History of Luzerne County Pennsylvania, H. C. Bradsby, Editor, S. B. Nelson & Co., Publishers, 1893 - Chapter 12, Part B Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Ed McClelland Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/luzerne/ HTML file: http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/luzerne/1893hist/ _______________________________________________ History of Luzerne County Pennsylvania H. C. Bradsby, Editor S. B. Nelson & Co., Publishers, 1893 CHAPTER XII. THE DEAD THAT STILL LIVE. Shoemaker Family. - We give the verbatim account of the above family as we find it in Mr. Miner's publication in the Traveller: "Let us tarry a moment before this beautiful mansion. A double house, set in from the avenue far enough to allow a spacious yard, lofty shade trees, fruits, flowers and shrubbery in exuberant profusion, yet nothing crowded! See that peacock spreading his golden honors as he moves upon the velvet lawn. Upon my word, [p.351] this would be thought handsome in New Haven itself. Yes, and possibly the pattern may have been taken from that fine city, for the owner was educated at Yale! And is he a descendant from an old Wyoming patriot? Ay, by both sides of the house. The Hon. Charles Denison Shoemaker, son of the late Elijah Shoemaker, formerly sheriff of Luzerne, who, it will be recollected, was the son of Lieut. Benjamin Shoemaker, so treacherously slain by Windecker on the day of the massacre. Benjamin married the daughter of the good old Cameronian Scotchman, frequently spoken of in preceding pages. That the alliance is cherished as it should be is show by 'McDowal' being given as a middle name by Sheriff Shoemaker to one of his sons. Elijah Shoemaker had married a daughter of Col. Nathan Denison, whose name is itself an eulogy, and synonymous with every manly virtue. "In respect to the two grandfathers, our annals are so full as to leave no details necessary here, further than to say that their plantation was the original allotment of Mr. Shoemaker when, as one of the forty, he came in on the first settlement of Wyoming. Elijah, the father, added to it several lots. Between the avenue and the mountain, he held a mile square, bounded on four sides by roads, and subject, when the crops became inviting, to the depredations of cattle. During those summer months, just at dawning of day, you might see him mounted, two strong and favorite dogs his companions, starting for a four-mile ride round that favorite portion of his place. The early and stirring activity of the master kept alive a similar spirit in all around him, and it required the abundant product of his large plantation to support his numerous family and meet the demands which his hospitality and his too greatly obliging disposition made upon him. Every one who wanted a favor was sure of an obliging answer, and almost certain of aid from his purse, his granary, or his name. "After finishing his studies and graduating at New Haven, C. D. Shoemaker returned, and was soon after appointed prothonotary of Luzerne, subsequently judge of the county, which he held several years. Among the active business men of the county, he has several brothers, all in prosperous circumstances." Gen. William Ross. - Mr. Miner, in his Hazleton Travellers, points out this man's house as the "white house on the right," property that was once owned and occupied by Col. Pickering, the most prominent man sent here by the Pennsylvania proprietaries in the early settlements to save this land from the encroaching Yankees, the same man who was kidnapped by the people and carried off to the mountains in retaliation for the arrest and imprisonment of Col. John Franklin. Capt. Ross marched his company in pursuit to release Pickering, and, coming upon the guard of the prisoner, an engagement took place, in which Ross was wounded. The wound was so severe that for some time his life was considered in danger, but on his recovery the executive council of Philadelphia presented him an elegant sword. The inscription on the sword states that it is for his "gallant services of July 4, 1788." When Pickering left the valley he sold his land to Col. Ross, on easy payments, and, during, the lifetime of the purchaser, it became of immense value. Two of Gen. Ross' brothers, Perrin and Jeremiah, were slain in the Wyoming battle. At the flight the family were scattered, passing through the wilderness in great privation and suffering, by different routes, young Ross, with his mother, taking the lower or Nescopeck way. Soon after the coming here of Spalding and his command, they returned. Having a taste for military affairs, he soon rose by regular gradation from major to brigade inspector, and then general in the militia. For twenty years he held the commission of a magistrate, and during the last war, 1812, was chosen to represent the district composed of Northumberland and Luzerne in the senate of the State. A strong-minded man, he had studied human nature in the school of active life to great advantage, and performed the duties of all the various stations to which he was called with intelligence and integrity. He [p.352] was tall, straight, extremely active; he started early and he moved fast who ever got ahead of him. A zealous Democrat, of ardent temperament, he was among the most influential leaders of his party, and most feared by his opponents. In 1803 or 1804, having so far made his payment as to feel the full force of independence, Col. Ross resolved, with natural pride, and not an incommendable spirit, to visit his birthplace in Connecticut. Mounted on a high-spirited and elegant steed, black as jet, with holsters and pistols, his dress elegant, though unostentatious, he visited New London county, his native home. William Sterling Ross, an only son, now (1845) occupies the seat of his father in the senate of the State. Gen. Ross had established a family burying-ground, in which he had erected a tablet of marble to the memory of his brothers. Having lived to the good old age of eighty-two years, on August 9, 1842, he closed his active and honorable life. Every fitting demonstration of respect was paid to his remains, the court adjourning to attend the funeral. One incident was too remarkable not to be noted. A thunder cloud arose above the Northeast mountain, a most unusual place, as the procession moved, and cast its dark shadow over the plains. For some time the repeated peals of thunder were regarded as minute guns from the cannon placed in some proper position. The cloud passed away without rain, and as the train arrived at the mansion house the sun came out again in all its brightness. Rev. Benjamin Bidlack. - In 1846, Mr. Miner informs us, this gentleman, though past his four score years, was living in Kingston, erect and active, with dignity and much grace, moving among his people, beloved and respected by all; still full of energy, full of ardor, glowing with patriotism, much as in his young days when he entered the army of liberty and fought for independence. He was at Boston when Washington assembled the first American army to oppose Gage; afterward at the lines before New York. A brother, taken prisoner at Log island, whom it was said was starved to death in chains. When Benjamin Bidlack's term of service was out, he joined his father's family at Wyoming in 1777, and here at once was in active duty. He was with Capt. Asaph Whittlesey in his scout up the river. After this expedition he entered the regular service and was in the army till the close of the war. Besides other engagements, it was his good fortune to be present at Yorktown and the surrender of Cornwallis. James Bidlack, Jr., another brother, commanded the Wilkes-Barre company, which he led into battle on the fatal 3d. He died where he stood, at the head of his men. Only eight of all his company escaped. They were of the true blood, the whole family of Bidlacks-mild in private life, remarkably clever and obliging. The social virtues in the peaceful circle seemed to find in them their happiest illustrations; but called to arms and roused to action, they were, all and each, every inch the soldier. The day that Capt. James Bidlack led his men into action, his father, James Bidlack, Sr., commanded a company of aged men and kept garrison in the fort at Plymouth. Father and sons - all of them were in the service, and two of them sealed with their lives their attachment to freedom. When the savages returned the following year in force to Wyoming, old Mr. Bidlack, the father, was surprised and taken prisoner, and carried into a deeply suffering captivity, from which he was only relieved by the return of peace. But he did return to the beloved valley, and lived to see his country rise into almost unhoped-for prosperity, the fruit of the services of the patriots of the Revolution. It is nearly thirty years since (1845) the father was called, we trust, to a better world. The circumstances that occurred in many years of active life after the close of the war to Mr. Benjamin Bidlack, it does not belong to the purpose of these sketches to portray. Many years ago he became a preacher of the Methodist persuasion, and spoke as he had fought, with impressive earnestness and ardent sincerity. Indeed, the Bidlack family seem in their conduct to have kept the true end of life in view. [p.353] Mr. Miner adds this note: "May 1845. The worthy old patriot still lives, blessed with abundance, and the evening of life is cheered by the well-merited fortune of his son, the Hon. Benjamin Alden Bidlack, who has been the past four years member of congress from this district; and recently has been appointed minister to Grenada, carrying with him not only the approbation of his political friends, but the hearty good will of all his neighbors." Noah Pettebone emigrated from Hartford county. He had three sons and four daughters; the names