LETTER XII.
1772-3. List of
Settlers First white women in Wyoming Stockade at Mill Creek, on the Ruins
of Fort Ogden Young Hollenback Furniture Mode
of Living Fifty miles to Mill Indians First Marriage in Wyoming Doings
of Committee Famine John Carey Interesting Expedition A Wedding, and
the benevolent Scotchman Sickness First Mills David Meade Wilkes-Barre
Ferries Settlement of first Gospel Minister Rev. Jacob Johnson
Toleration Rev. Mr. Gray Rev. Elkanah Holmes
Free Schools Military organization Prohibition of selling liquor to Indians
Shares, and Half Share Rights Constitution of Government, voluntarily
established Physicians Vote of Connecticut Assembly Renewed Negotiations.
In entering upon 1772, the fourth year of the permanent settlement of the Connecticut people upon the Susquehanna, we find the aspect of affairs essentially changed. The stern alarms of war were succeeded by the sweet songs of peace. Availing ourselves of the leisure afforded, we enter on a variety of civil and social details necessary to a perfect knowledge of the early history of Wyoming. So similar was the current of life, and so interwoven the events, that in this letter, we propose to include a view of the two years, 1772 and 73, this period of time intervening between the close of the war with the Proprietaries, and the official recognition of the settlement by Connecticut, and the formal establishment of her jurisdiction west of the Delaware.
While some may turn away from a mere column of names; others, curious in such things may be pleased to see a list of the two hundred [196] first enrolled as actual settlers to man their rights in the five allotted townships. The roll bears date June 2d, 1769. Especially glad will be many of the grand children, or those of the fourth generation, look anxiously for the names of their progenitors. A few, after the first sharp collision, did not return, and their places were supplied by others. Several fell in the unhappy conflict, more in the revolutionary war; but we recognize in the list, a considerable number, whom time and war had spared, as the kindliest friends of our early manhood.
A more brave, hardy, and enterprising set of men never encountered danger in the field; or gave them stalwart arms to the settlement of a wilderness. Though perhaps an hundred others were concerned, from time to time, in the warlike scenes we have detailed, those, here recounted, it is believed, bore the chief brunt of the contest. At no time, until 1772, were there more than one hundred and thirty men on the ground at once, some being on the way out, and others returning home. As there was no mode of enforcing discipline, the association being voluntary, each man acted as prompted by his own sense of interest and propriety.
LIST OF NAMES
[* indicates those who were of the Forty first settlers of Kingston]
Alden, Prince (Capt.) Babcock, Elisha Brown, Daniel
Allen, Noah Badger, Samuel Buck, Elijah*
Angel, Daniel Baker, John Buck, Jonathan
Arnold, Ephraim Barton, Rowland Budd, Benjamin
Arnold, Joseph Beach, Nathan Buel, Ezra
Ashley, Benjamin Bennett, Thomas Carey, Eleazer
Atherton, James, Jr.* Bennett, Isaac Carrington, Jonathan
Avery, Christopher Bingham, Abisha Carvan, Morgan
Avery, Elisha Bradford, Peris Cass, Daniel
Ayres, Peter Briggs, Peris Cheesebrough, Sylvester
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Churchill, Wm. Hebbard, Moses May, James
Clark, John Hebbard, Moses, Jr. McClure, Thomas
Coleman, Naniad Hewitt, Benjamin Mead, David
Colt, Abraham Hewitt, Benjamin, Jr. Metcalf, Andrew
Comstock, John* Hewitt, Gershom Miles, Stephen
Comstock, Peter Hillman, Joseph Millington, Samuel
Cooke, Jabez Hinsdale, Stephen Mitchel, John
Corah, Jenks Hopkins, Robert Mock, Abijah
Dean, Josiah Hopkins, Timothy Morgan, Samuel
Delong, John Hopson, Gurdon Morse, Joseph
Dingman, Jacob Hotchkiss, Samuel Murdock, Dan
Dorcester, Benjamin Hull, Diah Murphy, John
Dorrance, John Hull, Stephen Nesbitt, James
Dorrance, Samuel Hungerford, Stephen Northrup, Ebenezer
Draper, Simeon* Hunter, Robert Norton, Ebenezer
Draper, Thomas Hurlbut, Reuben Olcott, Thomas
Draper, Wm. Hurlbut, Stephen Orms, Jonathan
Dunkin, James Jackson, Robert Orton, Samuel
Durkee, Andrew Jenkins, Stephen Park, Silas
Durkee, Jno. Jeorum, Zerobable* Parks, Elias
Evans, James Jewel, Eliphalet Perkins, John
Fellows, Ephraim Johnson, Edward Pierce, Abel
Ferlin, Thomas Johnson, Solomon Post, Oliver
Fish, Jabez Jollee, John Read, Noah
Forsythe, James Kenne, Cyrus Roberts, Elias
Franklin, John Kenyon, John Roberts, Jabez
Frisbee, Zebulon Knap, Hezekiah Satterlee, Benedict*
Fuller, Stephen Knight, Thomas Savage, Abraham
Gallop, Wm. Lamphere, Joshua Shaw, John
Gardner, Christopher Lawrence, Asa Shoemaker, Benjamin, Jr.
