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A history of Wilkes-Barré,Luzerne County,Pennsylvania: from its first ..
By Oscar Jewell Harvey, Ernest Gray Smith
Pages 660 thu 689
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CHAPTER XI.
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THE FIRST PENNAMITE-YANKEE WAR IN WYOMING—THE SUSQUEHANNA
COMPANY'S LAND-SURVEYS CONTINUED--WILKES-BARRE "TOWN-
PLOT" LAID OUT—SETTLERS UNDER THE SUSQUEHANNA
COMPANY INCREASE RAPIDLY IN NUMBER AND
EFFECTIVENESS—THE TOWN OF WESTMORELAND ORGANIZED.
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"There is a sanctity in the Past, but only because of the chronicles it retains—chronicles of the progress of mankind—stepping-stones in civilization, in liberty and in knowledge."
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, in "Rienzi."
At Hartford, Connecticut, November 8, 1769, a meeting of The Susquehanna Company was held, presided over by Maj. Elizur Talcott* as Moderator.
The principal matter of business transacted was the unanimous adoption of the following :

" Voted, That the settlement of the lands at Wyoming be pursued according to the vote of this Company December 12, 1768,t and that the Committee use their utmost endeavor to make up in cash an equivalent for the fifty barrels of pork granted by this Company for the use of said settlement, with what they have already sent for the use of the 240 settlers mentioned in said vote ; and that a further sum of £75 be forwarded and paid to the Committee appointed to oversee and direct in the settlement, for the use of the 240 that shall remain on said land ; and that the Committee use their influence with Major Durkee to continue at Wyoming with our settlers this Winter.

"Whereas there are few proprietors present, or have had notice of this meeting, and matters of importance are now under consideration, it is voted to adjourn to December 6, 1769, at Windham ; and the Clerk is directed to publish a copy of this vote in this and three adjoining Provinces."

In pursuance of the foregoing resolution advertisements were printed in The New York Journal,
The New London Gazette and other newspapers, announcing that a meeting of The Susquehanna Company would be held at Windham on December 6th.

Turning again to Wyoming Valley we find that about November 1, 1769, the Yankee settlers here were still dwelling together at Fort Durkee, busily engaged in harvesting some of their crops, breaking up new land and building fences. The Ogdens and a small party of Pennsylvanians continued to occupy their block-house at Mill Creek and also were engaged, in a small way, in making improvements in that part of the valley. After the skirmish between the Yankees and the Pennamites on September 22d (see pages 513 and 514), each party became more circumspect and wary with respect to the other, and the members of both parties went about their daily duties provided with defensive weapons of some sort, while the respective strongholds of the two parties —the fort and the block-house—were carefully guarded day and night by armed sentinels. Relative to the September skirmish, previously referred to, we have the following additional information, derived from a printed statement* issued in 1804 by Alexander Patterson, of Northampton County, whose name and exploits are frequently mentioned hereinafter. He refers to the Yankees as numbering (in September, 1769) "upwards of 200, under the direction of a man of desperate fortune, of the name of Durgee [Durkee]," and then states:

* Major, later Colonel, Talcott was of Clastonbury, Hartford County, Connecticut, t See page 465, Vol. I.

"They [the Yankees] attempted to dispossess the Pennsylvania settlers,f armed with axes, scythes and clubs. Your petitioner [Patterson] was in the front of the opposition, and was severely wounded in the head with an ax. The Yankees were defeated and drove to their fort. Notwithstanding the loss of much blood he [Patterson] that evening set off in a bateau to Fort Augusta, sixty-six miles down the river, at that time all the way uninhabited ; hired hands, and brought up a cannon."

The September skirmish at Wyoming caused Sheriff Jennings to hasten the preparations for his expedition to the valley, which he was making at Easton in compliance with the directions of Governor Penn, as detailed on page 507, Vol. I. The party of "hands" claimed by Captain Patterson to have been "hired" by himself at Fort Augusta consisted of some twenty men, engaged for the Wyoming service by Colonel Francis under instructions from the Governor. (See page 507.) These men, properly armed and equipped and provided, also, with an iron 4-pounder cannon and a supply of ammunition (furnished by Colonel Francis), were conducted by Captain Patterson in several bateaux from Fort Augusta to the mouth of Mill Creek, in Wyoming, where they arrived November 8th—the very day that the meeting of The Susquehanna Company took place at Hartford. About two days later Sheriff Jennings set out from Easton for Wyoming at the head of a force of some 200 men, well armed and equipped. A number of these men were residents of New Jersey, but the majority were from the towns of Easton and Bethlehem and the vicinity of Fort Allen in Northampton County, Pennsylvania. The Sheriff's chief aids, or deputies, were Charles Stewart, Esq. (previously mentioned), and Captains Joseph Morris and John Dick. (See note, page 514.)

Capt. Amos Ogden, apprized at Wyoming of the approach of Sheriff Jennings and his ''posse comitatus", gathered together his whole force of Pennamites, numbering about forty, and in the afternoon of Saturday, November llth, dashed rapidly and unexpectedly on a small party of Yankees—among whom was Maj. John Durkee—at some distance from Fort Durkee and captured them. Captain Ogden, it will be remembered, was at that time a duly commissioned Justice of the Peace, and without delay he issued the necessary legal papers for the commitment of Major Durkee to the city jail in Philadelphia. The Major was too valuable a prize to be risked in the log jail at Easton, and so, shackled with irons and entrusted to a safe escort within a few hours after his capture, he was hustled off to Philadelphia and closely imprisoned. Emboldened by their success Ogden and his men, about nine o'clock Saturday night, surrounded Fort Durkee and fired upon the men within.*

* "A Petition presented by Capt. Alexander Patterson to the Legislature of Pennsylvania during the Session of 1803-'04, for compensation for the monies he expended and the services he rendered in defence of the Pennsylvania title against the Connecticut claimants." Printed at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1804.

t About the middle of September, 1789, the Pennsylvania settlers—the Oftdens and their few associates —who were holding possession of the lands at and near Mill Creek, were joined by Alexander Patterson, Garrett Brodhead (mentioned in the note on page 258} and a number of others from eastern Northampton County, representing certain Pennsylvania laud-claimants. These men took part in the skirmish of September 22d, and Broahead's servant was captured by the Yankees and held a prisoner in Fort Durkee until its surrender on November 14th, as hereinafter described. The followiup account against "the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania" was rendered by Garrett Brodhead in 1769, and is printed in "Pennsylvania Archives," Second Series, XVIII : 014. "To six days with two horses and self, £a, 12s.; six days with one horse, £3 : ten days at Wyoming, £o; my servant fifty-eight days at Wyoming, of which he was imprisoned thirty-eight days by the Yankys, £14, 10s."
Sheriff Jennings and his posse reached Wyoming on Sunday, November 12th, and the next morning the whole body of Pennamites, upwards of 200 in number, paraded in formidable array before Fort Durkee. Then, while Jennings—at the forefront of his force—carried on a parley with the Yankee garrison, Ogden and some of the men collected and drove away all the cattle and horses belonging to the Yankees which they found grazing in the fields in the neighborhood. The following day the Pennamites assembled again on the plain before Fort Durkee, where they threw up a line of earthworks upon which they mounted the 4-pounder from Fort Augusta ; after which they summoned the Yankees to surrender or, failing in that, to submit to the "immediate destruction" of their fort. Deprived of their commander, and having nothing but muskets and rifles with which to defend themselves, the Yankees determined to surrender; whereupon articles of capitulation were entered into, in form as follows :

"articles or Conditions of agreement Indented made and entered into at Wyoming on the fourteenth day of November Annoque Domini one thousand seven hundred and sixty-nine, Between John Jennings, Amos Ogden & Cha? Stewart, Esquires, in behalf of the Honorable Thomas Penn and Richard Penn, Esquires, Proprietaries of the Province of Pennsylvania, on the one Part, and John Smith and Stephen Gardner, Committee-men chosen and appointed by the Susquehanna Land Company of Connecticutt in behalf of themselves and the said Company, of the other Part, Witnesshth : that Whereas a number of the said Susquehanna Land Company have made several attempts to seize on and possess themselves of the Lands at and near at Wyoming aforesaid, in the Province of Pennsylvania, for which Forcible Entrys, Riots, &c. they have been indicted by the Grand Inquest of the County of Northampton in the Province aforesaid, in Consequence whereof his Majesty's Wntts have been Issued against them and the Sheriff of the County of Northampton aforesaid hath collected the Posse Comitatis of the said County to aid him in apprehending the said Trespassers, Rioters and Offenders.

"But the partys to this agreement considering the great difficulties and expenses that will fall on the persons indicted on a Trial, as also the hardships they must suffer by being confined in a Goal if they cannot procure Bail, and being likewise desirous to prevent shedding of Blood and Future quarrells between the Tenants and Purchasers settled at Susquehanna under the aforesaid Thomas Penn & Richard Penn, Esquires, and those claiming under the Susquehauna Company or Connecticutt Grant, The aforesaid partys do Covenant, promise and agree for themselves and their respective Constituents with each other as Follows, viz.:

"1st. That all the people now assembled at Wyoming claiming under or in conjunction with the Connecticutt men shall peaceably depart from hence in three days, except a number not exceeding fourteen men, and that quiet and peaceable possession of the Fort and all the Buildings and Houses therein be immediately given up to the said John Jennings, Amos Ogden and Charles Stewart.

"2dly. That the party consisting of fourteen men, a list of whose names shall be taken and annexed hereunto, shall have leave to dwell in six of the Houses or apartments in the Fort and continue there with their wives and children (if any they have) untill his Majesty's Decree or Royal Order be issued and publicklv made known in America in regard to the Title of the Lands at Wyoming, at which time it's agreed, meant and intended by the partys aforesaid that the party in whome his Majesty pleases to confirm or declare the Title of the lands at Wyoming to be (whether it be determined in favour of the Honbje the Proprietaries of this Province or in favour of the Connecticutt claimants) shall thenceforth continue to possess and enjoy the same without any lett or molestation from the other party, who shall without delay remove off the lands aforsd with their Cattle, Horses and Effects as soon as his Majesty's determination is made known to them at Wyoming.

"3dly. That in the Interim not more than five Strangers, or others of the said Susquehanna Company's claimants, shall be received or entertained by the party of fourteen aforesaid at any one time nor continue in their Houses longer than three days at once, except in cases of absolute necessity, and that then the names of any persons so coming and their business shall be declared and made known to the settlers here, or agents under the said Thomas Penn & Richard Penn.
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* See "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, IV: 401.
"4thly. That an Inventory of the Cattle and Horses belonging to or left in care of the fourteen men aforesaid be made out and given to the said John Jennings, Amos Ogden & Charles Stewart, that the numbers and marks of sd Cattle and Horses may be known to them and the others settled here.
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"oth. That the party of fourteen aforesaid have leave to gather the Indian Corn, Turnips and * * * Crop of the past Summer, and Fence the wheat they have sown ; with full Egress and Ingress to and from the wheat fields, and leave to cutt Firewood and do every other thing for the convenience and support of their Fainilys this Winter, or untill his Majesty's order be made known.

"6th. That they the said Connecticutt Company nor any of them shall not attempt any further Waste on the Lands at Susquehanna by Cutting Timber, Building Houses or any other way untill his Majesty's pleasure be made known in America in regard to the Title of said Lands.

"7thly. That all the Houses or Buildings in the Fort and on the said Lands, except the six before mentioned, shall be occupied, possessed and enjoyed by the settlers and purchasers under the said Thomas Penn & Richard Penn, Esquires, without any lett or disturbance from the other party untill the publication of his Majesty's order or Decree be made in America.
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"Sthly. That to preserve peace and good neighbourhood between the party of fourteen aforesaid and the Settlers under the said Thomas Penn & Richard Penn, Esquires, aforsd, The partys to this agreement hereby make themselves and their Constituents responsible for the good beheavour of the men who are to be left here, each party covenanting that themselves nor any they leave here will Harrass, Molest or disturb the Persons or Effects of the other, But on the contrary it is the True intent and meaning of this Agreement that peace, Order and Good Will be established here between the said partys, and that each and every of them will readily obey his Majesty's Royal Order and pay due obedience & Respect to the Laws. For the punctual performance whereof and of every part of this agreement the Partys aforesaid respectively bind themselves each by every tie of Honor and Justice, and also in the Penal Sum of one thousand pounds Current money of this Province, and have to this agreement interchangeably set their hands and Seals the Day and year first above Written.
Anno, 1769.
"Signed, Sealed and Deliver'd "JNO. Jennings, [l. s.In the presence of us "AMOS Ogden, 'l .S.
"David Reynolds,* "CHA? Stkwart, 'i,. s.
"Jos: Morris, f "john Smith,|| Fr,. s.
"Stephen Gardner, Jr.,}: "stephen Gardner, [l. s.
"William Gallup, §
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* David Reynolds, bom in West Greenwich, Rhode Island, June 17, 173-1, was the third child of William and Deborah (Green) Reynolds. William Reynolds was born near the close of the seventeenth century at Kingstown, Rhode Island. He was fourth in descent from William Reynolds of Providence (1837), who was associated with Roger Williams in the early settlement of the Colony of Providence Plantations, and was one of the thirty-eight signers of the agreement for a form of government for the new Colonv. William Reynolds (the first of this name mentioned above) was married September 18, 1729, to Connecticut, January 23, 1755: (Hi) David, b. June 17, 1734; (iv) Griffin, b. June 11, 1737: (v) Benjamin b. October 25, 1740; (vi) James^ b. August 21, 1748; (vii) William, b. about 1752, killed at the battle of Wyoming, July 3, 1778.

In 1751 William and Deborah (Green) Reynolds and their children removed from West Greenwich to Coventry, Rhode Island, where they continued to reside until 1759, when, having disposed of his estate there for £1,000, Mr. Reynolds removed with all his family except his two eldest children to the Province of New York—locating, presumably, in either Dutchess County or Orange County.
About that period there were considerable emigrations from eastern Connecticut and western Rhode Island to the counties mentioned ; and through those counties, later, the New Englanders pursued their toilsome journeys on their way to settle in Wyoming before September 12, 1769 (on which date he signed at Wilkes-Barre the petition mentioned on page 512), and shortly afterwards (iii) David joined his father and brother.
The name of William Reynolds appears in the tax lists of Plymouth Township (where he settled in 1772) for 1778,1777 and 1778, and the name of David Reynolds appears in the lists for 1777 and 1778. It is not probable that Benjamin Reynolds remained here for any great length of time, as his name does not appear later than 1771 in any of the few "lists of settlers" now in existence. He was living in Pownal, Bennington County, Vermont, in January, 1795, when he conveyed to Charles E. Gaylord certain lands in Plymouth Township, I,uzerne County, Pennsylvania, which had been devised to him by his father William. In March, 1797, Benjamin Reynolds of Exeter, Washington County, Rhode Island—presumably the son of William of Plymouth, as abovementioned—conveyed to his sons Joseph and Benjamin "all his right in the Susquehanna Purchase." William Reynolds died at Plymouth in 1791, aged considerably more than ninety years. By his will, probated at Wilkes-Barre January ti, 1792, he devised his estate to his children Sarah, Caleb, David, Griffin, Benjamin and James.

(iii) David Reynolds was twice married. The name of his first wife, and the place and time of her death, are not known. She bore her husband two children—Joseph (who married but had no children) and Marv (who became the wife of Levi Bronson). In 1779 David Reynolds was married (2d) to Mrs. Hannah '(Andrus) Gavlord (born 1746), widow of Charles Gavlord (formerlv of Plymouth) who had died in July, 1777, while a soldier in the Continental Army. David Reynolds died at Plymouth July 8,1816, and The foregoing Articles were executed in duplicate, and the copy

— in the excellent and well-known handwriting of Charles Stewart — which was retained by the representatives of the Yankees, is now in the possession of Mrs. Annie B. D. Reynolds of Wilkes-Barre', whose husband (the late Sheldon Reynolds) was a great-grandson of David Reynolds, one of the subscribing witnesses to the Articles. By the courtesy of Mrs. Reynolds we are able to present on the next page a photo-reproduction of a portion of this interesting document.

In conformity with the terms of the capitulation Stephen Gardner, Stephen Jenkins, Asa Ludington, Roasel Franklin, Maj. Simeon Draper, Samuel Hotchkiss, William Wallsworth, Frederick Spyer, Peregrine Gardner, James Nisbitt, James Forsyth, Daniel Brown, Jedidiah Olcott and Christopher A very were selected as the fourteen Yankees who were to remain at Fort Durkee, "to dwell there in the houses numbered 1, 5, 10, 15, 17 and 21."* Within two or three days after the capitulation all the Yankees in Wyoming — with the exception of the abovementioned peaceably left the disputed territory.
No sooner had they departed, however, than Ogden and his party, in violation of the Articles of Capitulation, began an indiscriminate plundering of whatever could be found in the settlement, and cattle, horses and swine were driven off to markets on the Delaware.*
The fourteen Yankees at Fort Dnrkee, left without means to sustain themselves, were soon compelled to follow their exiled companions to their former homes in Connecticut, New York and elsewhere, and the valley of Wyoming was in consequence left in the absolute occupancy and control of the Pennamites.

his wife Hannah died there October 7, 1823. Their only child was Benjamin Reynolds — born February 4, 1780, and died February 22, 1854, at Plymouth— concerning whom, as well as other members of the Reynolds family, mention is made in subsequent pages,

Capt. Joseph Morris, mentioned on page 826. He was a resident of Morris County, New Jersey, and was, undoubtedly, a neighbor there, as well as a personal friend, of Capt. Amos Ogden. Further mention of Captain Morris is made in subsequent pages of this Chapter.

Son of Stephen Gardner, one of the signers of the Articles of Capitulation. The "signer" was (III) Stephen Gardner mentioned in the note on page 254.

William Gallup was born at Groton (on the river Thames, opposite New London), Connecticut, July 4, 1723, the fifth child of Benadam Gallup, Jr. The latter (born 1893) was an early settler in Grotou, where he held various town offices, and in 1730 was a Representative from the town in the General Assembly of Connecticut. He was the fourth child of Benadam and Esther (Prentice) Gallup, and the grandson of Capt. John and Hannah (Lake) Gallup of Stonington, Connecticut. Capt. John Gallup, last mentioned, was a man of considerable prominence in his day.
He took part in the Pequot War of 1687, and received a grant of land for his services. In 1805 and '67 he represented Stonington in the General Court of Connecticut ; and, having become quite proficient in a knowledge of some of the Indian dialects, was frequently employed by the Government in the capacity of interpreter. In November, 1675, shortly after the breaking out of the Narragansett War, Connecticut sent into the field 300 English soldiers and 150 Mohegan and Pequot warriors, under the command of five Captains, one of whom was John Gallup of Stonington. In the "Great Swamp fight," December 19, 1675, Captain Gallup commanded a company of Mohegans, and, together with nearly one-third of his warriors, fell on that bloody field.

William Gallup, first abovementioned, was an original member of The Susquehanna Company (see page 249), and first came to Wyoming in May, 1769, with the company of settlers led by Major Durkee. After the surrender of Fort Durkee he went back to Groton where his family still resided, and, so far as existing records indicate, did not return to Wyoming until June, 1772. At that time, and earlier, he was designated as "Captain" Gallup. In 1772 he settled in Kingston Township, and thither, in 1773 or '74, he brought his family from Connecticut. He and his elder son took part in the battle of July 3, 1778 — the other members of his family being among the inmates of Forty Fort. After the surrender of the fort the family set out for Connecticut, and there they remained until after 1781— probably until 1785— when they returned to Kingston. Capt. William Gallup was married June 9, 1752, to Judith Reed (bom April 6, 1733) of Norwich, Connecticut. Captain Gallup died at Kingston, April 4, 1808, and his widow Judith died there Tanuarv 1, 1815. Their remains were buned in the "Gallup burial-ground", a small plot of ground still known" by that name, lying near the I^ackawanna Railroad station in the borough of Kingston, but which, for some years now, has been used as a sort of dumping-ground for garbage.

The children of Capt. William and Judith (Reed) Gallup were :
(i) Lydia, b. February 14, 1754 ; (ii) Hallet, b. January 1, 1758, md. to Mary (b. 1759 and d. October 6 1804), daughter of Ichabod Bartlett, and d. at Kingston Octobers, 1804; (iii) Zurviah (b. January 4, 1758, and d. May 18. 1840), md., as his second wife, to Benjamin Smith (b. in 1759 and d. in Kingston January 19, 181ti), son of Timothy Smith and md. to Freelove - — , and d. at Kingston March 13, 1807, survived^ by his wife (who died at Plymouth^ Pennsylvania, April 25, 1835) and the following-named children (who were baptized at Wilkes-Barr£ December 20, 1807, by the Rev. Ard Hoyt): William (b. Wilkes-Barre February 2, 1795, and d. at Tiffin Citv, Ohio, January 17, 1758), Hallet, James Devine and Caleb Hathaway; (vii) Marv, twin sister of (vi) William ; (viii) Sarah, b. March 4, Ii72, md. (1st) to Peter Grubb (b. 1754 and d. at Kingston January 23, 1807), md. (2d), May 29, 1809, as his second wife, to Agur Hoyt, then of Kingston, Pennsylvania, but formerly of Daubury, Connecticut, and who died at Norwalk, Ohio, November 30, 1836, being survived by his wife and one son (by his wife Sarah)— William Reed Hoyt, b. November 6, 1814 ; (ix) Hannah, twin sister of (viii) Sarah, md. (1st) Israel Skeer, md. (2d) Aseph Jones, and d. at Kingston February 2, 1864 — being at the time of her death the oldest resident of Wyoming Valley.

\ Born at Plainfield, Connecticut, December 18, 1708, and died at Voluntown, Connecticut, in August or September, 1772. See note on page 410, Vol. I.

* In "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, IV : 353, the abovementioned names, with the exception of that of Christopher Avery, are given as those of the men who were to remain in the fort. However, in the collections of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society there is an original account against The Susquehanna Company rendered about 1770 by Christopher Avery for services performed by him for the Company in 1769. One item of the account reads as follows : "To twentvdays spent at the fort when the Pennamites took it by force— in order to save the papers belonging to this Company."

Various accounts of the happenings in Wyoming in November, 1769, have been written by different persons in the past, but heretofore have never been incorporated in any of the printed histories of the valley. The present writer has collected a number of those accounts, and some of them are herewith presented—chiefly for the purpose of show Fort Durkke Articles Of Capitulation.
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Photo-reproduction of the final paragraph and the signatures. (See page 028.)
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how divergent and dissimilar various contemporary accounts of the same events may sometimes happen to be. The first account here given is now printed for the first time. It is from an affidavit made October 9, 1782, by Capt. William Gallup (mentioned on page 629) before William Williams, Esq. (see page 283), then a Justice of the Peace in Lebanon, Connecticut.
The original affidavit is now among the "Trumbull Papers," mentioned on page 29, and at the end of the document appear, in the handwriting of Justice Williams, these unusual words: "N. B. The deponent is a person of undoubted veracity. [Signed] W. Williams, Just. P." The deponent states that:

* See Miner's "Wyoming," page 112, Chapman's "Wyoming," page 80, and Stone's ''Poetry and History of Wyoming," page IW>.
"He, with a number of other settlers, some time in the month of May, 1769, arrived on the said lands and there continued unmolested until some time in the month of November following, when he and the rest of the Connecticut settlers was attacked by a body of armed men from Pennsilvania, to the number of about 200, with one piece of cannon, tinder the command of one Captain Ogden and Mr. Charles Stewart—as they said—who attacked our garrison and commanded us to resign up the same to them, or the consequence would be that they would destroy the fort and treat us as rioters. Their party being at that time superior in number to ours, we were constrained to surrender to their terms. He [Gallup], with the rest of the Connecticut settlers, returned home."

Parshall Terry, in his affidavit mentioned on page 403, after referring to the surrender of Fort Durkee on November 14, 1769, states:

"The rest of the settlers were dispersed, except about fourteen, who were permitted to tarry on the ground to take care of our cattle, horses and other effects, which in the Agreement were to be restored to us. However, to the best of this deponent's knowledge, neither the deponent nor any of the Connecticut settlers had any of their property restored to them (or any compensation therefor) except a small number of cattle, which the settlers found on their returning to the ground the next Spring following. The property aforesaid was destroyed and taken off, as it was said, by the Ogdens and their party."

In The New York Journal of December 7, 1769, there was printed the following letter from New London, Connecticut, under the date of November 7, 1769.

"By Mr. Smith* of Voluntown. late from Susquehannah, we are informed that about three weeks past there came about thirty men out of Pennsylvania to assist Stewart and his gang in dispossessing the New England settlers; and a number of them—as they judged, about thirty—attacked our people with clubs, tomahawks, &c., and several were knocked down and much hurt on both sides, but finally our people beat them off without the loss of any lives on our side.f Mr. Smith further saith that our antagonists brought with them one piece of cannon, set a centry over it lest our people should take it from them, gave the centry strict charge not to let any come near, but to bid them stand ; and if they did not, to fire them down. One Nathan Ogden, of the Stewart party, having a mind one night to try the fidelity of their centry, approached so nigh that the centry bid him stand ; but he not regarding, the centryman fired. One bullet went through Ogden's body, one buckshot lodged against the skin of his back, and one buckshot went in about the centre of his belly and the doctor saith it is not likely he will recover. Mr. Smith further informs that they immediately, upon shooting Ogden, sent their cannon back to Shamokin.J as not having any further use for it there ; and that the whole gang were gone but about sixteen. Mr. Smith also informs that our people have got a handsome reward for the wheat which was feloniously taken from them at Shamokin.§

In The Pennsylvania Gazette (Philadelphia) of December 21, 1769, the following communication was printed.

"In The New York Journal of December 7 there is inserted an account of some occurrences at Wyoming, upon Susquehanna, as it is there said by information of one Smith of Voluntown, Connecticut, who lately came from thence. Being desirous that the world should not be imposed upon by so base and false an account, I beg leave to acquaint you that the very reverse of what is there asserted is the truth. The fact stands thus : A number of deluded people (for some such, at least, I would in charity suppose there are among them) came armed in a hostile manner into this Province, from the Colony of Connecticut, and have, within this last year, assembled at Wyoming and forcibly seated themselves on the lands lately purchased by our Proprietaries of the Indians, nearly in the centre of this Province, to the terror of our inhabitants ; from which they have been twice removed by the civil authority, and some of them fined, after a trial by the country, in small sums, considering the atrociousness of their doings—some few of which paid their fines, and others broke the County gaol and escaped.

"Since the time of their second removal near 200 miscreants, composed of the dregs of the Colony of Connecticut, Pendergrass' gang of rioters from New York Government, and horse-slealers, debtors and other runaivays from the different Governments, came likewise armed into this Province, and built a large fort, or block-house, at Wyoming, and fortified it with swivels and wall-pieces, &c.; since which they have been guilty of many disorderly and wicked practices—such as taking the neighboring people (settled under the authority of this Government) into their fort, whipping one of them, terrifying and threatening others violently, and disseizing them of their farms. In doing one of which acts—apprehending they should meet with some resistance—they came to the number of sixty armed with tomahawks, axes and other instruments of violence, in order to take possession of some land in the tenure of Captain Ogden, who called about twenty-five of his neighbors to his assistance, to enable him to defend his property, who were presently attacked by this lawless gang of fierce warriors, and five or six of them much wounded ; but the rioters were, however, presently worsted by Captain Ogden's people, who had provided themselves with some oaken sticks for their defense, and made them soon run away to their fort—their Captain, one Parks, leading the way.
Some of them, it is true, got broken heads from the hard knocks they received in the affray. After the affray was over sundry of their tomahawks and above twenty of their axes remained on the field of battle.* Major Durkee, who takes upon him the command of the fort, was so angry at his soldiers' and their Captain's cowardice—who were chased up to the gates of their fortress by a handful of men—that for some time he refused to admit them, calling them a parcel of poltroons and cowards. '

'john Smith, Esq., who, about the last of October, 178B, had returned to Connection to attend the meeting of The Susquehanna Company held at Hartford on November 8th—as noted on page 6'2,~
He came back to Wyoming just in time to assist in arranging for the capitulation of Fort Durkee.

The skirmish of September 2M (described on pages f>13 and 514, Vol. I) is here referred to.

I This is an error, as the cannon was used to enforce the surrender of Fort Durkee—as previously described—and was kept at Wyoming thereafter. It is referred to again in subsequent pages. It is quite probable, also, that .the account of the shooting of Nathan Ogden by a Pennamite sentry is erroneous.

5 See first paragraph, page 514, Vol. I.

"These disorderly practices obliged the magistrates again to send up the High Sheriff, with a number of men—about half as many as were in the fort—to apprehend those rioters; at whose appearance those valiant people were so intimidated that, after they were summoned to surrender, and a quarter of an hour given them for the purpose, they agreed—many of them with tears in their eyes—to deliver up the fort upon condition that fourteen of their number, only, with their women and children, should remain there to take care of the cattle, household goods and other necessaries belonging to them. Accordingly about five or six rooms of their large building (being 150 feet long) were assigned them for that purpose, and the other part [of the fort was] put into the possession of the Sheriff ; and the rest [of the Yankees], being about 180, were suffered to depart, upon their promise not to return. They likewise agreed that those who were left should not commit any further waste, and only cut wood enough for their firing ; and should not receive more than five persons within their rooms, nor let them stay longer than three days, nor even entertain them for that time till they had given their names to the magistrates [Charles Stewart and Amos Ogden] residing there.

"The season of the year, and the difficulty of conveying such a number of prisoners near sixty miles through the woods [to Easton], together with compassion for the poor creatures—who would have been, of course, confined in gaol, and put to great expense— induced the two magistrates and the Sheriff to release them on the above mild terms. * * Yours, &c., [Signed] "A. B."

It is quite probable that the foregoing letter was written by Charles Stewart, Esq., as he was in Philadelphia in the latter part of December, 1769. In The New York Journal of December 28, 1769, there was printed the following letter, dated at Providence, Rhode Island, December 16th.

"By a gentleman from Windham, [Connecticut,] we learn that several of the New England adventurers have lately returned from the Susquehanna. Major Durgee, their leader, in going from the block-house to view some mills that were erecting, was waylaid and seized by a number of armed men from Pennsylvania, who conducted him to Easton.t They afterwards surrounded the block-house and demanded a conference with some of the principal settlers, who accordingly went without the gate for that purpose. The Pennsylvanians, availing themselves of this opportunity, marched into the block-house, when it was agreed that an equal number of each party should remain there till Spring, or until the controverted right of the lands shall be determined."

Agreeably to previous notice a meeting of The Susquehanna Company was held at Windham December 6, 1769, with Col. Eliphalet Dyer acting as Moderator. The principal business transacted was as follows:

"Voted, That Samuel Gray and Mai. John Durkee be appointed to take proper evidence or affidavits of the proceedings of the Court at Easton, [Pennsylvania,] at the last trial ; also of the attack and robbery of our people near Fort Augusta, and of the insults and attacks on our settlers at Wyoming, and their conduct during the Summer past; and the treaty and declaration of the Indians.

"Voted, That monies be collected and delivered to Major Durkee in order to pay, defend and defray the expenses at Easton." * * *
* This is another account of the skirmish of September ±M.
fThis, of course, is an error, as Major Durkee was taken to Philadelphia.

Major Dnrkee was present at this meeting, having come from Philadelphia to his home in Norwich only a few days before the meeting was held. He had been detained in the jail at Philadelphia some ten or twelve days before his friends were able to procure bail for him and bring about his release. One Joseph Jacobs of Philadelphia was finally induced to enter bail for Major Durkee's appearance at the next term of the Northampton County Court, at Easton, and on the 28th of December the Executive, or Standing, Committee of The Susquehanna Company resolved that said Jacobs "should be entitled to one whole share in ye Susquehanna Purchase for ye consideration" of bailing Major Durkee.*

The reference to "the treaty and declaration of the Indians," in the minutes of the December meeting, aforementioned, is explained by a paragraph in the original draft of an unpublished letterf from Gov. Jonathan Trumbull, of Connecticut, to Richard Jackson, Esq. (mentioned on pages 417 and 441), written at Lebanon, Connecticut, December 13, 1769. The Governor, after giving a brief account of the Connecticut Charter and the claims under it, wrote as follows:

"You are fully informed of our claim that the lands on the Susquehanna River are within the limits of the grant made by the Council of Plymouth to the Earl of Warwick. * * That The Susquehanna Company purchased the lands on that river of the Indians who claimed them. * * The Indians acknowledge their sale, and say that the Company from Connecticut ought to enjoy the land. They lately sent one of their notable warriors, with his attendants, a long journey from the Seneca country to welcome the men who went hence to make improvements there the last Summer, and present them a belt [of wampum] deciphering each of the Six Tribes, or Nations, to express their covenant of union and friendship."

At the time of the capitulation and evacuation of Fort Durkee Sheriff Jennings and his assistants obtained the names of a number of those who just previously had been, or were then, inmates of the fort. Those names—some of them, evidently, crippled and disguised by their bad spelling—are contained in an original unpublished document now in the collections of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania. It is endorsed "Warrant sur Process forcible entry and detainer, stir Indictment, issued out of the County Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace, held at Easton, in Northampton County, Pennsylvania;" it is dated "December 21st, in the tenth year of the reign of George III" [1769]; is signed by George Taylor, Judge, and Lewis Gordon, Clerk ; is made returnable March 20, T.770, and directs the Shefiff of Northampton County "to take, and convey before said Court," &c., the following named persons—eighty-nine in number: Benjamin Shoemaker, John McDowel, Samuel Weyburn [or Wibron, or Wybralnt], John Lee, Stephen Lee, Noah Lee, Joseph Lee, Daniel Hain [or Haines], John McDowel, Jr., Benjamin Shoemaker, Jr., Daniel Shoemaker, Jr., Asher Harrod, William Leonard, Jesse Leonard, Elijah Holloway, Thomas Bennet, Samuel Marvin, Reuben Hurlbut, Benjamin Follett, William Comstock, Samuel Clark, Ephraim Buck, William Wickham, William Stobbs [or Stubbs], "Parshall- Terry, Benjamin Baker, Samuel Dyer Hull, Caleb White, John Dorrance, Zebulon Hoxsie [or Hawksey], Daniel Van Etten, Thomas Sutt [or Sutton], Jacob Shear, David Marvin, Moses Kinney, William Jones, John De Long, Oliver Smith, John Smith, John Smith "the younger," Azariah [or Josiah] Dean, Joseph Morse, Morgan Caravan [or Carvan], John Wheat, Jacob Welch, John Durkee, Jabez Cook, Ebenezer Nutrip [or Northrop], Thomas Grey, Thomas Wicks [or Weeks], John Perkins, Silas Hill, William Buck, Peter Harris, Jenkins [or Jenks] Corey, Daniel Cash [or Cass], Thomas Robinson, Moses Hibbard [or Hebard], Moses Hibbard, Jr., Silas Bingham, Silas Parks [or Park], William Halsey, Ebenezer Backhouse [or Backus], James Atherton, James Smith, Abijah Mack [or Mock], Prince Eldin [Alden], Elias [or Ozias] Yale, Ahiah Windsor, Ephraim Fergus, Ephraim Lyon, Stephen Hull, Obadiah Hull, Ephraim Coy [or McCoy], William Jackey [or Jacquish], Daniel Rhines, Thomas Hains, John Gardner, Jr., John Owens, Thomas Croghan, Ezra Dean, Jonathan \Vicks [or \Veeks], Simeon Draper, Robert Draper, Robert Hopkins, Robert Baker, Philip Wicks [or Weeks], Daniel Brown and Ebenezer Hebard.
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his brother Israel Jacobs, who, March Pawling to take up and settle ye said, right, was laid out in the township of Springfield (see map facing page 468), which was originally surveyed under the direction of The rtusquehanna Company late in 1772 or some lime in 1773.
fSee the "Trumbull Papers", referred to on page '29, Vol. 1.
From endorsements upon the back of the aforementioned document we learn that the "1st plea issued, returnable June, 1770"; other "pleas" were issued from time to time thereafter until finally the last one—the "23d"—was issued, "returnable September, 1775."
Pursuant to adjournment The Susquehanna Company met at Windharn January 10, 1770. Maj. Elizur Talcott presided as Moderator, and the following business was transacted :

" Voted, That Gershom Breed* and Capt. Ebenezer Baldwin, both of Norwich, be added to the Standing Committee.
"Voted, That the Standing Committee be directed to proceed—in what [manner] they esteem best for the interests of the Company—to keep and maintain possession of our Purchase on Susquehanna River.
"Voted, That Capt. Robert Durkeef and Capt. Zebulon Butlert be added to the Committee of Settlers, to take care of the Company's interests and effects at Susquehanna ; and that they receive their advice and instructions from the Standing Committee."

* Gershom Brked, one of the grantees named in the Indian deed of 1754 (see page 272), was the original owner of one share, or right, in the Susquehanna Purchase. He was the tenth child of John Breed of Stonington, Connecticut, who was a grandson of Allen Breed, who immigrated to this country about 1630 and settled at Lynn, Massachusetts. Uershom Breed settled in Norwich, New London County, Connecticut, about 1750, and was a merchant there as early, at least, as 1765. In May, 1774, he was established Captain of the 9th Company in the 3d Regiment of the Connecticut Militia.

t See Vol. I, page 481, third paragraph.

t Zebulon Butlkr was born in 1731 at Chebacco (now the town of Essex), in the town of Ipswich, Kssex County, Massachusetts. He was the eldest child of John and Hannah (Pet-kins) Butler, and the grandson of "Lieut. William Butler of Chebacco. William Butler, unquestionably of English descent, was born about 1650, presumably in New England, and prior to 1668 settled in Ipswich. October 11, 188*2, he was admitted a freeman. In the course of his life he owned considerable real estate in Ipswich and the adjoining town of Gloucester, and in the various conveyances which were executed to and by him, as well as in his last will and testament, he was described as a "yeoman." During the progress of Queen Anne's War—which was waged between the New England Colonies and the Canadian French and Indians for several years following the accession of Queen Anne in 1702—William Butler served as a Lieutenant in the company of Massachusetts militia commanded by Capt. John Wainwright of Ipswich.

Lieutenant Butler was thrice married. First, about 167o, to Sarah , believed to have been the seventh child (born about 1654) of Robert Cross, Sr., and Sarah his wife, of Ipswich. The children of this marriage were four sons and five daughters.
One of the daughters became the wife of John Bavley of Newbury, Massachusetts; one, Hannah, was married to Andrews; another became the wife of Josiah Burnham, a cooper in Chebacco. and another was the wife of Job Giddings, a tailor in Chebacco. Lieutenant Butler was married (M) July HI, 1703, to Mary Ingalls of Ipswich, who bore him Mary (born 1704), Samuel (born 1706) and John (born 1708). Lieutenant Butler was married (3d) October 3. 1713. to Abigail, daughter of Thomas and Abigail Metcalf of Ipswich. No children resulted from this marriage. Lieut. William Butler died at Chebacco August '2, 1730, and was survived bv his wife Abigail and eight of his children.
His will was probated on the 18th of the same month, a'nd the inventory of his estate amounted to il,37il, 17s. Gd.

John Butler (born at Chebacco in 1708), third and youngest child of Lieut. William and Mary (Ingalls) Butler, grew to manhood in the town of Ipswich, where he was married in January, 1730, to Hannah Perkins. In 1732 John liutleraud his wife and their only child, accompanied by James Perkins—a brother of Mrs. Butler—removed from Ipswich to Lyme, New London County, Connecticut.

Lyme, which was originally a part of Sayhrook, now covers some seven or eight miles square of territory, bounded on the west by the Connecticut River and on the south by Long Island Sound. As originally laid out the town of Lyme extended eastward to the bounds of the town of New London. It was settled in l'M(6, largely by inhabitants from the Saybrook town-plot—an active, sensible, resolute and blueblooded people. Lyme to-day embraces a number of villages and hamlets scattered throughout its territory—among them "being Lyme, Lyme Street or Old Lyme (for the village is known by all these names), South Lyme, Bill Hill, Hamburg and North Lyme. (See notes on pages 2-lti and 24S.) Lyme and South Lyme lie in the southern part of the town near the Sound, while Hamburg and North Lyme are distant, respectively, about eight and ten miles, by the public highway, from the coast—being in that
part of the town which formerly was designated as the North Quarter, North Society or Third Society of Lyme. Through the north-west corner of Lyme flows a small stream known as Eight-Mile River, which empties into an arm of the Connecticut River. This arm, or inlet, was known in early days as EightMile River Cove, but now is called Hamburg Cove from the village near by. It is at the head of tidewater. Another small stream, called Falls River, flowing from the east in a zig-zag course, empties into Hamburg Cove just south of the village.

John Butler and James Perkins settled within the bounds of the North Society of Lynie, not far from the present village of Hamburg, and later Mr. Perkins became a Deacon in the Congregational Church there. At the time of their settlement they jointly purchased 290 acres of land back of Mount Archer, in the direction of the district known as Toshuatown—the north-westernmost section of Lyme, which has, from the first, borne this name, derived from Joshua, the third son of TJncas the noted sachem of the Mohegans (mentioned on page 188), who was once the lord and tenant of that rough and romantic region. About 1736 Messrs. Butler and Perkins bought in common other lands in Lyme, and in January, 17HP, they made an amicable division of all their Lyme lands. In the Spring or Summer of 1755 John Bntler died at Lyme, being survived by his wife, Hannah, and nine children, the youngest of whom was onlv three years of age. The inventory of John Butler's estate—the bulk of which was in lands— amounted to £6,403, 8sh., in "monev of the old tenor" (see note "*", page 252), and the debts footed up to £3,151. 17sh. 5d.

