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UNIVERSITY 
OF  PITTSBURGH 

^\\  OF  p. 

^■^'^^."^ 

LIBRARY 


LEWIS  HARLOW  TAYLOR,  M.   D. 


Coxc  Publication  Snnh. 
PROCEEDINGS 

AND 

COLLECTIONS 

OF  THE 

WYOMING  HISTORICAL  AND  GEOLOGICAL  SOCIETY, 

For  the  Years  1927,  1928  and  1929. 

EDITED   BY 

Frances  Dorrance,  Director. 


VOLUME  XXI. 


Wilkes-Barr6,  Pa. 
Printed  for  the  Society. 


THE    E.    B.    YORDY    CO. 
1930. 


Copyright  1930 

BY 

The  Wyoming  Historical  and 
Geological  Society. 


THE  f TOMIHU  HISTORICAL  AND  &EOLOGICAL  SOCIETY, 

WILKES-BARRE.  PENNSYLVANIA. 
Organized  1858. 


The  Library  and  Museum  Collections  are  housed  in  the  Historical 
Society  Building,  next  to  the  Osterhout  Free  Library,  as  provided  by  the 
will  of  Isaac  S.  Osterhout. 

The  library  contains  about  40,000  volumes  and  pamphlets,  including 
United  States  and  Pennsylvania  publications ;  on  biography,  genealogy, 
general  American  and  local  Pennsylvania  history,  geology,  and  the  Ameri- 
can Indian.  It  receives  many  historical,  ethnological  and  genealogical 
magazines.  It  has  a  large  collection  of  rare  old  manuscript  records  and 
papers,  early  and  nearly  complete  files  of  local  newspapers  and  hundreds 
of  photographs  of  local  places  and  people.  There  is  also  a  large  collection 
of  local  and  general  maps. 

The  museum  contains  collections  of  45,000  archeological,  geological  and 
ethnological  objects,  including  the  Lacoe  collection  of  fossils,  thousands  of 
relics  of  the  American  Indian  and  hundreds  of  local  antiques,  furniture, 
household  utensils,  implements,  relics  of  all  American  wars  in  which  local 
men  have  served,  etc.  There  is  also  a  small  but  representative  collection 
of  local  birds. 

The  library  and  museum  are  open  to  the  public  every  week  day  from 
ID  :oo  a.  m.  to  5  :oo  p.  m. 

The  Society  has  published  twenty  volumes  and  many  pamphlets. 

Lectures  are  given  at  least  four  times  a  year  by  noted  speakers  of  local 
or  national  reputation.    All  lectures  are  open  to  the  public. 

The  members  receive  all  publications  and  privileges  free. 

Gifts  of  Indian  relics,  geological  specimens,  local  antiques,  photographs 
and  particularly  old  papers  and  records  of  all  kinds  are  greatly  desired  by 
the  Society.  Also  relics  of  all  American  wars  and  of  the  European  war 
and  any  articles  of  present  or  of  future  historic  value.  Loan  exhibits  are 
welcomed.  They  will  be  promptly  acknowledged  and  carefully  preserved 
and  exhibited. 

Address, 

Wyoming  Historical  and  Geological  Society, 

Wilkes-Barre,  Pennsylvania. 


FORM  OF  BEQUEST. 

I  give  and  bequeath  to  the  "Wyoming  Historical  and  Geological 
Society,"  the  sum  of  (here  state  the  sum  to  be  given),  for  the  use  of  said 
Society  absolutely. 


FORM  OF  DEVISE. 

I  give  and  bequeath  (here  describe  the  real  estate  to  be  given)  unto  the 
"Wyoming  Historical  and  Geological  Society,"  its  siiccessors  and  assigns 
forever. 


The   Society  will  be   glad  to  receive  any  part  of   Volume  I,   and  all 
copies  of  Volume  XVI,  that  members  may  be  willing  to  spare. 


PREFACE  TO  VOLUME  XXL 


In  order  to  bring  the  Proceedings  of  the  Society  up  to  date, 
it  has  seemed  advisable  to  publish  in  this  one  volume  the  re- 
ports for  1927,  1928  and  1929. 

In  Volume  19,  the  list  of  officers  was  published  in  full  from 
the  organization  of  the  Society;  in  Volume  20,  the  contents 
of  the  Proceedings  and  Collections  were  given  in  detail.  In 
this  volume,  the  list  of  Special  Endowment  Funds  is  brought 
up  to  date,  and  the  By-laws,  as  revised  in  February,  1930. 

The  report  of  the  Manuscript  Committee  of  the  work  done 
by  L.  Walter  Seegers  is  of  particular  interest,  as  an  experi- 
ment in  locating  and  preserving  old  manuscripts,  which 
brought  unexpectedly  satisfactory  results. 

The  articles  comprising  the  body  of  the  volume  are  all 
available  in  pamphlet  form.  They  are  of  especial  local  in- 
terest, because  of  some  local  personal  relation  to  the  history 
of  the  valley,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  table  of  contents. 

The  Ancestry  of  President  Harding  was  prepared  by  Mrs. 
Clara  Gardner  Miller,  "to  give  a  comprehensive  view  and  to 
correct  some  of  the  false  records,  of  his  near  ancestors,  with 
which  the  country  was  flooded  during  the  years  of  his  presi- 
dency." Mrs.  Miller's  residence  and  wide  acquaintance  in 
Clifford  and  the  Wyoming  Valley  and  her  experience  as  a 
genealogist  make  the  work  a  genuine  contribution  to  Ameri- 
can genealogy. 

The  George  Catlin  biography  and  bibliography  are  national 
in  importance,  the  local  emphasis  being  the  fact  of  Catlin's 
birth  in  Wilkes-Barre. 

The  Addresses  given  by  two  representatives  of  the  younger 


11  PREFACE  TO  VOLUME  XXI. 

generations,  Andre  Alden  Beaumont,  Jr.  and  Constance 
Reynolds,  are  an  evidence  of  a  persistent  interest  of  local 
people  in  our  history,  which  is  most  encouraging  to  those 
who  work  constantly  in  that  field. 

The  Essays  of  Poor  Robert,  the  Scribe,  contain  among 
others,  the  original  story  of  "an  axe  to  grind",  written  by 
our  well-known  historian,  Charles  Miner ;  though  at  one  time 
attributed  to  Benjamin  Franklin. 

As  the  collected  volume  of  essays  has  long  been  unavail- 
able and  we  have  been  able  to  locate  fewer  than  a  half  dozen 
existing  copies  of  the  original,  reprinting  this  interesting 
material  seemed  very  advisable.  The  subject  matter,  literary 
style  and  general  interest  of  these  essays  are  such,  that  the 
editors  are  considering  the  latter  publication  of  a  facsimile 
limited  edition. 

Suggestions  of  material  suitable  for  publication  in  suc- 
ceeding volumes  will  be  much  appreciated. 

Frances  Dorrance, 
Ernestine    Martin    Kaehlin, 
Julian  P.  Boyd, 
William  N.  Schang, 

Publishing  Committee. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


Preface    i 

Contents  iii 

Illustrations    v 

Proceedings   vii 

President's  Report  for  1927 vii 

Treasurer's  Report  for  1927 xviii 

President's  Report  for  1928 xx 

Treasurer's  Report  for  1928 xxxii 

President's  Report  for  1929 xxxiv 

Report  of  Manuscript  Committee xlvi 

Treasurer's  Report  for  1929 li 

Securities  List liii 

Special  and  Endowment  Funds Iv 

Officers  of  the  Society  for  1930 Ix 

Necrology  Ixi 

Roll  of  Membership Ixviii 

By-Laws  as  Revised,  1930 Ixxviii 

Ancestry  of  President  Harding  in  relation  to 
the  Harding's  of  Wyoming  Valley  and  Clif- 
ford, Pa.,  by  Clara  Gardiner  Miller 1-46 

American  Ancestry  of  Silence  Washburn,  by  Wil- 
liam Tilden  Stauffer 47-62 

The  Catlin  Powder  Horn 63-67 

Indian  Loving  Catlin,  by  Marion  Annette  Evans. . .  .68-82 
Bibliography  of  Catlin's  Works,  by  William  Harvey 

Miner    83-97 

Non-Marine     Shells     of     Upper     Carboniferous 

Rocks  of  North  America,  by  John  H.  Davies.  ,98-106 


IV  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

Student  at  Paris  in  the  13TH  Century,  by  Andre 

Alden  Beaumont,  Jr 107-27 

Early  American  Snobs,  by  Dixon  Ryan  Fox 128-55 

Market  Street  Bridges  at  Wilkes-Barre,  Pa.,  by 

Constance  Reynolds    156-80 

Jacob  Rice  of  Trucksville,  by  Kenneth  Dann  Ma- 

gruder    181-88 

Essays  from  Desk  of  Poor  Robert  the  Scribe,  with 

foreword  by  J.  P.  Boyd 189-289 

Index   291 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Lewis  Harlow  Taylor frontispiece 

Petition  for  the  erection  of  Nicholson  Town- 
ship    facing  page  2"] 

Harding  family  illustration  ( i ) "         "       30 

Harding  family  illustration  (2) "         "       31 

Catlin  powder  horn "         "       63 

Engravings  on  Catlin  powder  horn "         "       64 

Bufifalo  chase  65 

Red  Jacket 66 

George  Catlin,  autographed  portrait facing  page  68 

George  Catlin :  aet.  28 "         "       70 

Catlin  painting  chief 72 

Group  of  Iowa  Indians facing  page  74 

George  Catlin :  aet.  45 "        "       76 

George  Catlin,  circa  1845 "         "       78 

George  Catlin,  in  1849 "         "       ^o 

Tomb  of  Mrs.  Catlin 82 

George  Catlin  :  aet.  72 facing  page  82 

Non-Marine  shells — Figs,  i,  2 99 

Non-Marine  shells — Figs.  3-6 102 

Non-Marine  shells — Figs.   7-1 1 104 

View  of  Wilkes-Barre,  1840 facing  page  156 

View  of  Wilkes-Barre,  1889 "         "       156 

Seal  of  Bridge  Co "         "       161 

Bridge  built,  1820 "         "       161 


VI  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Bridge  replacing  first  bridge facing  page  169 