Gaylord, Joseph Lawrence, Gideon Sill, Jabez
Gerold, Duty Lee, Asa Slocum, Joseph
Gore, Daniel Lee, John Smith, Abel
Gore, Obadiah, Jr. Lee, Joseph Smith, James
Gore, Silas Lee, Noah Smith, Lemuel
Goss, Comfort Lee, Stephen Smith, Oliver*
Goss, Nathaniel Leonard, Jesse Squier, Zachariah
Goss, Philip Leonard, Wm. Stearns, Ebenezer
Gray, Thomas Lewis, Elijah Stephens, Phineas
Green, Job Lothrup, Cyprian* Sterling, John
Green, Job, Jr. Manvil, Nicholas Stone, Ebenezer
Harris, Peter Marvin, Daniel Story, Samuel
Harrot, Asher Marvin, Samuel Strong, Henry
Hawksey, Zebulon Marvin, Uriah Sweets, Samuel
Haynes, Daniel Matthews, Benjamin Taylor, Preserved
Hebbard, Ebenezer Maxfield, Elias Teed, Zophur
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Tennant, Caleb Wallworth, Thomas Whitney, Joshua
Terry, Parshall Walter, Aaron Whittlesey, David
Thayer, Zephaniah Watson, Nathaniel Wightman, Zerobable
Thomas, Elias Webster, Joseph Wiley, John
Tracy, Isaac Weeks, Philip Wise, Fred.
Vorce, Timothy Weeks, Thomas Witter, Elijah
Wall, Henry* Westover, Theophilus* Wybrant, Samuel
Wallsworth, John White, Caleb Yale, Enos
Wallsworth, Wm. White, Caleb Yale, Ozias
Very few of the settlers had yet brought out their families; and in May, 1772, there were only five white women in Wilkes-Barre: - Mrs. McClure, wife of James McClure; Mrs. Bennett, grandmother of Rufus Bennett, (who was in the Indian battle); Mrs. Sill, wife of Jabez Sill; another Mrs. Bennett, wife of Thomas Bennett, mother of Mrs. Myers, now living in Kingston, (to whose clear mind and retentive memory, we are indebted for most valuable information;) and Mrs. Hickman, with her husband; Mrs. Dr. Sprague, and her daughter, afterwards Mrs. Young. The second white child born in Wilkes-Barre was a daughter of Mrs. McClure.
With increasing numbers, and prudent apprehensions of danger, more extensive stockades were thought necessary for protection, and the admirable position at Mill Creek, the ruins of Fort Ogden, was resumed, placed in the best condition, and made head-quarters of the chief men on the east side of the river.
Let us look in upon them. Huts were built all around the inside, against the wall, of upright timbers. They were one story high; several were divided into a number of small, but neat and comfortable rooms. The huts of Capt. Butler and Nathan Dennison, adjoined each other. Next in the row was the store of Matthias Hollenback. He had brought up from Lancaster county a variety of indispensable items. Dennison and Hollenback, then young men, the latter twenty, the former twenty-three! Having seen, nearly forty years afterwards, their venerable forms wrapped in their cloaks, one on the right and the other on the left, as associate justices of Pennsylvania, his Hon. Judge Rush, presiding, we could not repress an allusion to the contrast. The next in order, the largest building in the stockade, was a boarding house kept by Dr. Joseph Sprague. Neither a chair nor table, nor bedstead, except the rude construction of an auger and axe, was yet in the settlement. A samp [mush] mortar, that is a large stump, hollowed eight or ten inches by burning, the pestle worked by a spring pole, pounded corn, wheat, and rye, for bread; and this was their only mill. Venison and shad, said the good Mrs. Young, were plenty; but salt was a treasure. - Dr. Sprague would load is horse with wheat, and go out by the bridle path, for as yet there was no road, to the Delaware at Coshutunk, have his grist ground, get a few spices, and a runlet of Antigua rum. The cakes baked from the flour, and the liquor, were kept as dainties for some special occasion, or when emigrants of note came in from Connecticut.
