name being Rogers, her father the much respected in his day Doctor John Rogers, who practiced extensively through the valley sixty years and more ago. Her mother was the sister of 'Squire Sively, sheriff and otherwise prominent in county affairs and the owner of the broad acres now handsomely kept by his granddaughter, Mrs. Judge Pfouts, on the Hanover flats. In 1836, Annetta and her husband, Valentine Wagner, opened the Bear Creek Hotel, on the line of the old stage route from Wilkes-Barre to Easton. This was made the change station of the stage teams, and the early breakfast place for travelers leaving Wilkes-Barre before daylight. In the summer of that year Mr. Wagner was run away with and killed near the old gate house beyond Stoddartsville, and the widow Wagner carried on the establishment for several years on her own re sources. Along in the forties Stiles Williams, a handsome young lumberman from New Jersey, associated with Abram Pierson, started the lumber mills at Bear Creek and in due time induced the widow to doff her weeds. But the hotel was still maintained till the advent of railroads cut off the stage routes and wiped out the Turnpike Company. In 1859 Mr. Williams sold the Bear Creek property to the late Peter Pursel and with Mrs. Williams moved to the Spring House on the Wilkes-Barre Mountain, where they maintained a summer hotel till his death in 1875. Mrs. Williams never had any children and leaves no relation nearer than Mrs. Judge Pfouts. She was 78 years old. Death resulted from paralysis. A House a Century Old. Dr. C. F. Ingham is about to remove another old landmark and to erect in its stead a block of two fine residences to face Union, at the corner of Union and River Streets. The exact date of the building of the present venerable structure is not known, but it must have been at least a hundred years ago. It was built by Rev. Jacob Johnson, first settled minister of the Congregational Church here, before it became Presbyterian in its form of government, and was occupied by his family up to the time of his death, which occurred in March 1797, and for years afterwards was the home of his son, J. P. Johnson, who in about 1826 sold it to Arnold Colt and removed to the mill property at Laurel Run, where he died in 1830. Dr. Ingham has occupied the place for thirty years or more, but the old must make room for the new in the onward march of improvement, and this familar old home of oue of the forefathers of the hamlet as it was a century ago, and of other generations now passed away, or passing, is doomed to follow. We understand that before demolishing the old building he will have a photograph taken of it as it is in order to preserve a memento of the past for future reference. Architect Kipp pronounces the old house a model of the architecture of its day. Ely Post's Dead. Adj. R. V. Levers, of Ely Post, G. A. R. has prepared a list of the dead members of the post, with their companies and regiments. The following list, it is believed, is nearly complete, but there may be some who died away from home or who were buried elsewhere whose names have not been learned. If any have been thus overlooked their friends are requested to send their names, with their companies and regiments to R. V. Levers. The list now prepared is as follows: Albert, Sidney, 52d Pa. Vols. Brisbane, Wm., 49th Pa. Vols. Brecht, Godfried, 112th Pa. Vols. Clapsaddle, H. E., 9th Cal. Cav. Finch, Ed. W., 8th and 52d Pa. Vols. Herbert, Wm. K., 77th Pa. Vols. Hunt, Thos. P., 7th Pa. Res. and 8th and 112th Pa. Vols. Hartland, John, 52d Pa. Vols. Hagenbuch, Abram, 210th Pa. Vols. Knoll, Michael, 18th Pa. Vols, Doctor Robinson's Grave. One hundred years ago there was but a single burying place from the head of the Lackawanna to its mouth at Pittston. This was known as Tripp's graveyard, on the edge of Capouse, near the Mt. Pleasant Colliery. There were no public grounds, all were private. In Slocum Hollow the Slo cum place was the second, while on the Hyde Park hillside was the third burial ground in the valley. In Dunmore the De Pay was next started. The Griffin, the Hermans, the McDaniels, the Lutz and the Mott grounds were private places for the dead, with no head-stones of marble, and few had common stones reared by tender hands. Dr. Silas B. Robinson came into the valley in 1823. He was the second physician here. He settled in Providence, where he died in 1860. He was buried in the Tripp place. On the sunny side of the hill under the sighing of a small pine tree, he was buried by the Masons, of which he was a