains . 78 125 56 430 35 Wyoming 78 150 100 515 50 Kingston 114 180 22 426 40 Plymouth 85 175 500 25 Trucksville 230 225 80 490 40 Lehman 190 100 15 460 35 Pittston 120 225 200 725 60 Providence 95 80 26 590 ■ 40 Scranton 117 250 114 700 50 Lackawanna 89 268 45 400 36 Abington 156 125 40 420 50 Newton 202 200 10 298 •40 Newport 75 175 52 344 24 Carbondale 120 150 95 650 50 Blakely 48 30 25 400 50 Moscow 100 100 27 312 50 Luzerne 198 150 45 475 40 Huntington 250 275 100 525 50 2732 3443 1177 9770 905 300 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. About one-third of the above are circuits containing from six to twelve appointments. Donations are included in these salaries of the preachers. The number of volumes in the Sunday-schools is 11,762, and the value of church property in the county is $117,200. THE BAPTIST CHURCH. The first Associated Baptist church was organized, in England, in the city of London, in the year 1633. The Rev. Roger Williams formed the first Baptist congrega- tion in America at Providence, Rhode Island, in 1639. Roger Williams was a graduate of Oxford College, and a minister of the Church of England. He emigrated to America in 1631, and took charge of a Puritan church in New England, but, owing to his liberal religious and political views, he became involved in difficulties with the authorities, by whom he was banished from the colony. He, with a number of followers, retired to the wilds of Rhode Island, where he laid the foundations of the city of Providence, and having embraced the Baptist faith, may be considered the father of that Church in America. The government of the Baptist Church is purely congre- gational, the Associations having no power whatever over the congregations. The Baptists commenced their career in Pennsylvania in 1698, by meeting in the warehouse of the old " Barba- does Trading Company," in the city of Philadelphia. The Rev. John Watts was their clergyman. As early as 1773 there were Baptists in Kingston township of this county, whose pastor was the Rev. Mr. Gray. Some years after this, in 1786, Mr. Gray made special efforts in Pittston township, and in the fall of that year a congregation was organized there by the Rev. James Benedict. In 1787 this congreofation was attached to the Philadelphia Asso- RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. 301 elation. Mr. Benedict was succeeded by the Rev. James Finn, and he by the Rev. William Bishop, who settled in Luzerne county in 1794. Mr. Bishop was born in 1749 in England, where he professed to find grace and entered the ministry. Emigrating to America, with the pure spirit of a pioneer preacher he pushed into the wilder- ness. He came to the Lackawanna Valley and erected his log-house on the site now occupied by the residence of William Merrifield, Esq., in Hyde Park. He remained there until 1811, when he removed to Scott township, where he died in 1816. Mr. Bishop was a zealous and successful preacher, and proclaimed the peculiar doctrine of his church throughout the Lackawanna and Wyoming Valleys, and in other sections of the country, for many years. In 1790 the Rev. Samuel Sturdevant emigrated from Danbury, Connecticut, and settled in Braintrim, now Wyoming county. Soon after, he commenced to gather a congregation in that region. He was a large muscular man, preached with great earnestness, and, leading a most upright and exemplary life, commanded the respect of all who knew him. David Stafford, writing to the author, says, " I am ninety-two years of age, and was baptized in the Susquehanna river by the Rev. Samuel Sturdevant sixty-seven years ago." In 1790 the Rev. Jacob Drake and the Rev. Roswell Goff emigrated to Luzerne from New England. They, in connection with Messrs. Sturdevant and Bishop, to- gether with others, preached in Wilkesbarre, Plymouth, at Captain Daniel Gore's in Pittston, and at other places, as best they could, in a country destitute of churches, and impoverished by foreign war and domestic conflicts. In 1794 Griffin Lewis came to Plymouth from Exeter in Rliode Island, and in 1799 he married Hannah, the 302 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. daughter of Elder Joel Rogers. Messrs. Gray, Benedict, and Finn had gathered a small congregation at Plymouth in 1787, and among those baptized were Joel and Jonah Rogers, both of whom became elders in the church. They, with Mr. Drake, and Mr. Lewis who was ordained minister in 1802, laid the foundation of the Baptist Church in Huntington, Jackson, Union, and Lehman townships, and indeed in the whole western portion of the county. This is the Jonah Rogers who was captured by the savages, and is the " Bugle Boy" of Mr. McCoy's " Frontier Maid." He had participated in the early trials and dangers of the first settlers, and was esteemed a valuable citizen ; and when, in after life, he espoused the Christian faith, and exhorted the people to believe and be baptized, his exhortation fell with great force on the ears of the people. Like Anning Owen and Benjamin Bidlack, of the Methodist Church, he had stood shoulder to shoulder, with those to whom he preached, in defence of their homes ; and now, when he spoke to them of the good things of the world to come, his words, plain and simple, were those of a companion in arms, and reached the hearts of his hearers. In 1802, the Rev. John Miller, who was born in Windham county, Conn., settled in Abington, where he gathered a congregation about him, and over which he presided as pastor until 1853. His continuance as cler- gyman to the same congregation for the extraordinary period of fifty-one years, is the highest eulogium that can be pronounced on his character. During his ministerial life in Luzerne, he baptized by immersion 2000 persons, married 912 couples, and preached 1800 funeral sermons. He died in 1857, a true servant of God, and beloved and venerated of men. Two churches had been organized in Wayne county, RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. 303 one at Palmyra in 1801, and one at Mount Pleasant in 1807. Pursuant to previous arrangement, delegates from these congregations met similar delegates from the Abing- ton church at the log dwelling-house of Elder Miller, on the 26th day of December, 1807. At this time and place the Abington Baptist Association was formed. The dele- gates for Palmyra were the Rev. Elijah Purdy and Wil- liam Purdy, Jr. ; for Mount Pleasant, Rev. Epaphras Thompson, Rev. Elijah Peck, and Samuel Torey; for Abington, Rev. John Miller, William Clark, Jesse Hulse, Roger Ormis, Jonathan Dean, and Nathaniel Giddings. The Rev. Mr. Thompson was constituted Moderator, and Mr. Nathaniel Giddings was made clerk. The Rev. Samuel Sturdevant, Rev. Davis Dimock, and Joel Rogers, licentiate from Exeter, were also present, and took seats in the association. The sermon was preached by the Rev. Mr. Peck. The Wyoming Baptist Association was organized at Lehman Church, in Lehman township, in 1843, through the instrumentality of Davis Dimock, Rev. D. Gray, and others, and within the limits of this and that of Abington are embraced all the churches of that persuasion in Lu- zerne county. Wilkesbarre and the vicinity were missionary ground many years ago, and the ministers of this church preached in the Court-house, though they were sometimes allowed the use of the " Old Ship of Zion." In 1842 the Baptist church in Wilkesbarre was constituted by the Rev. A. L. Past. The present brick edifice, on Northampton street, was built in 1847. The increase of the Baptists in America has been won- derful, paralleled only by the Methodists. In the year 1784 they had 424 ministers and 35,101 members. In 1790-92, they had increased to 891 ministers and 65,845 304 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. members, more than doubling their ministry and almost their membership in the space of seven years. On ac- count of the infidel sentiments of the French philosophers, before alluded to, disseminated in this country, it was more than twenty years before their ministry was again doubled, though in 1810-12, they had 1605 ministers, and 172,972 members. In 1851, they had 578 associa- tions, 10,441 churches, and 754,652 members. These are the regular Baptists, but there are several minor bodies in the United States whose aggregate membership must number hundreds of thousands. They are known by the names of Freewill, Seventh-day, Campbellites, who are also called Disciples of Christ, or Reformers, Six Princi- ple, Menonites (German), Anti-Mission, Church of God, and Christian Baptists. The following table will exhibit the condition of the Baptist Church in Luzerne county, for the year 1859 : — Churches. Pastors. Members Abington 1st C. A. Fox . 178 Abington Valley T. J. Cole . 36 Benton T. J. Cole . 90 Cai'bondale E. L. Bailey . . 72 Blakeley . No Pastor 42 Covington . I ^0 report. Hyde Park W. K. Mott . 66 Mount Bethel Charles Parker 64 Newton J. C. Sherman 30 Seott Valley Benj. Miller . 81 Exeter No pastor 32 Jackson . James Clark . 12.5 Lehman . G. W. Scofield 55 Pitts ton . W. K. Mott . 80 Union James Clark . 173 Wilkesbarre E. M. Alden . 60 Kingston . W. K. Mott . 26 Lake G. W. Scofield 23 1223 We are unable to obtain the number of Sunday-school EELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. 30{ scholars attached to the respective churches, as well as the salaries of the ministers, and the amount contributed for benevolent objects outside of the churches. We, how- ever, estimate the Sunday-school scholars at 1100, and the church property at $30,000. LUTHERAN AND GERMAN REFORMED CHURCHES. The earliest settlement of Lutherans in this country, was made soon after the establishment of the Dutch in the city of New York, then called New Amsterdam, which was in 1621. As early as 1643, Swedish Lutherans settled within the limits of Pennsylvania, whose pastor was John Campanius Holm. In 1677, Jacob Fabritius preached his first sermon in the Swedes Church at Wicaco, where he officiated fourteen years, nine of which he was blind. About the year 1710, a great number of German Lutherans came to America, and settled in Pennsylvania, although many had emigrated here before that. Tlie Swedish ministers kindly served the German Lutherans until the arrival of the Patriarch of American Lutheran- ism, the Rev. Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, v/ho landed in Philadelphia, November 28th, 1742. The first synod was organized in Philadelphia, August 14th, 1748, when there were only 11 regular Lutheran ministers in the colonies, and at this Synodical Convention only 6 clergy- men were in attendance. From the minutes of the Gene- ral Synod of this church for 1859, we learn there were 764 ministers, and a communing membership of 153,521 in the United States. There are other bodies of Lutherans in this country not connected with the Evangelical Lu- theran Church. The German Reformed Church in the United States is a counterpart of the Reformed or Calvinistic Church of Germany. They, with the Lutherans, came over and 20 306 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. settled in this state at an early day. Application was. made to the Mother Church in 1746, for a pastor by mem- bers in Pennsylvania, and the Rev. Michael Schlatter was sent over to gather the scattered flock, and to organ- ize churches. The number of communicants in this church in the United States is about 100,000. At one time, the difference between the Lutheran and German Reformed churches was very slight, and in 1822 an entire union of the two was proposed, but adverse circumstances defeated the plan. From 1790 to 1800, ministers of the German Reformed Church from Northampton county occasionally visited the south-eastern portion of Luzerne, now Sugarloaf, But- ler, and Foster townships, which were settled principally by Germans. In 1800, an energetic preacher of this per- suasion, the Rev. John Mann, came to Sugarloaf; and during the same year, through his exertions, a building was erected for religious and school purposes. Mr. Mann was succeeded in 1804, by the Rev. T. Klenner, a Lu- theran minister. The Rev. F. W. Vandersloot followed Mr. Klenner in 1809. In 1811, under the administration of the Rev. Thomas Pomp, the Lutheran and German Reformed congregations united and erected a comfortable church in Nescopeck. The present membership worship- ping there is, Lutherans 140, German Reformed 25. From 1812 to 1817, the Sugarloaf congregation was supplied by the Revs. F. C. Krole, J. E. Braumzious, and Peter Hall. In the latter year the Lutherans, under the charge of the Rev. C. C. Shafer, erected a church at Wapwallopen, the present membership of which is 70. A German Reformed congregation also, which numbers 52 members, occupies the same building. In 1820, the Rev. John N. Zeiger was called to the Sugarloaf congregation, who extended his ministerial labors as far west as Salem township, RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. 307 where, in conjunction with the Rev. Peter Kesler, a Lutheran minister, he brought about the erection of what is called the " Old Stone Church." At present, it has a Lutheran membership of 56, and a German Reformed of 25. Mr. Zeiger about the same time organized a con- gregation in the Sweitz, in Hollenback township, where a neat and commodious church was built by the members of the two sects. The number of its present members is 75 Lutherans, and 26 German Reformed. The Rev. Isaiah Bahl, of the Lutheran Church, is the present pastor.^ In 1823, the Rev. J. Beninger organized a church in Black Creek township, the present membership of which is Lutherans 31, German Reformed 24. On the 4th of May, 1826, during the ministrations of the Revs. Mr. Zeiger and Mr. George Eyster, the two congregations in Sugarloaf township laid the corner-stone of St. John's Church, now in Butler township ; and during the same year, another edifice for religious wor- ship was raised in Conyngham. In 1841, a free or Union church was erected at Drum's; but since 1858, it has been occupied chiefly by the Lutherans and German Re- formed members. The German Reformed church in Hanover, near the site of the old Presbyterian church erected by the Paxton settlers, was built in 1825. Besides the ministers already named, we may mention the Revs. J. F. Shindle, J. Shellhamer, Farets, and Sey- bert, who have officiated in these churches, and who will long be remembered for their pastoral care by an honest and most worthy people. Within twenty years past, one Lutheran and one Ger- man Reformed church have been erected in Wilkesbarre ; one German Reformed in Blakelv. and one Lutheran in 308 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. Ransom township. The whole number of Lutheran churches is 12, and German Reformed 5. The Lutheran membership* is 1000, and that of the German Reformed 300. The Lutheran congregations are generally under the charge of the Rev. W. R. S. Haskarl of Conyngham, the Rev. H. Vosseler of Wilkesbarre, and the Rev. Isaiah Bahl of Berwick. Mr. Bahl entered the ministry in 1825 ; soon after which he commenced his pastoral labors in Luzerne and Columbia counties. He has married 2200 couples, and preached as many funeral sermons. The German Reformed churches are principally under the pastoral care of the Rev. Mr. Hoffman, and the Rev. Mr. Strassner.^ THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States is the offspring of the Church of England. Long prior to the Revolutionary War, it was the established religion of one or more of the colonies. The Revolution separated us from the civil power of the mother country, and our own constitutions guaranty freedom of religious faith and worship. To meet the state of things brought about by the independence of this country, preliminary steps were taken in 1784 to form a separate and self-sustaining organization. On the 13th and 14th of May of that year, a number of clergymen from New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, convened at New Brunswick, N. J., for the purpose of adopting measures for the relief of the widows and children of deceased clergymen. At this meeting it was proposed to hold a convention at New York in the following October, at w^hich time and place a plan for the new organization was pre23ared to be submitted to an- other convention to assemble at Philadelphia, on the 27th of October, 1785. At this last convention, delegates RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. 309 appeared from seven of the thirteen states. The Book of Common Prayer was revised and altered, and an Ecclesi- astical Constitution was formed. In December, 1786, the Rev. William White, D. D., of Philadelphia, and the Rev. Samuel Provost, D. D., of New York, embarked for Eng- land, having been chosen and recommended by the new church organization as candidates for the episcopal office. After a voyage of seventeen days from New York, they arrived in London; and on the 4th of February, 1787, were ordained and consecrated bishops by the Most Rev. John Moore, Archbishop of Canterbury. The Rev. James Madison, D. D., of Virginia, was afterwards ordained and consecrated a bishop in England ; and he, with the other two before mentioned, ordained and consecrated T. J. Claggett bishop of the Church in Maryland, who was the first ever consecrated in the United States. According to the Report of the Triennnial Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, held in 1856, its com- municants were 119,540, and its clergymen were 1828. The church contributions for that year were $2,402,833. In 1859, there were 12,815 communicants, 161 clergy- men, and 16,891 Sunday-school scholars in the state of Pennsylvania. In 1814, the Associated Missionary Society of Christ Church, St. Peter's, and St, James', in the city of Phila- delphia, united with Bishop White in requesting the Rev. Jackson Kemper, now bishop of Wisconsin, to visit Wilkesbarre, and collect the members of the church in that place and its vicinity. He complied with the request, and, preparing the way for a church organiza- tion, was succeeded by the Rev. Richard Mason, now Dr. Mason of North Carolina. Mr. Mason was the first settled Episcopal clergyman in Luzerne county. After Mr. Mason, the Rev. Mr. Phinney officiated as pastor for 310 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. a short time, when the congregation was placed under the charge of the Rev. Mr. Roach, missionary, who established the first Sunday-school here. In 1817, St. Stephen's Church, in Wilkesbarre, was chartered. It was completed in 1822, and consecrated by Bishop White in 1823, at which time there were 42 communicants. During this year the Rev. Mr. Sitgreaves was called to the pastoral charge of the congregation, and in 1824 he was succeeded by the Rev. Enoch Huntington. Mr. Huntington was followed in 1827 by the Rev. James May, late Dr. May, of Georgetown, D. C, who continued pastor here until 1836. For the next twelve years the pulpit of St. Stephen's was occupied by the Rev. W. J. Clark, Rev. R. B. Claxton, and Rev. C. D. Cooper. In 1848, the Rev. George D. Miles received a call, who has continued pastor to the present time. Until 1845, the pastors of St. Stephen's, and occasion- ally visiting clergymen, and also missionaries, preached at Carbondale, but in that year Trinity Church was organized in that place. St. James was organized in Pittston, in 1852 ; St. Luke, in Scranton, in 1853 ; St. James, in Eckley, in 1858; since which periods these several churches have called and sustained their own pastors. From St. Stephen's, the following named persons have entered the ministry : Samuel Bowman, D. D., late bishop of Pennsylvania, George C. Drake, Alexander Shiras, H. M. Denison, D. C. Loup, and J. L. Maxwell. The following statistical table shows the condition of this church in Luzerne county for the year 1859 : RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. 311 Churches. Location. No. of Sunday , Collec Clergymen. ; Commu- School ■ tions. 1 nicants. Scholars. Salary. St. Stephen's . St. Peter's . . St. Luke's . . Trinity . . . St. James' . . St. James' . . Wilkesbarre Plymouth . Scranton Carbondale . Pittston . . Eckley . . Geo. D. Miles Geo. D. Miles W.C.Robinson Thomas Drum J. A. Jerome P. Russell . I 125 ' 360 71 80 43 1 95 35 ! 150 24 ; 11270 $1000 183 ' 600 198 i 450 1817 'C=^r 23 1 600 298 1 685 3491 ! 2650 1 THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. The Roman Catholics first came to the British Colonies, and made a permanent settlement in Maryland, under Lord Baltimore, in 1634, but it was not until 1789 that the arch-diocese of Baltimore was formed into a bishopric, under authority of a bull from Pope Pius VI. In 1808, it was erected into a Metropolitan See by a brief from Pius VII., and since that date, and indeed for years be- fore, Baltimore has been considered the head-quarters of Romanism in this country. It is difficult to ascertain the number of communicants in the church in the United States, from the fact that they number by families, each member of which above the age of twelve years may receive the sacrament. In 1854, they had 1245 churches, 1203 clergymen, 28 insti- tutions of ecclesiastical education, 223 educational insti- tutions, 108 charitable institutions, and 1,334,500 Catholic population. Luzerne county is embraced iji the Catholic diocese of Philadelphia, which comprehends within its bounds Philadelphia city, all of North Eastern Pennsylvania, and a portion of Delaware. It was under the superintend- 012 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. ence of Bishop John N. Neumann, lately deceased, assisted by Bishop Wood. The diocese contains 147 churches, 155 clergymen, and a Catholic population of 175,000. About the year 1828, the Rev. John O'Flynn came to Luzerne, and, traveling from place to place, visited and served the scattered members of the church. He was succeeded in 1831 by the Rev. William Glancy, who re- sided in Carbondale. Here, during his administration, the first Roman church was erected, in^l832, which has since been replaced by a new building. ^ J^. Glancy was followed in 1836 by the Rev. Henry Fitzsimons, who itine- rated throughout the county until 1847, when churches began generally to be built, and ministers to be settled. The churches in the county, at present, are the church at Dunmore, erected in 1835, Rev. E. Fitzmaurice, minis- ter; the new church at Carbondale, erected in 1840, Rev. F. Carew, minister ; first church at Scranton, erected in 1846, and second church, erected in 1853, Rev. Moses Whetty, minister; first church at Pittston, 1849, Rev. John Finnan, second church, 1855, Rev. J. 0. Shaugh- nessy ; at Archibald, erected in 1850, Rev. P. McSwiggen; at Hazelton, erected in 1855, Rev. M. L. Scanlan, minis- ter; at Jeansville, erected in 1855, Rev. M. L. Scanlan, minister; at Wilkesbarre, erected in 1856, Rev. Henry Fitzsimons, minister, and also a German church, erected there in 1857. Religious services are held also at White Haven, Nan- ticoke, Plymouth, and at other places in the county, but no churches have yet been built at these points. Con- nected with each church is a Sunday-school, whose scholars amount to about 900. The number of commu- nicants is reckoned at 2500, and the Rev. Mr. Fitzsimons estimates the Catholic population of the county at 6600. BELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. 313 MINOR CHURCHES. In addition to the denominations of Christians already treated of, there are minor sects in our county whose church edifices number 14. The Christians have 4 churches ; one in Plymouth, one in Madison, one in Jack- son, and one in Providence township, and the total mem- bership of these is about 160. The first church of this denomination in the United States was erected in 1800, and its first society, in Luzerne, was organized about 30 years ago. The Welsh Presbyterians have 3 churches, one in Hyde Park, one in Carbondale, and one in Pittston, whose united membership is probably 100. The Albright or German Methodists have 2 churches; one in Woodville, and one in Hollenback township. The Wesleyan Methodists have 1 church, which is in Carbondale. The Welsh Wesleyan Methodists have 1 church, which was erected, in Springbrook township, in 1839. The Welsh Methodists have 1 church, which is located in Providence. The Protestant Methodists have erected 1 church in Huntington township. This body separated from the Methodist Episcopal Church, about the year 1826, on account of a disagreement about church government. Prior to the yeSbV 1840, a number of Jews, the principal of whom was Martin Long, settled in Wilkesbarre, and in 1848 erected and dedicated a commodious brick syna- gogue. Moses Straser was their first minister. They have 35 contributing families, and 50 Sunday-school scholars. The salary of their minister is $600 per annum. At Scranton the Jews have 12 contributing 314 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTr. families, and hold service in a rented room, but contem- plate the erection of a synagogue. In 1842, the Rev. Thomas Jackson came to Wilkes- barre, and collected the scattered remains of a colored congregation, which, on his departure, relapsed into its former condition. It was revived in 1845, through the ministerial labors of the Rev. Philip Lumb, and the Rev. Peter Fulmer. At this time the congregation was attached to the Reading Conference, and the church which they had built, on the hill, was named the Zion Church of the Colored Methodist Episcopal Connection. In 1856, they enlarged the old church, now numbering 62 members, who are under the pastoral charge of the Rev. John Anderson. The Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Congregation in Wilkesbarre, was organized in 1848, by the Rev. Thomas Ward, since which they have erected a comfort- able frame building for worship. They have 27 mem- bers, for whom the Rev. Theodore Gould officiates as pastor. At Waverly, also, there is a colored church with about 35 members. THE MORMONS. Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, lived, at one time, within the bounds of Luzerne county, on the Tunkhannock Creek, now in Wyoming county. In 1837, thirteen families in that neighborhood departed for the promised land, then in the state of Missouri. A boat, similar in construction to a section boat, was built by them and freighted with men, women, children, and household goods. During a freshet it was floated down the Tunkhannock Creek, near to the village of that name, and thence it was borne on the Susquehanna to RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. 315 the Nanticoke dam, where it entered the canal. It pro- ceeded to Pittsburgh, where it passed mto the Ohio, and was towed by a steamer to St. Louis. Thus, Luzerne has contributed her mite to swell the growing church of the Latter Day Saints. RECAPITULATION. A table showing the number of ministers, churches, members, Sunday-school scholars, and the value of church property of the religious denominations in the county, for the year 1859. Denominations. No. of Sunday I Value of Minis- Churcli- School Members Church ters. j es. Scholars.! Property. Methodist Episcopal Church . 28 36 3443 2732 $117,200 Presbyterian ..... 13 1 15 1675 1295 61,500 Baptists 10 ! 18 1100 1223 30,000 Protestant Episcopal 5 5 685 298 40,000 Lutheran and German Reformed . 5 i 17 400 1300 30,000 Roman Catholic .... 8 1 11 900 2500 30,000 Other Churches .... 14 !. 18 700 700 28,000 83 120 8903 10048 $336,700 CHAPTER X. THE MILITARY. " Me glory summons to the martial scene, The field of combat is the sphere for men, Where heroes war the foremost place I claim, The first in danger and the first in fame. Pope's Homer. The echoes of the last guns of the Revolutionary and of the Pennamite and Yankee wars had scarcely died away, when the people of Luzerne were called upon to serve the country in the suppression of what is known as the Whiskey Insurrection. A pack-horse could carry only four bushels of grain to market, and it was soon discovered by the early settlers of the country to be more remunerative to manufacture the rye, corn, or other material, into whiskey, in which form the horse could carry the value of twenty-five bushels. In that day, to manufacture and drink whiskey was not considered disreputable, but on the contrary it was a shame to have the bottle empty in the house, espe- cially if the parson happened to call. Distilleries, there- fore, were among the first manufactories, not only in Luzerne, but in all the frontier counties. Whiskey was considered as essential in most families as milk, and the surplus was exchanged in market for tea, sugar, salt, coffee, nails, and other necessaries. ■ As early as 1756, Pennsylvania imposed an excise duty upon all distilled spirits, but the law was repealed, and (316) THE MILITARY. 317 never re-enacted by the authority of this Commonwealth. In 1791, however, after the power to impose taxes, duties, imposts, and excises had been delegated by the states to the Federal Government, Congress established an excise duty or tax of four pence per gallon on all distilled spirits. This law produced open insurrection in Western Pennsylvania, where large quantities of whiskey were annually manufactured. The people of Washington, Fayette, Alleghany, and other counties, viewed the law as an act of oppression. They stigmatized it as unjust, and as odious as those laws of England which led to the Revolutionary War, and they considered themselves justifiable in forcible opposi- tion to its enforcement. But they did not discriminate between their duty and obligations as citizens of a free government, and their allegiance as subjects of the British crown. The excise officers of the government were arrested by armed parties, who were painted and otherwise disguised. Some were tarred and feathered. Others were conveyed into deep recesses of the woods, divested of their clothing, and firmly bound to trees. County meetings and con- ventions were assembled, inflammatory speeches were made, and denunciatory resolutions were adopted. The dwellings, barns, and distilleries of persons who spoke in favor of the law, or exhibited the least sympathy for the government which enacted it, were consumed by fire ; and even Pittsburgh, which did not take an active part with the rebels, was threatened with total destruction. In 1792, Congress reduced the tax, but this did not satisfy the insurgents, the Monongahela whiskey manu- facturers, and the farmers who supplied them with grain. The country continued in a state of insurrection. After all mild and dissuasive measures had failed, in 1794, 318 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. Washington being President of the United States, it was resolved to raise and equip an army for the purpose of quelling the tumult. A force of 15,000 men was as- sembled, composed of regulars, and of volunteers from the states of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and New Jersey. Governor Lee, of Virginia, had the chief command. The other generals were Governor Mifflin, of Pennsyl- vania, Governor Howell, of New Jersey, General Daniel Morgan, and Adjutant-General Hand. General Knox, Secretary of War, General Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury, and Judge Peters, of the Supreme Court, were directed, to meet at Pittsburgh, to hear complaints and take testimony, as the malcontents should be, from time to time, arrested and brought before them. Among the first to tender their services to the Federal Government, were the Luzerne volunteers,* commanded by Captain Samuel Bowman, and attached to a battalion of light infantry, under the command of Major George Fisher. Captain Bowman marched from Wyoming about the 1st of September, 1794, and reached the head waters of the Ohio with a company of 50 men. The captain was an experienced officer, having commanded a company during the war of the Revolution, and several of his men were old soldiers of former wars. The introduction of 15,000 troops among the insurrectionists had the desired effect. " Tom the Tinker," as the whiskey boys were called, surrendered without resistance. A few were sent to Philadelphia for trial, where they were imprisoned for many months, but not indicted. Only two or three were tried and convicted, but were afterwards pardoned. The people submitted to the law, and the volunteers returned to their homes after a campaign of three months. * See muster roll in the Appendix, F. THE MILITARY, 319 France having aided the United States m their war for independence, conceived that she had a just claim on them for assistance when she afterwards came to battle against the other powers of Europe. Failing to induce this government to declare war against her enemies, and becoming jealous of the growing intimacy between us and England, the object of her inveterate hate, France adopted measures destructive of the commerce and derogatory to the honor of the United States. She dismissed the American minister, and her ships of war captured and confiscated several of our merchant vessels. The United States, after several attempts at negotiation had failed, prepared for war. Hostilities commenced in January, 1799, on the ocean, by the surprise and (!^pture of the American sloop of war Retaliation, Lieutenant Bainbridge, by the French frigate Insurgent, of 40 guns. In February following, the United States frigate Constel- lation, of 32 guns. Captain Truxtun, fell in with and engaged the Insurgent, and in one hour and a half com- pelled her to strike her colors. In a few days after, the Constellation engaged the French frigate Vengeance, of 54 guns. The engagement lasted from eight o'clock in the evening until one in the morning following. The Ven- geance struck her flag twice, but on account of the dark- ness of the night it was unperceived by Truxtun. The Constellation lost her mainmast, and being unable to make pursuit, the Vengeance escaped, but with great loss. At the request of President Adams and of Congress, General Washington assumed the command of the army. The troops were ordered to rendezvous at Newburg and Elizabethtown. A call was made for volunteers, and the citizens of Luzerne, as usual, gave a patriotic response. In May, 1799, Captain Samuel Bowman, with 75 men, constituted one of the companies of the 11th United 320 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. States regiment of infantry, commanded by Colonel Aaron Ogden. The Luzerne volunteers* marched to the Dela- ware, and thence to Newburg, and remained in the ser- vice of their country until the latter part of the year 1800. France did not attempt to- invade our soil, and the success of our gallant little navy, with the promotion of Bonaparte to the position of First Consul, led to the conclusion of a treaty of peace, and the army was dis- banded. The advance of the eagles of France, under the guid- ance of the great Napoleon, gave constant employment to all the forces of the allied European powers, and left the seas free to the ships of America and England. AmeriTjan vessels transported the productions of the French colonies to France : in other words, our ships did the carrying-trade for a nation whose vessels had been swept from the ocean by the superior naval power of England. England, becoming jealous of the rapidly in- creasing commercial greatness of the United States, asserted, among other false principles, the right to search American ships for deserters, and to press them into the English service. In 1807 the British frigate Leopard, unexpectedly and without provocation, fired into the United States frigate Chesapeake. In addition to this, other insults were offered to the American flag, and they became so frequent that an immediate declaration of war was anticipated. Under these circumstances volunteers in the several states offered their services to President Jefferson. Among these was a well-uniformed and drilled company at Wilkesbarre, called the Wyoming Blues, commanded by Captain Joseph Slocum. The services of the company were tendered to the President in a patriotic * See muster roll in the Appendix, G. THE MILITARY. 321 communication signed by its chief officers, to which they received a flattering reply from Mr. Jeiferson, in his own handwriting. We give these letters as follows : " To Thomas Jefferson, Esq., President of the United States. " Sir : As it has been the unanimous voice of our fel- low-soldiers, of different volunteer corps in the United States, to offer their services in defence of their country in this momentous crisis, ^ when every nation is looking with an envious eye at the peace and prosperity of the United States,' and more especially Great Britain, who ought to be the last to enter the list ; but, proud of her navy, she bids her armed vessels enter into our harbors and rivers, and impress our fellow-citizens while peaceably employed in the commerce of their country. Not content with this, she orders the commanders of her frigates to fire on the armed vessels of the United States, within the jurisdiction of the same, while peaceably pursuing her course to the place of her destination, murdering our fellow-citizens, while she is holding out the olive branch of peace, which brings to our recollection the plains of Wyoming, in the revolutionary war, strewed with human gore by the savage hirelings of her perfidious government. " Therefore we, the undersigned, being appointed by the light infantry company called the Wyoming Blues, and through us the said company offer their services, in defence of their country, whenever the government of the United States deem it expedient to call them in defence of the country. "Joseph Slocum, Captain. " Isaac Bowman, Lieutenant. " Benj. Perry, Sergeant." 21 322 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. " To Messrs. Joseph Slocum, Isaac Bowman, and Benjamin Perry, a Coirimittee of the Light Infantry Company, called the Wyoming Blues. " The offer of your service in support of the rights of your country, merits and meets the highest praise, and whenever the moment arrives in which these rights must appeal to the public arm for support, the spirit from which the offer flows, that which animates our nation, will be their sufficient safeguard. " Having required, from the governors of the several states, their several quotas of militia to be ready for ser- vice, and recommended at the same time the preparation of volunteers under the Acts of Congress, and particularly that of the 24th of February, 1807, the acceptance and organization of such volunteers has been delegated to them. " Tendering, therefore, the thanks of our country so justly deserved for all offers of service made to me, I must add that it is necessary to renew them to the gov- ernor of the state, for the purposes of acceptance and organization. " I salute you with great respect, " Th. Jefferson. " Sept. 19th, 1807." In 1812, after a series of insults from Great Britain intolerable to be borne, the United States declared war against her. " Free trade and sailors' rights" now became the motto of our people, as " Millions for defence and not one cent for tribute" had been a few years before, when the executive directory of France demanded the payment of money before negotiating for peace. The " Wyoming Matross," a volunteer company in Kingston, commanded by Captain Samuel Thomas, with THE MILITARY. 323 the promptitude of former companies in this valley, im- mediately offered their services to the government. They were accepted, and on the 13th of April, 1813, they marched from Kingston to the Eddy, at the mouth of Shoup's Creek, in Plymouth. . Here they embarked, 31 in number, and went down the river on a raft to Dan- ville. From Danville, they marched over land to Lewis- town, and thence to Bedford, where Captain Thomas recruited 37 men. Proceeding westward through Fayette county, he obtained 27 other recruits, and arrived at Erie, May 5th, with 95 officers and privates.