The venerable and esteemed John Carey, who has given his name to Carey town is the only survivor of this interesting collection of early settlers. (He died, 1844.)
After the massacre of 1763, the Indians generally left the valley, but a number had returned, not as a tribe, but the scattered remnants of tribes, chiefly of those who had been partially Christianized by the Moravians; though from subsequent events it is not doubted that spies of the Six Nations were kept among them, and reported from time to time the condition of the settlers, to the Council at Onondago. A small number, friendly, and good neighbors, lived on the flats a mile above Mill creek, and frequently visited the stockade. Among them were Capt. Job Gillaway, Black Henry, and John
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Lystrum. The wife of Capt. Gillaway seemed pious and well disposed. From the Moravians she had derived the name of Comfort, and the knowledge to knit and to sew. The men were excellent hunters and supplied the fort with game.
The first marriage in Wyoming was that of Mr. Nathan, afterwards Col. Denison and Miss Sill. The Rev. Jacob Johnson was the officiating minister, and the place where the knot was tied, and the nuptials celebrated, was a house on the spot now occupied by the mansion of the late Col. Welles, at the lower corner, on River street, of the Wilkes-Barre town plot.
From the stockade the people, breakfasting early, taking with them a luncheon, went fort armed to their daily labour. The view here presented, with slight variations, was exhibited in four or five different places in the valley. Stockades, or block-houses were built in Hanover and Plymouth. The celebrated Forty Fort in Kingston was occupied. Many returned to the east for their families, and new settlers came in. It was a season rather of activity than labour; moving and removing, surveying, drawing lots for land rights, preparing for building; hastily clearing up patches to sow with winter grain; the sad consequence of which was, the harvests of autumn were not sufficient for the considerably augmented number of inhabitants. Until the conclusion of 1772 very little of the forms of law, or the regulations of civil government had been introduced or required. Town Committees exercised the power of deciding on contested land rights. Thus: -
Doings of the Committee May 22, 1772.
That Rosewell Franklin have the right in Wilkes-Barre, drawn by Thomas Stevens.
That James Bidlack have that right in Plymouth, drawn by Nathaniel Drake.
That Mr. McDowell be voted into
the Forty town, (Kingston.)
That for the special services done this Company by Col. Dyer, agreed that his son, Thomas Dyer, shall have a right in the Forty, if he has a man on it by
the first day of August next.
That the rights that are sold in the six mile township,
or Capouse, shall be sold at sixty dollars each,
and bonds taken; etc.
It may be regarded as a transition year, full of undefined pleasure, flowing from the newness and freshness of the scene a comparative sense of security the exultation from having come off victorious the influx of old neighbors from Connecticut, who must listen to the adventures and hair-breadth escapes of the narrator, an older settler by eighteen months than is hearer. Then the beautiful valley must be shown to the new come inquisitive wives and daughters, who had been told so much of its enterprising loveliness. The year passed without justice or lawyer judge or sheriff dun [a demand for payment] or constable civil suit or crime; and from the representations of the old people, may be considered as a season of wild, joyous, almost unalloyed happiness.