of the sons were Noah, Stephen and Oliver. When the independent companies of Durkee and Ransom were raised, Stephen, the second son, enlisted, and marched, near the close of 1776, to join the army of Gen. Washington, leaving Noah, the oldest brother, and Oliver, then a lad of fourteen, at home with their father. When the alarm gun gave notice that the enemy was in the valley, Noah repaired promptly to the post of danger; was in the dreadful conflict that ensued, and was slain, leaving a young wife to mingle her tears with those of the aged father, for his loss. (In after years the widow intermarried with Amariah Watson.) Stephen, having come in with Capt. Spalding's company, was murdered the following spring by a band of savages on the flats, a little beyond where the western abutment of the bridge terminates. Mr. Williams and Mr. Buck fell at the same time, and Mr. Follet was shot, pierced through several times with a spear, scalped and left for dead, but recovered. His own account of the matter was, that knowing they would strike while signs of life remained, summoning his utmost power he lay perfectly still, notwithstanding repeated wounds, pretending to be dead. The bold and daring deed being perpetrated in plain sight of Wilkes- Barre, the Indians, having brief space to effect their purpose, did not strike him with the tomahawk. Thus two of the old man's sons poured out their life blood, victims to Indian barbarity, martyrs in the holy cause of liberty and independence. The younger brother, Oliver, was in Forty fort at the time of its surrender. On the decease of his father the care of the family and estate devolved on him. He was tall, slender, but well made, of frank and agreeable manners. As commissioner of the county, a vigilant and faithful officer, and as a private gentleman liberal and kind, ever assiduous to please. He was a man of perfect integrity and honor. Having lived to the good old age of seventy, he died in March, 1832. Such is the mingled, painful and pleasing record of one of the most patriotic families of Wyoming, and among the deepest sufferers. The plantation is now (1846), owned by Noah (it is right to preserve the old family name) and his brother, the Hon. Henry Pettebone, in the possession of whose descendants we hope, it may remain a thousand years. Judge H. Pettebone received that appointment in place of Judge Bennett, resigned.* *Col. Erastus Hill. who owns that very handsome seat, next above William Swetlands, married a daughter of Oliver Pettebone, and residing near the spot took great interest in the erection of the monument. In his possession are a number of skulls and thigh bones taken from the pit, where they were first deposited. For several years not only the deep stroke of the tomahawk was visible, but marks of the accursed scalping knife were plain to be seen; while the rifle bullet hole in the thigh bone smoothly cut, without the least splint or fracture, as with a sharp bit or gouge, excited much interest. But they are fast crumbling on exposure to the air. In the family sketch on another page is a fall account of the Pettebone family. It would appear that patriot blood ran warmly through the hearts of the whole Pettebone family, for our researches show us that those who remained in Connecticut, if less deeply sufferers, were not less active in the service of the country. In 1775 Col. Jonathan Pettebone assembled his regiment and addressed them. "The spirit was so generous," says the record, "that a number sufficient to form three companies, of sixty-eight men each, exclusive of officers, immediately enlisted, and were ready for any expedition on the shortest notice." [p.354] When the militia, two or three years afterward, was reorganized, Col. Pettebone received the command of the Eighteenth regiment. A gallant enterprise was effected in 1777, in which Capt. Abel Pettebone, of Enos' regiment, and Capt. Levenworth and Ely, of Meigs' regiment, took the lead. Having, by great celerity, surprised the enemy at Horse Neck, they took six light-horse prisoners, a number of horses, cattle and arms, burned three vessels loaded with provisions for New York, and broke up a pestilent nest of cowboys; returning after traveling more than sixty miles, having been absent only ten hours. Dr. William Hooker Smith filled a large space in public estimation at Wyoming for nearly half a century. A man of great sagacity and tact as well as of an excellent education, his influence was extensively felt and acknowledged. For many years he held the first rank as a physician. Both the patriotic spirit and activity of Dr. Smith are shown by the fact that, while he was relied on as chlef medical attendant, by the settlement, he yet accepted and exercised the post of captain, commanding in Wilkes-Barre the "old reformadoes." Subsequently, when numerous troops were stationed at Wyoming, Dr. Smith was still the principal physician. After the war his enterprise led him to the establishment of mills at the old forge place, Pittston, where in 1800 he resided. While one of the most eminent of the physicians, as well as prominent in the stirring times of Wyoming, he found time to indulge in literary pursuits; writing and publishing an elaborate work on alchemy, which was published by Asher and Charles Miner. A daughter married Mr. Isaac Osterhout, and after his decease, Fisher Gay, Esq., of Kingston. Mr. Gay resides near the monument, which is built on his plantation, and it is proper to record, to his honor, that he most liberally presented the ground on which the structure is erected. Besides the daughter named, Dr. Smith had a numerous family. William Smith, a third son, is now (1845) living in Windham, Wyoming county, at the advanced age of eighty-five years. A daughter, Sarah, married James Sutton, of Exeter. She died in 1834, aged about eighty years. Another daughter married Dr. Lemuel Gustin (whose name will be found appended as a witness to the capitulation of Forty fort). Dr. Gustin removed to the West, and an only daughter of theirs, who was in the fort at the time of its surrender, married the Rev. Mr., Snowden, father of James Ross Snowden. The heart leaps more quickly, and the life current flows more kindly at the mention of his name, when we recollect that the late honored speaker of the house of representatives and present treasurer of the State, is the descendant of one of the Wyoming sufferers. A daughter, Mary, married Mr. Baker, of New York city; Elizabeth married Mr. Bailey, who died in the lake country. Two sons, John and James, resided and died in the State of New York. Dr. Smith died in the township of Tunkhannock, July 17, 1816, aged ninety-one years, having been born in 1724. His heirs received from congress, in 1838, an appropriation of $2,400 as pay for acting surgeon in the Revolutionary war. For many of these interesting facts we are indebted to the polite attention of Isaac S. Osterhout,. grandson of the deceased patriot. The grant was just in itself, due to the services and honorable to the memory of Dr. Smith. The Starks. - Christopher, James and Henry Stark were all buried side by side in a cemetery a mile south of Pittston. These three were father, son and grandson, and the patrimonial estate in 1845 was occupied by James and John Stark, the sons, grandsons and great-grandsons of the three first named. In 1845 James Stark was aged fifty, and at that early day could point side by side to the three generations of his ancestors. Miner thought at that time there was not another instance where there was a great-grandfather buried in the county. The Starks came in [p.357] 1771, when Christopher Stark must have been a very aged man; both he and his son James died before the Wyoming battle, the former from old age and his son James a victim of the small-pox that scourged this country in 1777. Two of the Stark names appear in 1772 - Aaron and James; the former sold his land claim to James and settled in another part of the valley. Three brothers came from England, and a descendant of one of the brothers was the Gen. Stark of immortal fame - the hero of Bennington. James Stark, son of James and brother of Henry, was a member of one of the independent companies. In the Wyoming battle were three brothers - Daniel, Aaron and James; the last named only escaped with his life. After the war a portion of the family settled on the Tunkhannock, and that name, it is supposed was given by Daniel Stark. A grandson of the slain Aaron, John D. Stark, became a prominent citizen of Pittston. Samuel Carey was nineteen years of age at the time of the Wyoming battle. Mr. Miner relates of the Careys as follows: "Active, ardent and patriotic, he was enrolled in Capt. Bidlack's company; was out on several scouting parties before the invasion; was up at Wyalusing, and with our men at Exeter, aiding to bring away the remains of the Hardings and others, murdered by the Indians a day or two before the battle. On the fatal 3d he was at his post, and marched with the brave Bidlack to the contest. Their position was near the right. The left wing was earliest pressed and retreated, being thrown into entire confusion before the center or right gave way; but retreat had become inevitable. Mr. Carey left the road and passed down on the low flats near where the monument is erected; Zipperah Hibberd was nearest to him. Hibberd was in the prime of early manhood, six feet high, built at once for strength and activity; he was straight as an arrow, and moved with a light, elastic step. Of him it is told by several of the old settlers, that in their athletic sports Hibberd would take off his hat and shoes; let two companions hold a string extended so that in walking under it he could just touch it with his head; he would then step off a few paces till he got his proper distance, return on the spring, and leap over the string with