* On their arrival, they were attached to one of the Pennsylvania regiments, under Colonel Reese Hill. The " Matross" was an artillery company, and in the cannonading at Presque Harbor did good execution. They fired no less than thirty shots into the hull of the brig Hun- ter, and with two long nine-pounders cut away and mate- rially damaged the rigging of the Queen Charlotte. Preparatory to the battle of Lake Erie, for the purpose of manning Perry's fleet, volunteers were solicited from among the land forces. Among those who offered and were accepted for this service were William Pace, Benja- min Hall, Godfrey Bowman, and James Bird, of the " Matross," four as brave men as ever faced a foe. They enlisted on board the Niagara, and during the engagement fought with wonderful energy and efficiency. Their cool- ness and courage elicited the warm commendation of Commodore Perry, who, it will be remembered, brought the Niagara into action. To each of her volunteers, in this action, the Legislature of Pennsylvania voted a silver medal, upon one side of which is a likeness of Commo- dore Perry, with the inscription, " Presented by the Gov- * See muster roll in the Appendix. H. 324 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. eminent of Pennsylvania — Oliver Hazard Perry — Pro patria vicitr Upon the other side is the following : — " To (name engraved), in testimony of his patriotism and bravery in the naval engagement on Lake Erie, Sept. 10th, 1813. We have met the enemy, and they are ours." Pace, Hall, and Bowman, the last of whom was wounded, received each one of these tokens of respect for their valor, but Bird, the bravest of the bravOj kneeling upon his coffin, received his death-shot from the hands of his own countrymen. Bird was from Pittston, and was descended from a most respectable family. He was a man of great bodily strength and activity, and was full of patriotic devotion to the cause of his country, but unfortunately his proud spirit boldly rejected many of the restraints imposed by the stern rules of military discipline. He fought like a tiger, and when wounded refused to be carried below. For his bravery he was promoted to the position of orderly ser- geant of the marines on the Niagara. News of the intended attack of the enemy on New Orleans had reached the fleet on Lake Erie, and Bird, ambitious to be in the midst of the smoke and fire of battle, one night, when in command of the guard, marched away with several of his men to join General Jackson. He was pursued and arrested at Pittsburgh, from which place he was about to embark with a com- pany of volunteers for the Crescent City. Being arraigned before and tried by a court-martial, he was sentenced, in accordance with the rules of war, to be shot. Had Com- modore Perry received intelligence of the proceedings in time, Bird's life would have been spared. It is said that Bird had openly expressed his condemnation of the position and management of the Niagara before she was boarded and brought into action by Perry, and that his free THE MILITARY. 325 speech in relation to this subject, operated against him when on trial for his life. The following popular ballad, suggested by this melancholy event, is from the pen of the Hon. Charles Miner : — Sons of Freedom, listen to me, And ye daughters too give ear ; You, a sad and mournful story As was ever told, sliall hear. Hull, you know, his troops surrendered, And defenceless left the West; Then our forces quick assembled. The invaders to resist. Among the troops that marched to Erie, Were the Kingston Volunteers ; Captain Thomas, their commander, To protect our West frontiers. ' Tender were the scenes of parting ; Mothers wrung their hands and cried; Maidens wept their love in secret. Fathers strove their tears to hide. But there's one among the number, Tall and graceful in his mien, Firm his step, his look undaunted ; Ne'er a nobler youth was seen. One Bweet kiss he stole from Mary, Craved his mother's prayers once more, Pressed his father's hand and left them, For Lake Erie's distant shore. Mary tried to say, " Farewell, James :" Waved her hand, but nothing spoke ; '* Grood-bye, Bird, — may heaven protect you !" From the rest at parting broke. 326 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. Soon they came where noble Perry Had assembled all his fleet; There the gallant Bird enlisted, Hoping soon the foe to meet. Where is Bird ? the battle rages ; Is he in the strife or no ? Now the cannon roar tremendous — Dare he meet the haughty foe ? Ay — behold him ! there with Perry ; In the self-same ship they fight; Though his messmates fall around him ; Nothing can his soul affright. But behold, a ball has struck him ! See the crimson current flow ! " Leave the. deck ;" exclaimed brave Perry j " No," cried Bird, " I will not go. '' Here on deck I took my station ; Ne'er will Bird his colors fly ; I'll stand by you, gallant captain, Till we conquer, or we die !" Still he fought, though faint and bleeding, Till our stars and stripes arose ; Victory having crowned our efforts, All triumphant o'er our foes ! And did Bird receive a pension ? Was he to his friends restored ? No, nor ever to his bosom Clasped the maid his heart adored ! But there came most dismal tidings. From Lake Erie's distant shore ; Better if poor Bird had perished 'Midst the cannon's awful roar. THE MILITARY. 327 " Dearest parents," said the letter ; " This will bring sad news to you ; Do not mourn your first beloved, Though it brings his last adieu ! " I must suflFer for deserting From the brig Niagara ; Read this letter, brothers, sisters — 'Tis the last you'll have from me." Sad and gloomy was the morning- Bird was ordered out to die j Where's the breast not dead to pity, But for him will heave a sigh ? Lo ! he fought so brave at Erie, Freely bled and nobly dared ; Let his courage plead for mercy ; Let his precious life be spared. See him march, and bear his fetters, Harsh they clank upon the ear; But his step is firm and manly. For his breast ne'er harbored fear. See ! he kneels upon his coffin ! Sure his death can do no good ; Spare him, hark ! oh Grod, they've shot him ! Oh ! his bosom streams with blood ! Farewell, Bird ! farewell, for ever ; Friends and home he'll see no more. But his mangled corpse lies buried On Lake Erie's distant shore ! After the battle of Lake Erie, Colonel Hill's regiment, by order of General Harrison, advanced from Erie to Cleveland, and, on the 27th of September, with the main army, and with the naval forces under Commodore Perry, crossed the line into Canada. They now marched against 328 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. Maiden, which the enemy deserted, after burning the public buildings. Advancing towards Sandwich, the Americans found that place also deserted. Thence they crossed the Detroit river to attack General Proctor, who, with several hundred British troops and a large body of Indians under the celebrated chief Tecumseh, was in pos- session of Detroit. Captain Thomas's company was in the forward gun-boats in the passage across the river, and, landing, planted the stars and stripes on the opposite bank. Proctor and his forces retreated, whom General Harrison immediately pursued with the main body of his army, including the whole of the "Matross," except fourteen men, who were left with Captain Thomas at Detroit. In the battle of the Thames the company was commanded by Lieutenant Ziba Hoyt, and acquitted itself with credit, sustaining the reputation of Luzerne for good and true soldiers. In addition to the company of Captain Thomas, Luzerne furnished a number of volunteers for the companies of Captain John Baldy, of Columbia, and Captain Robert Gray, of Northumberland counties. Among these were Job Barton, William Hart, William Brown, Henry Hard- ing,'^uther Scott, W. C. Johnson, and about thirty others, whose names we have been unable to procure. These companies were attached to the 16th regiment of infantry, known as the "Bloody 16th." This regiment was com- manded by Colonel Cromwell Pearce. It was present at the engagements of Sackett's Harbor, Stony Creek, and of other places. At the battle of York, in Canada, when General Pike was killed by the blowing up of the maga- zine. Colonel Pearce, of this regiment, assumed the com- mand of the army, and received the capitulation of the enemy. During the war there was a recruiting station established at Wilkesbarre, and the names of Captains THE MILITARY. 329 Baldy, Gray, and McChesney of the infantryj and Helme of the cavahy, are remembered, and frequently mentioned with respect by our old citizens. The infantry barracks were located on the bank of the river, opposite the present residence of Colonel H. B. Wright, and the cavalry bar- racks were located on Franklin street, on the site of the present residence of the late Joshua Miner, Esq. At 4 o'clock, A. M., the drums beat the reveille, and drill officers with new recruits daily paraded in the streets. At short intervals one or more detachments were sent away to the regular army. In 1814, when the British threatened an attack on Baltimore, five companies of militia from Luzerne and adjoining counties marched under the command of Captains Joseph Camp, Peter Hallock, Frederick Bailey, George Hidley, and Jacob Bittenbender.* The Wyoming Blues, a volunteer company, assembled at Wilkesbarre, with the intention of accompanying the militia, but, some difficulty occurring, the company broke up in a row. Several of its officers and privates entered the ranks of the militia, while eight or ten men, with drums beating, marched towards the seat of war, under the colors of the Wyoming Blues. On the arrival of these companies at Danville, they received intelligence of the gallant defence of Fort Henry, and the repulsion of the British forces. They consequently received orders to return to their homes — an order welcome, doubtless, to men of families, but bringing disappointment to others who were antici- pating the excitements of an active campaign. After peace had been proclaimed, many of the soldiers returned to be greeted by friends — many never returned. Some fell in battle, some died of camp diseases, and one man, upwards of fifty years of age, Robert Dixon, who * See muster rolls in the Appendix, I. 330 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. enlisted at Wilkesbarre, was inhumanly beaten by his orderly sergeant, Brack, so that he died on the march from Wilkesbarre to Easton, and was buried near Bear Creek. Brack was surrendered by Captain McChesney to the civil authorities, tried at Wilkesbarre, and convicted of murder. Through the exertions of counsel, a new trial was granted, when the criminal was found guilty of man- slaughter, and died in the penitentiary. To the volunteers who survived the hardships of war, its diseases and battles, and returned to their homes, public dinners and splendid balls were given by their fellow-citizens in Wilkesbarre, Plymouth, Kingston, and other parts of the county ; and on the proclamation of peace there were bonfires, illuminations, and a general rejoicing throughout the land. THE MEXICAN WAR. On the morning of December 7th, 1846, the Wyoming Artillerists, under the command of Captain E. L. Dana, left Wilkesbarre for the seat of war in Mexico.* The company was transported to Pittsburgh by canal, where it remained long enough to complete its equipment, and be mustered into the service of the United States as a part of the 1st Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, to serve during the war. At this place, Francis L. Bowman, a popular and accomplished officer, the 1st lieutenant of the company, was elected major of the regiment. This company was designated " I" in the regiment ; arid after filling the vacancy occasioned by the election of Major Bowman, started for New Orleans on the 22d of December, 1846, on board the steamer St. Anthony. After their arrival, they encamped on the old Battle Ground, about 7 miles below the city, where they remained until the * For names of officers and men, see Appendix, J. THE MILITARY. 331 16tli of January, 1847. On that day they sailed in the ship Russell Glover, with three other companies, and were conveyed to the Island of Lobos (Wolf Island), which they reached February 1st. The passage to this point was stormy and tedious. The ship is represented to have been a miserable transport; and 400 men were compelled to live below hatches in a crowded, suffocating space, for a period of two weeks, with little light, fresh air, or comfort of any kind. The island where they lauded is about 12 miles from the Mexican coast, and 120 miles north of Vera Cruz. It is about one mile in circumference, and was covered with a thick growth of chaparral ; and the water used by the troops for cooking was of a brackish character, being sea-water filtered through the sand. The United States forces had not been a week on this island before they were attacked by disease. The Mississippi Regiment became infected by mumps, and, it is said, they lost six men per day during their stay on Lobos. Small-pox next made its appear- ance in the 2d Pennsylvania Regiment. March 3d, the company left Lobos and sailed for Anton Lizardo, 9 miles below Vera Cruz, where they arrived two days after. On the 9 th of March, a landing was effected on the Mexican coast, at a point 3 miles south of Vera Cruz. The fleet had hardly swung to its cables, when General Worth's division, with wonderful celerity, filled the surf-boats, and, at a signal from the ship of the commander-in-chief, darted for the shore amid the enthu- siastic cheers of the army and of our gallant tars. By nine o'clock of the night of that, day, 12,000 men had landed without firing a gun, and were marshalled within 2 miles of the city. After resting that night on the beach, the army com- menced the next morning its march through the thick 332 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY, chaparral and sand-hills, for the investment of Vera Cruz. The day was intensely hot, and many men were stricken down by coup de soleil. To add to their suffer- ings, they dare not drink of the water of the springs of the country; for a report was abroad that they were poisoned by the enemy. It was the fortune of the Wyo- ming Artillerists to receive the first fire of the Mexicans. Passing through the chaparral by a narrow path, along the base of a gentle declivity, the enemy poured their fire upon them, when the company was halted, and delivered their own with admirable coolness. The "Greasers" fled to the city. The company participated actively in the investment of the place, and were engaged throughout the siege. The trenches were opened on the 22d, and after a terrible storm of iron had been blown on the city for a few days and nights, it surrendered to the American army on the 29 th of March, 1847. In April, the volunteer division left the city for the interior, under the command of Major-General Patterson. Having arrived at Plan del Rio, 50 miles from Vera Cruz, they found General Twiggs with his division of regulars already there. The Mexicans, under General Santa Anna, were strongly posted in the pass of Cerro Gordo. On the morning of the 18th of April, the American army attacked the Mexican lines. The volun- teer brigade formed the left wing, under the command of General Pillow, to which the Wyoming Artillerists were attached. The brigade took a position within 200 yards of the Mexican batteries, which opened upon them a tre- mendous fire of grape. The Wyoming boys suffered but slightly ; but the 2d Tennesseean Regiment, occupying more elevated ground, suffered severely, and General Pil- low himself was wounded. In twenty minutes the line of attack was completed, and the brigade moved forward THE MILITARY. 333 towards the batteries. The Mexicans now displayed the white flag from their defences, for their left wing had been completely routed by the forces under Generals Twiggs, Shields, Worth, and Quitman. The fruits of this victory were 3000 prisoners, 5000 stand of arms, 43 cannon, the money-chest of the Mexican army, containing $20,000, and a free passage for the army into the interior of the enemy's country. In this action, David R. Morri- son, of the Wyoming company, was killed, and Corporal Kitchen wounded. Poor Morrison was mourned by all, for not a kinder companion, or braver soldier than he, was to be found in the brigade. After the battle, the volunteer force encamped 3 miles west of Jalapa, where they remained about three weeks. They were then ordered to Perote, a place about 35 miles west of Jalapa, on the main road to the capital. Here they took up their quarters in the celebrated castle of Perote, and formed its garrison. The period of their stay here was the most melancholy of the whole campaign, for the burial of the dead was the principal feature of their soldier life. Here those ravages of the army, diarrhoea and typhus fever, broke out and made fearful havoc in their ranks. For many weeks was heard, almost constantly, the melan- choly strains of the dead march accompanying their mess- mates to lonely and forgotten graves. It was a joyful day when they received orders to leave the gloomy castle and dreary plains of Perote. About the 2d of July they marched for the city of Puebla. On the night of the 4th, when the soldiers had taken to their blankets, the camp was alarmed by an attack on the pickets, which were driven in. Satisfied with this the enemy retired. Having reached El Pinal, or the Black Pass, General Pillow anticipated a fight, for the enemy were posted there, 334 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. prepared to dispute the passage. The Wyoming boys formed part of the storming party, and behaved gallantly ; but when the light troops had scaled the heights com- manding the gorge, the Mexicans abandoned their posi- tion, and fled. On the 7th of July, they approached the fine old city of Puebla. Here General Scott, by the 1st of August, had concentrated about 11,000 men of all arms. On the 7th of that month, the army left Puebla for the city of Mexico. The Wyoming company, with five others of the 1st Pennsylvania Regiment, remained behind, constitut- ing, with a company of United States artillery, and one of cavalry, the garrison of Puebla. They were about 600 men, under the command of Colonel Childs, a brave and skilful officer. To this small force was intrusted the charge of 2000 sick men, and an immense amount of government property. The population of the city was turbulent and warlike, and evinced an uncompromising hostility towards the Americans. The place now was besieged by the Mexicans, who harassed the garrison, day and night, with alarms and attacks. This continued for forty days; but our men, occupying strong and favorable positions, maintained their ground, and the enemy failed so far as not to succeed in driving in a single sentinel. In this siege John Priest was killed in an engagement with guerillas, outside the city walls. Luke Floyd, a brave old soldier, who, with Priest, was a member of the Wyoming company, was severely wounded. The arrival of General Lane, with 3000 men, on the 12th of October, put an end to the siege. In this arrival there were four companies of the 1st Pennsylvania Regi- ment, which had been left in garrison at Perote. They had participated in the fight at Huamantla, under the THE MILITARY. 335 command of Major F. L. Bowman, of Wilkesbarre, who led them up in gallant style. His conduct on this occa- sion was highly spoken of by all who witnessed it. Not long after the raising of the siege the regiment, now united, left Puebla, and, on the 7th of December, 1847, arrived in the city of Mexico, where they remained about two weeks. They were then quartered at San Angel, 7 miles from the city, until the treaty of peace, in June, 1848. They now returned to their country at New Orleans, and passing up the Mississippi and Ohio to Pittsburgh, they were honorably discharged at that place, and mus- tered out of service by reason of the expiration of the term of enhstment, July 24, 1848. The Columbia Guards, of Danville, Pennsylvania, con- stituting a portion of the 2d Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, was composed in part of volunteers from Luzerne county, under Edward E. Leclerc, of Wilkes- barre, who was elected 2d lieutenant of the company. Among the names of privates who united with the Guards under Lieutenant Leclerc, we are able to give those of Norman B. Mack, Peter Brobst, Abram B. Carley, Ran- dolph Ball, George Garner, Oliver Helme, Joseph H. Stratton, William Kutz, and William White. Edward E. Leclerc was appointed regiment quarter- master, November 8th, 1847, and, a few days after, be- came 1st lieutenant of his company. He was a brave officer, and conducted himself gallantly throughout the war. On the return of the volunteers to their homes, they were greeted at every point by the enthusiastic demon- strations of the people, who welcomed them with shouts and the roar of artillery. When the Wyoming troops reached the valley, they found Wilkesbarre crowded with 336 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. citizens from the country round about, and extensive pre- parations made to receive them in a becoming manner. While the body of the people manifested their rejoicings in tumultuous shouts and with the thunder of guns, the relatives and friends of the returned soldiers met them with tears of joy, and the demonstrations of deep and quiet affection. From what we have recorded in this chapter, it will be observed that a considerable portion of the soldiers entering the service of their country from this county were volunteers, and the events of the Mexican war demonstrate that volunteers in conjunction with the regular army are sufficient for almost every emergency. The Legislature of our state has abolished the militia system, and extended encouragement for the formation of volunteer companies. Under the laws framed for their organization, Luzerne county has 21 companies, of which 2 are cavalry, amounting in' all to 987 officers and men. The Great Rebellion. (See Appendix Z.) CHAPTER XI. AGRICULTURE AND MANUFACTURES. " Princes and lords may flourish, or may fade, A breath can make them as a breath hath made ; But a bold peasantry, their country's pride, When once destroyed can never be supplied." Agriculture is the true source of our country's pros- perity, and from it we derive most of tiie elements of our strength and defence. It is, perhaps, more immediately connected with virtue, prudence, and economy, than any other sublunary pursuit. It was so considered by our fathers, and has been thus esteemed by all good govern- ments through all the ages of the historic period. It was one of the earliest employments of mankind, and has been ever regarded as the nourisher of healthy and inde- pendent citizens. When agriculture declines, the glory and power of the nation are on the wane. This asser- tion is sustained by the history of many ancient nations. At one time the Egyptians worshiped the ox on account of his labor, and the Romans, in the early days of their history, venerated the plow, and viewed the industrious farmer who used it well, as the model or embodiment of all the virtues which should adorn a good and free citizen. The fathers of our great Republic, the leaders and soldiers of the Revolutionary army, and most of our greatest orators and statesmen, were farmers. Washington, Jef- ferson, Jackson, Harrison, Webster, Clay, and many others of our most eminent men, have not only recommended 22 (337) 338 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. agriculture as a pursuit best suited for a republican peo- ple, but have themselves been the owners of farms, and experienced a sense of pride and delight in tilling the soil according to the most improved methods. Nearly all the first settlers in Luzerne county were farmers, who handled the axe and the plow, who sowed the grain and gathered the harvest. Their wives and daughters did not scorn the labor of the kitchen ; they prepared the rich milk, the delicious butter and cheese, and, when occasion required, assisted their husbands and fathers in the field. Their hands were familiar with the wash-tub and the dough-tray, they spun flax, and wove cloth for the backs of the men, and carpets for the floors of their houses. Almost every house contained a loom, one or two spinning-wheels, and a dye pot. The men were agriculturists, and the women were manufacturers. The young ladies of one neighborhood or township fre- quently vied with those of another in spinning, weaving, and coloring cloth. It was not uncommon for young ladies to spin 100 knots per day. Miss Mary Smith of Pittston frequently spun 120 knots in a day. In 1828, Miss Rachel Jenkins spun and reeled 135 knots in twelve hours, and Miss Selinda Jenkins spun 136 knots of filling in the same time. The farmers on the east side of the river contended with those on the west side, in raising wheat, rye, corn, and vegetables, the most and best on a given lot of ground. It was the high ambition of the young men to become good farmers, and wed industrious and accomplished girls, such as Rachel and Selinda Jen- kins. But this state of things has been materially changed within our own day. Our farmers' sons now aspire to be lawyers, physicians, or merchants, and their daughters seek to become the wives of professional gentlemen. The rural districts annually send large numbers of young men AGRICULTURE AND MANUFACTURES. 339 and women to our cities and chief towns, where they hope to reside in ease, or make fortunes by some sudden turn of luck. A false and pernicious idea of what is respectable seems to pervade the great body of the people. Manual labor is viewed as mean and degrading, while white hands and idleness are considered the test of re- spectability. The consequence is, there are multitudes of idlers in all portions of the country, who relieve the tedium of their lives by ridiculous day-dreams, and the perusal of immoral literature. As their bodies grow effeminate and weak, their minds also lose their natural healthy tone. Dissipation and debauchery ensue, want stares them in the face, life becomes a burden, and poison or the pistol often closes the scene. Those who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God, whose breasts be has made his peculiar deposit for substantial and genuine virtue. — Jefferson. " Drive on, thou sturdy farmer, Drive cheerily o'er the field; The pleasures of a farmer's life No other life can yield. Thou risest with the morning sun, To till the fruitful earth ; And when thy daily task is done, Thou seek'st thy peaceful hearth. Thou lovest not the gaudy town, With its tumultuous roar ; Plenty and peace thy fireside crown, And thou dost ask no more. Monarchs with robes in crimson dyed, Are low compared with thee ; They are the pampered souls of pride, Thou'rt God's nobility. 340 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. Go on, tliou sturdy farmer, Tread proudly on the sod. Thy proud and goodly heritage. Thou chosen man of Grod." Business men, and men of all professions, whose opinion is worth our regard, concur in expressing their high appreciation of practical farmers and mechanics. Use- fulness is the proper test of what is respectable, and who, on the broad face of the earth, is more useful than the honest, intelligent tiller of the soil, or the industrious, practical mechanic ? The evil in question proceeds mainly from a system of education in our colleges and higher schools, which does not have sufficient of the useful in combination with the ornamental. There is too great a veneration for ancient lore to the exclusion of modern science, too much attention given to that which strikes the senses in preference to those studies which give knowledge to the mind, while they enlarge and strengthen its powers. The evil will be corrected when we cultivate the body together with the moral and intellectual powers, that is, when we combine in our system of education manual labor in connection with studies of a practical character. The spirit of the coal speculation, aided and invigorated by this false idea with respect to labor, has had a most destructive effect on the agricultural interests of our county. In 1828, Luzerne produced a surplus of 190,000 bushels of wheat, 1000 barrels of pork, 500 barrels of whiskey, 100,000 bushels of corn, besides large quantities of other grains, valued in all at $600,000. The case is very different now. In England agriculture has been ever highly esteemed, but particularly so since its conquest by the Normans in 1066. However, the first work on husbandry did not AGRICULTURE AND MANUFACTURES. 341 make its appearance until the reign of Henry VIII. It was written by Sir A. Fitzherbert, and contained direc- tions for clearing, draining, and enriching the soil. During the reign of Elizabeth, a number of agricultural works issued from the press, and much attention was given to the breeding of horses, sheep, swine, and horned cattle. In after years, the National Board of Agriculture was formed, bringing the farmers of the realm together at a National Fair, where the best productions were exhibited and a laudable rivalry excited. By this and other means, agriculture has been carried to a very high degree of im- provement in the mother country. In 1761, there were 13 grand and 19 auxiliary agri- cultural societies in France, and under the great Napoleon, who well knew how to appreciate a bold and industrious peasantry, their number was greatly increased. New breeds of horses, horned cattle, sheep, and swine, were introduced into the kingdom, and liberal premiums were offered for the best productions of agriculture. The people of New England long ago manifested their appreciation of agriculture, by establishing societies for its promotion, and importing improved stock from the Old World. In 1788, the Philadelphia Agricultural Society, which had been established several years before at the request of the Supreme Executive Council, made a learned report on the subject of the Hessian fly. The king of England had issued his proclamation forbidding the entry of American wheat into British ports, on account of this destructive insect ; and it was this circumstance which led to the investigation by the Philadelphia Society, and resulted advantageously to our farmers. In 1849, the Pennsylvania State Agricultural Societ}'- was organized, and the first State Fair held in the follow- 342 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. ing year at Harrisburg. Since then societies have been organized in ahiiost every county in the Commonwealth. In January, 1810, the Luzerne County Agricultural Society was first organized, in the old court-house at Wilkesbarre. Jesse Fell, Esq., was chosen chairman, and Dr. E. H. Rose secretary of the meeting. A constitution was adopted, and the following officers were chosen for the year : Jesse Fell, Esq., president ; Matthias HoUen- back, Esq., vice-president ; Thomas Dyer, Esq., treasurer ; Peleg Tracy, recording secretary; and Dr. Rose and Jacob Cist, corresponding secretaries. The preamble to the constitution declared the object of the society to be for the improvement and advancement of agriculture, by introducing improved breeds of horses, cattle, sheep, swine, and the best grain, such as wheat, rye, corn, &c., and the improvement of the soil by lime and manure. The prominent and efiicient actors in this movement were Dr. Rose and Jacob Cist, Esq., both enterprising men, laboring for the advancement of useful knowledge, and possessing perhaps a greater share of scientific agri- cultural information than any other two gentlemen in the county. No proceedings of the Society have been preserved other than a report made in 1811, on 19 specimens of cloth, presented by Mr. Ingham, all of which were pro- nounced creditable. The pieces particularly noticed were those wrought by Miss Luckey, Raphael Stone, R. Ing- ham, A. Stevens, N. Stevens, and Joseph Ingham. There is preserved also a list of premiums proposed in 1824, as follows: For the best field of wheat, less than 30 acres, $5 ; for the best field of corn and rye, $5 ; for the best field of oats or buckwheat less than 30 acres, $3 ; for the best acre of potatoes, $3 ; for the best half- acre of flax, $4 ; for the best quarter-acre of rutabaga AGRICULTURE AND MANUFACTURES. 34i turnips and tobacco, each $3 ; best ram, |3 ; best ewe, $3 ; best bull, |5 ; best cow, $5 ; best piece of woolen cloth, $5 ; second best, |3 ; best piece of flannel, $4 ; best piece of domestic carpet, |4 ; best piece of linen, one yard wide, $3 ; best quality of cheese, less than 100 pounds, $5 ; best sample of butter, not less than 20 pounds, $o ; best made plow, $5 ; best quantity of stone fence, not less than 25 rods, $5 ; for a bushel of the best apples or peaches, $1.50; for the best watermelon, 50 cents. For the best essay on the Hessian fly, and preventing its ravages, there was offered a premium of |5 ; for the best essay on the various species of curculio, and the mode of desjiroying them, $5 ; for the best essay on agriculture or manufactures, $5. To many readers this list may seem wholly uninterest- ing, but to some it will appear curious and instructive, showing the deep interest manifested by our people, near fifty years ago, in agriculture and manufactures. It exhibits a striking contrast with the apathy on this sub- ject which has characterized us for many years gone by. About this time the several turnpike roads, connecting the centre and extremities of the county with Easton and Philadelphia, were completed, or in process of completion. John Stoddart, then one of the most wealthy citizens of Philadelphia, who had subscribed $50,000 to the capital stock of the Lehigh Navigation Company, and through whose influence Mr. Ridgway and Mr. Girard had sub- scribed each a like amount, laid out Stoddartsville, and in 1816 erected a large merchant-mill at that place, with a view to purchasing the grain of Luzerne county, and manufacturing it into flour for the Philadeljohia market. The merchants of Easton deposited money at Wilkesbarre to buy grain, and during the winter hundreds of sleds, drawn by noble horses, might be seen wending their way 344 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. slowly with their heavy loads, up the mountain side, destined for the markets below. They returned with salt, sugar, molasses, and other necessaries. During the summer and fall the covered broad-wheeled Conestoga wagons, moved by four or six splendid draught-horses, were constantly employed in transporting the productions of the county to market. CONESTOGA WAGON. The old route, by which the produce of the county was conveyed, in Durham boats, to Middletown, and thence by teams to Philadelphia, a distance of 220 miles, was now superseded by new avenues, which brought the market within 60 miles of us. It was these circum- stances which induced the efforts to advance the agricul- tural interests by premiums, and by the dissemination of useful information among the people. In 1775 wheat sold in Wilkesbarre at 4 shillings or 68 cents per bushel, rye at 51, and corn at 34 cents. In AGRICULTURE AND MANUFACTURES. 345 1799 wheat sold in Easton at 14 shillings per bushel, and in 1801 at 15 shillings, while 37J cents per bushel was paid for its transportation from Wilkesbarre to that place; In 1808 wheat sold in Wilkesbarre at 4 shillings and 6 pence per bushel, and in 1821 superfine flour sold at $3.25 per barrel. In 1822 wheat here was $1 ; r^^e and corn, 75 cents; buckwheat, 55 cents; and flaxseed, 87i cents. In 1827 wheat was |1.06; rye, 87i cents; oats, 43 cents ; and flour, $5 per barrel in Easton. In 1830 wheat in Wilkesbarre was 75 cents ; rye, 45 ; corn, 40 ; buckwheat, 31; butter, 12 J; and cheese, 6 cents. In 1831 flour was $5 per barrel ; wheat, 95 cents per bushel ; butter, 10 cents per pound; cheese, 8 cents; and eggs, 10 cents per dozen. Occasionally, the farmer received a very high price for wheat, as in 1800, but the average price from that year to 1834, when the canal to the Lackawanna was com- pleted, and an avenue for our coal was opened, did not exceed $1 per bushel in Wilkesbarre, or $1.10 in Easton and Stoddartsville. The average prices of other grains were not more than 50 cents per bushel, while that of butter was 12, and of cheese 7 cents per pound. If, then, at these prices agriculture was encouraged and cherished, and the farmers became prosperous and wealthy, how much greater is the inducement to culti- vate the soil at the present day, w^hen the prices of pro- duce are nearly double, and when the farmers find a market at their very doors ? The following table exhibits the prices of grain and butter in Luzerne county, from 1847 to 1859, inclu- sive : — 346 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. Year. Flour. Wheat. Rye. Corn. Oats. 1847 $7.50 11.37 $0.65 $0.56 $0.37 1848 6.50 1.25 .62 .56 .40 1849 7.00 1.30 .65 .60 .42 1850 7.50 1.37 .68 .58 .45 1851 7.00 1.25 .65 .56 .40 1852 8.00 1.50 .70 .60 .40 1853 12.00 2.50 1.00 .90 .58 1854 10.00 2.00 1.00 .75 .50 1855 10.00 2.00 1.00 .90 .56 1856 10.00 2.00 .70 .70 .45, 1857 8.00 1.75 .75 .62 .45 1858 7.50 1.62 .75 .75 .45 1859 6.50 1.35 .60 .56 .40 Buckwheat. Butter. $0.50 10.18 .50 .16 .55 .18 .55 .20 .50 .20 .50 .18 .75 .22 .75 .22 .75 .25 .56 .25 .50 .25 .56 .25 .50 .20 Pork has risen in price from 5 to 7 cents per lb., and hay from $9 to $14 per ton, during the same period. In some years the prices of the articles before mentioned may have varied, but in the main this table, made up from reliable sources, is correct.* Notwithstanding these remunerative prices for agricul- tural products, the farming interest has declined among us. Hundreds of acres of excellent land, once product- ive, have been purchased by coal companies, and now yield barely enough to pay taxes, w^hile our farmers, in many cases, neglect the improvement of their lands by manures, and their stock by imported breeds. This state of things being manifest to every observer, a number of gentlemen, anxious to stimulate renewed efforts in favor of agriculture, called a meeting at the court-house in Wilkesbarre, in 1850, and after appointing delegates to the Farmers' Convention to meet at Harrisburg, adjourned to meet again in January, 1851. At that subsequent meeting, the second Luzerne County Agricultural So- ciety was organized. Addresses were delivered by Judge Conyngham, General E. W. Sturdevant, S. F. Headley, Esq., and others, and in the following April officers for the ensuing year were elected. They were. General Wm. * During the late rebellion the above prices increased 100 per cent. ; and in some instances 200 per cent. AGRICULTURE AND MANUFACTURES. 347 S. Ross, president; Hon. John Koons and Hon. William Hancock, vice-president; S. D. Lewis, Esq., treasurer; George H. Butler, recording secretary ; Washington Lee, Jr., corresponding secretary; and Charles Dorrance and Wm. P. Miner, curators. Two hundred farmers, and other persons interested in the promotion of agriculture, united with the society, and the promise was very fair for great improvement in that direction. This, however, was a delusion. The society, like almost everything else among us, was withered, and died away under the effect of the coal land speculation. In 1857, the Abington Agricultural Society was organ- ized by the citizens of Abington township, and held its first fair in 1858, at which there was a creditable display of the productions of the northern portions of our county. This society is now known as the Northern Luzerne Ag- ricultural Society. In 1858, the third Luzerne County Agricultural So- ciety was organized at Mr. Wambold's, in Kingston. Charles Dorrance, Esq., was chosen president ; General E. W. Sturdevant, Samuel Wadhams, Benjamin Harvey, C. D. Shoemaker, Esqs., and others, vice-presidents. A constitution was adopted, executive and other committees were appointed, and preparations were made for holding the first fair of the society on the 27th and 28th of the following October, at or near the village of Wyoming. The editor of the Times, at Wilkesbarre, speaking of the fair, says : — " The first annual fair of the Luzerne County Agricul- tural Society, on Wednesday and Thursday of last week, was a decided success, far beyond the most sanguine anti- cipations of its most ardent friends. Too much praise cannot be awarded to the president. Colonel Dorrance, and those members of the executive committee who took 348 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. charge of the arrangements, and carried them to a suc- cessful termination. " And we feel authorized to say, as the expression of the president and of the executive committee, that pub- lic acknowledgments are due to Mr. James Jenkins and his friends of Wyoming, for the faithful and prompt man- ner in which they carried out their offer to enclose the grounds and prepare a track and stands in time for the fair. It was done gracefully and splendidly. The State Fair never had finer grounds for an exhibition. And as if Providence, willing to help those who help themselves, smiled on the enterprise, the weather continued clear, mild, and delightful through the month, and particularly pleasant during the fair days. " It is but very few weeks, not two months, since the idea of forming an agricultural society assumed a definite shape. Captain John Urquhart, a gentleman who pays much attention to the improvement of stock in the county, stepped in our office one day, and suggested the feasibility of forming a society and holding a fair. In pursuance of his suggestion, we penned and inserted in the Record of the Times, the call for a meeting at Wam- bold's, in Kingston, on the next Saturday, September 18th. The meeting was quite respectable, and a com- mittee was appointed to draft a constitution, to report at an adjourned meeting, the next Saturday, at the same place. " The meeting was crowded — a constitution was adopted — nearly a hundred and forty members joined, and the society was organized. " The executive committee met the next Monday, Sep- tember 27th, resolved to hold an exhibition, and accepted the proposition of Mr. Jenkins, to furnish the grounds at Wyoming. In just one short month the whole arrange- AGRICULTURE AND MANUFACTURES. 