The month of February, 1773, had so nearly exhausted the provisions of the Wilkes-Barre settlement, that five persons were selected to go to the Delaware, near Stroudsburg, for supplies. Mr. John Carey, (an excellent soldier, a most worthy citizen, whom we shall again have pleasure to mention,) then a lad of sixteen, volunteered as one of the party. The distance was fifty miles through the wilderness; numerous streams, including the deep and rapid Lehigh were to be crossed. Had these been frozen over so as to be passable, their toils would have been sensibly mitigated, but the ice had formed on each side, many feet from the shore, leaving in the centre a deep rushing flood. Stripping
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naked, tying their clothes and sacks on their heads and shoulders, cutting a way through the ice from the shore to the stream, and from the stream to the opposite shore, they waded through, dressed themselves, and found warmth in marching rapidly. Arrived at the good old Scotchman's, and sending in to make known their errand, Mr. McDowell came out, rubbing his hands in great glee, bade them welcome, but in his Scotch dialect, broad as his benevolence, told them he had a house thronged with company, on the occasion of his daughter's wedding. Among the guests were magistrates and others, whose enmity was to be dreaded, if they knew a party of Yankees were within reach; but gave directions that they should warm themselves noiselessly at an out-house, then take shelter in the barn, where comfortable blankets were spread on the mow, a most royal supper sent them, with spirits and wine; their sacks filled with flour, and their pockets with provisions. The four men took each an hundred pounds, young Carey seventy-five, and welcome was their return to their half-famished friends at Wilkes-Barre. Never was an opening Spring, for the coming of the shad, looked for with more anxiety, or hailed with more cordial delight. The fishing season of course, dissipated all fears, and the dim eye was soon exchanged for the glance of joy and the sparkle of pleasure, and the dry, sunken cheek of want assumed the plump appearance of health and plenty.
The Spring too was attended with sickness. Several deaths took place. Captain Butler buried a son named Zebulon; and soon after, his wife followed her boy to the grave. Both were interred on the hill, near where the upper street of the borough is cut through the rocks, as it passes from the main street to the canal basin. This picture of the early settlement, simple in its details, we could not doubt would be agreeable to numbers now living, and not less so to readers in future years, when the valley shall become, as it is destined to be, rich and populous, not surpassed, if equaled in the Union.
Among the first objects of general interest was the erection of a grist-mill. This was undertaken by Nathan Chapman, to whom a grant was made of the site, where Hollenback's old mill now stands., near the stone bridge, on the road from Wilkes-Barre to Pittston. Forty acres of land were part of the donation. Mr. Hollenback brought the mill-irons in his boat from Wright's ferry, and the voyage was rendered memorable by the loss of Lazarus Young, a valuable young man, who was drowned on the way up.
Immediately afterwards, the town voted:
To give unto Captain Stephen Fuller, Obadiah Gore, Jr, and Mr. Seth Marvin, all the privileges of the stream called Mill Creek, below Mr. Chapman's mill, to be their own property, with full liberty of building mills, and flowing a pond, but so as not to hinder Chapman's mills: Provided, they will have a saw-mill, ready to go by the 1st day of November, 1773, which gift shall be to them, their heirs and assigns, forever.
And this was the first saw-mill erected on the upper waters of the Susquehanna.
The township of Wilkes-Barre had been surveyed in 1770, by David Meade, and received its name from John Wilkes and Colonel Barre, members of Parliament, and distinguished advocates for liberty and the rights of the Colonies. Wilkes and Liberty North Britain 45, was then heard from every tongue. A final division was now made of the back lots among the proprietors. The town plot, now the borough, was laid out by a liberal forecast, on a very handsome scale. On a high flat, on the east band of the Susquehanna, above all fear of inundation, the position was chosen. Two hundred acres were divided into eight squares of twenty-five acres, and these into six lots each, containing, after the streets were taken off, about three and three quarters of an acre. A spacious central square was allotted for public buildings. The main avenue, perfectly straight for two miles, passing through the town plot from north-east to south-west, was cut at right angles by five streets. On the bank of the river a wide space was left, still beautiful, though much diminished by the ice and floods of the stream.
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Two ferries were kept, one opposite Northampton street, the other at Mill Creek; and from these a revenue of some moment in those early times, was derived. From twenty-five dollars a year, the rent of the lower ferry soon rose to sixty dollars; that at Mill Creek yielding half that sum, until discontinued on the erection of mills in Kingston.
Mills and ferries having been provided, with true Pilgrim zeal, attention was immediately turned to the subject of a gospel ministry, and the establishment of schools.
At a town meeting, December 11, 1772, Captain Stephen Fuller was appointed moderator. Voted, to give and grant, unto the Rev. Jacob Johnson, and his heirs and assigns forever, in case he settle in this town, as a gospel minister, fifty acres of land, &c.
In August following, feeling themselves more able, or more liberal (for the time it was munificent) provision was made.
At a town meeting held at Wilkes-Barre, August 23, 1773, Mr. Jacob Sill, chosen moderator, Joseph Sluman, clerk.