The names of the children of John and Hannah (Perkins) Butler were : (i) Zebulon, (ii) Mary, (iii) Isaac, (\\)JoHn, (v) Houghton. (vi) Samuel, (vii) William, (viii) Nathaniel and (ix) Sarah, (ii) Mary Sutler was born at Lyme in 1738, and between May, 1756, and May, 1761, she was married to Ebenezer (born at Lvme October 15, 1731), son of William ana Prudence (Pratt) Brock way—Prudence Pratt being the daughter of William Pratt. William and Ebenezer Brockway were descendants of Wolston Brockway, who was born in England about 1638, and as early as 1659 settled in Lyme near the Sound. In 1697 he deeded to his son Wolston certain lands on the Connecticut River at Joshualown in Lyme. In May, 1724, the General Court, or Assembly, of Connecticut granted to the abovemenlioned William Brockway and William Pratt (who lived on the west bank of the river) the right to keep a ferry at Joshuatown— which is known to this day as "Brockway's Ferry." During the eighteenth century there resided in Lyme many persons bearing the surname Brockway, all, presumably, descendants of Wolston Brockway. Richard Brockway, ofLyjne, was an early settler in Wyoming under The Susouehanna Company. He died at Lacka wanna, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, in May, 1807, aged about 100 years. Ebenezer Brockway. abovementioned, was for the most of his life engaged in the fishing business and in sailing a trading-sloop—as is more fully mentioned hereinafter—ana he was commonly known as Captain Brockway. Samuel Butler, writing to his brother Zebulon from Saybrook, Connecticut, in August, 1790, said : "Captain Brockway's fishing business is very profitable in the season. He farms. &c.. the rest of the time. His sons Zebulon ana Ebenezer Brockway own a vessel and follow coasting, and make money." Capt. Ebenezer Brockway died at Lyme May 9. 1812. and was buried in the grave-yard at Joshuatown. Mrs. Mary (Butler) Brockway died there November 29, 1811, in the seventy-fourth year of her age.

(iv) John Butler was in Wyoming in 1770. (vi) Samuel Butler was married about 1771 to Hester

fit is quite probable that she was Hester Brockway, a sister of Capt. Ebenezer Brockway), and" ^;5rior_U> 1787 they had become the parents of six daughters. In 1786 the eldest of these children died. In In4 Samuel Butler was in Wilkes-Barre, and for some months was engaged in teaching school. In the Winter of ln4-'75 he taught school at "Puttapogue Woods," evidently in Lyme ; and in the Summerand Autumn of 1775 he was again in Wilkes-Barre. In 1790 he and his family were settled in Saybrook, Connecticut, where, for some time then, he had been "employed Summer a'nd Winter in the small business of keeping school"—as he wrote his brother Zebulon. (ix) Sarah Butler was in February, 1779, the wife of Gideon Pratt of either the county of New London or of Middlesex, Connecticut.

Zebi-lox Butler, the eldest child of John and Hannah (Perkins) Butler, was, as previously stated, bora in 1731 in the town of Ipswich, and accompanied his parents thence to Lyme, where he grew to manhood. In paragraphs five and six on page 297, six on page 481 and five on page 304. Volume I, we refer to the beginning of the French and Indian War in 1754, to Braddock's defeat in July, 1755, and to the vigorous but ineffective prosecution of the war on the part of the English in 1756, In April, 1755, Governor Shirley of Massachusetts and his staff passed through New London, Connecticut, on their way to meet General Braddock. News of Braddock's defeat came to New London the 22d of Julv following, and of the battle of Lake St. Sacrament (now Lake George) the 16th of September. Recruiting officers were busy in Connecticut from March till October, 1755. and at some time within that period—as shown by an original muster-roll now on file in the State Library at Hartford, Connecticut—Zebulon Butler, then twenty-four years of age, became Ensign of Capt. Andrew Ward's company in the battalion commanded by Lieut. Col. William Whiting, which formed a part of the Connecticut regiment commanded by Col. David Wooster. For the campaign of 1756 Captain Ward's company was mustered in April of that year, and, from about the middle of May until October or November following, was with Lieut. Colonel Whiting's battalion "in camp at Fort William Henry, for the campaign at Crown Point"—as shown by original muster-rolls in the Connecticut State Library. Before leaving home with his company Ensign Butler conveyed to his sister Marv at Lyme, May 12, 1756—as shown by an original document in his handwriting, now in the possession of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society—certain beds, bedding, curtains, etc., of the value of £60. "with the following reservation : that is, if by the blessing of God I [he] shall live to return, then she shall resign the possession of said goods."

In the campaign of 1757 (see paragraph 7. pii*1 481, Volume I) Zebulon Butler served thirty-seven weeks and five days (from February 23d to Noveniff r 13th) as Ensign of Capt. Andrew Ward's companv in Lieut. Col. Nathan Whiting's battalion, receivi i* therefor the sum of £30. 12sh. lid. November 14, 1757, he became Ensign of Capt. Reuben Ferris' "Company of Rangers," and served in that capacity until May 15. 1758—a period of twenty-six weeks—for which lie received a bounty of £3, and £21, 2sh. 6d. as pay. (See original muster-rolls in Connecticut Stale Library.) In March, 1758. Zebulon Butler was appointed In December, 1765, Captain Butler was chosen one of the Surveyors of Highways in and for Lyme.
page 481, Volume I.)
However. Ensign Butler continued to serve with Ferns' "Rangers" until May 1 as noted above—Wells Ely serving as Ensign of Captain Mather's company. May 27, 1758, Ensign Butler was promoted Lieutenant of this company, and joined the same at "Camp Fort Kdward, Lake George," early in June. Soon thereafter he was detailed to serve as Quartermaster of the 3d Regiment. A "Memorandum Book for stores belonging to the Colony of Connecticut," which was used by Lieutenant Butler in July and August, 1758, is now in the possession of The Wyoming Historical and Geological Society. October 4. 1758, Lieutenant Butler set out from Fort Edward with a scouting party ; "marchea to Saratoga ; crossed the Hudson, and returned to Fort Edward about October 18th." At the muster of Captain Mather's company at Fort Edward on October 19th, the rolls and certificates were signed by Lieutenant Butler. He served in this campaign until November 22nd. (See original muster-rolls in Connecticut State Library.)

Early in"March, 1759, Zebulon Butler was appointed bv the General Assembly of Connecticut First Lieutenant of the 9th Company in the 4th Regiment of the Colony's troops (see paragraph 2, page 482, Vol. U; but before the first of the following May he was promoted Captain of the company, which, on the 2d of May, at Lyme, was mustered and inspected by Col. Kleazar Fitch. Sixty-seven effective men of the total strength of the company were present. (See original muster-roll in the Connecticut State Library.) In the possession of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society is a small pass-t>ook containing the original receipts given to Captain Butler at Lyme between the 15th and 30th of May. 1759. by sixty-two of the privates and non-commissioned officers of his companv, for their "bounty, back pay and month's pay." Captain Butler and his company participated with the 4th Regiment in the campaign of 1759.

At that period of his life Captain Butler was engaged—when not soldiering—in fanning and, in a small way, as a trader and shop-keeper in Lyme. In March, 1780, he was appointed by the General Assembly Captain of the 10th Company in the 4th Connecticut Regiment for the ensuing campaign (see paragraph 3, page 4S2, Vol. I), and in his private account-book—now in the possession of the Wyoming Historical ana Geological Society—we find this charge : "Captain Butler's company Dr. to provisions on the passage to Albany, May, 1760-2 bbts. Pork, 640 ibs. bread. 11 bus. potatoes, &c., £19, 9sh. (id." Soon after his return home at the close of the campaign of 1760 Captain Butler was married at Lyme (December 23, 1760) by Samuel Ely, Justice of the Peace, to Anne {born April 4, 1736), daughter of John and Hannah (Rogers) Lord of Lyme. John Lord (born at Lyme about 1704) was the second son of Lieut.,Riphard and Elizabeth (Hyde) Lojd. His father gave him 300 acres of land on Eight-Mile River in NorHr*Lyrne, where he settled aiftflived until his death—which occurred January 7, 1776. His wife Hannah (to whom he was married November 12.1734) was born in 1712, the daughter of Lieut. Joseph and Sarah Rogers of Milford, Connecticut, and she died December 25, 1762. The graves of John and Hannah (Rogei^ Lord are in close proximity to those of the present writer's paternal great-great-great-grandparents, in what is known as the Marvin burial-ground, about half-way between the villages or North Lyme and Hamburg. April 16, 1761, John Lord, "for and in consideration of the love and good-will" he bore to his "loving sonin-law Capt. Zebulon Butler," granted and conveyed to him a piece of land in Lynie.

In March, 1761, Zebulon Butler was appointed and commissioned Captain of the 8th Company in the 1st Regiment of Connecticut troops : and in March. 1762, by vote of the General Assembly he was reappointed to the command of the same company. (See "Colonial Records of Connecticut." XI: 485, 619.) Captain Butler's company numbered ninety-one men, to whom "a bounty of £7 per head was paid." The company was in service from March till December, 1762, and took part in the fatal expedition against Havana (see paragraphs 4 and 5, page 482, Vol. I)—losing twenty-six men by death from disease. With the coming of the year 176S Captain Butler seems to have relinquished all connection with military affairs and to have earnestly settled down to farming and trading. At that time—and, indeed, until he finally removed from Lyrae some nine years later—he lived near Eight-Mile River, on the eastern bank of which, not far from the'cove previously mentioned, was his "landing-place," or wharf. His immediate neighbors were Capt. Elisha Marvin and Benjamin Harvey—the latter the present writer's great-great-grandfather.

Beginning at an early day quite a trade was carried on between the towns on the Connecticut River and the West Indies, and during the forty years that Zebulon Butler lived in North Lyme several of the residents of that locality owned sloops which sailed between Eight-Mile River Cove and various ports in the West Indies—in particular, St. John on the island of Antigua. In 1765 Captain Butler and his brotherin-law Capt. Ebenezer Brockway owned the sloop Polly (named for Mrs. Brockway), and a few years later the Anne (named for Mrs. Butler), of which Captain Brockway was Master. Frequent voyages were made to Antigua in one or the other of these vessels during the years 1765-'69, and miscellaneous cargoes consigned by residents of Lynie were carried and disposed of, either for cash or West Indian products.
The following information, gleaned from an original account-book of Zebulou Butler, is printed in order to give the reader an idea as to the nature of the traffic carried on by the people of Lyme with the Antiguaus prior to the Revolutionary War. March 20, 1765, these consignments were stowed on board the Pony at Captain Butler's landing ; "100 bbls. fish. 8 bbls. meat, 1,100 hoops, 1,400 red-oak staves, 500 white-oak staves, 139 bus. oats, 27^ bus. corn, 3H tons hay, 9 horses, 9 oxen. 23 sheep, 11 hogs, 15 geese, 4 turkeys and 214 dung-hill fowls"—the last-mentioned being common, everyday chickens.
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March 12, 1760, Captain Butler purchased from Gershom Breed (previously mentioned) for fifty-four shillings one-quarter of a share in the Susquehanna Purchase. Later he acquired other rights, Having returned early in April, 1769 (see page 472), from what proved to be his last voyage to Antigua, he made preparations to join The Susquehanna Company's settlers at Wyoming. He arrived here—so far as known, for the first time—in the latter part of June, 1769, and from that time until within four or five

Miner puts it (in his "History of Wyoming," Appendix, page 61). Captain Butler did not bring his family to Wyoming until December, 1772. In the meantime, however, he made frequent visits back to Lyme. Thus, as shown by his diaries, letters, etc., he was there in April and again in September, 1772. As previously noted one of his near neighbors and intimate friends in Lyme was Benjamin Harvey, Sr , who. in the Autumn of 1772. was making arrangements to remove his family to Wyoming. Captain Butler at that time had no oxen, horses or vehicles in Lyme with which to convey his family and effects to Wyoming, and so he made arrangements to have the work done by Benjamin Harvey, who, being a farmer, had what was needed for making such a long and rough journey.

^. Early in December, 1772, Benjamin Harvey, Jr., his brother Elisha, their sisters Lois and Lucy, and the wife and three young children of Captain Butler set out from North Lyme. The effects of the two families were loaded upon sleds drawn by teams of oxen, which were driven by Benjamin and Elisha Harvey and Lord Butler (then but eleven years old), while Lois and Lucy Harvey rode horseback and guided a small flock of sheep and a few cows. Mrs. Butler, her son Zebulon (five years old) and her daughter Hannah (oot quite three years of age) rode on one of the sleds. They journeyed to New London, distant sixteen miles, and there boarded with their effects a small coasting-sloop, the master of which had contracted to transport them to New Windsor on the Hudson River, in Orange County. New York. The voyage, including a stay of one dav at the city of New York, occupied ten days, and was terminated December 20th at New Windsor.
There the party was met by Captain Butler, who had come from Wyoming on horseback, and the next day, in the afternoon, they began their toilsome overland journey of about 120 miles. The road from the Hudson to the Delaware River was fairly passable at that time ; out from the Delaware to the Susquehanna there was the roughest kind of a cart path, ascending mountains, running down into valleys, traversing swamps, crossing streams and winding through almost unbroken forests. According to Captain Butler's diary (in the possession of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society) the stopping places of the party on their journey from New Windsor to Wilkes-Barr£ were the following : Tilford's (at or near Goshen, Orange County, New York); Owens', or Owengo (in the northern part of Sussex County, New Jersey, near the New York State boundary); Welles1 (in Sussex County, New Jersey, four miles east of the Delaware); Chambers'—whence they "went in the night to Esquire Van Campen's" ; Christmas-day they "crossed the Delaware and went to Shaw's," at Shohola ; the next day they proceeded to Parksbury (at Lackaway, in what is now Palmyra Township, Pike County, Pennsylvania); Sunday, December 27th, they "went to the Indian Spring," and the next day arrived at Wilkes-Barre.

At that time a number of the principal inhabitants of the township of Wilkes-Barr6 were still occupying the block-house at Mill Creek, of which they had taken possession some time previously (as is explained hereinafter), deeming it more secure than either Fort Durkee or the fort erected by the Pennamites on the river bank in 1771, and its situation more advantageous. Captain Butler was one of those we find the following entries: ""1773, September 17—Wilks Barre—this day moved out of the Fort at Mill Creek down on to my Lot in Wilks Barre Town Plott. * * Wilks Barre 4 January, 1774, this Day moved into my New House in this Town."

The lot above referred to was "No. 3" in the town plot; it contained three acres and 103 perches, and was located at the south-east corner of the present River and Northampton Streets. (See page (V>5. post.) Within the original bounds of that lot now stand the residences of John N. Conyngham, the Hon. Stanley Woodward, J. Butler Woodward and one or two others The "new house," mentioned in Captain Butler's diary, was a commodious two-story structure of logs, which he erected in 1773 on Lot No. 3. It stood some distance back from River Street, and was occupied by Zebulon Butler and his family until 1792 (as shown by an affidavit made by Lord Butler July 3, 1801, and recorded on page 15. Volume I, of the minutes of the Commissioners under the Compromise Law of 1799—referred to on page 25, ante), when Zebulon Butler removed to his farm-house on Coal Brook, within the limits of the present Second Ward of Wilkes-Barr£. In 1793 Lord Butler had this log building moved to the part of Lot No. 3 near the site of the present residence of Jolm N. Conyngham, and at the north-west corner of the lot he erected in 1793-'94 a handsome frame residence, facing River Street. (See pages 5 and 6 of the published copy of the address delivered by the Hon. John N. Conyngham at the laying of the corner-stone of the Luzerne County Court House, August 12, 1856.)
The Lord Butler building, which was torn down in March, 1867, to make way for the present residence of the Hon. Stanley Woodward (which was completed in December. 1868), is referred to more at length in subsequent chapters.
When in May, 1< *5. the 24th Regiment of Connecticut Militia was established by the General Assembly of the Colony (see Chapter XII), Zebulon Butler was appointed and commissioned Colonel of the same. In August, l(/o, at Wilkes-Barre, Colonel Butler was married (2d) to Lydia (born in 175(1), daughter of the Rev. Jacob and Mary (Giddings) Johnson (see page 449); and to them was born in May, 1776, a son, to whom the name Zebulon was given. Early in September, 1776, Colonel Butler was appointed by the Continental Congress Paymaster and Commissary for the two companies then being raised in Wyoming for the Continental service (see Chapter XIII); and October 11, 1776, he was appointed and commissioned by the Congress "Lieutenant Colonel in the army of the United States of America." January 1, 1777, he was commissioned Lieutenant Colonel of the 3d Regiment, Connecticut Line, in the Continental service— which regiment was commanded by Col. Samuel Wyllys of Hartford (mentioned on page 283), and had as its Paymaster Lieut. Samuel Richards of Farmington, Connecticut.
This regiment went into camp at Peekskill, New York, in May, 1777, and formed a part of the brigade commanded by Brig. Gen. Samuel Holden Parsons of Connecticut (see page 658, post), which served under Maj. Gen. Israel Putnam along the Hudson until January, 1778, when the brigade took post at West Point and later began the erection of permanent works there. In the Summer ofl778 the 3d Regiment was encamped at White Plains, with Washington's main army.

Early in January, 1777, Colonel Butler joined the army at Morristown, New Jersey (as described in Chapter XIII), and during the ensuing April and May—and perhaps longer—he was "in command of a detachment of Connecticut troops" there, as is shown by a letter from General Washington to Governor Trumbull of Connecticut under date of May 23d. Under date of June 19, 1777, Mrs. Lydia (Johnson) Butler

Plese to fetch me some snuff, and supply your self with shirts and other things that you will'waut for „ o be got here. * * I conclude you have heard the great Honnor you have had done you to be Apinted one of Justice Jinkins Assistent Judges. Hope you want overcame with joy when you there is nothing to be heard it."

In January, 1778. Colonel Butler was with his regiment at "Sawpitts" on the Hudson, not far from Tarrvjown. Early in the following June he returned to Wilkes-Barr£ on leave of absence. November 15. luS, "in orders issued by Major General Putnam," he was promoted Colonel of the 2tl Regiment, Connecticut Line, in the Continental service, to date from March 13, 1778.
This regiment had been raised early in 1777 (see Vol. I. page 485, paragraph 6), its Colonel being Charles Webb (who resigned March 13, 1778) and its Lieutenant Colonel being Isaac Sherman of New Haven, third son of the Hon. Roger Sherman—mentioned hereinafter—and a graduate of Yale College in the class of 1770.
Upon the resignation of Colonel Webb, Lieut. Colonel Sherman sought promotion to the vacancy, but Lieut. Colonel Butler received the preferment. Under date of January 22, 1779, Maj. William Judd wrote from Hartford to Colonel Butler at Wilkes-Barre as follows: "Since Lieutenant [Obadiah] Gore left camp you are in orders as Colonel of the 2d Connecticut Regiment. Lieut. Colonel Sherman is gone to the Board of War and purposeth to be appointed Colonel of that regiment.
General Parsons has wrote to Colonel Dyer upon the subject, and insists the place is yours and the promotion your due." In the latter part of February, 1779, a Board of Officers—presided over by Lieut. Col. Thomas Grosvenor, mentioned on page 486— was convened to hear and determine the "pretensions to rank of Colonel Butler and Lieut. Colonel Sherman."
This Board having made its report, Zebulon Butler was duly commissioned by Congress March 17, 1779, Colonel of the 2d Regiment, Connecticut Line, to rank from March 13, 1778. His commission was signed by the Hon. John Jay, President of Congress. Of the Colonels commanding the eight Connecticut regiments in the Continental service at that time, Zebulon Butler stood eighth in lineal rank —Col. Samuel Wyllys standing first and Col. John Dnrkee second.
Colonel Butler remained in command of the "Wyoming Post" at Wilkes-Barr£ until February 22, 1781 (see Chapter XX), when he was ordered to join, as its Colonel, the new 4th Regiment of the Connecticut Line at Camp "Connecticut Village" on the Hudson. Under a resolution of Congress passed in October,

17)30, the non-commissioned officers and privates of the (3th Regiment were to compose the 4th Regiment of the new formation of the Connecticut Line. (See Vol. I. page 488, paragraphs 1 and 2.) The new arrangement was to go into effect January 1. 1781, and Zebulon Butler and Ebenezer Gray (mentioned on page nlO) were respectively commissioned Colonel and Lieutenant Colonel of the new "4th." Samuel H. Parsons, promoted Major General, was placed in command of the Connecticut troops. June 26, 1781, when Colonel Butler was on duty with his regiment near Peekskill on the Hudson, his wife died at WilkesBarre of typhus fever after a brief illness. She was buried the following day in the family burial-ground of her father, the Rev. Jacob Johnson, on the hill near the present Memorial Presbyterian Church. The 4th Regiment continued in service along the Hudson until November, 1781, when it again went into winter-quarters at "Connecticut Village."

February 11. 1782, Maj. William Judd, at Farinington, wrote to Colonel Butler as follows : "I am most sincerely sorry the situation of the army will not permit you to call on us this Winter, nor suffer you to visit your family, which lam very sensible will disoblige you much. I saw Colonel Gray at Hartford week before last. He then informed me he should repair to camp immediately, and most particularly on your account. He frequently mentioned your situation, and wished to finish his business as soon as pos-'
s. contribute to your happiness or even convenience. * * I hope you will yet be relieved from camp and pay us a visit before Spring, and if any exertions of mine can facilitate a connection for you with an agreeable woman, you may command my services."
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York and its vicinity. Early in May, 1782, while his regiment was stationed at "Camp Highlands." near West Point, Colonel Butler paid a hasty visit to his family at Wilkes-Barre. He returned to camp in time to take part in the celebration by the army in the Highlands of the birth of the Dauphin of France. By General Washington's orders the officers repaired in the afternoon of May 31st to West Point, where the General requested the pleasure of their company at dinner At the table there were drunk thirteen toasts, each of which was announced by a discharge of artillery. In the evening there was an elaborate ny he had gn
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The surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown in October, 1781, virtually put an end to the war his
Brigade yesterday—especially with the soldier-like and veteran appearance of the men, and the exactness with which the firings were performed." In the latter part of July Colonel Butler paid another visit to Wilkes-Barre In the latter part of August, 1782, the troops niove'd from the Highlands to Verplanck's Point—floating down the Hudson in a fleet of bateaux ana barges. In the new encampment the troops remained through September and October, making proficiency in drill and discipline under the instruction of Baron Steuben. Early in November the Connecticut Line marched to West Point and vicinity, and there a new formation was made to go into effect January 1, 1783. The five regiments of the State were consolidated into three, and Colonel Butler was placed in command of the new "1st", which was composed of the old "1st" and part of the old "4th." The new "1st" remained in camp at West Point and near by until early in June, 1783, when the dissolution of the army was begun, and the "1st" was disbanded by orders from headquarters. About that time Colonel Butler became an original member of the Connecticut section, or branch, of the Society of the Cincinnati. Also, about that time, he was married to Phehe (born 1766), daughter of Daniel 11 night of Dutchess County, New York. The latter, from 1779 to 1783—and perhaps earlier—kept an inn on the crossroads leading to the Peekskill and Coldspring turnpike, in Philipstown, Dutchess County, and General Washington was a guest there upon several occasions. Accompanied by his wife Colonel Butler arrived in Wilkes-Barre August 20,1783.

August 30,1787, Colonel Butler was commissioned by the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania "Lieutenant of the County," in and for the new county of Luzerne. In January, 1791, when it was expected that Colonel Butler was about to be reappointed to this office for a second term, Col. Timothy Pickering and Judge Obadiah Gore of Luzerne County opposed the reappointment in a letter to Governor Mifflin. (See "Pennsylvania Archives," Second Series, XVIII: 882.)
To this letter the Governor replied that the County Lieutenant must, under the term* of his appointment, continue in the exercise of the duties of his office until September 1, 1791; "but," wrote the Governor, "at that period I shall certainly pay all the due attention to the communication which you have been pleased to make."
Colonel Butler continued to hold this office until January 10, 1792, when Jesse Fell of Wilkes-Barre was appointed by Governor Mifflin to succeed him. In the ensuing Spring Colonel Butler removed from his house at the corner of River and Northampton Streets to his farm-house on Coal Brook, as previously mentioned. In 1789 and 1790 he was Supervisor of Highways in the township of Wilkes-Barre.
Colonel Butler died at the Coal Brook farm July 28, 1795, and his remains were interred in the old grave-yard on East Market Street, Wilkes-Barre, where, subsequently, a grave-stone was erected "embellished with the uncouth but pious rhymes of some poet of the wilderness, reading as follows :
----
'Distinguished by his usefulness
At home and when abroad ;
In court, in camp, and in recess
Protected still by God.' "
----
Mrs. Phebe (Haight) Butler died at the residence of her son in Wilkes-Barre January 19, 1837, aged eighty-one years, and was buried in the East Market Street grave-yard. Subsequently the remains of Colonel Butler and his wife Phebe were re-interred in Hollenback Cemetery, and the old grave-stone which for many years had marked Colonel Butler's grave was replaced by a new one bearing a different inscription.

The children of Zebulon and Anne (Lord) Butler were the following—all born at Lyme, Connecticut: (i) Lord, born December 11, 1761; died at Wilkes-Barre March 3. 1824. (For a sketch of his life, and his portrait, see Chapter XVIII.) (ii) Zebulon. born November 12, 1787 ; died at Wilkes-Barre in the Spring of 1773. (iv) Hannah, born February 28, 1770; married in 1788 to Rosewell Welles, Esq. (a sketch of whose life will be found in a subsequent chapter); died at Wilkes-Barre October 31, 1807.
The only child of Col. Zebulon and Lydia (Johnson) Butler was Zebulon, born at Wilkes-Barre in May, 1778, and died here March 23, 1817. (For a sketch of his life see a subsequent chapter.)

The children of Col. Zebulon and Phebe (Haight) Butler were the following—all born in WilkesBarre : (i) Lydia born 1781; married July 3, 1801, to George Griffin, Esq. (a sketch of whose life will be found in a subsequent chapter) ; died in the city of New York May 1, 18H4. (ii) Anne, born 1787; married January 12, 1808, to John W. Robinson (a sketch of whose life will be found hereinafter); died in Wilkes-Barre May 11, 1856. (iii) Steuben. born March 7, 1789 ; died in Wilkes-Barre August 12, 1881. (For a sketch of his life see a subsequent chapter.)

On page 502 reference is made to the men of the Paxtang region in Pennsylvania and their desire to settle in Wyoming. Some of them were here in the Summer and Autumn of 1769, when they signed the petition referred to on page 512. Those of them who were here when Fort Durkee was surrendered returned to their homes in Lancaster County without delay, and there, a few weeks later, they addressed in behalf of themselves and a number of their neighbors a communication to Major Durkee, in which they renewed their former proposals relative to assisting the New Englanders to settle and hold possession of the Wyoming lands. This letter was turned over to the Standing Committee by Major Durkee at the meeting of the Company on January 10th, and a few days later the Committee replied to it as follows (see "History of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania," page 70):

"colony Of Connecticut,
"Windham, Jany 15, 1770.

"john Montgomery* & Lazarus Young, Esqrs. Gentle? : We received a letter some time ago directed to Maj. John Durkee, wherein it was proposed by John Montgomery, Lazarus Young and others that, as we have been so unjustly treated in removing our Settlers off from the Wyoming lands, if we would give unto the said Montgomery, Young and their Associates, to the number of Fifty, a township of land six miles square in our Purchase Att some suitable and commodious place, that the said Montgomery, &c., to the number of Fifty, would immediately enter on our lands at Wyoming, Take cair of our houses and effects and, with our people that are there and such as shall from time to time joyn them on said land, hold possession of those lands with us.

"We have, with the advice of a large Commie of said Company, considered of s'd proposal, and do, in behalf of ourselves and the Susquehanna Purchase, agree to and with the said Montgomery, Young and their associates, to the number of Fifty, that they shall have a good township of land six miles square within s'd Purchase, invested with the same right to s'd township as the s'd Company now have, and shall further promise to be laid out when it shall be convenient for the purpose aforesaid, and not so as to prejudice, but in aid of, our settlers that have already been on. And it is to be understood that the said Montgomery, Young, &c., are to become parcel of our said settlers, and under the same regulations with our settlers as such. And we have sent herewith two of our proprietors as a Comm'«e to treat with you on the affair and go with you to Wyoming, to wit : Capt. Zebulon Butler and Mr. Ebenezer Backus.f and to lay out said township as they ' and you shall agree, if you think best — Captain Butler to remain at Wyoming with you, Mr. Backus to return and bring us advice as soon as the circumstances of the case will permit. You may expect Major Durkee to join you as soon as his affairs will permit ; and whereas many of the Settlers will joyn you soon, we have a good deal of reason to expect success with our Assembly in May. Now as there are sundry things in favor of the Colony title that we have discovered lately, we wish you good success in this and every lawful enterprise, and are your sincere friends and very humble Servants,
[Signed] "eliphalet Dyer, )
Commtee Gray, \ for s'd

Wales, Jun.,t J Company."

* The late Ur. W. H. Egle. in an address before the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society (see the Society's "Proceedings," VI :100), said : "Some of the original signers [of the letter to Major Durkee] did

Montgomery evidently had some thought of locating in Wyoming, for he visited Wilkes-Barre in May. 1770, and bought a right in the Susquehanna Purchase—as is shown by the recorded copy of a receipt given to him by Major Durkee. The paper was subsequently filed with the Clerk of The Susquehauna Company, and is recorded on page 77, Book "E" of the Company's records, as follows:

" Wilksbarre 4 May, 1770, rec'd of John Montgomery 40 dollars, which entitles him to one whole share, or right, of land in the Susquehanna Purchase, so called. By order of the Proprietors.
[Signed] "john Durkee, President of settlers."

t Stephen Backus was an early proprietor in Norwich, Connecticut was married in 1666 to Sarah Spencer, and they were, undoubtedly, the progenitors of all the Backuses of Norwich. After a residence of about thirty years in Norwich Stephen removed to Canterbury, Connecticut, where he died in 1895. Some of the Norwich Backuses early removed to what afterwards became the town of Windham. It was a saying that the Backuses always settled, if possible, near a stream of water or a pond, in order that they might make use of the water power for some mechanical contrivance. Ebenezer Backus, abovementioned, was a merchant in Norwich, and in 17612 and '64 was one of the Representatives in the General Assembly of Connecticut from Norwich.
About 1769 he removed to Windham. Connecticut, wv ./e he continued in mercantile business until, at least, 1782. In May, 1768, he was appointed a Justice of the Peace in and for New London County. In October, 1769, he was established by the General Assembly of Connecticut Cornet of the troop of horse attached to the 5th Regiment, Connecticut Militia (mentioned in the note on page 468); in May, 1770, he was promoted Lieutenant, and in May, 1772, he was promoted Captain, of this troop. In June, 1776, Captain Backus was appointed and commissioned Major of the 4th Regiment of Horse, Connecticut Militia, which had been established by the General Assembly in the previous month; and September 11, 1776, he was assigned by the General Assembly to be "commander of the 2nd and 4th Regiments of Horse ordered to march towards New York." He was an original owner of one right in the Susquehanna Purchase, and in 1768 and '69 acquired other rights. Without doubt he was at Fort Durkee, Wilkes-Barr£, in November, 1769. (See his name in the list on page 634.) His daughter Eunice became the wife of Jonathan Trumbull, Jr., in 1767, as mentioned in the note on page 471.

t The Wales family was one of the oldest families of Windham, Connecticut. Nathaniel Wales, Jr. (mentioned above), was born about 1700, the son of "Deacon" Nathaniel Wales (who died January 22, 1744) and his first wife, Susanna (who died February- a, 1730, aged 67 years). Nathaniel Wales, Jr.,
January 18, 1770, Captain Butler and Mr. Backus, carrying with them the foregoing letter, set out on horseback from New London County, Connecticut, for Hanover Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where they arrived about February 1st. On February 2nd the following communication was printed in The New London Gazette, in answer to the article which had appeared in The Pennsylvania Gazette of December 21, 1769 (see page 631, ante), and which was republished in The New London Gazette of January 5th.

"We, the claimers under the Susquehanna Purchase, have always, of design, avoided disputing our claim by way of the public papers, as every one knows the title to land cannot be settled in that way. But since the author of the piece above referred to has collected together so many falsehoods and has so basely misrepresented the character of the settlers and our claim, I beg to be indulged in observing a few things in vindication of our settlers and claim. We never supposed, nor do yet believe, that we are such deluded and riotous people as he would represent us to be. In vindication of ourselves we say that we entered on those lands at Wyoming in an orderly manner, claiming the same byvirtue of a bonafide purchase made of the Six Nations at Albany in the year 1754, for a large consideration in cash paid therefor ; which purchase was in May, 1755, approved of by the General Assembly of this Colony as a bona fide purchase, and also as lands included in and granted by his late Majesty King Charles II to the Colony of Connecticut in 1662—which grant to the Colony of Connecticut includes the lands at Wyoming where our people were settled, and is two years before the grant of the Province of New York, and is eighteen years before the grant to the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania, or any of their predecessors ; and the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania have no pretence of purchasing those lauds till the late Congress at Fort Stanwix in the year 1768. These, and many other stubborn facts, we have on our side to show that we are not deluded or riotous.

1 'The author of said piece is also pleased to make free with the characters of our settlers, and is pleased to call them 'the dregs of Connecticut, Pendergast's gang, miscreants,' &c., &c. It is an easy matter for a person that pays no regard to truth to throw out such invectives ; but we challenge the author, and every other slave concerned with him, to make out his assertions. They're public and established characters, many of them being gentlemen of education and fortune. As for any person's running away for debt—I have heard of but three or four, and they were in the party that appeared to molest our settlers, and one of them was from the Jersies and in the Proprietaries' interest and made a Justice of the Peace* in order to carry on the malicious, illegal and unjust prosecution against our settlers. The trade of horse-stealing that was carried on was by the party that came to remove us off from the laud. One of them got a good flogging for it, and there were twenty more of that party that deserved the same for the same crime, and ought to have had it; and if the laws of our Nation and this land had been duly executed^ a number of the same party must have suffered death for the robbery committed upon our people near Fort Augusta last September.

"The agreement upon which our people removed, as mentioned in said piece, was obtained by threats, oaths and curses, and was never agreed to by the people then present, but was agreed to only by two committee-men of the settlers out of sixteen. We expect Penn's party will avail themselves of it as much as they can. We quite disagree about the tender mercies of our persecutors. We say—and can vindicate it before any impartial tribunal—that they are cruelty against law and right and everything that has the remotest With respect to the last suggestion the attempt of the Connecticut people to settle at Wyoming was the occasion of the late bloody war with the Indians—the author himself can't but know that it is false and groundless, and that he has rendered himself infamous by publishing it.
[Signed] "by A Proprietor Under Thb Connecticut Claim."

Upon the arrival of Zebulon Butler and Ebenezer Backus at Hanover Township in Lancaster County they found about forty men (the majority of whom had been members of the old "Paxtang Rangers") banded together with Lazarus_Stewartf as their Captain, ready to march who also became a Deacon in the Church at Windham, was married (1st) December 27,1726, to Prudence Council of Safety mentioned on page 283. (See also Vol. I, page 463.) He died at Windham November 11, 1782.

* Either Amos Ogden or Charles Stewart is here alluded to.

tLAZARVS Stewart, the second child of James and Margaret (Stewart) Stewart, was born about 1734 in that part of Derry Township which later became Hanover Township, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. James Stewart and Margaret Stewart, who were married about 1731, were first cousins, the
former being the son of Charles Stewart and the latter the daughter of Lazarus Stewart, 1st, who had emigrated with their respective families from the North of Irelandto Pennsylvania in 1729. In the Spring of 1*55, when General Braddock's expedition against the French and Indians on the Ohio River was organized, Lazarus Stewart raised and commanded a company of Provincial volunteers which formed a part of the English forces : and in all the dangers and disasters of the campaign which terminated in the defeat and death of the brave but rash Braddock (see page 304), Captain Stewart fully shared. Relative to the condition of affairs on the frontiers of Pennsylvania after Braddock's defeat, see pages 320. 321, etsy.

During the three years following the event referred to the situation on the frontiers was truly desperate, ana nothing substantial was accomplished by the Provincial Government towards securing the peace and safety of t he border inhabitants. Finally, in the Summer of 1758, the British Home Government took hold of the difficulty and steps were taken to prosecute with earnestness and vigor a war against the French and Indians. During this war—which was concluded in the latter part of 1762— Captain Stewart performed valiant services. He was in command of a company of "Rangers" detailed to guard the settlements along the Juniata River. "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 endurance were the admiration of all. His courage and fortitude were equal to every undertaking, and woe betide the red men when their blood-stained tracks once met his eye."

The treaty of peace between France and England—which was proclaimed in Philadelphia January 26, 1768, and marked the ending of the Seven Years' War—had been concluded but a few months when a new Indian war broke out, planned and fomented by Pontiac, Chief of the Oltawas. (See Vol. I, page 418.) This war, although not of very long duration, was perhaps unsurpassed in the aunals of border warfare. Immediately on the opening of hostilities organizations were formed throughout Pennsylvania for the defense of the frontiers (where, as during the French and Indian War, the situation was deplorable), and the sturdy Scots-Irish and Germans settled along the frontiers were among the first to become enrolled in those organizations—one of which was the "Paxtang Rangers," mentioned on page 426. One of the companies of the "Rangers" was commanded by Capt. I^azarus Stewart.

Reference is made on pages 39-41 to the Conestoga Indians and their village in Lancaster County. In the Spring of 1763 those Indians numbered only twenty souls, living in a cluster of squalid cabins and dependent, chiefly, on the industry of the squaws. The men were wild, gipsy-like beings, and, in the troubled state of the country, while Pontiac was encircling Pennsylvania with an ever narrowing hedge of burning dwellings, excited suspicion by their careless if not threatening language. Then, too, they were charged with harboring roving, vagabond Indians—the tramps of the period—who infested certain parts of the country, robbing and killing with impunity. Finally the Indians at Conestoga were accused by the white inhabitants of the surrounding country of being guilty of many of the crimes of arson, theft and murder which had then recently been committed thereabouts. In particular, the white inhabitants . of the Paxtang region charged that the influences and instruments of evil from which they suffered issued from the village of Conestoga. Appeals for relief or protection were made to the Provincial Council at Philadelphia, but the power there was in the hands of the Quakers, who shut their ears to the cries of distress and sternly refused to consider the facts presentea by those who implored for relief. (See Vol. I, page 429.) "Remove the Indians from Conestoga I" was the cry of the people of Paxtang. **That is impossible, as no crime has been proved against them," was the response of the Government at Philadelphia.

"The condition of the frontiers now became most alarming," says Pearce in his "Annals of I^uzerne County" (page 104). "The depredations of the savages grew more frequent, and the remote settlements were deserted. In the midst of the peace and quiet of our day we cannot form an adequate conception of the perils which encompassed the Paxtang settlers at that time. * * * A feeling of hostility was awakened against the Moravians and Quakers, who were disposed to conciliate and protect the Indians. The people in and about Philadelphia and those parts of the Province secure against the fire and tomahawk of the savage, looked with a lenient eye on his bloody depredations. 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, untamed nature, and reform rather than punish him. This was the glorious 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 buryi ng forever from his sight the scalped and mangled forms of his family."

Under the date of September 13,1768, the Rev. John Elder (Colonel commanding the " Pax tan g Rangers") wrote to Governor Hamilton of Pennsylvania : "I suggest to you the propriety of an immediate removal of the Indians from Conestoga, and placing a garrison in their room. In case this is done, I pledge myself for the future security of the frontiers." To this communication Gov. John Penn—who had succeeded Hamilton early in November, 1763— replied : "The faith of this Government is pledged for their protection. I cannot remove them without adequate cause." The "Rangers," finding appeals to the authorities useless, resolved to take the law into their own hands. Harry in December, 1708, several Indian murderers were traced to Conestoga, and it was determined to take them prisoners. The destruction of the Indians was not contemplated. Some fifty-seven of the "Rangers," mounted and well armed, and in command of Capt. Lazarus Stewart, reached the Indian village just about daylight, December 14, 1763. Their presence was made known to the inhabitants by the barking of some dogs; whereupon a number of strange Indians rushed from several of the huts brandishing their tomahawks. This show of resistance was all that was needed to provoke the visitors from Paxtang to violence, and without ado they fired upon the Indians, six of whom fell dead. All the others in the village fled in dismay and disorder whereupon the "Rangers" set fire to the huts and departed to their several homes. On December 22d Governor Penn issued a proclamation relative to this affair, calling upon the people to apprehend the offenders. The people, however, outside the Quaker and Moravian settlements, heartily approved the doings of the Paxtang men.

The Indians who escaped destruction at Conestoga fled for protection to the authorities of Lancaster County, by whom they were placed in the work-house in the town of Lancaster. Among the Indians thus harbored were supposed to be two who were well known to Captain Stewart and his men as vagabonds. The Captain proposed to capture one of these—the principal miscreant of a band which, a short time before, had murdered with great barbarity a family near Paxtang—and take him to the jail at Carlisle, there to be held for trial. This was heartily approved of, and December 27,1763, between two and three o'clock in the afternoon, fifty men from Paxtang and Donegal, armed with rifles, hangers and tomahawks, galloped into Lancaster with Captain Stewart at their head. They turned their horses loose in Slough's innyard and proceeded to the work-house, which they surrounded. Their entrance into the building was opposed by the Sheriff and the Coroner of the County and others in the building, but Stewart detailed a number of his men to break down the door, enter the building and bring out to him the Indian whom they sought. The "Rangers" to whom this duty was confided became so enraged at the Indians who fought desperately with billets of wood, that before their resentment could be repressed all the Indians present —fourteen in number—were slain. No children were killed by the "Rangers," and no act of savage butchery was committed. After they had finished their work the "Rangers" gave three cheers, and then declared : "We have presented the citizens of Lancaster with a Christmas-box, and we will present the Philadelphians with a New Year's gift!" So, at least, stated a writer in Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania in J830 ; and the same writer said, further, that Captain Robinson, with a company of Highlanders, was in Lancaster at that time on the march from Pittsburg to Philadelphia, and that Edward Shippen, Esq. (see page 360), the principal magistrate in the town, hurried to the quarters of Captain Robinson and besought him to hasten with his Highlanders to the rescue of the Indians or the arrest of the Paxtang and Donegal "Boys"; but that officer replied: "Damn them! I would not care if the whole race were slain, for my company has suffered enough by them already. I will not stir one step !"