the alertness of the bounding deer. His activity, and manly and social qualities, rendered him a general favorite. Mr. Hibberd was but recently married. Preparations for the engagement had been made the day previous. Fear was a stranger to his breast, but he was sensible and sagacious, and he saw from the unprepared state of our people, enfeebled by the two companies raised for our special defence being marched and kept away, and from the evidence of great force on the part of the enemy, that the chances were all against us. Perhaps, and it is thought there was a particular presentiment, that go the battle as it would, he should not survive. But listening to nothing but the dictates of patriotism and duty, he fitted himself for the field - went to the door - looked abroad to the bright heavens and the beautiful earth, then clothed in the rich robe of approaching harvest - gazed a moment - rested his gun against the door-post - hastened into the house and impressed one parting kiss on the pale lips of his trembling bride - spoke not a word, but tore himself away; and the next hour there was not a soldier that marched to the field with more cheerful alacrity. He went to return no more. "Hibberd and Carey ran together toward the river, Hibberd in advance, breaking a path through a heavy piece of rye. The obstruction, perhaps, proved fatal to him, for by the time they got through he was nearly exhausted, and showed signs of great fatigue. On coming near the river bank and leaving the rye field, Mr. Hibberd sprang to the sandbar, but was closely pursued by an Indian, who overtook him before he could gain the stream. As Hibberd turned to defend himself he received the accursed spear in his breast, and fell lifeless on the sand. "Mr. Carey got to the river lower down, and succeeded in swimming across, but the savages had crossed over before him, and he was instantly surrounded by several. One who seemed to have authority took charge of him, but a small Indian, [p.358] pitted with the small-pox, and having lost an eye (as he stood naked, for Mr. Carey had stripped off all his clothes that he might swim), with a malicious smile, drew a knife up and down his breast and abdomen, about an inch from the skin, saying the, while, Te-te - te-te. They then made him swim back, bound his hands, and he was conducted to Wintermoot's. The fort had been set on fire by the enemy at the commencement of the engagement, and Mr. Carey saw the remains of one or two of our people, who had been thrown on the burning pile, but they were then lifeless. That night he lay on the ground, bound, and without food. The next morning an officer struck him on the mouth with his open hand. 'You are the follow,' said he, 'that threatened yesterday morning you would comb my hair, are you?' He then learned that the Indian who had taken him was Capt. Roland Montour, who now gave him food, unbound, and led him to a young savage who was mortally wounded. What passed he could not then perfectly comprehend, but afterward learned the purpose was to show him to the dying Indian, and ask if his life should be preserved and he be taken to the Indian's parents to be adopted instead of their lost son. He assented, and young Carey's life was saved. They then painted him, and gave him the name of the dying Indian - Coconeunquo - of the tribe of Onondagoes. "When the enemy marched from the valley, Mr. Carey, carefully guarded. was taken with them, and when they reached the Indian country, was handed over to the family into which he had been adopted, where, if he would have conformed to savage customs, and have drunk so deep of the waters of forgetfulness as to cease to remember country, connection and friends, he might have remained peaceable, if not happy; but beloved Wyoming, doubly dear from her sorrows, would rise to his slumbers, as it was ever present to his waking hours, and he sighed for liberty and home. He thinks the old Indian and squaw - his savage parents - saw that he could not mingle in spirit with them, for they used constantly to mourn for their lost boy. Just at day-breaking they would set up a pitiful cry - oh! oh! ho! - and at evening, as the sun was going down - oh! oh! ho! - and with all their stoicism their sorrows would not cease. At times, while here, he suffered much from hunger, having only a spoonful of parched corn a day for several weeks. He thought he should have famished; and in the severe winters, his sufferings from cold were extreme; but he shared like the rest of the family, and they evidently meant, after once adopting, to treat him kindly. "More than two weary years were passed in this way, when he got to Niagara, where he was detained, though with less suffering, until restored to liberty by the glorious news of peace and independence. It was on June 29, 1784, before the charming valley again met his sight, after having suffered six years of distressing captivity. "Mr. Carey mentions the fact, stated by others, that Walter Butler, a favorite son of Col. John Butler, was killed by the Americans, near Mud creek, on returning from one of his excursions against our settlements on the Mohawk. He adds - what before I did not remember to have heard - that one of the Wintermoots was, killed at the same time. Butler was shot by a rifle ball through the head, aimed at him from an extraordinary distance. "There was a Joseph Carey and Samuel Carey both killed in the battle, but it does not occur to my recollection whether they were relatives of the Mr. Samuel Carey of whom I now speak. His brother, Nathan Carey, was in the engagement, and fortunately escaped. Their father's name was Eleazer Carey, a name held by one of his descendants, still known and highly respected in the valley. "Though at the advanced age of seventy-nine, Mr. Carey enjoys tolerable health; his mind active and his memory sound. Though not rich, he is yet, by the industry and frugality of a long life, comfortable in his declining days, and has the happiness of having sons and daughters settled around him, all well to do, and all [p.359] respectable - and some in very independent circumstances. His wife, Theresa, was the daughter of Capt. Daniel Gore; so that if the morning of life was crowded with sorrow and woe, his evening is calm and serene." Mr. Samuel Carey died in 1842, and was buried with military honors. Mrs. Myers. - Mr. Miner relates graphically a visit he made in company with Prof. Silliman to this lady, who, he says, was the mother of Sheriff Myers, in office, in 1845. Mrs. Myers was a Bennett, and was in the fort at the time of the battle - sixteen years old. This good woman talked long with the Professor, and told of those scenes she so vividly remembered - of the arrival of Capt. Durkee, Lieut. Phineas Pearce and another officer. How "just at evening a few of the fugitives came rushing into the fort and fell down exhausted, some wounded and bloody; through the night, every hour, one or more came in; how the enemy marched in six abreast after the capitulation." She told, as she remembered seeing, of the interviews between Col. John Butler and Col. Denison in reference to carrying out in good faith the honorable terms of capitulation, and asking that the outrages of the Indians be stopped. Butler acknowledged the wrongs, and after repeated promises finally told Denison that he had no power to restrain the savages. "The Indians, to show their entire independence and power, came into the fort, and one took the hat from Col. Denison's head; another demanded his rifle frock, a dress much worn by officers, as well as soldiers. It did not suit Col. Denison to be thus stripped, whereupon the Indian raised his tomahawk menacingly, and Col. Denison was obliged to yield; but seeming to find difficulty in taking off the garment, he stepped back to where the young women were sitting. The girl who sat by Miss Bennett was one of Col. Denison's own family - she understood the movement, and took from a pocket in the frock a purse, and hid it under her apron. The frock was delivered to the Indian, and the town money (for the purse, containing a few dollars, was the whole military chest of Wyoming) was saved. "Mrs. Myers represents Col. Butler as a portly, good-looking man, perhaps forty- five, dressed in green, the uniform of Butler's rangers, with a cap and feather. Col. Butler led the chief part of his army away in a few days, but parties of Indians continued in the valley burning and plundering. Her father's house was left for a week; she used to go out to see if it was safe. One morning as she looked out from the fort, fire after fire rose, east, west, north and south, and casting her eyes toward home, the flames were bursting from the roof, and in an hour it was all a heap of ruins." The splendid farm half a mile above the Dorrance place was at the time Mr. Miner wrote the property and residence of a son of the boy, Bennett, who was a captive with his father, and escaped as related above (this was John Bennett). As stated, one of the sons of Mrs. Myers was sheriff; another was for years a magistrate; a daughter married Rev. Dr. Peck. In 1845 Mrs. Bennett, widow of the Bennett who was captured and escaped, was eighty-three years of age - blind - but her mental faculties, Mr. Miner says, were as clear as in her prime, and her recollections of the bloody days in the valley were full, and as told by her, remarkably interesting. She was an eye-witness of many Of most disastrous consequences - hair-breadth 'scapes. The Bennetts were conspicuous in the trials and sore tribulations of the early day in war and in peace, and several lineal descendants are now among the citizens of the county. Her father and brother, and Lebeus Hammond, were at one time all at work in the field, when they were captured by six Indians and hurried north. May 3, when they went into camp at night, the prisoners had