349 ment was carried out, and the exhibition opened on the 27th of October." Premiums to the amount of hundreds of dollars were awarded for the best stock, poultry, vegetables, machinery, &c., &c. The fair grounds are 50 acres in extent, on a level surface, and contain a splendid trotting course of one mile circular. At this exhibition we saw a mountaineer with a num- ber of rattle and other snakes, the productions, as he represented, of his farm, winding themselves about his arms and neck. There was exhibited a horse with five legs ; a rooster with three legs ; a bald eagle, perched upon a pole, taken below the Eagle's Nest, near the Nanticoke dam; an ox, thin in flesh, weighing 1900 pounds; an ear of corn measuring 16 inches in length; a j)umpkin weighing 200 pounds; a turnip weighing 10, and a beet weighing 5 pounds. We also saw fine specimens of apples, pears, potatoes, and other fruits and vegetables, but none excelled those of former times. In 1824, David Adams, of Northmoreland township, now in Wyoming county, raised 284 potatoes in one hill, all from the seed of one potato. In 1825, Jacob Cist, Esq., raised a plum, in his garden at Wilkesbarre, measuring 51 inches in circumference. In 1827, Colonel H. F. Lamb raised a pear, in his garden at Wilkesbarre, weighing 22 ounces, and measur- ing 14 i inches in circumference. In 1832, Anderson Dana raised 15 beets in one bed, the aggregate weight of which was 119 pounds, the largest weighing 9 pounds 10 ounces. In 1839, Henry Gabriel raised a common field pump- kin, in Plymouth, which weighed 120 pounds, and mea- sured 6 feet 4 J inches in circumference. In 1827, a mountaineer farmer collected, from his small 350 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. rocky plantation, 75 full grown rattle-snakes, which he exhibited to the editor of the Wyoming Herald, at Wil- kesbarre, and then proceeded with his crop to the Phila- delphia market. In 1835, a goose, belonging to Abel Hoyt, in Kingston, laid an egg which measured 11 inches in length, 9 inches in circumference, and weighed 10 ounces. Luzerne county contains about 915,000 acres of land, of which 138,000 were improved in 1850.* The unim- proved land susceptible of cultivation is estimated at 165,000 acres, leaving 612,000 acres for mountains, water, and roads. In 1850, Lancaster county, with 400,000 acres of improved land, produced 1,365,000 bushels of wheat, 1,800,000 bushels of corn, and 151,000 bushels of rye, making the average production equal to 8 bushels per acre. Columbia county, in 1850, with 90,000 acres of im- proved land, produced 154,000 bushels of wheat, 102,000 bushels of rye, and 200,000 bushels of corn, equal to a fraction above 5 bushels to the acre. Wyoming county, with 46,000 acres of improved land, produced, in 1850, 62,000 bushels of wheat, 40,000 bushels of rye, and 116,000 bushels of corn, equal to 5 bushels per acre. This county produced also 211,000 pounds of butter, and 21,000 pounds of cheese. In Luzerne county, in 1850, the average production of wheat, rye, and corn, was 4 bushels per acre ; of butter, 558,000 pounds ; and of cheese, 92,000 pounds. The following table exhibits the agricultural produc- tions of Luzerne county, as taken by United States mar- shals, according to the census laws for the decades of 1840, 1850, and 1860 : * 191,754 acres were improved in 1860. AGRICULTURE AND MANUFACTURES. 351 Names. 1840. 1850. I860. Horses and Mules . 6,933 4,950 7,061 Horned Cattle •■ 30,241 18,797 26,037 Sheep 52,415 18,496 18,452 Swine 37,037 16,364 19,346 Bushels of Wheat 244,239 165,328 61,764 Bushels of Rye 97,504 125,604 253,055 Bushels of Corn 252,235 290,122 478,605 Bushels of Oats 349,094 287,797 477,090 Bushels of Barley 45 291 619 Bushels of Buckwheat 131,923 116,173 244,264 Bushels of Clover Seed 997 1,690 Bushels of Potatoes 384,217 183,407 368,975 Barrels of Flour 34,275 18,000 6,550 Tons of Hay . 34,240 31,601 46.761 Pounds of Wool 98,643 49,372 46,892 Pounds of Butter 558,568 1,033,669 Pounds of Cheese 91,613 56,193 Pounds of Maple Sugar 4,217 19,758 35,339 Gallons of Whiskey 6,250 Distilleries 5 3 3 The cash value of the farms, in 1850, was $6,100,000; of farming implements and machinery, $236,000.* Wyoming county, which was set off in 1842, is, of course, included in the census of 1840 in the foregoing table. We give these statistics for present as well as for future comparison. They show conclusively that Luzerne, ten years ago, when in our opinion more attention was given to agriculture than at present, was far behind Lancaster county, and produced less, in proportion to the number of acres under cultivation, than Columbia on the south- west, or Wyoming on the north. What the census of 1860 will exhibit we are unable to say, but we venture the assertion that the comparison will be yet more un- favorable for our county. While our population increases yearly, and we are becoming greater consumers, the inducements for improving our lands by lime and manures and the best modes of cultivation are made greater, and * Cash value of farms in 1860, $12,497,545. Farming implements and machinery, $342,186. 352 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. it is to be hoped that Luzerne will throw off that wild spirit of speculation which has retarded her truest and most substantial interest.* MANUFACTURES. Agriculture and manufactures are twin sisters. They are always seen together, and hand in hand they yield each other mutual support. As has been stated before, the wives and daughters of the early settlers, and of their immediate descendants, were manufacturers of woolen, linen, and cotton cloth. Besides producing a substantial article, they could give it all the brilliant colors from butternut to federal blue. We believe some of the old spinning-wheels of the last century are still in existence. They cannot fail to be objects of curiosity to the fashionable young ladies of the present day, who would wonder how their grandmothers could use such uncouth machines. As to the vessel in which the coloring was done, we presume the soft and lily-handed fair ones would shrink from it with expres- sions of horror and disgust. The following table exhibits the number of looms and yards of cloth manufactured, in eight townships in the county, in 1810 : — Yards of Yards of Yards of Townships. Looms. Linen Woolen Cotton Cloth. Cloth. Cloth. Kingston 25 6135 1827 93 Plymouth . 42 7847 1762 91 Pittston 28 5740 1690 59 Wilkesbarre 33 6531 1717 129 Exeter 31 3771 1394 80 Abington 39 2485 1429 34 Providence . 36 5643 1430 147 Hanover 25 5369 1291 60 * Considering the increased number of cultivated acres in the last decade (53,754), our assertion in the foregoing pages will be found comparatively correct. AGRICULTURE AND MANUFACTURES. 353 The first carding-raachine of which we have any record, was one at the Old Forge, on the Lackawanna, owned by Mr. N. Hurlbut, in 1805, where wool was picked and carded at 8 cents per pound. The first fulling-mill in our borders, of which we have been able to obtain knowledge, was erected in Kingston township by Azor Sturdevant, who, in 1805, gave notice through the columns of the Federalist, that "London brown, chrome color, and federal blue, would be given to cloth in the best style." Li 1811, the business was conducted by Roswell Sturdevant and Samuel Breese, who also dressed cloth. Stephen Hollister, at the same time, had a carding-machine in Kingston. John Watters & Co. also owned one on the Lackawanna, in Providence township, and Frederick Crisman one in Hanover. Indeed most of the townships appear to have had a carding and picking machine, where the wool was prepared for the spinning-wheels of the industrious matrons and young women of the neighborhood. The 8 townships given in the foregoing table, con- tained, in 1810, 4556 sheep, the wool of which was manufactured into 12,540 yards of cloth. The number of inhabitants in these townships was 5800, and the number of looms was 259, or one loom to every three families, allowing 7 J persons to each family. This shows to what an extent homespun cloth was manufactured and worn in this valley in former years. In 1850, the num- ber of sheep in Luzerne was 18,496, producing 49,372 pounds of wool, while Wyoming county, with only one- third as much improved land, contained 8809 sheep, bear- ing upwards of 20,000 pounds of wool. Columbia county had 8392 sheep, producing 23,394 pounds of wool, and Susquehanna county had 42,971 sheep, yielding 91,456 pounds of wool. When we reflect that Luzerne is as well adapted to wool growing as Wyo- 23 354 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. ming, and has advantages over Columbia in this respect, we find she should have had, in 1850, at least 28,000 sheep, yielding from 75,000 to 80,000 pounds of wool. We suffer, in like manner, in a comparison with our neigh- bors, as to neat cattle. Luzerne contained 18,797, and Wyoming 8254 head. And so with respect to swine : ^while Luzerne had 16,364, Columbia had 12,783. These are strong and unquestionable facts which speak against us. Luzerne, with great agricultural and manu- facturing advantages, with a population of from 80,000 to 90,000, and with more territory than any other county in the Commonwealth, does not produce one-half of the grain, beef, and pork consumed by her inhabitants, nor does she furnish one-twentieth part of their wearing apparel. We are consumers, depending upon the coal trade to bring our food and raiment from abroad, while we might be producers to the full extent of our wants, supplying the demands of our coal and mining interests from our own soil, and retaining at home large sums for profitable investment, which are now annually sent out of the county. In 1812, Messrs. Buckingham, Cahoon, Tuttle & Parker erected a paper-mill on Toby's Creek, in Kingston township, near the present flouring-mill of Colonel Charles Dorrance, and the first paper manufactured was used in the printing-office of the " Gleaner" during the same year. In 1829, when the mill was owned by Matthias Hollen- back, Esq., 4 men, 1 boy, and 10 girls were employed, producing, when working on foolscap writing paper, 8 reams per day ; when working on imperial printing paper, 4 reams per day ; when on super royal, 5 reams ; and when on wrapping paper, 10 reams per day. The entire work, except preparing the rags, was performed by hand, and the annual sales of paper amounted to about $7000. AGRICULTURE AND MANUFACTURES. 355 It was the first and only paper manufactory ever erected in this county.^ It was abandoned several years ago, but it manifested the spirit and enterprise Cf the people of that day. In 1778, John and Mason F. Alden erected a forge on Nanticoke Creek, near Colonel W. Lee's grist-mill, in Newport township. It contained a single fire and one hammer. This hammer was brought from Philadelphia, in a wagon, to Harris's Ferry (Harrisburg), and thence up the Susquehanna in a boat. The iron ore of Newport produced about 35 per cent, of metal, and was manufac- tured into bar iron, affording the only supply for the smith-shops of that day. As to the quality of the iron, we have the testimony of several persons who used it, and who declared it to be of a superior sort, equal to the best bar iron of Centre county. In 1828, a short time before the works were abandoned. Colonel Lee, then owner, sold bar iron at $120 per ton of 2000 pounds. In 1789, Dr. William Hooker Smith and James Sutton erected a forge, with 2 fires and 1 hammer, at the falls in the Lackawanna river, now in Lackawanna town- ship. The forge yielded 400 pounds of iron in twelve hours, from the ore procured from the surrounding hills. In 1800, Benjamin and Ebenezer Slocum erected a forge on Roaring Creek, near Scranton, containing 2 fires and 1 hammer. They continued to forge bar iron, from the adjoining bog-iron ore vein, until 1828. In 1830, E. & J. Leidy erected a forge on the Nesco- peck Creek, in Nescopeck township, containing 2 ham- mers and 3 fires. They manufactured bar iron and blooms from the iron ore of Columbia county, and also from pig-metal. For several years, General Simon Came- ron was connected with this forge, which finally passed into the hands of S. F. Headley, Esq., who enlarged the 356 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. buildin:^s, increased the number of fires, and conducted the business successfully. The works were in operation until 1854, since which time they have been unem- ployed. In 1811, Francis McShane erected a small cut-nail manufactory in Wilkesbarre, and used anthracite coal in smelting the iron. He conducted a successful business for several years, selling nails by wholesale, or retail, to suit purchasers. In 1836, George W. Little built a small charcoal fur- nace on Toby's Creek, near the site of the old paper-mill. The wood for the charcoal was procured from the neigh- boring hills and mountains, and the iron ore was brought from Columbia county in boats to Wilkesbarre, and carted thence to the furnace, about three miles, in wagons. Mr. Little and his successors, Benjamin Drake and others, found the business unprofitable, and after a few years the works were abandoned. In 1842, H. S. & E. Renwick, of New York city, erected an anthracite furnace, operated by steam-power, at Wilkesbarre, eight feet in the boshes. These gentle- men carried on the manufacturing of pig-iron for about one year, after which the furnace was suffered to lie idle until 1854. It was then purchased by John McCauley and the Messrs. Carter, of Tamaqua, who enlarged it and put it in blast. The iron ore and limestone were transported by canal from Columbia county ; and the works, under the direct management of Mr. McCauley, yielded six tons of iron per day. The establishment was consumed by fire in 1856, and has not been rebuilt. In 1847, Samuel F. Headley, Esq., and the Messrs. Wilson, of, Harrisburg, erected a charcoal furnace, of water-power, eight feet in the boshes, at Shickshinny, AGRICULTURE AND MANUFACTURES. 357 and for several years manufactured a considerable quantity of superior pig-iron from the Columbia county and New- port ores, which they mixed. The charcoal iron of this furnace was sought after by the owners of foundries in Bradford and other counties, as being superior for stove purposes. In 1852, Messrs. Headley & "Wilson sold this furnace to William Koons. Mr. Koons built another furnace on Hunlock's Creek, Hi feet in the boshes, and capable of manufacturing 75 tons of pig-metal per week. In 1839, through the exertions of Mr. W. Henry, George W. and S. T. Scranton, Sanford Grant and P. H. Mattes were induced to visit Slocum Hollow or Capouse, now Scranton, with a view to purchase coal and iron ore land, and to erect an anthracite furnace. The land was purchased, and the furnace commenced in 1840. It was successfully blown, for the first time, in 1841. Since then other capitalists have united with the company, and three additional furnaces and a large rolling-mill have been erected. The size of the furnaces is respectively 15, 17, 18, and 20 feet in the boshes; and they are 50 feet in height, capable of producing 30,000 tons of pig- iron per annum. The first engine erected for blowing the original works is of immense size, the steam-cylinder being 54 and the blowing-cylinder 110 inches in diameter, w^hile the fly-wheel weighs 40,000 pounds. To this there has been added the power of two other engines, with steam- cylinders of 59 and blowing-cylinders of 90 inches in diameter, and fly-wheels of 28 feet in diameter, weighing 75,000 pounds. The rolling-mill is capable of making yearly from 15 to 20,000 tons of railroad iron, and 3000 tons of merchant iron, and, with the furnaces, consumes 100,000 tons of coal mined from the adjoining lands of the company. The iron ore mines of the company in the Moosic Mountain are connected with the works by a rail- 358 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. road three miles in length; but a considerable quantity of ore is also procured from mines in New Jersey and New York, and is transported to the furnaces via the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad. This is mixed with the Luzerne ore, and produces an excellent quality of iron, which has been fairly tested with English iron on the New York and Erie Railroad, and proved to be superior. These works, the result of a well-directed energy on the part of the Messrs. Scranton and their associates, laid the foundation of the flourishing town of Scranton, led to the construction of the Delaware, Lacka- wanna, and Western Railroad, and filled the valley of the Lackawanna with an industrious and thriving popu- lation. In 1840, Thomas Chambers, E. R. Biddle & Co., erected a large rolling-mill and nail factory, at South Wilkesbarre, about one mile from the court-house, at a cost of $300,000. While these works were in operation, during a year or two, Wilkesbarre increased in population and business ; but the establishment becoming involved, it was finally sold on a debt due the Wyoming Bank. It was pur- chased by the Montour Iron Company, and transported to Danville. It seems strange that our capitalists would allow these works to be sold for one-fifth their value, and to be conveyed away to a neighboring county. This cir- cumstance will act as a discouragement to others, who, looking to our location in the midst of a superior coal- field, might be inclined to establish manufactories here. It is beyond all question that a superior quality of iron can be profitably manufactured in Luzerne county by com- bining our ores with those of adjoining counties, or states. What are essential to success are intelligence, experience, and prudent management. Surely, the day cannot be AGRICULTURE AND MANUFACTURES. 359 very distant when the smoke of scores of furnaces will ascend from the valleys of Wyoming and Lackawanna. In addition to the iron manufactories already men tioned, there are several foundries and stationary steam engine establishments in the county. We give the names of the proprietors, location, number of men employed, and capital invested. Proprietors. Location. Men employed. Capital. Lanning & Marshall R. Jones & Co. . . Lewis & McLean Strong & Wisner Mr. Conyngham Dixon & Co. . . . Clift Works . . . White Haven Works Wilkesbarre . . South Wilkesbarre Wilkesbarre . . Pittston . . . Pittston . . . Scranton . . . Scranton . . . White Haven . . 60 60 20 40 30 100 25 20 $50,000 30,000 15,000 25,000 20,000 100,000 25.000 8,000 Total .... 355 273,000- Besides these, there are several plow and stove foun- dries, which do not manufacture steam-engines ; and there are 5 machine-shops connected with railroads and iron works, constructing from 5 to 15 steam-engines per annum. In the borough of Providence, there is an axe and scythe manufactory, established by Pulaski Carter upwards of twenty years ago, and also one owned by J. White, each employing from 4 to 8 hands, and producing cutlery of an excellent quality. The first steam-engine manufactured in Luzerne, was made by Kichard Jones, in 1833, at Wilkesbarre. Richard was an ingenious young mechanic, and though he had never seen a steam-engine, except as represented in books, constructed one in miniature, with a cylinder li inches in diameter, and with a stroke of 3 inches. In 1835, at his suggestion, Joseph White, another ingenious work- man, built a small boat 6 J feet in length, with side- 360 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. wheels, in which the engine made by Jones was placed. The boat was launched in the canal-basin, at Wilkes- barre, on the 4th of July, 1835. The engine was set in motion, and the little boat dashed through the water, amidst the cheers of a great crowd of boys, among whom was the author. The first engine constructed in the county for service (vas manufactured, in Wilkesbarre, by Benjamin Drake and J. C. Smith, in 1836. Its cylinder was 9 inches in diameter, with 3 feet stroke, and 15 horse power. It was placed in Smith's grist-mill in Plymouth. We have given a brief sketch of the several iron manu- factories in our county from 1778 to the present time, a period of eighty-eight years, and though the number is small and the increase slow, yet the fact is placed beyond doubt that properly managed establishments of this kind are re- munerative. They, who may desire to invest capital among us, for the manufacture of iron and iron machinery, need not do so in the dark. There is a record of encouraging facts, from which they may derive information, and there is the light of experience which will rescue such an enter- prise from the charge of being a mere experiment. The demand for powder, occasioned by the increased mining operations, has led to the erection of several mills in the county for its manufacture. George Knapp, G. P. Parrish & Co., built two powder- mills on Solomon's Creek, and four mills on Wapwallopen Creek, in Hollenback township. The capacity of the latter extends to 300 kegs per day, or 100,000 kegs per annum. Within a few years these mills have passed into the hands of the Messrs. Dupont, the celebrated powder manufacturers. George Damon & Co. have an extensive powder manu- factory at Old Forge, on the Lackawanna, which, hi con- AGRICULTURE AND MANUFACTURES. 361 junction with those of the Duponts, and two or three smaller mills, chiefly supply the demands of the mines. The large quantities of hemlock and other bark, found on the head-waters of the Lehigh, and on other streams, induced a number of the capitalists in our large cities to erect tanneries convenient to these localities. Thither they transport the raw hides from the sea-board, and return the manufactured leather. The establishment of Maynard & Peck, at Duning in Madison township, is on a large scale. The main building is 350 feet in length, and 40 feet wide. The vats are of sufficient number and capacity to tan 50,000 hides per annum. The entire works are valued at $75,000. '■-iiO,.. TANNERY, AT GOULDSBOROUGH. In 1856, Zadock Pratt and Jay Gould erected a large tannery on the Lehigh at Gouldsborough, said to be the most extensive establishment of the kind in the United States. The two principal buildings are each 400 feet in 362 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. length by 100 feet in width, with vats underneath and drying-rooms above. The estabhshment contains 70,000 cubic feet of vat room, and 36,000 cubic feet of leach room. The machinery is propelled by water-power, and by a «team-engine of 75 horse-power, and 100 cords of bark can be ground in 24 hours. They manufacture 75,000 sides of leather, at this tannery, in one year. These works cost $175,000. They are connected with the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad, by a plank-road 9 miles in length. The extensive tannery of Smull & Sons, located on the Lehigh 2 miles below White Haven, is within the limits of Carbon county, but receives a large portion of its supplies from Luzerne. The main building is 640 feet in length, by 45 feet wide. It contains 216 tan vats, besides soak- ing, leaching, and sweat vats. The machinery is pro- pelled by a steam-engine of 80 horse-power. It consumes annually 75,000 cords of bark. Four hundred hides are removed daily from the vats, and 400 others introduced. Forty men are employed in the building, besides those engaged in preparing the bark in the woods. The cost of the works is estimated at $155,000. The tannery of D. H. Morse is located in Fell town- ship. It is 360 feet in length, and 50 feet in width. It employs 25 men, and manufactures annually 45,000 hides into sole leather. The only point in the county, where the manufactur- ing of lumber is extensively carried on, at the present day, is on the Lehigh. In the chapter on " Navigation on the Susquehanna" we gave an account of the lumber trade, mainly its past history, and the transportation of rafts and arks on that river. We have reserved, for this chapter, the following statistics of saw-mills, on the Lehigh and its tributaries. We give the number of f^et annuall}' manufactured : — AGRICULTURE AND MANUFACTURES. 363 Brown & Brothers, in Buck township, 2 mills, 4,000,000 Day & Saylor, " " 2 " 2,000,000 Temple Hines, « " 1 " 500,000 Stoddartsville, . . . . 2 " 4,000,000 Forest Company, . . . . 4 " 6,000,000 White Haven, .... 4 " 6,000,000 McKean & Pursel, at Bear Creek, 2 " 4,000,000 Yohe & Co., at Black Creek, . . 2 " 1,000,000 Other mills on the Lehigh, . . 4,000,000 Total number of feet annually manufac- tured on the Lehigh, .... 31,500,000 Add to this 1,000,000 feet manufactured by Hollen- back & Urquhart at Harvey's Lake, and transported thence in wagons, to Wilkesbarre, a distance of 12 miles, and also 1,000,000 feet manufactured by Jameson Harvey, C. Reynolds, and others, and we have 33,500,000 feet of lumber, chiefly pine, annually furnished from Luzerne county. The Lehigh lumber is conveyed to market through the works of the Lehigh Navigation*Company. Before their construction it was rafted down that rapid river. There were saw-mills on the banks of the Lehigh upwards of eighty years ago. The following table exhibits the number of men, and the amount of capital employed in' the manufacture of iron, lumber, and leather : — Men employed. Capital. Furnaces and Kolling Mills . . Lumbering Tanneries Foundries and Steam Engines . 650 500 225 355 ^650,000 450,000 550,000 290,000 1730 1,940,000 * Since the destruction of the Lehigh Navigation, this lumber has been conveyed to market by rail. CHAPTER XI I. MINERALS AND THE GOAL TRADE.* Coal was discovered in England in the year 853, but it was not mined or used until 1239, when Henry III. granted mining privileges to the inhabitants of Newcastle. It was soon introduced into London, but encountered opposition from the mass of the people, w^ho imagined it to be deleterious to health. They petitioned Parliament to prohibit its consumption in their city during the sitting of that body, assigning, as one reason, that it would endanger the health of the king. It is well known that the English coal is the bituminous variety, burning with considerable flame and smoke, but that it is an unhealthy fuel was a mere conceit of an ignorant age. Parliament, however, was induced to grant the prayer of the peti- tioners. . , In the United States the knowledge and use of anthra- cite coal do not, perhaps, extend back beyond one hundred years, and its introduction into general use has been gradual and difficult. It is possible that the Indians, at Wyoming, had some knowledge of the combustible nature of anthracite coal. Two chiefs from the valley^ in company with three others from the country of the Six Nations, visited England in 1710, and it is presumed they witnessed the burning of coal, then in general use in the cities of England, for domestic purposes. The con- sumption of black stones instead of wood, could not fail * For an account of efforts to discover coal-oil, see Appendix W. (364) MINERALS AND THE COAL TRADE. 865 to make a deep impression on their minds, and they would naturally infer that this fuel was nearly allied to the black stones of their own country. The appearance of anthracite had long been familiar to their eyes. The forge or seven feet vein of coal had been cut through and exposed by the Nanticoke Creek, and the nine feet vein at Plymouth had been laid open to view by Ransom's Creek. The Susquehanna had exposed the coal at Pitts- ton, and the Lackawanna at several points along its banks. If the Indians, at that day, were ignorant of the practical use of coal, they were at least acqu-ainted with its aj)pearance, and not improbably with its inflammable nature. That the Indians had mines of some kind at Wyoming, the following account fully establishes : — In 1766, a company of Nanticokes and Mohicans, six in number, who had formerly lived at Wyoming, visited Philadelphia, and in their talk with the governor, said, " As we came down from Chenango we stopped at Wyo- ming, where we had a mine in two places, and we disco- vered that some white people had been at work in the mine, and had filled canoes with the ore, and we saw their tools with which they dug it out of the ground, where they made a hole at least forty feet long and five or six feet deep. It happened that formerly some white people did take, now and then, only a small bit and carry it away, but these people have been working at the mine and filled their canoes. We inform you that there is one John Anderson, a trader, now living at Wyoming, and we suspect he, or somebody by him, has robbed our mine. This man has a store of goods, and it may happen that when the Indians see their mine robbed, they will come and take away his goods," &c. We are aware there is a deposite or vein of some mineral, a useless, silvery-looking substance, near the Susquehanna, above the mouth of the 306 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. Lackawanna, but we have no evidence that the Indians referred to this. The substance alluded to by the Indians had been carried away in small quantities, for some time, by the whites, perhaps to test its qualities, and it is highly improbable that it would have been afterwards removed by canoe-loads, unless it had been found to be a useful article. What could that useful article have been but coal ? There were settlements of whites on the Susque- hanna, a little below the site of the town of Northumber- land, several years before the period when these Indians had their talk with the governor, and the coal may have been taken there for blacksmithing purposes. In 1768, Charles Stewart surveyed the Manor of Sun- bury, on the west side of the Susquehanna, opposite Wilkesbarre, and on the original draft is noted " stone coal," as appearing in what is now called Rosshill. In 1769, the year following, Obadiah Gore and his brother came from Connecticut with a body of settlers, and the same year used anthracite coal in his blacksniith-shop. We do not believe, as do some, that the Gores were the first whites who used anthracite on the Susquehanna for blacksmithing. Stone coal would not have been noted on the original draft of the Manor of Sunbury, if it had not been known to be a useful article. Hence, when the first settlers came into our valley, the evidence inclines us to believe the knowledge of the use of anthracite coal was communicated to them by the Indians, or by some of their own race. In 1776, two Durham boats were sent from below to Wyoming for coal, which was purchased from Mr. R. Geer, and mined from the opening, now the property of Mr. John Welles Hollenback, above Mill Creek. From Harris's Ferry, now Harrisburg, the coal, " about twenty tons," wa§ hauled on wagons to Carlisle, where it was used MINERALS AND THE COAL TRADE. 367 m the United States' Armory, recently erected there. This was done annually during the Revolutionary War. Major George Grant, of Sullivan's army, writing from Wyoming, in 1779, says, "The land here is excellent, and contains vast mines of coal, lead, and copper." Science and subsequent investigation show us he was mistaken as to the lead and copper. But it may not be improper to state that Alexander Jameson, Esq ; of Salem, thqn a very aged man, informed the writer, years ago, that he had heard it said the Indians got lead in the Honeypot, near the Nanticoke Dam, and that there was silver in the same mountain range, known only to an old mineral smelter, who died twenty years ago on the West Branch of the Susquehanna. We have no confidence in the tradition. In 1791, Philip Ginther, while hunting, accidentally discovered coal at what is now called Mauch Chunk, and communicated the fact to Colonel Jacob Weiss, who pur- chased the land, and soon after carried specimens of the coal to Philadelphia in his saddle-bags. He exhibited them to several persons, who called them worthless black stones, and laughed at the colonel's folly. But Colonel Weiss was not discouraged. In 1792, he and others formed themselves into a company called the " Lehigh Coal Mine Company," the first of the kind in the United States. In 1803 the company succeeded in getting two ark-loads, about 30 tons, to Philadelphia, but no pur- chaser could be found. As a matter of experiment, the city authorities at length consented to take it. An attempt was made to burn it under the boilers of the steam-engine at the Water-works, but it only served to put the fire out. The remainder was then broken up, and scattered over the sidewalks, in place of gravel ! Up to this time the blacksmiths in the vicinity of the 368 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. mines, wherever discovered, were using the coal in their shops. But no one had as yet discovered the art of con- suming anthracite for domestic purposes. This happy discovery was made, eventually, by Jesse Fell of Wilkes- barre. Mr. Fell was a native of Bucks county, and early removed to Luzerne, where he acted for many years as one of the associate judges of the county courts. Under- standing the composition of anthracite, or, as it was then called, stone-coal, he concluded that, a good draft of air was alone necessary to make it burn freely. He accord- ingly constructed a grate of green hickory saplings, and, placing it in a large fire-place in his bar-room, filled it with broken coal. A quantity of dry wood was placed under the grate and set on fire, and the flames spreading through the coal it soon ignited, and before the wooden grate was consumed the success of the experiment was fully demonstrated. A wrought iron grate was now con- structed, and set with brick and mortar in his fire-place, and was soon glowing with the burning stone-coal. The judge made the following memorandum at the time on one of the fly leaves of a book, entitled " The Free Mason's Monitor :" "February 11th, of Masonry 5808. Made the experi- ment of burning the common stone-coal of the valley, in a grate, in a common fire-place in my house, and find it will answer the purpose of fuel, making a clearer and better fire, at less expense, than burning wood in the common way. "February 11th, 1808. Jesse Fell." News of the successful experiment soon spread through the town and the country, and the people flocked to the old tavern of Judge Fell, of which he was proprietor and keeper, to witness the strange but simple discovery. MINERALS AND THE COAL TRADE. 369 Circle after circle gathered about the glowing and wonder- ful fire, and bowl after bowl of punch, and mug following mug of flip, were drank, with many kind expressions for the judge's health. Similar grates were soon constructed by his neighbors, and in a short time were in general use throughout the valley. The public-house, in which this memorable experiment was made, stood on the corner of Washington and Northampton streets. FELL H0TT9B. In the spring of 1808, John and Abijah Smith, having witnessed the successful experiment at Fell's tavern, loaded two arks with coal from the old Smith bed, on Ransom's Creek, in Plymouth, and took it down the river to Columbia ; but on offering it for sale, no person could be induced to purchase. They were compelled to leave the black stones behind them unsold, when they returned to their homes. The next year the Smiths, not dis- couraged by their former ill success, taking two arks of 24 370 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. coal and a grate, proceeded to Columbia. The grate was put up in the presence of spectators, and the practicability of using the black stones as a fuel was clearly demon- strated. The result was a sale of the coal and the establishment of a small trade. Colonel George Shoemaker, in 1812, discovered coal on the Schuylkill, and conveyed nine wagon-loads of it to Philadelphia, where he offered it for sale. He sold two loads by dint of great perseverance, to persons who afterwards denounced him as an impostor, for inducing them to purchase a worthless material. The other seven loads he gave away to such as promised to try to use it. In 1813, Colonel George M. Hollenback sent two four- horse loads of coal, from the mine now worked by Colonel H. B. Hilman, above Mill Creek, in this county, to Philadelphia ; and James Lee, Esq., in the same year, sent one four-horse load from Hanover to a blacksmith at Germantown. This was, probably, the first consider- able quantity of Wyoming coal which reached Philadel- phia and the vicinity. The pens of Charles Miner and of Jacob Cist, Esqs., of Wilkesbarre, were now busily employed in giving informa- tion on the use and value of anthracite coal. The news- papers of that day, published in New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, bear ample testimony to the ability with which the subject was commended to the public. Mr. Cist sent specimens of Wyoming coal to all the large cities in the Union, to England, to France, to Germany, and even to Russia. Messrs. Miner and Cist, having obtained the co-operation of John Robinson and Stephen Tuttle, Esqs., leased the Mauch Chunk mine, the most convenient to Philadelphia, in December, 1813. On the 9th of August, 1814, they started off the first ark from Mauch Chunk. "In less than eighty rods from the place of MINERALS AND THE COAL TRADE. 371 starting, the ark struck on a ledge and broke a hole in her bow. The lads stripped themselves nearly naked, to stop the rush of water with their clothes." In six days, however, the ark reached Philadelphia, with its twenty- four tons of coal, which had by this time cost fourteen dollars a ton. " But," says Mr. Miner, " we had the greater difficulty to overcome of inducing the public to use our coal when brought to their doors. " We published hand-bills, in English and German, stating the mode of burning the coal, either in grates, in smiths' forges, or in stoves. Together we went to several houses in the city, and prevailed on the masters to allow us to kindle fires of anthracite in their grates, erected to burn Liverpool coal. We attended at blacksmiths' shops, and prevailed upon some to alter the Too-iron, so that they might burn Lehigh coal ; and we were sometimes obliged to bribe the journeymen to try the experiment fairly, so averse were they to learn the use of a new sort of fuel." The history of the introduction of anthracite, as a fuel, is not unlike the story of the countryman's dog-skin. His dog died, and taking the skin to town he offered it for sale. He found no purchaser. He next proposed to give it away, but found no one willing to take it as a gift. He then resolved to lose it, but a well-meaning old woman seeing it fall from his wagon, picked it up and ran after him with the information, " Mister, you have lost your dog-skin." Dashing it into his wagon, the countryman, in his vexation, swore he could neither sell, give it away, nor lose it. In 1812 an application was made to the legislature for a law for the improvement of the river Schuylkill. The coal on the head-waters of that river was held up as an inducement to the legislature to make the grant, when 372 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. the senator from Schujlkill county rose in his seat and declared there was no coal there ; that there was a kind of a " black stone" that was called coal, but that it would not burn ! In 1817, some time after Messrs. Miner and Cist had abandoned the Lehigh project, the mines were leased by Josiah White and Erskine Hazzard, who had used the coal in their wire manufactory in Philadelphia. These shrewd, enterprising men foresaw that an extensive trade in coal would eventually arise in this state ; and to over- come the dangerous and difficult navigation of the Lehigh, Mr. White invented what is known as the bear-trap dams, so arranged as to create artificial floods, on which arks, loaded with coal, were conveyed to the Delaware. By this process Lehigh coal was sent to Philadelphia until the completion of the canal and slackwater navigation in 1827. In 1820, which year is generally considered the date of the commencement of the coal trade, 365 tons of Lehigh coal supplied the market. In 1821, 1073 tons were mined; in 1822, 2240 tons; in 1823, 5523 tons; in 1824, 9541 tons; and in 1825, 28,393 tons. In 1825 the Schuylkill region sent 6500 tons to market, at which period may be dated the commencement of the coal trade on the Schuylkill. In 1826 John Charles, a hunter, while digging for a ground-hog, discovered coal at what is now known as the old Hazelton opening, which led to further explorations, and finally to the organization of the Hazelton Coal Com- pany. This is the first company that was organized to work that portion of the Eastern Middle coal-field lying within the boundaries of Luzerne county. The demand for coal led to the construction of the Lehigh navigation, 74 miles in length, from Easton to Port Jenkins, at a cost of $4,455,000. The Beaver MINERALS AND THE COAL TRADE. 