"If the excitement throughout the Province was great after the affair at Conestoga, this last transaction set everything in a ferment." states Dr. W. H. Egle in his "History of Pennsylvania." "No language can describe the outcry which arose from the Quakers in Philadelphia, or the excitement which swayed to and fro in the frontiers and in the city. The Quakers blamed the Governor, the Governor the Assembly, and the latter censured everybody but their own inaction," Under date of January 2,1764, Governor Penn issued a proclamation calling upon all good citizens "to make diligent search and enquiry after the authors and perpetrators of the said last-mentioned offense, their abettors and accomplices; and that they [the good citizens] use all possible means to apprehend and secure them in some of the public gaols of this Province to be dealt with according to law. And I do promise and engage that any person who shall apprehend and secure, or cause to be apprehended and secured, any three of the ringleaders of the said party, and prosecute them to conviction, shall have and receive for each the public reward of £200; and any accomplice, not concerned in the immediate shedding of blood of the said Indians, who shall make discovery of any or either of said ringleaders, and apprehend and prosecute them to conviction, shall, over and above the said reward, have all the weight and influence of the Government for obtaining His Majesty's pardon for the offense."

None of the known or suspected offenders was mentioned by name in this proclamation !

Pamphlets and letters without number, truth or decency now poured like a torrent from the press.
The Quakers took up the pen to execrate the crimes of the Paxtang and Donegal "Boys," and many others seized the opportunity to defame the Scots-Irish Presbyterians as religious zealots, ignorant bigots and lawless marauders, who had imbibed in their native country a fanatical spirit and hatred of pagan institutions, which had beeu excited to a pitch of wildest enthusiasm by their spiritual teachers in Paxtang and neighboring districts. The following (see Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania^ VI: 298—November, 1830) emanated from one of the Quaker pamphleteers of Philadelphia at that period : "The frontier inhabitants are mostly emigrants From the North of Ireland—by religious profession, rigid Presbyterians. In some of the townships are a few Germans, but these are in general settled in the more interior parts of the Province. To the wicked and inhuman conduct of the former may be in some measure attributed the general corruption and depravity of the Indians, through their trading with them in times of peace,abus L _______ D' by nature revengeful, an implacable hatred has long subsisted between them and the Scotch and Irish."

Although the men who exterminated the Conestoga Indians belonged to the Rev. John Elder's "Paxtang Rangers", it has never been proved that he had previous knowledge of the plot formed. When the deed was done, however, and the Quaker authorities were determined to proceedto extreme lengths with
the participants, and denounced the frontiersmen as "riotous and muraerous Irish Presbyterians", he took sides with the border inhabitants and sought to condone the deeds of December. In a letter to Col. James Burd (see note, page 360) Colonel Elder said, among other things: "Lazarus Stewart ia still threatened by the Philadelphia party. He and his friends talk of leaving. If they do [leave] the Province will lose some of its best friends, and that by the fault of others — not their own ; for if any cruelty was if possible, by the force of reason and argument, or by the opposition of texts of Scripture, that they were in error, and to prevail upon them to return home. Perhaps some people may be inclined to censure this step when they consider that a proclamation had been published, offering a reward of £200 for apprehending any of the parties concerned in the murder of the Indians at Lancaster, and that the Riot Act had been extended to this Province a few days before.

Sractised on the Indians at Conestoga or at Lancaster, it was not by his or their hands. * * It is eviently not the wish of the [Government] party to give Stewart a fair heating. All he desires is to be put on trial at Lancaster, near the scenes of the horrible butcheries committed by the Indians at Tulpehocken, etc., where he can have the testimony of the scouts and 'Rangers' — men whose services can never be sufficiently rewarded."

(See pages 760 and 751 of "The Harvey Book"— published at Wilkes-Barr4 in 1899— for the remainder of Colonel Elder's letter; and also fora "Declaration" published some time later by Captain Stewart, in which, among other matters, he asserted : "If a white man kill an Indian, it is murder far exceeding any crime upon record ; he must not be tried in the County where he lives, or where the offense was committed. but in Philadelphia, that he may be tried, convicted, sentenced and hung without delay. * * Were we tamely to look on and see our brethren murdered, and see our fairest prospects blasted, while the inhabitants of Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Bucks and Chester slept, ana reaped their grain in safety ? * * These hands never shed human blooa ! Why am I singled out as an object of persecution? Why are the bloodhounds let loose upon me? * * 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 have either them or me on any terms.")

All efforts to carry into effect the proclamation of Governor Penn for the apprehension of the Paxtang and Donegal "Boys" seem to have been early suspended — at least so far as the Governor's authority

actors in this strange and tragic affair were not of the lower orders of the people. They were Presbyterians, comprising in their ranks men of intelligence, and of so much consideration that the press dared not disclose their names, nor the Government attempt their punishment. It was, indeed, believed by some that the murder of the Indians was by no means the chief end of their design ; but that, taking advantage of the wide-spread consternation they had produced, they intended to overturn the Government and revolutionize the Colony."

At the time of the Conestoga and Lancaster tragedies there were in the neighborhood of 150 Indians —men, women and children—living in barracks on Province Island, about four miles from Philadelphia. They included 120 or more who had lived under the care of the Moravian Brethren near Bethlehem, and Papoonhank aud his family and Job Chillaway and his family and others from Wyalusing (see page 435), all of whom had been removed by the Government to the locality mentioned both by way of security to them as well as to obviate the clamors of the people who accused them of holding intercourse with the inimical Indians. Early in January word was brought to Philadelphia that a large body of Paxtang and Doneeal "Boys" purposed marching down to Philadelphia to destroy the Indians on Province Island. The following paragraphs from a letter written by a Quaker in Philadelphia to a friend, under date of February 29,1764 (see Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania. XII: 9—July 6, 1§88), give a brief account of the excited feelings of the Philadelphia Quakers at that time and their willingness to go out and fight the on-coming Lancastrians.

"At last, on the fourth of this month [February, 1764], we received certain intelligence that a considerable body of them were coming down with arms, to destroy every Indian they could meet with. The Governor, immediately upon this, ordered the Sheriff and his officers to summon the inhabitants to meet in the afternoon at the State House. A vast concourse accordingly assembled, when it was proposed that they should enter into an association to defend the Government, for it was imagined that killing the Indians was not the only motive of this hostile insurrection. * * In the morning, the weather proving fair, though very cold, a number of carpenters were hired, who, by directions of Captain Schlosser [of the 'Royal Americans' previously mentioned], built a redoubt in the center of the parade, at the military barracks [whither the Indians had been brought from Province Island). Several pieces of cannon were likewise hauled up, and the best preparations were made that the time would admit of. Notwithstanding these warlike measures the Government was still unwilling to proceed to extremity, * * and therefore sent the Rev. G 1 T 1, with two or three more pious divines of the same order, to convince them
"The day passing over, and no enemy appearing, nor any intelligence of their motions, we began to hope that the rumor was without foundation. For my own part I went to bed as free from any apprehensions of danger as ever I did in my life, and slept very soundly till after midnight, when all of a sudden I was alarmed by the ringing of the bells. * * One of the neighbors thundered at the door and called to us to put out the lights, for the Paxtang Boys were coming. Then I heard the old militia drums with solemn dubb beating to arms, and saw the inhabitants running from all quarters to obey the summons. By sunrise they had got themselves officers. The remains of the old artillery company were likewise mustered, and two pieces of cannon brought out of the magazine and stationed before the Court House. All business was now suspended, the shops and stores were close shut, and every person seemed anxious to know what would be the issue of all this tumult. The number of persons in arms that morning was about 600. * * About eleven o'clock there was a general uproar. They are coming ! They are coming! Where? Where? Down Second Street!' Such of the company as had grounded their firelocks flew to arms and began to prime; the artillery-men threw themselves into order, and the people ran to get out of the way, for a troop of armed men on horseback appeared in reality coming down the street. * * They proved to be a company of German butchers and porters under the command of Captain Hoffman. * * A false alarm was now called out, and all became quiet again in a few minutes.

"In the afternoon we received word that the Paxtoneers had actually crossed the [Schuylkill] River and were got as far as Germantown, where they proposed to take up their quarters for the night. Several persons went out from town to view them, and from the best accounts that could be obtained their numbers did not exceed 200; but they pretended that the whole were not yet come in. This formidable body consisted principally of a set of fellows dressed in blanket-coats and moccasins, like our Indian traders or back-countrv wagoners. They were armed with rifles and tomahawks, and some of them had a brace of pistols besides. * * Their chiefs assumed an air of command and importance. One of them was called Smith, another Gibson; the third 1 have forgot. They behaved with great civility to those they conversed with ; were surprised to hear that the citizens had taken up arms to oppose them ; declared that they had no intention of injuring any one, but only wanted satisfaction of the Indians, as some of them had been concerned in the murder of the friends and relations of the Paxtoneers. When it first became known that the latter were at Germantown it was proposed in council to go and take them prisoners; but that advice was overruled—though Capt. Turbutt Francis [see Vol. I, page 489] of the 41th Regiment (who, at the request of a number of young persons, had undertaken to command them), voluntarily offered to make the attempt. As it was reported they [the Lancastrians] were excellent marksmen, and as a great deal of blood might probably be spilt upon the occasion, it was resolved to send a body of select patricians to inquire into the object of their coming, and to persuade them to return home.

"The weather being now very wet Captain Francis, Captain Wood and Captain Mifflin drew up their men under the market-house, which, not affording shelter for any more, they occupied the Friends' Meeting-house, and Capt. Joseph Wharton marched his company up stairs into the monthly-meeting room. * * Nothing of any consequence passed during the remainder of the day, except that Captain Coultas came into town at the head of a troop whirl: he had just raised in his own neighborhood. * * In the evening our negotiators had come in from Germantown. They had conferred with the chiefs and prevailed with them to suspend all hostilities till they should receive an answer to their petition, or manifesto, which had been sent down the day before. As it was necessary that these requisitions should be laid before the Governor and Assembly, the chiefs agreed to disband their troops and come to town with the envoys—being promised protection on the faith of the Government. * * The Paxtang chiefs are gone home without being heard, and we are daily threatened with a return of a more formidable force. Many people are now convinced of the utility of a military force\ to secure our lives and property, and the Assembly have passed a law for that purpose, which now lies before the Governor. Whether he will give his assent to it or not is doubtful, for the Assembly have vested in the people the power of choosing officers."

Under date of February 9, 1764, Joseph Shippen, Esq., Secretary of the Provincial Council, wrote from Philadelphia to Col. James Burd at Fort Augusta as follows (see "The Shippen Papers"): "I should have returned an answer before now, but was prevented by the great disturbance made here by the approach of 700 armed men near to this city, with a design to destroy the Indians in the barracks.
The whole city was underarms three days. * * * The rioters rendezvoused at Germantown, where Messrs. [Benjamin] Chew, [Benjamin] Franklin, [Joseph] Galloway and [Charles] Willing went to confer with them and demand their reasons for assembling in anns, and approaching. They continued with them several hours, and happily settled the affair, so that they [the Lancastrians] agreed to return peaceably to their homes, leaving three of their principals behind to lay an humble petition of their grievances before the Governor and Assembly."
After this emeute Lazarus Stewart and the other Paxtang "Boys" settled down at their respective homes and proceeded with their various vocations, undismayed and undisturbed.

In January, 1768, it was feared that Indian hostilities were about to break out again, and Sir William Johnson formally stated that one cause of dissatisfaction on the part of the Six Nations was that Pennsylvania had neglected to punish the perpetrators of the Conestoga and Lancaster murders. The Pennsylvania Assembly thereupon addressed a message to Governor Penn, in which they suggested that "although Justice may sometimes sleep, it can never die." They asserted, further, that in order to prevent an Indian war "the principles, both of Justice and Policy, call for a speedy redress of the grievances complained of by the Indians. * * * For when we consider the manner of committing the murder at Lancaster—that it was done at noonday, in the midst of a populous borough, and in the presence of many spectators, by men probably of the same county, undisguised and well known—we apprehend their names may be easily discovered, and their persons brougnt to that punishment their heinous offenses deserve." Nothing came of this, however, and Captain Stewart and his Paxtang "Boys" continued to reside on their farms in Paxtang, Derry and Hanover, unmolested so far as we know.

In addition to the snare in the Susquehanna Purchase; to which Captain Stewart became entitled in consideration of his services in helping to regain and maintain possession of the Wyoming lands, he purchased a "right" in the Summer of 1770, as is shown by a receipt, recorded in the "Proceedings of the Commissioners under the Confirming Law of 1787," in the following words: " Windham, 6 April, 1771. This is to certify that Mr. Lazarus^itewart some time last Summer paid £7, llsh., Pennsylvania money, in part pay for a whole share or Bright in the Susquehanna Purchase promised him by Major Durkee, and that I gave Mr. Stewart a receipt for said money. [Signed] "zeb? Butler."

In the Autumn of 1771 Captain Stewart began the erection of a block-house in Hanover, originally Nantiooke, Township, on "Lot NCTS, First Division." This was the first building erected in the township by a settler under The Susquehanua Company, and it stood on a slight rise of ground a few rods from the bank of the river, a short distance below the Wilkes-Barr£-Hanover boundary-line. It was built of logs, was one and a-half stories high, and contained four rooms on the ground floor with ample space on the floor above for the convenience of its occupants. The part of the building above the second floor projected beyond the walls of the first story—this "overshoot," as it was called, enabling the defenders of the house to protect the walls from assaults by attacking parties.

Lazarus Stewart was married in Hanover Township, Lancaster County, about 176ft.or '67 to Martha^ (born 1747J, fourth" child of Tosiah and Elizabeth (Crain) Espy. They settleo on a farm in Hanover which Captain Stewart had owned for some years and was cultivating. The children of Captain Lazarus and to Wyoming. Within a few days thereafter Butler and Backus, in company with Captain Stewart and his band, departed northward. At some distance from Wyoming they were joined by eight or ten men who had been among those who were forced from the valley at the time of the surrender of Fort Durkee. On Sunday, February 11, 1770, the Hanover and Connecticut men quietly entered the valley.* At that time Fort Durkee was garrisoned by a band of ten Pennamites; Sheriff Jennings and \\is posse comitatus had returned whence they came ; Amos Ogden was temporarily in New Jersey and Charles Stewart was in Philadelphia. With scant ceremony Captains Butler and Stewart and their followers ousted the Pennamites who were in possession of the fort, and took up their quarters there.

Captain Ogden, at his home in New Jersey, having been notified of the happenings at Wyoming, hastened hither with a number of his adherents and found, upon his arrival, that the block-house at Mill
ing Lazarus Stewart and his family, see subsequent pages in this history; also "The Harvey Book," previously mentioned.
pence per day."

Martha (Espy) Stewart were : (i) James Stewart, born in 1768, prior to August; md. June 20, 1799, to Hannah (born September 17,1782), daughter of J_ohn and Abigail (Alden) Jameson ; died February 15, 1808.
------
Stewart, born in 1772 ; md. to Mercy Chapman, and in November, 1802, was living in Wyoming Valley, (v) Mary Stewart, born in 1774 ; md. in 1792 to the Rev. Andrew Gray (born January 1, 1757, in county Down, Ireland), pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Hanover, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania in 1796 removed to "the Genesee Country," later Steuben County, New York; Mary (Stewart) Gray died in Livingston County, New York. March 10, 1847, and the Rev. Andrew Gray died there August 13, 1839. (vi) Elizabeth Stewart, born in 1777 ; md. May 5, 1796, to Alexander (born September 10, 1764), eleventh child of Robert and Agnes (Dixson) Jameson of Voluntown, Connecticut, and Hanover Township, Wyoming Valley ; died in Salem Township, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, August 20, 1806. (vii) Martha Stewart, born July 2, 1778 ; died in 1796, unmarried.

When Captain Stewart marched with his company from Hanover (in Wyoming Valley) July 2,1778, he left in his block-house, previously mentioned, his wife and children—the eldest child being only ten years of age—together with a number of their neighbors who had gathered there for shelter and protection. That same day a daughter was born to I.azarus and Martha (Espy) Stewart, and two days later, when news came to Mrs. Stewart of the disastrous ending of the battle of July 3d on Abraham's Plains, and of the death there of her husband (see Chapter XV), she, with the aid of friends, placed her seven children, together with some provisions and a few of her most valuable belongings, in two canoes lashed together side by side, and in them floated down the Susquehanna. Arriving at what is now Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, where her sister Mrs. James McClure resided, Mrs. Stewart and her children tarried there for awhile, and then proceeded on down the river to McAllister's, near the present Harrisburg, accompanied in canoes by the McClures, who fled from their home dreading a general incursion of the Creek, a mile and a-half north-east of Fort Durkee, had been broken into by The Susquehanna Company's party and the formidable Fort Augusta 4-pounder, with all the ammunition appertaining to it, had been transferred to Fort Durkee. Ogden and his companions took possession of the Mill Creek block-house and prepared to oppose the encroachments of the Yankees and their Lancastrian allies. The story of the few weeks following the arrival in Wyoming of Captains Butler and Stewart and their adherents has been told by Captain Ogden, in an affidavit which he made before Gov. John Penn at Philadelphia, May 25, 1770.
The original document is now in the possession of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and reads in part as follows:
-----
January 18, 1770, Captain Butler and Mr. Backus, carrying with them the foregoing letter, set out on horseback from New London County, Connecticut, for Hanover Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where they arrived about February 1st. On February 2nd the following communication was printed in The New London Gazette, in answer to the article which had appeared in The Pennsylvania Gazette of December 21, 1769 (see page 631, ante), and which was republished in The New London Gazette of January 5th.
---
"We, the claimers under the Susquehanna Purchase, have always, of design, avoided disputing our claim by way of the public papers, as every one knows the title to land cannot be settled in that way. But since the author of the piece above referred to has collected together so many falsehoods and has so basely misrepresented the character of the settlers and our claim, I beg to be indulged in observing a few things in vindication of our settlers and claim. We never supposed, nor do yet believe, that we are such deluded and riotous people as he would represent us to be. In vindication of ourselves we say that we entered on those lands at Wyoming in an orderly manner, claiming the same byvirtue of a bonafide purchase made of the Six Nations at Albany in the year 1754, for a large consideration in cash paid therefor ; which purchase was in May, 1755, approved of by the General Assembly of this Colony as a bona fide purchase, and also as lands included in and granted by his late Majesty King Charles II to the Colony of Connecticut in 1662—which grant to the Colony of Connecticut includes the lands at Wyoming where our people were settled, and is two years before the grant of the Province of New York, and is eighteen years before the grant to the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania, or any of their predecessors ; and the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania have no pretence of purchasing those lauds till the late Congress at Fort Stanwix in the year 1768. These, and many other stubborn facts, we have on our side to show that we are not deluded or riotous.

1 'The author of said piece is also pleased to make free with the characters of our settlers, and is pleased to call them 'the dregs of Connecticut, Pendergast's gang, miscreants,' &c., &c. It is an easy matter for a person that pays no regard to truth to throw out such invectives ; but we challenge the author, and every other slave concerned with him, to make out his assertions. They're public and established characters, many of them being gentlemen of education and fortune. As for any person's running away for debt—I have heard of but three or four, and they were in the party that appeared to molest our settlers, and one of them was from the Jersies and in the Proprietaries' interest and made a Justice of the Peace* in order to carry on the malicious, illegal and unjust prosecution against our settlers. The trade of horse-stealing that was carried on was by the party that came to remove us off from the laud. One of them got a good flogging for it, and there were twenty more of that party that deserved the same for the same crime, and ought to have had it; and if the laws of our Nation and this land had been duly executed^ a number of the same party must have suffered death for the robbery committed upon our people near Fort Augusta last September.

"The agreement upon which our people removed, as mentioned in said piece, was obtained by threats, oaths and curses, and was never agreed to by the people then present, but was agreed to only by two committee-men of the settlers out of sixteen. We expect Penn's party will avail themselves of it as much as they can. We quite disagree about the tender mercies of our persecutors. We say—and can vindicate it before any impartial tribunal—that they are cruelty against law and right and everything that has the remotest

S

With respect to the last suggestion the attempt of the Connecticut people to settle at Wyoming was the occasion of the late bloody war with the Indians—the author himself can't but know that it is false and groundless, and that he has rendered himself infamous by publishing it.

[Signed] "by A Proprietor Under Thb Connecticut Claim."

Upon the arrival of Zebulon Butler and Ebenezer Backus at Hanover Township in Lancaster County they found about forty men (the majority of whom had been members of the old "Paxtang Rangers") banded together with Lazarus_Stewartf as their Captain, ready to march


who also became a Deacon in the Church at Windham, was married (1st) December 27,1726, to Prudence

Council of Safety mentioned on page 283. (See also Vol. I, page 463.) He died at Windham November 11, 1782.

* Either Amos Ogden or Charles Stewart is here alluded to.

tLAZARVS Stewart, the second child of James and Margaret (Stewart) Stewart, was born about 1734 in that part of Derry Township which later became Hanover Township, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. James Stewart and Margaret Stewart, who were married about 1731, were first cousins, the
former being the son of Charles Stewart and the latter the daughter of Lazarus Stewart, 1st, who had emigrated with their respective families from the North of Irelandto Pennsylvania in 1729. In the Spring of 1*55, when General Braddock's expedition against the French and Indians on the Ohio River was organized, Lazarus Stewart raised and commanded a company of Provincial volunteers which formed a part of the English forces : and in all the dangers and disasters of the campaign which terminated in the defeat and death of the brave but rash Braddock (see page 304), Captain Stewart fully shared. Relative to the condition of affairs on the frontiers of Pennsylvania after Braddock's defeat, see pages 320. 321, etsy.

During the three years following the event referred to the situation on the frontiers was truly desperate, ana nothing substantial was accomplished by the Provincial Government towards securing the peace and safety of t he border inhabitants. Finally, in the Summer of 1758, the British Home Government took hold of the difficulty and steps were taken to prosecute with earnestness and vigor a war against the French and Indians. During this war—which was concluded in the latter part of 1762— Captain Stewart performed valiant services. He was in command of a company of "Rangers" detailed to guard the settlements along the Juniata River. "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 endurance were the admiration of all. His courage and fortitude were equal to every undertaking, and woe betide the red men when their blood-stained tracks once met his eye."

The treaty of peace between France and England—which was proclaimed in Philadelphia January 26, 1768, and marked the ending of the Seven Years' War—had been concluded but a few months when a new Indian war broke out, planned and fomented by Pontiac, Chief of the Oltawas. (See Vol. I, page 418.) This war, although not of very long duration, was perhaps unsurpassed in the aunals of border warfare. Immediately on the opening of hostilities organizations were formed throughout Pennsylvania for the defense of the frontiers (where, as during the French and Indian War, the situation was deplorable), and the sturdy Scots-Irish and Germans settled along the frontiers were among the first to become enrolled in those organizations—one of which was the "Paxtang Rangers," mentioned on page 426. One of the companies of the "Rangers" was commanded by Capt. I^azarus Stewart.

Reference is made on pages 39-41 to the Conestoga Indians and their village in Lancaster County. In the Spring of 1763 those Indians numbered only twenty souls, living in a cluster of squalid cabins and dependent, chiefly, on the industry of the squaws. The men were wild, gipsy-like beings, and, in the troubled state of the country, while Pontiac was encircling Pennsylvania with an ever narrowing hedge of burning dwellings, excited suspicion by their careless if not threatening language. Then, too, they were charged with harboring roving, vagabond Indians—the tramps of the period—who infested certain parts of the country, robbing and killing with impunity. Finally the Indians at Conestoga were accused by the white inhabitants of the surrounding country of being guilty of many of the crimes of arson, theft and murder which had then recently been committed thereabouts. In particular, the white inhabitants . of the Paxtang region charged that the influences and instruments of evil from which they suffered issued from the village of Conestoga. Appeals for relief or protection were made to the Provincial Council at Philadelphia, but the power there was in the hands of the Quakers, who shut their ears to the cries of distress and sternly refused to consider the facts presentea by those who implored for relief. (See Vol. I, page 429.) "Remove the Indians from Conestoga I" was the cry of the people of Paxtang. **That is impossible, as no crime has been proved against them," was the response of the Government at Philadelphia.

"The condition of the frontiers now became most alarming," says Pearce in his "Annals of I^uzerne County" (page 104). "The depredations of the savages grew more frequent, and the remote settlements were deserted. In the midst of the peace and quiet of our day we cannot form an adequate conception of the perils which encompassed the Paxtang settlers at that time. * * * A feeling of hostility was awakened against the Moravians and Quakers, who were disposed to conciliate and protect the Indians. The people in and about Philadelphia and those parts of the Province secure against the fire and tomahawk of the savage, looked with a lenient eye on his bloody depredations. 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, untamed nature, and reform rather than punish him. This was the glorious 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 buryi ng forever from his sight the scalped and mangled forms of his family."

Under the date of September 13,1768, the Rev. John Elder (Colonel commanding the " Pax tan g Rangers") wrote to Governor Hamilton of Pennsylvania : "I suggest to you the propriety of an immediate removal of the Indians from Conestoga, and placing a garrison in their room. In case this is done, I pledge myself for the future security of the frontiers." To this communication Gov. John Penn—who had succeeded Hamilton early in November, 1763— replied : "The faith of this Government is pledged for their protection. I cannot remove them without adequate cause." The "Rangers," finding appeals to the authorities useless, resolved to take the law into their own hands. Harry in December, 1708, several Indian murderers were traced to Conestoga, and it was determined to take them prisoners. The destruction of the Indians was not contemplated. Some fifty-seven of the "Rangers," mounted and well armed, and in command of Capt. Lazarus Stewart, reached the Indian village just about daylight, December 14, 1763. Their presence was made known to the inhabitants by the barking of some dogs; whereupon a number of strange Indians rushed from several of the huts brandishing their tomahawks. This show of resistance was all that was needed to provoke the visitors from Paxtang to violence, and without ado they fired upon the Indians, six of whom fell dead. All the others in the village fled in dismay and disorder whereupon the "Rangers" set fire to the huts and departed to their several homes. On December 22d Governor Penn issued a proclamation relative to this affair, calling upon the people to apprehend the offenders. The people, however, outside the Quaker and Moravian settlements, heartily approved the doings of the Paxtang men.

The Indians who escaped destruction at Conestoga fled for protection to the authorities of Lancaster County, by whom they were placed in the work-house in the town of Lancaster. Among the Indians thus harbored were supposed to be two who were well known to Captain Stewart and his men as vagabonds. The Captain proposed to capture one of these—the principal miscreant of a band which, a short time before, had murdered with great barbarity a family near Paxtang—and take him to the jail at Carlisle, there to be held for trial. This was heartily approved of, and December 27,1763, between two and three o'clock in the afternoon, fifty men from Paxtang and Donegal, armed with rifles, hangers and tomahawks, galloped into Lancaster with Captain Stewart at their head. They turned their horses loose in Slough's innyard and proceeded to the work-house, which they surrounded. Their entrance into the building was opposed by the Sheriff and the Coroner of the County and others in the building, but Stewart detailed a number of his men to break down the door, enter the building and bring out to him the Indian whom they sought. The "Rangers" to whom this duty was confided became so enraged at the Indians who fought desperately with billets of wood, that before their resentment could be repressed all the Indians present —fourteen in number—were slain. No children were killed by the "Rangers," and no act of savage butchery was committed. After they had finished their work the "Rangers" gave three cheers, and then declared : "We have presented the citizens of Lancaster with a Christmas-box, and we will present the Philadelphians with a New Year's gift!" So, at least, stated a writer in Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania in J830 ; and the same writer said, further, that Captain Robinson, with a company of Highlanders, was in Lancaster at that time on the march from Pittsburg to Philadelphia, and that Edward Shippen, Esq. (see page 360), the principal magistrate in the town, hurried to the quarters of Captain Robinson and besought him to hasten with his Highlanders to the rescue of the Indians or the arrest of the Paxtang and Donegal "Boys"; but that officer replied: "Damn them! I would not care if the whole race were slain, for my company has suffered enough by them already. I will not stir one step !"

"If the excitement throughout the Province was great after the affair at Conestoga, this last transaction set everything in a ferment." states Dr. W. H. Egle in his "History of Pennsylvania." "No language can describe the outcry which arose from the Quakers in Philadelphia, or the excitement which swayed to and fro in the frontiers and in the city. The Quakers blamed the Governor, the Governor the Assembly, and the latter censured everybody but their own inaction," Under date of January 2,1764, Governor Penn issued a proclamation calling upon all good citizens "to make diligent search and enquiry after the authors and perpetrators of the said last-mentioned offense, their abettors and accomplices; and that they [the good citizens] use all possible means to apprehend and secure them in some of the public gaols of this Province to be dealt with according to law. And I do promise and engage that any person who shall apprehend and secure, or cause to be apprehended and secured, any three of the ringleaders of the said party, and prosecute them to conviction, shall have and receive for each the public reward of £200; and any accomplice, not concerned in the immediate shedding of blood of the said Indians, who shall make discovery of any or either of said ringleaders, and apprehend and prosecute them to conviction, shall, over and above the said reward, have all the weight and influence of the Government for obtaining His Majesty's pardon for the offense."

None of the known or suspected offenders was mentioned by name in this proclamation !

Pamphlets and letters without number, truth or decency now poured like a torrent from the press. The Quakers took up the pen to execrate the crimes of the Paxtang and Donegal "Boys," and many others seized the opportunity to defame the Scots-Irish Presbyterians as religious zealots, ignorant bigots and lawless marauders, who had imbibed in their native country a fanatical spirit and hatred of pagan institutions, which had beeu excited to a pitch of wildest enthusiasm by their spiritual teachers in Paxtang and neighboring districts. The following (see Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania^ VI: 298—November, 1830) emanated from one of the Quaker pamphleteers of Philadelphia at that period : "The frontier inhabitants are mostly emigrants From the North of Ireland—by religious profession, rigid Presbyterians. In some of the townships are a few Germans, but these are in general settled in the more interior parts of the Province. To the wicked and inhuman conduct of the former may be in some measure attributed the general corruption and depravity of the Indians, through their trading with them in times of peace,abus L _______ D' by nature revengeful, an implacable hatred has long subsisted between them and the Scotch and Irish."

Although the men who exterminated the Conestoga Indians belonged to the Rev. John Elder's "Paxtang Rangers", it has never been proved that he had previous knowledge of the plot formed. When the deed was done, however, and the Quaker authorities were determined to proceedto extreme lengths with
the participants, and denounced the frontiersmen as "riotous and muraerous Irish Presbyterians", he took sides with the border inhabitants and sought to condone the deeds of December.
In a letter to Col. James Burd (see note, page 360) Colonel Elder said, among other things: "Lazarus Stewart ia still threatened by the Philadelphia party. He and his friends talk of leaving. If they do [leave] the Province will lose some of its best friends, and that by the fault of others — not their own ; for if any cruelty was if possible, by the force of reason and argument, or by the opposition of texts of Scripture, that they were in error, and to prevail upon them to return home.
Perhaps some people may be inclined to censure this step when they consider that a proclamation had been published, offering a reward of £200 for apprehending any of the parties concerned in the murder of the Indians at Lancaster, and that the Riot Act had been extended to this Province a few days before.

Sractised on the Indians at Conestoga or at Lancaster, it was not by his or their hands. * *
It is eviently not the wish of the [Government] party to give Stewart a fair heating. All he desires is to be put on trial at Lancaster, near the scenes of the horrible butcheries committed by the Indians at Tulpehocken, etc., where he can have the testimony of the scouts and 'Rangers' — men whose services can never be sufficiently rewarded."

(See pages 760 and 751 of "The Harvey Book"— published at Wilkes-Barr4 in 1899— for the remainder of Colonel Elder's letter; and also fora "Declaration" published some time later by Captain Stewart, in which, among other matters, he asserted : "If a white man kill an Indian, it is murder far exceeding any crime upon record ; he must not be tried in the County where he lives, or where the offense was committed. but in Philadelphia, that he may be tried, convicted, sentenced and hung without delay. * * Were we tamely to look on and see our brethren murdered, and see our fairest prospects blasted, while the inhabitants of Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Bucks and Chester slept, ana reaped their grain in safety ? * * These hands never shed human blooa ! Why am I singled out as an object of persecution? Why are the bloodhounds let loose upon me? * * 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 have either them or me on any terms.")

All efforts to carry into effect the proclamation of Governor Penn for the apprehension of the Paxtang and Donegal "Boys" seem to have been early suspended — at least so far as the Governor's authority
actors in this strange and tragic affair were not of the lower orders of the people.
They were Presbyterians, comprising in their ranks men of intelligence, and of so much consideration that the press dared not disclose their names, nor the Government attempt their punishment. It was, indeed, believed by some that the murder of the Indians was by no means the chief end of their design ; but that, taking advantage of the wide-spread consternation they had produced, they intended to overturn the Government and revolutionize the Colony."

At the time of the Conestoga and Lancaster tragedies there were in the neighborhood of 150 Indians —men, women and children—living in barracks on Province Island, about four miles from Philadelphia. They included 120 or more who had lived under the care of the Moravian Brethren near Bethlehem, and Papoonhank aud his family and Job Chillaway and his family and others from Wyalusing (see page 435), all of whom had been removed by the Government to the locality mentioned both by way of security to them as well as to obviate the clamors of the people who accused them of holding intercourse with the inimical Indians. Early in January word was brought to Philadelphia that a large body of Paxtang and Doneeal "Boys" purposed marching down to Philadelphia to destroy the Indians on Province Island. The following paragraphs from a letter written by a Quaker in Philadelphia to a friend, under date of February 29,1764 (see Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania. XII: 9—July 6, 1§88), give a brief account of the excited feelings of the Philadelphia Quakers at that time and their willingness to go out and fight the on-coming Lancastrians.

"At last, on the fourth of this month [February, 1764], we received certain intelligence that a considerable body of them were coming down with arms, to destroy every Indian they could meet with. The Governor, immediately upon this, ordered the Sheriff and his officers to summon the inhabitants to meet in the afternoon at the State House. A vast concourse accordingly assembled, when it was proposed that they should enter into an association to defend the Government, for it was imagined that killing the Indians was not the only motive of this hostile insurrection. * * In the morning, the weather proving fair, though very cold, a number of carpenters were hired, who, by directions of Captain Schlosser [of the 'Royal Americans' previously mentioned], built a redoubt in the center of the parade, at the military barracks [whither the Indians had been brought from Province Island). Several pieces of cannon were likewise hauled up, and the best preparations were made that the time would admit of. Notwithstanding these warlike measures the Government was still unwilling to proceed to extremity, * * and therefore sent the Rev. G 1 T 1, with two or three more pious divines of the same order, to convince them
"The day passing over, and no enemy appearing, nor any intelligence of their motions, we began to hope that the rumor was without foundation. For my own part I went to bed as free from any apprehensions of danger as ever I did in my life, and slept very soundly till after midnight, when all of a sudden I was alarmed by the ringing of the bells. * * One of the neighbors thundered at the door and called to us to put out the lights, for the Paxtang Boys were coming. Then I heard the old militia drums with solemn dubb beating to arms, and saw the inhabitants running from all quarters to obey the summons. By sunrise they had got themselves officers.
The remains of the old artillery company were likewise mustered, and two pieces of cannon brought out of the magazine and stationed before the Court House. All business was now suspended, the shops and stores were close shut, and every person seemed anxious to know what would be the issue of all this tumult. The number of persons in arms that morning was about 600. * * About eleven o'clock there was a general uproar. They are coming ! They are coming! Where? Where? Down Second Street!' Such of the company as had grounded their firelocks flew to arms and began to prime; the artillery-men threw themselves into order, and the people ran to get out of the way, for a troop of armed men on horseback appeared in reality coming down the street. * * They proved to be a company of German butchers and porters under the command of Captain Hoffman. * * A false alarm was now called out, and all became quiet again in a few minutes.

"In the afternoon we received word that the Paxtoneers had actually crossed the [Schuylkill] River and were got as far as Germantown, where they proposed to take up their quarters for the night. Several persons went out from town to view them, and from the best accounts that could be obtained their numbers did not exceed 200; but they pretended that the whole were not yet come in. This formidable body consisted principally of a set of fellows dressed in blanket-coats and moccasins, like our Indian traders or back-countrv wagoners. They were armed with rifles and tomahawks, and some of them had a brace of pistols besides. * *
Their chiefs assumed an air of command and importance. One of them was called Smith, another Gibson; the third 1 have forgot. They behaved with great civility to those they conversed with ; were surprised to hear that the citizens had taken up arms to oppose them ; declared that they had no intention of injuring any one, but only wanted satisfaction of the Indians, as some of them had been concerned in the murder of the friends and relations of the Paxtoneers. When it first became known that the latter were at Germantown it was proposed in council to go and take them prisoners; but that advice was overruled—though Capt. Turbutt Francis [see Vol. I, page 489] of the 41th Regiment (who, at the request of a number of young persons, had undertaken to command them), voluntarily offered to make the attempt. As it was reported they [the Lancastrians] were excellent marksmen, and as a great deal of blood might probably be spilt upon the occasion, it was resolved to send a body of select patricians to inquire into the object of their coming, and to persuade them to return home.

"The weather being now very wet Captain Francis, Captain Wood and Captain Mifflin drew up their men under the market-house, which, not affording shelter for any more, they occupied the Friends' Meeting-house, and Capt. Joseph Wharton marched his company up stairs into the monthly-meeting room. * * Nothing of any consequence passed during the remainder of the day, except that Captain Coultas came into town at the head of a troop whirl: he had just raised in his own neighborhood. * * In the evening our negotiators had come in from Germantown.
They had conferred with the chiefs and prevailed with them to suspend all hostilities till they should receive an answer to their petition, or manifesto, which had been sent down the day before. As it was necessary that these requisitions should be laid before the Governor and Assembly, the chiefs agreed to disband their troops and come to town with the envoys—being promised protection on the faith of the Government. * * The Paxtang chiefs are gone home without being heard, and we are daily threatened with a return of a more formidable force. Many people are now convinced of the utility of a military force\ to secure our lives and property, and the Assembly have passed a law for that purpose, which now lies before the Governor. Whether he will give his assent to it or not is doubtful, for the Assembly have vested in the people the power of choosing officers."
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Under date of February 9, 1764, Joseph Shippen, Esq., Secretary of the Provincial Council, wrote from Philadelphia to Col. James Burd at Fort Augusta as follows (see "The Shippen Papers"): "I should have returned an answer before now, but was prevented by the great disturbance made here by the approach of 700 armed men near to this city, with a design to destroy the Indians in the barracks.
The whole city was underarms three days. * * *
The rioters rendezvoused at Germantown, where Messrs. [Benjamin] Chew, [Benjamin] Franklin, [Joseph] Galloway and [Charles] Willing went to confer with them and demand their reasons for assembling in anns, and approaching. They continued with them several hours, and happily settled the affair, so that they [the Lancastrians] agreed to return peaceably to their homes, leaving three of their principals behind to lay an humble petition of their grievances before the Governor and Assembly."
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After this emeute Lazarus Stewart and the other Paxtang "Boys" settled down at their respective homes and proceeded with their various vocations, undismayed and undisturbed.
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In January, 1768, it was feared that Indian hostilities were about to break out again, and Sir William Johnson formally stated that one cause of dissatisfaction on the part of the Six Nations was that Pennsylvania had neglected to punish the perpetrators of the Conestoga and Lancaster murders. The Pennsylvania Assembly thereupon addressed a message to Governor Penn, in which they suggested that "although Justice may sometimes sleep, it can never die." They asserted, further, that in order to prevent an Indian war "the principles, both of Justice and Policy, call for a speedy redress of the grievances complained of by the Indians. * * * For when we consider the manner of committing the murder at Lancaster—that it was done at noonday, in the midst of a populous borough, and in the presence of many spectators, by men probably of the same county, undisguised and well known—we apprehend their names may be easily discovered, and their persons brougnt to that punishment their heinous offenses deserve." Nothing came of this, however, and Captain Stewart and his Paxtang "Boys" continued to reside on their farms in Paxtang, Derry and Hanover, unmolested so far as we know.

In addition to the snare in the Susquehanna Purchase; to which Captain Stewart became entitled in consideration of his services in helping to regain and maintain possession of the Wyoming lands, he purchased a "right" in the Summer of 1770, as is shown by a receipt, recorded in the "Proceedings of the Commissioners under the Confirming Law of 1787,"
in the following words: " Windham, 6 April, 1771. This is to certify that Mr. Lazarus^itewart some time last Summer paid £7, llsh., Pennsylvania money, in part pay for a whole share or Bright in the Susquehanna Purchase promised him by Major Durkee, and that I gave Mr. Stewart a receipt for said money. [Signed] "zeb? Butler."

In the Autumn of 1771 Captain Stewart began the erection of a block-house in Hanover, originally Nantiooke, Township, on "Lot NCTS, First Division." This was the first building erected in the township by a settler under The Susquehanua Company, and it stood on a slight rise of ground a few rods from the bank of the river, a short distance below the Wilkes-Barr£-Hanover boundary-line. It was built of logs, was one and a-half stories high, and contained four rooms on the ground floor with ample space on the floor above for the convenience of its occupants. The part of the building above the second floor projected beyond the walls of the first story—this "overshoot," as it was called, enabling the defenders of the house to protect the walls from assaults by attacking parties.