made up their minds from certain indications that the Indians intended to massacre them the next day, and, pretending, sleep, watched their opportunity, when Bennett killed the Indian on watch, and the three killed five of the captors, when the last one fled. Joyfully they returned to their friends, bringing the arms and scalps as trophies. [p.360] Joseph Elliott was in the battle of July 3, and of him has been handed down much of the blood-curdling stories that furnished the aftermath to the battle. He was one who, in after life, "oft shouldered the crutch and showed how" the wicked Brant and the yet more cruel Queen Esther breathed death and slaughter upon the prisoners who were bound and helpless. Joseph Elliott, in 1845, was living at Wyalusing at the age of eighty-nine years; born October 10, 1756; his father had died in 1809, aged ninety-seven years. A family of unusual longevity and large physical development. The family came from Stonington to Luzerne county in 1776. The next year Joseph Elliott, a member of a detachment of eighty men under Col. Dorrance, which scouted up the river, ascending to Sheshequin. When the British and Indians invaded the valley, and the battle of July 3 followed, Elliott was in the ranks of the American army and fought in Capt. Bidlack's company. He was taken prisoner, and on his authority and oft repetition of the story, even Mr. Miner was misled into the current stories of the time as to the Indian chief, Brant, and the presence here of the bloody Queen Esther. Elliott was wounded as he fled from the field, while swimming the river at Monocacy island, being struck in the left shoulder. His escape was remarkable and he reached the fort, and his wound dressed, and, no doubt, his life saved by the presence and skill of Dr. William Hooker Smith. He often told that he remembered seeing Jeremiah Ross, Samuel and Joseph Crooker, Stephen Bidlack and Peter Wheeler butchered on that day. No sooner was Elliott recovered, and his wounded shoulder sufficiently healed than he entered again upon acceptable services. On Sullivan's advance into the Indian country a line of expresses, to connect with Wyoming, was established, when Mr. John Carey and Joseph Elliott were selected to perform the duty. And, says Mr. Elliott, "after eighty days' constant service I was taken sick, and can not tell what should be the cause, unless too often sleeping out in the wet, overdone with fatigue and being very hungry." Joseph Elliott was an actor in another trying scene - the making prisoners of all Rosewell Franklin's family by the Indians, 1782. His account of the affair, so far as he was concerned was this: Several parties were marshaled to pursue the savages. One of these assembled at Mill creek, numbering nine persons. They chose Thomas Baldwin to be their leader, and himself to be second in command. Making their way up the river with all possible celerity, they were satisfied, when they reached the path on the mountain nearly opposite Frenchtown, that the enemy had not passed. Taking up a position on the hill which was deemed most eligible, being out of provisions, two of the men, expert hunters, went out for venison, when the Indians, thirteen in number, with Mrs. Franklin, her babe, two little girls and a boy about four years old, as prisoners, were reported by the advanced sentinel to be near. To call in their scattered hunters was of course impossible. There they were seven to thirteen, and it was bravely resolved to give battle. The fire was sharp on both sides. Capt. Baldwin received a rifle ball in the hand which nearly disabled him, but Thomas Baldwin was every inch a soldier, and still exerting himself he led on and cheered his men. How near they were is evident from the children knowing the voices of our party, and with instinctive sagacity they ran from the Indians, and clung to the knees of their friends. Mrs. Franklin, who had been ordered to sit still, raised her head on hearing the joyous cry of her children, and the savages instantly shot her. Pressing forward, the Indians were compelled to retreat, leaving two or three of their number dead on the field. The infant was borne off in their flight, and its fate never known. The two little girls and younger boy were, after the burial of their mother, decently as circumstances permitted, brought safely to Wyoming, and restored to the arms of their father. Mr. Franklin had been with another party in eager pursuit, but had failed to find the enemy. Gen. William Ross used to say the battle for Mr. Franklin's family was one of the best contested in Wyoming. [p.361] A pension of $65 a year has contributed to render the evening of the days of Elliott comfortable. Below the middle hight, he was well built, and of that cast best shown by experience to be adapted to endure fatigue. June 25, 1845, when we called on the old gentleman to hear his narrative, he was at work in his garden. In early life Joseph Elliott must have been handsome, for, except the loss of his right eye, he still looks well. His face is round and lighted up by a benevolent smile. Half his thin hair is still dark, and his manner mild and pleasing. But when he is in full tide, relating the events of battle - "when the Indians came down on us like so many raging devils," age is forgotten, and he is full of animation. His habits have been simple, his life virtuous, his conduct in war meritorious as fidelity and bravery could render it. He lives universally respected, and it is hoped, may enjoy his pension these many coming years. With pleasure we add that his son was, at the last session, a member of assembly from Bradford county. Silas Harvey was one of the victims of that fatal field of July 3. He was a son of Benjamin Harvey, who came with his family from Lyme, Conn., an intimate friend, neighbor and confidant of Col. Z. Butler, not any in the old State before they came here, but in the trying times they passed in the valley. Benjamin Harvey had three sons; the eldest, Benjamin, joined the independent companies in 1776 and served under Gen. Washington and died in the army; Silas, mentioned above, died as stated. In December, 1780, the savages made an incursion and captured several prisoners, of whom were Benjamin Harvey and his youngest and only remaining son, Elisha. They were driven to Canada and during the winter their sufferings were intense. In 1784 Benjamin was cruelly imprisoned by the Pennites. Elisha Harvey married Rosanna Jameson. Their son, Jameson Harvey, was one of the earliest to make a fortune of the rich coal mines here. Phebe Young. - Her maiden name was Phobe Poyner. Her father was a Huguenot, who was compelled to leave France and come to this country, in consequence of persecution for religious opinions. An active and intelligent man, he was a commissary in the old French war: The name of her mother was Eunice Chapman, a native of Colchester, Conn., but married to Mr. Poyner at Sharon, Nine- partners, New York - where the subject of this notice was born, in 1750. Her father died of small-pox at Albany, and her mother married Dr. Joseph Sprague, a widower, who had several children by his first wife. The united families removed to Wyoming in 1770 - Mrs. Young being then twenty years old. There were only five white women in Wilkesbarre township when she arrived; Mrs. McClure, wife of James McClure; Mrs. Sill, wife of Jabez Sill; Mrs. Bennett, grandmother of Rufus Bennett, the brave old soldier, who was in the battle; another of the same name, wife of Thomas Bennett, mother of Mrs. Myers, and a Mrs. Hickman. At Mill Creek, just above the large merchant mills of Mr. Hollenback, a fort was erected - containing, perhaps, an acre. A ditch was dug around the area - logs, twelve or fourteen feet high, split, were placed perpendicularly in double rows, to break joints, so as to enclose it. Loop-holes to fire through with musketry were provided. There was one cannon in the fort, the only one in the settlement, until Sullivan's expedition in 1779; but it was useless, except as an alarm gun, having no ball. Within this enclosure the whole settlement was congregated; the men, generally armed, going out to their farms to work during the day, and returning at night. The town plot of the borough had been laid out, but not a house built. It was a sterile plain, covered with pitch pine and scrub oak. Mr. John Abbott (who fell by the hands of the savages, the father of Mr. Stephen Abbott of Jacobs Plains) put up the first house, on the southwest corner of Main and Northampton streets. Mr., afterward Col. Denison, and Miss Sill, were the first couple married at Wilkes-Barre. The wedding took place at the house where the late Col. Wells' house stands. Mrs. McClure gave birth to the second child born here - a son. But let us look in upon them. The houses, store and sheds were placed around against the [p.362] wall of timbers. Matthias Hollenback, then about twenty, full of life and enterprise, had just come up the river with a boat load of goods, and opened a store of various articles exceedingly needed. On the left was the house of Capt. Z. Butler. Next on the right was the building of Dr. Sprague, the physician of the settlement, and who kept a boarding-house. Here Mr. Hollenback and Mr. Denison had their quarters. Capt. Rezin Geer, who fell in the battle, was here. For bread they used pounded corn; mills there were none; nor a table, nor a chair, nor a bedstead, except the rude manufacture of the hour. Dr. P. would take his horse, with as much wheat as he could carry, and go out to the Delaware to get it ground. A bridle path was the only road, and seventy or eighty miles to mill was no trifling distance. The flour was kept for cakes, and to be used only on extraordinary occasions. But venison and shad were in abundance. All were elate with hope, and the people for a time were never happier. But