Voted, That a call or invitation, shall be given to the Rev. Jacob Johnson, late of Groton, in the colony of Connecticut, who for some time past has been preaching in this place, to continue a settler with us as our gospel minister.
2d. That Mr. Johnson shall be paid sixty pounds the year ensuing, on the present list, and his salary shall rise annually, as our list rises, till it amounts to one hundred pounds, etc.
(Connecticut currency, six shillings to the dollar, or $333 1-3.)
In laying out the town originally, two lots containing about four hundred acres of back lands, had been set off for the first settled minister, and for schools. One of those lots, and the fifty acres above mentioned, together with a town lot of four acres, will show the liberal provision made for gospel purposes.
Mr. Johnson, a Presbyterian clergyman, was a graduate of Yale College, and was the grandfather of Ovid F. Johnson, Esq., the present (1842) Attorney General of Pennsylvania. Some highly interesting additional particulars of this eminent man, (that wicked priest of Canojoharie) will be found in another page.
It is but just to observe, that amidst this zeal, there prevailed the most amiable spirit of toleration. Finding that a number of the inhabitants were Baptists, and attended the ministrations of Mr. Gray, at Kingston, the vote was rescinded which demanded a tax from them, and a different, but satisfactory arrangement made with their minister.
At a subsequent period, during the temporary absence of Mr. Johnson, the Rev. Elkanah Holmes officiated, preaching in Plymouth, Kingston and Wilkes-Barre.
A vote was also passed, To raise three pence on the pound, on the district list, to keep a free school in the several school districts in the said Wilkes-Barre. A subsequent meeting specially warned, adopted measures for the keeping open free schools, one in the upper district, one in the lower, and a third on the town plot.
These votes, thus early in the settlement, passed in the midst of poverty and danger, may be referred to by the descendants of those pilgrim fathers, with honest pride. They will remain to all enduring time, monuments of religious zeal, and their earnest desire to advance the intellectual and moral condition of their children.
Military organization was not neglected. Following the order then existing in New England, discipline was enforced as indispensable to the existence of the settlement. In each township a
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company was enrolled, and led to the choice of officers; and in Wilkes-Barre, from its being divided by natural boundaries into two sections, and its more rapid increase of inhabitants, at an early day two companies were formed. If the splendid uniform, the glittering bayonet, the evolution, rapid and precise, with the imposing band of many instruments of music, did not grace their trainings, there was yet upon the ground the strong-banded old French musket, the long duck shooting piece, and more efficient than either, the close-drawing rifle, little known in New England, but becoming familiar among the settlers on the Susquehanna. At a moment when it has become popular to deride the militia, I deem it proper to say, in defense of a thorough, and never relaxing organization and discipline, that in my opinion America owes her Independence to immediate and remote causes connected with the militia system, the enrollment and training existing in the colonies: and that Pennsylvania cannot too seduously encourage and preserve that right arm of her power, never forgetting, or encroaching upon, what should be deemed the sacred rights of persons conscientiously scrupulous of bearing arms.
Among the earliest resolutions adopted by the settlers, was one which has been, I think unjustly, censured as severe.
Any person selling liquor to an Indian was to forfeit his goods, and to be expelled the colony. In justification of this seemingly harsh enactment, it may be observed: - That the massacre of 1763 had been ascribed to the Indians being intoxicated; and fears existed that under, to the Indians, the phrenzying [sic] influence of rum, another massacre might be attempted; or what was more immediately probable, that individual murders would be committed retaliation follow, and the settlement be brought into hostile collision with the Six Nations, whose subjects the scattered Indians in the valley were. Penalties too severe, if effectual, could not be imposed, to avert so fatal a mischief.
Rights shares and half shares, being frequently mentioned in the ancient proceedings of the Susquehanna and Delaware purchases, or companies, it seems proper that they should be explained more fully. Those purchases of a degree of latitude, and two in longitude would give nearly five millions of acres. - The shares issued by the Susquehanna Company, increased from eight hundred and fifty, to twelve hundred and forty, several, perhaps an hundred, being granted for services rendered. A considerable number of half shares were given out, as many poor persons wished an interest in the purchase, whom, of course it was politic to oblige, and who did not feel able to buy the whole right. As dictated by prudence, only two thousand acres were allowed to be surveyed on a whole share, and one thousand on a half share, the balance being deferred until all the shares should have a chance of location.