373 Meadow Railroad, 26 miles long, and connecting with the Lehigh, cost $360,000; and the Beaver Meadow Com- pany, in 1837, sent 33,617 tons of coal to market. The Hazelton Railroad, 10 miles long, and connecting with the Beaver Meadow road, cost $120,000; and the Hazel- ton Company, in 1838, sent 16,221 tons of their coal to market. In 1839 the Sugarloaf Company shipped 7350 tons; and, in 1840, the Buck Mountain Company, having completed their railroad, 4 miles in length, at a cost of $40,000, shipped 54 tons to market. Since 1840 additional mines have been opened on the lands of the Hazelton Coal Company, now leased by A. Pardee & Co., who are also the lessees of the Diamond Company's Slope, and the Cranberry and Crystal Ridge Collieries, on lands of A. S. and E. Roberts. The Hazelton vein, worked by Mr. Pardee, yields about 17 feet of merchantable coal. At Jeansville there are 3 or 4 slopes, with 17 feet of merchantable coal, of which 17,773 tons were sent to market in 1846. These mines are connected with the Hazelton road by a railroad, 2h miles in length, and are now worked by Messrs. RandoljDli and Hampshire. At Stockton, Asa Packer, Esq., and Dr. M. B. Smith discovered coal on their land, a tract of about 800 acres. It was first opened, in 1851, by Packer, Carter & Co. There are 3 mines, now worked by Packer, Lockhart & Co., who employ 300 men and boys, and 54 head of horses and mules. In 1859 they shipped to market 150,000 tons of coal. The average thickness of this merchantable coal is about 20 feet. In 1854 Messrs. Sharp, Leisenring & Co. commenced their extensive works at Eckley, which are connected with the Hazelton Railroad by a branch of the Lehigh and Luzerne road. In 1855 they shipped 2000 tons of coal to market, which, in 1859, was increased to 110,000 374 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. tons. The average thickness of their merchantable coal is 12 feet. In addition to these there is a colliery at Mount Pleasant, worked by Messrs. Silliman & McKee, who also have works on the lands of the Big Black Creek Improvement Company. G. B. Markle & Co. have works at Jeddo, on lands of the Union Improvement Company. These several localities are now connected with the Hazelton Railroad by the completion of the Crystal .Ridge Tunnel, through which the first coal-train passed on the 29th of August, 1859. There passed through this tunnel, on the same day, the first regular passenger train from Wyoming to Philadelphia by the Lehigh route. The number of tons of coal cleared for market, in 1840, from this region, was 79,459 tons; in 1848, 247,887 tons. The amount of coal mined in the Eastern Middle field down to 1860 is 5,914,985 tons. The portion of the Eastern Middle coal field within the boundaries of our county, lies chiefly in Foster, Hazel, Sugarloaf, and Black Creek townships. The coal is deposited in basins, and, in the aggregate, occupies an area of about 10 square miles, or 6400 acres. The coal lands are principally owned by companies, who lease the mines to operators at rents varying from 20 to 30 cents per ton. An acre of first-rate coal land will yield to the owner about $6000, and to the operator an equal profit or a loss, as the scales of trade go up or down. We return now to the Susquehanna, and will proceed to give a brief account of the coal trade on that river, and also trace, as far as our limits will admit, the first de- velopements of the Northern or Wyoming and Lack- awanna anthracite coal-fields. Before entering on this narrative, however, a short paragraph in relation to bituminous coal may not be amiss. In 1785, Samuel Boyd, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, became the possessor MINERALS AND THE COAL TRADE. 375 of a large tract of land in what is now Clearfield county, and upon which bituminous coal was discovered. In 1803, William Boyd sent an ark-load of this coal to Columbia ; and in a few weeks thereafter, John Jordan sent down a second ark-load, and this was the first bitu minous coal which descended the Susquehanna. At this time, inconsiderable quantities of Liverpool coal were used in Philadelphia and Baltimore, 'and, consequently, the introduction of our bituminous coal, igniting as readily as the foreign variety, would have been comparatively easy, yet we have no evidence that the Clearfield coal was used in these cities until 1815. In that year Philip Karthauss descended the Susquehanna with three or four ark-loads to Port Deposit, whence it was shipped by sloops to Phila- delphia and Baltimore. We have no positive evidence that the Wyoming coal had been used in Baltimore prior to this attempt of Mr. Karthauss to introduce the bitu- minous variety. But the fact that John and Abijah Smith were engaged in the business of shipping coal, and in no other, from 1808 until 1825, renders it probable that some of our anthracite reached Baltimore shortly after its introduction into Columbia. The Smiths were energetic, persevering men, and it seems not improbable that they shipped coal from Port Deposit to Baltimore before the attempt of Karthauss in 1815. In 1813, Colonel G. M. Hollenback employed Daniel Gould to mine two ark-loads of coal from the bed above Mill Creek, at 75 cents per ton. In the fall of the same year, Joseph Wright, Esq., loaded two arks with coal from an opening near the present depot of the Pennsyl- vania Coal Company, at Pittston. It was from this open- ing that Ishmael Bennet dug coal as far back as 1775, to use in his blacksmith shop. About the same time (1813), General Lord Butler sent 376 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. down the river 100 tons, mined from the old Baltimore bed, which, with that of Messrs. Hollenback and Wright, was the first coal from Wyoming to come in competition with Smith's at Marietta and Columbia. The price of coal at these places then ranged from $5 to $7 per ton. In 1814, Crandal Wilcox entered the trade, and sent several ark-loads of coal down the river from the old Wilcox mine, in Plains township. In 1820, Colonel Washington Lee discovered coal in Hanover, on the Stewart property, which he had pur- chased ; and in the same year he mined and sent to Bal- timore 1000 tons, which he sold at |8 per ton. White & Hazzard, the same year, shipped only 365 tons of the Lehigh coal to market. Up to this date the total amount of coal sent from Wyoming is reckoned at 85.00 tons, while that from the Schuylkill and Lehigh regions did not exceed 2000 tons. And thus, it is seen, that in the year which dates the commencement of the coal trade, Wyoming sent to market a much greater quantity than the other portions of the anthracite field. In our valley, at this time, grates and coal stoves were in general use ; and Wilkesbarre was supplied with fuel from Lord Butler's mine at |3 per ton, delivered, while the farmers, each digging for himself, obtained their supply from the numerous imperfect openings in their several neighborhoods. In 1823, Colonel W. Lee and George Cahoon leased the Stivers mine in Newport, 14 feet vein, and employed Timothy Mansfield to mine and deliver 1000 tons of coal into arks at Lee's Ferry, at $1.10 per ton. Mansfield, notwithstanding he was a Yankee, did not understand coal mining ; for, instead of tunneling and blasting, he removed a heavy covering of earth and slate from the vein, and broke it down with large iron wedges, at a fear- MINEKALS AND THE COAL TRADE. 377 ful cost to himself, as well as to his employers, who sold the coal at Columbia for $1500 less than cost. Scientific mining in those days was not well understood in America. Few, if any, practical European miners had yet reached our valley. We must, however, except Abraham Wil- liams, who emigrated to America from Wales in 1799. In 1805, this pioneer of the Luzerne mines made his appearance in the " Federalist," published at Wilkesbarre, in the following advertisement : — "The subscriber takes this method of informing the public that he understands miner's work. He has worked at it the greater part of 23 years in the mines of Wales, one year and a half in Schuyler's copper-mines in New Jersey, and three years in Ogden's in the same state. If anybody thinks there is any ore on his lands, or wants to sink wells, blow rocks or stones, he understands it wet or dry, on the ground or under the ground. " He will work by the day, or by the solid foot or yard, or by the job, at reasonable wages, for country produce. " He works cheap for country produce, But cash, I think, he won't refuse ; Money is good for many uses ; Despise me not nor take me scorn. Because I am a Welshman by my born. Now I am a true American, With every good to every man. " Abraham Williams." It will be seen that if Abraham was a good miner, he was somewhat deficient as a poet. As a class miners are too much given to dissipation, though there are many individual exceptions. They squander their earnings in riotous living, the result proba- bly of the life they lead. They go down into the bowels of the earth, and delve in its dark and gloomy workshops 378 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. by the faint light of the lamps on their caps. The gloom and dampness which surround them, and the labor which exhausts them, depress their spirits. When they ascend to the upper world, the refreshing breeze and the genial light are not consi- dered sufficient to revive their drooping hearts, and the aid of intoxicating drinks is invoked to drive away dull care. They are a most useful people, pos- sessing many excellent traits of character, and deserve more . attention from the missionary and the philanthropist than they have hitherto received. " Do not despise the miner lad, Who burrows like the mole, Buried alive, from morn till night To delve for household coal. Nay, miner lad, ne'er blush for it, Though black thy face be as the pit." I / I i -J> } COAL BREAKER. MINERALS AND THE COAL TRADE. 379 We return to our narrative. From 1823 to 1829 the Susquehanna coal trade increased with considerable rapid- ity. The completion of the canal, then under contract up to Nanticoke, promised new and enticing facilities for the transportation of coal to market. The attention of Baltimore capitalists was directed to the Wyoming coal- field, and in July, 1829, Thomas Simington, Esq., of that city, purchased the Lord Butler mine, 410 acres of land, for $14,000, or less than |35 per acre. Soon after this the Baltimore Coal Company was formed. , , . »! ^ 1-,- li- ^ . ■ 1 , f BALTIMORE COMPANY S COAL OPENIKG. The completion of the canal to the Nanticoke dam, in 1830, gave a great impetus to business in this part of the state, which was further increased by the Tide Water Canal, constructed to avoid the dangerous navigation of the Susquehanna from Columbia to tide. In 1834, the canal was completed to the Lackawanna, affording facili- 380 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. ties for sending the Pittston coal to market. A coal-bed was opened in a bluff, near the eastern end of the Pittston bridge, by Calvin Stockbridge, in 1828, and during three years he sent about 2000 tons down the Susquehanna in arks. Mr. Wright, of Plymouth, as already stated, had taken out coal at Pittston as early as 1813, but Mr. Stockbridge was the first resident coal operator in that place. In 1838, Garrick Mallery and John and Lord Butler, Esqs., opened their mines at Pittston, connecting them with the canal by a railroad one mile and eight hundred feet in length, and in 1840 they shipped their first coal from Pittston by canal. The completion of the Lehigh and Susquehanna Eail- road, in 1843, connecting Wilkesbarre with White Haven, promised another outlet to market for Wyoming coal. These improvements, together with the discovery of the methods of generating steam on boats, and of smelting iron in furnaces, by the use of anthracite, created a great and increasing demand for coal in all quarters of the state, and in the seaports of the country generally. At this time the coal operators in the valley and vicinity were, Washington Lee, Jameson Harvey, Freeman Thoma.s, Thomas Pringle, Henderson Gaylord, John Turner & Sons, J. B. Smith, Mallery & Butler, Boukley & Price, John Blanchard, David Lloyd, Jonathan Jones, The Baltimore Company (Alexander Gray, agent), Nathan Beach, who opened his mine in the Rocky Mountain, below Shick- shinn}^, about the year 1828, and the Wyoming Coal Com- pany (S. Holland, H. B. Hillman & Alexander Lockhart)f In 1838, the Wyoming Company connected their lands, 500 acres in Hanover, with the Nanticoke pool or slack- water, by a railroad 2 miles in length, and a basin, at a cost of $22,700. They shipped their first coal in 1840, * For names of coal companies and operators in 1865, see Appendix W. MINERALS AND THE COAL TRADE. 381 and in 1847 Colonel Hillman shipped 10,000 tons of coal from the old Blackman and Solomon Gap or Ross mines to New York and Philadelphia, via the Susquehanna and Lehigh Railroad, &c. This was the first considerable amount of coal sent from the valley by that route. In 1842, Wyoming sent to market 47,346 tons of coal; in 1843, 57,740 tons; in 1844, 114,906 tons; in 1845, 178,401 tons; in 1846, 166,923 tons, and in 1847, 285,462 tons. (See Appendix W.) In 1850 the Pennsylvania Coal Company completed their railroad to Hawley, and commenced shipping coal from Pittston to New York. This, with the exception of the Delaware and Hudson, is the largest company in Lu- zerne. It owns about 10,000 acres, of which 6000 are coals lands, and ships annually about 600,000 tons to market.* The North Branch Canal was completed in 1856, con- necting us with the New York improvements, and during the fall of that year 1150 tons of coal were sent up to West- ern New York. In 1857, 2274 tons passed up to the same destination; in 1858, 38,947 tons; and in 1859, 51,914 tons. By the extension of the Lackawanna and Blooms- burg Railroad to Northumberland, and the finishing of the lateral roads connecting with the Susquehanna and Lehigh Railroad, all of which has been accomplished at the present date, and Wyoming coal is now transported by rail and canal to all the inland and seaboard cities of the country. The amount shipped from the Wyoming coal- field may be reckoned as follows : from 1808 to 1830, 48,500 tons; from 1830 to 1840,350,000 tons; from 1840 to 1850, 1,407,554 tons; and from 1850 to 1860, we estimate the amount at 4,079,053 tons, exclusive of that mined in the valley by the Pennsylvania Coal Com- pany J- The total amount mined in the Wyoming Val- ley down to 1860, is 10,293,376 tons. * From 1860 to 1865 inclusive, the amount shipped was 9,209,768 tons. 382 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. The shaft of the Dundee Company, in Hanover town- ship, has been sunk to the perpendicular depth of 792 feet, where the Nanticoke or Mill vein was struck, which is 12 feet in thickness. It is the first vein below the sur- face, and the sixth from the bottom. This proves the truth of the theory that the flats or lowlands in the valley are underlaid with coal. We proceed now to the Lackawanna coal-field. Wil- liam Wurts, a merchant of Philadelphia, having, proba- bly, read the numerous communications of Mr. Miner and of Mr. Cist, on the subject of anthracite, published in the city newspapers, began to explore the Lackawanna region as early as 1812. Under the guidance of C. E. Wilbur, an early settler there, he found coal at Carbon- dale, and at other points along the Lackawanna river. In 1814, Mr. Wurts and his brother Maurice, purchased land about Carbondale and Archbald, at prices varying from $2 to $5 per acre. In the following year, they hauled two sled-loads of coal to Jones' Creek, a tributary of the Wallenpaupack, and placing it on a small raft started for the Delaware. But the raft was wrecked, and the coal emptied into the bed of the stream. Sometime after this, they took several tons to the Lackawaxen, and placing it on rafts, constructed of pine-logs, succeeded in reaching the falls of that stream ; thence it was conveyed in a small ark to the Delaware, and to Philadel]3hia. In 1822, they began operations at Carbondale, and mined 800 tons from the old opening in the 3d Ward, 100 tons of which they hauled in ox-teams to the Le^cka- waxen, and conveyed thence on rafts and arks to Phila- delphia. There they now came in competition with the Lehigh coal, and this circumstance led the Messrs. Wurts to direct their attention to the New York market. This was followed by the conception of the Delaware and Hud- MINERALS AND THE COAL TRADE. son Canal, which was surveyed in 1824, commenced in 1826, and completed in 1828. Carbondale was imme- diately connected with this improvement by a railroad, and, in 1829, 7000 tons of coal were shipped thence to the New York market. From that day to the present, the mighty company of the Delaware and Hudson Canal and Railroad has stretched its arms like seas, and encom- passed thousands of acres of first-rate coal land, at prices varying from |30 to $300 per acre. The company gives employment to many thousands of people. From 1830 to 1839, inclusive, it sent to market 854,430 tons of coal, and from 1840 to 1849, 2,958,458 tons.* Scranton was connected with the New York and Erie Railroad at Great Bend, in 1851, by the construction of the Northern Division of the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western road, which gave the lower Lackawanna coal- basin its first outlet. In 1856, the southern division of that road being completed, Scranton was connected with New Jersey and the city of New York. In consequence of this improvement, and the construction of the Lacka- wanna and Bloomsburg Railroad, the vast body of coal- lands lying along both banks of the Lackawanna, and south-west of the lands of the Delaware and Hudson Company, has been brought into market, and its resources are now being developed with astonishing energy. The amount of coal sent from this locality to market in 1851 was 6000 tons, and in 1859, about 800,000 tons.* The number of tons mined in the Lackawanna Valley down to 1860 is 12,552,025. According to Professor Rogers, who says he measured it, the northern coal-field (see dotted line on the accompany- ing county map) extends in length 50 miles, from Beach's mine, one mile below Shickshinny, to a point some dis- * See Appendix, W. 384 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. tance above Carbondale, and contains 177 square miles. The veins of coal vary in number from two to eight accord- ing to location, and in thickness from 1 to 28 feet. Taking the most reliable data we can obtain, we estimate this entire field to contain about 2,285,600,000 (two billions two hundred and eighty-five millions six hundred thou- sand) tons of good merchantable coal. Add to this 128,000,000 tons, the estimated amount in that portion of the eastern middle coal-field lying in Luzerne, and we have a total of 2,413,600,000 (two billions four hundred and thirteen millions six hundred thousand) tons. This quantity, valued in the mine at 30 cents per ton, is equal to 1724,080,000, or valued at the pit's mouth at $1.50, it would be worth $3,620,400,000 ; a greater sum of money than California could send us in 300 years, at the rate of more than $1,000,000 a month, or exceeding $30,000 a day. The total area of the anthracite fields of Pennsylvania, which include all of this variety of coal in the United States of any value, is 409 square miles, of which 187 lie within the limits of our county. The total amount of anthracite in all the coal-fields of the state has been liberally estimated at 5.500,000,000 (five billions five hundred millions) tons. From these fields there were mined, in 1830, about 175,000 tons; in 1835, 560,000 tons; in 1842, 1,108,000 tons; in 1850, 4,800,000 tons; and in 1856, 6,751,542 tons. For 1859 the number of tons of anthracite and semi-bituminous coal mined in the state was 8,737,766 tons, of which 3,500,000 tons were taken from the mines of Luzerne. The total amount of anthracite mined in this county down to 1860, is 29,060,386 tons.* That mined in the whole state amounts, to the same date, to 83,374,869 tons. At this rate, how long will our anthracite last? England uses 65,000,000 * For amount mined since 1859, see Appendix W. MINERALS AND THE COAL TRADE. 385 tons of her coal amiaallj, of which 10,000,000 tons are consumed under her steam-engines. Such a drain on our coal-fields would exhaust them in less than 85 years. But if we estimate the consumption of our anthracite as averaging about 15,000,000 of tons annually, from this date, it will last more than 420 years. At the present rate of increase, it will not be many years before the amount of anthracite mined in Pennsylvania will reach 15,000,000 of tons annually. Coal lands in England sell at from $3000 to $4000 per acre, while those in Luzerne bring only from $100 to $300 per acre. The difference in price is mainly attributable to the demand being greater there than in this countiy. As the demand for anthracite increases here, the prices of our coal acres must advance. It is impossible to say what is the annual capacity of our coal-fields, or to esti- mate the increasing expense of mining, or to conjecture, with a show of probability, how far the bituminous variety will come in competition with the anthracite, all of which circumstances will modify the prices of coal lands. But it is evident to every observer that the day is not distant when our coal acres will command a much higher price than they do now. To the man of science, the geologist and mineralogist, a visit to the coal-fields of Luzerne is replete with interest. The fossil remains of vegetables and animals are found in abundance, and not unfrequently specimens of the most perfect and interesting character. In the Baltimore mine, near Wilkesbarre, a stone forest may be seen — immense trees, the trunks and roots of which are perfect and dis- tinctly visible.'^ From several shafts, at a depth of from 200 to 800 feet, there have been taken many interesting fossils, which are preserved in the cabinet rooms of the "" The stump of one of these trees may be seen in the vestibule of the court-house at Wilkesbarre. 25 J86 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. Wyoming Historical and Geological Society at Wilkes- barre. To enter into a description of these, and of the interior of the mines, extending from 1000 to 8000 feet into the crust of the earth, and also of the coal crackers, screens, schutes, &c., used for preparing and loading the coal into boats and cars, would occupy more space than we have allotted to this chapter. Millions of money are expended, thousands of miners are employed, the dangers of damps, spontaneous combustion, and falling of the mines, are encountered to supply us with the ''black stones," which were rejected as worthless less than half a century ago. It is foreign to the character of this work to speculate on the origin of coal, and the geological con- ditions under which its formation took place; but the strata of the earth, like the leaves of an instructive volume, contain the history of our planet, and though man has scarcely, as yet, mastered the alphabet of the language in which it is written by the finger of God, still he can decipher sufficient to know that the knowledge therein preserved is of the most interesting nature. We close this chapter with a brief account of the iron ore of Luzerne. Iron ore of various qualities has been discovered in Salem, Union, and Kingston townships, on the west side of the Susquehanna, and in Newport and Wilkesbarre townships on the east side ; also, along the Lackawanna, and in the Moosic Mountain. The Salem bog-ore, vein 2 feet thick, may be seen on the estate of the late Alex- ander Jameson, Esq., 15 miles north-east of the Bloom- burg iron ore mines. This ore has never been tested. The Union ore, vein 18 inches, is found in the Shick- shinny Mountain, 6 miles north-east of Salem. It was tested at Danville, and yielded 28 per cent, of iron. The Kingston ore, in Hartzoff"s Hollow, 14 miles north-east of Union, is found iA'.rhe vespertine series, 500 feet below MIJSERALS AND THE COAL TRADE. 387 the serai conglomerate. There are two veins here, sepa- rated by 5 feet of rock, the first being from 1 to 2 feet thick, and the upper one 4 feet. The ore is ponderous, silicious, and of a black color. The Newport ore is 1 mile east of Union, and underlies an eight feet coal vein. There are three diiferent veins of this ore: one, ball-ore, 20 inches in thickness; one, stratified, 14 inches ; and one, cubical stratified, 6 inches. This ore was worked in a forge, at Nanticoke, for more than 40 years, and was also used by S. F. Headley, Esq., with the Bloomsburg ore, in his furnace, at Shickshinny. It yields 35 per cent. The Lackawanna and Moosic Mountain iron ore mines are connected by rail with the Scranton Iron Works. There are two veins or layers in fire clay, one ball-ore 12 inches, and the other 18 inches in thickness. It has been worked advantageously at Scranton, when mixed with New York and New Jersey ores. It yields 35 per cent., and was used in forges many years ago. A thorough exploration of our county would, probably, discover both iron and limestone beyond the Wyoming coal-field, to the west and north-west. Many years ago, an imperfect limestone was found in the Little Wyoming Mountain, in Newport township. In 1831, several hundred bushels of it were burnt and used on the land. Iron can now be manufactured in Wyoming Valley at $15 per ton, the ore and limestone being brought by canal or railroad from Columbia county. The proportions of the cost would be as follows : — 2 J tons of iron ore by canal, . . . . $6.96 2 tons of coal, 3.00 i ton of limestone, . . . , . 1.40 Labor, furnace, &c., 3.64 $15.00 388 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. The increasing demand for anthracite will increase the price, and when the figure shall have advanced to about $3 per ton at the pit's mouth, the smoke of a hundred furnaces will arise from our valleys. Iron ore, if not pro- cured within our own borders, will be brought from abroad, for it will be more economical to manufacture the metal in the locality of" the fuel than elsewhere. The most careless observer must be impressed with the vast resources of Luzerne. It needs no prophet's ken to dis- cern the gigantic enterprises, the great accumulation of capital, and the dense population of the future. CHAPTER XIII. NEWSPAPERS, BOOKS, POETRY, LITERARY AND BENE- FICIAL SOCIETIES. " Turn to the press, its teeming sheets survey, Big with the wonders of each passing day, Births, deaths, and weddings, forgeries, fires, and wrecks. Harangues and hailstorms, brawls and broken necks." The art of printing was discovered by John Gutten- berg, a German, in 1436, at Strasburg, but was consider- ably improved by John Faust and Peter SchaefFer. This noble invention was, at first, deemed so extra- ordinary, that those who sold some of the early publica- tions at Paris were pronounced magicians, and the books were committed to the flames. We may well regret that the Greeks and Romans were ignorant of this art, for if it had been known to them, a vast storehouse of ancient wisdom and learning, now irrevocably lost, would have come down to us. But we have a security in the press, that the arts and sciences without material interruption will be perpetuated from age to age, and that nothing useful or indeed refined can ever again be lost amid the irruption of barbarians and the overthrow of empires. The first printed newspaper was issued in 1524, and like the art itself was a German production. Prior to this, newspapers were written and publicly read at speci- fied times and places. The hearers paid each a certain sum of money for the privilege of being present. In Italy, a paper of this character was called Gazetta, from (389) 390 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. the name of the coin paid by the listener, from which is. derived our word gazette. The first printed English newspaper was issued in . London, in 1588, and was called " The English Mercury." The earliest newspaper in North America was the " Boston News Letter," issued April 24th, 1704. In 1720, there were 7 newspapers in the American Colonies, and, in 1775, 35, of which 9 were issued in Pennsylvania. In 1850, the number of newspapers and periodicals in the United States was 2526 — of newspapers alone, 2302. In the state of Pennsylvania, the number of newspapers, at present, is 297, of which 9 are issued in Luzerne county, 7 English and 2 German. In 1795, two young men, whose names are unknown, came to Wilkesbarre from Philadelphia with a small press and a few cases of type. They printed " The Herald of the Times," the first newspaper published in the county. Prior to this date, all notices, advertisements, &c., were put up on the town sign-posts, the first of which was erected in Wilkesbarre, in 1774, on the river bank. " The Herald of the Times" was issued for a short period, and was then sold by the proprietors to Thomas Wright, and published by Josiah Wright under the name of the " Wilkesbarre Gazette." The first number was dated November 29th, 1797, and bore the following motto : — " Let party rage, let malice vent her spite, Truth we'll revere, and we shall e'er be right." The Gazette, though a small, was a well-edited paper. It was 10 by 16 inches in size, a little larger than a sheet of foolscap paper, and, at $2 per annum, was sustained by upwards of 300 subscribers. In 1801 it ceased to be published. In the last numbers of the paper Mr. Wright gave the following notice : — " I intend to send a boat NEWSPAPERS, ETC. 391 u}) the river in March or April next, to receive the grain that may have been collected on account of news- papers." , In 1801, Asher Miner established " The Luzerne Federalist," at Wilkesbarre, and the first number was issued on the 5th of January. Mr. M. was a practical printer, having served seven years with Master Green. He had worked in the office of the Gazette, and, it appears, won at the same time the affections of his em- ployer's daughter, Miss Wright, whom he afterwards married. The Federalist was a larger paper than the Gazette. Still it was of very moderate dimensions, for two reams of its paper were placed in an ordinary bag and conveyed on horseback from the paper-mill in Allen- town to Wilkesbarre ; and this was done once in two weeks. The press on which the Federalist was printed was brought from Norwich, Conn., on a sled, by Charles Miner and S. Howard. In reference to this circumstance, the venerable Mr. Miner thus speaks in his late letter to the Pioneer Society : " So strange a piece of machinery was a wonder along the road — the thousand and one inquiries — What is it? His patience being exhausted, Mr. Howard was wont to reply, " We are taking it to Wyoming. They are terribly troubled there with mice, and this is timber for mouse-traps." In 1802, Charles became associated with Asher Miner in conducting the Federalist, which they ably edited until 1809, when it was transferred to Steuben Butler and Sidney Tracy. These latter gentlemen, in 1811, enlarged the paper, and changed its name to " The Gleaner," with the motto, " Intelligence is the life of liberty." The editors, in their address to the public, said, " We intend to make ' The Gleaner' as great a favorite with the people as Ruth ever was with the liberal and gallant Boaz, and we hope, like 392 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. her, ' The Gleaner' will find favor in the readers' eyes, and that the measures of barley will not be forgotten." The Federalist had been the organ of the party bearing that name, and the change of name to " The Gleaner" did not alter its political character. In a few months Mr. Tracy withdrew from the establishment, and was suc- ceeded by Charles Miner, who, in connection with Mr. Butler and others, ably conducted " The Gleaner" until 1818, when the enterprise was abandoned. " The Susquehanna Democrat" was established in Wilkesbarre, by Samuel Maffet, in 1810, with the follow- ing motto : " The support of the state governments, in all their rights, is the most competent administration for our domestic institutions, and the surest bulwark against anti-republican tendencies."^ It was the organ of the Democratic party, and was of the same size as the Gleaner, being 11 by 17 inches. Both of these papers were exceedingly warm in the advocacy of their princi- ples and views, and they were accustomed to pour the hot shot into each other with no unsparing hand. Espe- cially was this the case on the approach of an election, and when offices were to be filled. In 1824 the "Democrat" was sold to S. D. Lewis and Chester A. Colt, and by them published until 1831, when Mr. Lewis sold his interest to Luther Kidder. In 1832 Colt sold to Conrad, who transferred his interest to Mr. Kidder, who became the sole editor and proprietor. In 1833 Mr .Kidder sold to James Rafierty and C. Edwards, who issued the paper about one year, when it was pur- chased by Dr. Christel & Co., in whose hands it expired. " The Wyoming Herald" was established in Wilkes- barre, by Steuben Butler, in 1818, soon after " The Gleaner" had ceased to be published, and beneath its title was placed the appropriate words — NEWSPAPERS, ETC. 393 " He comes, the herald of a noisy world, News from all nations." ' This paper exhibited a marked improvement in its ma- terials and workmanship on its predecessors, but was still, like them, published weekly, at $2 per year in advance. In 1828 it was enlarged, and published by Butler & Worthington until 1831, when Mr. W. withdrew, and Asher Miner became associated with Mr. Butler. This copartnership continued until 1833, when the establish- ment passed into the hands of Eleazar Carey and Robert Miner. These gentlemen conducted the paper until 1835, at which time it was merged in " The Wyoming Repub- lican." " The Wyoming Republican" was established in King- ston, in 1832, by S. D. Lewis, and was edited with ability by that gentleman until 1837, when the press and mate- rials were sold to Dr. Thomas W. Miner, and removed to Wilkesbarre. Dr. M., in conjunction with Miner S. Blackman, edited and published the " Republican" until 1839, at which period it was purchased by S. P. Collings, and united with " The Republican Farmer." We feel that we hazard nothing in saying that the " Republican," from its birth until its death, was one of the best and most ably-conducted papers in the country, and no one can peruse its old files without lively interest and admi- ration. " The Republican Farmer" was established in Wilkes- barre, by Henry Pettibone and Henry Held, in 1828, and in 1831 Mr. P. sold his interest to J. J. Adam. In 1833 the materials were purchased by B. A. Bidlack and Mr. Atherholt, and in 1835 it became the property of S. P. Collings, who remained its editor and proprietor until 1852, when the establishment passed into the hands of S. S. Benedict, and was merged in " The Luzerne Union." 594 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. The " Farmer" was a thorough democratic paper, and, besides the talents of its able editors, it was sustained by the literary and political contributions of several distin- guished gentlemen. In its columns may be found articles from the pens of Andrew Beaumont, Judge Scott, Dr. T. W. Miner, and others. Two of its editors became repre- sentatives of the United States government in for'^'^n lands, and died in the service of their country. Bidlack lies buried in South America, and the bones of Collings are beneath the sands of Africa. " The Luzerne Democrat" was established in Wilkes- barre, in 1845, by L. L. Tate, and was afterwards sold to Chester Tuttle. In 1852 it became the property of S. S. Benedict, who changed its name to " The Luzerne Union." In 1854 it passed into the possession of S. S. Winchester. In 1855 Mr. Winchester sold to Mr. Bosea, who shortly after transferred it to Waelder & Neibel. They, in 1858, sold to E. S. Goodrich, who sold in 1859 to Mifflin Hannum, and he sold in 1865 to W. H. Hibbs. " The Daily Telegraph," the first and last daily news- paper in the county, was commenced at Wilkesbarre, in 1852, by E. Collings & H. Brower. It survived eight weeks, and was then sold to M. B. Barnum & W. H. Beaumont, who started " The True Democrat" in opposi- tion to " The Luzerne Union." In 1853 the name was changed to " The Democratic Expositor," edited by James Raferty. In 1855 the materials were removed to Scran- ton, and the " Spirit of the Valley" was issued by Messrs. Alleger & Adams. In 1840, " The Northern Pennsylvanian" was issued at Wilkesbarre, by W. Bolton, and after one year it was removed to Tunkhannock. " The Anti-Masonic Advocate" was established in NEWSPAPERS, ETC. 395 Wilkesbarre, bj Elijah Worthington, in 1832, with the motto : — " Pledged but to truth, to liberty, and law, No favor sways us, and no fear shall awe." In 1835, the press was sold to Eliphalet Worthington, who published the paper one year, and sold to J. Foster. In 1838, Mr. Foster sold to Amos Sisty, who changed the name to " The Wilkesbarre Advocate," and for several years edited and published it with distinguished ability, often furnishing its columns with genuine and beautiful poetry from his own pen. " Liberty and union, one and inseparable, now and for ever," was his motto ; and he adhered to the principle therein expressed with peculiar tenacity until his death. In 1843, the paper passed into the hands of S. D. Lewis, and, in 1853, Mr. L. sold to W. P. Miner, who changed the name to " The Record of the Times," under which title Mr. M. continues to publish one of the best papers in the country. " The Democratic Watchman," a German paper, was established in Wilkesbarre, in 1841, by J. Waelder, and, in 1851, it was sold to R. Baur, who is still the editor and proprietor. "The Truth" was first issued in Wilkesbarre, in 1840, by B. C. Denison, and in a few weeks was enlarged to super-royal size, and called " The Democratic Truth." "The Literary Visitor," royal octavo size, was esta- blished in Wilkesbarre, by Steuben Butler, in 1813, and was continued until July, 1815. It was an able literary paper. " The Wasp," a small Paul Pry sheet, was published in Wilkesbarre, in 1840, by Burdock & Boneset, and edited by Nicholas Nettle. It bore as its motto, — " Laugh when we must, be candid when we can." 396 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. " The People's Grubbing Hoe," a Harrison campaign paper, was issued in 1840, at Wilkesbarre, by A. Sisty, with the following words explanatory of its character : — " It digs up the political stumps, the squalid roots, the rotten trees, and will lend its aid in cleaning out all nuisances, encumbering the great political farm of the people." With the foregoing account of the papers published in Wilkesbarre, we proceed to note those journals which were published in other parts of the county. "The Northern Pennsylvanian" was removed from Dundaff, Susquehanna county, in 1832, to Carbondale, in this county, by Amzi Wilson, who continued to publish it until December 30th, 1837. At that time he sold out to William Bolton, who issued the paper at Carbondale up to the 24th of April, 1840, when he removed his esta- blishment to Wilkesbarre. This paper was originally called " The Dundaff Republican," advocating democratic principles, and was first issued at Dundaff, on the 14th of February, 1828. " The Carbondale Journal" was established at Carbon- dale in 1838, by James B. Mix as editor, advocating whig measures. After about a year Charles Mead be- came its editor, who conducted it for a year, when it passed into the hands of William S. Ward, who issued it until September 2d, 1841, when the paper was discon- tinued. " The Carbondale Gazette" was established in Carbon- dale, by Philander S. Joslin, on the 5th of May, 1842. July 6th, 1843, Francis B. Woodward entered into part- nership with Mr. Joslin, and these two gentlemen edited the Gazette until the 8th of November, 1844, at which time the firm was dissolved. Mr. Joslin became sole editor and proprietor, and in December following sold out NEWSPAPERS, ETC. 397 to F. B. Woodward, who altered the name of the paper to that of " The County Mirror." It had heretofore sus- tained a neutral character — it now became whig in prin- ciples. In 1845, it was removed to Providence, in this county. " The Carbondale Democrat" was established in 1845, at Carbondale, by P. S. Joslin and Silas S. Benedict. In 1849 the paper was enlarged, and the name changed to "The Lackawanna Citizen and Carbondale Democrat." In 1850, the name was again changed to " The Lacka- wanna Citizen." It was discontinued April 1st, 1854. Mr. P. K. Barger and Mr. Homer Grenell were connected with this paper, and conducted it under the firm of P. K. Barger & Co. Mr. Benedict ceased to be its editor De- cember 1st, 1852. About August 1st, 1854, J. T. Alleger and J. B. Adams started a paper in Carbondale, called " The Carbondale Democrat," which was only continued until January, 1855. " The Democratic Standard and Know-Nothing Expo- sitor" was first issued in Carbondale June 1st, 1855, by John J. Allen. It was continued until September 17th following, when the building in which it was printed, together with about twenty others, was burnt, and the paper was never re-established. " The Lackawanna Journal," a whig paper, was com- menced at Carbondale January 20th, 1849, by George M. Reynolds, and on the 27th of December, 1850, he asso- ciated himself with Dewitt C. Kitchen in the conduct of the paper. February 28th, 1851, they altered the name to that of " The Carbondale Transcript and Lackawanna Journal." The same year Mr. Kitchen retired, and Mr. Rej^nolds becoming sole proprietor and editor, continued the paper until May 1st, 1857, when he sold to R. H. 398 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. Willoughby. Mr. Willoughby started a new journal on the 21st of May, 1857, which he named " The Advance." He edited the Advance until the 3d of October following, when it was purchased by Dr. Charles Burr and George M. Reynolds. In February, 1858, Mr. Reynolds became sole editor and proprietor. In the following May he sold the establishment to Silas S. Benedict, who in the follow- ing September changed the name to " The Weekly Ad- vance," under which title it is still published by him. " The Pittston Gazette" was established in Pittston in August, 1850, by Messrs. Richart and Phillips. It was continued by them until the fall of 1853, when Mr. Phil- lips sold his interest to Mr. Richart, who, in 1857, sold to Dr. J. H. Puleston. Mr. Richart repurchased in 1860. " The Pittston Herald," started in Pittston, in 1855, by E. S. Neibell, was discontinued after a few months. " The Pittston Free Press," commenced in Pittston, in 1859, by Arnold C. Lewis, had a short existence of a few months. " The Lackawanna Herald" was established in Scranton in 1852, by C. E. Lathrop, and advocated whig doctrines, from which it glided into Know-Nothingism. In 1856, it was purchased by E. B. Chase, who changed the po- litical character of the paper. He united it with " The Spirit of the Valley," and they took the name of " The Herald of the Union," advocating democratic measures. Mr. Chase sold to Dr. J. B. Adams and Dr. A. Davis. Dr. Davis purchased the interest of Dr. Adams in the spring of 1859, when Dr. S. M. Wheeler became associated with Dr. Davis, and the paper is now edited and published by the firm of Davis & Wheeler.