Lazarus Stewart was married in Hanover Township, Lancaster County, about 176ft.or '67 to Martha^ (born 1747J, fourth" child of Tosiah and Elizabeth (Crain) Espy. They settleo on a farm in Hanover which Captain Stewart had owned for some years and was cultivating. The children of Captain Lazarus and to Wyoming. Within a few days thereafter Butler and Backus, in company with Captain Stewart and his band, departed northward. At some distance from Wyoming they were joined by eight or ten men who had been among those who were forced from the valley at the time of the surrender of Fort Durkee.
On Sunday, February 11, 1770, the Hanover and Connecticut men quietly entered the valley.* At that time Fort Durkee was garrisoned by a band of ten Pennamites; Sheriff Jennings and \\is posse comitatus had returned whence they came ; Amos Ogden was temporarily in New Jersey and Charles Stewart was in Philadelphia. With scant ceremony Captains Butler and Stewart and their followers ousted the Pennamites who were in possession of the fort, and took up their quarters there.
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Captain Ogden, at his home in New Jersey, having been notified of the happenings at Wyoming, hastened hither with a number of his adherents and found, upon his arrival, that the block-house at Mill
ing Lazarus Stewart and his family, see subsequent pages in this history; also "The Harvey Book," previously mentioned.pence per day."
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Martha (Espy) Stewart were : (i) James Stewart, born in 1768, prior to August; md. June 20, 1799, to Hannah (born September 17,1782), daughter of J_ohn and Abigail (Alden) Jameson ; died February 15, 1808.
Stewart, born in 1772 ; md. to Mercy Chapman, and in November, 1802, was living in Wyoming Valley, (v) Mary Stewart, born in 1774 ; md. in 1792 to the Rev. Andrew Gray (born January 1, 1757, in county Down, Ireland), pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Hanover, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania in 1796 removed to "the Genesee Country," later Steuben County, New York; Mary (Stewart) Gray died in Livingston County, New York. March 10, 1847, and the Rev. Andrew Gray died there August 13, 1839. (vi) Elizabeth Stewart, born in 1777 ; md. May 5, 1796, to Alexander (born September 10, 1764), eleventh child of Robert and Agnes (Dixson) Jameson of Voluntown, Connecticut, and Hanover Township, Wyoming Valley ; died in Salem Township, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, August 20, 1806. (vii) Martha Stewart, born July 2, 1778 ; died in 1796, unmarried.

When Captain Stewart marched with his company from Hanover (in Wyoming Valley) July 2,1778, he left in his block-house, previously mentioned, his wife and children—the eldest child being only ten years of age—together with a number of their neighbors who had gathered there for shelter and protection.
That same day a daughter was born to I.azarus and Martha (Espy) Stewart, and two days later, when news came to Mrs. Stewart of the disastrous ending of the battle of July 3d on Abraham's Plains, and of the death there of her husband (see Chapter XV), she, with the aid of friends, placed her seven children, together with some provisions and a few of her most valuable belongings, in two canoes lashed together side by side, and in them floated down the Susquehanna.Arriving at what is now Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, where her sister Mrs. James McClure resided, Mrs. Stewart and her children tarried there for awhile, and then proceeded on down the river to McAllister's, near the present Harrisburg, accompanied in canoes by the McClures, who fled from their home dreading a general incursion of the Creek, a mile and a-half north-east of Fort Durkee, had been broken into by The Susquehanna Company's party and the formidable Fort Augusta 4-pounder, with all the ammunition appertaining to it, had been transferred to Fort Durkee.
Ogden and his companions took possession of the Mill Creek block-house and prepared to oppose the encroachments of the Yankees and their Lancastrian allies. The story of the few weeks following the arrival in Wyoming of Captains Butler and Stewart and their adherents has been told by Captain Ogden, in an affidavit which he made before Gov. John Penn at Philadelphia, May 25, 1770.
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The original document is now in the possession of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and reads in part as follows:
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"About the 14th of February last, the deponent being absent in Jersey, news was brought him that a number of people from Lancaster County had arrived at Wyoming, and in a warlike manner, in support of the Connecticut right, had taken possession of the fort and had broken open one of the deponent's houses and taken thereout one piece of small cannon, and several other effects ; and thereupon he went over to Wyoming and found said account to be true.
The party from Lancaster was commanded by Lazarus Stewart and Lazarus Young* ; and the people in the fort, both Pennsylvanians and New Englauders, were commanded by Zebulon Butler. That on or about February 23d an armed party from the fort, about thirty in number, commanded by Lazarus Stewart, broke open in a violent manner the house of Captain Salmonf (who was settled on the said Proprietaries' tractj by lease under the said Proprietaries), pulled the same down and destroyed all the effects of the said Salmon.
That on February 26th the said Captain Butler and Lazarus Stewart came to the house of this deponent, and demanded of him that he and all the settlers under Pennsylvania—then about ten in number—should leave the ground by the 28th following ; telling them that if they refused to go they must abide by the consequences. On the said 28th of February a party of forty or fifty men, headed by Lazarus Stewart and Lazarus Young, armed with guns, pistols and tomahawks, attacked the house of Charles Stewart, Esq., pulled it down and destroyed all his effects."

Early in March, 1770, at Easton, a warrant? was issued by Justice Lewis Gordon upon an information setting forth :
"That Lazarus Stewart, William Stewart, Lazarus Young, Robert Young, William Young, Asa Luding'ton, Joseph BillingsT'Sinieon Draper, Peregrine Gardner, Frederick Spyer, Felty Deran [Valentine Doran], Nicholas Philipson^ Thomas French, Thomas Robinson, John Simpson, John Grimes, Lodowick Shillmar, James Robinson, James Stewart, Jedidiah Olcutt, John Stephens, Adolph Diehl, Felix Diehl, Thomas Benrret, James Forsyth, Jacob Clark, James Grimes, Jr., John Butler, Samuel Hotchkiss, George Espy, John Espy, John Hopple, Jacob Fulk, Reuben Shilman, Nathan Beach, Peter Walcker and Henry Hopple did, on or about the 23d day of February last, riotously, routously and unlawfully assemble themselves together at a place called Wyoming, in the said county of Northampton, and the dwelling-house of John Salmon, the dwellinghouse of Charles'Stewart'and the dwelling-house of Thomas Osburn did deface and pull down, etc."

Under date of Sunday, March 11, 1770
Major Durkee wrote to "Capt. Z. Butler at Wilkesbarre," as follows :
"I this moment heard that you're safe as yet. I have been much concerned, but can't steer towards you. Mr. [Jacob] Brinker is coming to you with some men and some provisions. If you are in want, send me word ; I and friends will supply you if possible. Take all that comes in your way that are not friends, and send them home with a striped jacket*[—and Stewart,** if possible. If you can send me word how it is with you, I may do as much good as though I was with you. Let the Paxton Boys know that they shall be rewarded in the best manner. * * I have desired Mr. Brinker to bring you some flour and some rum, &c."

* He was a first cousin of [.: i/anis Stewart, was from Hanover, Lancaster County, and had been at Wyoming in the Summer of 1769. See page 512.
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t John Salmon, who had located about two and a-quarter miles south-west of Fort Durkee, near the mouth of Moses' Creek (see Vol. 1, page 66), to which stream his name was subsequently given. Many years later, through the careless speech of the people, the name "Salmon" became corrupted into Solomon—by which name the creek has since been known. In September, 1787, when Timothy Pickering, 'William Montgomery and Stephen Balliet were attempting to carry out at Wilkes-Barre the provisions of the "Confirming Law" (see Chapter XXV, post), they received and examined a claim for lands made by "Joseph Salmon, in behalf of the heirs of John Salmon, deceased ; lying in Nanticoke, or Hanover, about two miles and a-half below the town of Wilkesburgh" (which would be two and a-half miles below the present South Street, Wilkes-Barre).
The lands in question consisted of 212 acres, "including an island called Buttonwood Island." (See "Pennsylvania Archives," Second Series, XVIII: 669.) The island thus referred to is the one described on page 52 as "Fuller's", or "Richards' ".
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J The Manor of Stoke. See pages 456, 456 and 516, Vol. I.
\ The original writ is now in the possession of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
i See "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, IV : 364.
f In other words, give them a beating or whipping. ** Charles Stewart, Esq.
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Jacob Brinker, mentioned in Major Durkee's letter, was settled as early as 1755, at least, in Lower Smithfield Township, Northampton County, at what is now Sciota, in Hamilton Township, Monroe County, Pennsylvania, about seven miles south-west of Stroudsburg. In 1779 the place was known as Brinker's Mills. Close by Brinker's ran the old Indian trail (mentioned on page 445) from Teedyuscung's town (near the site of which Fort Durkee had been erected) to the Wind Gap. This trail had become, by the year 1770, a well-beaten path (for foottravelers and horsemen) from Wyoming to the Wind Gap, from which point to Easton ran a passable wagon-road.
At or near Brinker's a path branched off from the main path and ran in a north-easterly direction (through what is now Stroudsburg) to the Delaware River, and thence along the western bank of the river to Wells' Ferry, mentioned on page 487. This path from Fort Durkee to the Delaware, via Brinker's, was known to the Yankee settlers at Wyoming as the "Lower Road to the Delaware"—the road from Wilkes-Barre" to the mouth of the Lackawanna, thence to Capouse Meadows, thence over the mountains and through what are now the counties of Wayne and Pike to Wells' Ferry, being called the "Upper Road to the Delaware." (See page 636, ante.) However, early in 1770 the "Lower Road" began to be called also "the Pennamites' Path" by the Yankees, inasmuch as the Pennamites from lower Northampton County and New Jersey traversed this path in their frequent journeys to and from Wyoming.

When Major Durkee wrote to Captain Butler the former was waiting at Brinker's, or somewhere in that neighborhood, to be joined by a number of New Englanders, with whom he purposed marching to Wyoming to reinforce the Yankees and Lancastrians in Fort Durkee. About the 20th of March Major Durkee and the men for whom he had been waiting quietly entered the valley and proceeded to Fort Durkee. They brought along a goodly supply of provisions and ammunition, and their coming was hailed with delight by the occupants of the fort. About the same time Dr. Hugh Williamson, a representative either of Governor Penn or of the Proprietaries' agents, arrived at Ogden's block-house from Lebanon and Hanover in Lancaster County where, as he wrote Governor Penn, "several of the rioters were just arrived from Wyoming for recruits of men and provisions." They made no recruits, he stated, "except among the Germans." Under date of March 24, 1770, Dr. Williamson wrote to Governor Penn as follows* :

"On my arrival at Wyoming I found the Messrs. Ogden in possession of the field. The rioters had closed themselves up in th/e fort, and in a few hours the people who had taken lots in the Manor [of Stoke] being assembled with their friends, were determined to storm the fort. I, with great difficulty, prevailed on a number of men, driven almost to desperation, to desist from their intended attack. An accidental event yesterday morning convinced me that I had not been mistaken concerning the temper of the rioters. A few of them passing Captain Ogden's house, through the woods, were discovered and suspected to be a party of New England adventurers. A party went to examine them, and were immediately fired on by the rioters, though this was not necessary in self defense, as they were so near the fort they could not then possibly be taken prisoners. I once more, with great difficulty, restrained the inhabitants from attempting to burn the fort.

"The day before yesterday evening Captain Ogden and company took eight adventurers from New England and New York Government; and last night three German lads, seventeen or eighteen years of age, late recruits from Hanover [in Lancaster * See "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, IV : 866.
County], were made prisoners, having mistaken Captain Ogden's for the fort. * * *
The prisoners go down [to Easton] to-day under a small guard—some of them [the guard] being [seven] Hanover men who were apprehended* some days ago by the constables between this [place] and Easton and permitted by Charles Stewart, Esq., to come up here, having made oath that they would aid the Government. * * It seems probable that in a few days the fate of this place may be determined. * * I wish the people who keep possession of the Manor under the Government had express orders to leave the ground, or had such instructions as might enable them to conduct themselves without any breach of law. * * *
----
"Since I wrote the above the seven Hanover men who had been suffered to come here under promise of attempting to dissuade their friends from their design of keeping possession of the ground, and were immediately to set off as a guard to the prisoners, having gone down to the fort to speak with their friends, are there detained, or said to be detained.
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"P. S.—The Hanover men above mentioned have this instant, by a messenger, declared themselves in favor of the rioters, and threatened to rout Captain Ogden in a few days."
----
Under date of April 2, 1770, Charles Stewart, Esq., wrote from Easton to Governor Penn as followsf:

"The New England men, accompanied by a number of Germans, appeared [on the 28th of March] before the houses at Wyoming possessed by people under the Proprietaries, whooping, yelling, and swearing they would have the prisoners who had been taken from them ; and after expressing much abusive language they began to fire upon the people in the houses, who immediately returned the fire, by which one of the Germans was shot dead, and thereupon the New England men returned to the fort."
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The man of the Fort Durkee party who was killed was Baltzer Stager,J and his was the first blood shed in the memorable PennamiteYankee contest for the possession of Wyoming. Chapman, in his history of Wyoming, says: "Which party commenced the firing [in which Stager was killed] is not known, as each accused the other of doing it. The party from the fort finding that Ogden and his party in the house were armed and could fire at them without being exposed (his house being a well-built block-house fitted for a siege), returned to Fort Durkee to devise means of expelling Ogden and his party from the settlement before reinforcements could arrive—each party being too strong in its fortification to be taken by storm with the forces the other possessed."
Captain Ogden, in his affidavit mentioned on page 645, ante, relates the happenings at Wyoming in April, 1770, in the following words:
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* The following items taken from an account rendered to the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania in 1770 by Garrett Brodhead (previously mentioned), for services performed by himself, have some connection, undoubtedly, with the incidents above described.
"To sixteen days at Beainy's, to oppose and apprehend the Hanover men and Yankys, £8. To taking and bringing down two prisoners, £6."
(See "Pennsylvania Archives," Second Series, XVIII : 814.)
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The following items are contained in an account against the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania for services rendered, etc., in 1769 and 1770 by James Logan, a mulatto residing in Northampton County—probably in pie neighborhood of Easton. "To carrying flour to Wyoming with horses and one man, £2; my expenses in going to assist the Sheriff, £1, lOsh.; assisting in three expeditions, man and two horses, and finding our own provisions, &c., £10; my servant taken prisoner for six months and three days, £12; six times carrying prisoners to Easton, £8 ; the use of several horses on different expresses for nearly three years. £10 ; assisting to take the Hanover men out of Jacob Brinker's and going to Wyoming with them, and one man with me, £4 ; riding express to Philadelphia for Mr. Brodhead on said business, £3." Relative to this account Charles Stewart, Esq., stated June 9, 1772:
"I do not know of his [James Logan] being paid. He was verv active in apprehending the rioters over the mountain, and had no land granted him."
----
(See "Pennsylvania Archives," Second Series, XVIII: 613.)
t See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," IX: 663.
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J Miner erroneously states ("History of Wyoming," page 118) that the name of this victim was "William Stager." The following1 items relative to the man in question have been extracted from the minutes of the Commissioners under the Confirming Law. mentioned in paragraph "(4)", page 29, Vol. I.

Jacob and Frederick Stager claimed (in 1787) a right in the township of Hanover, and produced the following : "Wilkesbarre, August 25, 1769. Rec'd of Adam Stager 20 dollars & 1 which entitles him to one whole right or share of land in the Susquehanna Purchase, he paying 19 dollars more. [Signed] John Durkbe, President."
Also the following: "This may certify that Adam Stager and his sons Butcher AnA Jacob Stager's rights are in the township commonly called and known by the name of Nanticook Township, on Susquehanna River. Wyoming, June SO. 1770.
Teste, John Dl-rkee, Zkbulon Butler, Committee."
Col. Zebulon Butler testified before the Commissioners in 1787 "that theaforesaid Frederick and Baltzer Stager came into this settlement in company with Lazarus Stewart and others from Paxton and Hanover in Pennsylvania and were originally entitled to a settling right. &c., but does not know that any particular right was ever assigned to them. The latttr of them was killed in an engagement on the ground." There was a William Stager in Wyoming in 1787
His wife was Margaret, daughter of John Comstock, then deceased.
----
"2d April a party from the fort commanded by Lazarus Stewart came to the house of deponent in which one Osburn lived as a tenant, turned Osburn and family out and pulled down the house and destroyed the goods of the family, after which they shot several of the cattle, and took out of the stable a young horse of the English blood belonging to Nathan Ogden. 9th April the Connecticut people began to build a blockhouse on the other side of the river, and on the 13th they fired a cannon-ball at the deponent's house."
----
Chapman (see page 19, Vol. I) refers as follows to the bombardment of Ogden's block-house at Mill Creek :
----
"In pursuance of the resolution agreed upon in full council at Fort Durkee, the Connecticut party on the 9th April commenced the erection of a block-house on the west side of the river opposite Ogden's block-house, which they fortified in a strong manner, and in which they mounted the 4-pounder which they had taken from Ogden. With this piece they commenced a cannonade upon Ogden's house, which was renewed at intervals for several days; but finding that it did not force Ogden to surrender, and their shot nearly expended, they resolved upon a different manner of attack."
----
In the morning of April 23d a large armed party from Fort Durkee, in command of Major Durkee, advanced towards Ogden's block-house "with drum beating, and Indian shouts," declares Amos Ogden in his affidavit previously mentioned; "and coming near the house they separated into three divisions, and each division immediately began to make breastworks, declaring they would soon have the deponent's party out of their houses."
The breastworks were completed about noon the same day, whereupon the Yankees opened fire upon the block-house from each of the breastworks.
The Pennamites returned the fire, and a mutual firing was carried on at intervals during the ensuing five days. On April 25th, the third day of the siege, a detachment from the Connecticut party advanced from one of the breastworks, under a brisk fusillade from the block-house, and set fire to one of Ogden's store-houses, which was consumed with its contents—a considerable quantity of goods and provisions.
----
On Saturday, April 28th, Major Durkee sent under a flag of truce a note to Captain Ogden, requesting a conference. Ogden accordingly waited upon the Yankee commander, whereupon a cessation of hostilities until the next day (Sunday), at twelve o'clock, was agreed upon. On Sunday Major Durkee sent to Captain Ogden, in a friendly way, an invitation to dine with him at Fort Durkee. In his affidavit (previously mentioned) Captain Ogden states that he "went accordingly and dined with him [Durkee], and after dinner was acquainted by Capt. [John] Collins of Connecticut that he, the deponent, was not to leave the fort till matters were settled and the deponent's works given up."
Articles of Capitulation were thereupon immediately drawn up, which were "agreed to and signed by Captain Ogden in behalf of himself and his party, and Zebulon Butler for himself and his party."
----
The Articles were as follows:
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"1st. Captain Ogden agrees that the fort [at Mill Creek] shall be delivered to Captain Butler.
"Sdly. All the men with Captain Ogden that has not effects on the ground, to depart the 1st of May next.
"Sdly. Six men of Captain Ogden's party to continue to take care of the effects belonging to Ogden and his party until June 1st next, and then to depart with all the effects belonging to said party.
"4/Afy. The people of Ogden's party have the privilege of selling their wheat that is in the ground.
"5t7ily. Ogden's party to keep one house for the six men, with two fire-arms, to take care of his effects.
---
"6tfily. The people that have stock on the ground, and have not made sufficient provision for said stock, shall pay all the damages done by said stock to the men that suffer by them."
Captain Ogden further deposed (at Philadelphia, May 25, 1770, as previously noted) "that, after the capitulation, having reason to think that the other party had designs of confining him, he took the first fair opportunity of leaving the place; and that he is informed that after he left the people in the fort took possession of all his effects and burnt his house." Nathan Ogden remained in Wyoming for several days after his brother the Captain had departed, and then he too left, and at Philadelphia, on May 25th, he made an affidavit before Governor Penn in which he corroborated the facts stated by Captain Ogden in his affidavit, and in addition thereto detailed the happenings that had occurred in Wyoming from the 1st to the 5th of May. The original affidavit sworn to and signed by Nathan Ogden is now "No. 115" of the "Penn Manuscripts," described on page 30, Volume I, and no part of the same has ever been printed heretofore. The following paragraphs from the document are interesting and important:

* * * "That he [Nathan Ogden] remained at Wioming about four days after his brother Amos Ogden had left the place, as in his deposition made this day is mentioned. That on the 1st day of May last a party of the New Englanders and Pennsylvanians set fire to Joseph Ogden's house, situate on the Proprietary tract of land there, and burnt it to the ground. That on the 2d of May inst. Capt. John Collins, with a party of the same people, broke the locks of the said Amos Ogden's store-house and robbed the same of several hundred deer-skins and a number of other articles, and then demolished the house. That on the 3d May Captain Collins, Lazarus Stewart, Lazarus Young and others of the New England party broke the locks of the said Amos Ogden's dwelling-house and shop, took away all the goods in them and a large quantity of furs and some hundred deer-skins, and then set fire to the house, which was soon consumed.

"The deponent further saith that the said New .England party at several times made prisoners of several of the people settled on the said Proprietary manor under the Proprietaries, turned their families out and destroyed the houses and effects; and when he left Wioming he saw several of them, to wit: Martin Tidd, Robert Duchee, Michael Hendershute, John Murphy and Thomas Neal, confined in a gaol* in a miserable condition. And that one of them who had been confined, of the name of Patrick White, he saw lying dead in the said gaol ; who (he heard amongst the people of the fort) had been taken out of the said gaol by the said Connecticut party in good health, and by them bled in both his arms till he died, after which he was brought back dead within an hour, and thrown into the gaol amongst the rest of the prisoners—but he knows not the truth of this information.

"This deponent further saith that when he left the fort at Wioming on the 5th day of May last past he believes there were upwards of 200 people belonging to it; and that the persons named in the list hereunto annexed are of the party. The names of any others of them he has not been able to learn. This deponent further saith that he has frequently heard the leaders and many others of the said New England party declare that they would dispossess the inhabitants of Pennsylvania who would not join them, as low down as the Blue Mountains—which inhabitants are esteemed to consist of about 300 families.
------
* * * "Namesf of Connecticut people and Pennsylvanians in the Connecticut fort at Wioming :
Ashley, Benjamin Gaylord, Samuel Phillips, Nicholas Beach, Nathan Gaylord, Timothy Ray, James Bidlack, James Gillow, Francis Ray, William Brock way, Richard Goss, Nathaniel Robinson, John
Buck, Elijah Grimes, James Robinson, Thomas Buck, William Hibbard, Ebenezer Simpson, John Cochran, John Hibbard, Jonathan Smith, Oliver Collins, John Holley, John Smith, Timothy DeLong, John Holley, Samuel Solley, John Durkee, John Hungerford, Stephen _ Stewart, James Ellis, William Johnson, Edward _ Stewart, Lazarus Espy, George Jones, Crocker Stewart, Lazarus—Jr. Espy, John Kidd, Peter . Stewart, William Espy, Joseph Ludington***, Asa Weeks, Thomas Follett, Benjamin Mead, David Woodworth, Douglas French, Thomas Morse, Joseph Young, Lazarus
Frink, Joseph Nisbitt, Samuel Young, Robert Fuller, Stephen Young, William"
====
* Undoubtedly the guard-house attached to, or forming a part of, Fort Durkee.
i Fifty-three in number, and alphabetically arranged by the present writer.
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From the journals of the Moravian missionaries* at Friedenshutten (Wyalusing)—see Volume I, page 443—under the date of May 1, 1770, we glean the following :
"A white man, who had been held prisoner by the New England men at Wyoming upwards of three weeks, was brought by Job Chillaway.f From him we learned of the calamity that had befallen Captain Ogden and his brother."
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It will be recalled that the fight at Golden Hill, in the city of New York, and the Boston Massacre had taken place, respectively, in January and March, 1770. (See Volume I, page 594.)
Those events aroused throughout the American Colonies much bitter feeling and no end of sharp comment, which the Sons of Liberty took good care should not die down or become dulled. It was well known to the Pennsylvania authorities who were familiar with the events of that period that Maj. John Durkee—then the leader of the Yankees in Wyoming—was prominent in the ranks of the Sons of Liberty; and so, when news came to Governor Penn at Philadelphia April 4, 1770, concerning the happenings at Wyoming on March 28th, he and his Councilors concluded that Pennsylvania, just as New York and Massachusetts, was about to become the scene of general disorder and a hotbed of disloyalty to the King.
To those officials it seemed, indeed, as if "lurid flames of threatening war shot up from every point of the surrounding horizon." Without delay, therefore—a formal meeting of the Provincial Council having first been held—Governor Penn wrote to Major General Gage (see pages 508 and 599) on April 6th, as follows :
----
"It is now about a year since a number of people of the Colony of Connecticut, assisted, as I am informed, by some of Pendergrass' Gang, in a riotous and forcible manner took possession of a large body of land on the River Susquehanna. * * The intruders were at first removed without much difficulty by due course of law. They soon returned, however, with a formidable armed force ; took possession of the lands and, setting the laws at defiance, built a large stockaded fort, in which they have since planted cannon ; appointed their own officers; erected, as I am informed, mock Courts of Justice, and had the daring insolence—without the least warrant or authority in law—to arrest one of our people, upon whom they inflicted a very severe corporal punishment. * *

"They have at length prevailed on a number of profligate and abandoned people on our frontiers ^many of whom have been concerned in the late Indian murders and disturbances) to join them in their unlawful enterprise, and they now not only openly resist the execution of the King's process, and set Government at naught, but have lately gone so far as to attack and fire upon a. party of our people who had several of their associates under legal arrest, which obliged them to return the fire ; and it unfortunately happened that one of the rioters was killed and another wounded, so that it is no longer safe to attempt executing the process of the Government against these atrocious offenders. Not having any militia in the Province, I find myself under the disagreeable necessity of applying for the aid of the military to support the civil power."

Under the date of April 15th General Gage replied to Governor Penn, in part as follows :
"The troops in all the Provinces have orders, in general, to assist the civil power when they shall be legally called upon ; but the affair in question seems to be a dispute concerning property, in which I can't but think it would be highly improper for the King's troops to interfere. * * I shall immediately lay before His Majesty's Ministers the requisition you have been pleased to make, and wait His Majesty's commands thereupon."

About the time Governor Penn received the foregoing letter Governor Trumbull of Connecticut received a letter written by Dr. William Samuel Johnson (see Vol. I, page 504) at London under the date of February 26, 1770, and reading, in part, as follows :
----
"The grants we are searching for, if discovered, will give some light in theSusquehanna affair, and may be necessary to give a complete opinion upon the subject; but, as thus advised, I have a very good opinion of the legal nght of the Colony [of Connecticut] to those western lands, notwithstanding the settlement with New York [as to the New York-Connecticut boundary], and know not how it could be avoided upon a fair trial at law. Those lands are plainly within the words of the Charter, and that settlement [with New York] ought not to preclude the title to the remainder. The opinion, however, that in general prevails here, founded upon some decisions of the Lords of the.Council, is, that all the ancient Charters and Patents in the Colonies—being vague in their descriptions, drawn by persons often unacquainted with the geography of the country, and interfering frequently with each other—must be limited by the actual occupation, or other efficient claim, evidenced by overt acts of the early settlers.
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* See "Transactions of the Moravian Historical Society," I: 202.
fAn Indian friendly to the white people. His name is frequently mentioned in these pages.
See page 456.
J See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," IX : 664. \ See ibid., page 665.
I See the "Trumbull Papers", mentioned in paragraph "(6)", page 29, Vol. I.
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"It seems plain, therefore, that such claim would not be very highly favored here, and will probably give much offense if made by the Colony. Whatever opinion I have, therefore, of the legal right (and though I wish extremely well to The Susquehanna Company, and have great reason to do so), yet, in faithfulness to the Colony, I must say that I think it by no means advisable for them to interfere at all in the affair at this critical conjuncture. * * * With regard to The Susquehanna Company, for whose interests, as I have said, I am enough solicitous, it does not appear to me that a grant to them is at all necessary from the Colony to enable them to defend against Mr. Penn.
He must make out his own title, and recover in his own strength. They are in possession, and that possession is good against him until he establishes a clear title—both under the Crown and from the Indians—which he can never do while it appears that the lands were granted to the Colony of Connecticut in 1662. * * * I should think it perfectly right to give them a release of the Colony title when the controversy is over ; but to do it now, while the dispute is on foot, will seem to be taking some part in the controversy. * * I doubt the wisdom of setting up such a claim at present, or of interfering in the dispute of The Susquehanna Company at this time."

In October, 1769, the General Assembly of Connecticut directed Governor Tmmbull and George Wyllys, Secretary of the Colony (see page 282, Vol. I), to collect all the documents relating to and bearing upon the Royal grants to the Colony of Connecticut, and to report to the Assembly concerning the same. These gentlemen having made their report at the session of the Assembly held in May, 1770, it was determined to transmit "a State of the Case to counsel learned in the law in England," and the same gentlemen were appointed to prepare the necessary papers.
The original draft of the "Statement of the Case," prepared in pursuance of this vote of the Assembly, is now among the "Trumbull Papers," previously mentioned. It contains a number of comments and suggestions made by Governor Trumbull, and concludes with the following "queries":

"(1) Whether the said Governor and Company of the Colony of Connecticut have not the full and clear right and title to the purchase [from the natives] and full enjoyment of the lands lying within the limits and boundaries described in their Charter, lying westward of the Province of New York, and to extend their jurisdiction and government over the same—the claim and challenge of the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania, or any other, notwithstanding?
" (2) What manner of proceeding, to settle and prevent all differences and disputes relative to the same, is most expedient and unexceptionable ?
"(3) What is legal and best for the Governor and Company of the Colony of Connecticut to do and act on the whole state and circumstances attending this cause ?''

At London, under the date of May 21, 1770, William Samuel Johnson wrote to Governor Trumbull:
"You will see by the copy of Mr. Penn's petition against The Susquehanna Company, which I have forwarded to Colonel Dyer, that they are determined if possible to involve the Colony in that controversy."
---
A month later Dr. Johnson writes to the Governor that he has had several conferences with the agent of the Penns, who asserts that "he knows the Colony [of Connecticut] do take part in that business—no matter what I [Johnson] or anybody else can say to the contrary."
----
An important meeting of The Susquehanna Company was held at Hartford, Connecticut, June 6, 1770, Maj. Elizur Talcott acting as Moderator. The principal business transacted—other than receiving a full report relative to the happenings and conditions at Wyoming—was as follows:
" Voted, That Ozias Yale on Benjamin Yale's right, and John Jolly on Job Yale's right—settlers on the lands on Susquehanna River—be of the number of the First Forty settlers, and entitled to their rights in the township that shall be laid out to the said Forty ; and that [Henry] Dow Tripp be excluded from the number of the said Forty and any right in the township which shall be laid out for them. The said Yale and Jolly for the future to do and perform their duty as settlers on said lands, according to the votes of said Company.

" Voted, That the five townships of land granted by this Company for the incouragernent of the first 240 settlers, shall be laid out according to Mr. David Mead's survey made last Fall; and as our Paxton friends that have come on to settle with us have agreed to take the township called the Nanticook Township, we now grant the same to them according to the number of them that have complied with the proposals made to them by the Standing Committee.
The remainder of said town to be filled up out of ye 200 settlers, under the same regulations and with the same reserves made in the other townships granted to the settlers, in fulfillment of ye engagements of the Committee of this Company with our said Paxton friends in their letter to them by Captain Butler and Mr. Ebenezer Backus. And that a township six miles square be laid out at a place called Lackawanna, or on the south of said Nanticook Township, adjoining thereto, in lieu of said Nanticook, for the fifty settlers which the said Nanticook Township would have belonged to—upon the same conditions and with the same reserves made and received in the other townships granted to the settlers ; and if neither of the said places shall suit to lay out the last-mentioned township, that then the same shall be laid out by the direction of Major Durkee and Captain Butler so as to do justice to said settlers and the Company.

" Voted, That there be at present but one trading-house set up in our Purchase on Susquehanna River for trading with and accommodating the Indians with such necessaries as they from time to time shall want; and that those persons that shall trade and deal with the Indians shall be under the direction and control of Major Durkee, Captain Butler and Deacon Timothy Hopkins, who are hereby authorized to take care of and oversee the trade and deal with the Indians, and see that justice is at all times done to them.
" Voted, That the Standing Committee, as soon as they can with conveniency, procure some able and orthodox minister of ye gospell to repair to our settlements at Wyoming and remain with them for one year in the Discharge of his Ministerial office among them ; and that the said Committee shall Draw their order on Capt. Zebulon Butler for such part of the whole of ye money in his hands as they shall Judge Necessary for the support of said minister.

" Whereas, It is probable that many proprietors not included in the 240 first settlers have repaired and will repair to join our settlement on our Purchase on Susquehanna River, in order to settle themselves and families on said lands—in part of their general rights in part of said Purchase—it is now Voted, That the committee that shall hereafter be appointed to oversee and direct the whole settlement on said land shall—and they are hereby authorized and empowered—at the cost of those that apply for the same, to lay out townships five miles square for such proprietors within said Purchase * * ; each of which townships to be divided into fifty equal parts, or shares, for quantity and quality —three of which rights, or shares, to be reserved for the public benefit of said township, in the same manner and for the same purposes as the reserved rights in the townships heretofore granted to the first 240 settlers.

"Voted, That Capt. Z. Butler, Isaac Tripp, Benjamin Follett, John Jenkins, Timothy Hopkins, David Marvin, William Buck, Benjamin Shoemaker, John Smith, Thomas Dyer, Ebenezer Gray, Jr., Obadiah Gore, Stephen Fuller, Robert Young and Nathaniel Wales, 3d, be and are hereby appointed a committee to assist Major Durkee in ordering and directing in all the affairs relating to the well government of said settlers, and in directing the settling of said lands—till otherwise ordered by the Company."

By the 10th of May, 1770, Wyoming was again in the undisturbed possession of the Yankees, who, apparently, were masters of the situation. Peace reigned. Hope, joy and confidence began to prevail. Planting time had come, and not only was a large quantity of corn planted, but many new improvements were projected, and preparations were begun for distributing the proprietor-settlers throughout the five "settling" towns. As explained on page 515, Vol. I, those towns, or townships, had been located and their boundaries surveyed by David Mead* and his assistants in the Autumn of 1769. The Susquehanna Company having accepted the surveys and directed that the townships should be "laid out" according to them (see page 652)—that is, that each township should be laid out in divisions, which in turn should be subdivided into lots—it was necessary that that work should be done before any individual allotments of land could be made.

* See a subsequent chapter for a sketch of his life.
In order to expedite the work Major Durkee procured the services of Samuel Wallis,* a skilled and experienced surveyor from Philadelphia, who, with his half-brother Joseph Jacob Wallis, had effected in 1769 a settlement on a tract of land on the West Branch of the Susquehanna, within the bounds of The Susquehanna Company's Purchase— although surveyed under a warrant issued from the Provincial Land Office. About the middle of May, 1770, Samuel and Joseph Jacob Wallis were at Shamokin, or Fort Augusta, en route from Philadelphia to their plantation, "Muncy Farm," on the West Branch, and in response to a request from Major Durkee they came up the East Branch of the river to Fort Durkee. It was then that Samuel Wallis ascertained the latitude of the fort, as noted on page 495, Vol. I. (See, also, note below.)

Early in June, 1770, the "town-plot" of Wilkes-Barre" was planned by Major Durkee, and under his direction was surveyed and plotted by Samuel Wallis, assisted by Joseph Jacob Wallis and others. The plot was laid out on the level stretch of land, comprising some 200 acres, lying just north-east of Fort Durkee. The plot was in the form of a parallelogram, its longer sides being parallel with the river. (See the following page.) It was bounded on the north-east by what is now known as North Street ; on the south-east by the present Pennsylvania Avenue ; on the south-west by South Street, and on the north-west by River Street. The parallelogram was intersected by three cross streets, now known as Northampton, Market and Union ; while lengthways it was intersected by Main Street. No names were given to any of these streets until some years later. (See Chapter XXXVI.) River Street was continued for some distance below the town-plot, while Main Street ran south to the'township of Hanover and north to Pittston, and from the beginning was known, for a number of years, as "the main road." In the center of the town-plot was laid out a diamond-shaped space containing four acres and forty-one perches of ground, which remained a part of the common, or public, undivided lands of the township. A few years later this open space received the name of "Center Square", but for some time now it has been known as "Public Square".
The land lying between River Street and the river — upwards of thirty-five acres in extent, and now known as the River Common — also remained a part of the public, undivided lands of the township, and was not included in the town-plot. The town-plot was divided into forty-eight lots ; but as the regulations of The Susquehanna Company required that there should be fifty "town-" or "house-lots" apportioned among the fifty proprietors of the township, it was found necessary to lay two lots outside the town-plot proper. One of these lots, numbered "13", was at the south-east corner of River and South Streets, while the second, which was numbered "26", was at the south-east corner of Main and South Streets. Fortyfive of the lots were parallelograms, while the four lots contiguous to he surveyed for himself, under a Provincial land-warrant—as mentioned above—a tract of land located three miles west of the present borough of Muncy and ten miles east of the present city of Williamsport, in what then was Berks County, later was Northumberland County and now is Incoming County. There, early in 1769, he began the erection of a large and substantial stone dwellinghouse, which was nearly completed in September of the same year and was then occupied by Mr. Walhs and his brother. This building, increased in size and modernized, was still standing a few years ago —the oldest house in I.ycpming County—and probably is in existence now.
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* Samuel Wallis was of Quaker origin, and was born in Elkton, Maryland, about 1730. He received
(see Vol. I, page 451)
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Meginness, in his "History of the West Branch Valley" (1: 844), says :
"Among the noted pioneers of 1769 was Samuel Wallis, who became the most extensive landowner of that time. He was aggressive and venturesome, and acquired one tract after another until he owned over 7,000 acres in one body in Mtincy Valley alone. His famous plantation, known as 'Muncy Farm,' figures more in history than the balance of all his possessions. * *
He was constantly on the lookout for other lands.
There is in existence an ancient draft showing the outlines of a tract of 5.900 acres including the ground on which Jersey Shore, in Lycoming County, is built.
This was surveyed in 1773 on 'orders of survey1 issued in April, 1769."