Prices of whole shares varied from fifty to one hundred dollars. In a deed from Palmer Avery, dated March 7, 1767, the consideration is set down as thirty pounds. Another deed of subsequent date contains a consideration of twenty pounds. The last sales by the company, previous to the Trenton decree, were at fifteen pounds ten shillings. Like other stocks, the price varied with the varying prospects of the company.
Townships of six miles square, generally, were surveyed in the Delaware purchase, extending from the Delaware to within ten miles of the Susquehanna. The Susquehanna purchase was laid out, generally, in townships of five miles square.
To preserve order, and prevent interfering claims, a wise system was early adopted, and rigidly enforced. A land office was established rights, full, or half shares, being produced to the amount of sixteen thousand acres, a survey by an appointed officer was made of the township, a patent, or grant issued and recorded, the shares being received and canceled. For several years John Jenkins was surveyor general; and Joseph Biles his deputy ran more lines than any other surveyor in the purchase.
As the colony could not well subsist, with its greatly increasing population, and diversified interests, without a code of laws to govern them, and it did not yet accord with the cautious policy of Connecticut to avouch their proceedings, and extend her jurisdiction beyond the Delaware; a meeting
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of the Susquehanna Company, held at Hartford, June 2, 1773, adopted for the government of the settlement the following articles, in every aspect important: honourable to the pen that drew, and the people who accepted them.
Whereas, we the subscribers inhabitants of Connecticut in New England, in America, already settled, and about to settle on certain lands on the river Susquehanna in said Connecticut, by us and our associates sometime since purchased of the original natives, by, and with the consent of the said Colony of Connecticut.
And whereas, the same lands are claimed to be within the jurisdiction of the Province of Pennsylvania; and the Colony of Connecticut choosing to proceed with caution and deliberation, have applied to counsel learned in the law, in Great Britain, for their advice, which at present the colony have not received, by reason whereof we have as yet no established civil authority residing among us I in said settlement, in consequence of which deficiency, disorders may arise tending to disturb the peace and happiness of the settlers, as well as the peace of our Sovereign Lord the king, which to remedy, we have this day come into the following heads, or articles of agreement, with each other.
1st. We do solemnly profess and declare true and sincere allegiance to his Majesty, King George the Third, and that no foreign prince, person, prelate, state or potentate, hath, or ought >to have any jurisdiction, power, or authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, within the realm of England.
2d. We do solemnly promise and engage, that we will, so far as lieth in our power, behave ourselves peaceably, soberly and orderly towards each other, in particular, and the world in general, carefully observing and obeying the laws of this colony, as binding and of force with us equally in all respects, as though we actually resided within any of the counties of this colony.
3d. For the due enforcing such laws, as well as
other such orders and regulations as shall,
from time to time, be found necessary to be come into by said settlers and
Company, we will immediately
within each town, already settled, and immediately after the settlement of those that may be hereafter settled,
choose three able and judicious men among such settlers, to take upon them, under the general
direction of the Company, the direction of the settlement of each such town, and the well ordering and
governing the same, to suppress vice of any kind, preserve the peace of God and the King therein, to whom each
inhabitant shall pay such, and
4th. The Directors in each town shall, on the first Monday of each month, and oftener, if need be, with such their peace officers, meet together, as well to consult for the good regulating thereof, as to hear and decide any differences that may arise, and to inflict proper fine or other punishment on offenders, according to the general laws and rules of this colony, so far as the peculiar situation and circumstances of such town and plantation will admit of; and as the reformation of offenders is the principal object in view, always preferring serious admonition and advice to them, and their making public satisfaction, by public acknowledgment of their fault, and doing such public service to the plantation, as the Directors shall judge meet, to fines in money, or corporal punishment, which, however, in extreme cases, such Directors shall inflict, as said laws direct.
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5th. The Directors of each individual town or plantation, shall, once ever quarter, or three months, meet together to confer with each other on the state of each particular town in said settlement, and to come into such resolutions concerning them as they shall find for their best good, as also to hear the complaints of any that shall judge themselves aggrieved by the decision of their Directors in their several towns, who shall have right to appeal to such quarterly meeting.