prominent member. His death was sudden. In the evening he visited a patient in the village, returning home he shelled a bushel of corn for his chickens, took a dose of medicine for a cold, went to bed and died within an hour. He was a good man. He never drank or smoked. He always visited his patients on foot, carried his own medicine, and never wrote a prescription in his life. Valerian, soda and herbs made up his materia medica, and his patients generally recovered. He belonged to no church, but he knew the Bible by heart and yet he was very profane. His profanity, however, like some men's prayers, never meant any harm. He never had a law suit in his life, and yet this excellent man has no monument or stone to mark the spot where he was laid. It is a shame that this is 80. Hiram Lodge of Masons appointed a committee to erect a monument, but as his son Dr. Giles Robinson promised to do it, it was abandoned. Mr. Storrs, of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western RR., promised to remove the remains to Dunmore but thus far nothing has been done. His estate is estimated at $50,000, and it is a shame that so good a man should be covered up by culm, forgotten and unknown. By the way, his son, Dr. Giles R., died recently and few knew the cause of his death. In the lower portion of Providence, opposite the blacksmith shop of Mr. Bright, stands a small building where W. W. Winton and the late W. W. Ketcham, D. R. Randall and others once kept school half a century ago. In the winter of 1839 Loren Dewy, an Abingtonian, kept school here and Giles, a lad of fourteen, went to him. Being a mischievous boy, the master jerked him off his seat one day with such violence as to fracture his hip. He never recovered from the fall. It led to necrosis, or death of the bone, and it discharged matter up till the day of his death.-Dr. H. Hollister in Scranton Truth. "Stella of Lackawanna's" Poems. There are hundreds of persons in the Wyoming Valley who have read during the passing years the poems appearing in the newspaper press from the pen of Mrs. Harriet Gertrude Watres, better known by her non de plume of "Stella of Lackawanna." Mrs. Watres was a sister of Dr. H. Hollister, of Providence, the celebrated physician antiquary. Senator L. A. Watres is a son and it is through his efforts that his mother's writings now come to the public in book form. Mrs. Watres was a noble woman, whose life was crowded with loving deeds, and a friend has truly and poetically described her as "Loving the loveless and lonely, The book is now being canvassed for in Wilkes-Barre and we feel sure that our readers who purchase it, as well as those who do not, will be interested in the following review of its contents by Will S. Monroe, who has been writing a series of articles in the Scranton Argus descriptive of the poets of Wyoming Valley and contiguous territory: Mrs. Harriet Gertrude Watres, the sense of whose loss is so fresh upon us, was by nature singularly sweet and musical and her poems sing of themselves. She sang as the birdsin pure, serene and hymn-like roundelaysand her songs are as sincere and genuine as those of the sylvan minstrels, possessing all the hilarity of the bobolink, the faith of the song-sparrow, the love of the blue-bird, and the spiritual serenity of the hermit-thrush. Finished and original in style, delicate in sentiment, fertile in imagination, and musical in expression, Mrs. Watres was a poet of high order, and her verses rank with the very best yet produced by Wyoming Valley singers. Cobwebs, a volume containing one hundred and twenty-five short poems, was recently published by D. Lothrop & Co., of Boston, and its merits cannot but impress the most careless reader. "Barefoot" illustrates how well she succeeded in investing common ideas with new charms; and in "Caged" her rich imagination arises to the sphere of the true ideal. Deep pathos and refined humor are always nicely wedded. At every shoaling in the serious stream of "The Quarrel," "Through the Keyhole," and "Ripe Cherries," a vigilant sense of humor ripples. "Woodland Friends" and "My Cottage Home" exhale the fresh breath of a May orchard; and "Love's Loss" and "Lu line" contain all the sweetness and melody, and much of the genuine touch of true poetry. Her melody is so perfect, that were not these pleasant fancies as philosophical as they are musical, I should be inclined to charge their author with singing simply for the music's sake, but combined with all this melody is a depth of rare thought and fine poetical imagery. "Bret Harte" and "Snow Birds" are genial poems, and the former is constructed with remarkable ingenuity. In "Twice waiting," "Rae," and "Faces on the Street," she manifests a thorough understanding of the language of natural emotions and a profound knowledge of the reserves and refinement of poetic art. Few writers have better succeeded in blending exquisite melody with serene, satisfying and uplifting sentiment, or given us a finer adjustment of word to thought; and with an ever changing variety of measure, she not unfrequently interests the reader quite as much in the treatment of a subject as in the subject itself. To those who know the worth of her poetry it is a matter of regret that she is not more generally read; but until the people of culture in this rich valley come to realize the genuine work which in obscurity and discouragement the few are doing for its honor, neither the local writers nor their friends need feel that popular neglect signifies merited condemnation. Chandler Genealogy. Prof. Swithin Chandler Shortlidge gave a dinner at Media, recently, to representatives of the descendants of George and Jane Chandler, who came from England 200 years ago and settled on the Brandywine. An association was formed to arrange for the celebration of the bi-centennial of their arrival, with the following officers: President, Dr. Swithin Chandler, of Delaware; Vice Present, Dr. Ellwood Harvey, of Chester; Recording Secretary, J. Shortlidge; Corresponding Secretaries, Prof. S. C. Short lidge and Alfred N. Chandler; Treasurer, Dr. Joseph A. Chandler, of Delaware. The celebration will be held at the original Chandler homestead, which is on the Brandywine Creek, partly in Delaware and partly in Pennsylvania. A genealogy of the family is being prepared by Gilbert Cope, of West Chester.--North Wales Record. Alfred N. Chandler, whose name is mentioned above, held a position a few years ago with the Western Union Telegraph Co., in this city. He is now among the Philadelphia bulls and bears, of Third Street. Errata. EDITOR RECORD: It is not often that I interfere to attempt corrections in historical articles written by persons who are presumed to know what they are writing about, but there are two articles in the March, 1887, number of the Historical Record that I feel I cannot pass by without an attempt to correct what I believe to be errors. One of these articles is on "the late Abi Slocum Butler" and the other on that entitled "A former Wilkes-Barrean dead." In the first article it is stated that "Lord, the eldest son of Col. Zebulon Butler, was born in 1770." He had held various positions of a public character before 1790 and was then a member of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania. He must have been more than 20 years of age at this time, most probably about 30, and hence would have been born as early as 1760. It is further stated that he married Mary, granddaughter of Abel Peirce. She was the daughter of Abel Peirce and granddaughter of Maj. Ezekiel Peirce, the famous town clerk. In the second article relating to John S. Madden, it is stated that he moved to WilkesBarre in 1833, where he remained until 1844. The fact is he removed to Wyoming in 1833, where he carried on the business of tailoring for a year or two, and then removed to Plymouth, where he married a daughter of Robert Davenport, deceased, and from there he moved to Bradford County in 1844. He was never a Wilkes-Barrean. Mr. Madden was sterling man in every respect-of keen intellect-well informed upon public topics-a sharp conversationalist,-and of great energy and efficiency in business affairs. S. JENKINS. New York Currency in 1754, In the March number of your historical magazine is an article copied from Dr. Hollister's article in Scranton Truth which says that at the treaty with the Indians in 1754 the Connecticut Susquehanna Company paid the Indians two thousand pounds in silver, New York currency, and that that was equal to $10,000. This latter is of course a mistake. A shilling in New York currency was twelve and a half cents, and it took eight of them to make a dollar. Consequently two thousand pounds in that currency would be only $5,000, instead of $10,000. I think the Dr. hardly made that mistake. Perhaps it was the compositor in the Truth office-and that he thought he ought to correct the Dr. However, if New York currency was at that time more valuable than the same number of pounds in English sterling money, I would like to have the doctor explain the matter so that one like me can understand it. The doctor was brought