Samuel Wallis was married March 1, 1770, to I,y li. i, daughter ofjohn Hollingsworth of Philadelphia. Mr. Wallis continued to reside in Philadelphia until the Spring of 1775, spending, however, a considerable
the Wethersfield, Connecticut, as'follows (see Johnson's "Historical Record," III: 70): "Fort Augusta, half a mile south-east of the conflux of the East and West Branches of the Susquehanna, is, by exact observation, in latitude 40°, 53', 32":
Fort Durkee at Wyoming is in 41°, 14', 27"; Buffalo Creek, in 41°, 1'—as taken by Mr. Samuel Wallis, a gentleman of good merit and well known to the Wyoming people, who is now going up with very accurate instruments to take the latitude of 42°, in order to ascertain how far north you extend." (The boundary-line between New York and Pennsylvania was supposed to be coincident with the IL'd parallel of latitude, and the northern boundary of the Connecticut claim was understood to lie there—as previously explained, and as shown on the map near the end of this chapter.)
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January 24,1776
Samuel Wallis was appointed Captain of the 6th Company of the 2d Battalion of the Northumberland County Militia. When the "Big Runaway" occurred in June, 1778 (see Egle's "History of Pennsylvania," pages 574 and 916), Captain Wallis abandoned his improvements on the West Branch and fled with his wife and three children and the other inhabitants of that region to Fort Augusta. Thence the Wallises repaired to Elkton, Maryland, where Mrs. Wallis' parents, the Hollingsworths, were then residing.
The family of Captain Wallis remained at Elkton until some time in 1779 or 1780, when thev joined him at Philadelphia, where they continued to reside until 1785, when they returned to their old'home at "Muncy Farm."
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When Incoming County was erected in 1795 Governor Mifflin appointed Samuel Wallis one of the Associate Judges of the County Courts, and he occupied the bench at the first term of Court, which was held at Jaysburg. Before that time Mr. Wallis had become one of the most noted land speculators of his day, and alone, and in partnership with James Wilson and George Clymer (signers of the Declaration of Independence), Samuel Meredith, and other gentlemen, he owned many thousands of acres of land. Judge Wilson, at the time of his death by suicide in the Summer of 1797, owed Mr. Wallis £88,500 on account of their land deals. Wilson was bankrupt, and his death was the beginning of trouble for Wallis, which culminated in the sacrifice of the latter's magnificent landed estate after his death, which occurred at Philadelphia October 14, 1798. He was on his way home from North Carolina, where he had been on business, and upon reaching Philadelphia he was attacked by yellow fever, which caused his death in a few hours. His business affairs were very much complicated. In addition to his private transactions in land with many Individuals, he had been the agent of the Holland Land Company. Among his numerous land-claims were eighty-four, covering as many tracts (aggregating nearly 34.000 acres) in Luzerne County — chiefly in that part where, a few years later, the townships of Clifford, Nicholson, Abington and Tunkhannock were erected........
......
Samuel Wallis was survived by his wife Lydia (who died at Milton, Pennsylvania, September 4, 1812) and the following-named children : (i) Mary, born at Philadelphia April 25, 1771 ; married in 1800 to Dr. William K. 1, at hey, a native of Exeter, England. (ii) John, born March 20, 1775 ; died at Northumberland, Pennsylvania, September H, 1810. (Hi) Cassandra, born October 6. 1778 ; married to Daniel smith, who was admitted to the Bar of Luzerne County June 1, 1790, as a non-resident attorney, and who in 1802 was residing at Milton, Pennsylvania, engaged in the practise of his profession, (iv) SaraA, born August................married in 1818t o William Miller ; died February28, 1859. at Muncy. Pennsylvania, (vi) Samuel Hollingsworth, born January 18, 1784, at Philadelphia.
He studied medicine, and in March, 1806, at the age of twentytwo years, located in Wilkes-Barre. Under date of April 4, 1806, he advertised in The Luzerne Federalist that he was "about to commence the practice of medicine, surgery, &c.," in Wilkes-Barre— his office being at John P. Arndt's tavern on River Street. April 14, 1808, Dr. Wallis became a member of Lodge No. 61, F. and A. M., Wilkes-Barre1, and in May he advertised a list of drugs "for sale at his shop nearly opposite Benjamin Perry's store." Dr. Wallis seems to have removed from Wilkes-Barre in the following September. April 17, 1807, he was married to Elizabeth Cowden, and later they settled at Dunnstown, Clinton County, Penniylvania, where Dr. Wallis died April 19, 1832. He left a daughter, Mary, wife of Philip Shay, and a son, Cowden Smith Wallis.
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Joseph Jacob Wallis, the half-brother of Samuel Wallis, was married in 1771 or '72 to Elizabeth, daughter of John Lukens. The latter was a native of Horsham, England, and in December, 1761, on the death (lor-I the first white male child born west of Muncy Creek ; he was married to Catharine , and died in1868. (ii) Grace, born in 1777; married in 1797 to Evan Rice Evans (born in 1763). originally of Clay Creek, Maryland, but forja number of years a prominent lawyer at Sunbury, Pennsylvania, where he died in 1813. He wai admitted to the Bar 01 Luzerne County, as a non-resident attorney, in 1804. Mrs. Grace (Wallis) Brans died in 1804, leaving three daughters—Elizabeth, Margaret and Sarah, (iii) Sarah, married prior to 1801 to Daniel Smith, Esq., of Sunbury, Pennsylvania, (iv) Thomas, who became a physician, (v) Gayner, married in 1801 to Enoch Smith, a well-known lawyer of Sunbury, Pennsylvania.
He was admitted to the Bar of Luzerne County about 1798, as a non-resident attorney, (vi) Elizabeth, married to John Evans—younger brother of Evan Rice Evans, mentioned above—in 1804. and located in Wilkes-Barre, where, in the same year, John Evans was admitted to the Bar of Luzerne County. March 10,1806, he became a member of Lodge No. 61, F. and A. M., Wilkes-Barrf. John Evans practised his profession at Wilkes-Barre until 1818, at least, when—his wife having died in 1817—he removed elsewhere.
John and Elizabeth (Wallis) Evans were the parents of the following-named children (all born in Wilkes-Barre): (1) Grace, born in 1805; married to Morgan T. Rhees. (2) Elizabeth Margaret, born in 1807 ; married to John Cooper, Jr. (8) Mary, born in 1809; married to William Erwin. (4) Thomas, born in 1811; married to Annie D. Homar. (5) Margaret Garrett. born in 1813 ; married to Miller Fox. (6) Cassandra, born in 1815; died unmarried. (7) Jane, born in 1817; married to Dr. Henry L- Aitken. (vii) Joseph Jacob, born in 1789. and married in 1813 to Catharine Schaeffer, was the youngest child of Joseph Jacob and Elizabeth (Lukens) Wallis.
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The survey of the town-plot having been completed, the Messrs. Wallis and their assistants proceeded with the surveying and plotting of the remainder of the township of Wilkes-Barre".* It had been previously voted by the proprietors assigned to this township that the lands thereof (comprising about twenty-three square miles,t or nearly 15,000 acres) should be laid out in four divisions, entitled as follows: "1st Division, or Meadow Lots"; "2d Division, or House Lots" (being the town-plot, previously described); "3d Division, or Back Lots"; "4th Division, or Five-acre Lots."
The survey was made according to this plan, and then each division was subdivided into fifty lots (one lot for each proprietor)—excepting the 3d Division, which comprehended fiftyfive lots; being fifty lots for allotment to the proprietors, and five "public" lots as follows: (1) containing about 300 acres, to be appropriated to and bestowed upon "the first settling minister of the gospel"; (2) containing about 300 acres, set apart for "the support of the ministry" after the death, resignation or removal of the first settled minister; (3) containing about 300 acres, to be used for the support of public schools in the township; (4) containing fifty acres, to be the common property of the proprietors, and to be disposed of by their votes: (5) a mill-seat, or -lot, some eight or ten rods in width, lying along the north bank of Mill Creek, and extending from the present bridge at the head of North Main Street to the mouth of the creek—which lot, also, was to be the common property of the proprietors, to be disposed of by their votes.
The 1st Division of Wilkes-Barre' comprised the flats from the bend of the river (near Fort Durkee) to the Wilkes-Barre'-Hanover boundary ; also the flats extending from a point just above Wyoming Falls (see Vol. I, page 37) to the Wilkes-Barre"-Pittston boundary,, together with the rolling uplands to the east of them—the whole forming "Jacob's Plains", described on page 50, Vol. I. The 2d Division comprised the lots in the town-plot, as previously explained. The 3d Division (excepting the "mill-seat" and the "50-acre lot") comprised the lands on the WilkesBarre' Mountain and on the foot-hills along its north-western base, while the 4th Division comprised small parcels of land in various localities within the bounds of the township.

As previously indicated, each of the fifty proprietors of the township of Wilkes-Barre" was entitled to one whole share in the township, which would give him one lot in each of the four divisions—these four lots aggregating about 265 acres of land. As a share in Wilkes-Barre" was a "gratuity" (see page 466, Vol. I), the recipient or holder thereof, being a general proprietor in the Susquehanna Purchase, was entitled in addition to "draw" or be allotted, for each right that he owned in the company, 600 acres (or 300 acres for each half-right) in another township— to be laid out at some time in the future.

This fact is proved, in part, by a paragraph in a letter written at Wilkes-Barr£ July 13.1801, by the Hon. Thomas Cooper and Gen. John .Stcele, Commissioners under the Compromise Act or 1799.
(See originally surveyed in 1770, by Jos. Jac. Wallis and Samuel Walhs ; a part, a very small part, of the draught of this Survey we have obtained. Mr. Cooper has personally applied to Daniel Smith, Esq., of Sunbury, the executor and son-in-law of J. J. Wallis, to procure any copy or field notes of the original survey, but without effect."

t Not "nearly twenty-nine square miles", as erroneously stated on page 517 in Volume I.
While the Messrs. Wallis were surveying Wilkes-Barre", David Mead, assisted by a number of his fellow proprietor-settlers, was surveying the four other "settling" towns—Nanticoke (later Hanover), Pittstown (later Pittston), The Forty (later Kingstown, and now Kingston) and Plymouth. In the meantime the number of settlers was being rapidly increased—many of the proprietors who had been in the valley on previous occasions returning to make another effort to establish themselves in the rich and attractive region ; while a score or more of men from southern Northampton County, southern Pennsylvania, the Minisinks, New York and New England, who were not proprietors in
The Susquehanna Company—drawn to the valley by the surprising accounts which they had heard and read concerning the Pennamite-Yankee contest, so unusual and vigorous in its character—were persuaded, without much difficulty, to buy rights and half-rights in the Susquehanna Purchase from Major Durkee, Captain Butler and others at Wilkes-Barre" who composed "the committee appointed to admit settlers." Among the new proprietors thus secured was Samuel Holden Parsons* of Lyme, Connecticut, who, at Wilkes-Barre, June 13, 1770, paid to Captain Butler "thirteen dollars for one settling right (as per vote of April 20,1770) in the four townships granted by The Susquehanna Company to the 200 first settlers". Mr. Parsons spent only a few days in Wyoming, and then returned to his home in Connecticut.'

* Samuel Holden Parsons (mentioned on pages 485 and 486, Vol. I, and page 637, ante) was born at Lyme, New London County, Connecticut, May 14, 1737, the third son of the Rev. Jonathan Parsons, for some years minister of the Congregational Church in Old Lyme, and later of Newburyport, Massachusetts. Samuel H. Parsons was graduated at Harvard College in 1756, in the same class with Joseph Trumbull (mentioned on page 471, Volume I), and then read law with his maternal uncle, the Hon. Matthew Griswold of Lyme, subsequently Governor of Connecticut. He was admitted to the Bar in 1759, and practised his profession in Lyme (in the meantime representing the town in the General Assembly of the Colony for about ten years) until 1774, when, having been appointed King's Attorney for New London County, he removed to the town of New London. It was he who, in 1773, first suggested to Samuel Adams of Massachusetts the idea of holding a Continental Congress; and June 3, 1774, he moved in the Assembly of Connecticut that representatives from that Colony be sent to such a Congress. (See Vol. I. page 893, 4th paragraph of note.) In April and May, 1775, the 6th Regiment of Connecticut was raised for service at Boston, and Samuel H. Parsons was appointed and commissioned its Colonel. The regiment was in service until December, 1775. In organizing the Connecticut regiments for the campaign of 1776, Colonel Parsons was appointed to command one of them, and with it he was stationed at Roxbury, Massachusetts, until after the evacuation of Boston.

While in camp at Roxbury Colonel Parsons and other American officers who were Free Masons organized at Waterman's Tavern, in Roxbury, an army Lodge of Free Masons, which was warranted February 20, 1776, by the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, under the name of American Union Lodge, No. I. F. and A. M. This Lodge worked in the Continental army until April 23. 1783.
Colonel Parsons was its second Worshipful Master, and Brig. Gen. Benedict Arnold, Col. Samuel Wyllys, Lieut. Col. Hbenezer Gray, Jr., Rufus Putnam (mentioned on page 458, and subsequently a General in the Continental Army, and*later the First Grand Master of Masons of Ohio), Lieut. Col. Isaac Sherman, Maj. William Judd, Lieut. Col. Thomas Grosvenor, Lieut, (later Capt.) Samuel Richards and other Continental officers mentioned in these pages were members of the Lodge. General Washington attended the meetings of the Lodge upon several occasions. Since June 28, 1790, American Union Lodge, No. 1, has been established at Marietta. Ohio, being the oldest Masonic Lodge in the United States west of the Alleghenies.

Early in August, 1776, Colonel Parsons was appointed by Congress "a Brigadier General of the army of the United States," and in October, 1780, he was promoted Major General. He was the ranking officer of the board that tried and condemned Major Andre at Tappan, New Y'ork, September 20, 1780. For his successful attack on the British troops at Morrisania, New Y'ork, in 1781, Congress requested General Washington to express to him their thanks.
He was an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati, and subsequently became President of the Connecticut branch of the Society. Upon the establishment of peace in 1783 General Parsons opened a law office in Middletown, Connecticut, and was admitted to the Bar of Hartford County. He was mainly instrumental in having the county of Middlesex erected, with Middletown as its county-seat, in 1785. In the same year he traveled to the Ohio region, and in January, 1786, in connection with Generals George R. Clark and Richard Butler, held a treaty with the Indiana near the mouth of the Great Miami. (See Vol. I, page 131.) In October, 1787, he was appointed by Con
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§ress the first Judge of the territory north-west of the Ohio, but did not go forward to enter upon the Dties of his office until he had taken part in the Connecticut State convention which adopted the Federal Constitution in January, 1788. Later in that year he. Gen. Rufus Putnam and other New England soldiers founded Marietta, the oldest town in what is now the State of Ohio. General Parsons was accidentally drowned November 17,1789, while descending the rapids of the Great Beaver Creek, Ohio.
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Samuel H. Parsons was married at Lyme, Connecticut, September 10, 1761, to Mehetabel, eldest child of Richard and Deborah (Ely) Mather of Lyme, and they became the parents of several children who grew to maturity.
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Under the nght which he owned in the Susquehanna Purchase Samuel H. Parsons was allotted certain lands in Plymouth Township. Prior to November, 1773, he sold "House Lot No. 5, one-half of Meadow tot No. 5, and one-half of Meadow Lot No. 8—Lower Tier of Lots in Plymouth," to Seth Marvin formerly of Lyme but then of Wilkes-Barre ; and November 29, 1773, Seth Marvin sold the same lands for £100 to Crocker Jones, then of Wilkes-Barre. September 1,1789, "Samuel Holden Parsons, of the city of Marietta, Washington County," [Ohio], sold for $100. "all his title in a certain right of land in Plymouth Township" to Arnold Colt, then of Wilkes-Barrg, but formerly of Lyme.
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Among the original early Wyoming documents now in the possession of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society is "A List of the Proprietors of the Five Townships, 17th June, 1770."
This list of 283 names, which was prepared at Wilkes-Barr£ on or about the date indicated, is presumed to comprise the names of all the proprietor-settlers of The Susquehanna Company then on the ground here. The following is a copy of the same, and it is now printed for the first time.
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(In the original the word "Com1**" is affixed to the names of those who composed the "Committee of Settlers," mentioned on page 652.)
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"Alden, Prince
A very, Christopher
Ashley, Benjamin
Ayres, Peter
Atherton, James
Arnold, Ephraim
Atherton, Asahel
Angell, Daniel
Butler, Capt. Zebulon

—Com'tt
Bingham, Abisha
Belding, Ezra
Buell, Ezra
Ball, Francis
Bennit, Tho?
Budd, John
Budd, Benjn
Bennit, Joshua
Bennit, Benjn
Buck, Jonathan
Buck, Lieut. Win.—Com''*
Baker, John
Babcock, Elisha
Babcock, John
Brockway, Richard
Bennit, Isaac
Beach, Nathan
Brown, Daniel
Baker, Coonrod
Barney, John
Buck, Asahel
Buck, Aholiab
Bingham, Silas
Bidlack, James
Beck with, David
Buck, Elijah
Briggs, Wm.
Cram, Silas—Esqr
Collings, John
Comstock, Win.
Canhoron, John
Carpenter, Wm.
Clark, Jacob
Cary, Eleazar
Canhoron, Hugh
Comstock, John
Cypher, Andrew
Carrington, Jonathan
Cook, Jacob
Cary, John (A boy)
Cook, Jabez
Clark,
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Corey, Jenks
Comstock, Peter
Carey, John
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Cheeseborough, Sylvester
Carter, Lukens
Churchill, Wm.
Durkee, Maj. John—
Draper, Major Simeon
Dean, Josiah
Belong, John
Dole, Edmund
Dean, Jonathan
Denison, Nathan
Downing, Jonathan
Durkee, John—Jr.
Davis, Reuben
Dart, William
Dorchester, Benj?
Dorrance, John
Durkee, Oliver
Dyer, Thomas—Com*''
Ely, George
Elison, Wm.
Ewings, James
Espy, George
Espy, John
Follett, Benj? —
Fish, Thos
Fish, Jabez
Farnum, Levi
Farnum, Reuben
French, Tho»
Faulk, Jacob
Forsyth, James
Franklin, Roasel
Farrins, Nicholas
Fuller, Stephen—
Farnum, Ebenezer
Frink, Joseph
Frazier, Robert
Franklin, John
Gallow, Francis
- Gallup, Wm.
Gore, Asa
Gaylord, Samuel
Gardner, Peregreen
Grimes, James
Grimes, James—Jr.
Geers, James
Goss, Philip
Gore, Silas
Goss, Nathaniel
Gaylord, Joseph
Gore, Daniel
Gaylord, Timothy
Gold, Samuel
Gore, Obadiah—Com<"
Gore, Obadiah—Jr.
Gray, Ebenezer—Jr.
— Com'? Hopkins, Deacon Timothy

—Com'?
Hunter, Robert
Hopkins, James
Hopkins, David—Esq.
Harris, Elijah
Hibbard, Ebenezer
Hyde, Ichabod
Harper, Adam
Holliuback, Matthew
Hane, Ronemous
Hotchkiss, Saml.
Harris, Asher
Holly, Danl.
Haines, Daniel
Hopkins, Timothy—Jr.
Hopkins, Ichabod
Hopkins, Robert
Heffelfinger, Jacob
Hungerford, Stephen
Holly, John
Harris, Josiah
Heffelfinger, Henry
Hibbard, Wm.
Hedsell, James
Hopson, Jordan
Hibbard. Moses
Izehower, Peter
Jenkins, Stephen
Johnson, Edward
Jones, Crocker
Jones, Israel
Jenkins, Jonathan
Jolly, John
Jenkins, Palmer
Johnson, Solomon
Jones, Asa

Jenkins, John—Comtef
Jameson, John
Kenne, Jesse
Kidd, Peter
Kidd, Robert
Kenne, Daniel
Killam, John
Ludington, Asa .....
Lard, John
Lyons, Asa
Leonard, Wm.
Lee, Stephen
Marvin, Capt. David
—Com"?
Mecan, Robert
Meniger, Daniel
Mead, David
McDonnor, John
McDonnel, John
McKee, George
Mead, Ely [Eli]
Morse, Joseph
Messenger, Saml.
Marvin, Uriah
Minard, George
Murphy, John
Montgomery, John
Manvil. Nicholas
Mead, Darius
Metcalf, Andrew
McClure, Tho?
Mosely, Peabody
Marvin, Matthew
McCoy, Ephraim
Matthews, Benjn
Neal, Joseph
Nisbitt, James
Olcott, Jedidiah
Olcott, Samuel
Pupp, John
Phillips, Nicholas
Pel ton, Samuel
Pelton, Gideon
Pelton, Paul
Palmer, Daniel
Palmer, Joseph
Philip, Coonrod
Park, Capt. Silas
Post, Eldad.
Perkins, John
Peirce, John
Parkes, Nehemiah
Rood, Michael
Robinson, John
Robinson, Tho?
Reker, Caspar
Ray, James
Roberts, Gideon
Reynolds, Benjamin
Ray, William
Roberts, Jabez
Roberts, Elias
Reed, Noah
Simpson, John—Com("
_ Stewart, Capt. Lazarus
. Stewart, William
~- Stewart, James
- Stewart, Lazarus—Jr.
Seaman, Peter
Stager, Adam
Stagard [Stager], Jacob
Stilly, John
Shawley, Luke
Salt, John
Stephens, John
Smith, Oliver
Shelman, Lodowick
Smith, Timothy
Skinner, Joseph
Shaw, John
Smith, Frederick
Strong, Henry
Skeels, John
Shaw, Ichabod
Smith, Revd Matthew
Stewart, Oliver
Stover, Adam
Starling, Jacob
Starling, John
Sill, Jabez
Story, Saml.
Stark, Christopher
Spencer, Caleb
Spencer, John
Stark, Aaron
Stearns, Ebenezer
Smith, Lemuel
Sealy, Samuel
Tripp, Isaac—Comtf
Terry, Parshall
Thomson, Hugh
Taylor, Preserved
Tracy, Zevan
Tidd, Zopher
Thomas, Benin
Vandegor, John Henry
Vandegor, Felix .
Vincent, Cornelius
Verpilion, Francis
Walter, Aaron
White, Henry
Windecker, Henry
Wyley, John
White, William
Walker, George
Williams, Thomas
Weeks, Jonathan
Weeks, Thomas
Warner, Isaac
Wilder, Aaron
Whittlesey, Asaph
Warner, William
Woodworth, Douglas
Walter, Joseph
Weeks, Philip
Wales, Nathaniel—Com'"
Walworth, Thos
Williams, Timothy
Williams, Zopher
Williams, Enos
Westover, Theophilus
Young, Robert—Com'''
Young, Lazarus
Young, William
Young, Robert—Jr.
Yale, Enos
Yale, Ozias"
Peirce, Abel
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While the townships were being surveyed the settlers not engaged in that task were industriously employed at various points in the valley clearing up land for agricultural and other purposes. All were busy. Fort Durkee was still the dwelling-place of all the settlers, as it was not yet considered safe to separate them into small bodies and locate them throughout the valley—thereby inviting further attacks from the Pennamites.

Capt. Zebulon Butler, in conformity with the rule laid down by The Susquehanna Company (see page 652, ante), set up a trading-house at the fort, where, as circumstances and the Pennamites permitted, he trafficked in a small way from March till September, 1770, with the Yankee settlers at Wyoming and with the few Indians who semi-occasionally visited the valley. In his account-books we find the following charges within the period mentioned : "The Susquehanna Proprietors Dr. to expense of provisions for prisoners at Wyoming, ; paid

T. French for whisky in the siege, £3, llsh. 6d.; paid Mead for whisky,
30sh.; 3 bbls. flour, ; 20 galls, rum, ; paid George Espy for powder,
30sh.; 6 Ibs. of bread for prisoners in April, 2sh.; 1 qt. of whisky for raising guard-house, ; to victualling eighteen Indians, 18sh.; to 18 drams, one bus. wheat and one bus. corn (for Indians), lOsh." In March, 1770,
"Lazarus Young Dr. to 35sh. cash ; one shirt, 15sh.; one fourth pound of powder, Ish. 3d." "Peregreen Gardner, Cr. by four bus. corn @ 3sh. 6d." "Wilks Barry, April 23, 1770—Asa Ludington Dr. to one pair of shoes, 8sh. 6d." May 7, 1770, Aaron Wilder and five others each debtor to one pair of shoes, @ 9sh. "Wilks Barre, July 6, 1770, John McDonnor Dr. to flour, molasses, beef, shirt, shoes and tobacco delivered February 14, 1770 ; and Dr. to his board and expenses from February 12 to July 6, 1770." Also charges—for sugar, paper, rum, whisky, toddy, cordial, cash, scythes, molasses, flour, powder, lead, salt, etc.—against the following-named :

Peter Ayers, James Atherton, Ephraim Arnold, Silas Bingham, Abisha Bingham, Nathan Beach, Elisha Babcock, Lieut. William Buck, "Mr. George Beckwith" (only two charges, and each for "£ Ib. powder"),

Capt. Grain, John Comstock, Capt. John Ceilings, Sylvester Chesebrough. Eleazar Gary, Jonathan Carrington, Jenks Corey, Nathan Denison, Jonathan Dean, Maj.John Durkee, Reuben Davis, Maj. Simeon Draper, John De Long, Benjamin Espy, Josiah Espy, John Espy, Stephen Fuller, Roasel Franklin, Ebenezer Farnum, Levi Farnum, James Forsyth, Joseph Frink, "The Frenchman", Capt. Benjamin Follett, Reuben Farnum, John Franklin, David Fowler, Jabez Fish, Peregreen Gardner, William Gallup, James Geers, James Grimes, Philip Goss, Daniel Gore, Samuel Gaylord, Jordan Hopson, Peter Harris, Hopkins, Samuel Hopkins, William Hurl but, Elijah Harris, John Holly, Daniel Holly, Solomon Johnson, Israel Jones, John Jenkins, John Jameson, John Jolly, Jonathan Jenkins, Asa Ludington, Asa Lyon, George Minard, Richard Manning, Ephraim McCoy, Thomas McClure, John McDonnor, Capt. David Marvin, John Murphy, "Samuel Moore(an Indian)", Darius Mead, Manvil, Jedidiah Olcott, Short Olcott,

Paul Pelton, John Perkins, David Phillips, Abel Peirce, Gideon Pelton, James Ray, Robert Rath, William Stewart, Jabez Sill, Lemuel Smith, John Starling, Oliver Smith, Ichabod Shaw, Lazarus Stewart, Jr., "Isaac Tripp, Esq.", Parshall Terry, Francis Verpilion, Aaron Wilder,

Isaac Warner, Thomas Weeks, William Warner, Wells and Robert Young.
In compliance with the vote of The Susquehanna Company (see page 652, ante), the Standing Committee arranged with the Rev. George Beckwith, Jr.,* of Lyme, Connecticut, an "orthodox minister of the Gospel," to repair to Wyoming to officiate as pastor for the settlers. He arrived at Fort Durkee about the last of June, 1770, and continued there in the performance of his duties until the latter part of September, when the Yankees and their adherents were all driven from the valley—as is fully described hereinafter.
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* George Beckwith, Jr., was born at l.yim-, New London County.Connecticut, about 1741, the eldest son of the Rev. George Beckwith, Sr., and his wife Sarah, daughter of Nathaniel and Sarah (Bacon) Brown of Middletown, Connecticut. George Beckwith, Sr.. was born at Lyme in 1703, the son of Matthew Beckwith, Jr., who was a seaman and who resided for awhile in Guilford, Connecticut, then in New London and finally in Lyme. where he died June 4, 1727. George Beckwith, Sr., was graduated at Yale College in 1728, and January '22,1730, was ordained the first pastor of the Congregational Church then lately organized in the North Parish, or North Society, of Lyme, now called Hamburg. (See page 1)35.) In .March, 1755, he was appointed by the General Assembly of Connecticut, and commissioned by Governor Fitch, "Chaplain for the regiments ordered to be raised" for the expedition against Crown Point (see page 297, Vol. I), and in September, 1755, he was present at the battle of Lake George. He referred to it subsequently in one of his published sermons in these words : "I was myself an eye-witness of that great action, and saw the salvation of the Lord on that day, the particulars of which are carefully recorded in my journal of that expedition." Annually in March, from 1758 to 1761, inclusive, he was appointed and commissioned Chaplain of the 1st Regiment of Connecticut troops, and served in the campaigns against the French and Indians described on pages 481 and 482, Vol. I. From June 28, 1788, till September 10, 1777—when he resigned the office on account of infirmity—he was a Fellow of Yale College. During the course of his long and active life Mr. Beckwith published a number of sermons and essays. In 1762 and again in 1773 he was Moderator of the General Association of the Congregational Churches of Connecticut. He continued as the active pastor of the North Lyme Church until October, 1787. when he became emeritus pastor and the Rev. David Higgins succeeded him as pastor. Mr. Beckwith died at Lyme December 26, 1794, and his wife died there January 3,1796.

In the year 1759—as shown by an original muster-roll in the Connecticut State Library, and by an original receipt-book in the collections of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society (see the last paragraph on page 635, ante,)—George Beckwith, Jr., then eighteen years of age, was a private in the 9th Company (commanded by Capt. Zebulon Butler) of the 4th Regiment of Connecticut troops. With his younger brother, Nathaniel Brown Beckwith, George Beckwith, Jr., was graduated a Bachelor of Arts at Yale College in 1766, and in 1769 received from the college the degree of Master of Arts. One of his college classmates was Jared Ingersoll, Jr. (son of the Hon. Jared Ingersoll mentioned on page 483, Vol. I), as a preacher at "Wyoming in the Susquehanna country, where he arrived with the Colony called the 'First Forty,' in February^ J769. He remained there till late in 1770." The latter part of this statement— which is based on a somewfial similar statement made in PearceTs "Annals of Luzerne County" (page 278)—is, of course, erroneous, as Mr. Beckwith did not come to Wyoming Valley until June, 1770, and he left in the following September, as mentioned above. A tutorship in Yale College was offered him in October, 1770, states Mr. Dexter, but was not accepted.
From the journals of the Moravian missionaries* at FriedenshfMen (previously mentioned) we glean the following, under the date of June 16,1770:

"There arrived here two Mohawks, sent by the Six Nations with a message and a belt to the New Englanders at Wyoming, to the effect that if they, the New Englanders, delayed evacuating the valley they [the Mohawks] would come down and take them by the hair of their heads and shake them. Colonel Croghanf and Dr. Forbes here, and left soon for Wyoming."

Whether or not the Mohawks above referred to continued their journey to Wyoming, we are unable to state.

About the middle of June—the work of surveying the five "settling" townships being well under way—the matter of assigning to the several townships the various proprietor-settlers then on the ground was accomplished ; whereupon some of the proprietors (not singly, but in bands and companies) began to make improvements in their respective townships—continuing, however, to dwell at Fort Durkee, to which place of safety they returned each evening.

The surveying and plotting of the township of Wilkes-Barre' having been completed in the manner previously described, a "drawing of lots" took place at Fort Durkee on Friday, June 29th. Slips of paper, upon which were written the names of the township proprietors present to participate in the drawing, were placed in a hat, while in another hat were deposited slips bearing the numbers—"1" to "50"—of all the lots in a particular division of the township. Then from the one hat a "number" slip was drawn, and simultaneously a "name" slip was drawn from the other hat, and to the bearer of the name thus drawn the lot corresponding to the number which "came out" was formally allotted. This process was carried out with respect to the distribution of the lots in each of the four divisions of the township. Owing, however, to the destruction and loss of many of the early records of The Susquehanna Company and of the township of Wilkes-Barre", we are unable to give any detailed information concerning the distribution of the WilkesBarre' lots on June 29, 1770, beyond what is contained in an original document prepared on or shortly after that date, and now in the possession of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society. A copy of that document is here printed for the first time, as follows :

October 'JJ. 1772, the Rev. George Beckwitht.Jr., "was ordained to the pastoral care of the Second Congregational Church in fh'e town of IJtchfield, Litchfield. County, Connecticut. The Rev. George Beckwith, Sr., of I^yme, preached a sermon suitable to the occasion, arid gave the charge." Mr. Beckwith was the first pastor of this Church, which was located in the parish of I,itchfield South Farms, now M. n ris. "His career as a clergyman," states Mr. Dexter, "was clouded by some misconduct, which led to his dismissal in 1781." Shortly afterwards he removed to Great Barrington, Massachusetts, where he engaged in the practise of medicine, returning, however, in the course of a few years to I.itchfu-M South Farms. In 1790 he was expelled from the Church there on account of drunkenness. About 1807. he removed to Triangle Township, Broqme Comity^New York, where he resided with his son George until his death—which occurred in October,~182?,Trom a stroke oT paralysis. For a considerable period prior to his death he was partially deranged. He was married about 1774_to Rachel, daughter of Capt. John and Sarah (Webster) Marsh of LHchfield, Connecticut, who died at Triangle, Nanr Vnrlr. in May 1825 ag-fd eighty-two years. "Besides the «on George mentioned above two daughters, at least, were born to the Rev. George Beckwith, Jr., and his wife Rachel.

.*See "Transactions of the Moravian Historical Society," 1: 200. fCol. George Croghan, mentioned on page 347, Vol. I.

"draft OF The Lorrs as they came out by Lottery of the 2D Division* in the Town of Wilks Barre.
Ely Mead, No. 26. James Geers, No. 29.
Ebenezer Hibbard, " 42. Aaron Wilder, " 8.
James Bidlack, " 33. Reuben Farnum, " 39.
Daniel Brown, " 48. Isaac Bennit, " 19.
Daniel Gore, " 20. Jabez Fish, " 13.
Peregreen Gardner, " 36. John Collins, " 1.
Henry Heffelfinger, " 50. Asa Gore, " 2.
Samuel Pelton, " 7. Daniel Hanes, " 9.
Silas Gore, " 27. Asa Ludington, ' 44.
Jonathan Weeks, " 15. William Warner, " 43.
Robert Hopkins, " 18. David Mead, " 31.
George Minard, " 40. Stephen Fuller, " 16.
Ichabod Downing, " 46. James Grimes, " 12.
David Beckwith, " 3. Joseph Morse, " 32.
John Stephens. " 25. Levi Farnum, " 28.
Frederick Smith, " 4. William Comstock, " 14.
Andrew Cypher, " 6. Thomas Fish, " 21.
Ichabod Hyde, . " 5. Ebenezer Farnum, " 24.

"The above is a true entry of the Draft of Lotts as they came up against the several namesf at the meeting June 29th, A. D. 1770. [Signed] "christ AvERY.J Clerk."

* Sec the draft of tbe town-plot (the "2d Division") on page 055.
fit will be noticed that the names of only thirty-six men appear in this list. Whether or not those men were the only proprietors who, at that time, had been assigned to Wilkes-Barre, it is now impossible to tell. It would appear, however, from the following minute recorded on page 580 of Boole "C" of the original transactions of The Susquehanna Company (referred to on page 28, Vol. I), that in 1770 there was at least one other proprietor who had drawn lots in Wilkes-Barre.

"Whereas Jonathan Hebard of Windham, in the State of Connecticut, has stated to the Commissioners of The Susquehanna Company that he settled at Wilksbarre in 1766 ; that he was there a settler a great part of two years, when he found a certain Conrad Baker to do his duty, who was accepted by the

, ,

Committee. That he drew a right throughout the town of Wilksbarre ; that said Conrad being taken prisoner the lot was assigned to some other person ; that said Jonathan could never gain his said right. That he also did sundry services for the Company, for which he hath not had compensation — and he now applies for compensation in lands elsewhere. It is therefore agreed by the Commissioners that the said Jonathan Hebard have liberty to lay out to his own use 1,000 acres upon any of the unappropriated lands in the Compauy 's Purchase. Certified by order of the Commissioners at Athens, 20 June, 1795.

[Signed] "john Franklin, Clerk."

: Christopher Avbry (mentioned on pages 512, 515 and 629, and on subsequent pages), was a native of Groton, New London County, Connecticut, being fifth in descent from Christopher A very of Gloucester, Massachusetts. This Christopher was one of the Selectmen of Gloucester between 1646 and 1654. About 1665 he removed to New London, Connecticut, where he purchased a house and lot in the town-plot. In October, 1669, he was made a freeman. He died before 1685. His son James, who was born in England in 1620 and came with his father to Gloucester, and removed thence to New London in 1650, settled between 1660 and 1670 in that part of the town of New London known as Poquonock (on the east side of the River Thames) and which in May, 1706, was erected into the town of Groton. James Avery took an important part in the affairs of New London. He was Townsman for twenty-three years up to 1680. He was successively Ensign, Lieutenant and Captain of a train-band in the town, and*^ was in active service in King Philip's War in 1675. Prior to 1680 he served twelve times as a Deputy from New London in the General Court, or Assembly, of Connecticut. Captain Avery built at Poquonock (Groton) the house known as "The Hive of the Averys," and which stood there until only a few years ago. The site of thisold homestead was marked in 1900 by a handsome memorial erected by the descendants of Captain Avery. He was married November 10, 1643, to Johanna Greenslade, and they became the parents of nine children. Captain Avery died at Poquonock in 1700.

Samuel Avery, the youngest child of Capt. James and Johanna (Greenslade) Avery, was born at New London August 14, 1664. The first town-meeting of Groton was held in December, ITOo, and Samuel Avery acted as Moderator. At that meeting he was chosen First Townsman, and thereafter was annually rechosen to that office until near the time of his death in 1723. In 1709, '16, '18 and '19 he was a Representative from Groton to the General Court of the Colony. In May, 1716, he was established and commissioned Captain of the Groton train-band. In 1718 Captain Avery was chosen Town Clerk of Groton and in that office he served until his death, when he was succeeded by Lieut. Christopher Avery. The wife of Capt. Samuel Avery was Susannah Palmes, and they were the parents of several children— one of whom. Col. Christopher Avery (born February 10, 1697 ; died January 17, 1768), was a Representative from Groton in the General Assembly of Connecticut from 1738 to 1764, inclusive.

Humphrey Avery, a younger sou of Capt. Samuel and Susannah (Palmes) Avery, was born July 4, 1699, in what is now Groton. From 1732 to 1743, inclusive, he was one of the Deputies from Groton to I lie General Assembly. He was a skilled surveyor, and in 1733 was appointed by the General Assembly one of tbe Surveyors of Lands in and for New London County. From 1735 to 1751, inclusive, he was a Justice of the Peace in and for New London County. In 1787 he was one of the Commissioners for Connecticut appointed "to perambulate" the Connecticut-Rhode Island boundary-Hue. About 1744 or '45 Humphrey Avery removed with his family from Groton to the town of Preston, adjoining Norwich, in New London County, and in 1747 he was a Deputy from Preston to the Genera] Assembly. In the "Colonial Records of Connecticut," IX : 537. we find in the proceedings of the General Assembly for May, 1760, the following : "Upon a memorial of Humphrey Avery of Preston, shewing to this Assembly the great difficulty and distress himself and family are brought to by his dwelling-house and household goods, cloaths, &c., being consumed by fire ; praying for relief from this Assembly. Resolved by this Assembly that the memorialist have out of the publick treasury of this Colony the sum of £2,100 in bills of credit of the old tenor on the Colony of Rhoae Island or New Hampshire, for the space of two years_, interest free — provided he give bond with good and sufficient sureties * * for the repayment of the like sum at the expiration of said two years." Mr. Avery repaid this loan in 1754.

In October, 1752, Capt. William Witter was appointed by the General Assembly Surveyor of Lands in and for New London County "instead of Mr. Humphrey Avery, who ha* moved away." (See "Colonial

At Easton, Pennsylvania, only a few days before the abovementioned drawing of lots took place, the "Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace and Gaol Delivery in and for the County of Northampton" convened, and action was taken with reference to the alleged riots at Wyoming—which was probably the most important business of the term. Amos Ogden, John Murphy, Charles Stewart, Alexander Patterson, John Dick and Thomas Craig were examined under oath by the Grand Jury, whereupon that body made a presentment to the Court, the formal document being drawn up by the Hon. Andrew Allen, Attorney General of Pennsylvania, and reading, in part, as follows* :

"The Grand Inquest * * do present that Lazarus Stewart, late of the same County, yeoman, John Durkeb, late of the same County, yeoman, and John Cochran, late of the same County, yeoman, and divers others persons to this Inquest as yet unknown, on the 30th day of April, in the year of our Lord, 1770, at Wyoming, in the County aforesaid, did unlawfully, riotously and routously assemble and gather together to disturb the Peace of our said Lord the King ; and so being then and there assembled and gathered together, in and upon one John Murphy, in the peace of God and our said Lord the King then and there being, unlawfully, riotously and routously did make an assault, and him the said John Murphy unlawfully, riotously and routously did beat, wound and ill treat, so that of his life it was greatly despaired ; * * and without legal warrant or justifiable cause did imprison and detain for the space of sixteen days."



Records of Connecticut," X : 149.) Humphrey Avery undoubtedly lived in Wlndham County, Connecticut, from 1753 till 1759. In the year last mentioned he located in the town of Norwich, New London County, and there he resided until within a few years of his death, when he moved back to Groton. From 1730 to 1773, inclusive, he was a Justice of the Peace in and for New London County. May 14, 1772, he wrote from Norwich to Capt. Zebulon Butler at Wilkes-Barre as follows : "Christopher, Samuel and William [Avery] intend soon to be with you, and mean to plant what they can. Remember me to Mr. Johnson, * * and be kind to Mr. Johnson." (This was the Rev. Jacob Johnson, formerly minister of the Groton Congregational Church, and then at Wilkes-Barre.) Humphrey Avery died at Groton March 28, 1788. His wife was Jerusha Morgan, and they were the parents of ten sons who "were great travelers and land-owners. They all owned land—some in New Hampshire, some in Vermont, others in Pennsylvania and others in New York."

Solomon, son of Humphrey and Jerusha (Morgan) Avery, was born at Groton June 17, 1729. He settled in Norwich about the time his father removed there, and from Norwich he immigrated to Wyoming Valley. In the Summer of 1772 he drew Lot No. 36 in the town-plot of Wilkes-Barre (see page (i>5), and lots in the three other divisions of the township. May 15,1780, he was admitted a proprietor in the township of Putnam in the Susquehanna Purchase. In 1786 he was residing in the township of WilkesBarre. but a few years later he removed with his family to Putnam Township, then in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. May 8, 1798, he deeded to his sons Solomon, Miles, Stephen, Punderson and Henry part of Lot No. 11 in Putnam Township. Another of his sons—who was then residing in Putnam Township—was Cyrus Avery. Solomon Avery died in Putnam Township—at what is now Tunkhannock, Wyoming County, Pennsylvania—December 23, 1798. In September, 1799, his son Miles resided at Great Barrington, Massachusetts, and Henry resided at Livingston, Columbia County, New York.

Samuel, son of Humphrey Avery, was born at Groton October 17, 1731. In 1762 he was still living in Groton, but prior to October, 1769" (see page 518, Vol. I) he had removed to Norwich. In the Summer of 1772 he removed from Norwich to Wilkes-Barre. In The Luzerne Federalist (Wilkes-Barre) of April 4. 1803, it was stated that "the first man who made a fence and cut a road in Wilkesbarre'' was Samuel Avery, who then (1803) resided at or near Tioga Point (now Athens), Pennsylvania. This statement, undoubtedly, is erroneous. How long Samuel Avery remained in Wyoming Valley we are unable to state. In 1796 he was an inhabitant of Vermont (see further in a subsequent chapter), but about 1796 he removed to Tioga Point, abovementioned. He was the author of a pamphlet of 150 pages which was printed at Wilkes-Barre in 1803 by Asher and Charles Miner, and which was entitled : "The Susquehanna Controversey Examined ; the material objection against the Connecticut title or claim answered, with some general reasoning on the whole matter (done with truth and candour)." Samuel Avery died at Owego, New York, August 14,1805.

Christopher Avkry. son of Humphrey and Jerusha (Morgan) Avery, was born at Groton May 3, 1739. He removed with his parents to Preston, and in 1758 or '59 accompanied them to Norwich, where he

of land were laid out to Christopher Avery in Putnam Township in 1776. Christopher Avery came to Wyoming from Norwich in May, 1789, with the company of settlers led by Major Durkee. (See page 487.) He was not here, apparently, in 1771, nor in the Spring of 1772, but arrived at Wilkes-Barre June 18, 1772— from which time until his death he resided here, and was active in the affairs of the settlement. At the drawing of lots in Wilkes-Barre in 1772 Jordan Hopson drew Lot No. 41 in the town-plot (see page 655) and lots in the other divisions of the township. Later in that year Hopson's rights were forfeited, and Christopher Avery became the possessor of the lots in question. A few years later Mr. Avery became the owner, also, of Lot No. 2 in the town-plot of Wilkes-Barre, and after his death his administrator sold the

Colt for $2,660. Christopher Avery was one of the original Ensigns of the 24th Regiment, Connecticut Militia. (See Chapter XII.) He was killed at the battle of Wyoming, July 3, 1778, and at the time of his death was one of the Justices of the Peace in and for the county of Westmoreland. His brother Solomon was appointed administrator of his estate, the inventory of which (real and personal), made September 22, 1778, amounted to £1,099, llsh. So far as known Christopher Avery was never married. (For further mention of him see other pages in this history.)