Wooden  toll  gate  house "  "  169 

Bridge,  1826-1892 "  "  172 

Market  Street,  about  1885 "  "  172 

Steel  bridge  "  "  173 

Concrete  bridge "  "  176 

Proposal  for  publication  of  Essays  of  Poor 

Robert,  the  Scribe "  "  189 

Facsimile  of  cover  of  Essays  of  Poor  Robert, 

the  Scribe "  "  195 


Reports  and  Collections 

OF  THE 

tDgomtng  historical  anb  Geological  Societg 

Volume  XXI  Wilkes-Barre,  Pa.  1930 

PRESIDENT'S  REPORT  FOR  1927 


Each  year  brings  to  the  work  of  the  Society,  some  new 
impetus  to  growth,  some  new  opportunity  to  widen  its  value 
in  the  community  and  in  the  field  of  Pennsylvania  history. 
The  announcement,  at  this  time  of  the  Sesqui-Centennial,  of 
a  gift  of  $25,000.00  for  the  publishing  of  manuscript  records, 
maps  and  other  papers  relating  to  the  early  settlement  of 
"Wyoming"  has  a  double  significance.  The  gift  is  made  as 
a  memorial  to  Sheldon  Reynolds,  to  whom  the  Society  owes 
much  of  its  long  and  splendid  record  and  comes  as  a  semi- 
centennial tribute  to  the  months  of  continuous  work  he  and 
Dr.  Harrison  Wright  spent  in  preparing  the  collections  of 
the  Society  for  the  centennial  celebration  of  the  Battle  of 
Wyoming,  followed  by  years  of  interested  direction  of  its 
development  into  one  of  the  leading  historical  societies  of  the 
country.  As  Secretary  and  as  President  of  the  Society,  Mr. 
Reynolds  was  untiring  in  his  efforts  to  increase  the  collec- 
tions of  the  Society,  to  establish  its  policy  of  efficient  and 
scientific  methods  and  to  win  it  wide  recognition.  There  could 
be  no  better  memorial,  nor  a  more  significant  time  for  estab- 
lishing it  than  this  sesqui-centennial  anniversary  of  the  first 
epochal  event  in  our  local  history. 

This  fund  will  provide  for  the  photostatting  of  the  hun- 
dreds of  manuscript  records  now  in  the  possession  of  the 
Society,  pertaining  to  the  purchase  and  settlement  of  the 
region,  those  personally  owned  locally  and  those  in  various 
other  historical  societies  and  libraries,  all  of  whom  express 
great  eagerness  to  participate  in  thus  making  available  for 
research  many  papers  as  yet  unstudied.  The  information  on 
these  photostats  will  then  be  transcribed  and  typewritten  and 
the  entire  material  edited  by  some  historian  of  national  repu- 
tation. The  finished  work  will  be  suitably  published  and  il- 
lustrated with  facsimiles  of  the  most  important  papers. 

At  least,  two  other  opportunities  for  similar  memorials 
open  before  us ;  first  comes  the  need  of  the  preservation  of 


the  early  wills,  deeds,  and  other  local  records  lying  unpro- 
tected and  uncared  for  in  the  court  houses  at  Easton,  Sun- 
bury  and  even  here  in  Wilkes-Barre,  where  the  disordered 
condition  of  the  very  oldest  papers  is  distressing.  These 
papers  are  of  extreme  value  for  our  local  history;  those  at 
Easton  being  the  earliest,  for  the  time  when  all  this  region 
was  part  of  Northampton  County ;  those  at  Sunbury  for  the 
following  years,  before  Luzerne  County  was  set  off  from 
Northumberland  County,  and  then  those  here,  up  to  the  time 
when  systematic  registration  of  such  invaluable  papers  was 
begun.  The  preservation  of  these  papers  and  their  publica- 
tion would  make  available  for  all  time  the  historical  sources 
of  the  greatest  developmental  period  of  our  history. 

Second  only  to  this  would  come  the  need  to  preserve  the 
history  of  anthracite  coal  mining,  our  basic  industry,  to 
preserve  all  records  of  its  development,  and  to  collect  the 
various  types  of  tools,  machinery,  in  models,  photographs 
and  originals,  where  possible,  for  elucidating  and  preserving 
the  history  of  the  greatest  factor  in  our  economic  develop- 
ment. 

The  growth  in  the  work  of  our  Society  in  the  past  year 
has  been  steady  and  its  value  to  the  community  has  been 
given  wide  recognition.  This  recognition  has  been  three-fold, 
an  increase  of  seventy  in  the  membership  of  the  Society,  of 
which  sixteen  are  new  life  members ;  the  unprecedented  value 
of  the  gifts;  and  the  appointment  of  the  Director  of  the 
Society  to  the  State  Historical  Commission  by  Governor 
Fisher. 

The  increase  in  membership  is  particularly  encouraging  in 
a  year  when  the  loss  by  death  has  cost  the  Society  the  in- 
terested co-operation  of  such  able  and  important  people  as 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  George  Reynolds  Bedford,  both  life  members; 
Edwin  Swift  Balch  of  Philadelphia  and  Mrs.  George  Shoe- 
maker, both  benefactors ;  Charles  E.  Clift,  a  Sustaining  an- 
nual member;  and  Douglas  Bunting,  Harry  French  and 
Frank  Hopper,  all  annual  members.  Each  one  has  been  an 
outstanding  personality  in  the  community  and  the  type  of 
member  who  gives  the  work  of  the  Society  foundations  for 
permanent  growth. 

The  list  of  donors  to  the  Society  in  the  past  year  showing 
the  variety  and  extent  of  interest  is  appended  to  this  report, 
because  brief  mention  can  be  made  of  only  the  most  impor- 
tant gifts. 


Of  the  books  given  us  two  are  of  outstanding  interest — a 
ten  volume  Life  of  Washington  given  by  James  B.  Scott,  and 
the  Historic  Highways,  sixteen  volumes,  the  gift  of  Mrs. 
John  M.  Garman. 

One  instance  of  co-operation  and  interest  was  the  gift  to 
the  Society  of  Burgess's  splendid  book  "Virginia  Soldiers  of 
1776",  by  the  Wyoming  Valley  Chapter,  D.  A.  R.  Another 
valuable  genealogical  aid  is  a  Civil  War  Roster  given  by  Mrs. 
D.  W.  Dodson.  The  following  are  of  special  local  value : 
An  old  autograph  application  of  school  teacher  in  1837,  given 
by  Miss  Minnie  Dilley ;  a  paper  with  the  signatures  of  Judges 
and  Lawyers  of  Luzerne  County  about  1858,  given  by  Mrs. 
B.  H.  Foster — from  the  papers  of  her  father  David  C.  Har- 
rington ;  a  Revolutionary  War  rifle  given  by  John  Laning, 
which  was  used  by  his  ancestor,  John  Coryell ;  Mrs.  Irving 
O.  Hunt  has  given  a  number  of  copies  of  the  doctoral  thesis 
of  her  sister,  Miss  Sara  Stites,  on  the  Iroquois  Indians ;  Ed- 
ward Welles  photographed  three  of  the  old  houses  in  the 
valley — thus  making  a  valuable  addition  to  our  collection  of 
old  local  photographs,  which  we  so  much  want  to  enlarge ; 
of  the  same  interest  were  the  sixty-six  stereoscopic  views  of 
local  scenes  given  by  Miss  Annie  B.  Wren.  Through  the 
kindness  of  E.  A.  Wakeman,  the  Pennsylvania  Power  and 
Light  Company  has  presented  to  the  Society  "the  first  electric 
lighting  generator"  to  be  used  in  the  Valley.  It  made  the 
power  for  the  four  first  arc  lights,  placed  at  the  corners  of 
the  Square,  and  first  lighted  for  the  Garfield-Hancock  parade 
on  October  30,  1880.  Most  interesting  material  on  Frances 
Slocum,  with  photographs  of  men  connected  with  the  finding 
of  the  lost  sister,  has  been  given  by  J.  Bennett  Phelps  of 
Binghamton. 

Thomas  Santee  has  added  some  old  records  to  our  already 
extensive  collection  on  local  records,  the  greatest  source  of 
local  history.  Of  great  interest  connected  with  the  material 
on  our  County  is  a  letter  from  the  Chevalier  de  la  Luzerne, 
while  Minister  from  France  to  the  United  States,  given  by 
Gilbert  S.  McClintock. 

The  most  outstanding  gift  of  the  whole  year  is  the  old 
manuscript — Kingston  Proprietor's  book  of  1790 — given  the 
Society  by  Mrs.  W.  G.  Harding.  In  connection  with  the 
publication  of  all  early  local  manuscripts,  this  book  now  has  a 
very  especial  interest  added  to  its  great  value. 

The  connection  of  the  Society  with  the  State  Commission 


X  REPORTS 

will  link  our  work  with  the  main  lines  of  interest  in  Penn- 
sylvania History.  The  plan  is  to  divide  the  State  into  six 
regions,  to  form  an  advisory  historical  board  in  each  region, 
with  the  member  of  the  commission  as  head  of  that  section, 
the  board  members  to  be  appointed  from  the  most  repre- 
sentative historians  in  each  county.  Through  the  Advisory 
Board,  information  will  be  secured  as  to  needed  lines  of  his- 
torical undertaking  in  the  State;  names  of  interested  persons; 
historians  of  ability  and  experience ;  possibilities  of  collecting 
and  preserving  records,  historical  data  and  material,  now 
scattered  and  unavailable.  In  a  word,  the  plan  promises  the 
promotion  and  preservation  of  Pennsylvania  historical 
sources. 

The  book  collection  of  the  Society  has  been  greatly  in- 
creased during  the  year  through  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  of 
duplicates  and  the  Society's  publications,  by  means  of  a  book 
list  printed  and  distributed  early  in  1927.  Yet  this  increase 
has  been  doubled  by  the  number  of  books  given  the  Society, 
fully  fifty  per  cent,  of  those  accessioned  having  been  contri- 
butions. About  five  hundred  have  been  catalogued,  which 
with  1954  federal  documents  and  94  State  documents  re- 
ceived make  2546  acquisitions  during  the  year.  Of  those 
catalogued,  the  various  interests  of  the  Society  were  propor- 
tionately represented  as  shown  by  the  following  figures : 

History   49 

Local  History    87 

Genealogy    87 

Indians    37 

Biography    30 

Hist.  Exchanges   48 

Among  the  books  accessioned  are : 

HISTORICAL. 

Leffert:  Uniforms  of  American,  British,  French  and  Ger- 
man Armies.    War  of  American  Revolution,  1775-83. 

Bowen :  History  of  Woodstock,  Conn. 

Chase :  Syracuse  and  its  Environs,  three  vols. 

Folson:  Municipalities  of  Essex  County,  N.  J.,  1666- 1924, 
four  vols. 

Hayner :  Troy  and  Rensselear  County,  N.  Y.,  three  vols. 

Donehoo :  Pennsylvania,  a  history,  seven  vols. 

Harlow :  Old  Towpaths. 

Earle :  Two  Centuries  of  Costume  in  America. 

Woodson :  Free  Negro  Heads  of  Families  in  U.  S.,  1830. 