up in a part of the country where no other currency was used in amounts less than two dollars and fifty cents, and he, if any one, ought to know. They used almost if not quite universally such terms as these -two shillings, six shillings, nine shillings, twelve shillings, and all the intermediate numbers. The equivalents in United States money of the above was: 25 cents, 75 cents; $1.12, $1.50, $2.25, and $2.50. This last would be one pound, New York currency. Askam, May 10, 1887. H. B. P. The Moravians in the Wyoming Valley. [The following extracts are from the diary of the Moravian Indian missionary, John Martin Mack, who in the summer of 1748, in company with David Zeisberger, visited the Indians residing on the North and West Branches of the Susquehanna. Mack's first visit to the Wyoming Valley was made in the autumn of 1742, with Zinzendorf and suite, and while stationed Gnadenhuetten on the Mahoning, between 1746 and 1755, he made frequent journeys along the Susquehanna in the interests of the missions of his church. These extracts relate to that part of their journey from Shamokin to Wyoming and thence to Guadenhuetten, and treat of the famine then prevailing in the Indian country. They are furnished the RECORD by John W. Jordan, of Philadelphia.] July 22, 1748. Set out early this morning up the North Branch. At noon lost the path,-we took the path that leads into the woods, which the Indians take on their hunts, but towards evening recovered the right trail. Camped on a hill by the river. It began to rain so hard, and the water swept down the hillside so strongly, that we feared we would be washed into the river. We had no hut, as we could get no bark. July 23. Continued on our journey through the rain. Towards noon as we approached a town, we were met by a drunken Indian. It proved to be a Tutelar town, and when we entered it in hopes of drying our clothes by a fire, we found everybody drunk. We went on for a few miles, built a fire and dried and warmed ourselves. By evening reached Nescopeck in a heavy rain. The people took us across the river in a canoe, but we found but few at home; those there, however, were acquainted with Brother Mack. We were given a hut, but nothing to eat, and after drying ourselves retired for the night. July 24. Remained here for the day. Our host cooked some wild beans, of which we partook, and we gave him some of our bread. The Indians have gone to the settlements to procure food. July 25. Journeyed on along the river to Wamphallobank, [Wapwallopen,] stopping there a few hours, but found only one family at home, who beiled the bark of trees for food. Famine had driven all the others to the white settlements. Proceeded up to Wajomick, [Wyoming,] and by evening came to the lower end of the flats, where we passed the night. July 26. Arose early and went up the flats. On coming to the first huts, found only a man and his wife at home and some decrepit old people, scarcely able to move. They complained of their need, of the want of food and of imminent starvation. We lodged at one of the huts. July 27. Crossed the river and visited the Nanticokes, who moved here last Spring from Chesapeake Bay, and found them clever and modest people. Their young people, they said, had been gone several weeks to the white settlements to procure provisions. In the evening the Nanticokes set us over the river and we went to our lodgings. Visited some old people, among them a man who had collected wood to make a fire, but was so emaciated that he had to crawl on his hands and knees. Bro. Mack took the fagots into his hut and made a fire, much to the gratitude of the aged invalid. July 28. This morning our host was busy painting himself. He painted his face all red, striped his shirt with the same color and also his moccasins. He volunteered to accompany us a few miles to point out the best crossing over the Susquehanna. Set out on our return, passing Wamphallobank, and thence over the country, crossing Wolf Mountain to Gnadenhuetten, where we arrived on 30 July. relio. It is an old and curious gentleman's dressing case which once belonged to Samuel Meredith, the first Treasurer of the United States under Washington, from 1789 to 1801. Washington and Meredith were great friends, and it is probable that the case was used by the General when he visited him in former years. When Meredith died in 1817 at Belmont, Wayne Co., Pa., where he had an immense possession of land, this dressing case passed into the hands of his son, Thomas Meredith, who re moved to a wild place in the woods a