sickness came, Zebulon, a son of Capt. Butler, died - two daughters of the Rev. Mr. Johnson; two men, Peregrine Gardiner and Thomas Robinson; then Lazarus Young, a brother of Mrs. Young's husband, was drowned. Soon after Capt. Butler and Mr. Young, her husband, were taken prisoners by the Pennites and carried to Philadelphia. Dr. Sprague died in Virginia. A son fell in the Wyoming battle. Phebe Young's husband was at the Narrows with Col. Butler, July 1, and in the battle on the 3d, but escaped. Mrs. Young was at Hanover, with Mrs. Col. Denison and her two children Col. Lazarus Denison and Betsey, the late Mrs. Shoemaker). These three, with Mrs. Sheriff Fitch, Mrs. Young and two children, entered a canoe, rowed by Levi Vincent, and fled down the river to Harrisburg. Mrs. Young was the last survivor of the port at Mill Creek. She died at the good age of eighty-nine years. Jamesons. - This family came here in 1776 from Voluntown, Conn. Robert Jameson, the father, was born in 1714, and, consequently, was sixty-two years old when he came, bringing his sons, all grown, Robert, William, John, Alexander and Joseph. His one daughter married Elisha Harvey, and their daughter married Rev. George Lane, long and well known in this part of the State. Elisha Harvey was taken a prisoner and taken to Canada by the Indians. Robert and William Jameson were in Capt. McKerachan's company in the Wyoming battle. Robert was killed and William's gunlock was shot away. William Jameson was murdered near Careytown in the fall of 1778, as was John in 1782 near the Hanover meeting house. Thus three of the five sons fell victims of the savages. John Jameson, one of the killed, had married a daughter of Maj. Prince Alden, and left two children - son and daughter. Hannah, a third child, was born soon after his decease and married Elder Pearce, a distinguished minister of the Methodist Episcopal church. Polly was married to Jonathan Hunlock, and Samuel, the oldest child, resided at the original farm in Hanover, where he died in 1845, having sustained the character of an upright and amiable man. For several of the last years of his life he was a member of the Presbyterian church. The two other sons of the old gentleman resided on their beautiful plantation in Salem adjoining that of N. Beach, having at their command and hospitably enjoying all the good things that could make life pass agreeably. Joseph, one of the pleasantest and most intelligent men of our early acquaintance, chose to live a bachelor, the more unaccountable as his pleasing manners, cheerful disposition and inexhaustible fund of anecdote rendered him everywhere an agreeable companion. Alexander was for a number of years a magistrate. He was a man of active business habits. Both these brothers, besides the deep sufferings of their family, were themselves participators in the active scenes of the war and endured hardships that the present inhabitants can form no true conception of. Their mother's maiden name was Dixon, of the family from which the Hon. Dixon, senator in congress from Rhode Island, was descended. Their father died in 1786, aged seventy-two. On the main road between Beach Grove and Berwick, a distance of six miles, in 1856 there resided the following named persons [p.363] who died at an advanced age: Alexander Jameson, ninety-five; Joseph Jameson, ninety-two; Elizabeth Jameson, eighty-eight; Mary Jameson, eighty-five; Nathan Beach, eighty-four; Mr. Hughes, ninety; two of the Messrs. Courtright, each about eighty, and Mr. Varner, ninety-one. Besides these there were a number who lived to an age exceeding seventy-five years. The Perkins Family. - "Among the many instances of Indian barbarity the murder of Mr. John Perkins has been narrated. He was from Plainfield, Windham county. On the enlistment of the two independent companies his eldest son, then an active young man of about twenty, enrolled his name in the list and marched to camp under Ransom. Hence the family were special objects of hatred to the enemy. Aaron Perkins continued in the army to the close of the war, having given his best days to the service of his country. David Perkins, the next brother, took charge of the family, and, by great prudence and industry, kept them together and not only preserved the plantation but improved and enlarged it so that now it is among the most valuable in Kingston. For a great number of years Mr. Perkins executed the duties of a magistrate to the general acceptance. A son of his held the commission of major in the United States army. Numbers of his children were well married and settled around him or not far distant. The late Mrs. James Hancock, whose amiable character endeared her to all who had the pleasure of her acquaintance, was the daughter of David Perkins. The beautiful farm of Mr. Hancock, embracing more than 100 acres of rich alluvial land, contains the lower part of the ancient Indian fort, the upper part running into the no less valuable plantation of John Searle, whose grandfather fell in the battle; so that the children, descendants of both those ancient sufferers by savage barbarity, now disport in peaceful triumph on the ruined palace of those haughty and cruel warriors by whose hands their forefathers fell. "David Perkins still lives [1845] in the enjoyment of fine health and an easy fortune. Aaron, the old soldier, one of the extreme remnant of Ransom and Durkee's men, broken with age and toil, you may yet see slowly pacing his brother's porch or in summer a day taking his walk along those beautiful plains. If not enjoying much positive pleasure he yet seems to suffer no pain. Linger yet, aged veteran! Ye winds blow kindly on him! Beam mildly on his path, thou radiant sun that saw his father slaughtered! and must have witnessed the gallant soldier in many a noble conflict. Plenty surrounds him. Peace to his declining years! As a most interesting memorial of the past we love to look upon you!" Such is the glowing tribute of Mr. Miner to this worthy family. Luke Swetland was the Grandfather of William Swetland, for many years a prominent business man whose elegant country seat was a short distance above Col. Denison's place. Mr. Miner says: "Luke Swetland bore arms in defence of Wyoming, although it is not certainly known whether he was in the battle. Immediately after the expulsion, he, with twenty-five or thirty others of the inhabitants, united together and joined (not enlisted) the company of Capt. Spalding. The fact is shown by the receipt they gave to Col. Butler for continental arms, issued to them at Port Penn. Their aid thus strengthening Spalding's company enabled him earlier to march to Wilkes- Barre and arrest the depredations of the Indians. Mr. Sweetland was taken prisoner with Joseph Blanchard, near Nanticoke, where they had gone to mill (this was August 24, 1778), and were carried by the savages to their country, near Geneva lake. Besides the constant dread of torture, his sufferings from cold and want of food during the winter were intense. A man of ardent piety, the confidence and hope imparted by religion sustained him. To trace his weary days of captivity would be but a repetition of ever-recurring sorrows. After having failed in several attempts to escape, he was at length rescued by our army under Gen. Sullivan. Returning to his native Connecticut, he had a narrative of his captivity and sufferings [p.364] printed at Hartford. His taste and pride took a right direction, and were of much value to the settlement; I refer to his establishment of a nursery for fruit, and his introduction from New England of various kinds of apples, selected with care. It is long since he was withdrawn from life. The contrast between the sufferings of the grandsire and the prosperity of his descendant, leads to agreeable reflections. I can not close this very brief notice without a passing tribute to the memory of William Swetland and Belding Swetland, sons of the old gentleman, who in early life were the attached, the respected friends of the writer. Though in a position remarkable for general health, they were both taken away in the midday of activity and usefulness. Peace to those who have departed; prosperity and honor to the living!" The Searles. - William Searle's daughter, Abagail, was married with Stephen Abbott, as mentioned in Abbott's sketch. William's father was Constant Searle, who was in the Wyoming battle, a man of advanced age at the time, and grandfather of several children. With this man in the battle was his young son, Roger Searle, and his son-in-law, Capt. Dethic Hewett, in command of the third company raised at Wyoming by order of congress. Three, therefore, were in the fight, and the fourth, William Searle, was not, because confined to the house by a wound from a rifle shot inflicted when with a scouting party a few days previous. Young Roger Searle was only eighteen; his venerable father wore a wig. By the side of young Searle was the yet yonnger lad, William Buck, who was killed when only fourteen years of age. William Searle, Mrs. Abbott's father, went out of the valley with the fugitives, having twelve women and children in his charge. Charles Miner quotes from a diary of his of that time: "Battle of Westmoreland, July 3, 1778. "Capitulation ye 4th. "Prisoners obtained liberty to leave the settlement ye 7th. "We reached Stonington ye 25th." Constant Searle, who was in the battle, died at Providence, August 4, 1804, aged forty-five years. Four of the Searle name, to wit, Roger, William, Constant and Miner Searle, settled on the Lackawanna, where in the early part of this century they became prominent citizens. Lucy Ives, nee Williams, wrote Charles Miner, when he was publishing his series in the Traveller, and briefly tells the following: "Had two brothers and a brother-in-law in the battle; brothers killed and brother-in-law severely