Spayne :  Tales  of  Old  Boston. 

New  York  State  :  Papers  of  Sir  William  Johnson,  five  vols. 
McClellan :  Historic  Dress  in  America,  two  vols. 
Paxson :  Where  Pennsylvania  history  began. 

GENEALOGICAL. 

Armstrong:  Notable  Southern  Families,  two  vols. 

Winchell :  Winchell  Genealogy. 

Scotch-Irish  Society:  The  Scotch-Irish  of   Northampton 
Co.,  Pa.  .    . 

Van  Norden :  South  Salem  Gravestone  Inscription. 
South  Salem  Soldiers  and  Sailors. 

New  Jersey  Archives,  seven  vols. 

Barber:  Wright-Chamberlin  Genealogy. 

Carruth :  Carruth  Genealogy. 

FHnt :  Biographical  memoir  of  Daniel  Boone. 

Davis:  War  of  1812. 

Scales:  Clements  Family. 

Long :  Long  Genealogy. 

Maxwell :  Minear  Genealogy. 

Holmes :  Descendants  of  Josiah  Burton. 

Harrington:  Harrington  Family  in  America. 

MacDougall :  Scots  and  Scots  descendants  in  America. 

Blake:  History  of  Putnam  County,  N.  Y. 

Janes :  Janes  Family. 

D.  A.  R. :  Lineage  books,  five  vols. 

Diflfenderfifer :  German  Immigration  into  Pennsylvania. 

Nottingham  :  Marriage  LicenseBonds— Accomack  Co.,  Va., 
1 774- 1 806. 

Deming :  Genealogy  of  John  Deming. 

Jacobs :  Pardee  Genealogy. 

Burgess:  Virginia  Soldiers  of  1776. 

Bassette :  Bassett  Family  in  America. 

Gilmer:  Sketches  of  some  of  the  first  settlers  in  Georgia. 

Storer :  Storer  Genealogy. 

Bolton:  Bolton's  American  Armory. 

Weis  :  Descendants  of  Daniel  Weis. 

Gilmore :  Gilmore  Ancestry. 

GEOLOGICAL. 

Geology  of  Alabama. 

Behre :  Slate  of  Northampton  County,  Pa. 
Katz  :  Mineral  Resources — U.S. 
Brown:  Archaeology  of  Mississippi. 
Maryland  Geological  Survey,  five  vols. 


Xll  REPORTS 

U.  S.  Dept.  of  Agriculture:  Field  Operations  of  the  Bureau 
of  Soils. 

Hardy :  The  A.  B.  C.  of  Geology. 

AMERICAN    INDIAN. 

Seymour :  The  Indians  of  To-day. 

Harvey:  History  of  Shawnee  Indians,  1681-1854. 

Moorehead :  Primitive  Man  in  Ohio. 

Starr :  History  of  the  Cherokee  Indians. 

Spence :  Myths  and  Legends  of  North  American  Indians. 

Bushnell :  Burials  of  the  Algonquians. 

Oytasita :  The  Soul  of  the  American  Indian. 

Tooker :  The  Algonquian  Series,  ten  vols. 

The  Society  was  given  the  local  sale  of  "Daily  Stories  of 
Pennsylvania"  by  the  author,  Frederic  A.  Godcharles,  State 
Librarian,  and  through  circular  letters,  has  been  able  to  sell 
many  copies,  securing  thereby  a  tidy  addition  to  the  book 
fund. 

The  number  of  visitors  during  the  past  year  was  6,472. 
Of  these  525  were  research  students.  The  Society  still  needs 
wider  publicity,  through  exhibits,  reports  of  work,  offers  of 
assistance,  etc.,  in  order  to  bring  the  efficiency  of  its  service 
to  the  maximum.  One  much  desired  method  of  increase  in 
the  use  of  the  museum  is  through  the  work  with  schools. 
Seventeen  classes  visited  the  building,  during  the  year, 
averaging  23  pupils.  It  is  planned  to  send  special  invitations 
to  the  schools  for  the  latter  half  of  the  school  year,  to  put 
posters  in  the  school  buildings  and  generally  to  strengthen 
the  connection  between  the  museum  and  the  school  work. 
This  can  be  systematically  done  only  with  a  special  assistant, 
to  work  with  the  children  on  Friday  afternoon  and  Satur- 
days as  soon  as  an  increase  of  the  general  endowment  makes 
this  possible. 

We  are  now  within  twelve  thousand  of  the  goal  of  fifty 
thousand  dollars  needed  to  make  available  Mr.  Nesbitt's 
securities  left  in  trust  for  this  purpose.  When  this  income 
becomes  available,  many  dreams  will  be  realized. 

The  lectures  given  under  the  auspices  of  the  Society  were 
interesting  and  well  attended.    They  were  as  follows  : 
January   10 — George  K.  Cherrie,  "With  the  Roosevelts  in 

Central  Asia." 
February  4 — George  Grant  MacCurdy,  "The  Dawn  of  art 
and  prehistoric  man." 


March  i8 — Annual  meeting — Alden  Beaumont,  "The  Uni- 
versity Student  of  the  13th  Century." 
November  21 — Wallace  Nutting,  "The  Colonial  house  and 
its  furnishings." 
The  Director  of  the  Society  made  the  following  reports 
and  addresses  during  the  year : 

January  12.  Address  before  Society  of  Pennsylvania  Women 

in  New  York  City  on  "Indian  Survey  of  Pennsylvania." 

February    14,     Talk   at    Town    Hill,    Pa.,    on    "Indians    of 

Pennsylvania." 
February    15.     Address  before   Frankford,    Pa.,   Historical 

Society,  on  "Indian  Survey." 
February  18.    Talk  to  G.  A.  R.  High  School,  Wilkes-Barre, 

on  "Local  History." 
February  28.     Talk  to  G.  A.  R.  High  School,  Wilkes-Barre, 

on  "Pennsylvania  Indians." 
March  25.    Report  to  Central  Section  of  the  American  An- 
thropological Association,  at  University  of  Chicago,  on 
"Indian  Survey  of  Pennsylvania." 
March  29.    Address  to  Historical  Society  of  Western  Penn- 
sylvania, on  "Indian  Survey." 
April  15.    Report  to  Pennsylvania  Academy  of  Science  meet- 
ing, on  "Indian  Survey  of  Pennsylvania." 
May   10.     Address   before  Lackawanna   County   Historical 

Society,  Scranton,  on  "Romance  of  Local  History." 
May  12.    Address  before  Wayne  County  Historical  Society, 

Honesdale,  on  "Local  history  and  how  to  preserve  it." 
May  26.     Wyoming  Monumental  Association — Address  on 

"Pennsylvania  Indians." 
August  II.     Y.  M.  C.  A.  Girl's  Camp.     "Wyoming  Valley 

Local  History." 
September  13.     Address  before  Northumberland  Historical 

Society,  on  "Indian  Survey." 
November  5.     Address  before  Berwick  Chapter,  D.  A.  R., 
and  Columbia  County  Historical  Society  at  Berwick,  on 
"Indian  Survey." 
The  above  show  the  wide  interest  being  taken  throughout 
the  country  in  the  Indian  Survey,  and  the  following  report 
of  progress  can  now  be  made.     The  appointment   of   the 
Director  to  the  State  Historical  Commission  is  the  outcome 
of  our  attempt  to  put  a  Bill  through  the  Legislature  establish- 
ing a  Commission  for  the  direction  of  the  Survey  and  carry- 
ing an  appropriation.     The  Bill  was  unanimously  passed  in 
the  Senate  and  was  about  to  be  presented  to  the  House,  when 


XIV  REPORTS 

notice  was  received  that  the  work  had  been  included  under 
the  Commission  by  the  revised  Code,  and  provision  made  in 
the  general  appropriations  bill.  By  appointing  the  Director 
of  this  Society  to  the  Commission,  Governor  Fisher  regis- 
tered his  interest  in  the  archaeological  research.  The  Survey 
can  now  be  made  under  the  Commission,  in  so  far  as  its 
powers  lie,  to  be  extended  by  the  Pennsylvania  Federation 
of  Historical  Societies,  as  voted  at  the  annual  meeting  in 
January. 

As  Curator  of  local  archaeology,  William  J.  Robbins  has 
presented  an  interesting  report  of  his  work,  in  investigations 
and  talks,  together  with  some  local  Indian  mythology,  ob- 
tained from  old  Mohawk  Indians. 

In  addition  to  regular  assistance  in  historical  and  genea- 
logical work,  the  special  work  of  the  Society  has  been  quite 
interesting.  Opportunity  for  co-operation  with  local  interests 
came  in  historical  tableaux  in  the  schools ;  the  lending  of 
exhibits  to  different  organizations ;  for  example,  some  snake 
skins  for  an  exhibit  of  shoemaking ;  old  photographs  of 
Wilkes-Barre,  for  another  exhibit ;  coal  specimens,  imple- 
ments, etc.,  for  a  newspaper  window ;  cuts  for  different  pub- 
lications of  patriotic  and  other  societies ;  pictures  and  other 
material  for  sesqui-centennial  publicity.  Upon  request, 
several  especially  interesting  coal  fossils  were  sent  to  Wales 
for  illustrating  lectures,  with  which  some  other  fossils  and 
some  publications  were  sent  back. 

Co-operation  with  the  playgrounds  was  continued,  the 
interest  in  Sitting  Bull  showing  a  great  increase  over  that  of 
the  preceding  year ;  the  community  calendar  has  come  to  stay 
in  the  minds  of  Society  officials  throughout  the  community, 
family  reunions  send  in  reports;  information  for  the  Sullivan 
Trail  motorcade  was  asked  for.  All  in  all,  the  public  recog- 
nition of  the  possibility  of  help  from  the  Society  is  most 
encouraging. 

This  recognition  could  not  have  been  secured,  if  the  local 
newspapers  had  not  generously  given  the  work  of  the  Society 
interested  co-operation  and  generous  space  assignments.  Deep 
appreciation  of  this  is  hereby  recorded. 

With  the  coming  of  the  one  hundred  and  fiftieth  anniver- 
sary of  the  Battle  of  Wyoming,  which  through  annihilating 
the  Wyoming  settlement,  established  it  securely  in  the  history 
of  the  State  and  country  for  all  time,  every  loyal  citizen  of 
the  Wyoming  Valley  should  make  this  year  an  outstanding 
one  in  the  progress  and  development  of  the  community. 


GIFTS  IN  1927. 

BOOKS    RECEIVED    FROM  : 


Allen,  W.  G. 
Averill,  Rev.  E.  W. 
Bass,  Florence 
Bassett,  Josiah  Colby 
Beard,  Charles  A. 
Beck,  James  M. 
Billings,  W.  E. 
Bingham  Association 
Bolles,  Stephen 
Brown,  Ella  W. 
Carruth,  Arthur  Jay 
Clawson,  Cortez  R. 