mile below Carbondale, where it was carefully preserved by the family for many years. After the death of Thomas, his son Samuel came into the possession of this antique piece of furniture which did not suit his fancy, not being modern enough, when he rebuilt the old mansion. He stored it awhile in his barn, and finally gave it to his neighbor and friend, Mrs. Sophia Sager. Upon the death of Mrs. Sager some years ago, her son took possession of this relic, which he prizes highly. It is built from curl maple, ingeniously carved, has four drawers, and is in an excellent state of preservation. It is the oldest dressing case in the valley. Old Church Recollections. In the RECORD of June 3 a communication signed "Scribe" recalled an accident that occurred during the building of the church erected by the Presbyterian congregation in 1830. The item came to the notice of J. T. Bennett, of Eagan, Dakota, who has written his recollections of the occurrence to H. B. Plumb, and through his courtesy we copy the following: "I have seen the piece in the RECORD written by "Scribe." He thinks Ira Marcy was in the first church. When John Darken was raising the roof all went down. Earl Barnes was in the fall and Ira Marcy was at work on a bridge across a creek on the opposite side of the Susquehanna from Berwick. John Darken left the work and Uncle Henry Blackman took it to finish. Darius Finch took the job of putting up the walls of the basement, which he did all in cut stone. He threw away all of the wall that the building was first raised on. I was with Uncle Henry Blackman at the commencement and until the church was finished. Ira, Reuben and Avery Marcy were all there. Ira had one of his eyes injured when a child by a fork in untying a shoestring, and he had this eye knocked out while on the roof by a broken piece of shingle. This was in 1832. "Thomas H. Parker and Ashbel Barnett were the men that began the brick church on the site where the first church stood. Parker died and Barnett returned to New Jersey. D. A. Fell and Earl Barnes then took the job and finished it. "The Methodists first bought the old church on Public Square of the Presbyterians. The latter then bought it back while their church was building. I took all the old big high box seats out of the old church and put in new seats and a new pulpit. This was shortly after I finished building Sylvester Dana's academy. I was a looker on when the old church on Public Square was taken down. The tower was cut off above the roof and fell point downward. J.T. BENNETT," Two Lackawanna Old Settlers. Lackawanna County has two aged citizens whose recollections are clear as to events in the early part of the century. William Fogg, colored, was born in Connecticut, and will soon be 94 years of age. He has lived in Scott Township since 1811. Mr. Fogg remembers distinctly going at one time with an old horse to Judge Shoemaker's in the Wyoming Valley, with a few pounds of maple sugar, which he exchanged for a bushel of corn. The next year he chopped and burned a fallow and planted corn among the stumps and logs. Samuel Gardner was born in the Wyoming Valley Oct. 12, 1798. He is at present a resident of Ransom. Fourth of July in 1827. Capt. James P. Dennis, who ranks now among the oldest inhabitants from wayback, was in town Saturday, and in conversation gave the following account of how the 4th of July was celebrated 60 years ago in Wilkes-Barre as he saw it: were "The day was ushered in by the booming of cannon and the ringing of bells at sunrise. At eight or nine o'clock, upon the Public Square, the people assembled. A long arbor was built and covered with green boughs. A table was put in occupying its whole length. They then raised a large liberty pole. Some religious services held, the Declaration of Independence was read, and then all the male portion of assembled people joined hands and marched around the pole to the tune of some patriotic song. I remember one stanza of a song sung by the late Hon. Andrew Beaumont in excellent style and much force,a stirring tune: "The British yoke, the Gallic chain, Was forged upon our necks in vain. All haughty tyrants we'll disdain, And shout long live America.' "In the meantime the long tables in the arbor had been lavishly covered with such good eatables as the country afforded, and supplied by the patriotic ladies of the neighborhood. Then came the dinner and the toasts and speeches. One toast I recollect, The Enemies of our Country-May they be mounted on porcupine saddles on roughriding horses and never-ending journeys.'" |