William Avery, a settler at Wyoming, whose name is mentioned several times in these pages, was a brother of Samuel, Solomon and Christopher Avery. He was born at Groton Septemer 13,1726, and was married at Preston, Connecticut, September 27,1749, to Hannah Meach. They had children, Cynthia, Jerusha, William, Humphrey. Elisha, and perhaps others. William Avery came to Wilkes-Barre in the latter part of 1772 or early in 1773. His name appears in the "rate bills", or tax lists, "for Wilkesbarre District" for the yean 1776, 1777,1778 and 1781—the only lists of that early period now in existence, so far as known. It is doubtful (judging by the tax list) if any of his immediate family were here with him in 1781. He was still here in September, 1782, at which time he became surety for Daniel Dana, Administrator of the estate of Anderson Dana, deceased. William Avery was a private in the 24th Regiment, Connecticut Militia, and was at the battle of Wyoming, July 3, 1778. In the following October he was at the Wyoming Post (Wilkes-Barre) under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Butler. (See Chapters XV and XVI.) He removed from Wyoming Valley to northern Vermont probably about 1785 or'86.

* See "Pennsylvania Archives," Second Series, XVIII: 615.

The records of the Court show that Major Durkee subsequently appeared, pleaded "not guilty," and put "himself upon the County."

At Philadelphia, June 28, 1770, the day before the Wilkes-Barre" lands were distributed by lottery, Gov. John Penn issued the following proclamation,* which was printed, not only in the newspapers of Philadelphia, but in the form of a broadside, copies of which were duly distributed throughout eastern Pennsylvania.

"WHEREAS, a number of Persons, chiefly of the Colony of Connecticut, have lately, as well as at different Times heretofore, without any License or Grant from the Honorable the Proprietaries of this Province, or authority from this Government, made Attempts to possess themselves of and settle upon a large Tract of Land within the known Limits of this Province, lying at and between Wyoming, on the River Susquehanna, and Cushietunk on the River Delaware.

"AND Whereas, I have lately received intelligence that divers People of the said Colony of Connecticut have persuaded and enveigled many of the Inhabitants of this Province to join them, and with their Assistance have, with Force and Arms, in the most hostile and warlike -manner, not only possessed themselves of the lands at and near Wyoming, * * but have also, in the same hostile and warlike manner, driven and expelled from their lawful Settlements and Possessions divers Persons there settled by lawful Authority under the said Proprietaries, burned their Houses, killed their Cattle and other stock, destroyed their other Effects, and imprisoned the persons of many of them, in open Defiance of all Law and Justice.

"wherefore, as well to assert the just Rights of the Proprietaries of this Province to the said Lands, as to warn and prevent any of the Inhabitants of this Province from being unwarily drawn in to join the said Intruders in prosecuting their illegal settlements, I have, by and with the advice of the Council, judged it proper to issue this my Proclamation, hereby strictly enjoining and requiring, in His Majesty's Name, all and every Person and persons already settled and residing on the said lands without the license of the Proprietaries or authority from this Government, immediately to evacuate their settlements and to depart and remove themselves off and from the said lands without delay. And I do hereby forbid all His Majesty's subjects of this or any other Province * * to intrude upon, settle or possess any of the aforesaid lands or any other lands within the limits of this Province, without the express permission of this Government—as they will answer the contrary at their peril. * *

"AND I Do Hereby Declare, that all and every person or persons who have joined or shall join the said intruders in supporting or holding their present illegal and unjust possessions, or in making further settlements within this Province, shall not only be deprived of the benefit of taking up any lands within this Province, but shall be treated with the utmost strictness in respect to any lands they have heretofore taken up, or do possess under the said Proprietaries, which have not been fully paid for. And I do hereby strictly charge, enjoin and require all Magistrates, Sheriffs and other officers, as well as all other His Majesty's liege subjects within this Province, to exert themselves and use their utmost endeavors to prosecute and bring to Justice all offenders in the premises."
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At the same time the Governor issued special commissions to Col. Turbutt Francisf and Capt. Samuel Hunter^—both residing at Fort Augusta, then within the bounds of the county of Berks—appointing them Justices of the Peace in and for said county.

*See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," IX: 679.
f Mentioned on page 489, Vol. I. According to a statement made by Tench Coxe, Esq., in 1800 (see "Pennsylvania Archives," Second Series, XVIII: 740), Colonel Francis died in 1777.
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t Samobl Hunter, mentioned on page 419, Vol. I, was born in county Donegal, Ireland, in 1782. He was commissioned Captain in the Pennsylvania service November 10, 1763, and served in the Bouquet campaign of 1764. He resided at or near Fort Augusta (now Sunbury), Pennsylvania, from 1763, at least, until his death in April, 1781. February 8, 1776, he was commissioned Colonel of the 1st Battalion, Northumberland Associators (Pennsylvania Militia), and from March 21, 1777, till his death he held the office of County Lieutenant of Northumberland County, with the rank of Colonel.
He made his headquarters at Fort Augusta (he owned the land upon which it was built), and was in command of the military department of the West Branch. He was a brave and generous man.
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The following is a copy of the original minutes* (in the handwriting of Ebenezer Gray, Jr., mentioned on page 292, Vol. I) of a meeting held at Fort Dnrkee. These minutes are now printed for the first time.

"Att a meeting of the Committee of Settlers on the Susquaha Lands July 19'h 1770
at WlLKKSBARRK.
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"Present—Maj. John Durkee, President; Capt. Zeb? Butler, Isaac Tripp, Esqr-, Capt. David Marvin, John Jenkins, Timothy Hopkins, Benjn Follett, William Buck, Stephp Fuller, Thomas Dyer, Ebenr Gray, Junr-, Committee of Settlers.
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" Voted that Nath' Walesf hath not any right in the Forty Township on account or by reason his Laying out 3d Township.......
" Voted that Nathan Walswprth on Benajah Pendleton's right in the Forty Township be precluded any right in said Township, because sd Pendleton hath not performed the service & condition of the Grant of sd Township to sd settlers, but hath been absent since the Two Hundred first settlers came on the Land, until this June.

" Voted that Allen Whitman's right in said Forty Township be vacant & forfeit according to the vote of the settlers on s3 land last Octobr'

" Voted that Doctr Andrew Metcalf's| right in sd Forty Township be vacant & forfeit in 3d Township on the same account that Wales was excluded. §

"it appeared to this Committee that Douglass Wood worth refused to pay 13 Dollars, according to the vote of the settlers, on account of Allen Whitman's right, and said that if he must Purchase he would purchase on his [own] account.
---
"Meeting per adjournment, July 20th, [1770J.
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"It is the opinion of this Committee that Ozias Yale on Benj" Yale's Right & John Jolly on Job Yale's right, on supposition that the vote of the Proprietors relative to their right in the Forty Township at their meeting at Hartford in June last had never been, are not Intitled by anything that they have done to any right in the Forty Township. |j
---
" Voted that John Holley be admitted [and] John Holley be accepted on Zerub'e Jearum's right in the 40 Township.il
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"Voted that Maj. John Durkee, Mr. John McDole [McDowel] and Ebenr Gray, Junr., be and they are hereby placed & put into the Forty Township and be Intitled to their equale rights & Shares in sd Township as fully as any others in 3d Township, being on the vacant rights of the Forty."**

In London, July 13, 1770, Lord Hillsborough and others, composing the Board of Trade, reported to the Right Honorable the Lords of the Committee of the Cotmcil for Plantation Affairs that, pursuant to their Lordships' orders of May 25, 1770, they had taken into consideration the petition of Thomas and Richard Penn, Esquires. They stated furtherff:

' 'The request contained in the Proprietaries' petition that the Governor and Company of Connecticut be ordered to set forth their claim (if they have any) to the lands in question appears to us to be a very proper one, and to contain the only matters necessary for His Majesty's consideration in the case to which their petition refers.
* * We are clearly of the opinion that the forcible intrusion alleged by the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania is a matter entirely within the jurisdiction of this Province, and that it would be both unnecessary and improper for His Majesty to interpose his authority in a case where there is not the least colour of a plea that the Charter of the Province of Pennsylvania does not contain the powers necessary to the decision of any suits which may be brought into the Courts there, in cases where the title to lands may be in question ; nor that the state of the Province does not afford the means to support the execution of the laws, preserve the public peace and enforce the legal process of the magistrates and Courts of judicature."

A copy of this report was sent to Henry Wilmot, Esq., Bloomsbury Square, London, the solicitor of Thomas and Richard Penn, and after a consultation with his clients he forwarded the copy in question to the agents of the Proprietaries at Philadelphia, together with a letter dated August 13, 1770, in which he wrote, among other things, the following* :

* In the possession of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society.
t Nathaniel Wales, 3d, mentioned in a note on page 640, ante.
\ See F. C. Johnson's "Historical Record" (Wtlkes-Barre, 1887), I: 70.
; On this resolution Messrs. Butler, Follett, Tripp, Jenkins, Buck and Dyer voted " Yea," and Messrs. Hopkins and Gray voted "Nay."
I On this 'opinion." or declaration, Messrs. Jenkins, Butler, Buck, Fuller, Follett, Tripp, Dyer, Durkee and Gray voted " Yea"; Marvin voted "Nay and Hopkins "said nothing."

f On this resolution Messrs. Dyer, Gray, Marvin, Fuller, Hopkins, Follett, Butler and Durkee voted " Yea,' and Messrs. Buck, Jenkins and Tripp voted "Nay."

**On this resolution Messrs. Fuller, Gray, Dyer, Hopkins, Buck and Follett voted "yea"; Durkee voted "Nay" and Tripp "said nothing."

ft See an original contemporaneous copy—never heretofore printed—among the collections of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
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"The Lords of the Council have made no further report, and the Lord President is out of town, so that nothing further will be done by their Lordships till the Winter. There is not the .least doubt out that their report to His Majesty will be conformable to this of the Board of Trade, and the dispute not being between Colony and Colony the Proprietaries will be left to get rid of these intruders as they can. The Proprietaries, therefore, must get rid of them as they can, at any expence ! They are settled in Pennsylvania, and the laws of that Province must remove 'em ! Will the Assembly, upon an application to them, do nothing to assist ? May not the publication of the report of the Lords of Trade, shewing that Connecticut disavows any right, and that no assistance can be expected from them, be of use with some of the most rational of the intruders ? Will it be of use to offer them the lands they have at the usual rents, or even at less f In short, you who are upon the spot are the best judges what steps are to be taken." * * *
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At London, August 20, 1770, Dr. Samuel William Johnson wrote to Governor Trumbull of Connecticut as follows :

* * * "We are, I trust, happily delivered from any apprehension of further trouble from Mr. Penn's petition to the Crown relative to the Susquehanna lands. * * We received a summons to attend the Board of Trade. I attended with our solicitor, Mr. [Thomas] Life, and their Lordships were pleased to give me an opportunity to state to them at large the claim of The Susquehanna Company, their proceedings from the beginning, the ground of their title, the part the Colony had taken in the affair, etc."

During June and July the settlers at Wyoming made and stacked a large crop of hay; early in August they began to harvest a bountiful crop of wheat from the sowing of the previous Autumn (see page 628); the corn which had been planted in May was growing finely, and health, happiness and feelings of gratification and of comparative safety prevailed among the settlers. About the middle of August Major Durkee, accompanied by Blisha Avery,f a surveyor, and two or three members of the Committee of Settlers, left Fort Durkee on horseback for the West Branch of the Susquehanna—in what is now northern Northumberland County. I There, as is shown by the following extracts from original records, rights were disposed of, and lands were surveyed within the bounds of, the Susquehanna Purchase. The following is a copy of a receipt recorded on page 176, Book "B," of The Susquehanna Company's records (mentioned on page 28, Vol. I):

" West Branch Susqh August 27, 1770. Received of William Speedy £6 Lawful money, which intitles him to one half-right or -share of land in the Susquehannah Purchase so called. "Teste, John Durkee."

August 29, 1770, Major Durkee received from Daniel and Isaiah Old their note for £6, in return for one half-right. The following paragraphs are extracts from page 1,288 of "The Town Book of Wilkes Barre," described in the third paragraph on page 27, Vol. I.

"iSth August, 1770. These certifie that as Mr. Mark Ruling, Jr., has in times past done signal services to ye Susquehannah Company, do give unto ye sd Mark onequarter of a Right or Shair of Land in ye Susquehannah Purchase so called. By order of sd Company.
[Signed] "john Durkee, President of sellers."

"A survey of a tract of land lying on ye River & up Lime Stone Run,§ known by that Name. Done by order of Maj. John Durkee for Marcus Ruling. S^ tract contains 374 acres & 87 Perches—which- survey was made ye 22d Day of Sepf-, 1770.

[Signed] "elisha Avery, Surveyor."

About the last of August Capt. Lazarus Stewart and a number of the Lancastrians left FortDurkee for Lancaster County, intending to return with their families in November.
A few days later Major Durkee and some of his companions returned from the West Branch.
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* The original letter, heretofore unprinted. is now in the possession of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and appended to it is the following memorandum made by the Proprietaries : "We do approve of the contents of thin letter, and desire all legal means may be used for the removal of these Intruders."
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t Undoubtedly a member of the A very family of New London County, Connecticut. See note, page 662.
I See, farther on in this Chapter, the "Map of a Part of Pennsylvania as it is to-day."
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: Limestone Run is in what is now Turbutt Township, Northumberland County.
Although the Colony of Connecticut did not at that time claim jurisdiction over the Wyoming region, yet a large majority of the settlers then at Fort Durkee were citizens of Connecticut and familiar with the laws of that Colony and the methods of their enforcement. It is not surprising to learn, therefore, that at an early date in the history of the settlement certain Connecticut laws were introduced here for the good of the community, and were duly enforced by officers of the law who had been appointed by the General Assembly and commissioned by the Governor of Connecticut to exercise their respective offices in their several home towns. One of the earliest evidences of this fact now in existence—so far as the present writer can learn—is an original writ in the possession of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, and reading, in part, as follows :
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"To Wilks Barre County Sheriff, His Deputy or the Constable of said Wilksbarre —Greeting: In His Majesty's name you are hereby commanded to summon John Henry Vandegor of said Wilksbarre to appear before John Durkee, Esqr-, one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace for sd county at his dwelling-house at Wilksbarre within sd county on the 14th day of Septr inst. * * to answer unto Eleazar Gary of sd Wilksbarre in an action of the case. * * *
Dated at Wilksbarre the 7th day of SepU 1770.
[Signed] "silas Park, Justice of the Peace."
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It seems (according to the testimony adduced in this case) that Eleazar Carey, who was a proprietor in The Susquehanna Company, had in his house in Wilkes-Barre" in September, 1769, "six bushels of Indian corn worth 24 shillings ; 50 feet of split plank of oak, well secured and laid for the use of a floor overhead in his said house, for his own use—worth 12 shillings." Sometime in the month of January or February, 1770 (while Fort Durkee—of which Carey's "house" formed a part —was in the possession of the Pennamites), "said corn and plank, by means to him [the said Carey] unknown, came into possession of the Defendant, who converted the same to his own use." The defendant, Vandegor, was either a New Jerseyman or a Pennsylvanian, who, prior to June, 1770, had been admitted as a settler by the New Englanders.
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From the journals* of the missionaries at Friedenshutten (Wyalusing) we glean, under the date of September 8, 1770 :
"The English clergyman residing at Anohochquage.t with his interpreter—a locksmith by trade—called on his way to Wyoming and spent a day with us. His name is Mosell.J October 1st he returned, and stated that he had been at Bethlehem."
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The first note of discord among the Yankee settlers at Fort Durkee —so far as we can learn—was sounded in a petition § to The Susquehanna Company, dated "at Fort Durkee in Wilkesbarre, September 10, 1770", and signed by Richard Brockway, Samuel Gaylord, Oliver Smith, Asahel Atherton, Elias Roberts, Thomas Bennet, Elijah Buck, Elijah Harris, || Peter Harris, Ezra Belding and Reuben Davis. These petitioners set forth that they had been admitted, by the committee appointed for the purpose, "settlers in the first five townships according to the vote at a meeting in December, 1768, and thereby, by virtue of the aforesaid vote, intitled each to the sum of £5 bounty given by said Company to each of the forty first settlers.'''1 Continuing, the petition recites :'
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* See "Transactions of the Moravian Historical Society," 1: 203.
t Oghvraga, mentioned in the note on page 257, Vol. I.
tPerhaps the Rev. Richard Moseley, a missionary employed about that time by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, located at Litchficld, Connecticut.
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\ See the original among the unpublished papers of Dr. William Samuel Johnson, in the possession of The Connecticut Historical Society.
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I Elijah Harris was not one of the "First Forty" (see Vol. I, page 478), but prior to June 28,1770, had been "accepted on Peter Harris1 right."
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"That the Committee appointed to regulate and manage the affairs of said settlement was to receive and pay to each of said Forty the said bounty money, and did receive the same for that purpose ; but until this time have neglected and refused to pay the same to us the subscribers, or in any manner to settle the same, although we have repeatedly requested them to do the same. And whereas there was more than forty shillings granted to bear the expenses of some of us that was bound over to Easton Court, and paid to the aforesaid Committee, which money hath never been paid to those of us for whose use it was granted. We have great reason to believe that some of the Committee of said Forty have imbezzled the Company's money Intrusted with them, and converted the same to their own use ; and we have sufficient evidence and can fully prove that some of the aforesaid Committee have admitted sundry persons into said number of Forty Settlers on condition that they would not require the bounty of £5 granted, and would permit said Committee to retain the same in their hands, and would not admit them without."

The petitioners also declared, further, that the committee had required payments of money from some men for the privilege of being admitted as settlers. In conclusion they (the petitioners) asked "to have said committee of the Forty render an account, and order the payments due to be made."
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At the Northampton County Court of Quarter Sessions, held at Easton about the middle of September, 1770, the Grand Jury made a presentment* setting forth that Darnel Angell, Christopher Avery, Conrad Baker, Conrad Baker, Jr., Nathan Beach, Thomas Bennet, Asa Buck, William Buck, Ezra Buell, Zebulon Butler, Jonathan Carrington, Aaron Clawson, John Collins, John De Long, John Donnel, Valentine Doran, John Dorrance, Ichabod Downing, Oliver Durkee, George Espy, Joseph Espy, Roasel Franklin, Jabez Fish, Thomas French, Benjamin Follett, Stephen Fuller, John Gardner, Peregrine Gardner, Samuel Gaylord, Daniel Gore, Obadiah Gore, Silas Gore, James_Grimes, Daniel Haines, Ebenezer Hibbard, William Hibbard, Ichabod Hyde, Matthew Holliboy [Matthias Hollenback], John Jenkins, Palmer Jenkins, Solomon Johnson, John Jolley, Crocker Jones, Jesse Kenney, Peter Kidd, Robert Kidd, John Laird, Asa Ludington, John Lyons, Thomas McClure, David Marvin, Samuel Marvin, Uriah Marvin, Darius Mead, David Mead, Eli Mead, Joseph Morse, Silas Park, Abel Peirce, John Peirce, Gideon Pelton, Nicholas Philipson, James Ray, William Ray, Robert Ross, Andrew Seiffers, John Skeels, Lazarus_Stewart, Lazarus Sjewart, Jr., William Stewart, John Simpson, Oliver Smith, Timothy Smith, Nathaniel Solomon, Parshall Terry, Isaac Tripp, Samuel Uplinger, Ebenezer Vernon,f Levi Vernon,f Reuben Vernon,f Cornelius Vincent, Isaac Warner, Philip Weeks, Thomas Weeks, Peter Welker, Thomas Williams, Zophar Williams, Douglass Woodworth, David Young, Robert Young and William Young (ninety-one in number), "and divers other persons as yet to this Inquest unknown, on the second day of May, 1770, at Wyoming, in the County aforesaid, with force and arms, and with an intention the peace of the King to distxirb, * * the close and dwelling-house of Amos Ogden, Esq., then and there did break and enter" and carry away goods and merchandise of the value of £100, current money of Pennsylvania.
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Forthwith the Hon. George Taylor, Judge of the Court, issued a warrant containing all the names set forth in the foregoing presentment, with the exception of those printed herein in italics. The warrant was made returnable "to the next Court of Sessions of the Peace, to be held March 19, 1771," and was directed to the Sheriff of Northampton County, who was commanded to arrest all the persons named in the writ. The Sheriff immediately endorsed the warrant* as follows:
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* See a fragment of the original document in the collections of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, t Intended, without doubt, for Farnum.
"I deputize and appoint Nathan Ogden, James Lawson and John Seely to execute this Process or Writt (with such others as they call to their assistance) upon all or any of the persons within named. [Signed] "PETER KACHLEiN,f Sheriff."
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The warrant is endorsed also as follows : "First plea issued, returnable June, 1771"; and so on thereafter, from time to time, till the "eighteenth plea" was issued, returnable in September, 1775.
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With this warrant in his hands, and his authority strengthened and his intended mission to Wyoming popularized by the Governor's proclamation of June 28th (see page 664), Nathan Ogden, aided by his Lieutenants Lawson and Seely, and by his brother Amos, Alexander Patterson, Capt. Thomas Craig and Capt. John Dick, raised without much difficulty a force of about 140 armed men in Northampton County, and on the 19th of September set out for Wyoming. The expedition began its inarch at Fort Allen, on the Lehigh (see page 339, Vol. I), and took the old and then little-used "Warrior Path" described on page 237.
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Theretofore the Pennamites from New Jersey and southern Northampton County had always traveled to and from Wyoming over the "Pennamites' Path" (described on page 646), and therefore, to guard against a surprise by hostile invaders, that path alone was being watched by the Yankee sentinels. Ogden, doubting that his strength was sufficient to permit him to attack the Yankees openly and boldly, determined to overcome them by strategy.
Having arrived in sight of Wyoming Mountain the Pennamites left the path for greater safety, and in the evening of September 21st encamped on the head-waters of Solomon's Creek. Kindling no fires, creating no smoke, giving no alarm, the expedition spent the night there. Early the next morning Ogden and a few of his companions ascended to the top of the mountain, whence, by the aid of a telescope, they observed the settlers leave Fort Durkee in detached parties to pursue their various occupations on the flats and uplands throughout the valley. It was decided to attack the settlers in that situation, and accordingly Ogden divided his force into several detachments, each being placed in charge of one of his trusty aids—Craig, Patterson, Dick and others.
They were directed to make their way into the valley quickly, quietly and simultaneously, by different routes, and, as nearly as possible at the same time, to pounce upon the Yankees in the fields and hurry off with them to a designated place of rendezvous in Solomon's Gap. This plan worked admirably, and many men were taken prisoners; a number, however, succeeded in eluding the Pennamites and reaching Fort Durkee. Among the first of the Yankees to be captured was Maj. John Durkee, who, only a few days previously, had returned from his trip to the West Branch.
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As the day drew to a close Ogden and his men retired from the valley to Solomon's Gap, and thence, with their Yankee prisoners, to the spot on the mountain where they had bivouacked during the preceding night. There was gloom and confusion in Fort Durkee at nightfall on
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* The original writ is now in the collections of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
t Peter Kachlkin, mentioned on page 507, Vol. I. jHis surname is indiscriminately spelled Kiichlein, Kuechlein, Kechleiu and Kachleiu on original documents and records in Northampton County.) Having previously been Sheriff of that County he had again been elected to the office, as the successor of John Jennings. May 22, 1776, he was commissioned Captain of the Eastou company in the Pennsylvania Associators (Militia) ; July 17, 1776, he was promoted and commissioned Lieutenant Colonel of the Northampton County Battalion of Associators, and March 3, 1780, he was appointed and commissioned County Lieutenant of Northampton County.
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Saturday, September 22d.
The position and number of the invaders were unknown, while on the other hand it was certainly known that a considerable number of the most effective men of the settlement had been captured. A consiiltation of the principal men in the fort was held, and it was concluded that, as they had in hand provisions and ammunition sufficient to last some time, they would send messengers to the friendly settlement at Cushetunk* on the Delaware for assistance. Four men were thereupon selected for this purpose, and shortly before midnight they departed on their mission.
Taking it for granted that the "Upper Road to the Delaware" and the "Pennamites1 Path" would be guarded by Ogden's men, the messengers determined to travel over the old "Warrior Path."
Scarcely had they ascended the mountain, however, when they found themselves prisoners in the hands of the men they had expected to elude. From these reluctant captives Ogden learned of the confused condition of affairs at Fort Durkee, where there were only a few men with a considerable number of women and children.

Ogden's whole force—with the exception of the men detailed to guard the prisoners—was immediately put in motion, and before daylight (on Sunday, September 23d) had noiselessly arrived within a short distance of Fort Durkee. A storming party, under the command of Captain Craig,f having been detailed to begin the attack on the fort, the Captain stepped lightly forward in advance of his men, and, speaking in a low tone, as a friend, to the sentinel at the gate of the stockade, threw him off his guard, knocked him down, and rushed into the enf Thomas Craig, (JR.), u -!S born in 1740 in what is now East Allen Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania.
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* See pages 336, 890 and 391, Vol. I.
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His father was Thomas Craig, Sr., who was born near the close of the seventeenth century— probably in Philadelphia—the son of a Scots-Irish immigrant from Antrim in the North of Ireland. In 1728 Thomas Craig, Sr., his brother William, their sister Jane and her husband John Boyd, accompanied by the father of the Craigs, went from Philadelphia to the Forks of the Delaware and settled at the springs of Caladaque Creek, about four miles from the present borough of Bath in East Allen Township, abovementioned. During the next few years they were joined by a number of other Scots-Irish families. At first this locality—extending from Menakasy Creek on the east to Hokendauqua Creek and the Lehigh River on the west—was known as "the Craig Settlement." Later it became known as "the Irish Settlement," and for many years Thomas Craig, Sr., William Craig and Hugh Wilson (a native of the North of Ireland) were the most influential men there.

When, in March, 1752, the Act of Assembly creating the county of Northampton was passed, Thomas Craig, Sr., was one of the four commissioners named in the Act to purchase a site and erect thereon a county court house and prison. He was also appointed a Justice of the Peace in and for the new county in May, 1752, and served in the office for a number of years. William Craig was also appointed a Justice of the Peace in May,. 1752, but later in the year he was elected the first Sheriff of Northampton County. It was he who visited Wyoming Valley in December, 1753, as noted on page 256, Vol. 1. In 1752, or earlier. a tract of land near Easton, containing 500 acres, was surveyed and laid out for Thomas Craig. In 1755 and '56. during the progress of the Indian hostilities in eastern Pennsylvania (as described in Chapter V, Vol. I), Thomas Craig. Sr., was Captain of one of the Northampton County military companies in the service of the Province. (See Egle's "History of Pennsylvania," page 988.)

The first connection of Thomas Craig, Jr., with Wyoming affairs occurred, perhaps in 1769, when he was employed by Charles Stewart to summon men to go to Wyoming—as mentioned in the foot-note on page 514, Vol. I. In 1770 he was known as "Captain" Craig; but we have been unable to learn how or whence he derived this title. In December, 1775, the Continental Congress authorized the raising of the 2d Pennsylvania Battalion, to serve one year in the American army. January 5, 1776, Thomas Craig, Jr., was commissioned Captain of a company enlisted principally in Northampton County and assigned to the 2d Pennsylvania Battalion, whose commander was Col. Arthur St. Clair. September 7,1776, Captain Craig was promoted Lieutenant Colonel of this Battalion. In December, 1776. the 3d Pennsylvania Regiment, Continental Line, was organized on the basis of the Second Battalion, aforementioned, and Thomas Craig was commissioned Lieutenant Colonel. August 1, 1777, he was promoted Colonel of the regiment, and in that rank he served until January 1, 1783, when he was retired.

July 1. 1783. Colonel Craig was appointed County Lieutenant of Northampton County, and in that office he served until September, 1784, when, Montgomery County having been erected, he was appointed Prothonotary, Clerk of the Courts, Recorder of Deeds and an Associate Justice of the new county. Thereupon he removed to Norristown, Montgomery County, where he performed the duties of tne various offices mentioned until 1789. A few years later he was commissioned Major General of the 7th Division of the Pennsylvania Militia, and this office he held until the latter part of 1798. when he removed from was the Pennsylvania Militia—comprising the organizations in the counties of Northampton and Wayne which office he held for a number of years.

General Craig died at Allentown, Pennsylvania, January 20, 1832, in his ninety-third year.
He was married prior to 1770 to Catharine, daughter of John Hagenback, and they became the parents of several children who grew to maturity. A number of their descendants now reside in the counties of Carbon and Northampton.
closure closely followed by his men. Chapman, in his "History of Wyoming," states (pages 85 and 86) that the invaders "arrived at the door of the block-house [within the stockade] before the garrison received notice of the attack. Several of the latter were killed in attempting to make resistance in the block-house, and Captain Craig's men having forced a number into a small room where they were trampling upon the women and children, knocked down Captain Butler and were about to pierce him with their bayonets, when Captain Craig himself entered the apartment, drove the soldiers back and prevented further bloodshed." Charles Miner, writing of this occurrence, states ("History of Wyoming," page 123): "But the armed men did not yield without a short but severe struggle. Several lives were lost, and Captain Butler was only saved from a bayonet aimed at his breast by the noble humanity and timely interposition of Craig. Severely hurt, Captain Butler was taken into the hut of Mr. [Nathan] Beach and had his wounds dressed." Both these writers erred in stating that lives were lost on this occasion. Considerable blood was shed on both sides during the struggle, but it is certain that not a life was lost by either party.

Some time in July or August a number of the "First Forty" had repaired from Fort Durkee to the township which had been assigned to them, where (within the limits of the present borough of Forty Fort) they erected a small group of cabins which, in September, they were occupying while making further improvements. Having captured Fort Durkee Ogden sent a detachment of men across the river to these cabins, and, as is more fully explained hereinafter, demanded their surrender.

Leaving at Fort Durkee a garrison of about twenty Pennamites in command of Col. Asher Clayton (mentioned on page 428, Vol. I), Ogden set out for Easton with the remainder of his force and all the prisoners who had been captured. The women and children who were inmates of the fort were permitted to remain there. Easton was reached about the 26th of September, and the prisoners were crowded into the small and unwholesome jail of Northampton County.* After a confinement there of some three weeks all the prisoners were released, with the exception of Maj. John Durkee, Maj. Simeon Draper and Capt. Zebulon Butler, who were sent in irons to Philadelphia and committed to the City Jail, which stood near the corner of Market and Third Streets. During his stay in the Easton jail Major Durkee was taken before the Court of General Quarter Sessions, arraigned on the indictment mentioned on page 664, and required to plead thereto.

Relative to the capture of the Yankees at Wyoming in September, 1770, Messrs. Dyer, Gray, Elderkin and Wales, in their communication to Governor Trumbull referred to on page 514, Vol. I, made the following statement:
"September 22, 177t), Ogden, with 140 men, armed (in the night season), broke into our houses and, with unrelenting barbarity, beat, wounded and grievously abused our people, after they had surrendered ; and carried many of them to Easton, where some of them were put in irons and fed only with a small quantity of bread and water ; and without any form of law extorted from others of them great sums of money for their dismission—at the same time stealing and driving away our settlers' horses, oxen, cows, etc."
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Capt. William Gallup, in his affidavit mentioned on page 630, anie, refers to the same event in the following words :
"Some time in the month of June, [1770], he [Gallup], with a number of Connecticut settlers, returned back to said Susquehanna, where he remained unmolested till some time in September then next following, when he and the Connecticut settlers, in the dead of the night, whilst in their houses asleep, was broke in upon by the Pennsilvania party and abused to a great degree by beating with swords, staves, and other enormities, and took from him his horse and saddle, and destroyed a large quantity of grain, and then carried under a strong guard and committed to prison at East-town, where he was kept — on coarse bread and water only — about twenty days, and then released without any tryal by Law."
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Parshall Terry, in his very full and interesting affidavit mentioned on page 403, Vol. I, has the following to say with reference to Ogden's invasion of Wyoming in September, 1770 :
"The Ogdens and others having collected a large reinforcement from New Jersey and Pennsylvania, as it was said, they made an attack upon our settlers in their houses at Wilkes-Barre, in the night season, and wounded a number of our people, and took the whole of them prisoners ; that the next morning following the Ogdens and their party appeared at Kingston, surrounded our people in their houses, and demanded a surrender of our possessions. This was complied with by the committee on the part of the settlers ; that among other things seventeen of the settlers were permitted to remain on the ground with their families — the deponent being one that was allowed this indulgence ; that all the settlers, except the seventeen aforesaid, were plundered* of all their property by the Pennsylvania party."
Thomas Bennet, one of the "First Forty" who at Fort Durkee, September IT), 1770, signed the petition mentioned on page 667, ante, left Wilkes-Barre' a few days later to go to Orange County, New York, for the purpose of bringing his family and movable property to Wyoming. It was during his absence, of course, that Fort Durkee was captured by the Pennamites ; but Mr. Bennet did not learn of this until he and his family had got as far as Shohola (in what is now Pike County, Pennsylvania) on their journey towards Wyoming. Leaving their children with friends at Shohola Mr. and Mrs. Bennet journeyed on to Wilkes-Barre', "to endeavor to get a settlement there," as Mr. Bennet later declared. f Having arrived about the middle of October, they were permitted by the Pennamites to remain and lodge in "one of the houses of the fort."

October 17, 1770, a lawfully-warned meeting of The Susquehanna Company Wi», held at Windham, Maj. Elizur Talcott acting as Moderator, and it was voted :
"That Elizur Talcott, Esq., Increase Moseley, Esq., Edward Mott and Samuel Gray, Esq., be a Committee to repair to New Haven and join our agent and Committee there to represent to the Honorable the General Assembly of this Colony, now Setting in New Haven, to represent to said Assembly the present distressed Case of our Settlers on the Susquehanna Purchase, and pray the interposition of said Assembly, and that the matter respecting the claim of this Colony to the extent of our Charter may be now determined by said Assembly : and that said Assembly would invest our settlers, now on said Purchase, with powers of Government according to the original institution of said Colony, and their predecessors ; and that his Honor, the Governor of this Colony, be desired to write to his Honor Governor Penn to release our settlers that are imprisoned at Easton from their imprisonment."

The Company then adjourned, to meet at Hartford on Tuesday, November 27, 1770, at ten o'clock in the morning, at which time and
place the following business was transacted—Ebenezer Gray, Jr., acting as Clerk.
" Voted, That the Committee of this Company do, as soon as may be, send £50, L. M., to Philadelphia & Easton for Major Durkee and the rest of the New England prisoners in gaol, to maintain and support them. * *
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tSee "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, IV : 391.
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"Voted, That the Rev. Mr. George Beckwith, Jun., of Lyme, be entitled to one , whole share* in the Susquehanna Purchase, in part for his service in the Ministry at Wyoming, for the benefit of the settlers there.
" Voted, That all the settlers at Wyoming that do again take possession of the land at Wyoming aforesaid by the 15th of May next, and continue thereon, holding under this Company according to the former votes respecting said settlement, shall still have their settling rights, notwithstanding all that has passed.

"Voted, That the 300 settlers on the West Branch that do, by the said 15th of May next take possession of the Susquehanna land and hold according to the vote relating thereto, shall be entitled according to the former votes respecting the settlement there.
'' Voted, That any proprietor, or man under a proprietor, that with the aforesaid settlers do again take possession of the Susquehanna lands, shall be entitled to the vacant settling rights—if any there be—until all the vacant rights are taken up. * *
"Voted, That Nathaniel Wales, Jun., Esq., with the assistance of the Committee, be desired to draw up an Historical account of the Colony's title to those lands west of New York, and this Company's title under this Colony to the Susquehanna lands ; as also the rise and history of this Company, and transactions of the Authority and Courts of Pennsylvania with our settlers on the lands on Susquehanna River. * *
" Voted, That the Committee be desired to use every prudent and proper method that there be a full and universal meeting of the proprietors at the next adjournment, by advertising in the newspapers and otherwise, as they think proper." * * * *

Reference is made on page 666 to the departure of Capt. Lazarus Stewart from Fort Durkee for Lancaster County. About the middle of September Captain Stewart was in the town of Lebanon, Lancaster (now Lebanon) County, on business, when he was placed under arrest. The story of the occurrence was told by John Philip de Haas, Esq. (then a Justice of the Peace of Lebanon, but a few years later a Colonel in the Continental Army), in a deposition made by him at Philadelphia September 26, 1770, as follows! :

"That on the 15th September deponent delivered to the Constable [Henry Johnson, a carpenter] of Lebanon a warrant from one of the Justices of the Supreme Court of the Province for apprehending Lazarus Stewart, Lazarus Young and Zebulon Butler, to answer the charge of burning houses, and other misdemeanors ; and the said Constable, about ten o'clock the same day, arrested the said Lazarus Stewart in Lebanon in deponent's presence. That the said deponent, understanding that Stewart was a dangerous, turbulent man, and apprehending a rescue might be attempted, employed three men to^ assist the Constable to convey him down the country, promising them a reward of £5 to' each of them if they accomplished it. * *

"Word was brought deponent that Stewart had rescued himself with the assistance of one Matthias Mause, who gave Stewart the handle of an ax, with which he had knocked down the Constable and beat him in a cruel and unmerciful manner. That thereupon this deponent went to the place where the said Stewart was, and called to sundry of the inhabitants who were there standing, and had been witnesses to the aforesaid outrageous proceeding, charging them in His Majesty's name to assist him, the deponent, and the said Constable in retaking the said Stewart, at the same time acquainting them of the crimes of which he was charged. That none of the inhabitants would obey the deponent, some of them being friends and abettors of Stewart, and the rest afraid. That the said Stewart stepped forward with a club in his hand, and abused the deponent in the most opprobrious terms.
That about an hour after the rescue a party of armed men, to the number of twenty or thereabouts, rode into the town of Lebanon and joined the said Stewart, who soon afterwards came towards the said deponent, then walking before his own door, and with much scurrility and abuse, with a pistol in one hand and a club in the other, threatened him for having procured him to be arrested. The deponent, finding it necessary to defend himself, retired into his house and got his pistols. That the said Stewart attempted to follow him into the house, but one of the family fastened the door and prevented him. That the said Stewart afterwards called on the deponent to come and take him, and said that there was long ago £200 offered for him (alluding, as this deponent understood, to the said Stewart's being one of the persons concerned in murdering the Indians in Lancaster gaol, for taking whom a reward was offered by this Government).
----
* At Litch6eld, Connecticut, September 9, 1774, Mr. Beckwith sold ami conveyed this right to .
t See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," IX : H82.
"That the said deponent was informed by Nicholas Hausaker, inn-keeper in Lebanon aforesaid, that the said Stewart came to said Hausaker and threatened that if he ever should obey the orders of the deponent in taking, or assisting to take, the said Stewart or any of his company, he the said Stewart would cut him to pieces and make a breakfast of his heart!"

September 27, 1770, Governor Penn laid this deposition before the Pennsylvania Assembly, accompanied by a message giving an account of the arrest of the Yankees at Wyoming, and suggesting that a reward should be offered for the capture of Lazarus Stewart. The Assembly concurred in the Governor's opinion, and October 3, 1770, the Governor issued a proclamation* setting forth the facts relative to Captain Stewart's arrest and escape, and commanding all officers of the Province, and all citizens, "to make diligent search and inquiry after said Stewart," and promising a reward of £50 for his apprehension.

Two weeks later six citizens of Lebanon who, through fear of or sympathy for Captain Stewart, had refused to assist in arresting the latter when called upon to do so by Justice de Haas, as previously mentioned, were arrested.
Towards the end of October Captain Stewart, with a team of horses, crossed the Susquehanna at Wright's Ferry on his way to York County on business. "He was," says Pearce (in "Annals of Luzerne County," page 113), "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 offense 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 'Paxtang 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 Governor Penn had declared to be the most dangerous man in the Province ! But Stewart was wide awa"ke. At the dead of night he cautiously unloosed the rope which bound him to the snoring guard, and with noiseless tread made his way unobserved into the open air. Handcuffed, and without coat, hat or shoes, he traveled through the woods and unfrequented thickets to Paxtang, where he arrived on the following day."

Among the original, unpublished manuscripts in the collections of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is one reading as follows:
"Philadelphia, 8 November, 1770. Received of the Hon. John Penn, Esq., and Joseph Fox, Michael Hillegas, William Allen and Joseph Galloway, Esquires, an order

County of York according
[Signed] "david Jones,
"john Mkgraw."
----
See "Pennsylvania Archives
Fourth Series, III: 430.
(*******************-
Captain Stewart remained in hiding among his friends in Paxtang until arrangements had been completed for the return of the "Paxtang Boys" to Wyoming. Their departure from Lancaster County took place about December 10,1770, and their arrival at Wilkes-Barre on December 17th is chronicled in a deposition* made by Asa Ludington before Chief Justice William Allen, at Philadelphia, January 30, 1771, as follows:
-----
"That while he [Ludington] resided at Goshen in New York, John Durkee and Zebulon Butler came into that part of the country and offered to him and others 300 acres of land each at Wyoming if they would go with them and settle there. * * He went, and took his wife, and remained there until about September 20, 1770, when the fort was taken, when, being dismissed by Captain Ogden and Charles Stewart, he went from thence to Hanover Township, Lancaster County. That about two months after this [vis., in November, 1770] one Robert Frazier came there from Wyoming, and said that he had seen Thomas Craig,f who had promised to join them with a number of others and assist them in turning off the Jersey people. That one Kidd who had lately come from Northampton confirmed the account said Frazier had given them, particularly that said Thomas Craig and John Dick had collected a number of men who would be ready on a call to assist them in taking the fort at Wyoming and in turning off the Jersey people. That the son of the said Kidd and John Simpson informed this examinant, with many more that were there with him at Hanover, that Captain BradyJ of the West Branch would also collect a number of people and come to Wyoming to assist in taking the fort and turning off the Jerseymen.