wounded. Father and family retreated through the swamp, but he returned in the fall in the hope of securing a portion of his crop, and in his field was killed by the Indians. When the battle occurred the family had resided here five years. After Mr. Williams was massacred, the widow, with the children, returned to Connecticut, where they remained until peace was made. The five children were Esther, Desire, Martha, Lucy and Darius. The father was Elihu Williams, and the two brothers killed in the battle were Rufus and Elihu. The only son left was Darius, who at the time was an infant. The struggle and poverty that followed this poor woman and children was a hard inheritance to be added to the bloody visitations that were theirs." The Abbotts. - John Abbott and family came as early settlers to the valley, his family being wife and nine children, the eldest a boy eleven years old. He shouldered his gun and went forth to battle, leaving his ten dependents to fate. He escaped in the general massacre of July 3; fled and crossed the river at Monocacy island; then fled with his family to Sunbury, leaving his whole possessions behind. In the face of the certain dangers, he returned to secure his crops. With a man named Williams he was at work on the flats, and near a ravine, on the Hollenback farm, above Mill Creek, when they were ambushed, massacred and scalped. Mrs. Abbott's maiden name was Alice Fuller, and now, broked-hearted and utterly [p.367] hopeless, she started with her nine children on the dreadful journey through the wilderness to the former home in Hampton, Conn., a distance of nearly 300 miles. Imagination will try in vain to recall the picture of this family, stripped of their protector and of every vestige of their property, facing such unequaled trials. They reached, finally, the old home, destitute, sore and broken-hearted, but the little toddlers at once commenced to help the mother in providing food, nearly all the children finding temporary homes among the adjacent farmers. In time the boys had grown to lusty youths, when the family returned to claim their once father's lands and rebuild the burned cabin. Soon the family was once more united, and glints of the sweet sunshine once more brought life and hope to these poor people. The widow intermarried with Stephen Gardiner. A son, Stephen Abbott, married Abigail Searle (a family mentioned elsewhere). He finally settled on the patrimonial property and became a prominent and wealthy citizen - past seventy years of age when Mr. Miner wrote of him as the "little boy who, in the exodus, was pattering barefoot by his mother's side on the way to Connecticut." Stephen Abbott's second wife was a daughter of Col. Denison. John Abbott, the name mentioned in the first paragraph of this article, built the first house in what is now the city of Wilkes-Barre, which stood at what is the corner of Main and Northampton streets. The Blackmans. - Of this family Mr. Miner wrote in 1838: "Maj. Eleazer Blackman is the son of Elisha Blackman, who died in September 1804, in Wilkes-Barre, aged eighty-seven. I believe I have mentioned that companies of old men, out of the trainband, were formed, called 'The Reformadoes,' to defend the forts and do garrison service, while the younger portion performed the more active duties. Thus the fort in Plymouth was kept by a company, of which old Mr. Bidlack was captain. The fort at Pittston was kept by a company, of which old Mr. Blanchard, father of the late Capt. Jeremiah Blanchard, was captain. Jenkins' fort, above Wintermoot's, was commanded by Capt. Harding, father of the Hardings slain at Exeter; Esq. Jenkins was his lieutenant. And at Wilkes-Barre the 'Reformadoes' were commanded by William Hooker Smith, Elisha Blackman being his lieutenant. "In conversation with Maj. Eleazer Blackman, who, though only about thirteen years old at the time, is yet, from his clear mind and extraordinary memory, very intelligent in respect to all that happened at that early day he informed me that neither the continental congress, nor colony of Connecticut expended a penny in building those forts. The people of Wyoming built them all, in the language of a resolution of the town of Westmoreland, 'without fee or reward.' He, too young to go out to battle, worked at the fort at Wilkesbarre, drove oxen to haul in timber, dug in the trenches, and labored constantly until it was finished. This fort stood where the courthouse now stands, and embraced from a quarter to half an acre. It was square, built by setting yellow pine logs upright in the earth close together, fifteen feet high, surrounded by a trench. The corners were so rounded as to flank all sides of the fort. The gate opened toward the river, and they had one double fortified four-pounder for defence and as an alarm gun to the settlement. All the forts were built on the same plan, except, in some cases, there were double rows of logs set on end in the ground, thereby strengthening the defences. The day preceding the battle Maj. Blackman"s father and two brothers, Elisha and Ichabod, were with the party up at Exeter. Elisha Blackman, the brother, was eighteen at the time of the engagement. The family was from Lebanon, in the State of Connecticut, and removed to Wyoming in 1773. He belonged to Capt. Bidlack's company, and when they marched up to battle there were thirty-two men. Of these only eight escaped; himself, Sergt. Daniel Downing, Jabez Fish, Orderly Sergeant Phineas Spafford, M. Mullen, Samuel Carey, Tom Porter. drummer, and one other; all the rest were slain. [p.368] "Bidlack's company was near the right, being next to Capt. Hewitt's. Bidlack, brave man, would not retreat, though the left was broken and retreating, and he died at the head of his men. Darius Spafford, brother-in-law of Elisha and Eleazer Blackman, who had married their sister Lavina only two months before, was shot, and fell in the arms of his brother Phineas and died simply saying, 'Take care of Lavina.' Old Mr. Blackman would not leave the fort, believing with Dr. Smith, it would give the best protection, while Eleazer, his mother and widowed sister, and his sister Lucy and Phineas Spafford, fled with the other flying fugitives. Elisha Blackman, Jr., returned with Spalding's command." Mr. Miner wrote in 1838: "Elisha aged seventy-eight; Eleazer aged seventy-three, the first in Hanover, the other in Wilkes-Barre, each on his own farm and with a liberal competence." Then a note is added: "Eleazer Blackman died in 1844, aged seventy-nine. Elisha still living (1844), it is said, is one of the survivors of the Wyoming battle." The Marcys. - Zebulon and Ebenezer Marcy were brothers. The painful circumstances connected with the flight of the wife of Ebenezer are elsewhere related. The case of the wife of Zebulon was still more distressing. She fled with an infant six weeks old in her arms, at the same time leading a child two years older. The oldest died in the wilderness, and as there were no means to bury it decently, they covered it with moss and bark as well as they could, and hurried on, leaving its remains to the beasts of prey. The infant daughter, Mrs. Whitmore, formerly Mrs. McCord, is now (June, 1845) living in Wyoming county. Zebulon Marcy, after the war, established himself on a fine farm, on the Tunkhannock, where he exercised the duties of a magistrate for many years. On the 11th of September, 1834, he closed his eventful life at the advanced age of ninety years. The Gaylord Family emigrated at an early day to Wyoming, from Norwich. Justus Gaylord commenced a settlement in Springfield, on the Wyalusing, before Indian hostilities began; but was obliged to remove down the river to the more densely populated country. When the independent companies were raised, two of his sons, Justus and Ambrose, enlisted in that of Capt. Ransom, and served during the war. On the restoration of peace, the old gentleman and his son Justus resumed their possessions at Wyalusing; while Ambrose established himself at Braintrim. "Aholiab Buck, captain of the Kingston company, about a year before the battle, had married Miss York, born in Stonington. The (subsequently) Rev. Miner York was her brother. Mrs. Buck was in Forty fort, having in her arms an infant daughter, a few weeks old, when her husband led his men to the field - no more to return. Their fight, their sorrows, their deep sufferings, so similar to those of hundreds of others, it would seem like repetition to relate. At the conclusion of the war, Justus Gaylord, Jr., and Mrs. Buck were married by the Rev. Mr. Johnson. The author waited upon her, June 25, 1845, and found the good old lady, now eighty-eight years of age, in fine health and spirits, the profusion of lace upon her cap speaking of habitual fondness for dress, her round, full face, and cheerful smile indicating in early life, remarkable personal beauty. She had walked up a mile to visit Mrs. Taylor, wife of Maj. John Taylor, the daughter we have spoken of as being on her nursing bosom in July, 1778. Mrs. Gaylord never had but that one child. But Mrs. Taylor has counted seventeen, and nearly forty grandchildren, besides seven or eight great- great-grandchildren. So that, although the name of Capt. Buck is not perpetuated, yet his descendants are now numerous, and well to live." In 1806 Justus Gaylord, Jr., was on the ticket for assembly. Luzerne then embraced Wyoming, Susquehanna and Bradford, except the Tioga district set off to Lycoming. The votes stood: Justus Gaylord, Jr., 333; Justus Gaylord, 38; total, 371; Moses Coolbaugh, 364. So that if the votes given without the Jr. were added to his list (his father being a very old man and not a candidate), he was [p.369] chosen. But the place had not charm enough to induce the old soldier to contest the election, and Mr. Coolbaugh took the seat. The incident is mentioned to show the