^ " The Scranton Republican" was established in 1856, and was edited by Theodore Smith. Mr. Smith sold to NEWSPAPERS, ETC. 399 F. A. McCartney in 1858, wlio is the present editor and proprietor.^ " The Tri- Weekly Experiment" was commenced in Scranton in 1855 by F. Dilley. It was discontinued at the end of three months. " The Kingston Guardian" was established in the borough of Kingston, in 1858, by Messrs. Kitchen and Denn. It was subsequently removed to Plymouth, and the name changed to " The Plymouth Register." " The Olio" is a small sheet, the second volume of which is now in course of publication by the High School at Scranton. It is a neatly printed school journal, devoted to literature and general intelligence. It is published semi-monthly. Terms — two ounces of attention, payable invariably immediately on the receipt of each number. " The Mountaineer" was published in Conyngham, in 1834, by J. A. Gordon. It was continued for eighteen months. The press was the property of N. Beach, Jacob Drumheller, M. S. Brundage, and A. G. Broadhead, Esqs. Such is a brief record of the several newspapers pub- lished in Luzerne county, from 1795 to 1865. They have been edited for the most part by active and intelligent men, and have been supported by an appreciating and reading people. The small 10 by 12 sheet has expanded to the large family newspaper, presenting to the eye of the reader a most interesting budget of news, gathered weekly from all quarters of the habitable globe. The old Ramage wooden hand-press has been supplanted by improved iron hand and steam presses. The number of printing establishments have increased from 1 to 9, with a proportionate increase of circulation. The value of printing machinery and materials has increased from $500, the cost of the original " Herald of the Times," in 400 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. 1795, to 150,000, the present estimated value of all the establishments in the county. BOOKS. In the year 1800, Abraham Bradley, Esq., who had been a captain in the Revolutionary army, and who had removed, in 1796, from Connecticut to Wyoming, wrote a- small 12mo. book, entitled "A New Theory of the Earth." It was printed and published at Wilkesbarre, by Asher and Charles Miner, and gave great alarm to many pious old ladies, among others to Mr. Bradley's good wife. The work was thought to be infidel in its character, ad- vancing doctrines not in conformity with the teachings of Holy Writ. These orthodox ladies and others were active in its destruction, committing the book to the flames whenever a copy fell into their hands. This cir- cumstance accounts for the present scarcity of the work. The New Theory unfolded the doctrine of a new creation from the ruins of an old world, and of separate and dis- tinct acts of creation, such as the formation of an original black pair in Africa, a red pair in America, and a white pair in Europe. In contrasting the descendants of Noah with the other races Mr. Bradley observes, with respect to the nose and teeth, that the European noses are made after a great variety of patterns. The European race has, in fact, no distinctive or characteristic nose like the other races. Nature in their case, so far as this member is concerned, has been altogether capricious. The Roman nose, which is national in India, falls to the lot of one European, the short thick nose of the Tartar race to another, the thin hooped nose of the native American to a third, and occa- sionally we meet with one resembling the negro model. NEWSPAPERS, ETC. 401 As to the teeth, it is remarked, that the diminutive savages of the Arctic circle, the fierce inhabitants of the American wilderness, the shiftless blacks of New Guinea, and the woolly herds of Negroland, are furnished with two rows of fine white ivory in their gums, combining the useful and the ornamental, while the proud and conceited Euro- pean is compelled to extract one rotten snag after another, until the lips cave in against the end of the tongue, and render his utterance indistinct and weak. The art of the present day has done for Europeans and their descendants what, perhaps, Mr. Bradley in his dreams never antici- pated. It has placed in the mouths of old and young, whose teeth are gone, handsome rows of false ivory, rivaling in snowy whiteness those of the children of Guinea. Mr. Bradley's work exhibits but a slight know- ledge of the question he discusses, and may be viewed as altogether speculative, and mostly inaccurate. In 1803, A. and C. Miner published at Wilkesbarre a work of 142 pages, entitled " The Susquehanna Contro- versy Examined. The material objections against the Connecticut claimants answered. Done with truth and candor, by Samuel Avery, Esq." This publication made its appearance at the time when the last commission to settle land-titles assembled at Wilkesbarre. It has fur- nished a large amount of valuable information to writers on the subject since that period. " The History of Wyoming," by Isaac Chapman, a resident of the valley, was printed and published at Wilkesbarre in 1830, by S. D. Lewis. It contains 209 pages. It is considered a standard work. It is of a 12mo. size, and is rarely met with. For a country pub- lication of thirty years ago, it exhibits a fair' degree of mechanical skill, in respect both to printing and binding, " The Frontier Maid, or a Tale of Wyoming," a poem 26 402 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. in five cantos, was written by Joseph McCoy, cashier of the Philadelphia Branch Bank. It was printed and pub- lished by Steuben Butler and Samuel Maffet, at Wilkes- barre, in 1819. It is a well-bound book of 205 pages, and its mechanical execution does credit to the publishers. The author subsequently becoming dissatisfied with his production, collected and burnt all the volumes that he could procure. The principal characters are Edith, the maid. Lesion, her father, Howard, her lover, Zorac (Abraham Pike), the Bugle Boy (Jonah Kogers), and Eutaw, a friendly Indian, who answers to Campbell's Outalissi. Edith was captured by the savages, and may represent any one of a half dozen young women who were carried into captivity from Wyoming, and who had a Howard lover, and a Lesion father to mourn her loss. After killing the Indians who had captured Pike, Rogers, Van Campen, and Pence, Zorac -is represented in the poem as pursuing the captors of Edith, who was finally rescued. The rescue was accomplished by Eutaw, with whom she escaped down the Susquehanna in a canoe. She arrived at Wyoming on the night of the fatal 3d of July, 1778. Howard had been slain in the battle, and her father had fled, with the other inhabitants who sur- vived, towards the great or dismal swamp. The poem commences thus : — " The winds are hushed, and the heart it cheers, To see the heavens so bright ; The stars seem dancing for joy in their spheres, At the holy peace, the calm delight, That reigns o'er the quiet of the night. II. And does lone Susquehanna hear No rude alarm, no sound of fear. As under skies so blue and bright, She strays among her hills to-night ? NEWSPAPERS, ETC. 40c In sooth there seems no sound abroad, In hill, or vale of that sweet flood, Save where, towards her secret den, The she-wolf speeds, and now and then, Shakes the wild briar, or rushing grass. As she hurries through the tangled pass : Or save where the fitful breeze proceeds, Ruffling the calm flood o'er. And rustling at times the long wild reeds. As it wanders down the shore. And are there indeed no sounds but these, On the shores of that wild flood ; No rustling but that of the fitful breeze, No stirring in dell, or wood. But that by the diligent she-wolf made. As she rapidly drives through the lowland shade ! III. Oh yes ! far other disquietude A boding doubt recalls ; For not remote, where the hurrying flood Comes roaring down the falls, The night is startled by strange alarms. Portending fearful doom ; The voices of men and the clang of arms, Resounding far through the gloom. For mustering there by the river bank. Where the fortress looks stern o'er the tide. With rampart and fosse in front and flank, And battlement bold and breastwork wide. And starry standards waving high, In the dusk of the midnight air, A band of heroes who death defy, A little band that must conquer, or die, For a bloody day prepare. The following extract is descriptive of a messenger from the battle-field, and the flight of the women and children : — 404 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. " But hark ! what messenger of doom Comes shouting through the fearful gloom ? Down through the shoreland wood he flies, And far before him sends his cries. He bears a burning brand in flight, And from the path now starts to sight. Wild blows the wind, his upturned hair Is dashed with blood, his breast is bare, And down his naked neck and side Is streaming red the sanguine tide. " fly !" he cries, " from worse than death ; I warn you with my dying breath. The foe in fury cross above j Their hasty rafts already move. Fly ! fly ! into the mountain's height. And trust the shelter of the night." Fainting he falls while yet he speaks, And breathes his last amid their shrieks The dread alarm in fearful cries, Down through the distant hamlet flies ; And mothers with their screaming care Of little ones, and all the fair. Flying tumultuous through the night, And mingling in the general flight. In wild distraction and dismay. Are hurrying on their mountain way. Now from the lofty paths they trod, As wistfully they glanced abroad. The distant fortress through the night, With rising fires is sparkling bright ; And now the flames are bursting high. And broad they kindle through the sky ; And mournful in funereal blaze : Where'er they turn their anxious gaze, Beyond the gleaming river way, Whose winding course they far survey, Mansion and cottage scattered wide. With fires innumerous light the tide. And now along the nearer shore. Where the lone Mill Creek's waters roar^ As o'er the rocks her tide she flings. And forth into the river springs, NEWSPAPERS, ETC. 405 The distant hum of shouting foes, In low and dismal murmur rose : And, lo ! those casual flashings bright Too surely show their onward flight. Edith, wandering at night on the lonely mountain, hears the report of a gun, and meets her father. " Edith, my child ! Is there an ear An anguish'd father's voice to hear ?" A piercing shriek her soul expressed, And wild she rushed upon his breast. A moment lost in transport drear, Her soul forgot each care and fear ; But now recalled that near alarm ! And, fearful hanging on his arm, Around a dubious glance she cast : "Fear not" — the warrior said — "-'TIS past. A deadly foe with demon spite. Pursued my footsteps through the night : Baffling the skill of his murderous eye, I fled by devious ways on high ; But still he seemed my track to mark, And still I heard him in the dark ; 'Till here among the cliff's withdrawn, I stood and watched him skulking on : And firing as thou heard'st the shock, He yelled and tumbled from the rock ! So we are safe retreat to seek, Oh ! tremble not, yet hear, yet speak !" Her half-repressed, heart-rending moan, Showed she now felt they stood alone ; And wildly did her wandering stare Inquire why Howard came not there. The weeping father o'er her hung : The awful silence of his tongue Told her his heart was all too weak The fate of that brave youth to speak. Filling his soul with dread alarms. She sinks unbreathing from his arms ; And o'er her he is bending low, And wild his words of anii;uish flow. 406 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. Yes, he is gone ! my brave, brave boy, Pierced to tbe heart for me. My earliest hope, my latest joy, And he was all to thee. And would'st thou kill whom he would save, Nor live to comfort me ? Oh wouldst thou bow me to the grave, When I have none but thee ? No, live, look up, my only one, Nor from my misery flee, But weep with me, my hopes undone, And I will weep with thee." A father's cries were in her ear, His lip was on her cheek. She clasped his neck those cries to hear, But had no word to speak. " Yes, thou wilt live, my gentle child. And, while our grief we share. Affliction of its gloom beguiled A placid smile shall wear." His mantle o'er his child is cast, And lowly she reclines, And shrilly blows the whistling blast. Among the mountain pines." We have given the foregoing not because of its poetical beauties, for much of it is evidently of that character which, it is said, neither gods nor men can tolerate, but it is presented as a specimen of some of the poetry or rhymes which were composed in the valley forty years ago. Asher and Charles Miner, during their editorial and publishing career, issued at Wilkesbarre a hymn-book, edited by Sampson Occum, who, for many years, preached the gospel to the Mohegan Indians. They also published a small work, entitled "The Merry Fellow's Companion," composed of anecdotes, selected in part by Charles Miner. A work on Alchemy, NEWSPAPERS, ETC. 407 written by Dr. William Hooker Smith, was published by the same gentleman many years ago. We have made the following selections of poetry written at various periods by persons residing in, or at the time visiting, our county. The first selection is a piece written by Charles Miner during the visit of a party of young ladies at his house. It was published in the " Literary Visitor" of September 16, 1814. How dull and dreary is the day, Sad and cheerless look the fields, No merry thrush attunes his lay, No charm the joyous landscape yields. Though Sol to-day assumes his veil, And Flora wears a woeful face, Yet surely pleasure cannot fail , To mingle here with so much grace. Then, girls, ne'er heed the cold and rain, But pleasure's company enjoy; These hours will ne'er return again. With pleasure then the hours employ. Come, laugh and sing, and chat and play, Be merry as the morning lark, Drive care and sorrow far away. And I will promise each a spark. The following was written by Josiah Wright, and published in the "Literary Visitor" of March 10, 1815. JACKSON AND HIS COMRADES. When hostile southern Indians rose, A barbarous horde of savage foes, And threatened to exterminate The border settlers of the state, 408 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. Who flew to arms their lives to save ? 'Twas Jackson and his comrades brave. Who filled the savage breast with dread, As from their scattered ranks they fled — Our starry banners did display Triumphant in East Florida, And made the Indians peace to crave ? 'Twas Jackson and his comrades brave. When Britain sent a veteran host, To subjugate our southern coast, And seize New Orleans — glittering prize — Before the western men could rise, Who breast the shock the place to save ? 'Twas Jackson and his comrades brave. When Packenham, and Gibbs, and Keane, All famed for feats of arms in Spain, Led on their troops to storm our line-^ " Booty and Beauty" the countersign — Who sent a thousand to their grave ? 'Twas Jackson and his comrades brave. Who beat the proud invading foe, And all his flattering hopes laid low. In haste compelled him to '^ itreat, And safety seek on board his fleet, Retrace his march across the wave ? 'Twas Jackson and his comrades brave., Then let our rising nation prove Their gratitude, their joy, their love; Let fame proclaim to distant climes. And tell the tale to future times. How Jackson and his patriot band Did succor Freedom's chosen land ! Below we give a production from the pen of Edward NEWSPAPERS ETC. 409 Chapman, brother of Isaac A. Chapman. It was pub- lished at Wilkesbarre in the year 1814 : — COLUMBIA. Columbia's shores are wild and wide, Columbia's hills are high, And rudely planted, side by side. Where forests meet the eye : But narrow must those shores be made. And low Columbia's hills, And low her ancient forests laid, Ere Freedom leaves her fields. For 'tis the land where, rude and wild, She played her gambols when a child. And deep and wide her streams, that flow Impetuous to the tide; And thick and green her laiirels grow, On every river's side. But should a transatlantic host Pollute her waters fair. We'll meet them on the rocky coast, And gather laurels there. For ! Columbia's sons are brave, And free as Ocean's wildest wave. The gales that wave her mountain pine Are fragrant and serene ; And never clearer sun did shine Than lights her valleys green. But putrid must those breezes blow. That sun must set in gore, Ere footsteps of a foreign foe Imprint Columbia's shore : For ! her sons are brave and free, Their breasts beat high with liberty. For arming boldest cuirassier, We've mines of sterling worth, 410 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. For sword and buckler, spur and spear, Emboweled in the earth : But ere Columbia's sons resign The boon their fathers won, The polished ore from every mine Shall glitter in the sun : For bright's the blade and sharp's the spear Which Freedom's sons to battle bear. Let Britain boast the deeds she's done, Display her trophies bright, And count her laurels bravely won. In well contested fight : Columbia can a band array, Will wrest that laurel wreath; With truer eye and steadier hand, Will strike the blow of death : For whether on the land or sea, Columbia's fight is victory. Let France in blood through Europe wade, And in her frantic mood. In civil discord draw the blade. And spill her children's blood : Too dear that skill in arms is bought, Where kindred life-blood flows, Columbia's sons are only taught To triumph o'er their foes : And then to comfort, soothe, and save. The feelings of the conquered brave. Then let Columbia's eagle soar. And bear her banner high, The thunder from her dexter pour, And lightning from her eye : And when she sees from realms above, The storm of war is spent. Descending like the welcome dove, The olive branch present : And then will beauty's hand divine, The never-fading wreath entwine. NEWSPAPERS, ETC. 411 In the " Wilkesbarre Advocate" of July 28, 1841, is published a poetical production bearing the caption of " Wyoming." It is from the pen of E. E. LeClerc, Esq., and bears the ring of the true metal ; but it is too lengthy for our pages. The following is the production of a lady blind from her infancy — a daughter of the Honorable Charles Miner : — LINES ON VISITING THE WYOMING MONUMENT. (JtTLT, 1837.) We sought the spot, and peaceful was the scene^ As though an infant's chamber it had been ; A summer cloud just veiled the sun's bright glare, And nature lai"d her richest carpet there ; A murmur, soft and low, from stream and grove, Seemed soothing as the voice of one we love ; As though aerial spirits loved to keep Their watch around this couch, where patriots sleep. Thus is the spot so beautiful and bless'd, Where from that day's fierce toil they sunk to rest; That day of toil, that earned them glory, fame — No ! their bold hearts ne'er throbbed at glory's name : But deeper, holier feelings there prevailed, When haughty foes their humble homes assailed. And 'tis a holier voice than that of fame, Shall still such sufferings, and such deeds proclaim. And in the light that memory sheds around, As we approach the consecrated ground, Borne on the swelling tide of feelings strong, We see them come, a living, honored throng — Claiming the tribute patriot hearts can pay. When glory's loud acclaim has died away. 412 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. ODE, WRITTEN FOR THE "WYOMING LITERARY INSTITUTE," JULY 3, 1841. BY AMOS SISTY. Air — "Star- spangled Banner." Oh ! dark was the day when our forefathers fell ; When their homes by the red storm of war were overclouded j When the Tory's fierce hate, and the Redman's wild yell, Left the Vale, now so lovely, in sorrow enshrouded : And the torch flaming high, Lit the summer eve sky, When the shout of the victor, and woman's lone cry, Were sounds that were thrilling on Wyoming's shore. And her bravest and best were asleep in their gore. It has passed — but that day, in our memories true. And the heroes who bled, shall be fitly recorded ; Nor longer, in vain, shall the past spirit sue ; The valor of lang syne will soon be rewarded. Though an age may have rolled Since the death-knell was tolled. And the bones of the warrior lie mouldering and old ; We the Monument raise, on Wyoming's fair shore — A land rendered sacred by brave hearts of yore. And oh ! should a foeman again in our Vale Bring the bright sword of war, and the cannon deep roaring Every arm would upraise, and the breath of the gale Send the star-spangled flag to the high heavens soaring ; By the river's clear tide. On the mountain's rock side. Every son would the shock of invasion abide ; Their streams would run red with their enemy's gore, And free be forever fair Wyoming's shore. NEWSPAPERS, ETC. 413 THE SONS OF "WYOMING. WRITTEN BY ANDREW BEAUMONT, SOON AFTER THE DEPARTURE OF THE WYOMING ARTILLERISTS FOR THE MEXICAN WAR. Air — " The Star- Spangled Banner." Oh, say, did you hear the loud clarion of war, Send its summoning blast o'er our hills and our valley ; And Mars, with his helmet, his buckler, and spear, Call our youth round " The Star-Spangled Banner" to rally ? Mid these stirring alarms, See our sons rush to arms — While the passion for glory each gallant heart warms ; And the sons of Wyoming shall hence be our boast. Be the theme of our song and the soul of our toast. Behold where the Fane of Religion ascends, Those youth clad in arms round the altar of freedom. And pledge in the presence of kindred and friends, Their blood and their lives, if their country should need them, Then the paean rose high. And the shout rent the sky. While the patriot tear stole from each generous eye. And the sons of Wyoming shall e'er be our boast, Be the theme of our song and the soul of our toast. And ne'er shall the page of our history declare. That the youth of Wyoming are wanting in duty ; Beloved as companions — undaunted in war, And the smiles of the fair are their " booty and beauty. ' For the same ardor fires, The same spirit inspires. That guided in battle their patriot sires. And the sons of Wyoming shall long be our boast. Be the theme of our song and the soul of our toast. The following was written by A. T. Lee, then an artist, on a visit to Wyoming. He is now, we believe, an officer of note in the United States army. 414 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. THE SHAWANEE'S FAREWELL. Farewell, Susquehanna, farewell, noble stream, Where the brown maiden sung once the loftiest theme ; I hear the waves dash at thy gray pebbled shore. But the leaves whisper o'er me thou wilt hear them no more. We have fought long and hard, but the struggle is o'er, And the bowstring shall twang at these waters no more ; The scalp of the Sachem is torn from his brow. And the black wing of death is his canopy now. I go, the pale faces have bade me depart, They have scattered the blood of my sire's noble heart ; The bones of a thousand lay white on the plain, But their loud whoops of war they'll ne'er mingle again. Koll on, Susquehanna, as proud art thou yet As when my young eyes and thy glory first met. As when with light heart, o'er thy surface so blue, I steered round Jbhy green isles my light bark canoe. Farewell, ere the rays that now silver i^ breast, Point up from the far purpled hills of the west; The red child shall wander, in spirits suhdued. Through the dark paJMsSS d^pik of that pine solitude. There yet is a land to the wild hunter dear, Where the Miami Volls through the wilderness clear j And there the lone child of the forest will go. And hunt by the lakes the brown buflPalo. TO THE SUSQUEHANNA, ON ITS JUNCTION WITH THE LACKAWANNA. BY MRS. SIGOURNET. Rush on, glad stream, in thy power and pride. To claim the hand of thy promised bride, For she hastes from the realm of the darkened mine. To mingle her murmured vows with thine : NEWSPAPERS, ETC. 415 Ye have met, ye have met, and your shores prolong The liquid tone of your nuptial song. Methinks ye wed as the white man's son And the child of the Indian King have done. I saw the bride as she strove in vain To cleanse her brow from the carbon stain ; But she brings thee a dowry so rich and true That thy love must not shrink from the tawny hue. Her birth was rude in a mountain cell, And her infant freaks there are none to tell ;~ Yet the path of her beauty was wild and free, And in dell and forest she hid from thee ; But the day of her fond caprice is o'er, And she seeks to part from thy breast no more. Pass on, in the joy of thy blended tide. Through the land where the blessed Miquon died. No red man's blood, with its guilty stain, Hath cried unto Grod from that broad domain ; With the seeds of peace they have sown the soil, Bring a harvest of wealth for their hour of toil. On, on, through the vale where the brave ones sleep, Where the waving foliage is rich and deep. I have stood on the mountain and roamed through the gleuv To the beautiful homes of the Western men ; Yet nought in that region of glory could see So fair as the vale of Wyoming to me. THE POOR MAN AND THE DOCTOR. WKITTEN, IN 1812, BY JAMES SINTON, LATE CASHIER OF THE EASTON BANK, WHO FORMERLY RESIDED IN WILKESBARRE. A poor man once, oppressed with grief, A doctor sought for aid. And begged for his children some relief, His wife, alas ! was dead. 416 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. " Oh ! doctor, can you help my boy, Can you my daughter save? He is my pride and she my joy, Oh keep them from the grave !" " Fear not, good sir," the doctor said, " Your children health I'll give, For from this little vial here, One drop can make them live. " Nor look surprised, for you shall see The dead I'll raise to life." The poor man fled. " My God," says he, " He'll surely raise my wife." HARVEY'S LAKE ASSOCIATION. In olden times, that is, about sixty years ago, the young men of Wilkesbarre, Hanover, Kingston, Plymouth, and surrounding townships, formed a society which they called " The Harvey's Lake Association." The object of the society was to celebrate the 4th of July in each year, in a becoming manner, at the lake. A table was spread beneath the branches of the forest, and it was laden with wild game from the surrounding highlands, and fish from the clear waters of the lake. We extract the following from a poem dedicated to " The Patriots of Harvey's Lake," in 1811. It was written by a rude mountain native of Luzerne a few days before he joined his patriotic brethren to celebrate the national birthday : — To Harvey's Lake let us repair. Convivial scenes exhibit there, Our Independence there revive, And keep our freedom still alive, And celebrate in social glee The day that set our country free. NEWSPAPERS, ETC. 417 The landscape there, the dale and hill, Is in a state of nature still. Beneath a wide-spread oaken shade Shall we our sylvan table spread ; July the fourth here we'll record, While trout and venison crown the board, With rural viands of the best. And juleps too to give them zest. Our Independence there we'll boast, Its heroes not forget to toast — Join in their deeds, their virtues name, And nobly kindle with their flame, 'Gainst cursed ambition all forewarn. And give to Freedom ages yet unborn. The following lines were written by Edward E. Le- Clerc, Esq., on the death of Lieut. James Monroe Bowman, of the United States Army, eldest son of General Isaac Bowman, late of Wilkesbarre. Lieutenant Bowman died at Fort Wayne, Arkansas, on the 21st of July, 1839, beloved by his fellow-soldiers, and lamented by all who knew him in his native Wyoming : — * BOWMAN, UNITED STATES ARMY. " Bring flowers ! pale flowers, over the bier to shed, A crown for the brow of the early dead." Mrs. Hemans. Bring banners ! bright banners, to shroud o'er the dead, The flag of the stripe and the star ; Bring banners to wave o'er the soldier's head. Which have streamed from the battle car, When the earth was stained with the life-blood red, As it gushed 'mid the carnage of war ; For when warriors die, oh ! surely 'tis meet That a banner should be their winding-sheet. Bring laurel ! green laurel, to wreathe o'er his bier, Who died in a southern clime ; 27. 418 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. Who calmly met death without shrinking or fear, In the midst of his manhood's prime : Bring laurel, and shed o'er it many a tear, For he fell in his summer's time ; Since surely 'tis right that a warrior's name Should be decked with the laurel that breathes of fame. Bring cannon ! great cannon, to boom o'er the grave j When a soldier in armor dies, Bring cannon to knell o'er the bed of the brave j Let its echoes to heaven arise. And its snowy white clouds o'er him curtain-like wave, His war-belt to form in the skies ; For when warriors march on to that spirit land, The cannon should speak to its shadowy band. Bring sorrow ! deep sorrow, to the warrior's tomb, And with it affection's soft tear, While for ever around it let memory bloom, Its darkness and stillness to cheer; For who shall not sigh, when its chambers of gloom Charnels all that the heart holds most dear ? Then bring love's warm tear, for who, who will not weep? Though proud is the calm of the soldier's last sleep. CHRISTMAS. WRITTEN BY RICHARD DRINKER, ESQ., DECEMBER 25, 1830, AND PUBLISHED IN THE SUSQUEHANNA DEMOCRAT. Turkeys ! who on Christmas bled, Turkeys ! who on corn have fed, Welcome to us now you're dead, And in the frost have hung. " Now's the day, and now's the hour," Through the market how we scour, Seeking turkeys to devour. Turkeys old and young ; NEWSPAPERS, ETC. 41& Who would be a turkey hen ? Fed and fattened in a pen — Killed and eat by hungry men — Can you tell, I pray ? Lay the proud old turkeys low, Let the young ones run and grow, To market they're not fit to go, Until next Christmas day. From the Susquehanna Democrat. UPON MY LIFE IT'S TRUE! As Terrence McFadden was digging and grubbing, He all at once stopt, and his poll began rubbing, While his mug from blood-red turned the color of lead, " Och murther !" he cried, "here's an Indian above me, On the brink of the ditch — help, Pat, or we're dead ! Make haste with -the crow-bar, dear Pat, if you love me. Before that he takes all the hair oif my head." 'Twas a poor old land tortoise that Terrence thus frighted, Who came very gravely to view the canawl — (Perhaps he was thinking the contracts were slighted. Or, perhaps he was thinking of getting a fall, Or, perhaps he was sent to report to great planners, The damage that farms would sustain by the cait. Employed by the gentlemen lords of the manors, A low estimation on meadows to put.) Pat came with his bar to assist his friend Terry, Like a true son of Erin to give and take knocks — " Och, brother !" says he, " but you've made yourself merry, For I see nothing here hut a, snake in a box !" March 10, 1831. The following was written by a venerable superannu- ated Methodist preacher, who, several years ago, resided in Luzerne county. He was in the habit of rhyming, during the long winter evenings, for the amusement of his wife and children. The old gentleman, after reading his effusions aloud, generally committed them to the 420 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. flames, but when " Mush and Milk" was read and laid on the table, a mischievous son cautiously slipped it away, and next week, to the astonishment of the aged preacher, it appeared iu the town newspaper. MUSH AND MILK. As dame and I sat by the fire, One cold and stormy night, I said to her, " My dear, I feel The rhyming maggot bite. " Come tell me what to write about" — "Why mush and milk, you dunce," She said, and seemed in snappish mood; " Agreed," said I, " for once." I took the hint and went to work. Each word and line to scan. And, wrapt in true poetic fire. My work I thus began : — Bob Burns applauds the Scotchmen's haggis, And tells how well it fills their baggies ; John Bull brags much of beef and stout, And Dutch folks of their speck and crout ; Let me, in verses Hudibrastic, Stretch my muse like gum-elastic. To sing the praise of mush and milk, That ne'er made saint or sinner wilk j Though many speak in scorn about it. And if they could from earth would scout it. The Yankees call it — stop ! dod rot it. How strange it is, that I've forgot it ; O, now I have it — hasty pudding, Though they confess it is a good 'un, And would be glad, in times of want. To fill their slab-sides with a ''mess on't." Dad Matthews, too — the darned old lout — ■ They say, nick-names it — "stirabout,' NEWSPAPERS, ETC. 421 And strange enough, that the canaille — Whether they thresh with horse or flail, Or cut the wheat with scythe or sickle. Should put patricians in a pickle — Find so much fault, and scold and pout, And in contempt turn up the snout ; Blazing it round to saint and sinner. That they get mush and milk for dinner ; Backbite their betters and be hufiy, Unless they have their tea or coffee ! Good gracious ! why fair Queen Victoria, Often exclaims " sic transit gloria ;" And though she's clad in gold and silk, Fills her wame with mush and milk : It does me good to see the wenches Knocking about the chairs and benches, And o'er the old pot twist and bend, Until the potstick stands on end ; And then to see the precious stuff Blister and swell, and snort and puff, Just like wild horses in a frolic. Or jEtna when she has the cholic. Hail mush and milk, my heart's delight ! I could sup thee day and night ; It gives its lovers bone and muscle. And fits for boxing or for tussle ; It sets class-leaders dancing jigs, And turns old tories into whigs ; It is by far the cheapest food. That hogs or poor folks ever chewed. To see it on the table smoking, Would be to Job himself provoking ; And then the tin-cup and the spoon, " Ready for action" night and noon ! Though I ought perhaps to tell ye, It sometimes sadly scours the belly ; Yet should you fill choke-full your gizzard. You'll never dream of De'il nor wizard j Nor yet of spooks nor midnight hag, Galloping round on broomstick nag, Nor grinning ghosts 422 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. Thus I was going on, when dame Screamed out with all her might— " I never was so terrified As I have been this night ! " Why, what a cruel man you be, To scare your nervous wife ; Confound your varmints, I believe You mean to take my life. " Who ever heard such awful things ? It makes my blood to chill. To hear such talk of grinning ghosts ; For goodness' sake be still. " Do stop your nonsense — go to bed — 'Tis now half after ten ; j I'm scared to death — I'll die this night" — | Quoth I — " agreed again I" The following address to a " Land Tortoise" was writ- ten by Richard Drinker, Esq., formerly of Covington | township, and published in J. R. Chandler's Magazine, in Philadelphia, in 1819. ADDRESS TO A LAND TORTOISE. Guid mornin', frien', ye're earlie creepin' ! Wi' head erect about ye peepin' — Ane steady gait ye alway keep in, - Aye sure and slaw — ; I doubt the time ye tak' to sleep in Is unco sma'. Your crawlin' pits me aye in mind j 0' tortles o' the human kind — How many crawlers do we find 'Mang sons of men, ^ Wi' thoughts unto the earth inclined Until the en' ? Ah ! now ye've shut yoursel' up tight; I fear ye're in an awsome fright NEWSPAPERS, ETC. ^23 At seeia' sic an unco siglit As my queer face. G-ang on your gait ! I'm no tlie wight Wad harm your race. Albins I might for fun or fame Just carve upon your hard auld wame The twa initials o' my name, An' whin I meet ye, And then — nae ither right I'd claim Than down to set ye. Ye'll live a hundred years, they say, An' mony a weary mile ye gae, An' mony a hunder eggs ye lay. Ye queer auld beast, Whilk gies the snake, your mortal fae, Fu' mony a feast. But fare ye well ! I now maun leave ye, I ken my absence winna grieve ye — Wi' jingling Scotch nae mair I'll deave ye, An' ithers too — Aince an' for aye, I freely give ye A lans adieu. LITERARY AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. Since the revival of learning, in modern times, socie- ties for the advancement of knowledge, and the improve- ment of the human understanding, as well as for the purposes of charity, have existed in all civilized countries. In the ancient states of Greece and Rome, certain philo- sophers opened their schools or academies, in which they taught their peculiar dogmas, but they were for the most part destitute of those establishments of benevolence and learning, which constitute one of the distinguishing fea- tures of modern civilization. It is only in later ages that the importance of general education has been discerned, 424 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. and that the glorious doctrine of " Love thy neighbor as thyself" has exerted its ameliorating influence on the indifference and selfishness of the human heart. In America, at a very early day, after wild nature had been, in a degree, subjugated, and was furnishing supplies for the wants of man, the settlers turned their attention to mental culture. They were deprived of the advantages of old-established communities — there were no libraries at their command, and very few books of any kind were to be had. Under these circumstances the young men of the settlements often united for mutual improvement, and these unions not unfrequently took the character and name of Debating Societies. In almost every town and small village, as well as in the country among the hills and valleys, the academies and log school-houses have echoed with the eloquence of young debaters. Patrick ..Henry, Adams, Webster, Clay, and a multitude of others, prepared themselves for the popular assemblies, and for more learned audiences, in the training which these humble societies could furnish. The Wilkesbarre Debating Society was organized March 8th, 1804, and was the first in the county of which we have any record. The proceedings, when deemed expe- dient by the society, were to be kept secret, and any member violating this provision of the constitution was severely dealt with. Absentees were fined fifty cents, and any member refusing to take part in the debate paid twenty-five cents into the treasury. This association was organized by Thomas Dyer, Charles Miner, John Evans, Arnold Colt, Nathan Palmer, Josiah Wright, Ezekiel Hyde, Thomas Graham, Thomas Wells, and Roswell Wells. The first question for debate was as follows : " Is celibacy justifiable by the laws of God, or consistent with moral principles ?" The discussion was animated, NEWSPAPERS ETC. 425 exhibiting no mean powers of debate on the part of several members. The question was decided in the nega- tive. Half a century ago the affirmative must have had narrow ground to stand on, and feeble weapons to con- tend with. The young women of that day entertained proper ideas of domestic responsibility and economy. They were early taught all the essentials of good house- keeping, and generally made attentive wives and excel- lent managers. Men could then live cheaper, grow richer, and be happier, as husbands, than as celibates. It would have sounded ridiculous to decide the question in the affirmative then. In the present year of our Lord this is all changed. The question, as to the justification of celibacy, has become one on the affirmative of which a great deal may be said and strongly urged. Ladies, generally speaking, are no longer the economical mana- gers, and the prudent housekeepers they once were. Men find themselves compelled to support extravagant, waste- ful, and idle families. While they are exerting their mental and physical powers to the utmost to procure means to keep their position in society, their wives and daughters are squandering in luxurious living the hard earnings of their husbands and fathers. The multitudes of unmarried men and women in the country, now-a- days, exhibit a practical