Kiel,  Herman  G. 
Larew,  Ada  Campbell 
Lester,  J.  William 
Lindenstruth,  Rev.  L.,  3  vols. 
Loveland,  Charles  N.,  4  vols. 
Ludington,  C.  H. 
McCants,  E.  C. 
McGlynn,  Zita  E. 
Magruder,  Frank  Abbott 
Magruder,  K.  D. 
Maine  State  Library 
Major,  Montgomery  W. 


Collegiate  Reformed  Dutch  Church  Mathews,  E.  B. 


Cook,  William  Wilson 

Davidson,  Percy  E. 

Davis,  Brig.  Gen.  Wm.  C. 

Davis,  W.  G. 

Dett,  Robert  Nathaniel 

Diller,  Dr.  Theodore 

Dilley,  Oscar  H. 

Dilley,  Sherman  A.,  22  vols. 

Dillon,  Arthur  O. 

Dorrance,  Anne,  4  vols. 

Dorrance,  Frances,  2  vols. 

Doub  &  Company 

Dow,  Mrs.  Joy  Wheeler 

Drysdale,  Alexander 

Du  Bois,  W.  E.  Burghardt 

Dunn,  Mrs.  E.  T.,  2  vols. 

Durland,  Frank 

Fell,  John  M. 

Folsom,  Ida  M. 

Garman,  Mrs.  John  M.,  16  vols. 

Gemmill,  Hon.  Wm.  N. 

Gooch,  Frank  Austin 

Griswold,  B.  H. 

Guttridge,  George  Herbert 

Hardy,  A. 

Hastings,  Mary  E. 

Hillard,  O.  C,  2  vols. 

Hillman,  Mrs.  Frederick 

Hinsdale,  Wilbert  B.,  3  vols. 

Holthusen,  Henry  F. 

Howe,  Rev.  H.  Sturdevant 

Hufifmaster,  James  C,  3  vols. 

Hughes,  Rupert 

Hunt,  Lea,  14  vols. 

Janjigian,  Dr.  Jessie 

Joslyn,  Mrs.  Malinda,  7  vols. 

Kansas  City  Public  Service  Inst. 


Maxwell,  Charles 

Meredith,  Grace  E. 

Mumford,  Lewis 

Native  Sons  of  British  Columbia 

Norris,  Mrs.  R.  V.,  4  vols. 

Nystrom,  A.  J.  &  Co. 

Orchard,  John  E. 

Oytasita,   (Leroy  Keleher) 

Pardee,  Israel  P. 

Village   Board   of   Kenmore,   Erie 

County,  N.  Y. 
Parks,  Mrs.  A.  L.,  2  vols. 
Patsenki,  Mrs.  Julia  Thomas 
Pershing,  Edgar  J. 
Philadelphia  Board  of  Publications 

of    United   Lutheran   Church   in 

America 
Phillips,  Edith 
Pollard,  A.  F. 
Potter,  John  E. 
Read,  George  Willis 
Reynolds,  Col.  Dorrance 
Ridgway,  George  C. 
Robinson,  Elizabeth,  14  vols. 
University  of  Rochester 
Rush,  Sylvester  R. 
Russell,  Phillips 

Schrader,  Dr.  Frederick  Franklin 
Scott,  James  B.,  10  vols. 
Scott,  James  K.  P. 
Seabury,  Samuel 
Sellers,  Edwin  Jaquett 
Sinnett,  Rev.  Chas.  N. 
Spargo,  John 
Strassburger,  R.  B. 
Strauss,  Meyer,  12  vols. 
Stocking,  Amer  Mills 


XVI  REPORTS 

Storer,  Malcolm  Wesley,  Charles  H. 

Streeter,  Hilda  E.  Whipple,  Leon 

Sutphen,  Van  Tassel  Widsoe,  Dr.  John  A. 

Tappan,  Eva  March  Wilkes-Barre  Administration  Bldg., 

Van    Norden,    Theodore    Langdon,     3  vols. 

2  vols.  Wilkes-Barre  Record,  71  vols. 

Ward,  Duren  J.  H.  Williams,  Charles  Richard,  13  vols. 

Weis,  Rev.  Frederick  Lewis  Wilson,  J. 

Welles,  Lemuel  A.  Yager,  Willard  E. 
Wenrich,  C.  F. 

PAMPHLETS. 

Allen,  G.  W.  Knox,  Capt.  D.  W. 

Bartol,  Mrs.  W.  C.  Lindenstruth,  Rev.  L. 

Burgin,  Dr.  Herman  Magruder,  K.  D. 

Callaway,  Edwin  B.  Odell,  D.  Elliott 

Catholic  Univ.  of  America  Ottawa  Dept.  of  the  Interior. 
Glen  Falls  Chamber  of  CommerceOwens,  E.  J. 

Coal  Service  Co.  Pan-American  Union 

Davies,  John  H.  Randolph,  Howard  S.  F. 

Dennis,  J.  F.  Scott,  John  Albert 

Fox,  Dixon  Ryan  Shoemaker,  Jane  A. 

Harrington,  Charles  M.  Shoemaker,  Col.  H.  W. 

Hebard,  Grace  Raymond  Solomon,  Erskine  L. 

Hunt,  Mrs.  Irving  O.  Tanner,  Virginia 

Jackson,  Margaret  Tower,  Elizabeth  A. 

Jochelson,  Waldemar  Wilkes-Barre  Record 
Joselyn,  Mrs.  Malinda 

NEWSPAPERS  AND    CLIPPINGS. 

Ash,  Harry  Grissinger,  M.  W. 

Bossier,  John  Hammond,  Mrs.  A.  G. 

Brown,  Eleanor  N.  Howe,  Mrs.  Lyman  H. 

Cook,  Charles  F.  Lindenstruth,  Rev.  L. 

Fenstermaker,  G.  B.  Solomon,  E.  L. 

PORTRAITS,  VIEWS  AND  PHOTOGRAPHS. 
Guthrie,  Dr.  Malcolm  Strauss,  Meyer 

Halterman,  Mrs.  William  Welles,  Edward 

Ryman,  Mrs.  Leslie  William  Clements  Library 

Shoemaker,  Jane  A.  Wren,  Annie  B. 

Smith,  H.  S. 

MONEY   AND    MEDALS. 
Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad  Simmers,  John  W. 

Houser,  Florence  Strauss,  Meyer 

Schooley,  H.  B. 

SPECIAL    SERVICE. 
Boston  Store :  Labeling  window  cards  and  posters  for  lectures. 
Chase,  S.  C. :  Work  of  carpenters. 
Miller,  Harry  C. :  3  affidavits. 
Roth,  Harry:  Gift  of  electric  desk  lamp. 
Shepherd  &  Rust:  Loan  of  vacuum  cleaner. 
Stewart,  T.  B. :  Loan  of  lantern  slides  for  lectures. 
Wagner,  Spencer :  Arranging  gun  collection  in  Museum  cases. 
Wyoming  National  Bank:  Use  of  addressograph. 


REPORTS  XVll 

SPECIAL  LOCAL    INTEREST. 

Dilley,  Minnie  McClintock,  Gilbert  S. 

Dodson,  Margaret  C.  Phelps,  J.  Bennett 

Downing,  Martha  L.  Robbins,  M.  G. 

Foster,  Mrs.  B.  Harrington  Santee,  Thomas 

Harding,  Mrs.  W.  G.  Von  Krug,  Rev.  Ferdinand 
Hillard,  Josephine  and  Lord  Butler 

MUSEUM    ARTICLES. 

Ayars,  Mrs.  Shepherd :  Four  Indian  relics. 

Davies,  John  H. :  Twelve  Fossils. 

Dietrick,  Joseph :  Eight  Indian  relics. 

Dougherty,  Gene :  One  pestle — Indian  relic. 

Edgar,  Martha  J. :  Oakum  from  "Old  Ironsides." 

Fell,  John  :  Old  waffle  iron. 

Foster,  Mrs.  C.  D. :  Many  museum  articles. 

Guthrie,  Dr.  Malcolm :  Basket  of  mineral  specimens. 

Hammond,  Mrs.  A.  G. :  Razor  in  case,  pocket  book,  two 
reels. 

Harvey,  Mary :  Seven  museum  articles. 

Hillman,  Edward  D. :  Indian  Drum. 

Kaehlin,  Ernestine  M. :  Cherokee  Indian  pot. 

Kleeman,  Mrs.  Peter :  A  yarn  wreath  and  a  coat  and  vest. 

Landis,  Mrs.  J.  B. :  Sitting  Bull's  knife  scabbard. 

Laning,  John :  Revolutionary  War  rifle. 

Loveland,  Charles  N. :  Hand  carved  knife,  in  case. 

Loveland,  Josephine :  Children's  box  of  sealing  wax  and 
wafers. 

McCabe,  Mrs.  William  T. :  Strap,  powder  can,  shot  bag, 
and  wads. 

Pease,  Helen  :  Museum  articles. 

Pennsylvania  Power  and  Light  Co. :  Electric  Lighting 
Generator  and  its  history. 

Pickwell,  Frederick :  Stuffed  dog  and  owl. 

Post,  Charles  A. :  An  old  iron  pot-stand  for  fireplace. 

Robinson,  Mabel  F. :  Civil  War  relic. 

Solomon,  Erskine  L. :  Coal  Fossil. 

Sugden,  William :  Samples  of  Lancashire  Clogs. 

Young,  Thomas :  Old  key. 

Zerbey,  Frederic  E. :  Coal  Fossil. 


REPORT  OF  THE  TREASURER 

For  year  ending  December  31,  1927. 

RECEIPTS. 
Balance  on  Hand — January  i,  1927. 

Check  Account $126.48 

Savings  Account   $5i7-63  $     644.11 

General  Income. 

Sale  of  books 1,01933 

Genealogical  services  5-50 

Income  from  investments 8,020.30 

Luzerne  County  appropriation 200.00 

Membership  dues   i  ,880.00 

Sale  of  old  paper  320 

$  11,772.44 

Special  Receipts. 

Investment  Accoimt  $12,137.22 

Rent  from  Institute   Bldg 759-62 


12,896.84 

$  24,669.28 
EXPENDITURES. 
General. 

Addresses   $  60.00 

*Sale  of  books   i,oi9-33 

Books  purchased 97.00 

General  expense   1 18.37 

Incidentals      208.00 

Insurance    19050 

Photostats,  etc 8.00 

Periodicals    7160 

Postage   160.42 

Society   memberships    49-50 

Supplies    221.45 

Telephone     93-95 

Printing    400 

$    2,302.1a 

♦Receipts  from  sale  of  books  transferred  to  Miss  Dorrance  for  book  pur- 
chase fund. 