"That upon this, deponent set off [from Hanover] in company with William Stewart, Lazarus Steyart, Lazarus Stewart,. Jj., John Franklin, William Young, Silas Gore, three of the name of Robinson, William Grimes, Smith, James Rhea, John McDonald, John Simpson, Robert Frazier and a'number of others [twenty-eight altogether], and proceeded to the fort at Wyoming. Silas Gore went into the fort to his brother, § who came out with him and stood at the North Gate, by which they all entered—it being about eleven o'clock at night—and drove out the people, knocking some down and other.wise abusing them. That during the disturbance several of the people that were in the fort called out and asked where Tom Craig was, imagining, as this examinant supposes, that they who had entered the fort were Thomas Craig's party. That they were answered Tom Craig had not come with them, but was expected in a day or two. That the next day, or the day after, the said Hanover people had got possession of the fort they sent Joseph Wheeler, who they judged to be a friend to their cause and a man whom they could trust, with a message to Tom Craig to come up with his party. That said Wheeler returned in three days and brought an answer from said Craig that his hand was so sore he could not then come, but would be with them in a few days with his party to assist them.
----
"That about three or four days after they had got into the fort ten or twelve men came into it who said they were sent by Captain Brady to their assistance, and that Brady would be there in two or three days with the rest of his party. That the said ten or
----
twelve men were as follows: Weeks, William Speedy, James Firmile,
Dougherty, Cooke, and about seven more, chiefly Germans. That they were also joined in a few days after entering the fort by Simeon Draper and Dyer Alcot [Jedidiah Olcutt], and by Matt Holiback [Matthias Hollenback], Peter Kidd and Robert Kidd from Hanover. That while in the fort they placed armed sentries every night." * *

Thomas Bennet, who had returned to Fort Durkee in October, as previously mentioned, and was there when Captain Stewart and his party recaptured it, described the event and some of the succeeding occurrences in a deposition made before Chief Justice Allen, at Philadelphia, February 1, 1771, as follows|| :

"He remained there [in Fort Durkee] till the Hanover people came, when he used

his endeavors to prevent Colonel Clayton and Henry , an Englishman, from being

hurt by them, by concealing them in his house. This examinant further saith, that some time before the Hanover people came he heard it reported among the people in the fort that Thomas Craig was to be there with a party to assist them in turning off the Jerseymen, except Captain Ogden ; and particularly he heard Aaron Van Campen say that they —meaning the Jerseymen—would not be long there, viz., at Wyoming. This examinant further saith that one Smith, about the same time, came to Wyoming with a letter from that quarter of the country where their cattle were, confirming their expectations of new regulations at Wyoming ; and that after the fort was taken, two men, one of whom was named Smith, were sent to their friends to let them know that the fort was taken and to desire them to come to their assistance ; and that one of said two men went to Captain Brady, who, this examinant understood, was to bring forty men with him to Wyoming. That some time after a number of men came there from said Brady, one of whom went by the name of 'Old' Speedy,* who, with Lazarus Stewart, bore the chief sway afterwards at the fort."

See "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, IV : 888.

t Captain Craig, mentioned on page 870. 1 Mentioned in the note on page 664.

\ Daniel Gorb, undoubtedly (see note on page 672) ; one of the Yankees who, according to the statement of Parshall Terry, had been permitted by the Pennamites to remain on the ground after the capture of Fort Durkee.

I See "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, IV : 391.

Aaron Van Cainpen, a farmer, aged fifty-five years, whose home was in that part of Northampton County which is now Smithfield Township, Monroe County, was one of the Pennainites of Ogden's force who, in September, were left in charge of Fort Durkee, and who continued there until it was recaptured by the Stewart party. In a deposition sworn to January 11, 1771, and presented to the Supreme Executive Council at Philadelphia February 2, 1771, Mr. Van Campen made the following statementf:

"About three o'clock in the morning [of Tuesday, December 18, 1770], the people of the fort being abed, the fort was entered by a body of men from Hanover, Lancaster County, armed with guns and clubs, and commanded by Lazarus Stewart; that they, upon entering the fort, huzza'd for the Hanoverians and King George, and immediately proceeded to break open the doors of the houses of the fort; that they broke open the deponent's door, took him prisoner, beat and abused him unmercifully, and put him as a prisoner under guard ; that they then proceeded through the fort, in the same manner treating all and ordering them to depart immediately, and would scarcely give them time to collect a small part of their effects. That there were in the fort eighteen men [Pennamites], six of whom made their escape, and twelve were made prisoners, and a considerable number of women and children, who were all driven out of the fort by the said Lazarus Stewart and company in a cruel and inhuman manner. That there were of this company that took the fort, twenty-three Hanoverians and six New Englanders.J That the deponent knows the names only of Lazarus Stewart, John Simpson, John Robinson, Thomas Robinson and Robert Frazier of the Hanoverians. * * That they took away the guns from our people."

At the beginning of the year 1771 Fort Durkee was still in the possession of Captain Stewart and his men, whose number had been increased to about fifty by the arrival of several Hanoverians, and by some of the New Englanders who had been released from the Easton jail a short time before. At Windham, Connecticut, on the 9th of January, 1771, The Susquehanna Company convened, as previously agreed upon, and was in session for two days. Maj. Elizur Talcott acted as Moderator, Samuel Gray was Clerk, and the following business was transacted.

" Whereas, at the time of the meeting held in November last our settlers at Wyoming were drove out of their possessions there by the Peunsylvanians, and for the encouragement of those settlers to exert themselves to regain their said possessions it was then voted that if said settlers should regain their possessions again by the 15th May next such settlers should be entitled to all those rights and privileges in the same manner as by the former votes they had a right to have and hold ; and whereas since said meeting some of pur people have dispossessed the Pennamites and taken possession of our fort and are holding the same (but stand in need of immediate aid to assist them in keeping possession), for which reason said vote is judged, as to the lime prefixed, to be inconsistent with the good and safety of said Company—

"It is therefore now voted to reconsider said vote, and the same is reconsidered accordingly ; and it is now voted that the 240 settlers, except those that are bound over to some Court in Pennsylvania Province, shall forthwith repair to Susquehannah and join with, and assist those now in possession, in holding the same ; and that in their so doing such of them as shall go as aforesaid shall be entitled to all their rights and privileges there, in the same manner as though they had never been driven out. And in case that any of the said 240 settlers shall neglect to go as aforesaid, for the purpose aforesaid, that then such person or persons so neglecting shall forfeit his or their settling rights, unless those who so neglect shall offer such reasons for such neglect as said Company shall judge sufficient to excuse said neglect.

"Voted, That Colonel Dyer, Nathaniel Wales, Jr., Samuel Gray and Major Elderkin be a committee, with all convenient.speed to draw up a representation of our claims to the Susquehannah lands and proceedings thereon touching the settlement thereof, with the reasons of our taking and holding possession thereof, as also of the inhumane treatment our people have met with from some of the inhabitants of Pennsylvania, and the dangerous consequences of living in such a state of hostility ; and manifest the desire of the Company to settle said controversy in some legal and constitutional way, and lay the same before the Governor of that Province and request him to direct that some proper action may be commenced to bring the title of said land to a legal and proper issue ; and that said committee send such representation to Governor Penn by some proper person whom they shall appoint, and direct him to wait on the Governor for his answer. And in case the Governor shall refuse to comply with such proposals so made, that said representation be ordered to be inserted in the public prints in that Province, with such comments thereon as they shall judge best.

* See the deposition of Asa Ludington on the preceding page ; also, see pages fi66 and 6S11.

tSee "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," IX : 710.

I They had been joined later in the morning of December 18th by Maj. Simeon Draper, who had just returned to Wyoming from his imprisonment in Philadelphia, not knowing that the Yankees had been driven from the valley after his capture.
"looted, That the same committee draw up a scheme in writing agreeable to the minds of the settlers on said land, to be signed by all who now are or shall go on and settle the Susquehannah lands, so as to legally bind and oblige all who sign the same faithfully to perform each one his trust and undertaking ; and that none but such as voluntarily sign said agreement shall be admitted to hold any right or privilege there as a settler.

"Voted, That Capt. Zebulon Butler, Capt. Lazarus Stewart, Maj. John Durkee and John Smith, Esq., be, and they are hereby, appointed a committee to repair* to our settlement at Wyoming with our settlers, and they, or the major part of them, to order and direct in all affairs relating to the well ordering and governing said settlers and settlements ; and that the proprietors of each of the five townships laid out at Wyoming shall have full liberty to choose one person for each town, to be a committeeman to join the above gentlemen—the whole to be but one entire committee for the purpose aforesaid.

" Voted, That this Company taking into consideration the special services done this Company by Capt. Lazarus Stewart, William Stewart, and others their associates, in taking and regaining possession for us on our Purchase on Susquehannah River, that they and their associates shall have and be entitled to all the Company's rights to the township they have chosen, called Hanover, unless they may be willing to admit some few others whom they esteem the most deserving, to come in 'for a share with them—provided they keep and hold possession according to the former votes of said Company.

"Voted, That Nathaniel Wales, 3d, be and remain a proprietor in the first township, granted to the First Forty settlers. And whereas the township of Lackawanna is found not to be so good and valuable as was expected, it is now voted that said township shall be, and the same is hereby, granted to the thirty-five proprietors that are already put into said town, according to the votes respecting the other towns ; provided they shall hold possession according to the votes of said Company."

The last-mentioned vote was passed in response to a petitionf dated "Windham, January 11, 1771," signed by Ebenezer Backus, Silas Park, Prince Alden and Jeremiah Ross—"for themselves and thirty-one others, the greatest part of whom were settlers on the Susquehannah lands in 1769"—and praying for "a grant of the towns of Lackawanna and Capouse."

As previously noted (on page 639), the original agreement between The Susquehanna Company and Captain Stewart and his associates required that the latter, in order to acquire the ownership of Nanticoke Township (or Hanover, as they had renamed it in 1770), should furnish fifty men, who would settle at Wyoming and would aid the Company in upholding and defending its title to and possession of the Susquehanna lands. But the Hanoverians had never mustered more than forty men at Wyoming, and at the beginning of January, 1771, they had no more than twenty-five or thirty men on the ground. The Susquehanna Company was so well pleased, however, with the services performed by Captain Stewart and his associates^ that (as is shown by its vote at the January meeting held at Windham) it conveyed to them, without regard to their number, all the Company's rights in Hanover.

* At that time, of course, Captain Stewart was in possession of Fort Durkee, while Major Durkee and Captain Butler were still in prison in Philadelphia.

tThe original petition is among the unpublished papers-of Dr. William Samuel Johnson, previously mentioned.

I What is probably the earliest original list of the Hanover men is now in the possession of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society. It is in the handwriting of Capt. Zehulon Butler. It is not dated, but undoubtedly was prepared in 1770 or 1771. It is endorsed "List of Hanover." and contains the

Robert Kidd. Thomas trench, John Lord, Christian Long— not come," John I-rench—"not come," Jo: Cochran. Hugh Cochran, Matt. Holow bough [Hollenbackf, Hugh Thomson, James Robertson [Robinson

Just one week after the adjournment of The Susquehanna Company at Windham, the unexpected happened at Wyoming. The bold exploits of Lazarus Stewart had created a strong sensation in the minds of the Pennsylvania authorities, and in the latter part of December, 1770, a writ issuing from the Court of General Quarter Sessions of Northampton County was placed in the hands of Sheriff Peter Kachlein, commanding him to take Lazarus Stewart, Lazarus Stewart, Jr., James Stewart, John Simpson, Thomas Robinson, James Robinson, Silas Gore, Asa Ludington, Peter Kidd, Isaac Warner, Parshall Terry, William Young, Thomas Bennet and divers other persons therein named, to answer to a certain Bill of Indictment for a riot. On January llth there was also placed in the Sheriff's hands a warrant issued by the Hon. Thomas Willing (one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania) for apprehending Lazarus Stewart, John Simpson, John Robinson, Thomas Robinson, Asa Ludington, Silas Gore, Daniel Gore, Thomas Bennet and Joshua Bennet.

As usual the Sheriff summoned the posse comitatus to aid him in executing the writs in his hands. Capt. Amos Ogden was once more called to the front and placed at the head of the military contingent, and acted as the undisputed leader of the expedition. He was also at that time a Justice of the Peace, as previously noted. Charles Stewart, Esq., who was also still in commission as a Pennsylvania Justice of the Peace, accompanied the expedition as general adviser and aid. This Kachlein-Ogden force, consisting fully of one hundred well-armed and equipped men, arrived in Wyoming Valley on Friday, January 18, 1771, and immediately began the erection of a strong wooden fort (subsequently called Fort Wyoming) on the river bank, about eight or ten rods west by south of the junction of the present River and Northampton Streets.* The story of the occurrences of the three or four days fol


View North-east from near the Site of Fort Wyoming in 1902.

lowing the arrival of the Pennamites at Wilkes-Barre" can best be told by printing various extracts from a number of original depositions which were made in January and February, 1771, by different persons who had personal knowledge of the occurrences then described. Before Chief Justice Allen Sheriff Kachlein made oathf :

* One of the reasons of the Pennamites for locating their fort at that point was, that it would be within sight of and about 125 rods distant from Fort Durkee, and from it the latter stronghold, as well as the approaches to the same from the river, the "Upper Koad to the Delaware" and the "Pennamites' Path" could be overlooked. Another reason was. that at the edge of the river bank near that point there was a fine bubbling spring, from which a bountiful supply of excellent water could be drawn for the inmates of the fort. This spring was in existence for many years, but as the river bank at that point was gradually washed away the spring diminished in size, and the distance between it and the river's margin was lessened. The following item, referring to this spring, was printed in The Record of the Times, Wilkes-Barre, September 8, 1858: "At the foot of Northampton Street a large spring gushes out from the bank & few feet above low water, which has now more water than runs in many of our mill-streams."

tSee "Colonial Records of Pennsylvania," IX : 711.
Looking Down The Susquehanna.

From near the corner of River and Market Streets, Wilkes-Barre', in 1897. Fort Durkee stood to the left of the group of houses at the bend of the river.
The River Common, South, In 1897. In the middle foreground at the left stood Fort Wyoming.
-----
"That, being informed many of the persons named in the said writ and warrant were at a fort at Wyoming, and threatened all officers of Government, and set the laws at defiance, he raised a Posse of the said County to aid him in the execution of the said writ and warrant, and proceeded with them to Wyoming, where he arrived on the 18th day of January, instant. That the next morning, taking with him two of the Posse, and leaving the rest at some distance, he advanced towards the said fort, and, having got within gunshot, was called to from the fort and ordered to stop, with threats of being fired at if he refused; whereupon, alighting from his horse, he walked quietly up to the gate of the fort and, addressing himself to two men who were withinside, desired admittance, which they refused. That he told them he was the Sheriff of that County and had a writ and a warrant to apprehend some persons who, he was informed, were within the fort, and demanded entrance ; that they presented their guns at him and threatened to shoot him if he advanced farther, but told him he might walk round to the other side of the fort and speak with Captain Stewart (meaning Lazarus Stewart), who was at the sentry-box. That the deponent accordingly went there, and applying himself to the said Stewart, who was one of the persons named in the said writ, and also in the warrant, told him he was the Sheriff of the County ; * * that the said Stewart, in answer, said to him, 'I know what my doom is if you take me ; I have sent down a man to the Governor, and shall wait his answer, which I don't expect these three weeks. If the Governor will forgive me all my past crimes, and give me some land, I'll surrender myself ; otherwise I'll fight it out as long as I have a drop of blood left in my body'—or words to that effect. That he (Stewart) then ordered this deponent to depart, on peril of his life, at the same tune presenting a gun towards him ; that the deponent told him he would give him time to consider better of the matter, and retired.

"That the deponent had several other conversations with the said Stewart on that . and the succeeding day, in which he represented to him that he came there to do his duty as Sheriff, and not to kill or hurt any one ; and, showing him the said warrant and reading part of it to him, used all the arguments he could to dissuade the said Stewart from opposing him in the execution of his office. That the said Stewart and most of his party obstinately persisted in their resolution to oppose him, and frequently threatened to fire on the deponent and his assistants ; that the deponent still entertained hopes of gaining admission peaceably into the said fort, as some few of the said Stewart's party seemed well disposed, and he hoped might prevail on the rest ; he therefore continued treating with them till Monday morning [January 21st] about eight or nine o'clock, when Nathan Ogden, one of the deponent's posse whom he had summoned to assist him, going up to the fort to talk with said Stewart, upon the said Stewart's own appointment (as the said Ogden told this deponent), was fired at from the said fort and mortally wounded, of which wound he_died in a few minutes"; and immediately thereupon a ntrmtfer of guns (between thifty~anaforty) were discharged at some of the deponent's assistants, who, to the number of about twenty, were scattered about near the fort, all unarmed, and mpst of them, at that very time, talking peaceably to the people in the fort, by which time three of them, to wit: George Dull, Thomas Jennings and John Murphy were wounded.

"That they continued firing from the fort all that day at every person that appeared within reach of their guns ; and in the evening the said Stewart, with about forty of his party, secretly abandoned the fort and withdrew into the woods, leaving inTEe" fort twelve men who refused to go with them, and who surrendered themselves to the deponent."

On Monday, January 21, 1771, Charles Stewart, Esq., wrote from Wyoming to Governor Penn as follows* (sending the letter to Philadelphia by a special courier):

"The Sheriff and Posse came here on Saturday and surrounded the fort, since which, until this morning, the time has passed in parleys, without any blows or firing, but to all appearances a probability of surrender on the part of the rioters. Yesterday Lazarus Stewart requested Nathan Ogden to come this day and speak to him in a friendly way. On Ogden going this morning he shot him dead on the spot, and his associates in the fort fired from all corners of it. Three other men are wounded, but not mortally. The Sheriff means to keep his ground if possible, and has sent for assistance to Easton. What succors will come God knows ; I fear not many soon, and certainly the desperate situation of the rioters will induce them now to kill as many as they can.
Their numbers are, as near as we can find, about fifty ; the Posse about eighty, but much discouraged. * * I hope Mr. Gordon, the Coroner and magistrates of the County will come up and aid the Sheriff.
His brother-in-law and his son go with this shocking intelligence."

At six o'clock in the evening of Monday Charles Stewart wrote again to Governor Penn, as followsf :
'The face of affairs here is changed for the better since my express of this morning.
The murderers embraced an opportunity about half an hour ago to evacuate this fort, of which we are now in possession. Whether they mean to return and endeavor to surprise us or not we are not quite certain, but I am of opinion they are gone forever.
----
See "Pennsylvania Archives,"
First Series, IV : 383. t See ibid., 8M.
----
The Sheriff and myself intend to leave Daniel Shoemaker and a party of thirty men to keep possession and take care of the effects here until yonr orders come. * * The Sheriff and myself mean to tarry here to-morrow, and I shall write or go myself to wait on you in a few days. Captain Ogden is in the utmost distress for his brother Nathan, and his death is the more to be lamented as he was treacherously decoyed and murdered without any the least chance. Indeed, it seems from every information that the Ogdens were to be sacrificed."
---
The following paragraph is from a deposition made by William Sims (a member of the Kachlein-Ogden expedition), before Charles Stewart, Esq., at Wilkes-Barre", January 21, 1771.*
---
"That on this day he, this deponent, was standing about two or three perches from the stockades which are erected on the westerly side of the fort at Wyoming, on Susquehanna, and that Nathan Ogden was also standing about a yard distant from this deponent, speaking to one Wicks [Weeks?] and telling hiui that the3r had formerly been schoolfellows ; to which Wicks made answer he believed they had been. That Lazarus Stewart came inside of the stockades and presented his gun towards the said Nathan Ogden, through one of the loop-holes, or port-holes, and saying 'Stand away, gentlemen !' drew the trigger of his gun—a rifle-gun—and shot the said Nathan Ogden, who fell and in a few minutes expired. That this deponent distinctly observed the flash of the gun and the blaze coming out of the muzzle, and is well assured it was the shot or ball from Lazarus Stewart's gun that killed Nathan Ogden. That this deponent ran immediately, as soon as Ogden fell, and then thought and now thinks he heard the bullet when it entered his body.
That he also heard Nathan Ogden, at the instant he received the wound, cry out, 'Oh ! God Almighty,' and clapped his hand on his breast before he fell to the ground. That before Lazarus Stewart shot, this deponent saw Isaac Warner, William Stewart, John Donnell alias McDaniel, and John Cochran standing inside the stockades with guns in their hands. That about a minute or less after Lazarus Stewart shot, a great many guns were fired from the fort on the same side."
---
William Nimens, a Pennamite from Northampton County, deposed before CharlesJStewart January 25, 1771, as follows :
"On Monday, the 21st instant, this deponent was standing close to the stockades which are set up on the westerly side of the houses, or fort, at Wyoming, in the county aforesaid. That he saw about ten or twelve men in the fort, with rifles or guns each,
----
father together near the northwest gate, and knew among them Lazarus Stewart, William tewart, James Stewart, Lazarus Stewart the younger, Daniel Angell and John Simpson, and heard Lazarus Stewart say he supposed the Sheriff would be the first man, then Nathan Ogden, Daniel Shoemaker, Captain Ogden, Captain Salmon, William Sims, John Murphy, David Ogden, James Logan, Thomas Osborn and this deponent ; and that Stewart added, 'Now, my boys, make sure of your mark !' That James Stewart said Thomas Osborn should be his jewel, and Daniel Angell said he would 'shoot the damned tinker'—meaning this deponent. That Lazarus Stewart and his associates then parted and took their stations in different places along tEe stockades.
----
"That during this time this deponent observing several of the Posse coming towards the fort was in great perplexity how to act, and beckoned to those nearest him to come up quickly, that they might be under the stockades and save their lives ; to others farther on he waved his hand to retire, and some did so. That Nathan Ogden and Abraham Smith were close up, and that he heard Nathan Ogden inquire for one Wicks, who answered him he was there ; to whom Ogden said : 'You and I have been schoolfellows formerly. I am sorry we are now of different parties. I have a regard for you.' That Wicks replied : 'I am sorry it is so, Mr. Ogden ; we have been schoolfellows and friends.'
----
"That Lazarus Stewart, coming southerly from the north-west gate aforesaid, passed by the sentry-box with his rifle in his hand, then turned round and repassed it, stopped again and turned about and presented his rifle through a loop-hole, or port-hole, under the sentry-box, calling : 'Take care, gentlemen !' and fired off his gun ; on which this deponent heard Nathan Ogden say 'Oh ! God Almighty,' and saw him fall to the ground. That Lazarus_S_tewart called out, 'Fire away !' on which a number of guns were fired from the people inside the stockade. That Williamj_S_tewart fired, as this deponent believes, three times against Daniel Shoemaker—he the said William having two guns ; that Daniel Shoemaker fell as he was running from the fort, and this deponent thought he was shot ; that during the fire this deponent squat close under the stockades, when he was at last observed by William Stewart, who called out : 'Who is there ?' To which this deponent answered : 'It's me.' That Mr. Stewart said : 'Damn you, who are you?" That this deponent then showed himself, on which Stewart told him to run, and that he would try to save his life ; that he ran accordingly, and fell, rose again and got behind a stump ; that he had just covered himself behind the stump when a ball struck it—and further this deponent saith not."
----
*See "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, IV : 380. fSee ibid., 3W.
Asa Ludington, in his deposition referred to on page 675, stated further:
------
"That the Sheriff of Northampton County came to Wyoming with his Posse on Saturday the 19th inst. [January, 1771], and after having informed them who he was, demanded entrance into the fort, which they refused to grant, alleging that they had sent a petition to the Governor setting forth that they were willing to take grants of the land under the Pennsylvania Government, and had also sent another petition from Hanover [in Lancaster County] by a Justice of the Peace, and therefore would not permit the Sheriff to enter the fort till they had an answer to said petition. That on Sunday night [January 20th] this examinant entered into conversation with Nathan Ogden and John Collins who were standing by the side of the fort while he [Ludington] was within, and spoke to him in a very friendly manner; when Lazarus Stewart, the elder, came up to this examinant with his gun in his hand and ordered said Ogden and Collins to depart then, and that if they wanted further talk to come in the morning.

"That the next morning Daniel Shoemaker came up to the fort unarmed and spoke to this examinant; that while they were talking this examinant heard a gun fired, and that immediately after he heard several persons asking who fired first, and that the said Lazarus Stewart answered : 'Nathan Ogden fired first,' and then desired them to fire away ; on which a number of guns were fired—about twenty or upwards. That he, this examinant, having seen several of those without unarmed, did not believe that they fired first. That then this examinant retired into his own house, which was within the fort. That as he sat in his house John McDonald, one Cook and another person came to him and asked why he remained there and did not come out and fire ; that he answered he would not come out nor fire for any man ; on which they demanded his gun, which he absolutely refused and carried it where five men (whom Lazarus Stewart and his party had taken prisoners) were confined, and in the fort they concealed it at his desire under some hay on which they lay.
----
"That presently after this examinant heard that Nathan Ogden was killed and some others wounded. Upon which this examinant, being uneasy, desired that he might be permitted to go out with a flag [of truce] to the Sheriff, which said Lazarus Stewart, the elder, and others refused, and said that if he attempted it they would fire on him ; but that if he would stay till night they would go out of the fort in a body and fire on the Sheriff and his people and then go off. Which he refusing to comply with, they locked him up among the five prisoners that were confined ; and further, this examinant saith that through the cracks of the house where they were confined they saw the said Lazarus Stewart and the rest leave the fort about the dusk of the evening, except about ten who remained behind in or near the fort."
-----
Thomas Bennet, in his affidavit referred to on page 675, deposed concerning the occurrences of January 19th-21st, as follows :
"That on Saturday the 19th ins/. [January, 1771] the Sheriff of Northampton County came up to the fort and demanded entrance, but that Lazarus Stewart refused to admit him till he had an answer to the petition he had sent to the Governor of Pennsylvania. That on the Monday morning following Nathan Ogden, as this examinant heard, came up to the fort, having been desired by the people of the fort to come, together with Charles Stewart and some others, to converse with them.
That soon afterwards this examinant heard a gun go off, but did not know who fired, but heard his wife say that Nathan Ogden was shot—she having heard him, immediately on the guns being fired, groan. This examinant further saith, that the only reason of his ever appearing in arms at the said fort was to keep sentry sometimes in his turn, when they were under apprehensions of being attacked by the Indians—a number of them being then there, who appeared very angry and painted, and threatening to roast a hog in the fort and have a dance, and that the said Indians carried off a hog. And further, that he this examinant knoweth not where said Lazarus Stewart and his company went, but believes he and his followers went to Hanover Township [in Lancaster County], or to New England ; only he heard Stewart say that though their number was small now, yet they had friends enough in Virginia, Maryland, New England and other places who would enable them to visit them again."

Parshall Terry, in his affidavit mentioned on page 403, Vol. I, refers to the events of January 1771, in these words:
"The Ogdens appeared again on the ground with a large party of about loO, as was said, accompanied by one Kachlein, a sheriff, as he was called. They surrounded our block-houses and demanded a surrender, which was refused by our party. They commenced a heavy fire upon us. They were ordered to withdraw, but still crowded upon us. The fire was returned from our block-houses. Nathan Ogden was killed. The party then withdrew. That the evening following Captain Stewart, and a small party with him, retired and left the deponent and about ten or twelve others, with their families ; that the next morning following the deponent and the others, about ten or twelve as aforesaid, were all taken prisoners by Charles Stewart and others, robbed of all our property, and our families drove off. The deponent and the others taken with him were sent under a guard to Kaston. The deponent and three others were confined in Easton goal, and the others were sent to Philadelphia goal, as was said. The deponent, about six weeks after, broke goal and made his escape and went to Goshen, New York. * * That he does not know who killed Nathan Ogden, but his belief is that John McDonald killed him."

Shortly after Nathan Ogden had breathed his last, and his corpse had been removed to Fort Wyoming, Justice Charles Stewart summoned a jury of inquest, composed of the following Pennamites—who were members of Sheriff Kachlein's posse comitatus: Jacob Brinker, Casper Dull, Daniel Shoemaker, Michael Raub, Peter Ealer, James Lawson, John Seely, Bernard Gritz, Joseph Wheeler, Robert Duchee, Daniel Bloom and Beniah Mundy. After due inquiry the jury found* that "a certain Lazarus Stewart did present his gun through a loop-hole in the fort, and, saying he would shoot the said Nathan Ogden, did fire his rifle ; and the bullet entering on the right side of the body of the said Nathan Ogden, was the cause of his death instantly ; and that the said Lazarus Stewart is guilty of the horrid and wilful murder of the said Nathan Ogden." This finding of the jury, together with the letters and depositions prepared by Justice Stewart—as previously mentioned—were immediately forwarded to Governor Penn by an express. Accompanying the documents was a list (forty-eight names) of the "Rioters in the fort at Wioming, January 21, 1771, when Nathan Ogden was murdered." The following is a copy of the listf :

"Lazarus Stewart, the murderer, Lazarus Stewart, the younger, William Stewart, James Stewart, apprehended and escaped, John Simpson, Peter Kidd, Thomas Robinson, James Robinson, John Robinson, Robert Kidd, Simeon Draper, Asa Ludington, William Young, Silas Gore, James Ray, Parshall Terry, Robert Hopkins, John Stephens, Jesse Kinny, Daniel Angell, Ebenezer Staens, Isaac Warner, Jedidiah Olcutt, John Franklin, Nathan Denison, Silas Hopkins, Richard Cook, Henry Coland, Matthias Hollenback, William Speedy, Philip Avic, John Donnell, Thomas Bennet, John Cochran, Abel Peirce, William Grimes, Joshua Bennet, Jacob Anquish, George Walterberger, Peter Dance, Jesse Weeks, Timothy Smith, Asa Lyons, Isaac Bennett, James Biggar, John Pearce, Gideon Pillar and Daniel Gore."
----
Leaving a garrison of about thirty Pennamites at Wilkes-Barre" in charge of Fort Durkee and Fort Wyoming, Sheriff Kachlein, Captain Ogden and Justice Stewart, with their associates, marched from the valley about the 23d of January and made their way to Easton as expeditiously as possible. Of the ten or twelve prisoners who were taken when Fort Durkee was captured (as detailed by Parshall Terry), Maj. Simeon Draper, Asa Ludington, Daniel Gore, Thomas Bennet and William Speedy were sent to Philadelphia and committed to the City Jail, where Major Durkee and Captain Butler were still languishing, while Parshall Terry and the remaining Wyoming prisoners were locked up in the Easton jail. The majority of the men who had retired from Fort Durkee with Lazarus Stewart in the evening of January 21st repaired to their several homes in Lancaster County and elsewhere, but Captain Stewart and six other Hanoverians made their way to Connecticut. Thus was consummated the fifth expulsion of the Yankees from Wyoming by the Pennamites.
----
February 4, 1771, at Philadelphia, Charles Stewart, Esq., and Capt. Amos Ogden were paid by Edmund Physick, Esq., Receiver General of the Province, £100 on account of "Wyoming expenses";^ and on the same day Governor Penn sent a message to the Provincial Assembly, in which he gave an account of the arrest of Lazarus Stewart by the Sheriff of York County and the escape of the prisoner from the Sheriff's deputies; who, stated the Governor, were "not altogether free from suspicion" in permitting the escape. "The same Lazarus Stewart," continued the Governor, "far from being awed by the proceedings of Government against him, has since his escape put himself at the head of a number of people of his neighborhood, of the same lawless disposition with himself, and with an armed force has taken possession of the lands at Wyoming." The Governor then referred to Sheriff Kachlein's expedition to Wyoming and to the happenings here, and declared that Lazarus Stewart, "in cool blood, and in the most treacherous manner, murthered Nathan Ogden, * * and wounded several others."
On February 8th a message was sent to the Governor by the Assembly, signed by the Hon. Joseph Galloway, the Speaker, and containing the following paragraph* :
----
"The outrages arising from the confederacy of so many desperate ruffians, who have at length perpetrated in a most treacherous manner, and with an audacious contempt of Government, the murder of a person acting in obedience to the laws, too plainly evince the dangerous tendency of such licentious proceedings, and the necessity of pursuing these daring offenders. We therefore request the Governor to issue a proclamation offering a reward of JC300 for the apprehension and delivery of Lazarus Stewart to the Sheriff of Philadelphia County, and £50 for the apprehension and delivery of each of his accomplices, viz.: James Stewart, William Stewart, William Speedy, John Simpson, William Young, John McDaniel, alias Donnel, and Richard Cook."
---
In pursuance of this authorization the Governor issued on February 9th a proclamation in which the rewards named by the Assembly were offered. The proclamation was published in the newspapers, and 300 broadsides were printed and distributed throughout the Province.
---
In February and March, 1771, the following advertisement was published in The Connecticut Courant at Hartford, and in other newspapers.
"whereas our settlers at Wyoming on Susquehanna River are unjustly and by force and arms drove off from their settlements, and it is judged necessary that some effectual measures be come into soon, to put an end to the dispute : These are therefore to warn all the proprietors in the Susquehanna Purchase to meet at the Court House at Windhatn 13th March next to take said matters into consideration, and to come into such measures as shall be judged best for said Company.
---
[Signed] "eliphalbt Dyer,
"samuel Gray,
"ebenezer Baldwin,
"gershom Breed,
----
Early in March, 1771, printed petitions were prepared and circulated throughout the various towns in Connecticut for the signatures of the inhabitants of the Colony not proprietors in The Susquehanna Company. These petitions, which were addressed to the General Assembly of Connecticut, prayed that the "distressed case of the settlers at Wyoming" might be taken into consideration, and that they and the territory they claimed "might be erected into a County" by the General Assembly.

Agreeably to notice The Susquehanna Company met at Windham on March 13th—Maj. Elizur Talcott acting as Moderator, and Samuel Gray as Clerk. The following preamble and resolution were adopted :
" Whereas, our settlers are again unjustly and inhumanly drove off from their settlements at Wyoming, and robbed of their effects by a gang of lawless and wicked men, and it is judged best and necessary for the interests of this Company to regain and hold possession of our settlements at Wyoming ; and in order thereto it is now "Voted, That the 240 settlers, together with those settlers to whom the township of Hanover is granted, shall, as soon as may be, repair to Wyoming and take possession of *See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," IX : 715.
----
our settlements there, and hold them for said Company ; and in case any of said settlers shall neglect or refuse to go and take and hold possession of said lands according to the former votes of this Company, that then any other person or persons that shall go and regain and hold possession of said land, according to the former votes of this Company, shall each be entitled to one settler's right. And for a further encouragement, each settler shall at his setting off be paid out of the Treasury of this Company five dollars ; and that Ezekiel Peirce, Esq., Capt. Zebulon Butler,* Edward Mott, Robert Durkee, John Smith, Esq., John Jenkins, Elizur Talcott, Jeremiah Angell, Eliphalet Lester, Christopher A very, Benjamin Follett, William Gallup, Seth Smith, William White of Stafford, Gad Stanley, Capt. Eliphalet Whittlesey of Kent, Benjamin Stephens of Capaan, Increase Moseley, Esq., Daniel Lyman, Esq., Jonathan Pettibone and Obadiah Gore be a committee to take the names of such persons as shall engage to go forward." * * *

Under the date of March 20, 1771, Governor Trumbull wrote to the Standing, or Executive, Committee of The Susquehanna Company as followsf:

"Governor Penn's letter to me, dated the 7th inst., inclosing a Proclamation and a copy of a Riot Act issued and passed in consequence of repeated disturbances raised by sundry persons within the Government of Pennsylvania, I have committed to the care of the Hon. Matthew Griswold.J It is said that the disorders which have occasioned these proceedings are the undoubted effect of a pretended claim set up by a Company in this Colony to the lands on the Susquehanna in Pennsylvania. You being a committee of that Company, I have desired his Honor to communicate the same to you, that you may have opportunity—if you think fit—to obviate the grievous complaints, viz.: 'That you chuse to prosecute your claim by the most unwarrantable violence rather than by law, and much disturb the peace of that Province, and so involve many of their people that it becomes necessary for the Assembly to introduce the Riot Act to prevent such outrages for the future.'

"This communication is made in confidence of your hearkening to and showing me your readiness to see justice [done] in legal ways only, to discountenance all lawless proceedings, and to preserve the peace of both that Government and this."
Under the date of March 27, 1771, Col. Eliphalet Dyer, Maj. Jedidiah Elderkin, Samuel Gray, Esq., and Nathaniel Wales, Jr., Esq., members of the Standing Committee of The Susquehanna Company, replied to the foregoing communication in a long and carefully-prepared statement!, in which they gave a re'sume' of the doings of their Company from its beginning. In conclusion they wrote :
---
"In what a surprising and unheard of manner, in an English Government, has been the treatment of Major Durkee—who never has been present or active where any affray has happened—to be forcibly taken captive and carried down to Easton ; the most excessive bail required, and when he appeared to save his bail, could have no trial, but increasing bail required, and to appear in another county than where the facts were pretended to have been done ; and upon his appearance a further and additional bail required, and no trial could be had. At last, by the excessiveness of the bail required, he was obliged to sink under the weight and be committed to the gaol in Philadelphia, there to be kept on bread and water with many others his companions—depending solely for their support upon the good Providence of God and the help of some compassionate friends ; and so hath continued from last September [1770] until this time, without any trial or deliverance."

April 4, 1771, The Susquehanna Company met at Windham pursuant to adjournment, when the action of the Company taken at its meeting held on March 13th was discussed, and a report was received from the committee appointed "to take the names of such persons as would agree to go upon said lands at Wyoming." Whereupon the following was adopted:

" Whereas, The major part of said committee have made their report in the premises, and it appears from said report that it is the general opinion of the proprietors so far as they have been consulted—which extends to a very considerable part of said Company— that it is desirable to defend our possessions on Susquehanna River with life and spirit ; and they appear universally willing to extend what [aid] shall be necessary for that purpose, and seem determined to prosecute our claim to those lands in every Constitutional way that can be devised, until the same shall be in some legal way determined. Yet, it is judged by many of the proprietors that—as we have now a petition lying before the General Assembly, praying them to take into consideration the general claim of this Colony to those western lands (which it is expected will be acted upon at the next session ); and as it seems almost impossible but that the Assembly, on consideration of the Colony's title, will judge the same ^ood and claim the same accordingly (which determination may be of great advantage in defending our particular right); and that we may pay a due deference to the laws of the land—it is most prudent actually to delay going on to said lands, according to said votes, until opportunity [has been had] to know the minds of the Assembly. * * Therefore, it is unanimously agreed and voted to suspend entering on said lands according to said votes passed the 13th of March last, until the adjourned meeting to be held at Hartford on the 15th of May next.

» Shortly before this Captain Butler had been released from the Philadelphia City Jail—presumably under bail—and had returned to Connecticut. Alexander Patterson, the Pennamite, in his "Petition" mentioned in the note on page (i'2G, aw^, stated that "after a long confinement Judge Allen Rave him [Captain Butler] money and clothes, on his promising never more to disturb the Province, and discharged him." T
his statement, like a score of the other statements contained in Patterson's "Petition," is undoubtedly untrue.
----
t See "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, IV : 394.
\ Then I.icutenant Governor of Connecticut.
JSee "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series. IV : 401.
-----
" Whereas, Maj. John Durkee and several others of the proprietors of the Susquehanna Purchase are confined in the common goal in the Province of Pennsylvania, and are there destitute of friends and money—which renders their situation extremely distressing and affecting to all who have any just ideas of their sufferings—and application having been made at this meeting for some relief, this meeting, taking this matter into serious consideration.
Votes, That the sum of £50 be immediately raised and sent to Major Durkee and the others for their relief; and as there is no money now in the Treasury it is voted that the following provision shall be made for raising the aforesaid sum, iriz.: That proper persons be appointed to apply forthwith to the proprietors in the several towns, and advise them of the distressed situation of the said Major Durkee and his companions, and request the proprietors to pay such sums as they may think themselves in duty bound to advance ; and that the Treasurer repay to such proprietors the several sums they shall so advance, as soon as the same can be collected out of the debts due to said Company. And if sufficient sums shall not be collected in the above method, then if any of the friends of the persons confined shall procure in whole or in part the above sum, and send the same to be distributed among them, * : then in that case the same shall be refunded out of the Treasury aforesaid—provided the sum so raised do not exceed to Major Durkee £34, and either of the others—viz.:
Simeon Draper, Daniel Gore, Asa Ludington and Thomas Bennet—the sum of £4 each, which makes the said sum of £50.*
-----
" Voted, That Ebenezer Backus, Capt. Silas Park, William Hurlbut, Ebenezer Baldwin, William Gallup, Increase Moseley, Elizur Talcott, Joseph Baton, Robert Durkee, Zebulon Butler, John Perkins, Ezra Buell, John Jenkins, Nathaniel Loomis, Jeremiah Angell, Jonathan Pettibone, Gad Stanley, John Smith and Obadiah Gore be a committee to make application to the proprietors in order to collect the above sum of £50.
----
"Whereas, There are seven (7) persons belonging to Pennsylvania Go%'ernment now residing among us in this Colony who were obliged to depart our settlements at the Susquehanna by reason of the forcible proceedings of Amos Ogden and others his accomplices against them, while defending our possessions there ; which persons, by means of leaving their estates, families and business there seem justly to deserve some assistance of the Company here for their support—which persons have been some time supplied in part by Ebenezer Backus of Windham, and will stand in need of further assistance for necessary support, both as to provisions and some articles of clothing—it is therefore Voted, That the cost already arisen for their support since they came into this Colony (including what they expended in this Colony on their journey to Windham, as well as since), and what shall be needful for their comfortable support until the 15th day of May.t next, shall be paid to those who shall so support them, out of the Treasury of said Company, t" I'oted, That the Standing Committee forthwith send, or procure to be sent, the £50 in money voted to be sent to Major Durkee and his companions, in the most safe, expeditious and prudent manner they can—to be distributed by said Major Durkee according to said vote."