decision of that question in the affirmative. In 1809 the name of this association was changed to that of the Wilkesbarre Beneficial Society ; from which we infer that weekly or monthly dues were paid by members for charitable objects. Perhaps the institution assumed the character of a secret organization, as a rival to the QuiNCUN" Society or Tribe, which started into existence, in Wilkesbarre, in 1806. This, so far as we can learn, was the beginning of debating or literary socie- 426 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. ties m Luzerne, which were kept up under various names until 1839, when the present Wyoming Literary Society was established. Many men, who afterwards became eminent, participated in the estabUshment and proceed- ings of these associations. There were Denison, Griffin, Cist, Mallery, Scott, Bowman, Wright, Beaumont, Bid- lack, Woodward, Butler, Conyngham, Lane, Burnside, Hoyt, Nicholson, Lee, Ross, Smith, and many others who trained their faculties for debate in these societies. The Hon. Charles Miner and Thomas Dyer, Esq., two of the original members of the first debating society, still survive (I860)." In 1806 the Wilkesbarre or Wyoming Library Com- pany was formed. Its object was to procure a collection of valuable books, to be placed within the reach of all who desired knowledge. As is generally the case with libraries in country towns, the books became scattered, and many were lost. In 1826 a search committee was appointed, to restore the collection as far as practicable. The remaining books were brought together, and were divided among the members of the company by lot. In 1839 the Wyoming Athenaeum was established, and is still in existence. It has a valuable collection of books, numbering about 1500 volumes. The Young Men's Literary and Debating Club of Scranton was permanently organized, by a number of enterprising young gentlemen, on the 23d of October, 1857, D. C. Harrington being President. During the winter of 1858 and 1859 courses of interesting lectures were delivered before the club by eminent men, whose services were procured at a cost of about $500. This institution promises much for the improvement of the young men of Scranton, and is worthy of imitation and patronage. NEWSPAPERS, ETC. 427 The Excelsior Debating Society was organized in Pitts- ton several years ago. Connected with it are a reading- room and library. Including the Sunday-school libraries, of which those of the Methodist Episcopal Church have about 12,000 volumes, the circulating libraries, and the libraries of the seminaries and institutes of learning, in the county, embrace about 30,000 volumes. These, properly used, would abundantly meet the religious, moral, and intellec- tual wants of the reading population of Luzerne. In 1814 the Luzerne Association of the Presbyterian Church, and the Baptist Association, made strenuous efforts, separately, to collect moneys for the distribution of the Bible throughout the county. This resulted in a united effort, on the part of the several Protestant de- nominations, by which the Luzerne Bible Society was organized in 1819. Through the instrumentality of this organization, every destitute family in the county was placed in possession of the Word of God. In 1835 and 1836, during the time in which the Hev. James May was president of the society, from two hundred to three hundred dollars' worth of Bibles were annually distributed. For a number of years after this the society declined, until 1851, when it was revived. The venerable Father Moister was ap- pointed agent, and the Word of Life was again dispensed to the poor and destitute. Since that period the spirit of speculation and the growing thirst for gain have seriously interfered with this good cause, as well as with other laudable undertakina-s. In 1825, " The Luzerne Sunday-school Union" was organized for the promotion of religion, the distribu- tion of books, and the advancement of morals. David Scott was the first president, Garrick Mallery the first 428 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. vice-president, and Robert Miner the first secretary of this association. It accomplished no small amount of good, but in time its members seemed to grow weary in well-doing, and it gradually dissolved, and was no more. The Luzerne County Temperance Society, with its numerous auxiliaries, was in complete and successful operation as early as 1838. In a few years the effects of these societies were apparent in the force of the public opinion which they had created in opposition to the rum traffic. They rescued a multitude, who were hurrying with rapid steps to an early grave, and extinguished the fires, of many distilleries. They prevailed with the farmer to banish the whiskey-bottle from the harvest- field, and with the citizen to remove it from his sideboard. The combined efforts of these societies throughout the whole country arrested the fearfully-swelling tide of intemperance which, at one time, threatened to make America a nation of drunkards. These societies, also, after accomplishing much good, languished, and finally ceased to exist. Their place was supplied by a secret organization, called the Sons of Temperance. The Wyo- ming division of this order. No. 28, was established in Wilkesbarre May 29th, 1845. There were sixteen divi- sions in the county, and they continued their o|)erations until 1853, when their meetings ceased. The Lenni Lenape Lodge of Good Templars was or- ganized at Wilkesbarre in 1855. They finally numbered six lodges in Luzerne, but these are now no more. Both the orders mentioned were of a beneficial character, and had for their object the arrest of intemperance. There is, unquestionably, yet a vast deal of intempe- rance in the land, but it is to be hoped that wise and judicious measures, of a moral character, on the part of NEWSPAPERS, ETC. 429 the sober and religious people of the country, will eventu- ally extirpate this evil. MASONRY. It is asserted by the Masonic Order that a society of Masons existed prior to the erection of Solomon's temple, at Jerusalem, and that, on the occasion of the building of that temple, which was commenced on the 2d day of the month Zif, answering to the 21st of April, 2872 years ago, their society was reorganized. Indeed, it is con- tended that this institution is as Vld as creation, and that it actually had an existence 2992 years before Solomon laid the foundations of his great temple. This would give the order the protracted existence of 5869 years. The first lodge within the limits of the old thirteen colonies was instituted at Boston, in 1733. The first lodge in Pennsylvania was opened at Philadelphia, in 1734, of which Benjamin Franklin was Master. The Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania was organized in 1764. There were several Masonic lodges in the armies of the Revolution. When General Sullivan's forces, num- bering about 3000 men, were encamped at Wyoming, on the plain where Wilkesbarre is located, a lodge met at the marquee of Colonel Proctor, on St. John's day, which was the 24th of June, 1779. On this occasion one of the Rev. Dr. Smith's excellent sermons on Masonry was read by a chaplain attached to the army. In all probability this was the first lodge ever convened on the banks of the Susquehanna. In a few days after this meeting the solemn funeral ceremonies of the order were performed over the grave of two brethren, who had been slain in the preceding April. In April of that year a detachment 430 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. of the 11th Pennsylvania regiment, in advance of the main army, was attacked by the savages, a few miles east of Wilkesbarre, and Captain Davis and Lieutenant Jones, members of the order, were killed. They were buried where thej^ fell, but in June following their remains were disinterred and deposited, with Masonic honors, in the Wilkesbarre graveyard. The following is the inscription on their tombstone : — " In memory of Captain J. Davis, of the 11th Penn- sylvania regiment, also of Lieutenant William Jones, who were murdered by the savages on their march to the relief of the distressed inhabitants of Wyoming, on the 23d of April, 1779. Erected by a Friend." The second lodge of Ancient York Masons, held within the limits of Luzerne, was opened at the house of Jesse Fell, in Wilkesbarre, February 27th, 1794. Geo. Seytz officiated as W. M., J. P. Schott, S. W., Peter Grubb, J. W., and Arnold Colt, Secretary. On the following St. John's day, the lodge marched in procession to the court-house, where a sermon was preached by the Rev. Mr. Drake, who, in connection with the Rev. Brother Cox and the Rev. William Bishop, appears to have been the officiating chaplain, for a num- ber of years. On the 23d of December, 1799, the death of General Washington was announced to the lodge, and on the 27th the fraternity assembled in the court-house, to hear an appropriate eulogium from Roswell Wells, Esq. Several years ago, during the anti-masonic excitement, many con- tended that Washington had never been a Mason, but the fact is too well attested to be doubted by any one of ordinary intelligence. In 1804, the lodge rented a room in the court-house, for which they annually paid the sum of ton dollars, and NEWSPAPERS, ETC. 431 thenceforth they ceased to hold their meetings at the house of Judge Fell. In the same public building were held religious meetings, balls, political assemblies, and even the markets. The forcible abduction of Morgan, in the state of New York, as the story was told to the world, excited a vio- lent prejudice in the public mind against the order of Masonry. Many absurd and ridiculous statements were put in circulation in connection with this matter, which were eagerly swallowed by the multitude. Designing demagogues forced the question of secret societies into the political arena. By raising a hue and cry against Masonry they hoped to secure positions of honor and trust for themselves. In many instances they were suc- cessful. A great number of lodges throughout the Union ceased to work, or to sustain an organization, so violent had become the ferment in the public mind. The last regular meeting of the lodge at Wilkesbarre, No. 61, was held August 12th, 1832. Among the earlier members of this lodge we find the names of Jonathan Hancock, Zebulon Marcy, Eleazar Blackman, F. Depuy, James Campbell, Josiah Wright, Samuel Jameson, Peter Yar- ington, Charles Miner, Joseph Wright, Oliver Helme, Isaac Bowman, J. and E. Bulkely, Caleb Hoyt, Asa Dimock, Ezekiel Hyde, and Stephen Tuttle. In 1844, the lodge was reorganized, Isaac Bowman act- ing as P. M., Andrew Beaumont, W. M., Henry Petti- bone, S. W., John Turner, J. W., Hezekiah Parsons, Treasurer, and Henry Colt, Secretary. The Lodges in the county are as follows : — No. 61, at Wilkesbarre. No. 233, St. John's, at Pittston. No. 249, at Carbondale. No. 261, Hiram, at Providence. 432 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. No. 291, Union, at Scran ton. No. 301, at Waverly. No. 323, Peter Williams, at Scranton. No. 327, at Hazleton. No. 332, at Plymouth. The Chapters are — ' Eureka, No. 179, at Carbondale. Shekina, No. 182, at Wilkesbarre. Lackawanna, No. 185, at Scranton. The Encampments are — Palestine, No. 14, at Carbondale. Coeur de Lion, No. 17, at Scranton. The total membership of these lodges is about 625. lion. Charles Miner (deceased) and Jonathan Buckely, Esq., were the oldest surviving members of No. 61 in 1860. Soon after it became known to the loving, but inquisi- tive and suspicious matrons of Luzerne, that their husbands and sons had established a secret society, under the name of a Masonic lodge, there was trouble in the domestic circle. The husband held in his bosom dread secrets, which the " partner of his joys and sorrows" could never know ; and on stated occasions he must repair to the lodge, where, it was rumored, infernal rites were cele- brated. Night was the time selected for their meetings, and it was surmised that no good could come of an insti- tution which imposed the seal of secrecy on its members, and chose the cover of darkness to conceal its proceedings. Mrs. J — -^ was a high-spirited, thorough-going woman, with many of the virtues, and some of the weaknesses of her sex. Her husband was a respectable farmer, residing a few miles from Wilkesbarre, and was a member of Lodge No. 61, whither he steadily repaired to meet his brethren of the mystic tie. Mrs. J expostulated with him on the iniquity of his career, and the diabolical character of the proceedings of his lodge. Her entreaties were all to NEWSPAPERS, ETC. 433 no purpose — nothing satisfactory could be extracted from the husband, so firm and silent on this question, while on all others he was so comnitmicative and obliging. Finally she resolved to adopt prompt measures in order to put a period to his monthly visits at the lodge, " where," as she said, " the women were shut out, and all kinds of devil- ment were carried on." Lodge night arrived. Mr. J being shaven and dressed, had nothing to do but eat his mush and milk, mount his horse, and ride away to Wilkesbarre. The mush and milk was eaten, and the horse had been mounted, when suddenly the rider was seized with violent cramps, and sickness at the stomach, which was followed by severe vomiting. Mr. J — '— was compelled to dismount, and take the recumbent posture, for Mrs. J had introduced a double dose of tartar emetic into his bowl of mush and milk. She followed up her energetic operations with the decision of a bold spirit, until he, eventually, yielded the point, and aban- doned the order. " Adieu ! a heart-warm fond adieu ! Dear brothers of the mystic tie : If I again should meet with you, Dame J has sworn that I shall die." ODD FELLOWSHIP. Some writers assert that this order had its origin in the days of Moses ; others declare it originated from an association in the Roman army, under Titus, called the Society of Fellow-Citizens, to whom he gave the name of Odd Fellows, from certain peculiarities which charac- terized them. The first lodge in England was opened in London in 1788, the formation of which suggested to Montgomery, the poet, those beautiful lines commencing — 28 434 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. When Friendship, Love, and Truth abound, Among a band of brothers," &c. In 1819, Thomas Wildey, a blacksmith, residing in the city of Baltimore, published a call, through the news- papers, for a meeting of Odd Fellows, who might happen to be in this country. He was met, at the time and place appointed in the call, by John Welch, John Duncan, John Cheathem, and Richard Rushworth. The result of this meeting was the establishment of Washington Lodge, No. 1, the first in North America. Pennsylvania Lodge, No. 1, opened at Philadelphia, was the first in this state, and the Grand Lodge of Penn- sylvania was instituted in the year 1822. On the 6th of August, 1831, a meeting of Odd Fellows was held at the house of T. H. Morgan in Wilkesbarre, who petitioned the Grand Lodge for a charter for a sub- ordinate lodge, which was granted under the name of Wyoming Lodge, No. 29, and this was the first lodge opened in Luzerne county. The officers were Whitney Smith, N. G., George G. West, V. G., John R. Dean and William Hartley, Secretaries, and William Merrit, Trea- surer. The Lodges now in the county are as follows : — Wyoming, No. 29, at Wilkesbarre. Cambrian, No. 58, Carbondale. Hazelton, No. 65, Hazelton. Olive Leaf, No. 156, Carbondale. Capouse, No. 170, Hyde Park. Shickshinny, No. 180, Shickshinny. Shawnee, No. 225, Plymouth. Integrity, No. 234, Town Hill. Forest, No. 251, White Haven. Abington, No. 267, Waverly. Lackawanna, No. 291, Scranton. NEWSPAPERS ETC. 435 Vulcan, No. 292, South Wilkesbarre. Conyngham, No. 308, Conyngham. Gohonta, No. 314, Pittston. Oneida, No. 371, Huntsville. Archbald, No. 392, Archbald. HofFnung (German), No. 425, Wilkesbarre. Benton, No. 433, Benton Centre. White Haven, No. 457, White Haven. Dunmore, No. 492, Dunmore. Thistle, No. 512, Pittston. Residenz (German), No. 513, Scranton. Butler, No. 525, Drums. Alliance, No. 540, Scranton. The total is 24 lodges, with an aggregate contributing membership of 2000. The Encampments in the county are six, viz. : Outalissi, No. 39, at Wilkesbarre. Beaver, No. 61, Hazelton. Scrantonia, No. 81, Scranton. Gohonta, No. 96, Pittston. White Haven, No. 122, White Haven. Armin (German), No. 124, Scranton. Besides the two chief orders of Masonry and Odd Fel- lowship, there are other societies of inferior note in the county. We mention The Herman Beneficial Society (German), which was established at Wilkesbarre, in 1846, and was named in honor of the Duke of the Cheruskers, a German tribe of people. Herman was the Washington of Germany. The Wyoming Beneficial Society (German), established at Wilkesbarre, in 1848, chiefly through the exertions of Captain John Reichart. The Ladies' Beneficial Society (German), organized at Wilkesbarre, in 1858. 4.36 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. The Mechanics' Beneficial Association (German), or- ganized at Wilkesbarre, in 1859. The Jewish Benevolent Society, established at Wilkes- barre, in 1858, for the relief of suffering Jews. The Lackawanna Beneficial Societ}^, organized at Scran- ton, in 1851, Bernard Ofner, president. The Hibernia Beneficial Society, organized at Pittston, in 1852, Michael Reap, president. It may not be amiss to note that on the 16th of July, 1832, an anti-tobacco meeting was held in Wilkesbarre. John P. Babb was called to the chair, and William B. Norton was appointed secretary. The meeting was ad- dressed hy Dr. D. N. Scott, Ovid F. Johnson, and Luther Kidder, Esqs. A committee, consisting of Dr. T. W. Miner, J. P. Babb, Dr. E. L. Boyd, and Dr. D. N. Scott, was appointed to draft a constitution. Messrs. Kidder, Johnson, and Miner constituted a committee to prepare an address for the next meeting. But the organization of this society was never perfected. The day will pro- bably come when a general movement will be made, among the enlightened and observing, against the use of tobacco. It is making sad inroads on the health, the spirits, and usefulness of multitudes in all ranks of society. The mental and moral manifestations induced by its abuse are very similar to those consequent on the use of ardent spirits. When that day comes the feeble efibrt, here recorded, to oppose this evil, will possess interest in the eye of the philanthropist. On the 11th day of February, 1858, Dr. C. F. Ingham, Dr. W. F. Dennis, E. L. Dana, J. P. Dennis, G. P. Par- rish, Wra. P. Miner, S. Woodward, H. M. Hoyt, G. B. Nicholson, C. E. Wright, W. H. Beaumont, S. Bowman, S. S. Winchester, J. B. Conyngham, and others, met at the Old Fell Tavern, in Wilkesbarre, to celebrate the NEWSPAPERS, ETC. 4S7 fiftieth anniversary of the successful experiment of burn- ing anthracite coal in a grate. The old grate, with which Judge Fell experimented, was procured and set up in the fire-place, and a bright coal fire was soon glowing, and warming the assembled company. At this meeting it was proposed to establish a Historical Society, and the projDOsition meeting general approval, a committee was appointed to draft a constitution, to be presented at the next meeting, to be held at Templar Hall. It is to be regretted that a historical and geological society was not formed in this county many years ago, while a number of the early settlers were yet living, and at a period when many curious relics of former ages, now beyond our reach, might have been procured and pre- served among us. The writer collected, in Wj^oming Valley many years ago, a large number of Indian curi- osities, which are now deposited in the British Museum. There are numerous articles of interest in the Philadel- phia, New York, and New England cabinets, which were procured in Luzerne county. On the 10th of May, 1858, the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society received corporate privileges, and soon after rented the present cabinet-room on Franklin Street, Captain E. L. Dana having been elected the first president. This room, it was supposed, would be sufficiently large for the wants of the society for many years to come. But, owing to the praiseworthy exertions of the cabinet com- mittee, and to the liberal donations of many gentlemen and ladies in and out of the county, it is now full and overflowing with a great variety of rare and valuable speci- mens of minerals, shells, coin, Indian relics, &c. The society is in possession of the valuable collection of H. A. Cham- bers, of Carbondale, who spent twenty years in gathering valuable curiosities of ancient and modern times, espe- 438 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. cially coins and medals, of which he had upwards of 3000 pieces. The society is indebted to General Wm. S. Ross, of Wilkesbarre, for this cabinet of rare curiosities. With a public spirit and a liberality seldom equaled, the General purchased the entire collection of Mr. Chambers for $2000, and presented it to the society. It forms a nucleus about which a great collection will eventually be gathered, inter- esting not to the antiquary alone, but to the people of all classes of society. CHAPTER XIV. ROADS, MAILS, AND STAGES. The first settlers from Connecticut, who came to Wyo- ming in 1762 and 1763, crossed the Hudson at or near Newburg, and proceeding westward, passed the Delaware at its junction with Shohola Creek. From this point they followed an Indian path along Roaring Brook to the Lackawanna river, and thence by another Indian path to the place of destination. The emigrants of 1769 followed the same route, but, being accompanied by carts drawn by oxen, they were compelled to use the axe, and from this period we date the first wagon-road from the Dela- ware to the North Branch of the Susquehanna. In October, 1772, at a meeting of the settlers, held in the valley, Messrs. Jenkins, Goss, Carey, Gore, and Stew- art were appointed a committee to collect money by sub- scription to improve the road. The work was commenced in the following November, and prosecuted to completion in 1774. The road through Kingston, parallel with the river, and 6 rods or 99 feet in width, was laid out in 1770, but as it did not connect with the east side of the river, another road was opened through the Kingston flats, crossing the Susquehanna at the head of Fish's Island, below Wilkesbarre, and uniting with the Wilkesbarre road, near the present residence of General E. W. Sturde- vant. A road was also laid out from Wilkesbarre to Pittston, on the east side of the river, and ferries were (439) 440 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. established at both of these places. The march of Sulli- van's army from Easton to Wyoming, in 1779, opened another road from the Delaware to the Susquehanna. This road was afterwards improved by the settlers, and when Luzerne county was organized in 1786, it was fur- ther improved by funds appropriated by the court from the county treasury, and finally became the great thoroughfare between Philadelphia and North Eastern Pennsylvania. In 1787, a road was laid out from the Nescopeck Falls to the Lehigh river, by authority of the Commonwealth, and Evan Owen, proprietor of Berwick, was appointed to superintend its construction. This road was completed in 1789, forming the third line of connection between this region and the Delaware, and the second with the Lehigh. In 1788, the court of Luzerne county appointed Benja- min Carpenter, Abel Pierce, Lawrence Myers, James Sutton, Benjamin Smith, and John Dorrance, to view and lay out additional roads in Kingston township. The viewers for Hanover township were Christopher Hurlbut, Shubal Bidlack, Richard Inman, Conrad Lyon, John Hurlbut, Elisha Decker, and Nathan Nartrop. For Ply- mouth township, Samuel Allen, Rufus Lawrence, William Reynolds, Luke Swetland, Hezekiah Roberts, and Cor- nelius Atherton, were appointed viewers. For Salem township, the viewers were Nathan Beach, George R. Taylor, George Smithers, Amos Park, Jacob Shower, and Giles Parman. In 1789, John Jenkins, Stephen Harding, Peter Harris, David Smith, S. Dailey, and J. Phillips, were appointed to view and lay out additional roads in Exeter township. For Wilkesbarre township, the viewers were Zebulon Butler, J. P. Schott, John Hollenback, Nathan Waller, Abraham Westbrook, and John Carey. ROADS, MAILS, AND STAGES. 441 In 1790, John Phillips, John Davidson, J, Blanchard, Caleb Bates, David Brown, and J. Rosin, were appointed viewers for Pittston township. In 1791, the viewers appointed for Providence township were Daniel Taylor, John Grifford, Gabriel Leggett, Isaac Tripp, James Abbott, and Constant Searl. In 1792, William Jackson, John Fairchild, Mason F. Alden, M. Smith, Daniel McMullin, and A. Smith, were appointed to view and lay out roads in Newport township. The surveyors, who accompanied the committees and laid out the work, were John Jenkins, Christopher Hurlbut, and Luke Swetland ; and as other townships were formed, and other road- viewers were appointed, their labors were extended until all the principal roads in the county, prior to 1798, were surveyed and in process of construction. It is not to be supposed that these roads were smooth and adapted to carriages such as we use for pleasure, con- venience, or comfort in the present day. There was a plentiful sprinkling of stumps, roots, and rocks in them, and to travel them, with any degree of speed, was out of the question. The streams, if bridged at all, were spanned by round or split logs laid upon string-pieces. The springy land and the marshes were rendered passable by logs laid parallel to each other, forming what is called the corduroy road. The roads were usually laid out over the hills, the viewers then, as now, not reflecting that " the bale of a pot is no longer lying down than when standing up," and that a road made around, instead of over a hill, besides being no longer, would save the time of the traveler and the horse-flesh of his team. When heavy loads were not to be transported, the inhabitants generally traveled on horseback. The lover, with his " sweet- heart" mounted behind him, or the husband, wife, and child on the same horse, wended their way to church, to 442 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. town, or to the social gathering, as the case might be. Broadcloth, silks, laces, and fine feathers, had not yet found their way into these mountain regions; but the unsojDhisticated people, clad in homespun, assembled at the evening party for innocent enjoyment, or congregated at the appointed place for religious services. About the year 1783, a vehicle, called a "chair" or "gig," with a single seat, was introduced by Colonel Zebulon Butler from Connecticut, and, in 1808, the dear- born, a four-wheeled carriage, made its appearance in our valley. TURNPIKES. As the population, productions, and w^ealth of the county increased, there was an urgent demand for better roads, and easier communication between distant points. In 1802, a charter was procured from the state for con- structing the Easton and Wilkesbarre Turnpike. The turnpike occupied a large portion of the old road, and it was chiefly through the exertions of Arnold Colt that the first 29 miles, reckoning from Wilkesbarre, were com- pleted in 1806. Soon after, the whole distance from Wilkesbarre to the Wind Gap, 46 miles, was finished at a cost of $75,000. In 1810, the company declared a dividend of $2.60 on each share of $50. During the embargo, in 1812 and 1813, the farmers of Northampton county were unable to procure plaster from the seaboard, and were compelled to use New York plaster, which was conveyed down the Susquehanna in arks to Wilkesbarre, and thence in sleds and wagons over the turnpike. This additional travel added to the dividends, which were $2.75 per share, after deducting the increased expenditures for improve- ments. A turnpike mania now seized the people. The ROADS, MAILS, AND STAGES. 443 old Nescopeck and Lehigh road was transformed into a turnpike, under the name of the Susquehanna and Lehigh Turnpike. The Susquehanna and Tioga Turnpike, ex- tending from Berwick in Columbia county, opposite Nescopeck, through Fairmount and Huntington town- ships in Luzerne, and thence to Towanda, was constructed at an enormous expense to the state and to individual stockholders. The stock finally became valueless, and the road was abandoned. Through the influence and energy of H. W. Drinker and Thomas Meredith, Esqs., what is known as Drinker's Turnpike was constructed, connecting the northern portion of this county with tlie Easton and Wilkesbarre Turnpike at Taylorsville. The Wilkesbarre and Bridgewater Turnpike, extending northward, via Tunkhannock and Montrose, was also con- structed, and in common with the other roads, except the Easton and Wilkesbarre and the Susquehanna and Lehigh, was abandoned by its company several years ago. PLANK-ROADS. Lord Sydenham, governor-general of Canada, having observed, when in Russia, the operation of plank-roads, brought about the construction of a similar road in his provinces, extending eastward from Toronto. It was completed in 1834. In 1846, the Syracuse and Central Square Plank-road, in New York, the first in the United States, was completed. Since that period they have been constructed in various localities throughout the Union, especially in lumbering countries, where materials are cheap. The Wilkesbarre and Providence Plank-road Company was incorporated in 1851. The distance from Wilkes- barre to Pittston, eight miles, was constructed at a cost 444 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. of |43,500. The balance of the road was never placed under contract, and the stock has gone down from $25 per share to |4, its present value. The Scranton and Carbondale Plank-road, constructed in 1853—4, has been abandoned from Scranton to the Blakely township line. The Providence and Waverly Road is in process of transformation from a plank to a turnpike road, leaving the Bear Creek and Lehigh, and the Gouldsborough roads, as the only representatives of this kind of highway in the county. The Bear Creek Road is 10 miles in length, extending from Port Jenkins, the head of the Lehigh navigation, to the Wilkesbarre and Easton Turnpike at Bear Creek. Here it is intersected by another plank-road, 2 miles in length, constructed by Messrs. McKean and Pursel, and connecting with their extensive lumber-mills. This road was built to facilitate the lumbering business, but has not as yet declared a dividend. The Gouldsborough Plank-road extends from Goulds- borough station, on the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad, to Gouldsborough, a distance of about 8 miles, and, we believe, has never declared a dividend on its stock. These roads, like many other enterprises, while advantageous to the country, have produced little or no profit to the pockets of stockholders. Improve- ments, carried through under high speculative excite- ment, when people invest their money without due consi- deration and investigation, scarcely ever make a profitable return on the capital consumed in their construction. RAILROADS. When coal began to be transported from the mines in Enghmd, rails were laid from the pit's mouth to the ROADS, MAILS, AND STAGES. 445 place of deposit, and having considerable inclination, a single horse could draw four or five cars containing two tons each. These were called tram-roads, the first of which was built on the river Tyne in 1676. In 1716, flat iron rails laid upon wooden string-pieces were intro- duced. From this period until 1800, when the first pas- senger railway was constructed from Stockton to Darling- ton, in England, the improvements introduced were a change in the flat rail, stone foundations afterwards aban- doned, the flange first upon the rail and then upon the wheels of the car. In 1825, Parliament granted a charter for a railroad from Manchester to Liverpool, which was completed in 1830. In 1805, Captain Trevinick invented a steam- carriage, an improvement on that invented by Watt, several years before, but until the opening of the Man- chester and Liverpool Eoad horse-power was in general use. On the opening of that road locomotives were steadily and successfully employed. It has been said, heretofore, that the first railroad in the United States was built in 1827, at Quincy, Mass., for the purpose of conveying granite from a quarry. But a writer in the Historical Magazine, for July, 1859, asserts, that the first railroad in this country was con- structed, in 1807, at Beaconhill, Mass., by Captain Silas Whitney, for the transportation of gravel. It was a double-track road with two cars, one empty, which was drawn up as the loaded one descended the hill. The Mauch Chunk Railroad, connecting the coal-mines with the Lehigh, was commenced and finished in 1827, and was the first railroad in Pennsylvania. The Mount Carbon road was commenced in 1829. The Boston and 1*0 well, the Camden and Amboy, and 446 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. the Philadelphia and Columbia roads, were commenced in 1830. In 1831, the Pennsylvania Legislature char- tered twelve railroad companies, and from that period we may date the commencement of our railroad system, which has connected together all the principal points in the state. Through the efforts of Morris and William Wurts, the enterprising projectors of the Delaware and Hudson Canal and Railroad Company, that work was commenced in 1826, and completed in 1828, J. B. Jervis acting as engineer. The canal is 108 miles in length from tide- water on the Hudson to Honesdale. It ascends to Hones- dale, 980 feet above tide, by means of 106 locks and 2 guard-locks. Its boats carry 125 tons, and draw 5i feet of water. The railroad originally connected the mines at Carbondale with the canal at Honesdale, having five planes and stationary engines, overcoming an elevation of 850 feet, and costing, with the canal, $3,500,000. Within a few years past the road has been extended to Archbald, and it is now in process of extension to the newly-pur- chased coal lands of the company, near Scranton and Providence. This was the first railroad in Luzerne county, and the second that was commenced in the United States, the small road at Beaconhill, before referred to, being the first. The first locomotive in the United States was brought from England soon after the completion of the Delaware and Hudson Canal and Railroad, in 1828. It was con- veyed through the canal and placed on the road, where its self-moving power, as it rapidly coursed along the iron rail, excited the unbounded astonishment of the natives. But the bridges and trestle-work of the road proving too frail for the great weight of the steam-horse, it was aban- doned, and for several years lay rusting by the roadside. ROADS, MAILS, AND STAGES. 447 A portion of this engine, we arc told, is now used in a colliery at Pittston. The second railroad in Luzerne was commenced by the Baltimore Coal Company in 1834, and was completed in 1835. The road extends from the mines to the canal at Wilkesbarre, and is upwards of a mile in length. The loaded cars advance by gravity, while the empty ones, formerly returned by horse-power, are now moved by steam. In 1835, the Lehigh Navigation Company, originated by Josiah White and Erskine Hazzard, extended their improvement to White Haven, and under their charter were required to slackwater the Lehigh as far as Stod- dartsville. From this requirement the company was released, on condition that it would connect the Lehigh with the Susquehanna by railroad. The Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad was consequently commenced in 1838, E. A. Douglas and Lord Butler, engineers. It would have been completed in 1841, but for the extraor- dinary floods of that year. However, it was finished in 1843, at a cost exceeding $1,350,000, and on the 23d of May, the first train of passenger cars entered Wyoming Valley, and the borough of Wilkesbarre. The people were highly excited, testified by their shouts and by the thunder of the cannon, for it was believed that a new era of progress and improvement had dawned upon us. The road is 20 miles in length, and is laid with the T rail. It has three planes ascending from the Susquehanna to an elevation of 1270 feet, and descending thence to White Haven with a grade of 50 feet to the mile. These planes are 4356, 3778, and 4797 feet, respectively, in length, and the cars are drawn up by stationary steam-power. The raih'oad of the Pennsylvania Coal Company ex- tends from Port Griffith, on the Susquehanna, to Hawley, 448 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. Oil the Delaware and Hudson Canal, 9 miles below Honesdale, and is 47 miles in length. This company was chartered in 1830, under the name of the Washing- ton Coal Association, which was afterwards changed to that of the Pennsylvania Coal Company. W. R. Griffith, Irad Hawley, and John Ewen, were the active projectors of this great work, which was completed in 1848-9, at a cost exceeding $2,000,000. James Archbald and W. R. Maffet were the engineers. The coal is conveyed in cars drawn by stationary steam-power, up the planes, of which there are twelve, ascending to a summit of about 900 feet, and the empty cars are returned by another track having ten planes. The Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad extends, by way of Scranton, from Great Bend, where it connects with the New York and Erie road, to a point 5 miles below the Delaware Water Gap. It is 115 miles in length. The northern division, from Scranton to Great Bend, was commenced and completed under the general superintendence of Colonel George W. Scranton, in 1851, E. McNeill, engineer. The southern division of 65 miles from Scranton to the eastern terminus, where it connects with the New Jersey railroads, Avas finished in 1856, and on the 21st day of January in that year the first pas- senger train passed over the road. It cost $4,000,000, and is of the New York or wide gauge. It has heavy grades, the highest point of the road being 1100 feet above Scranton, and 1800 feet above tide-water. The Lackawanna and Bloomsburg Railroad extends from Rupert, on the Catawissa, Williamsport, and Erie road, by the way of Bloomsburg and Berwick, in Colum- bia county, and the Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys to Scranton. Its length is 58 miles. It was commenced in 1854, E. McNeill, engineer, and was finished in 1857, ROADS, MAILS, AND STAGES. 449 at a cost of $1,100,000. The grade is easy, as it follows the course of the Susquehanna and Lackawanna rivers, being about 3i feet per mile.^^ The Lackawanna Railroad extends from Greenville, on the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western road, to Archbald, 12 miles. It was finished in 1857, at a cost of about $300,000. Hazelton, Eckley, Black Creek, and Jeansville, are connected with Mauch Chunk and the Lehigh Valley road, by means of railroads, upon which coal and passen- gers are conveyed. The aggregate length of the railroads, before enume- rated, is 307 miles, of which 163 miles are within the limits of Luzerne county, and the cost of the same, in- cluding their equipments, together with the cost of the Delaware and Hudson Canal, and the works of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, exceeds $18,000,000. If to this we add the cost of the North Branch Canal, we have a sum exceeding $22,000,000, expended in means for conveying to market the products of our coal-fields.-^^ MAILS AND STAGES. The first account we have of posts, or of news and letter- carriers, dates back more than 2200 years, to the days of Darius I. of Persia, who established post-riders, in the most populous portions of his empire, stationed at the distance of a day's journey apart. Augustus Caesar, also, about the commencement of the Christian era, established a regular system of posts in the Roman empire. For several hundred years messages were transmitted on horseback, as occasion required, through Europe, and it was not until 1543 that a regular mail was sent from one point to another. This was between London and Edinburgh. 29 450 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. MAIL COACH. In 1581 Thomas Randolph was chosen the first Post- master-General of England. The invention of mail- coaches, by Mr. Palmer, enabled the English government to convey its mails with convenience and despatch. In 1683 William Penn opened a post-office at Philadel- phia, and appointed Henry Waldy postmaster. A weekly post-route was established between that place and New Castle, Chester, and other settlements, and the rates of postage varied from five to nine pence. Notice of the times of the arrival and departure of the mail was carefully posted on the meeting-house door and other public places. The British government, in 1692, adopted preliminary measures for the conveyance of the mails in the colonies. In 1700 Colonel John Hamilton, of New Jersey, devised a post-office system, for which he obtained a patent, which he disposed of to the Crown. From this period until 1755, when Benjamin Franklin was made Postmas- ter-General, there was no improvement in the system. The mails were carried on horseback, between Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, and occupied several days in passing from place to place. The time from Boston to Baltimore was reckoned by weeks. Frank- ROADS, MAILS, AND STAGES. 