REPORTS  XIX 

Salaries  5.470.34 

Special  Funds. 

Binding — Hunlock  Fund $     120.90 

Butler   Fund    100.00 

Coxe  Publication  Fund   Qi-oo 

Hayden  Fund   75-00 

Interest  on  Special  Funds 300.00 

Miner  Fund  125.00 

Susquehanna  Papers   76.60         888.50 

Intitute  Building. 

Interest  on  Institute  Building I  4,395.00 

Expense    99-98 

4.494-98 

Balance  on  hand,  December  31,  1927. 

Check  Account   $     128.77 

Savings  Account 1 1,384.67 

n.513.44 

$  24,669.28 


REPORTS 


PRESIDENT'S  REPORT  FOR  1928 


The  past  year  has  been  one  of  unusual  interest  and  activity 
for  the  Society.  In  addition  to  the  regular  work  which  made 
marked  progress,  much  time  was  given  the  preparations  for 
the  Sesqui-Centennial  of  the  "Battle  of  Wyoming"  which 
effected  and  enthused  the  work  for  most  of  the  year.  To 
have  helped  put  through  such  a  celebration  was  a  most  stimu- 
lating experience  for  individuals  and  local  organizations,  of 
which  the  Historical  Society  was  necessarily  the  main  spring. 

The  thrills  and  trials,  the  hurried  excitement,  the  consulta- 
tions and  planning,  the  searching  for  data  and  illustrative 
objects  which  kept  every  member  of  the  staff  on  the  qui  vive 
from  April  to  July,  1928,  at  times  reached  such  a  point  of 
tension  that  it  was  a  question  of  laughing,  or  going  insane. 
We  laughed  ! 

There  was  great  satisfaction  in  being  able  to  suggest  suit- 
able subjects  for  many  of  the  floats  of  the  Fourth  of  July 
parade,  and  to  find  photographs  and  descriptions  which  car- 
ried out  the  details.  Entire  days  were  spent  going  over  the 
Book  of  the  Pageant,  adding  a  sentence  or  an  act,  correcting 
a  date,  locating  pertinent  facts  and  characters.  The  exhibit 
cases  were  ransacked  for  material  desired  by  the  shops  for 
window  display.  Lazarus  Brothers  featured  Frances  Slocum 
with  her  portrait,  portraits  of  her  two  daughters  and  sons- 
in-law,  articles  pertaining  to  her  Indian  life  and  Mrs.  Phelps' 
delightful  book;  the  Globe  Store  had  a  full  Indian  window; 
Pomeroys  used  photographs  of  old  buildings  and  scenes  for 
an  interesting  exhibit,  and  there  were  many  others  in  stores 
scattered  throughout  the  valley. 

For  the  Women's  Activities  exhibit,  in  which  was  shown 
the  life  of  the  women  of  the  Valley  from  the  Pioneer  days 
through  the  Post  Colonial  and  Victorian  periods  to  the  mod- 
ern development  of  civic  work,  the  Historical  Society  not 
only  furnished  many  of  the  articles  used  in  each  period  but 
actually  the  building,  for  the  old  "Wilkes-Barre  Institute", 
owned  by  the  Society,  was  the  scene  of  great  activity  of  many 
women  for  two  months,  culminating  in  the  crowds  during 
the  week  of  the  celebration  who  pushed  their  way  through 
the  wide  halls  to  see  the  ladies  and  children  of  former  days 
occupying  and  using  their  best  furniture,  dishes,  glass,  etc. 


REPORTS  XXI 

While  most  of  these  people  were  women  and  children  of  the 
Valley,  the  pioneer  cabin  and  the  banquet  given  Louis 
Phillippe  were  animated  by  wonderful  portrait  figures  made 
by  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Denison  French.  The  historical  exactness 
and  success  of  the  project  were  due  to  the  careful,  efficient 
work  of  Mrs.  Burr  Miller,  chairman,  and  her  large,  inter- 
ested Committee  of  faithful  workers. 

The  staff  of  the  Historical  Society  worked  tirelessly  with 
no  thought  of  reward.  But  reward  has  come  in  many  ways. 
First,  the  Society's  float  "Algonquin  Pottery  Makers",  de- 
signed and  executed  by  Mr.  W.  J.  Robbins,  took  second  prize 
in  the  historical  section  of  the  parade.  This  prize  of  $150.00 
covered  the  cost  of  the  float  and  made  possible  the  purchase 
of  a  rare  and  valuable  three  volume  work  on  the  American 
Indian. 

Many  a  student  coming  from  near  or  far  to  look  up  ances- 
tors by  name  or  deed,  brought  in  family  traditions  or  stories 
which  added  greatly  to  the  Society's  collection  of  local 
history. 

The  publicity  given  the  Society  and  its  treasures  has  led 
to  renewed  general  interest  in  its  work  which  should  bear 
results  for  years  to  come.  The  immediate  efifect  was  apparent 
in  a  thirty  per  cent,  increase  in  attendance  over  the  year  1927. 
The  statistics  are  8,389  visitors,  approximately  half  being 
children  and  more  than  half  of  the  remainder,  men.  Nearly 
500  students  came  to  work  during  the  year.  Many  who  came 
to  ask  assistance  did  not  stop  even  to  write  their  names  so 
that  doubtless  this  does  not  represent  the  entire  use  of  the 
Society.  The  school  classes  visiting  the  building  during  the 
year  numbered  20. 

One  of  the  permanent  rewards  illustrates  the  possibility 
for  future  growth.  The  two  rooms  representing  the  pioneer 
bed  room  and  kitchen  of  the  Women's  Activities  exhibit  have 
been  left  practically  intact  waiting  for  the  Society  to  open 
and  use  the  Institute  building.  Other  exhibits  can  be  made 
in  the  other  rooms,  loan  exhibits  could  bring  into  public  view 
treasures  of  historic  value  privately  owned  if  the  Society 
could  afiford  to  administer  the  building.  At  present,  meeting 
the  interest  on  the  mortgage  under  which  the  building  is  held 
is  more  than  the  Society's  income  makes  possible.  Fortu- 
nately, the  trustees  of  the  Nesbitt  securities,  held  for  the 
Society's  completion  of  the  Nesbitt  endowment  fund,  have 
lent  the  income  for  application  on  the  mortgage  interest.  The 


XXll  REPORTS 

remainder  is  taken  from  funds  which  should  be  expended 
otherwise.  If  the  building  could  be  paid  for  by  gift  or  sub- 
scriptions the  interest  of  the  Nesbitt  fund  would  give  the 
Society  an  adequate  income  to  administer  the  buildings  and 
increase  the  Society's  work,  thereby  relieving  the  present 
double  burden  of  lack  of  space  and  lack  of  funds.  The 
present  congested  conditions  prevent  systematic  arrangement 
and  lead  to  great  loss  of  time  and  efficiency.  If  the  coming 
year  could  see  this  accomplished  it  would  mark  the  opening 
of  a  new  era. 

There  is  now  adequate  staff  to  make  possible  the  expansion 
into  this  new  building.  Some  of  the  collections  could  logically 
be  carried  over  there,  leaving  space  for  the  remainder  to 
spread  out  and  be  suitably  arranged.  Mr.  Boyd,  editor  of 
the  Susquehanna  Papers  under  the  Sheldon  Reynolds  Me- 
morial Fund  could  be  moved  to  the  Institute  and  with  his 
assistants  give  adequate  supervision,  while  carrying  on  their 
work.  All  that  is  needed  is  the  appearance  of  fairy  god- 
parents with  a  purse  of  gold,  or  check  book. 

The  work  on  the  Susquehanna  papers  is  progressing 
rapidly.  Mr.  Boyd,  a  graduate  of  Duke  University  and  in- 
structor at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  took  up  the  work 
July  1st.  He  has  located  and  had  photostats  made  of 
hundreds  of  papers  relating  to  the  settlement  of  this  region 
at  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  Connecticut  State 
Library,  Connecticut  Historical  Society,  Harvard,  Yale, 
Pennsylvania  Historical  Society,  Tioga  Point  Museum  and 
in  private  collections.  These  total  approximately  5,000  sheets, 
and,  together  with  the  2,000  photostats  of  manuscript  records 
already  in  the  Society's  possession,  are  being  transcribed  and 
checked  for  accuracy. 

The  Indian  Survey  has  developed  into  a  project  of  State- 
wide importance  and  recognition.  The  Governor  has  en- 
dorsed it  in  letters  of  introduction  to  prominent  Pennsyl- 
vanians  given  the  director  of  the  Society,  who  is  secretary  of 
the  Pennsylvania  Historical  Commission  and  chairman  of  the 
Indian  Survey  Committee  of  the  Pennsylvania  Federation  of 
Historical  Societies.  The  Historical  Commission  is  sponsor- 
ing the  ethnological  research  under  the  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania ;  the  work  of  Mrs.  Alanson  Skinner  who,  working 
at  the  Society  building,  has  carried  out  the  preliminary  survey 
of  the  State  as  well  as  research  in  Seneca  traditions  and 
customs  at  the  reservation  at  Quaker  Bridge,  New  York;  it 


REPORTS  XXIU 

will  also  support  educational  and  publicity  work  on  the  survey 
throughout  the  State.  By  means  of  5,000  letters,  inquiry  has 
been  made  of  individuals  and  organizations  and  within  the 
first  four  weeks  more  than  700  replies  were  received.  The 
information  thus  received  is  gratifying  in  its  indications  of 
the  wealth  of  material  to  be  found  but  alarming  in  reports  of 
extensive,  indiscriminate  digging.  Unless  directed  by  scien- 
tists this  will  destroy  much  of  the  evidences  of  Indian  life 
still  obtainable.  Consequently,  the  need  of  funds  for  field 
work  is  imperative  so  that  archaeologists  may  be  secured  to 
begin  work  throughout  the  State  with  the  opening  of  spring. 
More  fairy  god-parents  needed  ! 

Another  project  of  the  Historical  Commission  is  the  sesqui- 
centennial  of  the  Sullivan  Expedition.  The  director  of  this 
Society  is  chairman  of  the  Committee  under  the  Commission 
which  is  to  co-operate  with  New  York  and  New  Jersey  to 
observe  suitably  the  route  and  events  of  that  expedition, 
which  is  considered  to  have  been  one  of  the  most  strategic  of 
Washington's  plans. 