6th. No one convicted of sudden and violent breach of the peace, of swearing, drunkenness, stealing, gaming, fraud, idleness, and the like, before the Directors of the particular town in which he lives, shall have liberty of appeal to such quarterly meeting, from the sentence of such particular Directors, without first procuring good security, to the satisfaction of such Directors, for his orderly and sober behavior until such meeting, and for his submitting to and complying with the sentence of such meeting. - No one, in matters of private property, shall have liberty of appeal from such particular Directors, where the controversy is not more than twenty shillings.
7th. Such quarterly meeting of Directors, shall appoint an officer, statedly [sic], to attend them as their clerk, who shall carefully register their proceedings, also an officer in the character of general peace officer, or Sheriff, who also shall attend them, and whom the inhabitants of the whole settlement submit in the same manner as the inhabitants of any county within this colony, by law obliged, to their respective High Sheriff.
8th. All persons within such settlement accused of the high handed crimes of adultery, burglary, and the like, shall be arraigned before such quarterly meeting, and if convicted, shall be sentenced to banishment from such settlement, and a confiscation of all their personal effects therein, to the use of the town, where such offense is committed, and should there still be the more heinous crimes of murder committed, which God forbid, the offender shall be instantly arrested, and delivered into the hands of the nearest civil authority in Connecticut, and should any person or persons be accused of counterfeiting the bills or coins of any province on this continent, and be thereof convicted before such quarterly meeting, the colony whose bills are thus counterfeited, shall have liberty to take such offender and punish him, he shall be instantly banished the settlement, and his personal effects confiscated as aforesaid, and all persons convicted of any heinous crime, in any province on this continent, and shall fly from justice, the inhabitants shall, as well directors and peace officers, as others, aid and assist their pursuers in apprehending them, that they may be duly punished in the Government where they have offended.
9th. No appeal shall be from the doings of such quarterly meetings, or their decrees, to the Susquehanna Company, in general, save where the property of land is disputed, in which case the appellant shall first secure the appellee for his costs, if he make not his appeal good before the Company.
10th. The inhabitants of each town, to wit: - All the males of twenty-one years and upwards, and a proprietor in one of the said towns shall annually meet, on the first Monday in December, and choose Directors for such town, with their peace officers, and other officers that shall be found necessary for the ensuing year, and the Directors. Etc., that now may be chosen, shall have authority until new are chosen, and no longer.
11th. The Directors of each town shall make out and exhibit to their first quarterly meeting, a list in the rateable estate and polls of the inhabitants of each town, and such quarterly meeting shall have power to assess the inhabitants for defraying public expenses, as also to enforce the assessment made in each particular town, if need be.
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12th. The law regulating the militia of this colony, shall be particularly attended to by the Directors of the respective towns, and the general regulation thereof, as the particular circumstances of the people require, shall be in the power of such general quarterly meeting.
Also, we do solemnly declare these and other such regulations as we shall hereafter come into, by and with the advice and consent of the Susquehanna Company, in full meeting assembled, to be of force and binding on us, and on each of us, our heirs and assigns, until the colony of Connecticut shall annex us to some one of the counties of this colony, or make us a distinct county, or we obtain from the said colony, or from his Gracious Majesty, King George the Third, whose true and loyal subjects we are, powers of Government in some more permanent method.
And lastly, it is further agreed and voted, that the Directors in each of the several towns now settled, and that shall be settled, shall forthwith procure a copy of the foregoing agreements, which shall be entered at large in a book for that purpose, and all the male inhabitants of the age of twenty-one years, shall, personally, subscribe the same with their own proper names, or mark, and strictly abide by and fulfill the same; and such inhabitants or settlers as are already come into, to settle, or shall hereafter appear to come in as settlers, as shall neglect, or refuse to subscribe to and abide by the foregoing agreements shall not continue there, nor be admitted as settlers on said lands.
Voted, that the following persons be, and they are hereby appointed Directors in the several towns hereafter mentioned, until the first Monday in December next, with the powers and authority according to the following agreement.
To wit: -
For the town of Wilkes-Barre, - Maj. John Durkee, Capt. Zebulon Butler, and Obadiah Gore, Jr.
For the town of Plymouth, - Phineas Nash, Capt. David Marvin, and Jay Gaylord.
In New Providence, - Isaac Tripp, Esq., Timothy Keys, and Gideon Baldwin.
For the town of Kingston, - Capt. Obadiah Gore, Nathan Denison, and Parshall Terry.