respect in which he was held, as well as to show the fact less than 400 votes chose a member of assembly. The old gentleman removed with a son to the Ohio, where, at a very advanced age, he died. Justus died May, 1830, aged seventy-three. Ambrose, who settled in Braintrim, married Eleanor Comstock, daughter of John Comstock, who came from Norwich west, farms. Mr. Gaylord died June 12, 1844, and had he lived to November, he would have been ninety-five. His country had not entirely forgotten him, for his old age was cheered by a pension of $80. His good wife Eleanor (June, 1845) is eighty-two years of age, of sound mind and memory. She states that her father and two brothers were in the battle, she living in Forty fort. Her two brothers, Kingsley and Robert, were killed. Her father, exhausted in the flight, threw himself beside a fallen tree. Presently two Indians sprang upon it, intent on those at a distance, and, on stepping down to pursue, bent the bushes so as to brush him. When night came, he found his way to the fort. Another branch of the name settled in the lower part of Wyoming. The father of the late Charles E. Gaylord, of Huntington, died while in the service, having been a member of Capt. Durkee's company. Lieut. Aaron Gaylord, one of the officers who fell in the battle, was his brother. Dr. Charles Gaylord studied medicine after the war with Dr. Henderson, a distinguished physician of Connecticut, in compliment to whom he gave that name to his son. Dr. Gaylord died in 1839, aged sixty-nine years. Four, therefore, bore arms for their country, one of whom died in the service and one fell in battle. Josiah Rogers removed with his family to Wyoming, and settled at Plymouth in 1776. After the massacre, with his family he fled, taking his course down the Susquehanna two days' journey; thence across the mountains toward Northampton of Berks. Exhausted by fatigue, and heart-stricken with terror, Mrs. Rogers fainted upon the journey; and notwithstanding the utmost aid was administered their poor means afforded, she died in the wilderness, many miles from any human habitation. This was July 9, 1778. Husband and children gathered round to look upon the pale face of one who in life they had loved so fondly. It was a scene of inexpressible sorrow. A broken piece of board that lay in the path was used for a spade, and in a hollow where a fallen tree had upturned its roots, a shallow grave was dug, and her remains were buried with all the care and respect their distressed condition would allow. On the board placed over the grave, this inscription was written with a piece of charcoal: "Here rest the remains of Hannah, wife of Jonah Rogers, who died while fleeing from the Indians after the massacre at Wyoming." Frail memorial of reverence and love! yet how slightly more endurable, having reference either to time or eternity, are the costliest monuments that ostentatious pride, or heartfelt grief, have ever erected, to perpetuate what the inexorable law of nature has prescribed shall be forgotten! The deceased was aged fifty-two years. Her maiden name was Hannah Ford. Lieut. James Welles is on the record of the honored patriots who fell in that disastrous battle, which filled Wyoming with lamentation and woe. The family were the earliest settlers in Springfield, on the Wyalusing, from which on danger of the savages becoming imminent, they removed to the more densely settled part of the country in the valley. Resuming the occupation of their property on the restoration of peace, the family became prosperous, and among the most respectable and independent inhabitants of that beautiful place, formerly, it will be remembered the residence of the Moravian missionaries and Christian Indians. Corey and Bullock. - Of the Corey and Bullock families, no longer residents of Wyoming, we have been able to learn much less than from their sacrifices and sufferings could have been wished. Amos and Asa Bullock were killed in the battle. [p.370] One of the name, probably one of the brothers who fell, was a lawyer; the father resided at the meadows, six miles on the Easton road from Wilkes-Barre, where the night and day after the massacre, from the rushing in and departure of the fugitives, images of sorrow and despair, the dreadful uncertainty of the fate of his boys, the scene was inexpressibly distressing. Nathan Bullock, probably the father, was two years afterward taken by Indians a prisoner to Canada. Three of the Corey family were among the victims of the rifle and tomahawk - Jenks, Rufus and Anson. The former was one of the original proprietors of Pittston. It may be noted as extraordinary that three of the younger branches of the name came by melancholy accident to untimely deaths. One being shot by a neighbor, mistaken for a deer; one lumbering some years ago on the Lehigh, the other in the far western country, to which the remainder of the family had emigrated. The father died long since in Kingston, and his remains are buried on or near the spot where the tavern stood on the northeast corner at New Troy. The Church Family came from Kent, Litchfield county. "An abstract of the second independent company raised in the town of Westmoreland, commanded by Capt. Samuel Ransom," dated October 7, 1777, contains the names of Nathaniel Church, John Church and Gideon Church. The farm on the Kingston flats, opposite Mill Creek, was owned by, and the residence of Gideon, and the property belongs to his son, William Church. The reader familiar with old Indian wars will remember the gallant and successful Capt. Church, who was scarcely less distinguished than Mason, the hero of the Pequot conquest. There is no reason to doubt that the families were of the same original stock that in a very early day emigrated from England. In the list of slain in the battle furnished by Col. Franklin is the name of Joel Church, who was also a brother of Gideon. With many other Wyoming people, attracted by alluring accounts of the richness of western lands, several of the family removed to Ohio. The Gere family was from Norwich, descended from one of the oldest families of that place. A Mr. Rezin Gere is named in its annals as living 200 years ago. Capt. Gere was aged forty years at the time of his death. Stephen Gere, of Brooklyn, Susquehanna county, is the only son living (June, 1845). Capt. Rezin Gere commanded the Second or upper Wilkes-Barre company on the fatal 3d. He left three sons, the eldest only five years of age, to the care of his widow. Driven with her orphan children from the valley, their house and all their paper were consumed by fire. Too young to know their rights to return and repossess their farm, the title papers being destroyed, the land of course went into other hands. Capt. Jeremiah Gere, a highly respectable citizen of Susquehanna county, recently deceased, was one of the sons. The other brothers not long since visited Wyoming. "We are becoming old and poor," said they; "our father fell, a commissioned officer, fighting the enemies of liberty and his country - we lost everything, even the land. Is there no redress? Is there no aid to be obtained from the government of the country?" Their case seems one of great hardship. Is there one instance in a hundred in which congress has granted lands or pensions where the claim was so strong as this? Mrs. Lucy Carey, of Scott township, whose maiden name was McKay, was in Forty fort at the time of the massacre, and, if now (1865) living, is one hundred years of age. She was alive one year ago. Gershom Prince, though but a humble negro here when this was more intensely slave territory than was ever Virginia, is entitled - well entitled - to take his place among the immortals whose lives were a noble sacrifice to the liberty of mankind. Prince went out in the line and, bravely fighting, fell, and was with the silent heroes whose bones were left so long to bleach on the spot thus consecrated by the blood of heroes. It is supposed Prince was born in New England about 1733, and became a soldier in Capt. Israel Putnam's company, where he came to know Capt. [p.371] Durkee (a lieutenant then), and came with him to Wyoming. He was a soldier in the English army in 1762 in the war against Spain, and when the Revolution broke out he joined Col. Christopher Green's colored regiment, of Rhode Island. He was in the engagement at Red Bank in 1777, and soon after this came here with Durkee, it is supposed somewhat as a servant. He came post haste with Durkee, and at once went into the battle, and by his side died. On his body was found his powder horn, and his hand had carved carefully the following: "Prince negro his hornm." In another place, "Garshom Prince his hornm made at Crown Point Sept. ye 3rd day 1761." A caution is carved in a third place, "Steal not this hornm." He has, besides, given a view of six buildings on his horn, one of which hangs out the swinging sign. He has endeavored also to represent a water craft, but fearing it would not be recognized as such, has carved over it the word "vesel." Stephen Abbott. - [Mr. Miner, in 1845, thus wrote of this family:] "On the other side of the river, opposite Forty fort, lives Stephen Abbott, a respectable and independent farmer. His father, John Abbott, was an early settler in Wyoming. There was one cannon, a four-pounder, in the Wilkes-Barre fort, and it had been agreed upon that, when certain information came that the enemy was dangerously near, the gun should be fired as a signal. At work on the flats, with his son, a lad eight or nine years old, he heard the terrific sound come booming up. Where or how near the enemy might be, of course he could not tell, but loosening the oxen from the cart, he hastened to the place of rendezvous. He was in the battle and fought side by side with his fellows to defend their homes. It makes my heart bleed to recur, as in these