In  the  annals  of  the  Society,  the  past  year  has  seen  progress 
in  all  the  lines  of  activity.  The  communty  calendar  has  found 
its  place  in  the  minds  of  those  planning  public  entertainments. 
There  were  28  genealogical  inquiries  answered  by  correspon- 
dence in  addition  to  the  many  visiting  students  and  to  much 
genealogical  and  local  historical  information  given  over  the 
telephone.  Letters  to  officers  of  family  reunions  have  brought 
in  several  family  genealogies. 

There  has  been  a  small  increase  in  the  membership  of  the 
Society.  These  7  new  life  members  and  18  annual  members 
offset  the  bitter  losses  brought  by  death.  The  two  greatest 
losses  are  those  of  faithful  officers,  Dr.  Lewis  H.  Taylor, 
first  vice-president  and  benefactor  and  Mr.  Isaac  M.  Thomas, 
trustee;  and  three  life  members,  Mr.  Harry  F.  Stern,  Mrs. 
Robert  P.  Brodhead  and  Mrs.  Martha  Sharpe  Tucker ;  five 
annual  members,  Mrs.  George  Bennett,  Mr.  George  T, 
Dickover,  Mr.  Harry  French,  Dr.  Granville  T.  Matlack  and 
Mr.  Robert  V.  A.  Norris. 

Only  one  line  of  work  apparently  did  not  show  progress 
and  this  is  the  number  of  books  catalogued,  being  four-fifth 
of  the  number  received  last  year.  One  adequate  reason  for 
this  is  the  fact  that  time  usually  spent  on  this  work  was  given 
to  the  sesqui-centennial  demands,  another  equally  good  reason 


XXIV  REPORTS 

is  that  the  repeated  absences  of  the  director  for  Historical 
Commission  meetings  and  work,  throw  the  responsibility  of 
the  position  and  much  of  the  work  upon  Miss  Kaehlin,  the 
Hbrarian.  Another  reason,  is  the  increased  amount  of  genea- 
logical research  stimulated  by  the  sesqui-centennial. 

Of  the  395  books  catalogued  nearly  half  were  received  by 
gift  and  nearly  the  other  half  through  exchange  so  that  only 
56  were  actual  purchases.  This  is  approximately  all  that  can 
be  purchased  with  the  limited  book  fund,  augmented  how- 
ever it  may  be,  by  the  sale  of  publications  and  duplicates. 
The  government  documents  received  this  year  from  the  State 
and  Federal  governments,  100  and  1,836  respectively,  are 
approximately  the  same  as  in  1927. 

The  following  lists  are  indicative  of  the  types  of  books 
added  to  the  Society's  library  during  the  year : 

AMERICAN    HISTORY. 

Allen :  Naval  songs  and  ballads. 
White:   Scout  Journals  1725. 
Gemmill :    Romantic  America. 
Streeter :  Historic  Cherry  Valley. 
Lewin  :    Newark  1660- 1776- 1926. 
Quaife :  John  Askin  Papers  1747-95. 
Dewees  :  The  Molly  Maguires. 

Lucy :  The  Molly  Maguires  of  Penna.  Or,  Ireland  in 
America. 

GENEALOGY AMERICAN,   SCOTCH   AND  ENGLISH. 

Sellers  :  De  Carpenter  Allied  Ancestry. 

Armstrong:   Kirkpatrick,  Capt.  John  of  N.  J.    1732-1922. 

Kelly :   Kelly  and  Simpson  families  of  New  Hampshire. 

Hill :   Genealogy  of  Isaac  Hill. 

Brockman :  Genealogy  of  Hume,  Kennedy  and  Brockman 
families. 

Brumbaugh :  Maryland  Records,  Colonial  and  Revolution- 
ary Col.  Church. 

Hirsch :   Huguenots  of  Colonial  South  Carolina. 

Baldwin :  New  England  Clergy  &  the  American  Revolu- 
tion. 

Lewis :  Minute  Men  and  other  patriots  of  Walpole,  Mass. 

Briggs :   History  and  genealogy  of  the  Cabot  family. 

Stocking :  History  and  genealogy  of  the  Knowltons  of 
England  and  America. 

Pomeroy :   Pomeroy  genealogy. 


REPORTS  XXV 

INDIAN    BOOKS. 

Belden  :   Indian  Peace  Medals. 

Kinan :   The  Iroquois ;  A  history  of  the  Six  Nations. 
Garland :   Book  of  the  American  Indian. 
Wood :   Lives  of  famous  Indian  chiefs. 
Mercer :    Lenape :    Lenape  stone,  or  the  Indian  and  the 
Mammoth. 

Boas :   Handbook  of  American  Indian  languages. 
Skinner :   Indians  of  greater  New  York. 
McEntosh :  Origin  of  the  North  American  Indians. 
Eggleston  :    Brant  and  Red  Jacket. 
Brooks :   Story  of  the  American  Indian. 

GEOLOGY   AND   COAL. 

Dept.  of  Commerce :   Mineral  Resources.   U.  S.  1924, 
Roberts  :   Anthracite  coal  industry. 
Shaw :   Fire  clays  of  Pennsylvania. 
Green:    Coal  and  Coal  Mines. 
Bogen:   Anthracite  railroads. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

Dept.  of  Commerce :   Merchant  Vessels,  U.  S. 

United  States  Navy  :  Ship  and  gunnery  drills. 

White  :  The  First  Hague  Conference. 

Ludy :  Historic  Hotels  of  the  World. 

Johnson  :  The  Medal  Collector. 

Gordon  :  Flags  of  the  World — Past  and  Present. 

The  lectures  given  under  the  auspices  of  the  Society  dur- 
ing 1928,  above  the  average  in  interest  and  value,  were  as 
follows : 

January  20.  Clarence  Chamberlin.  "My  Trans-Atlantic 
Flight." 

February  6.  Frederic  Cardin.  Lecture-Recital  on  "Ameri- 
can Indian  Music." 

February  20.  Annual  Meeting.  Randolph  G.  Adams 
"British  Headquarters  Papers  of  the  American  Revolution." 

March  10.  Arthur  Pillsbury,  "Slow  Motion  Picture  of 
Opening  Flowers." 

March  30.  Marguerite  Harrison,  "Grass."  Motion  pic- 
tures with  personal  account. 

_  April  27.    E.  W.  Parker,  "Economic  Progress  of  Anthra- 
cite." 

November  26.  Col.  Philip  Moore,  "Tales  and  Trails  of 
the  Rockies." 


XXVI  REPORTS 

December  9.  Arthur  S.  Coggeschall,  "Hunting  Big  Game 
in  the  Rocks." 

The  Director  of  the  Society  spoke  on  the  following  dates 
and  subjects : 

February  18.  Phalanx  Club— Y.  M.  C.  A.  "Local  His- 
tory." 

March  8.    Kiwanis  Club.    "Local  History." 

April  13.  Business  Girls'  Club,  Y.  M.  C.  A.  "Local 
History." 

May  15.    Plymouth  Civic  Club  Banquet.    "Local  History." 

May  23.  Towanda  Public  Library.  "Importance  of  col- 
lecting local  historical  material." 

October  22.  Rotary  Club  at  Kane,  Pa.  "Work  of  His- 
torical Commission." 

November  19.    College  Women's  Club.    "Indian  Survey." 

December  10.  Harrisburg.  Broadcasting  on  "Pennsyl- 
vania Indian  Survey." 

December  18.  Kingston  Teacher's  Institute.  "Pennsyl- 
vania Indian  Survey." 

Two  of  the  associates  on  the  staflf  spoke  as  follows : 

October  14.  Mrs.  Alanson  Skinner,  Kiwanis  Qub.  "Work 
at  Seneca  Indian  Reservation  for  the  Pennsylvania  Indian 
Survey." 

November  19.  Mr.  Julian  P.  Boyd,  at  Colonial  Dames 
meeting  on  the  "Susquehanna  Settlement  Papers." 

In  addition  to  the  sesqui  exhibits,  in  January,  the  Society 
lent  the  Boston  Store  Indian  material  representative  of  the 
different  tribes  whose  designs  had  been  used  for  the  Mallin- 
son  American  Indian  silks,  which  that  store  was  advertising. 
The  Society  in  October  lent  an  extensive  collection  of  manu- 
scripts and  historical  objects  to  the  Isaac  Long  store  which 
were  interestingly  exhibited  in  their  Oddity  Shop  Gallery. 
Also,  the  coin  exhibit  lent  the  Society  by  Mr.  Joseph  Steidel 
of  Wilkes-Barre  has  attracted  considerable  attention. 

In  the  line  of  publications  the  Society  has  been  busy. 
Material  is  now  in  the  hands  of  the  printer  for  volume  20. 
Of  this,  a  large  section  is  the  reprinting  of  a  rare  and  valu- 
able anonymous  pamphlet  connected  with  the  Susquehanna 
Purchase.  This  has  been  edited  by  Mr.  Boyd,  who,  through 
careful  research  and  extensive  study  has  established  beyond 
doubt  its  authorship  as  being  Barnabas  Bidwell,  unearthed 
mteresting  facts  of  Bidwell's  life  and  written  a  short  scholarly 
biography  as  an  introduction  to  the  pamphlet  material.  This 
will  be  available  in  separate  form. 


REPORTS  XXVll 

In  preparation  for  the  sesqui-centennial,  the  Society  with 
the  help  of  Mr.  Wilbur  A.  Myers  published  a  "Guide  to  the 
historical  sites  in  the  Wyoming  Valley"  with  a  pictorial  map 
of  the  Valley.  At  the  time  of  the  celebration,  27,000  of  these 
were  sold  to  local  institutions,  banks,  stores,  etc.,  for  free 
publicity  distribution  and  in  the  autumn  5,000  more  were 
taken  by  the  school  districts  of  Wilkes-Barre  and  Kingston. 

Another  local  publication  of  more  than  usual  interest  is 
Mary  HinchclifTe  Joyce's  "Pioneer  Days  in  the  Wyoming 
Valley,"  which  presents  the  history  of  this  region  in  a  form 
to  be  grasped  by  children.  The  material  has  never  before 
been  in  so  available  and  readable  a  form. 

In  order  to  awaken  more  interest  in  the  Society  and  to 
bring  to  the  attention  of  the  business  and  professional  men 
of  the  community,  the  opportunities  offered  them  in  the  col- 
lections of  the  Society,  Mr.  Myers  prepared  an  unusual 
folder.  This  is  descriptive  in  detail  of  the  practical  part 
which  the  Society  is  equipped  to  play  in  the  business  and 
professional  life  of  the  community.  It  contains  specially 
drawn  art  work,  citations  of  how  the  Society's  services  have 
been  used  and  can  be  used,  and  a  dozen  testimonials  by  some 
of  the  community's  leading  citizens.  For  this,  the  drawing 
was  given  by  Mr.  Robert  B.  Robinson,  the  engraving  by  the 
Craftsmen  Engravers  and  the  printing  by  the  Times-Leader 
Printery.  The  Society  has  been  much  complimented  on  this 
publicity  item. 