For the town of Pittston, - Caleb Bates, James Brown, and Lemuel Harding.
For the town of Hanover, - Capt. Lazarus Stewart, Wm. Stewart, and John Franklin.
Having given a brief picture of the Valley, and recorded the building of mills settling a gospel minister establishing schools the first wedding birth, and natural death: having given the early Constitution or Code of Laws, adopted, medical gentlemen may expect the result of our researches in respect to members of their profession. Dr. William Hooker Smith, justly eminent and highly successful, emigrated to the valley, in 1772; and his valuable services were continued through the revolutionary war; indeed, until very advanced age released him from active labour. But there came from New London, in 1773, a noted surgeon, whom many of the people desired to establish among them. A paper, drawn up by Henry Carey, (and it is a very neat piece of penmanship,) for subscription, proposes to pay Dr. John Caulkins, in case he should settle among us in the quality of a physician, (the sums to be annexed,) the money to be laid out in land for his benefit and use, etc. Among the names subscribed are, Anderson Dana, 2 pounds 8; James Stark, 1 pound 4 etc., and other less sums.
The issue of the negotiation, I have not been able to ascertain.
104
The most important exterior event that occurred, affecting the interests of Wyoming, during these two years, was an official movement on the part of the Government of Connecticut, asserting her Charter claim west of the Delaware. The progress of the new settlement had been watched with intense interest. As peace reigned and prosperity abounded: as the settler had shown themselves competent to defend themselves, and their foot-hold seemed permanently established, it was deemed a fitting time for making a declaration of right, and opening a negotiation with the Proprietary Government, in respect to the disputed territory.
At the session of the General Assembly, in October, 1773, a Resolution was adopted, That the Colony should be appointed to proceed to Philadelphia, to negotiate a mode of bringing the controversy to an amicable conclusion. Col. Eliphalet Dyer, Dr. Johnson, and J. Strong, Esq., were duly empowered, and about the middle of December, opened the matter, by presenting their credentials, and a letter from His Excellency, Gov. Trumbull to Gov. Penn. The notes, letter, replies and rejoinders, go so much into details in respect to title, repeating what, in substance, we have before fully stated, that a publication of them in extenso, in the body of this work, is regarded as unnecessary. A statement of the points made may, however, prove acceptable. On the part of Connecticut it was proposed, That Commissioners be mutually appointed to run the respective lines, and ascertain the extent of conflicting Charter claims.
The Governor and Council, on behalf of Pennsylvania, denying any right of Connecticut, west of New York, declined to accede to the proposition.
It was next proposed, in accordance with the Act of Assembly, To join in an application to his Majesty to appoint Commissioners, to ascertain the rightful boundaries of the contesting colonies.
To this, Governor Penn and the Council replied, by decisively declining the proposition, but suggests that Connecticut should make separate application to his Majesty.
A third proposition was then made by the Connecticut Agents: - That Pennsylvania should continue to exercise jurisdiction over the West Branch, where her authority already extended, and Connecticut should extend her laws over Wyoming, and that part of the settlement which was not under the laws of Pennsylvania, so long as the dispute continued with the mother country, and until a decision by his Majesty, in Council, or some other amicable way might be obtained.
A negative, as decided, was given to the last, as to the two former propositions, and Messrs. Dyer, Johnson, and Strong, returned to Connecticut.
Throughout the proceedings, the greatest urbanity and mutual respect were manifested. Much ability was displayed on both sides; and the Connecticut Commissioners effected all that they could have expected when they opened the negotiation. An earnest appeal had been made to accommodate the unhappy differences by amicable means a mutual commission a reference to his Majesty a division of jurisdiction, until a peaceable settlement could be made! What more fair could be offered? The moral influences at home and abroad, could not fail to prove of powerful aid to the offering, against the rejecting party.
Gov. Penn communicated the whole proceedings to the Assembly, whose answer on the occasion, though decided, is so mild, that it shows the favorable impression the Connecticut Delegates, personally, had made in Philadelphia.
To prevent the mischievous effects of this unkind and unneighborly disposition in the Government of Connecticut, we beg leave earnestly to request that you will pursue every effectual measure to call the claimants before his Majesty, in Council, and to bring their claim to an immediate decision.
The important proceedings of the Connecticut Assembly, on receiving the report of their Agents, commencing a new year, will be noticed in the following letter.