sketches I am obliged to do so often, to the retreat of our people. Again and again I aver there was no dishonor in it. I do not believe a braver or more devoted set of men ever marched forth to battle; but remember a greater part of the fighting men, those first for war, raised for the defence of Wyoming, were away defending the country, to be sure, fighting in the thrice glorious cause of liberty and independence, most certainly, but leaving their own homes wholly exposed, so that our little army was made up of such of the settlement as was left who could carry a gun, however unfit to meet the practiced and warlike savage, and the well-trained rangers of the British Butler. Mr. Abbott took his place in the ranks. He had a wife and nine children (the oldest boy being only eleven) depending on his protection, labor and care. If a man so circumstanced had offered his services to Washington, the General would have said, 'My friend, I admire your spirit and patriotism, but yonr family cannot dispense with your services without suffering; your duty to them is too imperious to permit you to leave them even to serve your country.' Such would have been the words of truth and soberness. But the emergency allowed no exemption. In the retreat Mr. Abbott fled to the river at Monocacy island, waded over to the main branch, and now being unable to swim, was aided by a friend and escaped. In the expulsion which followed, taking his family he went down the Susquehanna as far as Sunbury. What could he do? Home, harvest, cattle, all hope of provision for present and future use were at Wyoming. Like a brave man who meets danger and struggles to overcome it, like a faithful husband and fond father, he looked on his dependent family, and made his resolve. Mr. Abbott returned in hopes to secure a part of his excellent harvest which he left ripening in his fields. I am somewhat more particular in mentioning this my friend, for I wish, as you take an interest in this matter, to impress this important fact upon your mind - that our people, though sorely struck, though suffering under a most bloody and disastrous defeat, did not lie down idly in despair without an effort to sustain themselves. No; the same indomitable spirit which they had manifested in overcoming previous difficulties, still actuated them. Mr. Abbott came back, determined, if possible, to save from his growing abundance the means of subsistence. He went upon the flats to work with Isaac Williams. [p.372] "Mr. Abbott and Mr. Williams were ambushed by the savages, and both murdered and scalped. There is a ravine on the upper part of the plantation of Mr. Hollenback, above Mill creek, where they fell. "All hope was now extinguished, and Mrs. Abbott (her maiden name was Alice Fuller), with a broken heart, set out with her nine children (judge ye how helpless and destitute!) to find their way to Hampton, an eastern town in Connecticut, from whence they had emigrated. Their loss was total. House burnt - barn burnt - harvests all devastated - cattle wholly lost - valuable title papers destroyed - nothing, nothing saved from the desolating hand of savage ruin and tory vengeance. 'God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb.' They had between 200 and 300 miles to travel, through a country where patience and charity had been already exhausted by the great number of applicants for relief. But they were sustained; and arrived at their native place, the family was separated, and found homes and employment among the neighboring farmers, where they dwelt for several years, until the boys, grown up to manhood, were able to return, claim the patrimonial lands - again to raise the cottage and the byre, and once more to gather mother and children round the domestic hearth, tasting the charms of independence and the blessings of home. "An interesting case, most certainly. Besides the deprivation of a father, the direct loss of property must have been considerable - more than $1,000, I should suppose. I confess it appears to me very plain, that the continental congress, having drawn away the men of war raised for the defence of Wyoming, thereby brought down the enemy on a defenceless place, and were the cause of the sufferings and losses, and that the national government is, therefore, by every consideration of justice and honor, though late postponed, bound to make good to the sufferers the losses sustained. Did you say that Mrs. Abbott, the widow, also returned? "Yes - and long occupied the farm where her busbadd fell. She was afterward married to a man whose name was known widely as the extent of the settlement; a shrewd man - a great reader - very intelligent - distinguished far and near for the sharpness of his wit, the keenness of his sarcasm, the readiness of his repartees, and the cutting pungency of his satire; withal not unamiable - for in the domestic circle he was kind and clever, and they lived happily together; but his peculiar talent being known, for many years every wit and witling of the country round about thought he must break a lance with him. Constantly assailed - tempted daily 'to sharp encounter' - armed at all points like the 'fretful porcupine' - cut and thrust, he became expert from practice as he was gifted for that species of warfare, by nature. All the old people, in merry mood, can tell of onslaught and overthrow of many a hapless wight who had the temerity to provoke a shaft from the quiver of old Mr. Stephen Gardiner. "You began by speaking of Mr. Stephen Abbott. Did he marry before he returned from Connecticut, or did he take a Wyoming girl to wife - a daughter, as he was the son, of one of the Revolutionary patriots? "You shall hear. He married a Searle. Having resettled on the patrimonial property, a fruitful soil, industry and economy brought independence in their train. Could you look upon the expelled orphan boy of 1778, pattering alone, his little footsteps beside his widowed mother and the other orphan children, as they were flying from the savage, and contrast his then seemingly hopeless lot with the picture now presented, you would say, 'It is well.'" The Finches were one of the notable pioneer families in this valley. On February 1, 1887, was held an interesting family reunion to celebrate the ninetieth birthday of Mrs. Fanny Spencer, in the house where the dear old lady had passed sixty-nine years of her life. She was a daughter of Isaac Finch, and was born in Pittston township, February 1, 1797, and married Leonard Spencer in 1818. They had eight children, six living, and at the time of the family reunion her grandchildren, thirty-six, of whom twenty-six were living; great grandchildren, fifty-four, living forty-five. [p.373] Isaac Finch was born in Plains township, February 25, 1763; married Sarah Tomkins, October 19, 1798; died March 10, 1848, aged eighty-five. They had ten children: Capt. Isaac Finch, born November 20, 1798, died April 14, 1860; Nathaniel, born February 3, 1792, died June 20, 1884; John G. Finch, born May 19, 1794, died January 16, 1886. There were many others of the Finch family, nearly every one living to great age. The Wilcoxes, Isaac and Crandall, brothers, came to Wyoming soon after the year 1772. They escaped the Wyoming massacre and returned to their old home in Rhode Island. There Isaac married Nancy Newcomb, whose mother was a Gardner, when he returned to Wyoming and later to Dutchess county, N. Y., where he died in 1810. Crandall Wilcox returned to Wyoming in 1791. A sister married Daniel Rosenkrans and went to Ohio. In 1792 Amos Wilcox of Minisinke, conveyed to Isaac Wilcox, husbandman, and Crandall Wilcox, blacksmith, land in Wilkes-Barre township. Esen Wilcox occupied land in Pittston, in his father, Stephen's right. Esen was killed in the Wyoming battle. Elisha Wilcox sold to, Ebenezer Marcy, August 1, 1783, his land in Pittston. In 1778 Elisha was on his way down the river to warn the inhabitants of the enemy's approach and was captured, and his fate remains unknown. The name of Daniel Wilcox appears as a granter to the Indian purchase in 1754. Wesley Johnson died at his home, in Wilkes-Barre, October 27, 1892. A word concerning his life is eminently proper here, as he was mainly instrumental in pushing to a successful completion the Wyoming Monument association, and the stone shaft reared above the heroes, as well as the great meeting dedicating the monument, and his careful history of the same in commemoration of those who died that we might live, and secretary of the association. Mr. Johnson was born at old Laurel Run, now Parsons borough, December 20, 1819, and was consequently not yet seventy-three years of age. He was the son of Jehoida Pitt Johnson and a grandson of Rev. Jacob Johnson, the first settled minister in Wilkes-Barre, and who officiated over what is now the First Presbyterian church, from the time of his call from Connecticut, in 1772, to his death in 1797. Jacob was the son of Jacob of Wallingford, Conn. (1674-1749), the son of William of New Haven, the son of Thomas of New Haven, who emigrated from Kingston-on- Hull, England, and was drowned in 1640, in New Haven harbor. Jacob drew up the articles of capitulation between the British and Americans in the battle and massacre of Wyoming in 1778. Wesley was one of a large family of brothers and sisters, of whom there now survive only two - William P. Johnson, of Dallas township, in this county, and Sarah, widow of Henry C. Wilson, of Ohio, now residing at Columbus. Of his brothers, Ovid F. Johnson was a distinguished lawyer and was attorney-general of Pennsylvania under Gov. Porter from 1839 to 1845. Of the other brothers, Miles died in California within a few years, Johoida died at the old homestead about twenty years ago, and Priestley R., a twin brother of Wesley, died 1878. Of the sisters, Diantha died in 1874 and Mary G. Reel in 1881.