Special  service  has  been  given  by  Mrs.  W.  A.  Noble  in 
arranging  her  valuable  collection  of  Korean  Pottery  lent  to 
the  Society  and  by  Mr.  Charles  W.  Bixby  in  arranging  the 
Hollenback  Papers.  At  the  Cardin  Lecture,  the  late  Curtis 
Harrower  enthusiastically  gave  his  services  as  accompanist. 

Mr.  John  Curvers,  a  trained  mineralogist,  very  kindly 
arranged  and  classified  a  large  collection  of  rare  specimens 
given  to  the  Society  by  Mr.  E.  C.  Henry  of  Jersey  City,  as 
well  as  some  earlier  acquisitions. 

Four  gifts  of  outstanding  local  value  have  been  the  direct 
outgrowth  of  the  sesqui-centennial.  One,  the  manuscript 
data  of  the  first  land  holdings  and  inscriptions  on  the  tablets 
marking  the  same  throughout  the  West  Side,  prepared  by 
attorney  William  Brewster ;  another,  a  map  of  the  West  Side 
showing  these  holdings  and  the  historical  sites  in  the  Valley, 
drawn  by  Mr.  H.  S.  Smith;  an  exquisitely  shaped  wooden 
cradle  made  by  hollowing  a  log  for  the  first  Chapman  baby 


born  in  the  Valley  and  used  by  each  successive  generation 
down  to  the  children  of  Mrs.  Blanchard  Chapman,  who  is  the 
donor  of  this  rare  gift ;  and  the  last,  an  old  rolling  pin, 
shaped  by  hand  and  used  here  by  the  Worden  family  before 
the  Battle  of  Wyoming,  presented  by  Mrs.  Ellen  Everett. 

Another  outstanding  gift  is  the  magnificent  Catlin  Port- 
folio of  Indian  drawings  given  the  Society  by  his  generous 
collateral  descendant,  Dr.  George  H.  Catlin  of  Scranton. 
Also,  from  Mr.  William  A.  Wilcox  of  Scranton,  we  received 
some  account  books  and  also  Colonel  John  Franklin's  manu- 
script of  the  Susquehanna  Claims  Controversy,  which  are  of 
special  local  interest  and  value. 

The  list  of  donors  appended  to  this  report  indicates  the 
widespread  interest  and  appreciation  of  the  work  of  this 
Society  but  in  order  to  reach  the  fullest  efficiency  and  useful- 
ness to  the  community,  the  Society  craves  larger  representa- 
tion in  its  membership,  more  co-operation  in  the  gifts  and 
deposits  of  valuable  local  historical  material  and  the  pro- 
vision for  more  efficient  administration,  financial  and  actual, 
through  the  purchase  of  the  Institute  building. 

GIFTS  RECEIVED  DURING  1928. 

MAPS. 
Chapman,  Mrs.  Blanchard  Dodson,  Victor  Lee 

Joyce,  Mrs.  P.  F.  Wolfe,  Mrs.  S.  M. 

NEWSPAPERS    AND    CLIPPINGS. 

Bidlack,  Rev.  S.  B.  Mitchell,  A.  A. 

Bossier,  John  Morgan,  Charles 

Evans,  Tallie  Newhard,  Charles  H. 

Flick,  Reuben  J.  Parke,  N.  G. 

Jones,  Evan  D.  Peck,  W.  J. 

Konkle,  James  Solomon,  E.  L. 

Lenahan,  John  T.  Wilcox,  W.  A. 

MONEY    AND    MEDALS. 
Barry,  Mrs.  Wilbur  Schooley,  H.  B. 

Hemstreet,  Obadiah 

BOOKS. 

Allen,  Gardner  W.  Baldwin,  A.  M. 

American  Historical  Society  Barnes,  Dr.  M.  E. 

Anderson,  J.  Bates,  E.  L. 

Angle,  Paul  M.  Bennett,  C.  E. 

Armstrong,  W.  C.  Biggs,  Joseph 

Atkins,  H.  E.  Boland,  Mrs.  James  M. 

Avery,  Clara  A.  Bomberger,  C.  M. 

Baader,  Ethel  M.  Brousious,  Harry 


REPORTS 


Brower,  William  L. 
Bunting,  Airs.  Douglass 
Calumet  Baking  Powder  Co. 
Carter,  R.  C. 
Catlin,  Hon.  G.  H. 
College  Entrance  Book  Co. 
Crandall,  J.  L. 
Curvers,  John 
Darte,  George  L. 
Darte,  Col.  Franck  G. 
Densmore,  Frances 
Dickson,  Mrs.  Allen  H. 
Dorrance,  Anne 
Dorrance,  Frances 
Estabrook,  A.  H. 
Evans,  G.  L. 
Gearhart,  H.  G. 
Giering,  Eugene 
Goltz,  Carlos  W. 
Goodenough,  C.  L. 
Greene,  Homer 
Halsey,  Herbert  D. 
Harvard  College 
Herskovits,  M.  J. 
Hill,  John  Wilson 
Holmes,  Mrs.  Caroline  B. 
Hunt,  Lea 
Johnson,  Mrs.  F.  C. 
Joslin,  Mrs.  Malinda 
Keck,  Charles  E. 
Lancaster  County  Hist.  Soc. 
Lewis  Historical  Pub.  Co. 
Lewis,  V.  E. 
Link,  Harriet  J. 
Lowe,  Or  ton 
Ludy,  Dr.  R.  B. 
Lum,  Edward  H. 
Lynch,  Harriet 
McClintock,  Mrs.  A.  T. 
MacDonald,  Arthur 


McGroarty,  W.  B. 

MacLennan,  Earl  A. 

Markham,  Frances  G. 

Meader,  Rev.  C.  A. 

New  York  Public  Library 

New  York  State  Library 

Norris,  Mrs.  R.  V. 

Otis,  W.  A. 

Pack,  Charles  L. 

Parks,  Mrs.  A.  L. 

Pfeiffer,  Mrs.  William 

Phillips  Academy 

Price,  Lucy  M.  S. 

Pulsifer,  W.  E. 

Ravenel,  Daniel 

Red  Cross  (Indianapolis) 

Reynolds,  M.  H. 

Savage,  Mary 

Schrader,B. 

Sellers,  E.  J. 

Shafifer,  Mrs.  Jacob  H. 

Society  of  Colonial  Wars  (N.  J.) 

Stair,  O.  P. 

Stark,  S.  Judson 

Steel,  W.  G. 

Stokes,  Dr.  Joseph 

Strong,  Frederick  A.  S. 

Sturdevant,  Jessie 

Tilton,  Francis 

Toohey,  Catherine 

Tyler,  Mrs.  E.  N. 

Wakeman,  Abram 

Walworth,  E.  H. 

Watson,  Mrs.  May  Strong 

Weaver,  Mrs.  C.  S. 

Welles,  Henry  H.,  Jr. 

Whitney,  Mrs.  M. 

Wilcox,  W.  A. 

Wilson,  Frederick  A. 

Wilson,  Walter  H. 


PAMPHLETS. 


Adams,  Randolph  G. 

Armor,  Charles  L. 

Ayres,  Mrs.  E.  B. 

Boland,  Mrs.  James  M. 

Bender,  Mrs. 

Benham,  George  W. 

Catlin,  Hon.  G.  H. 

Committee  on  the  150th  Anni- 
versary of  the  Amer.  Revolu- 
tion 

Chicago  Commerce 


Clearwater,  A.  T. 
DeWitt,  R.  E. 
Dodson,  Victor  Lee 
Hunt,  Lea 
Jones,  John  A. 
Keck,  Charles  E. 
Keidel,  George 
Le  Grand, Mrs.  C.  D. 
Merrill,  C.  V. 
Miner,  Wm.  Harvey 
Myers,  Albert  C. 


Nat'l  Soc.  of  Sons  and  DaughtersSnyder,  J.  Frank 

of  the  Pilgrims  (Denver)  Solomon,  Erskine  L. 

Neifert,  W.  W.  Sowers,  Mrs.  A.  M. 

Newberry  Library  Storm,  P.  N. 

New  York  Public  Library  Strauss,  Mrs.  Seligman 

Pensyl,  D.  S.  Struthers,  Mrs.  Emma 

Pennsylvania  Railroad  Sutherland,  Walter  C. 

Saul,  C.  Robert  Williams,  Herbert  U. 

Smith,  H.  Arthur  Wilson,  Samuel  M. 

PORTRAITS,   VIEWS   AND    PHOTOGRAPHS. 
Ayars,  Mrs.  Shepherd  Murray,  Mrs.  L.  W. 

Clark,  G.  J.  Pfouts,  Mrs.  A.  F. 

Craftsmen  Engravers  Sesqui-Centennial  Gen.  Committee 

De  Witt,  Ralph  E.  Silverstein  Advertising  Co. 

Dorsey,  Guy  Slattery,  Frank  P. 

Harkins,  Mary  Sterling,  Mrs.  Paul 

Hazard  Insulated  Wire  Works         Vulcan  Iron  Works 
Johnstone,  Norman  Webb,  Luella 

Levy,  Robert  Williams,  R.  M. 

Mills,  Samantha  Wyoming  Valley  Florists 

Miner  Hillard  Milling  Co.  Y.  M.  C.  A. 

Mitchell,  Bertha 

GENERAL    MUSEUM    ARTICLES. 
Bakum,  Mrs.  A. :  Indian  pot  sherds. 
Camp.  E.  D. :  Muster-out-roll  Instructions. 
Chapman,  Mrs.  Blanchard:  Cradle. 
Conwell,  Jack:  Geological  collection. 

Cooke,  William  Gary:  Canteen  belonging  to  Hessian  Officer. 
Corwin,  Mrs.  Lewis  B.:  Coat  worn  in  Philippine  Artillery. 
Dickover,  George :  4  arrow  heads,  2  pieces  of  jasper,  one  pebble. 
Dorrance,  Frances :  Old  fashioned  scale. 
Everett,  Mrs.  Ellen:  Old  rolling  pin. 
Freedman,  Harold :  Powder  horn,  buckle,  etc. 
Hachita,  Mrs.  M.  S. :  i  cape  and  6  pieces  of  children's  clothing. 
Henry,  E.  C. :  Minerals  and  case  for  same. 
Jones,  Carlton :  World  War  trophy. 
Joyce,  Mrs.  P.  F. :  Knitting  needle. 
Marchese,  Phyllis :  Butterflies. 
Mitchell,  A.  A.:  Spear-head. 
Prof  eres,  Nicholas :  Shark's  tooth. 
Ramsey,  W.  S. :  Civil  War  musket. 