451 lin introduced some judicious changes, and materially improved the system. In 1756 John Butler engaged to run a stage, in three days, from Philadelphia to New York, by the way of Perth Amboy and Trenton. In 1765 a second line of stages was placed on this route, and the fare was reduced to two pence per mile. The stages were covered Jersey wagons without springs. In the same year a weekly line was established between Philadelphia and Baltimore, and soon after a third line of stages, with spring seats, was put on between Philadelphia and New York, through in summer in two days, and in winter in three days ; fare, 20 shillings. Letters for Montgomery, Chester, and Bucks counties were delivered, to be called for, at the post-office at Philadelphia. In 1775 the system passed under the jurisdiction of the Federal Government. From a few thousand dollars, the expenses of this important department of government have increased to many millions per annum. Franklin, in 1757, received $1000 salary as Postmaster-General, but now (1866) the postmasters at Scran ton and Wilkes- barre receive each about 1800. In 1777 a post-route, once in two weeks, was opened between Wyoming and Hartford in Connecticut, and Prince Bryant was engaged as post^rider for nine months. The expenses of this route were defrayed by private sub- scription. During the Pennamite and Yankee war, all letters and communications were sent by private messen- gers, or by persons employed on private subscription. On one occasion, Abigail, the wife of Lieutenant John Jameson, left Wyoming for Easton, where her father. Major Prince Alden, with upwards of twenty other Con- necticut settlers, was confined in jail. The letters in- tended for the prisoners were carefully folded and con- 452 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. cealed in her roll (the hair in those days being done up in a roll), on the top of her head. As she passed along the Indian path, at night, she was discovered and arrested, near Bear Creek, by Colonel Patterson, the Pennamite commander. The letters in her roll escaped the observa- tion of the suspicious Pennamite, and she was permitted to pass without further molestation. She arrived safely in Easton, and communicated the state of affairs at home to her father and other prisoners. After the civil war, and the organization of Luzerne county, a weekly mail was forwarded between Wilkes- barre and Easton. In 1797 Clark Behe, the post-rider, informed the public, through the Wilkesbarre Gazette, that as he carried the mail, once a week, to Easton, he would also carry passengers, "when the sleighing is good," at $2.50 each. During the same 3^ear the mail was carried, on horseback, once a week, from Wilkes- barre via Nanticoke, Newport, and Nescopeck to Berwick, returning via Huntington and Plymouth. The only authorized post-office in the county was at Wilkesbarre, and all letters and papers for Nescopeck, Huntington, and other places in Luzerne, were left at certain private houses designated by the Wilkesbarre postmaster. In 1798, a mail was run, once in two weeks, between Wilkesbarre and Great Bend ; and, in the following year, a weekly route was opened between Wilkesbarre and Owego, in New York. These routes were sustained chiefly, if not altogether, by private subscription, like those of the early settlers ; the subscribers to newspapers paying as high as 50 cents per quarter to the mail car- rier. Jonathan Hancock rode post from Wilkesbarre to Ber- wick in the year 1800; and, in 1803, Charles Mowery ROADS, MAILS, AND STAGES. 458 and a man named Peck carried the mail, on foot, once in two weeks, from Wilkesbarre to Tioga. In 180G, Messrs. Robison & Arndt commenced running a two-horse stage, once a week, between Wilkesbarre and Easton, through in a day and a half; fare $3.50. The stages from Easton to Philadelphia ran through in one day. In 1810, Conrad Teter contracted with government to carry the mail, once a week, in stages, from Sunbury to Painted Post, by the way of Wilkesbarre and Athens. He, however, sold his interest in the route from Sunbury to Wilkesbarre to Miller Horton, but ran the other por- tion himself until 1816. In that year Miller, Jesse and Lewis Horton opened a new era in stage-coach traveling, and in carrying the mails in Northern Pennsylvania. These enterprising brothers contracted, in 1824, to carry the mails, in four-horse coaches, from Baltimore to Owego, by way of Harrisburg, Sunbury, Wilkesbarre, and Mont- rose ; and from Philadelphia to Wilkesbarre, via Easton. They also contracted to carry the mails from New York city to Montrose, by way of Newark and Morristown in New Jersey, and Milford in Pennsylvania. Post-offices were established at Plymouth, Kingston, Pittston, Tunk- hannock. Providence, and other places in the county; and comfortable and substantial four-horse coaches rolled daily and rapidly over our highways. Our post-offices* have gone on increasing until they now number 77. The state of Delaware has but 76 post-offices, and the state of Rhode Island has only 87, ten more than Lu- zerne county. There was something exhilarating in the sight of those large four-horse coaches, as they rolled into town, with * For names of the earliest post-offices and postmasters, see Appendix, V. 454 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. the blast of the driver's horn, and the crack of his long lash. Proud of his steeds, and. proud of his skill, with the lives of many intrusted to his charge, the driver, in those days, was no unimportant personage. Philip Ab- bott was the driver of Robison & Arndt's two-horse stage in 1806 ; but no driver, in this section of country, has equal fame with George Root, who drove stage for up- wards of forty years. Conrad Teter was a large, fat man of a jovial disposi- tion, and desirous of making a favorable impression on strangers. He drove stage — his own stage — up the river. He took pleasure in pointing out his farms to the pas- sengers. He frequently informed them, as he passed the large residence and farm of Colonel Benjamin Dorrance, in Kingston, that he was the owner ; and if asked, why he drove stage, would reply, that he loved to rein four horses and drive, but had no taste for farming. The Indian path, the common road with its rocks and stumps, the gig, the Durham boat, and the old stage- coaches, have disappeared. In their places we have the iron track, the locomotive, the steamboat, and the tele- graph. The next hundred years will probably produce changes equally marked ; for no Almighty fiat has yet gone forth, addressed to the human mind — Thus far shalt thou go, but no farther. CHAPTER XV. NAVIGATION ON THE SUSQUEHANNA. In the year 1771, the Provincial Assembly of Penn- sylvania passed an act declaring the Susquehanna river a public highway. Portions of the lands along the river had been settled and cultivated for many years, and the inhabitants needed some commodious avenue to market for their grain and other products. They proposed to pay a certain proportion of the money required to render the river navigable. The Assembly appropriated an ad- ditional sum, and appointed commissioners to superintend the work. The gravel bars were cleared away, stumps and trees taken out, a channel opened, and towing-paths constructed along the rapids. Somewhat different from public operations of more modern times, the river was ready for navigation in a few months, from Wrightsville to Wyoming. Not many years later a way for trade was opened from the Chesapeake to the New York line. The first transportation boat used on the river was called the Durham boat, from the town of Durham, on the Delaware, a few miles below Easton. This boat was built at that place about the year 1750. The Delaware boats were sixty feet in length, eight feet in width, and two feet in depth, and when laden with fifteen tons' weight drew twenty inches of water. The stem and bow were sharp, on which were erected small decks, while a running board extended the whole (455) 456 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. length of the boat on each side They carried a mast with two sails, and were manned by a crew of five men, one at the stern with a long oar for steering, and two on each side with setting-poles for pushing them forward. DtJRHAM BOAT, The Susquehanna boats were of similar construction, but larger, and manned by a more numerous crew. With one end of their long poles set in the water, and the other against their muscular shoulders, these hardy boatmen toiled the livelong day, forcing their way against a rapid current, at the rate of from one to two miles an hour. Their labor was severe, but not devoid of enjoyment. The anecdote, the jest, and the merry song, beguiled the hours of these hardy sons of toil. By these boats the surplus produce of the country was taken to Harrisburg and Middletown, and transported thence by turnpike to Philadelphia, and exchanged for merchan- dise and such articles as were needed in the interior. But as trade increased rapidly, a more expeditious NAVIGATION ON THE SUSQUEHANNA. means of transportation was sought after. Several efforts were made to introduce improvements in the construction of boats, and, among others, Isaac A. Chapman, Esq., built at Nescopeck what was called a team-boat, that is one propelled by poles, set in motion by horse-power machinery. When the "Experiment" was completed, Captain Chapman set out from Nescopeck on a trial-trip to Wilkesbarre, where he arrived July 4th, 1824. He was greeted by the people assembled on the bank, and saluted by Captain Barnum's company of volunteers. It was thought the old boats would be supplanted by the new, but after being thoroughly tested they were aban-. doned. STEAMBOATS. Several countries have claimed the honor of the first invention of steamboats, but it properly belongs to the United States. STERN-WHEEL BOAT. Rumsey and Fitch contrived models of the steamboat as early as 1773, and in 1784 exhibited them with their improvements to General Washington. In 1791, a steam- boat was constructed by John Stephens of Hoboken, and, in 1797, another was built by Chancellor Livingston, on the Hudson. Watt's engine was used in these boats, and was attached to poles and paddles. They moved at the rate of from three to five miles an hour. 458 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. In 1803, the paddle-wheel boat was invented by Fulton, and was first experimented with on the river Seine, in France, in which he was encouraged and assisted by Mr. Livingston, then minister from the United States. The experiment proving satisfactory, Fulton went to England and purchased one of Watt's best engines. He brought it to the United States, and, in 1807, set in operation the first successful paddle-wheel boat propelled by steam. In 1812, steamboats were first introduced into England, and, in 1816, the first steamer crossed the English Chan- nel to Havre. In 1815, a line of steam-packets was established between New York city and Providence, Rhode Island, and in 1818 between New York and New Orleans. In 1819, the first steamship crossed the Atlantic from the United States to England, and in 1825 the first steamer made her trip from England to Calcutta. In the summer of 1825, three steamboats were built for the express purpose of experimenting on the Susque- hanna, and, if possible, to establish the practicability of its navigation by steam. The " Codorus," built at York, or York Haven, by Messrs. Davis, Gordon & Co., was the first to stem the rapid current of the Susquehanna. She was constructed mostly of sheet-iron, and was sixty feet long, nine feet beam, and, when laden with her machinery and fifty passengers, drew only eight inches of water. Her engine was ten-horse power, and, with a stern- wheel, she moved at the rate of four miles an hour against the current. In the spring of 1826, Captain Elger commenced, with this steamboat, his voyage from York Haven. Proceeding up the Susquehanna, he was cheered, at every point, by crowds of people, who rushed to the shores to see the strange boat that traveled with- out poles, oars, or sails. After encountering and over- coming many difficulties, the Codorus reached the Nanti- NAVIGATION ON THE SUSQUEHANNA. 459 coke Falls. The news of her near approach was carried to Wilkesbarre, and soon all was bustle and confusion. Men, women, and children hurried over to the great common in front of the town, the cannon was made ready, and every eye was turned towards Fish's Island. In a short time the gallant little boat turned the point at the head of the island, and, dashing forward, came to anchor in front of the assembled multitude. Prolonged shouts of joy, ringing of bells, and the thunder of the cannon, greeted its arrival. This was the 12th day of April, 1826. The next day, by invitation of Captain Elger, about fifty of the citizens of the town went on board, and en- joyed a delightful excursion to Forty Fort, and returned full of confidence that the undertaking would prove successful. It was believed that a new era in the internal commerce of the country had now commenced, and that the Susquehanna, like the Ohio, was destined to become a great thoroughfare for steamboats. Proceeding up the river, Captain Elger, in a few days, reached Binghamton, from which place the Codorus commenced her return trip, arriving in York Haven after a vo3''age of four months. In his report to the company Captain Elger stated, that he was opposed to any further efforts to navigate the river by steam, as he believed it to be entirely impracticable. The " Susquehanna," the second steamboat, was built at Baltimore, by a company of enterprising gentlemen, who were anxious to secure for their growing city the trade of the Susquehanna river. She was commanded by Captain Collins of that city. Her entire length from stem to stern was eighty-two feet, while her stern-wheels were each four and a half feet in diameter. With an engine of thirty horse power, and one hundred passen- 460 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. gers^ she drew twenty-two inches of water, or fourteen inches more than the Codorus. Three commissioners, Messrs. Ellicott, Patterson, and Morris, were appointed to superintend the experiment, and all things being in readi- ness, she started on her trial trip. As she was a much larger and heavier boat than the Codorus, she advanced with great difficulty. After encountering innumerable obstacles she arrived at the Nescopeck Falls, opposite Berwick, on the afternoon of May 3d, 1826. The ascent of these rapids was looked upon as the most difficult part of the undertaking. The three commissioners and all the passengers, except about twenty, left the boat, and walked along the shore. A quantity of rich pine- wood had been procured for the occasion, and with a full head of steam, the dangerous passage was commenced. The banks of the river were crowded with spectators from the villages of Berwick, Nescopeck, and from the surrounding country. The angry w^aters seemed to dash with redoubled fury against the rocks and against the devoted boat, as if aware of the strife. Trembling from stem to stern, the noble craft slowly advanced, cheered by a thousand voices, until she reached the middle, and most difficult point of ascent. Here her headway ceased. The multi- tude stood silent on the shores, watching with intense anxiety the boat and her passengers. In a few moments she turned slightly towards the shore, and struck a rock. Her boiler immediately burst with an explosion, that sent the dreadful intelligence of her fate many miles throughout the surrounding country. Shattered, broken, and on fire, all that remained of the " Susquehanna" was carried down the conquering tide. The mangled bodies of her passengers and crew, dead and dying, lay upon her decks, or had been blown into the river. Men with ropes rushed into the stream to their shoulders, to save NAVIGATION ON THE SUSQUEHANNA. 461 the unhappy survivors from a watery grave. The rescued suiFerers were taken into Berwick, where they received the kind attentions of a sympathizing community. The writer, then a small boy, was an eye-witness of this awful scene. The bodies of several persons were placed in a large room in the hotel of Mr. John Jones. What there presented itself will never be erased from our memory — the bloodstained floor — the mangled, scalded bodies — the groans and dying words of men far from home and kindred. Colonel Joseph Paxton of Cattawissa, who was on board, in a letter to the writer says, " With our rich pine we succeeded in raising a full head of steam, and set off in fine style to ascend the rapids. The strength of the current soon checked our headway, and the boat, flanking towards the right bank of the river, struck a rock, I stood on the forward-deck with a long ash pole in my hand, and was in the act of placing it in the water hoping to steady her, when the explosion took j)lace. Two young men standing near me were blown high into the air, and I was hurled several yards from the boat into the water. I thought a cannon had been fired, and shot my head off. When in the water I thought I must certainly drown, but, making a desperate effort, succeeded in reaching the shore. I was badly scalded, and lost my hair and a portion of my scalp." Doctors Headley, Wilson, and Jackson, of Berwick, were actively engaged rendering all the medical assist- ance in their power. The citizens generally, especially the ladies, ministered to the wants and comforts of the suffering. John Turk and Ceber Whitemarsh of Green, New York, were killed instantly. William Camp of Owego died in a few hours, and his remains were conveyed to his family. 462 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. Mr. Maynard, the engineer, lingered a day or two and died. He died in the triumphs of the Christian faith. He was a resident of Baltimore, and a class-leader in the Methodist Episcopal Church. The fireman, a brave little fellow, was most severely scalded, but recovered. William Fitch and David Rose, of Chenango county, N. Y., were scalded and severely wounded. Colonel Paxton and C. Brobst, of Catawissa, and Jere- miah Miller, of Perry county, were severely scalded. Messrs. Woodside, Colt, and Underwood, of Danville ; Foster, Hurley, and Barton, of Bloomsburg; Benjamin Edwards and Isaac Lacey, of Luzerne county, were slightly scalded. " The Pioneer," the third boat, made its experiment on the West Branch of the Susquehanna. Her officers reported adversely, and here ended for a time all further attempts to navigate the Susquehanna by steam. All eyes now turned towards the construction of a canal, as the only feasible means by which to reach the seaboard with the accumulating productions of the coun- try. A considerable appropriation of money, for this purpose, had been made in February, 1826, by the Gene- ral Assembly of Pennsylvania, and immediately after the failure of steamboat navigation the work was commenced on the lower division of the canal. The North Branch Canal, commenced in 1828, and completed to the Lacka- wanna in 1834, progressed but slowly beyond that point. Several gentlemen being anxious to introduce anthracite coal as soon as possible into the state of New York, resolved to make another experiment in steamboat navi- gation on the Susquehanna. In 1834, Colonels Henry F. Lamb, G. M. Hollenback, and others of Wilkesbarre, and Messrs. Pompely, Hollen- back, and others of Owego, built a steamer at the latter NAVIGATION ON THE SUSQUEHANNA. 463 place at a cost of $13,000. They named her " The Sus- quehanna." She was a strong, well-made boat, with a fine engine of fort}^ horse power, and made her first trip from Owego to Wilkesbarre, a distance of one hundred miles, in less than eight hours. She arrived at the latter place on the 7th of August, 1835. Laden with coal, she made a successful return trip, greatly encouraging the expectations of her proprietors. On her second trip to Wilkesbarre for a cargo of coal, she made an excur- sion to the Nanticoke dam, and, breaking her shaft, was anchored in the Eddy, at the Outlet Lock, where she afterwards sunk and was abandoned. The completion of the North Branch Canal being still delayed, a company was formed at Tunkhannock, which constructed another steamer, and named her " Wyoming." She was launched in the spring of 1849, and placed under the command of Captain Oilman Converse, an experi- enced navigator, who had superintended her construction. Her length was 128 feet, and her beam 22 feet. With a stern-wheel of 16 feet and two engines, she was projoelled up the stream, laden with forty tons of coal, at the rate of four miles an hour. During the years 1849, 1850, and 1851, when there was sufficient water in the channel, she was constantly employed in transporting coal from Wyo- ming Valley to Athens, and other places on the river. But finally she was abandoned, like her predecessors, for the enterprise was found to be unprofitable. It remained for the citizens of Bainbridge, New York, to make the last effort in deciding the j)racticability of steam navigation on the Susquehanna. A stock company was formed, and Captain Converse was employed to con- struct and command the " Enterprise." The keel of the Enterprise was 95 feet, and her beam 24 feet. With a stern-wheel of 14 feet, put in motion by a powerful en- 464 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. gine, she carried 40 tons of coal, at the rate of four miles an hour, from Wilkesbarre to Athens. She was launched in 1851, and, in three months of successful navigation, paid to her owners three thousand dollars. Successive rains had supplied the river with water sufficient for navi- gation during the spring months, and the boat was kept in constant employment. But when the rains ceased, and the river found its usual low water mark, the Enterprise lay high and dry on the shore. Her machinery rusted, the sun's rays opened her seams, and she soon became unfit for service. No further attempts of the kind have been made, and thus has ended steamboat navigation on the Susquehanna. It has been thought by many intelligent and compe- tent judges that a slack-water navigation should have been constructed on this broad and usually shallow river, admit- ting the passage of steamers of 500 tons burthen. This was the opinion of far-seeing men in 1826, when the first survey for the canal was made, but they were overruled. Such an improvement would enable our coal operators to deliver coal at Boston, and all the sea-board cities, without transhipment, and at a reduced price. SHIP-BUILDING. It was imagined, at a very early day, by some persons in Luzerne, that large vessels could be built on the banks of the Susquehanna, and floated down, at the time of high water, to the sea-board. It was supposed that thus the ship-yards of the cities and seaport towns would be transferred, with their artisans, to the .interior, to the great profit of the country people. To test the practicability of the theory, Messrs. J. P. Arndt & Philip established a ship-yard on the public common in Wilkesbarre, and in 1803 launched the first NAVIGATION ON THE SUSQUEHANNA. 465 craft, a sloop of 12 tons burden. They named it " The John Franklin," in honor of that indomitable and uncom- promising adherent of Yankee rights. The sloop reached tide-water in safety, and a flattering prospect of ship- building seemed to open to the citizens of the interior. A stock company was formed at Wilkesbarre, but it did not commence operations until 1811, when the first ship, as it was called, was placed upon the stocks. Sanguine spirits looked forward with confidence to the speedy realization of their dreams. The great common was to be converted into a grand ship-yard, and Wilkesbarre and all the towns along the river were to become flourishing cities. Town lots and timber lands advanced in price, and hopeful smiles beamed from the countenances of pro- perty holders, especially of holders of stock in the ship- building company. In April, 1812, the ship was com- pleted. The following is a description of its launch, as recorded in the " Gleaner" of April 12 of that year : — " Last Friday was the day on which the launch of the vessel on the stocks in this port was announced. A 30 466 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. scene so extraordinary, 200 miles from the tide-waters of the river, raised the curiosity of every one. The old sailor, and the inhabitants of the sea-board, whom the vicissitudes of fortune had settled in this sylvan retreat, and to whom such scenes had once been familiar, felt all the interest so naturally excited by events that called up early and interesting recollections. The novelty to those who had never witnessed such a view, excited curiosity to the highest degree. The importance of the experi- ment too did not fail to augment the general solicitude, for on its success depended the important consideration whether the timber of our mountains could be profitably employed in ship-building, and our country be beautified by the increase of business which such a pursuit would naturally produce. On the Sunday preceding the inter- esting day, a beautiful new pair of colors was displayed from the stern, according to universal usage, as a token that in the course of the week she would be launched. From Monday till Friday all was bustle and activity. Early on Friday people began to gather from all parts of the country. The cannon on the bank at noon" gave notice that everything was in preparation. A little after two, repeated discharges announced that all was ready. The bank of the river, far above and below the vessel, was lined with persons of both sexes, and it was not among the least gratifications of the day to observe the smile of pleasure mingled with anxiety for the success of the launch, which was evident in every countenance. A little after three the increased bustle and noise around the vessel, and the sound of sledges and axes, gave the interesting notice that they were knocking away the block. The vessel was built on the bank of .the river 100 feet from the water, and 15 feet perpendicular height above it, so that she had a considerable distance to move. NAVIGATION ON THE SUSQUEHANNA. 467 She measures between 50 and 60 tons. Her colors were flying from her stern, and nearly thirty persons were on board. The after block was knocked away — all was anxiety — but she did not move. " The news of the embargo had just come to town, and she seemed aware that there was no business for her on the ocean, and she might as well lie in dry dock. The men on board all gathered near her bow, and then ran in a body to the stern. She started, moving for half a minute slowly. Her velocity increased, and she slid most gracefully into her destined element, amid the shouts of thousands. As she met the water, Captain Chapman christened her in the usual style ' The Luzerne, of Wilkesbarre.' Nothing could be more beautiful, and every spectator was amply gratified. Great credit is due to Mr. Mack, the shipwright who built her, and under whose superintendence she was launched, and to Mr. Arndt, the principal proprietor, who has been chiefly active in her building. We hope her voyage down the crooked and rocky Susquehanna may be safe, though our hopes are not without some fears for her safety, as she draws, without ballast, four feet of water." In a few days this vessel left the Poi^t of Wilkesbarre, on her downward passage to the ocean, and to the con- sternation of all on board she was dashed to pieces on the rocks at Conawaga Falls, near Middletown. With her were wrecked the hopes of her stockholders, together with the fond anticipations of timber-land and town-lot speculators. Thus failed a bold undertaking, which cost the enterprising citizens of Luzerne, and particularly those of Wilkesbarre, no small sum of money. It seems strange that with a full knowledge of the shallowness of the Susquehanna, men should have engaged in the hazardous experiment of building a ship of sixty tons. 468 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. two handred miles from tide-water. Half a century has wrought a great change in the business affairs of the people of this region. The timber of Luzerne fifty years ago was to the inhabitants of that period, what anthracite coal is to the people of the present day. And ship-build- ing occupied the same relationship to the timber of the country then, that the iron manufacture does to the coal now. We evidently enjoy a high advantage over our fathers. The clouds may withhold their rains, and the Susquehanna may show us her dark and rocky bed, but that will not prevent the miner from dragging the black treasure from the bowels of the earth, nor its conveyance to the distant markets of the land. LUMBER, RAFTS, AND ARKS. Since 1794, and particularly after experience had shown the impracticability of ship-building in the inte- rior, for the consumption of our timber at home, the Susquehanna has been the great channel or avenue for supplying the lower markets with lumber. Our river has furnished the timbers, masts, and spars of shi20s built in Baltimore and in other seaports, and has brought to the mechanics of Philadelphia, Lancaster, and of various other places in Pennsylvania and Maryland, the materials wherewith to erect thousands of dwellings, the lowly cot^ tage and the lofty palace. Seventy years ago a raft of sawed lumber had not yet been seen on the Susquehanna. However, in 1796, thirty rafts passed down the river, but not a single ark floated on its waters until the year 1800. The first object of the early settlers was to clear the land for agricultural purposes, and there being no demand for lumber, or means of manufacturing it into boards, timber of the best quality was rolled into heaps and consumed NAVIGATION ON THE SUSQUEHANNA. 469 by fire. In a few years, however, after the country be- came settled, a farmer here and there would erect a saw- mill, and would manufacture lumber from the good timber cut on his annual clearings. It was not long before the surplus was floated to market below, in the spring or fall, during a freshet. As the demand increased the number of mills multiplied, and in 1804 no less than 552 rafts, or about 22,000,000 feet of lumber, were taken to market. In the same year, 84 arks and 19 Durham boats laden with wheat, furs, and fat cattle destined for Baltimore, and valued at $190,400, passed down the river. In speaking of this fleet of arks and boats with their valuable cargoes, the editor of the Federalist, pub- lished in Wilkesbarre at that time, expressed regret that the Easton and Wilkesbarre- Turnpike was not completed, so as to induce a transhipment of the produce at Wilkes- barre, and secure its transportation over the road to Phi- ladelphia. In 1827, during a single freshet, from March 1st to April 5th, 1030 rafts and arks, many of them laden with agricultural productions, passed Wilkesbarre on their way to tide-water, and to Baltimore. Baltimore was long the natural, and only market, for the Upper Susquehanna trade. But after the construction of the Columbia and Philadelphia Railroad, and the state canals, the trade be- came divided between Baltimore, Philadelphia, and other populous places. The demand increased from year to year, and lumbering became an established business. With many it became the primary, while agriculture was a secondary pursuit. From 1827 to 1849, the increase of the lumber trade was rapid and enormous. From March 22d to April 17th, in the last-named year, 2243 rafts and 268 arks passed Wilkesbarre, on the swollen waters of the river. They contained about 100,000,000 of feet, and were valued at $600,000. Since 1849 the 470 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTT. number of rafts and arks has gradually diminished, owing to the scarcity of timber, and to the diversion of trade hy the construction of the New York and Erie, and of other railroads, in Northern Pennsylvania and Southern New York. Very little lumber is now rafted within the limits of Luzerne, being conveyed to market chiefly on the railroads and Susquehanna canals, while a considerable quantity is consumed at home. CANALS. In 1824, the Legislature of Pennsylvania authorized and directed the governor to appoint three commissioners to examine routes along the Susquehanna, and other rivers in the state, with a view to the proper location and construction of canals. In ' February, 1826, a general internal improvement act was passed by the Assembly, under the operation of which the great public works of Pennsylvania were constructed at a cost exceeding 140,000,000. In this stupendous undertaking the people of Luzerne naturally felt a deep interest, from the fact that it pro- mised a speedy development of her vast mineral resources. A state internal improvement convention was assembled at Harrisburg, in August, 1825, and Nathan Beach and Jacob Cist appeared there as representatives from Luzerne. On the 14th of March, 1827, the corner-stone of the first lock was laid at Harrisburg, in the presence of a vast multitude. There were present Governor Shultz, Governor Findley, Governor Carrole of Tennessee, the speakers and members of the Senate and House of Repre- sentatives, members of the Masonic order, the military, and a great crowd of citizens. The occasion was cele- brated in the midst of discharges of cannon, the ringing of bells, and the shouts of the people. NAVIGATION ON THE SUSQUEHANNA. 471 Garrick Mallery aud George Denison, men of brilliant talents and great influence in the halls of legislation, were elected to represent Luzerne in the General Assembly of 1827-8. They were sent for the express purpose of securing speedy action in reference to the commencement of the North Branch Canal. Their efforts, strenuously directed to that end, were successful, and on their return home, they were welcomed by a grateful constituency, who gave them a public dinner at the Phoenix Hotel, in Wilkesbarre. The commissioners were directed to place the North Branch division of canal, from Northumberland to the state line, under contract. The 4th of July, 1828, was fixed upon as the day to break ground at Berwick ; and the Avriter, then a boy, numbered one among the great multitude assembled to witness the interesting scene. The military were there with their colors, and drums, and gay attire. Crowds came from Wilkesbarre, Ply- mouth, Kingston, Northumberland, Danville, Blooms- burg, and from all the region round about for thirty miles or more. Old men and women were there, and the boys and girls from town and country came. And there was good cider, and a vast supply of cakes and beer, that made the eyes of the drinker snap. At the appointed hour the ceremonies began, by plowing near the present lock at Berwick. The plow was held by Nathan Beach, Esq., and was drawn by a yoke of splendid red oxen, owned and driven by Alexander Jameson, Esq. The loose earth was re- moved in wheelbarrows, a rock was blasted, cannon were fired, whiskey was drank, and all returned to their homes, happy and buoyant with the hope of a glorious future. The peace of the assemblage was disturbed by five dis- 472 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. plays of pugilistic science, called fist-fights, an absolute essential at all gatherings in those days. The laborers upon the public works were principally Irishmen, who were accustomed to the pick and the shovel, and, when stimulated by the indispensable whis- key, could fight or work as the occasion required. At that day the idea of constructing a canal without whiskey would have been viewed as prej)osterous ; and equally absurd would the conduct of a farmer have been pro- nounced, who would have presumed to gather his harvest without the fiery beverage. Every shanty was supplied with whiskey, which cooled them when it was hot, and heated them when it was cool ; that was good in pros- perity or adversity, in sickness and in health, before breakfast in the morning, and on retiring to rest at night ; in a word, an article that possessed specific virtues at all times, on all occasions, and under all circumstances. But the cool-headed spectator plainly saw that whiskey was the origin of strikes, and riots, and feuds among the workmen themselves ; that it was the great head-breaker and blood- letter of the day. In 1830 the canal was completed to the Nanticoke dam, and the first boat, named " The "Wyoming," built by the Hon. John Koons, at Shickshinny, was launched and towed to Nanticoke, where she was laden with ten tons of anthracite coal, a quantity of flour, and other articles. Her destination was Philadelphia. The North Branch Canal being new and filling slowly with water, the Wyoming passed through the Nanticoke Schute, and thence down the river to Northumberland, where she entered the Susquehanna division of canal, and proceeded with considerable difficulty by the way of the Union and Schuylkill Canals to Philadelphia. The Wyoming re- ceived, in the city, fifteen tons of dry goods, and com- NAVIGATION ON THE SUSQUEHANNA. 473 mencing her return trip, was frozen up in the ice and snow at New Buffalo, in January, 1831. From this place her cargo was transported to Wilkesbarre on sleds. The voyage of the Wyoming was attended with many difficul- ties and detentions, and embraced a period of upwards of three months. The second canal-boat, " The Luzerne," was built by Captain Derrick Bird, on the river bank, opposite Wilkes- barre, in 1831. She was laden with coal, which was conveyed to Philadelphia, whence she returned with a cargo of merchandise, arriving at the Nanticoke dam in July 1831. In 1834, the Luzerne, then commanded by Captain Buskirk, made the first complete round trip by canal from Wilkesbarre to Philadelphia, the North Branch division having been completed from Northumberland to the Lackawanna. In 1835, the first packet-boats, the "George Denison" and the "Gertrude," were launched by M. Horton and A. 0. Cahoon, and commenced the con- veyance of passengers and light freight between Wilkes- barre and Northumberland. All the main lines of canal in the Commonwealth were now completed, except the North Branch, from Lacka- wanna to the New York line, a distance of 94 miles. This work progressed slowly until 1838, when it was suspended or abandoned. In 1842, the Legislature incor- porated the North Branch Canal Company, with a capital stock of $1,500,000, and transferred to the company all the right, title, and interest of the Commonwealth in the unfinished work from the Lackawanna river to the south- ern boundary of New York, provided the company com- pleted the canal within a period of three years. In 1843 A supplement to the foregoing was passed by the General Assembly, donating to said company the finished canal, from the outlet lock at Solomon's Creek to the Lacka- 471: ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. wanna, fourteen miles, as a further inducement to the formation of the company and the completion of the enterprise. It was supposed that the liberal offer of the state would induce prompt action on the part of capital- ists, but the presumption was not well founded, and in 1848 the Commonwealth resumed the work. Up. to the 30th of November, 1857, this North Branch Extension, as it was called, had cost the state $4,658,491.12. To connect the North Branch Canal with those of the state of New York, sixteen miles of additional canal were necessary, to construct which the Junction Canal Com- pany was formed. Through the energy of Mr. Arnot, of Elmira, Messrs. Laport, Mason, and others, of Towanda, Hollenback, Wright, and others, of Wilkesbarre, and Judge Mallery, of Philadelphia, the connection was effected. In November, 1856, the first boats laden with coal departed from Pittston, destined for Weston, New York. The boat " Tonawanda," Captain A. Dennis, super- cargo Jno. Richards, Jr., laden with forty tons of coal from the mines of Mallery and Butler, and the boat " Ravine Coal Co. No. 4," Captain T. Knapp, were the first to ascend the canal, and with great difficulty reached their destination at Elmira. They were laden with half cargoes, and were drawn by double teams, yet their pro- gress was slow and heavy. Before the canal closed for that year, however, 1150 tons were transported north- ward, and in 1857, 2274 tons. In 1858 the Legislature disposed of the state canals to the Sunbury and Erie Railroad Company, for the sum of three millions five hundred thousand (3,500,000) dollars. The Sunbury and Erie Railroad Company were scarcel}^ in possession when they sold the North Branch division from Northumberland to the north line of the state, to the North Branch Canal Company, for $1,500,000. This NAVIGATION ON THE SUSQUEHANNA. 