The Company then adjourned, to meet at Hartford on the loth of the following May, at which time and place the General Assembly of Connecticut would be in session. Having convened then and there according to adjournment, the Company appointed its Clerk, Samuel Gray, Esq., to "attend the General Assembly and assist in preparing the Susquehanna Case for a hearing." An adjournment then took place until May 23d, at Hartford, when a further adjournment to June 12th, at Windham, was voted. Towards the end of May the General Assembly of Connecticut, after some debate, took the following action : "Resolved, That the lands west of the Delaware, and in the latitude of that part of this Colony eastward of the Province of New York, are well contained within the boundaries and descriptions of the Charter granted by King Charles II in 1662." This, of course, related to the lands claimed by The Delaware Company (see page 293, Vol. I) and by The Susquehanna Company, and lying between the forty-first and forty-second parallels of latitude. (See "Map of a Part of Pennsylvania," farther on in this chapter.) Turning our attention, now, in the direction of Wyoming Valley, we find that from about the 23d of January, 1771, the Pennamites were exclusively in possession of the valley. About the first of March the men who had been garrisoning the two forts at Wilkes-Barre" were joined by a number of Pennsylvanians and Jerseymen with their families, as

As previously noted Captain Butler had been released from the Philadelphia jail in January or Kebruarv. 1771, and later William Speedy was released under bail. In the latter part of June, l/il. Major Draper was released from confinement, and joined his family in Dutchess County, New York. About the same time Messrs. Gore. Ludington and Bennet were also released, and returned to their respective homes.
t At which time the General Assembly of Connecticut would be in session, and, it was hoped and believed by the members of The Susquehanna Company, would take some favorable action in their interest.
\ The seven refugees from Pennsylvania thus provided for were Capt. I,azarus Stewart and his .six associates who had fled from Fort Durkee on January 21st. Two years later the following certificate was issued (see The Susquehanna Company's Record Book "H," page 213): "Whereas Capt. Lazarus Stewart, William Stewart, and sundry others their associates, repaired into this Colony in lul, being driven from our settlement at Susqnehanna River, and while here became indebted to Nathaniel Olcutt of Hartford, for their support, in the sum of £6, 7s. 6d. lawful money. In consideration thereof, by and with the other committeeroen, these presents doth intitle the above-named Nathaniel Olcutt to one half-right or -share in the lands in the Susquehanna Purchase, in full discharge of said debt
"Dated in Hartford June 2,1773. [Signed] "saml. Gray, one of ye Comtee."
***********
Fred
bugler103@attbi.com
From: LUDDINGTON-L@rootsweb.com
Date: Sunday, May 18, 2003
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There is also a story about these Luddington's who were actually hired by the Susquehanna company to go into the Wyoming territory and purchase the land.
The two Luddington's mentioned were Asa and Comfort.
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Asa Ludington was surely the man mentioned below.
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As most Lud researchers will recall there has been some doubt at times that the Asa (Esau/Esau) Ludington of Greenbrier County,West Virginiawas really the son of Elisha Ludington and a brother to Comfort and his sister, Abigail,the wife of Col Henry Ludington, all of Dutchess County,New York....
------
This very morning I was searching thru a book called "The Harvey Book" which
is a study of several New England families, when i came across an article on
the "list of the Proprietors of the Five Townships at Wyoming" which is a
study of the opening of new lands in the south part of PA and northern Virginia.....
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There was much animosity between the Pennsilvania folks, called Pennamites,and some Yankees from Connceticut & New York who had moved in to claim some of this land.
In Sept 1770 some of these Yankees from CT and NY who had moved into this territory with the idea of claiming it for their own development were caught in Ft Durkee and captured by the "Pennamites" and thrown into jail, in irons, in Philadelphia.
----
Among these Yankee prisoners was a Major Draper,Daniel Gore, Asa Ludington & Thomas Bennett.
At a meeting of th Susquehanna Company in Windom,Connecticut in April 4,1771 it was voted to send some money to these felows who were in jail in Phiily and who were "destitute of friends and money". Among the men in jail was a Major Durkee who received 31 lbs, while the others, including Asa Ludington,received 4 lbs each.
The Major Draper mentioned above was from Phillipse Patent, Dutchess Co, NY and that should tell us that his cohort, Asa Ludington, was probably our Asa, also from the Patent in Dutchess Co NY.
I have searched my records and the only Asa Ludington from that particular time period would have to be this very Asa who some short years later first appears as a settler in this same once disputed territory of Greenbrier County,West Virginia.......
***********
The Vandalia Colony was a new colony that was planned, which would have had it's seat of government on the Ohio River. The residents of what were then Augusta, Botetourt and Fincastle Counties of Virginia (this included all of what is now West Virginia), sent a petition to Virginia's Governor Dunmore on 2 April 1774, protesting the formation of this new Colony as this would have placed the petitioners in a separate colony from Virginia.
The formation of Vandalia did pass in England, but the Revolution in America caused it to be dropped.
Carol Garvin
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Ron Ludington wrote:
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Wow that is good news as we have always thot the he was really Asa Ludington a son of Elisha and a bro to Comfort and Abigail (who m her cousin Col Henry). and just seemed to disapear from any NY records over time.
We do know he fought in the French and Indian wars along with Comfort; but seems to have moved on to ?? after that Just what was, or is, the Vandalia Colony?
It escaped from my Canadian History book.
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Thanx to the Garvins.............This bit of news added to the other items I had on Esua Asa just makes me more convinced that he is the missing brother to Abigail.
The fact that his two sons show as being b in NY, the Caldwell -Coldwell family connection, and several other clues pretty well confirm things........
***********
Greenbrier County Landholders, 1783
Greenbrier County Virginia Deeds & Wills, 1777-1833
Athens, Georgia: Iberian Publishing Co, 1992
------
LUDDINGTON, Esau
assignee Abraham
HAPTONSTALL Jr. 200
**********
Carolyn and Jack Norlyn
cjnorski@davis.com
Subject: Asa vs Esau Ludington
Date: Dec 2000
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A lot the earlier settlers had dealing with the Greenbrier Land Company and experienced problems getting their land titles.
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June 13,1783
The residents addressed a petition to the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
It was signed by 280 persons, and included the names of Esau
Ludington, 'Ace' Ludington, James Morrow Sr., James Morrow, Jr., and Samuel Morrow.(8)
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Records sometimes refer to ³Ace² Ludington. It would seem logical that this was a nickname for Esau; however, the above petition suggests that ³Ace² was a second person; possibly Francis Ludington.
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July 16, 1794
John Stuart sent the following letter to the Honorable John Steele:
---
Since I wrote you yesterday the Kanawha man has arrived.
He brings no news--all there is peace.
I have enclosed two receipts for the ammunition I furnished them, viz: 195 lbs of powder.
Lead, I could get none. At the Beginning of this Season our people on the Frontier of this county were very apprehensive of danger from the Indians, and as their was much rumor of war I thought it best to provide against danger, and therefore took a barrel of powder of Ace Ludington of 1-- lbs weight, which I promised to see him paid for, and which I intended to apply to the use of Militia, provided occasion should lie.
The powder has since been in my possession, where I shall retain it for said purpose provide the Board should think it necessary. If so, they will be pleased to grant an order for the payment; if not, I shall be under the necessity of paying Ludington, making the best I can of it.
This you will be pleased to mention, and also have Clendinen¹s receipts settled, for his he has received. Ludington¹s was the only stock of powder in this country, and I have passed my word for payment of the whole to him.
What may be obtained please deliver to Col Gamble. I am, &c.(9)
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(8)The Virginia Genealogist, 169-171, Greenbrier County Legislative.
(9) Calendar of Virginia State Papers from January 1, 1794, to May 16,1795
Vol. VII, Richmond, 1888.
************
Built first mill in Greenbrier County,West Virginia.
Esau was in charge of giving powder out to the soldiers at the Battle of Point Pleasant
and was accused of holding out on powder so he took the powder into battle are and his wife
and children helped make the musket balls to shoot.
*********
Asa Ludington,enlisted April 26,1760 at the age 17 in Duchess County Militia under
"Captain Richard Rea" on page 264 of "Muster Rolls Of My Provincial Troops 1755-1764."
by Edward Delancey printed by New York Historical Society.
*********
From Hardesty's
Historical Book & Georgraphical Encyclopedia of West Virginia,1884 & 1974.
***********
Served with his brother Comfort in the French and Indian War,Military 1776 New York
Muster Rolls of New York Provincial Troops 1755-1764; page 266
Author: Delancey, Edward F.
Publication: New York Historical Society 1891
*************
History of East Haven
By Sarah Eva Hughes, Stephen Dodd
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CHAPTER X.
Losses By War.
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In the French War of 1755, a number of men were drafted from East Haven for the English army near the lakes, and the greater part of them were lost by sickness and battle. Of these I have obtained the following names, viz.: Jacob Moulthrop, David Moulthrop, Adonijah Moulthrop, Jacob Robinson, Benjamin Robinson, Thomas Robinson, Jr., David Potter, John Mallory, Abraham Jocelin, Samuel Hotchkiss, James Smith, Samuel Russell and Stephen Russell, brothers, and Asa Luddington. Benjamin Russell was captured at sea.

In the War of Independence, which began April 19, 1775, the following persons were lost. In 1776, Elijah Smith was killed in battle on Long Island; Thomas Smith conducted a fire ship to the enemy, but was badly burned, and the attending boat having left him too soon, he had to swim ashore, where he was found three days after in a helpless state; he was brought over to Rye, and there he died. Nathan Andrews died a prisoner. In 1777 Isaac Potter perished in the prison ship. July 5, 1779, Isaac Pardee was killed on Grave or Fort Hill, by a cannon shot. In October, on board a privateer, Zabulon Bradley was killed. Richard Paul, Jacob Pardee, Jr., Asa Bradley, Abijah Bradley, and Elijah Bradley, were made prisoners and all, except the last, perished in the prison ship at New York the following winter. In 1780 Medad Slaughter died in the prison ship. In 1781 John Howe was killed by the tories, when they surprised Fort Hale. John Walker was killed upon Long Island.
Thus twelve young men were lost, and several men returned from captivity so injured by hard usage that they pined away and died—particularly Edward Goodsell, Isaac Luddington and Jared Hemingway.
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On July 4, 1779, the enemy intending to capture New Haven, landed a covering force on Morris Neck and South End, and marched directly to Turtle's Hill, where they encamped that night, and the next day reembarked. They were led by the tories. In this invasion they burnt most of the dwellings within their reach, and made the rebel whigs feel the effects of royal British vengeance.
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To meet these losses and those of other towns of a similar nature, in May, 1792, the General Assembly of Connecticut passed an act appropriating "500,000 acres of land west of Pennsylvania, for the relief of the sufferers by fire."
The damage in each town was assessed, and the amount of each person's loss in East Haven was as follows:
Amos Morris,
John Woodward,
John Woodward, jun.,
Elam Luddington,
Joseph Tuttle,
Jacob and Abijah Pardee,
Jehiel Forbes,
Mary Pardee,
Mary and Lydia Pardee,
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They burnt eleven dwelling houses, nine barns, and some other out-buildings. Gurdon Bradley lost £66, in a sloop that was burnt. The enemy and the militia plundered the inhabitants of all they could carry off. The whole of this loss was collected by the commissioners appointed for this purpose, and the amount was £421 is. 4d. The entire loss of East Haven by this invasion in property was $15,251.79.

Since 1824 a very great change has taken place in the sentiment, interest and pride of ancestry of the Revolutionary patriots. As East Haven was one of the historic places of the Revolution, and one whose inhabitants suffered more, in proportion to their numbers, than almost ony other place, as the British burned nearly every building on their line of march, besides destroying crops, slaughtering cattle and spreading ruin everywhere, it is thought advisable to give the occurrences a place in history. Besides, East Haven was one of the first places in Connecticut to be marked with a tablet erected on Beacon Hill in 1895 by the Sons of the American Revolution. In fact, if the ladies of East Haven were so disposed, they could form a very respectable sized chapter of the D. A. R.'s within the limits of the little town with a fine record to each one. So, for the benefit of those who may succeed the present generation, and who may take pride in their noble ancestry, a more detailed account has been written. There may be some omissions of facts, which could not be gathered, but which might be of much interest. It is the regret of the writer that such may be the case.

British Invasion Of New Haven.

July 4, 1779, occurred on Sunday, and as has always been the custom, the people proposed celebrating it on the following Monday. It is within the memory of the older inhabitants that all New England observed Saturday night with great religious precision; but Sunday night was of a holiday nature. It was now the third anniversary of American Independence, and as New Haven had never celebrated this great event to any extent, it was decided that this year it should be fittingly observed; accordingly at "sundown Sunday" the people assembled in the middle brick church to make arrangements. Everything was decided about 9 o'clock, and the inhabitants were quietly retiring for their night's rest, when the booming of a signal gun announced the approach of the enemy, and instead of its being a day of celebration, it proved to be a day of defence.

It had been reported in the town, that a fleet was preparing for the eastward, from New York. Commodore Sir George Collier was commander-in-chief of all the British naval forces in American waters, rendezvousing in New York. It was supposed this fleet was destined for either Newport or New London, until they had passed Stratford and nearly rounded into New Haven harbor, which was late in the evening of July 4th. About midnight the whole fleet was at anchor, the large ships about a mile from Southwest Ledge Lighthouse. The smaller vessels came into the mouth of the harbor about 5 A. M., July 5th, which was then about high tide. The first division of 1,500 men and four field pieces landed at Savin Rock (West Haven) under Brigader-General Garth. As soon as the boats, which had landed the men on the west shore, returned to the transports, they were filled with British troops, and were rowing to the East shore, under command of General Tryon.

Morris Cove or Point had long been a coveted and objective place to the tories and British. Long Island Sound was full of foraging and marauding parties, from the war ships generally commanded by a British officer, led by tories, who were well acquainted with the localities. Cattle, sheep, and poultry were killed or driven off, houses broken into and robbed, and not infrequently heads of families captured and imprisoned. Just before the invasion of New Haven, Capt. Amos Morris, of Morris Point, was one of the victims of a raid made on his place. "He and his son were awakened, and captured, taken to a boat in waiting, and conveyed to the British with little clothing to protect them from the night air, and finally lodged in one of the far-famed prison-ships, at that time the terror of all captured Americans.

"While on their passage across the sound, as daylight appeared, Captain Morris recognized one of his captors as a man who had lived in the town of East Haven, and had been for a time in his employ. Turning to him with the same commanding air and tone of authority that he was wont to assume when occasion demanded it and which few men ever wielded with more effect, he exclaimed, 'And is it you, J! What do you mean, sir, by this treatment ?' The tory, cowering at the captain's rebuke, replied, 'You shan't be hurt, Squire, you shan't be hurt.' 'Hurt,' retorted the squire, 'What do you call such treatment as this ? Dragging a man from his bed, in the dead of the night, tearing him from his family, plundering his house, exposing him, half-clad, to the air of the cold night, in an open boat, is this no hurt, sir?' His son, taking courage from this bold tone, and seeing its effect, cast his eye upon the plunder, and discovered among it his father's coat, and threw it to him in the other end of the boat. It was a time of more than ordinary solicitude on the part of the son for his family, his wife being in delicate health, and profiting by the lesson of his captors, he availed himself of a dark night to effect his escape. The effort cost him many perils and hardships, but was in the end successful. Captain Morris was subsequently liberated on his parole." [Morris Gen.]

The British now pulling oar for the shore were about 1,500 men, composed of the 23d Regiment, the Hessian, Landgrave, and King's American regiments and two pieces of cannon. As soon as the boats were within range, the fieldpiece, which a company of East Haven patriots had hauled to the beach at Morris Point and was masked, opened fire. When half a mile from shore, the line of boats divided, one division putting into Morris Cove. On account of the well-served battery of three guns on Black Rock Fort (now Fort Hale) they were compelled to land near where the Grove House wharf is now built. General Tryon it appears landed here, and from the top of the Palisades directed the storming of the Rock Fort. The other line of boats landed on the beach east of the outer rocky point, and as it landed, an officer hailed the shore, shouting, "Disperse, ye rebels!" and the next moment fell back into the boat dead, from the fire of this detachment, who were armed with rifles. This was the first enemy killed on the East shore; he was Adjutant Watkins of the King's American regiment. As soon as life was extinct, they buried him near the Old Lighthouse. In fact that is what they did with all those killed on the East shore. It seemed to be their object to conceal their loss from the patriots as soon as possible, and their dead were buried along their line of march. The main body after forming on the beach and throwing out skirmishers, one party going along the Fowler Creek meadows, east side, and the other along the beach, protected by a section of marines and sailors in Morris Cove, took up its march. As the advance guard of this division approached the Morris mansion, they were frequently fired upon, and this grand old manor house, built of stone, was the first to be consigned to the flames, together with the barns and all other buildings.

When the alarm guns called to arms, great fear and consternation seized all, as it was evident that rapine and murder would mark every step. The first thing to be done was to send the women and children, with what valuables could be best collected and transported, to a place of safety. Those who possessed horses quickly saddled and loaded them with bags of household goods, while others filled oxcarts with the same, driven by the mothers or older children, while the fathers and older sons seized their guns, to go forth to harass and annoy the enemy.

The time of preparation was so short that many heard the whistling of bullets from the guns of the enemy. The experience of one family is nearly the same of all those fleeing to some place of supposed safety. "Captain Morris and his men made every effort to secure such loose or movable property as could be conveyed to secret places in the short time allowed for such work. Some were hidden in ditches, some in a bushy swale, and some were carried to the woods whither the stock had been driven, excepting the swine, which took fright at the discharge of muskets, and breaking out of the sty took shelter in a field of rye. They remained at the house as long as prudence would permit, securing the property. His last act before leaving was to spread a table with refreshments and luxuries for their entertainment, with the hope of rendering them more favorably disposed toward himself, and thus saving his buildings.

"Being now about to leave he cast a glance out of the door, and saw a company of redcoats, within a stone's throw, advancing towards the houses. 'They are upon us,' he exclaimed; and with his hired men made their retreat under cover of the house, until they gained a stone wall. By this time the house was no longer between them and the enemy and a rapid fire was immediately opened upon them. The stone wall protected them, until they reached a pair of bars in the wall; as they passed this, they were greeted with a shower of bullets, but escaped all injury. One of the balls struck a rail just above Mr. Morris' head and grooved out its center. The rail remained in its place on the farm till 1845, when that portion showing the mark of the ball was placed with the Connecticut Historical Society of Hartford. He now escaped into the woods just beyond, and finally joined his family. His house, barns, and buildings for the manufacture of salt and cider, and for storing goods, were burned, inflicting a loss of more than i 1,235.

"A short time after the war, Captain Morris had occasion to visit the state prison, and to his surprise discovered among the prisoners the man who betrayed him at the time of his capture by the British. 'What! is it you, J?' he exclaimed, 'and have you come to this ?' Not another word was spoken; but calling to mind the noble revenge prescribed in the gospel, he drew from his pocket a golden coin, and saw the tory brush away a tear as he received it." [Morris Gen.] This same fellow was engaged in a raid on the house of Capt. Ebenezer Dayton, in Bethany, Connecticut, with five others, headed by a British officer, five of whom were caught, tried, convicted and sentenced to Newgate prison.

The march from the Point to the Palisades was rapid and destructive. The Pardee houses, and one belonging to the brother of Captain Morris were fired, and destroyed; Jacob Pardee's house was held for a short time as Tryon's headquarters. The Pardees had barely time to throw into an oxcart their valuables, which they buried in Bridge swamp, a few rods northeast of Jeddy Andrews' house. The enemy destroyed everything in their wake; but several of them had fallen and were hastily buried in the thick woods just off the road. The earthworks on Beacon Hill and at Black Rock Fort were the only obstacles that this powerful land and sea force had to oppose them. The enemy did not get possession of the Rock Fort until its brave defenders had expended all their ammunition. The fort was stormed by Tryon's land force, and at the same time their shipping drew up and attacked it from the harbor. The fort had only 19 men, under the command of Lieutenant Bishop, and three pieces of artillery, yet was defended as long as reason or valor dictated, and then the patriots spiked and dismounted the guns, and retreated northward, but were outnumbered and captured, when not far distant. Everything in the Cove was now in blazing or smoking ruins, and the advance guard of the main body was marching up what is now Townsend avenue, a road of only two rods width thickly set on each side with bushes, stone, and in some places a Virginia rail fence, forming an excellent covert, from which the patriots were firing on the enemy with much execution.

The next house after leaving the Cove was Mr. Joseph Tuttle's, standing opposite the present Townsend homestead. Mr. Tuttle owned the farm extending from Black Rock to Beacon Hill, which he sold to the Townsends in 1709. Mr. Tuttle and his eldest son, Josiah, a lad not yet seventeen, were in the fort defending it; both were now prisoners of war. His son was a regularly enlisted soldier, having joined Captain Phineas Bradley's company when only sixteen years and four months old. The British on both sides of the harbor were led by Joshua Chandler's sons. William led those on the West side, and Tom, those on the East side. Chandler was acquainted with Mr. Tuttle and knew the ground well, having hunted it over, often, with the boys on the East side. On coming to his house, Chandler told the officer this was Tuttle's house, and pointed him out. The officer told Mr. Tuttle they would burn his house and everything surrounding it, if he would not lay down his arms, and promise he would not take them up again. He replied, "Not for all the gold in the British kingdom." A shout rang out, "Run the rebel through." He raised his right hand high above his head and said, "By all the laws of civilized warfare you are bound to protect your prisoners." The officer then asked, "What are you fighting for, any way?" "God and my right," was his reply. The same shout rang out the second time. The officer, waving his sword, said, "No, you cannot do that; that is the King's motto, and you cannot do it, but he will get his rights in the old hulk Jersey."

Our troops were forced back step by step. Some of the East Haven patriots had fallen back on the road east of Prospect Hill; others remained with the main body, fighting and disputing every inch of the way, and keeping up a galling fire upon the British from bushes and hedges in front and flank; and from this point there was continual slaughter until the earthworks on Beacon Hill were carried. The patriot forces were about equally divided, some in the road, and some in the fields, keeping back the skirmishers and sending an occasional volley into the advance guard, always with effect. There were two fieldpieces, under the gallant Lieutenant Pierpont; these would open a raking fire, and then be rapidly hauled back by the brave patriots, and then moved to a new position, each shot making a swath through the ranks of the invaders.
The Tuttle house, barns, outhouses and fields of ripened grain were now in a fierce blaze. On the site of the present residence of Mr. Asa L. Fabrique, the British met with a severe check. At this point was a clump of bushes and towards the road a brush hedge. About 40 of the patriots masked themselves behind this hedge. Below, our troops were hard pressed, as the enemy's cannon were better served, and it was decided to make one more stand, fire, and fall back up the road to the intrenchment on Beacon Hill, where they had sent their cannon. As the enemy followed, the party behind the fence were to welcome them with a shower of leaden hail, and then fall back to the hill. The stand was made when the enemy were midway between the Mitchell and Townsend houses. The order was given to fire, which they did with considerable effect. A general stampede took place as agreed upon; but Adam Thorp of North Haven said "he would not run another step for all Great Britain." He loaded and fired his piece and the next instant fell, pierced with many bullets. He was the first one of the patriots killed from the East side, of whom we have any record. Afterwards the spot was marked with a stone thus inscribed: "Here fell Adam Thorp, July 5th, 1779." His great-grandson, Sheldon Thorp, says he was buried in North Haven.

This check brought the whole division to a halt, and after the smoke had cleared away, the patriots were seen retreating toward the hill, and the division advanced at double quick. The advance guards had passed the patriots in the bushes, when Captain Bradley said, "Wait till you see their eyes, then fire and run." This was done with great effect. The street was strewn with killed and wounded. The patriots, who fell back to the hill, were pursued by the British in hot haste; they lost one of their field pieces, but the other now opened upon the enemy, causing them to halt under the depression of the hill, out of range, a few rods north of Mr. E. J. Upson's residence. There lying flat on the ground, out of harm's way, they rested, till reinforcements came up; the hill was stormed, the patriots falling back, some northwards towards the ferry, others to the heights, and to Saltonstall. The fighting on the East side was now practically over, but the burning and devastation by the British continued to the water's edge. The dead were many, buried in the rye lands on the west side of the road, north of the Tuttle home; the spot being burned over, the locality of the graves was not discovered. Many wounded soldiers were seen being taken to the boats, and carried on board the fleet, and it was supposed that the dead were removed, in order to hide their great loss.

The next house north of the Tuttle house was that of John Woodward, Sr., which they burned, with all the out-buildings; the site was where the old Woodward mansion stands, now owned by C. Edward Woodward. General Tryon made Beacon Hill his headquarters, sending one detachment north to Turtle's Hill (now the site of the reservoir of the New Haven Water Company) and another to the lower ferry, now called Tomlinson's bridge.
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The next house on the line of march was that of John Woodward, Jr. (the site of the present residence of Collis B. Granniss), which they also burned. After pillaging and burning this house, their march was towards the lower ferry, kept by Henry Freeman Hughes. His house was directly opposite the brick residence of the late Samuel Forbes, on what is now Forbes avenue.
It happened at this time that two of Mr. Hughes' sons, John and Daniel, had gone into the country to Simsbury, to visit their brother, who had removed thither a year previous.
Their object was to see the country with the intent to each buy a farm if sufficiently pleased.
On the alarm of the approach of the British, his only daughter, Abigail, and John's wife filled bags of the valuables of the house, and placing them on a horse, fled to the woods, where they remained over night. This took the remaining horse, and left nothing to propel the scow ferry boat.
The enemy came rushing on to the ferry.
Mr. Hughes was alone with his invalid wife, who was a cripple, and had not walked a step for years. She was greatly alarmed, and fearing she would be taken and killed persuaded him to desist from his purpose of fleeing.
The advance guard rushed into his fields of grain and corn, trampling and destroying both.
They broke open and scattered his flour and sugar, pitched his pork about with their bayonets, and let out his molasses and rum till his cellar was shoe deep with the mixture.
They also abused him, one soldier piercing his ear with a bayonet. When the officers came up, while the blood was still trickling down on his shoulder, he went out and asked protection. They said: "Are you a friend to King George?" He replied, "I am." Then they told him no further violence would be done, and placed a guard around his house. From this circumstance, his brother-in-law, Joseph Tuttle, before mentioned, called him a tory, which the family justly resented and denied. *

Mr. Hughes did not keep a store, but like many other men in the maritime towns of Connecticut was interested in West India shipping, and he kept staple groceries and provisions on hand, for his own use, and the accommodation of those who did not wish to cross the ferry to New Haven. His house always afforded accommodation for those who desired it, when prevented from crossing by adverse winds or tides; or, having spent the day in travel, wayfarers would pass the night with him before entering the city.
Mr. Jehiel Forbes' stone mansion was the next place upon which the British wreaked their vengeance. After breaking and destroying everything possible, they burned out the interior, leaving only the blackened walls of this beautiful home.
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The next house to be destroyed was Mr. Elam Luddington's—a new house just completed, standing on the site nearest the water's edge on the north side of the road.
Mr. Luddington was the fourth heaviest loser by this invasion. The next and last house to be destroyed was Capt. Timothy Tuttle's, standing on the shore south of Forbes avenue where a small stone house now stands. The walls of this house were stone, so it was not entirely destroyed. Captain Tuttle was a brother of Joseph Tuttle. Gurdon Bradley of East Haven had a sloop lying at a wharf in front of Captain Tuttle's house, which they also burned. They had now reached the water's edge, and there was nothing more they could burn and destroy. Every house and building from Morris Point to Tomlinson's bridge had been swept by the flames, excepting the Hughes house, which they now made officers' quarters.
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General Tryon sent a detachment to occupy the village of East Haven, but the enemy's advance only reached the "Stone Meetinghouse," which they ransacked for plate, and then fell back to the hill, near the present residence of L. F. Richmond, Esq. Several shots were exchanged between the patriots and British, for when the old Bradley house (the site of the present Levi Bradley home) was taken down, many bullet holes were found in the timbers.
When the patriots retreated from Beacon Hill they were pursued in hot haste by some British skirmishers, and Chandler Pardee, a son of Mr. Jacob Pardee, was shot on the fresh meadows, a ball entering one lung, and he was left on the field for dead. Soon after he was taken to the Governor Saltonstall house, where Dr. Hubbard extracted the ball, and he recovered to tell the story while a prisoner in New York, to the same party of soldiers who had left him dying, as they supposed, on the field.
Not far from the place where Pardee fell lived Mr. Samuel Turtle, who with his neighbors had marched to meet the foe. Satisfied the day was lost, he returned home and started with a cart load of household effects to conceal in a quarry, east of the Pardee's or upper ferry, near the home of William Day. While Tuttle and Day were storing away their goods, the Chandler Pardee pursuers passed Mr. Tuttle's house, which they set on fire. Mrs. Tuttle rushed out with her children into the tall grass. She saw the regulars aiming their muskets, when she called to her children "to lie down in the grass, and say their prayers, as they had but one minute to live." The next instant the whole volley went over their heads. The pursuers passed on, and the neighbors put out the fire with water from the brook. This party made a circuit of the peat meadows and, coming back, found Day and Tuttle, and made them prisoners. They slaughtered Tuttle's cattle; Day being an Englishman, they permitted him to escape, after he had shown them a spring of water, in the rear of Mr. G. E. Lancraft's house, saying, "When I am drinking, I can't see all that passes." Turtle was carried to New York, where he was paroled after six months.

The detachment sent to what is now Reservoir Hill found the fieldpiece used on Beacon Hill; this the patriots had hauled there on their retreat, fired a number of times, but finally spiked and rolled down the hill into the bushes near Mr. Roswell Lancraft's house, now called Burwell street. This was sent on board the fleet. This detachment busied themselves with roasting an ox on the hill in the evening, which was distributed among the different corps. On the site of the present N. W. Kendall mansion, forty different animals were slaughtered, with pigs and poultry in great abundance, all of which were sent on board the fleet. After the enemy had left, Mr. Isaac Pardee took from this hill the sheep and cattle skins and had them tanned. The detachment sent to Ferry Hill, now near Quinnipiac bridge, seemed to destroy little, as there was only one house on the line of their march; and for some reason they did not burn that which is still standing, on South Quinnipiac street, No. 332, for the last sixty years known as the Goodyear house.

The condition of affairs in the harbor at a little after two o'clock in the afternoon when General Tryon reached Beacon Hill was about this: A line of British ships lay anchored the whole length of the bay, with springs on their cables, and guns run out on both sides, ready to belch forth fire and destruction as soon as the expected order should be given to fire the town. General Tryon kept chiefly on the East side; but crossed over to New Haven before sunset, holding a council of war with General Garth and Commodore Collier. The council now found their losses in officers and men had been heavy, and the patriots, better armed than they expected, had made a stubborn resistance ; that the country around New Haven being hilly, it was not safe to go any farther inland for forage; that large reinforcements, with heavy cannon, were actually occupying high ground about the north part of the city and that the militia were coming in from all directions. The harbor was shoal, and many of the vessels at this time, 8 p. M., were touching bottom, and one large vessel did actually lie on her broadside guns, just out of water. It was decided to hold the north and west part of the town over night, with the balance of the tired and drunken soldiers, who were collected on the Green, having been commanded to lie on their arms all night. General Garth fearing his men would become too drunk to remain safe on shore, proposed to Tryon to go on board that night, but Tryon refused.

Affairs at 9 P. M. July 5th were in the worst possible condition, as the British soldiers were mostly all drunk and lying in the open air on the Green, surrounded by a few sober ones, who stood guard to keep them from getting more rum. The officers were at a banquet at the house of Joshua Chandler, the father of William and Tom, who acted as pilots for the British. At one o'clock in the morning of July 6th the troops were ordered to parade, and the tories were notified of the departure. About forty people left with the British, the Chandlers among the number. It is well they did, for had they remained not one of the three would have lived to see the setting sun. The enemy was in a constant state of alarm, and were all concentrated within a hollow square of sentinels for the night. It has since been believed, that had the patriot militia known the state of things they could have come into town about midnight and made the whole division prisoners. The withdrawal of the British from the town has been described as partaking of the ridiculous—the drunken, reeling soldiers trying to keep in line, carts and wagons and even wheelbarrows being used to get them to the boats. Drunkenness has not been ascribed to the enemy on the East side, and certainly they did not appreciate, or appropriate, Mr. Hughes' rum, which they let out in his cellar with his molasses.

On the morning of the 6th of July they called in their outposts and the march of the main body began before sunrise. Some of the troops went directly to the shipping, others who were sober enough crossed the ferry and joined General Tryon's division on Beacon Hill, and the whole body left the hill about noon Tuesday. As the last boat shoved off from the East Haven shore, the Pardee house at Morris Cove, in which officers had been posted, was standing. This boat was ordered back to fire the house, and every house from Morris Cove to lower ferry, except one in which officers had been quartered, was burned. It seems that when the last ship left the pier, she fired several shots at the town, as a parting salute, while sailing down the bay, and as she was passing Black Rock Fort, which had been re-occupied by the patriots, as well as the earthworks on Beacon Hill, she rounded to and fired a whole broadside at the fort. Many balls bounded as far as Beacon Hill, one of which struck Isaac Pardee, aged twenty-two, severing his head clear from the body. He was just ascending the hill, on the street side, with Mr. Smith of South End, having gone to a spring to bring water. Smith says they heard the report of the firing; he turned with Pardee to look, saw the ball and dodged it but it carried away Pardee's head. Pardee and Thorp are the only ones of those who were killed of whom any record is given. Chandler Pardee of the East side was wounded but recovered. If there were any wounded or killed at Black Rock Fort, no record has been made of it, so far as is known. The estimate made of the enemy's losses during the invasion sums up two hundred in killed, wounded and missing. As to the missing, it is an established fact that many Hessians deserted and remained in New Haven, choosing honorable trades and becoming good citizens. There were certainly several of the British killed and wounded while landing, also others in the woods north of Morris Cove and back of Prospect Hill, where they were quickly buried. East Haven patriots said the loss was heavy after Thorp fell.

While widening Townsend avenue in June, 1870, this tradition of the slaughter was well sustained by the discovery of human bones. These remains were proved not to be Indians by Dr. T. Beers Townsend, who was on the spot when the graves were opened, and who made a most careful examination. While the doctor was making a critical study of the bones, Capt. Charles H. Townshend thoroughly searched the graves with a spade, and was rewarded by finding a number of German silver buttons, about the size of a dime. A copper coin was also found, about the size of an English half-penny, known as a stiver. It had a hole in the circumference, and was probably worn on a string around the neck. On the face side is the motto, "Dominus Auxit Nomen" ("The Lord increased our glory"), in its center a man with a mantle about his loins, left hand on his hip, in his right hand a sword, drawn over his head, as if to strike. On the opposite side is a laurel wreath, with the word in the center HOLLANLIA. Dr. J. Edwards of Yale University, an expert, and the best authority, says this coin was struck off in Holland, a province of the Netherlands, between the years 1648 and 1795. A pompon socket of brass, bell-shaped, was also found. It had upon it No. 8 or 5, with these letters, D. M. A. U. X. The captain says, "These relics satisfy me that these were the graves of soldiers, of Tryon's division." He further verified this idea by subsequently "obtaining in an old print store in Paris, some colored engravings of the uniforms worn by the Hessian Landgraves, a regiment of which was a part of the second division of Tryon's army, which participated in the engagement on the East Haven Shore." March 22, 1879, tne captain made a visit to Europe, and in London made an exhaustive search of the records in the colonial office; obtaining much valuable information, and many copies of events and war correspondence, which had never been published in America. To Capt. Charles H. Townshend the whole community is indebted for rescuing from oblivion the account of New Haven's invasion, historical as well as traditional, the latter supported and confirmed by records, from which copious extractshave been made, in this work, and to whom the thanks of the compiler are gratefully due.

The enemy's loss on the East Haven side was perhaps greater in proportion to the patriots killed and wounded than on the New Haven side. The East Haven men were most excellent marksmen from long practice of hunting, and everyone carried his own often-tried Queen Anne musket. They knew every inch of advantage ground and, with their long range guns, could keep out of the enemy's fire and do good execution, as they were fighting for their own hearthstone and families. On the other hand, they were greater sufferers than those of New Haven; every thing but the soil was destroyed; homes burned, crops destroyed, animals of all kinds killed, and destruction everywhere. Who can describe the feelings of those mothers who fled for safety with their children, when they returned? Not a shingle left for shelter, or a mouthful of food, save the little they took with them! Everything in ashes, excepting the few household effects in the returning oxcart! Fortunately the weather was warm, and the devastation did not extend over the whole town, but a clean sweep was made as far as the enemy marched. The present line of the street railway is mainly the same route that the British took from Morris Point to Pardee's ferry (now Quinnipiac bridge), through Ferry street to Neck bridge, at the head of State street, New Haven. At that time this was the only bridge between New Haven and East Haven.

The earthworks on Beacon Hill and Black Rock Fort were quickly occupied, even before Tryon's forces reached the water, and a lively fire was kept up between Beacon Hill and the galleys as they passed out of the harbor. This accounts for the numerous cannon balls and shot formerly plowed out in the fields on the East side. A garrison was still kept at the fort. April 18, 1781, a very thick foggy night, the British, led by tories who were acquainted with the locality, came in with muffled oars, surprised the garrison, killed the sentry, John Howe, and made the men prisoners. They then turned the guns towards the magazine, and setting a slow match, rowed off to an awaiting vessel. Mr. Joseph Turtle had always done coast guard duty at night at the fort, but this night he had a very sick child at home, who was not expected to live until morning, so he sent his second eldest boy, a lad about thirteen, in his place. He went out at daybreak, and glancing towards the fort, saw a small blue stream of smoke issuing from it; losing no time, as he reached the place the fuse had only a foot more to burn, when the whole magazine would have exploded and wrecked the fort. Seizing the fuse, he threw it into the water and thus saved the structure. This time he had two sons captured, one eighteen, an enlisted soldier, and one thirteen. He immediately went to New York with a flag of truce, and with the aid of some English captains, whom he knew, succeeded in releasing his younger son. His older one, on account of his youth, was taken out of the prison ship and placed as a waiter to an officer, when he made good his chance, and escaped. He fled up Long Island, until he thought he was about opposite New Haven, where he hired out at pd. per day. He worked until he earned enough to buy cloth for a coat, which he cut out with a jackknife, and made it in a barn. Thus equipped he took a boat and rowed across the Sound, landing at the Lighthouse.

A garrison was kept at the fort until the close of the war. On October 19, 1781, General Cornwallis surrendered his whole army to Washington, which practically ended the struggle, although there was still some fighting, but nothing of note occurred. The British held for two years or more the cities of New York, Charleston and Savannah. September 3, 1783, a treaty of peace was signed at Paris, which conceded all that the Declaration of Independence had proclaimed; and the new nation, now called "The United States of America," took its place among the nations of the earth.

No doubt there are many interesting incidents connected with the fleeing women and children if they could be collected, and yet the experience of one is typical of all. In the writer's family, at the present time, is a silver tablespoon, which was buried on what is now the Townsend farm by Mrs. Joseph Turtle, in a large iron kettle, used to boil sea water to make salt, which had become scarce during the late years of the war. She took the money of the house in one hand and her silverware in the other, saying, "I will bury one and take the other, maybe I can save one"; as it happened she saved both. They packed this great kettle full of valuables of the household, and buried it among the currant bushes. They then drove off in the oxcart, with her six children, one a babe in arms, to the woods in the north part of the town, where they all passed the night. Here they stayed until the departure of the British, who took with them her husband and son as prisoners from Black Rock Fort. No mention has ever been made of robbing and abusing women on the East side, because they all fled out of the way.

The British had stationed a signal corps on Prospect Hill, directly back of the Townsend home, out of which the next day the commander and two of his men were picked off by Capt. Jedediah Andrews and some of his neighbors. The morning of the 6th a very dense fog hung over the lajid, and Mr. Andrews and others crept along under cover of the bushes, and picked off each his man, while they were roasting a sheep for their breakfast. Their remains were buried at the foot of the hill, and for a long time a large red boulder marked the place.

The following story has often been told, among other reminiscences, of an East Haven Bradley, and Captain Townshend gives it as coming from an old Mr. Pinto who saw it. "While sitting in his door, a finely-dressed officer in red uniform came riding down Elm street, and turned up State, toward Grove. Just then a Mr. Bradley, from East Haven, came from a direction which is now Grand avenue, on horseback, with loaded musket, all primed. Seeing the officer, he levelled his piece and fired. The officer dropped off his horse and Bradley rode up to him, took the officer's sword, and gave him several cuts over the head. He then took the officer's horse, and on his own rode out of town." The officer crawled into a yard, where some of his comrades found him.

Very little, if anything, has been related about tories in East Haven and it is doubtful if there were any; if there were, they were in no way active. Mr. Henry F. Hughes' second son was a tory. He was a merchant, residing in New Haven, and persisted in selling tea. Complaint was entered against William Glen and Freeman Hughes, Jr., and both were cited to appear before the committee of the Continental Association. Glen pleaded guilty and begged to be restored to favor; but Hughes would not appear to make his defense, whereupon the evidence was called and sworn:—
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"On motion voted that the evidence is sufficient to convict Freeman Hughes jun. of a breach of the association, by buying and selling Tea:—and ordered that he being advertised, that no person have any further dealing or intercourse with him."
Joh'th Fitch, Chairman,
Test, Peter Colt, Clerk.
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When the British left New Haven, he with his wife and two children went with them. So bitter was the feeling of the family that they never afterwards would hold any communication with him or his family. And so strongly did his brother, Daniel Hughes, feel on the subject that he would never allow a dust of tea in his house. Although he lived to be 83 years old, dying in 1842, and was married three times, yet none of his wives ever enjoyed a cup of tea at his table. Being a man of means, and a very hospitable one, he set an abundant table, to which everyone was welcome, but tea was conspicuous by its absence. "Had disgrace and trouble enough with the stuff," he always said. Chocolate was his substitute at the evening meal. Mr. Hughes' store of goods was either destroyed or removed to the vessels in the harbor, probably the latter. His real estate was confiscated, and the whole transaction brought much financial trouble upon the family.
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