475 last-named company soon after sold that portion extend ing from Northumberland town to Northampton Street, in Wilkesbarre, a distance of sixty-two miles, to the Wyo- ming Canal Company, for the sum of $990,000, retaining the ipart from Northampton Street to the state line, whose length is 104 miles. The original dimensions of the Pennsylvania canals were 40 feet water level, 28 feet bottom, with 4 feet of depth, designed for boats carrying 80 tons weight. The canal from Wilkesbarre to. the New York line has 3 dams and 30 locks, with an average lift of 8 feet, while that part extending from Wilkesbarre to Northumberland has 11 locks, with an average lift of 8 feet, and only one dam, the Nanticoke. Since the North Branch Canal has passed into the hands of a private company, strong and united efforts have been making to forward coal northward. On the 14th of July, 1858, S. T. Lippincott left Pitts- ton with five boats, laden with coal, and arrived at Elmira. From this place he proceeded with two boats to Roches- ter, via the Chemung Canal, and thence to Buffalo. Here he took the steamboat for Cleveland, Ohio, which he reached on the 8th of August. This was the first cargo of coal that ever reached Cleveland from Luzerne county, and was retailed at $8.50 per ton.* * For a further account of the trade upon the canal, see Chapter XII., " Minerals and the Coal Trade." CHAPTER XVI. CLIMATE. " Soon came booming on The deep voiced thunder, vrhile at distance rolled The wild winds, dirge like, and yet tempest tone." " How calm, how beautiful comes on The stilly hour, when storms are gone, When warring winds have died away. And clouds, beneath the glancing ray, Melt off, and leave the land and sea Sleeping in bright tranquillity." The climate of this region is that of the north of Europe, yet, according to geographical position, we would expect a temperature like that of Naples in Italy, or Constanti- nople in the south of Turkey. The temperature of Wyo- ming Valley is that of a European country lying eight degrees farther north. Our climate is subject to great and sudden changes. The temperature has been known to rise to about 100° in summer, and to fall so low as 30° below zero in winter. It has been asserted that our climate has very much changed, and is more variable now than it was many years ago. We possess no very accurate means of testing the truth of this statement, but, doubtless, it was a colder climate a hundred years back than it is now. The existence of an unbroken forest covered with snow and saturated with dampness, which could be but imperfectly acted upon by the sun's rays, produced a more severe and protracted degree of cold than we now experience. (470) CLIMATE. 477 In 1816, there was frost in every month throughout the year. The milky corn was frozen and rotted in the fields, filling the air with a disagreeable odor. Fourteen years after that, Sharp D. Lewis, Esq., editor of the Sus- quehanna Democrat, received a fine mess of green peas in the pod, accompanied with the following note : — "Nanticoke, November 17th, 1830. " Mrs. Washington Lee desires Mr. Lewis's acceptance of the accompanying instance of the unusual length and mildness of the present season." In 1843, apples as large as walnuts were killed, by frost, on the trees. We find on record a few instances of the state of the weather a hundred years ago. In 1755, there was great heat and drought in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland. No rain had fallen for the space of eight weeks, and the governors of these several provinces, by proclamation, appointed a day of fasting and prayer, call- ing on the people to entreat heaven for rain and for tHe success of Braddock's army. Kain was granted, but Braddock was defeated. The commanding officer at Fort Augusta (Sunbury), writing to the provincial authorities, under date of May 26th, 1758, says, "It is snowing here, and the ground is covered." In more modern times we learn, that November 14th, 1819, the Susquehanna, at Wilkesbarre, was frozen over, and persons crossed on the ice. At the same place, on the 26th of March, 1836, loaded sleds crossed the river on the ice. There are cases of extraordinary changes on record. For instance, October 4th, 1836, the weather was warm 478 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. and pleasant — next day the snow fell to the depth of 11 inches. On the 19th of May, 1857, the mercury in the ther- mometer stood at 82°. The next day snow fell on the Pokono Mountain to the depth of 18 inches, and in the Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys its depth was 10 inches. January 26th, 1821, the mercury stood 23° below zero, and on the 27th, 3° below. In 1857, on the 24th, 25th, and 26th of January, the mercury stood at 30°, 22°, and 23°, respectively, below zero. On the 27th of the same month, it rose to 1° below zero. The average temperature in our valley, during the day time, from the 15th of May to the 15th of September, is about 75° Fah. FLOODS. The valley of the Susquehanna, in common with others coursed through by broad, shallow rivers, has suffered at different periods from disastrous inundations. In January, 1784, snow fell in Wyoming and the surrounding coun- try to the depth of four feet, cutting off all communication between the state authorities at Philadelphia, and the Pennamite garrison in the valley. The soldiers at Fort Dickinson, so called by the Pennamites, or, by the Yan- kees, Fort Wyoming, were compelled to keep close quar- ters, and for sometime were unable to visit the surround- ing forest for fuel. The scattered inhabitants of the valley were barricaded in their dwellings, and could not call upon, or be called upon by their neighbors. In the following March the snow passed off with rain, producing what is known in the tradition of the country as the great Ice Flood. The Susquehanna and its tributaries were covered with thick ice, for the winter's cold had been unusually severe. It broke up suddenly in the CLIMATE. 479 spring, and the river rose with alarming rapidity. It is related that the ice in the region of the present Nanti- coke dam remained firm and unbroken, while immense masses of loose ice from above were swept down, and lodged in the lower part of the valley, piling up in vast heaps, and forming a barrier to the free progress of the water. " One general inundation overspread the plains of Wyoming. The inhabitants took refuge on the sur- rounding heights, many being rescued from the roofs of their floating houses." When the accumulating pressure of the flood broke through the icy barrier, houses and barns, stacks of grain and of hay, horses, cattle, and swine were swept from the face of the earth. Major James Moore, writing under date of March 20th, 1784, from the fort at Wilkesbarre, to Mr. Dickinson, president of the Supreme Executive Council, says, " The people in this country have suffered exceedingly from the late freshet. Not less than 150 houses have been carried away. The grain is principally lost, and a very consi- derable part of the cattle drowned. The water was 30 feet above low-water mark. The water was so high in the garrison that some of the ammunition was injured." The huge blocks of ice, which were left on the plains after the inundation had subsided, remained unmelted by the sun's rays during the greater part of the ensuing summer. In October, 1786, occurred what is called the PumpJdn Flood, from the vast quantities of that vegetable, which were carried down and strewed over the lower plains of the Susquehanna. In a letter, dated at Wilkesbarre, November 7th, 1786, written by John Franklin to Dr. Joseph Hamilton, the flood is thus described : — " I expect you have heard of the late deluge. The rain on the oth of October, which fell in about twenty- 480 ANNALSOF LUZERNE COUNTY. four hours, raised the river about six feet, and in the narrows ten feet deeper than ever known. The small streams became mighty rivers. The mills are mostly swept off, and one-half of all kind of food for man and beast is for ever lost. Even the roots in the earth, such as potatoes, turnips, parsnips, &c., are mostly rotten in the earth. The greatest part of the rain fell in the after- noon and evening of the 5th. The Susquehanna river, that was fordable at four of the clock in the afternoon, was over the face of the earth, from mountain to moun- tain, at six o'clock the morning of the 6th. It is sur- prising to see the mountains in the smallest runs of w^ater. You may see stones, from three pounds to three tons weight, drove to a great distance, and hove up in heaps. A stone, judged to weigh two tons, lies mounted on two stumps, near Toby's Creek, that was drove from a con- siderable distance. A number of cattle were drowned. Our fences are all gone. One man was drowned attempt- ing to save some effects." From the statements we have, it would appear that the pumpkin flood was higher than the ice flood by six or ten feet, or that it rose forty feet above low-water mark. But the former seems not to have been so disas- trous as the latter, for the reason that there was no heaping up, and sudden rush of the flood, producing a current of irresistible force. In the pumpkin flood men were seen paddling their canoes through the swelling tide, and rescuing women and children from houses half filled with water. A few horses, held by the head by men in canoes, swam to the shore, while others, with most of the horned cattle, sheep, and swine, were swept away and lost. The incidents and hairbreadth escapes of the two floods, occurring so near together, have likely become mixed, CLIMATE. 481 and those of the ice assigned to the pumpkin flood, and vice versa. It is related that the late Rev. Benjamin Bidlack, then a powerful muscular man, was swept down the river in his dwelling-house, in the ice flood,* during the night. The house started from Plymouth, and was followed by people along the shore with torchlights. Sometimes the house would lodge on an obstruction, and after a short pause would be carried forward. On these occasions the stentorian voice of the soldier was heard above the loud roar of the waters and crashing of the ice, " Now I am standing still" — " Now I am going forward." The build- ing was permanently lodged among the trees, near Mr. Harvey's coal-mine, and Mr. Bidlack, thanks to his great endurance and strength, made a happy escape. The widow Jameson, whose house stood near the resi- dence of the late James Lee, Esq., in Hanover, with her small children, was taken from the second story of the building into a canoe. A horse was drowned in a stable, near the present residence of S. Leonard Thurlow, Esq., in Wilkesbarre. The late Mrs. Myers, with her father's family, escaped from their dwelling in Kingston, during the ice flood, in a canoe, soon after which the house was carried away, and the spot where it stood covered by an immense pile of ice. Persons familiar with the localities referred to in the foregoing statements may form a pretty correct idea of the extent of these floods. It is said the Indians informed the whites that they had no tradition respecting any flood having swept over the plains of Wyoming. This may be doubted, but if true, it may be an interesting question how far the clear- ing out of the country, and the removal of the forests, 31 482 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. have affected the river, by allowing the snows to melt more rapidlj^, and affording a freer passage for the waters of the tributary streams. The channel of the Susque- hanna is wider and deeper now than it was a hundred years ago, though bearing no greater volume of water to the ocean, and since the ice and pumpkin floods the valley has been several times more or less inundated. In July, 1809, the Susquehanna rose 16 feet above low-water mark, and, inundating the lower flats, destroyed the grain. In January, 1831, the flats were again inun- dated; and again, in May, 1833,, the low-lands were flooded by the high water. Arks and rafts, torn from their moorings in the smaller streams, came floating down the swollen flood without men to guide them. Stacks of hay floated by covered with living poultry. As they passed Wilkesbarre the cocks crowed lustily, intimat- ing to their brethren of the borough that their heads were still above water. In January, 1841, the weather suddenly changed from cold to warm, accompanied with rain, which rapidly melted the snow, and produced an inundation of the low country along the Susquehanna and Lackawanna. But its effects on the Lehigh were of the most terrible and destructive character. The water rushed into the cellars and first stories of the stores and dwellings in Mauch Chunk in the night. Several build- ings were swept away, and the streets were filled wdth logs and trees, washed down from the surrounding moun- tains. The whole population, roused from their beds, fled, in the utmost alarm, to the high grounds above the village. Bridges, saw-mills, grist-mills, dwellings, barns, household furniture, canal boats, horses, cattle, and human beings were hurried promiscuously away on the bosom of the angry waters. The works of the Lehigh Navigation Company^ the CLIMATE. 483 Beaver Meadow Company, and the Schuylkill Navigation Company, sustained great injury ; and the villages of Lehighton and Weissport shared the fate of Mauch Chunk. In this dreadful catastrophe thirteen persons, principally women and children, lost their lives. In 1842, and 1843, extraordinary floods again occurred in the Susquehanna and its tributaries ; and in the spring of 1846, the water stood 3 J feet deep on the river bank opposite the Phoenix Hotel, in Wilkesbarre. This was the highest freshet known since the pumpkin flood of 1786.* It, indeed, caused much more damage, reckoned in dollars and cents, but the country was much better able to bear the loss then than in the last century. The flood of 1846 carried away a number of costly bridges on the Susquehanna, and greatly damaged the public im- provements of the Commonwealth. For many weeks after the flood had subsided, the flats were covered with ice. In July, 1850, a dam on Racket's Creek was swept away by the high water, and Carbondale was inundated. At the foot of Plane No. 1, cars, buildings, and drift- wood were heaped together in a promiscuous mass of ruins. The Lackawanna flooded several of the mines, but the workmen, with the exception of two, who were drowned, escaped. The loss sustained by the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company exceeded $75,000. The Susquehanna over- flowed its banks, and, it being the midst of harvest, the river was covered with sheaves and shocks of grain. Bridges were carried away, and no mails reached Pittston, Wilkesbarre, or Scranton for several days. But the most destructive flood that ever occurred in Luzerne and adjoining counties, was occasioned by a con- tinued heavy rain, which fell in the early part of Sep- * For an account of the destructive flood in the Lehigh in 1862, and the great flood in the Susquehanna in 1805, see Appendix Y. 484 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. tember, 1850. In our county the loss of life and property was greatest on the small streams. Solomon's Creek rushed down the mountain's side with fearful impetuosity, destroying the public highway and the improvements of the Lehigh and Susquehanna Company at the foot of the plane. The Wapwallopen, with its increased volume, dashed madly over the country, sweeping away two of the powder-mills of Messrs. Knapp and Parrish. The Nescopeck, undermining the dam above the forge of S. F. Headley, Esq., bore off to the Susquehanna on its turbu- lent flood the lifeless bodies of twenty-two men, women, and children. These unfortunate people had assembled in one house near the forge. The house stood upon elevated ground, and was supposed to be the best place for safety. One man, fearing to trust to the stability of the house, took up his child in his arms, and calling to his wife, who refused to follow, rushed through the rising waters, and gained the hill-side. When he turned to look behind him, house, wife, and friends had disappeared. All the low lands along the Susquehanna were covered with water, and as usual on such occasions, the commu- nication between Wilkesbarre and Kingston was carried on by means of boats. At Tamaqua forty dwellings were swept away, and thirty-three persons were drowned, sixteen being members of one family ; and the damage sustained at this place was estimated at $500,000. At Port Clinton twenty-six persons were drowned, eleven of whom constituted a family of father, mother, and nine children. HURRICANES. The first hurricane or tornado in Luzerne, of which we have any record, made its destructive passage through CLIMATE. 485 our forests in 1796. It passed over the country from west to east, unroofing barns and dwellings, and produc- ing on the head-waters of the Lehigh what, among the old inhabitants, was called " The Great Windfall." The road leading from Wilkesbarre to Easton was completely barricaded with fallen trees, which it required several months of labor to remove. Our county appropriated $250 towards the expense. In February, 1824, a most terrific hurricane passed up the Susquehanna river, prostrating fences, trees, barns, and dwellings. Such was its power that it lifted the entire superstructure of the Wilkesbarre Bridge from its piers, and bore it some distance up the river, where it fell on the ice with a thundering crash. On the 3d of July, 1834, a hurricane, sweeping from the north-east to the south-west, nearly destroyed the village, now the borough, of Providence. The office of E. S. Potter, Esq., was raised from its foundation, and, with Mr. P. and Otis Severance, who were in the building, it was removed several yards from its original position. An unfinished church was blown down, and the frame was carried to a great distance. Dr. Hollister informs us that a young woman, who had taken refuge in a feather- bed during the storm, was lifted, bed and all, through the roofless house, and safely landed several rods distant. We visited Providence a few days after this catastrophe, and if our remembrance is correct, there was only one uninjured building in the town. Every tree within the sweep of the wind was laid low. In 1835, a similar hurricane passed through Wilkes- barre township from west to east, blowing down orchards, unroofing buildings, and prostrating the trees of the forest. Mr. McCarrier was lifted by the wind, and transported from his barn to the door-yard of his house. 486 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. Almost every region of country is subject to floods and hurricanes of a more or less violent character. We have noted only those occurring among us, which were par- ticularly destructive, and which, at the time, made a serious impression on the public mind. To many they will appear of small consequence, but there are some to whom they will ever remain subjects of curious, if not of fearful interest. DISEASES, PHYSICIANS. Man, of course, is subject to disease and death in our climate, as well as in all others ; but, according to the census of 1850, the number of deaths in Luzerne during that year, was only 383. This in a population of 56,072 is a very small proportion, and argues well for the health- fulness of the climate or the skill of our physicians. The proportion of deaths in Pennsylvania is estimated at seven annually for every hundred families, and as the families of the county numbered 9672 at the last census, the number of deaths among us, by this calculation, should have been about 675.^^ Dr. William Hooker Smith, Dr. Joseph Sprague, and Dr. Gustin were the earliest physicians in the valley. They were all in the battle of 1778, and the last-named gentleman received a bullet through his hat. In 1777, Jeremiah Ross returned from Philadelphia, where he had been on a visit, and brought with him the small-pox. This terrible ravager of the human family could at that time be only successfully met by the process of inoculation. Others in the settlements contracted the disease, and great alarm prevailed among the people. Pest-houses were established in each township, half a mile from any road, where persons who had not been inoculated were placed under treatment. The small-pox was a great terror to the Indians, and it is related that CLIMATE. 487 when they entered Forty Fort after the battle the women cried out, " Small-pox ! small-pox !" The savages, how- ever, understood the ruse, and were not to be deterred from their work of plunder. A malignant disease, called putrid fever, prevailed in 1778. It was contagious, and several died. In 1794, a fatal form of typhus fever raged along the Susquehanna, and baffled the skill of the physicians. The disease was supposed to be yellow fever, and in some localities whole families fell victims to its ravages.^* The fever and ague has raged at various periods along the Susquehanna ever since the white man appeared on its banks. Shikellimus, the viceroy of the Six Nations, residing at Shamokin, died from this disease in 1749. Dr. Nathaniel Giddings located himself in Pittston township in 1783, and pursued his profession for more than half a century. Dr. Matthew Covell, previous to the present century, located himself permanently in Wilkesbarre. Dr. Samuel Baldwin resided part of the time in Wilkesbarre, and afterwards in Kingston. Dr. Oliver Bigelow was located at Forty Fort, and left Wyo- ming sixty years ago. Dr. Crissey, one of the early physicians, was located at Plymouth. Dr. Samuel Hay- den lived in Huntington township, and afterwards in Braintrim. He was a very successful practitioner, and a very eccentric man. Between 1800 and 1810, Drs. Covell and George W. Trott were practicing in Wilkes- barre ; Drs. Baldwin and Eleazar Parker in Kingston ; and Drs. Gay lord and Crissey in Plymouth. From 1810 to 1820, Drs. Covell, Baldwin, W. B. Gid- dings, Gaylord, Parker, Asa C. Whitney, and Dr. John Smith, were practicing in Wyoming Valley. Dr. Silas Robinson, who died lately in Providence, was the oldest physician in the Lackawanna Valley. He commenced practice in 1811. CHAPTERXVII. WILD ANIMALS.— HUNTINa.— FISHING. " Listen how the hounds and horn, « Cheerily rouse the slumbering morn, From the side of some hoar hill> Through the high woods echoing shrill." Our valleys and mountains were once favorite hunting- grounds for the Red men, who came down annually by hundreds from the country of the Six Nations, to supply themselves with delicious game. The streams in the land of the confederacy abounded in excellent fish, which prof- fered a sweet repast to the hungry Indian, but when he sought to stir his blood with the excitement of the chase, and follow the steps of the bounding deer, he visited the high mountains and deep forests of Pennsylvania. After the whites began to spread themselves through this por- tion of the state, many of them, like the aborigines, pre- ferred the pleasures of the chase to the pursuits of agriculture, and found it more agreeable to depend on their rifles than on their plows for the comforts of life. Almost every pioneer family had one or two rifles, some- times more, and the young as well as the old were expert in handling them. Even the gentler sex did not hesitate occasionally to lift the manly weapon, and send the leaden messenger on its errand of sport or of death. Of the wild carnivorous animals which inhabited this region the cougar was the largest, and was known amouii- (488) WILD ANIMALS. — HUNTING. — FISHING. 489 the early settlers and hunters as the panther, generally called the painter. Its color is of a brownish red, with small patches of a deeper tint, which disappear as the animal advances in age. The abdomen is of a pale red- dish color, and the lower jaw and throat are white. It belongs to the species of the cat kind, is sly and treach- erous, climbs trees, wanders at night in search of food, and bounds from the earth towards its prey with an agility and power and deadly aim unsurpassed by any other animal. When full-grown, its weight is about one hundred and fifty pounds. From 1808 to 1820, the bounty paid by Luzerne county on panther scalps, amounted to $1822, upwards of 50 being killed in one year. Since arriving at manhood's years, we have read the works of Cummings and Gerard, th - great Scotch and French lion-hunters, and, when a boy, we listened with the most soul-absorbing interest to the wonderful adven- tures of the old hunters of Luzerne, their surprising achievements, their hairbreadth escapes, and we are con- fident the hunters of our own land displayed as much coolness and courage, as much skill and physical endur- ance, as the famous forest heroes of other climes. Gerard, it is said, is the best rifle-shot in Europe, but one of the Lutzeys could cut a wild turkey's throat with a rifle-ball at twenty rods. About the close of the Revolutionary War, a Captain Mitchell was stationed with a company of troops at Wyo- ming ; and one of his sergeants, named McNeily, was said to have no superior in the army as a rifle-shooter. When he came to Wyoming, however, he surrendered to Ishmael Bennett, and such was his complete confidence in Ben- nett's aim, or sight, that he frequently held a board, six inches square, with a white spot in the entre, under his 490 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. arm, while Bennett, at twenty rods distance, would send bullet after bullet through the centre. There are no panthers in this county at present, except occasionally one may be met with in the great swamps, or on the North Mountain. One was killed about three years ago in Sullivan county, near the Lu- zerne line, which measured nine feet from the tip of the nose to the end of the tail. A volume of interesting panther-hunting adventures could be written, but space will permit us to record only three. WHEATON AND THE PANTHER. Wheaton had lived at Wyoming, but about the year 1790, the population increasing, he chose rather to re- move into the woods, where there was less of human and more of the wild brute creation. One day, when on his way to the valley, he became weary, and lay dowm to rest on the Capouse Mountain. Thrown off his guard by fatigue, he unwarily suffered sleep to overtake him. After reposing for a time, he found himself in a singular situation. He was covered with leaves and sticks, which might have been done by the wind, but from a knowledge of the habits of the panther, he shrewdly suspected it was the work of that beast. The panther, when she finds prey which she is desirous of reserving for her young, covers it over with leaves with her feet, and then retires to bring her offspring to the banquet. Wheaton, lying perfectly still, heard the heavy tread of an animal near him. There was a pause. The step retreated, then stopped. He lay quiet, for his life depended on his being motionless. Again there were retreating footsteps, which became fainter and fainter, until they entirely died away. Wheaton still retained his motionless position for some IVILD ANIMALS. HUNTING. FISHING. 491 moments, when he slowly and cautiously raised himself, and, looking around, saw no animal near. He hastily gathered some old sticks and wood, and laid them in the place he had occupied, and covered them with leaves. He then mounted into a tree near by, and rested his gun, well loaded, on a limb bearing directly on the spot where he had slept. Scarcely had he made his arrangements, when, in the far distance, his quick eye detected the ap- proach of a huge panther, accompanied by two of her young. Leaving the kittens a short distance behind, she came near the place where she had concealed their din- ner. She now crouched with her belly to the earth, and stretching out her horrid claws, she sprang aloft into the air, and down on the spot covered with leaves. The dust and sticks and rotten wood flew in all directions. She drooped with disappointment, then quickly cast her eye about to every quarter of the compass. Suddenly as the thought that struck her she looked upwards, and saw Wheaton in the tree. With a low, ferocious growl she crouched for a deadly spring. If his gun misses fire, if he misses his aim, he has not thirty seconds to live. But old smooth hove, as usual, proves true ; two buckshot pene- trate the brain of the savage monster, and she lay quiver- ing and dying on the spot where "Wheaton had enjoyed his mountain dream. SOX AND THE PANTHERS. George Sox, who still resides on the Easton and Wilkesbarre Turnpike, beyond Bear Creek, was a great hunter. He was particularly fond of pursuing the panther. However, no sort of tenants of the woods could escape the unerring aim of George's trusty rifle. He once shot a deer which was perfectly white. It had frequently been seen in the forest, and had been shot at by the wandering 492 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. hunters, but no bullet had ever hit it. A report became current that it was a witch deer, but George destroyed the charm. Having obtained a sight one day of the beautiful creature, it fell before his rifle, and rumor said the shot was made with a silver bullet. In 1819 he caught in a trap a large bear which weighed upwards of 400 pounds. In the morning, about the breaking of day, he approached his trap, and saw the bear engaged in a contest of defense against three pan- thers, which fled as he came near. Taking the bear .home on a sled, he filled his knapsack, and, without a word of explanation to his family, with his rifle and dog as companions, he started in pursuit of the three panthers, which had been about to breakfast on his bear. There was a good tracking snow on the ground, and the hunter found no difficulty in keeping the trail of the beasts. On, on, from daylight to sunset, he pressed his way until, in the shadows of the evening, he came upon a fine buck which the panthers had killed, and which was still warm. We condense George's own statement of this hunt : " They had killed the buck where he lay. I had not expected to come on them so soon, and had pushed ahead without caution, so that they had heard my approach, and must have started away just as I came up. As it was sunset, I concluded to encamp there ; but first I thought I would look around a little, and see which track it would be best to follow in the morning, as they had all started off in different directions from the buck. So I went a little way into the swamp, and, will you believe it, one of the curses had been watching me all the time, and I heard him start within ten rods of me. Away went the dog after him, full yelp. I heard the panther take up a tree. I ran as hard as I could, tumbling over old logs, and scrambling through the laurel, till I came where Toby WILD ANIMALS. — HUNTING. — FISHING. 493 was barking and shaking his tail, mightily tickled that we had got one of them, anyhow. As it was getting dark I scarcely knew whether to venture a shot or not, for I could faintly see him stretched out on a limb of a large hemlock. However, I thought I would try it, so I took the best aim I could and fired away. The devilish thing never stirred. In a short time I saw motion in his tail, and I could hear his nails gritting in the bark of the tree; then I saw his bod}^ slide round the limb till he only hung by his claws. The ball had hit him, he let go his hold, and down he came souse ! dead as a door-nail ! I let him lay there and went back ; cut off some slices of the buck, which the panthers had left, roasted them before a fire, eat and lay down to rest till morning. Next morning started early, and soon got on the track of the other two panthers. About noon one of them took up a tree ; oh, said I, I have got another one. Directly I came up and spied him. I let drive, and down he came as dead as if he never had been alive. Well, I skinned him and fastened his skin to my knapsack, and away I started for the other one. The last fellow kept dodging about, first one way and then another, as if he expected to find his companions. In about two hours I roused him from behind a log. The dog was close on him, so he thought it was best to tree. I knew by the barking that the panther had tree'd. When I came up it was a long time before I could find him, he was so hid away in the limbs and the leaves. I could only see what I took to be his shoulder. I took a fair sight and drew trigger. He did not budge ! I started to climb up to him, for I was sure I had hit him. Before I had got half up, his head and foreparts slid forwards, and down he came ! I skin- ned him, went back to the one I had killed first, skinned him, and got home that night." 494 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. George is the worthy son of a worthy sire. His father, Conrad Sox, Esq., was a justice of the peace for many years, in Luzerne county. He once shot a huge panther, resting his rifle on the shoulder of his wife, George's mother. This scene is well described by Wilson, in his poem of the Foresters. We have often stopped at George's house, when traveling that way, and have drank many a cup of excellent coffee, and have eaten delicious slices of venison, at his table. Long may the bold hunter and generous man live to enjoy the blessings of life in a good old age. ARNOLD AND THE PANTHER. Arnold, a hunter, lived in Hanover township, on the mountain, about six miles south-west from Wilkesbarre. As he was returning home one day in the dusk of the evening, after his work was done, he discovered a large panther crouched overhead on a limb of a tree, which stood near the path he was traveling. Hastening to his home, about half a mile distant, he loaded his rifle, and, accompanied by his wife and a small dog, he set off for the attack. They cautiously approached the spot where the crouching panther lay. Mrs. Arnold held up a pine torch-light, which threw its feeble rays on the surround- ing darkness. By this imperfect light the old hunter drew up his gun and took aim. He fired, and only wounded the panther. The beast, now rendered furious, leaped instantly down, and sprang upon Mrs. Arnold. There was no time to reload the rifle, the torch-light was out, and Mrs. Arnold was on the ground under the tear- ing claws of the savage panther. The dog seized the beast by the hind-leg inflicting wounds, while Arnold himself, nerved by the screams and groans of his wife, dealt heavy blows on his head with the butt of his rifle. WILD ANIMALS. HUNTING. FISHING. 495 Suddenly the panther turned about, took up the little dog in his mouth, and amidst poor Jack's distressing cries rushed into the thicket and disappeared. With consider- able difficulty Arnold bore his mangled and bleeding wife to his house, and after several weeks of much suffering she recovered, but was dreadfully disfigured. The Wolf, of the genus Oanis, or dog kind, was formerly abundant among our mountains, but it is now chiefly confined to the North Mountain, and the head-waters of Bowman's Creek. It is a crafty ravenous wild dog, about three and a half feet in length, and about two feet five inches in height. It is of various colors, mixed, black, gray, and brown. From 1808 to 1820, Luzerne county paid $2872 in bounties for the scalps of these destructive animals. As many as 273 were killed in one year. George A. Crockett, a cousin of the celebrated Colonel David Crockett, and a resident of Ross township, occa- sionally brings the scalp of a wolf to Wilkesbarre, for which the county treasurer pays him $25. This is equal to the price of five wolf scalps in the olden times. Mr. Crockett is a great hunter and trapper, and if the reader be desirous of the sport of a wolf or bear hunt let him visit Mr. C. He will show you the wild hunting-grounds of the North Mountain, and the rough and tumble sports of a hunter's life. He will lead you among the deep and intricate defiles along Bowman's Creek, and its vicinity, where a few years ago a hunter named Lumeraux, was lost, and whose mangled remains, when found, showed he had been eaten by wild beasts. Crockett has killed hundreds of deer and bears, and wolves and foxes by the score. He informed the writer that a short time ago he was out in company with a fellow-hunter named Long, and, the night being very wet and stormy, they took shelter in a deserted house in Pike's Swamp. This is 496 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. near the place where Abraham Pike and his wife were taken prisoners by the Indians, on the head-waters of Hunlock's Creek. During the night hunters came in to the number of fourteen, which shows that that class of men is not yet extinct in Luzerne. In the morning they took a circle hunt. Soon after they had separated, Crockett shot a large buck, which fell to the ground. Long, his companion, instantly rushed upon it, and cut its throat, but not a drop of blood would flow. The buck sprang upon his feet, and with widely distended eyes, green and glassy from the death struggle, rushed towards Crockett, and fell lifeless at his feet. Upon an examination it was found that the ball had struck the deer's horn near the head, and did not break the skin, but stunned the animal so completely that the circulation of its blood ceased. Crockett next shot, but only wounded a black bear, when the beast, infuriated with pain, advanced with savage growls upon the hunter. He retreated, and as he Jfled he reloaded his rifle, turned, fired, and laid his pursuer dead on the earth. Its weight was 360 pounds. A great number of large black bears formerly dwelt on our mountains. In 1803, Rosett & Doyle, merchants in Wilkesbarre, advertised for one thousand bear-skins, which were supplied bv the hunters of Luzerne and parts adjacent. SCOTT AND THE BEAR. Many years ago, while hunting along Stafford Meadow Brook, a little south of Scranton, EHas Scott started a huge bear, which he shot but did not kill. Before he could reload, the infuriated beast rushed upon him with open jaws, striking, as he advanced, heavy blows with his powerful paws. Scott retreated backwards, jDunching the bear with the end of his rifle. He had retreated but a short distance when the heel of his boot caught in the WILD ANIMALS. — HUNTING. — FISHING. 497 root of a tree, and he fell to the ground. The bear was instantly upon him, and seized one of his hands in his mouth ; at the same time striking him over the head and shoulders with his paws, inflicting severe wounds. The blows fell thick and fast, and Scott grew faint from suffer- ing, but at length he found himself in a position that he could reach his long hunting-knife. Exerting his remain- ing strength to the utmost, he plunged it into the bowels of the bear, which fell dead at his side. Scott is still living, and will carry the evidences of this conflict to his grave. He has been a mighty hunter in his day. In one year, he has killed 175 deer, 5 bears, 3 wolves, 1 panther, and scores of wild-turkeys and other game. John McHenry, who resides on Fishing Creek, Colum- bia county, not far from the Luzerne line, is perhaps the oldest hunter now living in this part of the state. In 1848, he informed the writer that he kept a record of the number of deer, &c., which he had killed down to the year 1840; and that this record numbered upwards of 1900 deer, 65 bears, besides immense quantities of other wild game. A considerable portion of these was pro- cured within the limits of Luzerne county. Since 1840, he has killed annually from 10 to 30 deer, chiefly in Sul- livan county, on the waters of the Loyalsock. A few years ago we joined a party of six for the purpose of hunting. We went to Elise's, on the Loyalsock, where, just as we arrived, we met at the door of the tavern our old friend, McHenry, then about seventy years of age. With cane in one hand, and rifle in the other, he was starting for the woods. We had four long-eared hounds with us ; and when the old man saw them he shook his head, and remarked, " Deer run by dogs is not fit to eat." He is a quiet hunter, slowly penetrating to the haunts 32 498 ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY. of the deer, and shooting them when browsing or at rest; and woe betide the dog that meets him in the woods I He shoots with a rifle, and has shot three deer with one bullet. Two of the deer stood close and parallel to each other, while the third was lying down on the hillside. The bullet passed through the bodies of the two, and en- tered the neck of the third. He did not see the third deer until the first two fell ; when, observing it to be wounded, he hastened and cut its throat. The reader may con- clude this to be too marvellous a story for belief; but Mr. McHenry is a man of noted veracity, and a sure shot. He, with George Sox, who shot 9 bears in succession as they came forth from the hollow of a single tree, must be numbered among the living hunter-kings of America. On Friday, the 4th of December, 1818, about 700 men, residents of old Luzerne, formed a hunting-party. The signal was given on Frenchtown Mountain, which was answered by all the horns of the hunters, comprising a circuit of 40 miles, in the space of fifteen minntes. The hunters then progressed towards a centre in Wysox town- ship, shooting and driving the game before them, until the circle became too small to use guns with safety ; the WILD ANIMALS. — HUNTING. — FISHING. 499 animals, were then attacked with bayonets fixed V o •>^, o .., O, .0' x^ "^^ X^^ - -if V 1 0^ ,\^' V ^. v^^ :%' \^'-^ .#\^ Q-. ^ :#^\ ^..^ 'V, 'c^. ^ ^ ■ * o s ^ y V O V 1^% >' N^ c^. -^, b^ - '%<=,"^ oV ^^'^Z ''^ .. o A 5,\ ^^^ v^ >.^°^. V. !i: <->■