Roberts,  William :  2  arrow  heads,  i  piece  Indian  pottery. 
Shoemaker,  Jane  A. :  Iron  holder  and  lump  sugar  cutter. 
Singer,  D.  M. :  Phila.  and  Gt.  Bend  Turnpike  Certificates. 
Skinner,  Mrs.  Alanson :  2  pieces  Indian  jewelry. 
Snee,  Capt.  James  J.:  Aeroplane  propeller. 
Solomon,  Erskine  L. :  Meteorite,  2  Spanish  War  Charters. 
Strauss,  Mrs.  S.  J. :  2  rock  formations. 
Tanski,  Helen:  Butterflies. 
Templeton,  Dr.  H.  G. :  Indian  pestle. 
Yeosock,  Anna:  German  hand  grenade. 


SPECIAL    SERVICE. 

Chase,  S.  C. :  Work  of  carpenter. 

Craftsmen  Engravers :  Cuts  for  folder. 

Harrower,  Curtis :  Accompaniment  at  Cardin  recital. 

Miller,  Harry  C. :  Notarial  services. 

Robinson,  Robert  B. :  Sketch  for  folder. 

Serve-Your-City  Club :  Ushering  at  lecture  by  Mr.  Moore. 

Snyder,  G.  N. :  Use  of  piano  for  Cardin  lecture  recital. 

Times-Leader  Printery :  Printing  for  folder  used  in  membership  drive. 

DEPOSITS    AND    LOANS. 

Guthrie,  Dr.  Malcolm :  Ivory  elephant  collection. 

Jennings,  Percy:  Skinning  knife. 

Loveland,  Josephine :  Rare  museum  articles. 

McCuUough,  W.  J. :  Pink  luster  cup  and  Staffordshire  plate. 

Noble,  Mrs.  W.  Arthur :  Rare  collection  of  Korean  pottery  and  desk, 
and  other  material. 

Patterson,  Mrs.  A. :  Program  of  first  exercises  of  Wyoming  Monu- 
ment. 

White,  Mrs.  Elizabeth:  Collection  of  sermons  bound  by  hand. 


XXXll  REPORTS 


REPORT  OF  THE  TREASURER 

Year  ending  December  31,  1928. 
PRINCIPAL  ACCOUNT. 

RECEIPTS. 

Balance,  Savings  Account $11,384.67 

Investment  Account  (Stocks  sold) 1,762.94 

$  13,147.61 

Bills  Payable. 
Loan,   1925,  on  mortgage  against  institute  property, 
participated  in  by 

First  National   Bank    $15,000 

Second  National  15,000 

Wyoming  National   Bank 15,000 

Miners    Bank    15,000 

$60,000 
Loan  on  collateral.  Miners 17,000  77,000.00 

Total    $  90,147.61 

EXPENDITURES. 

Withdrawn  from  Savings  Account: 

July  30  Transferred  to  Nesbitt  Fund  Account  in  Sec- 
ond National  Bank  (replacing  interest,  trans- 

fered  by  error)   $     254.00 

Deficit    ;on    Clarence    Chamberlain    lecture, 
February    218.00 

Aug.  I  To  pay  interest  on  note,  Wyoming  National 

Bank   225.00 

Sept.  27  To  apply  on  salaries : 

September  $365.00 

November   147.66 

December    523-34       1,036.00 

„  . ,  $  1,733.00 

Paid  on  mortgage.  Institute  Building $77,000.00    78,733.00 

Balance   on   hand $  11,414.61 

GENERAL  INCOME  ACCOUNT,   1928. 

RECEIPTS. 

Balance,  checking  account  $      128.67 

Income  from  investments  4,159.00 

Membership  dues   1,815.00 

Luzerne  County  appropriation    200.00 

Genealogical  services  13.50 

Sale  of  books 536.77 

Filing  case  sold  to  Indian  Survey 21.00 

Sale  of  old  paper 1.80 


REPORTS  XXXlll 

Gift,  Frances  Dorrance,  to  pay  one-half  of  Assistant's 
salary  560.00 

Advance  from  Savings  Acct. : 

Lecture  deficit  $   218.00 

Salaries   $1,036.00        1,254.00 

$    8,699.74 

EXPENDITURES. 

Salaries   $  6,018.00 

General  Expense  436.22 

Postage   80.00 

Incidentals    192.00 

Supplies  13378 

Telephone   67.91 

Insurance   20.00 

Periodical  Subscriptions  32.50 

Memberships  in  Historical  Societies , 50.00 

Lectures   271.86 

Sale  of  books,  transferred  to  book  fund 344-12 

Coxe  Publication  Fund  41.00 

Binding    49-25 

Photostats,  etc 2.75 

Deficit  paid  on  Institute  Account 575-57 

$    8,314-96 

Balance    - $       384.78 

INSTITUTE  ACCOUNT,  1928. 

RECEIPTS. 

Loan  advance  from  income  of  Nesbitt's  securities $  3,860.00 

Amount  received  from  Savings  for  interest 225.00 

$    4,085.00 

EXPENDITURES. 

Interest  paid $  4,620.00 

Repairs,  etc 40.57 

4,660.57 

Deficit  paid  from  General  Income  Funds. ...  $       575-57 

SUMMARY. 
General  Income  Account. 

Receipts  $  8,699.74 

Expenditures    8,314.96 

Balance    |     384.78 

Institute  Account. 

Receipts  $  4,085.00 

Expenditures    4,660.57 

Deficit  paid  by  General  Income  Account $     575.57 


PRESIDENT'S  REPORT  FOR  1929 


Following  as  it  does  the  record  for  1928,  with  its  high 
peak  of  work  done  in  co-operation  with  the  Sesqui-Centen- 
nial  celebration  of  the  Battle  of  Wyoming,  the  report  for 
1929  must  carry  on  from  the  level  of  1927 — over  which  it 
shows  considerable  growth  in  all  lines  of  activity. 

Of  first  importance  is  the  change  in  the  organization  of 
the  Board  of  Trustees.  With  the  growth  in  interests  of  the 
Society  the  Board  of  seven  Trustees  was  inadequate  to  fol- 
low up  the  different  responsibilities.  Consequently,  as  pro- 
vided by  the  By-Laws,  at  the  last  annual  meeting,  the  number 
of  Trustees  was  increased  to  ten,  who  with  the  officers  have 
greatly  advanced  the  interests  and  work  of  the  Society.  The 
Trustees  were  divided  into  committees,  as  given  in  the  list  of 
officers  on  the  cover  of  this  report  and  each  has  faithfully 
carried  his  share. 

The  building  and  equipment  committee  has  considered  the 
repairs  and  provisions  for  heat,  light,  exhibit  and  protection 
needed  to  make  the  Institute  Building  usable  and  estimates 
that  $5,000.00  will  cover  the  work  and  provide  show  cases 
for  the  two  large  rooms,  the  one  to  the  right  of  the  entrance 
on  the  first  floor,  and  the  one  on  the  north  side  of  the  second 
floor.  The  Pioneer  bedroom  and  kitchen  should  be  fitted  out 
and  left  as  a  permanent  exhibit.  With  the  space  rented  by 
the  Little  Theatre  and  the  Caretaker's  rooms,  this  leaves  only 
the  detached  sun-room  on  the  first  floor  and  the  two  rooms 
on  the  south  side  of  the  second  floor,  unassigned  at  present. 
When  fitted  out  with  cases,  the  upper  room  with  the  Gambara 
frescoes  on  walls  and  ceiling  will  give  the  much  desired  space 
for  loan  and  other  exhibits,  to  be  changed  from  time  to  time. 

The  plan  for  the  lower  room  is  an  exhibit  on  the  history 
of  anthracite  coal  mining,  specimens,  implements,  books, 
photographs,  models,  etc.  With  anthracite  mining  the  basic 
industry,  a  good  collection  of  material  on  the  subject  is  much 
needed.  The  coal  committee  stands  ready  to  put  in  the  ex- 
hibit just  as  soon  as  the  place  for  it  is  provided. 

Expanding  into  the  Institute  Building,  by  moving  to  it 
the  minerals  and  coal  specimens  and  some  books,  will  estab- 
lish these  much  needed  exhibits  and  relieve  the  great  crowd- 
ing in  the  present  building,  making  possible  more  systematic 
arrangement  and  more  efficient  work.     Dr.  George  Wood- 


ward,  son  of  one  of  the  Founders  of  the  Society,  has  given 
one  thousand  dollars  towards  the  five  thousand  dollars 
needed.  Who  will  help  raise  the  remainder?  And  how  can 
the  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  needed  to  raise  the  mort- 
gage on  the  Institute  Building  be  found,  thereby  relieving 
the  Society  from  the  annual  drain  on  its  maintenance  income 
through  the  payment  of  interest. 

Increase  in  the  permanent  endowment  of  the  Society 
through  increased  membership  answers  in  part  this  last  ques- 
tion. For  this,  the  membership  committee  has  engaged  an 
expert  to  interview  and  interest  people  in  taking  out  per- 
petual memberships.  While  this  work  belongs  to  1930,  the 
report  of  the  first  month  can  be  included  here,  to  indicate 
the  growth.  In  January  thirty  Life  memberships  were  se- 
cured of  which  twenty-five  were  already  annual  members 
and  five  new  Life  memberships.  The  money  thus  raised  will 
be  held  against  the  completion  of  the  Nesbitt  Fund. 

The  need  of  additional  Life  members  and  the  advantage 
of  turning  annual  into  Life  memberships  is  shown  by  the 
Society's  great  loss  in  1929  in  the  deaths  of  fifteen  members 
of  whom  twelve  were  annual  members. 

The  committee  on  the  preservation  of  manuscripts  and 
landmarks  furnishes  an  interesting  report.  A  young  in- 
structor from  the  University  of  Pennsylvania.  L.  Walter 
Seegars,  was  engaged  for  the  summer  months,  furnished 
with  a  second-hand  Ford  and  sent  canvassing  the  Sus- 
quehanna Valley,  to  discover  the  location  of  manuscript  and 
documentary  material  in  the  possession  of  private  individuals 
which  would  be  of  historical  importance,  and  to  make  cer- 
tain the  preservation  of  this  material  for  historical  purposes, 
by  gift  to  or  deposit  with  the  Society  or  to  be  copied  and 
returned. 

This  unique  experiment  brought  rich  returns  in  private 
and  public  documents,  such  as  township  proprietor's  books, 
like  the  Salem  township,  intact  from  1773  to  date,  early 
tax  lists,  account  books,  diaries,  surveyors  journals,  etc. 
The  full  report  will  be  printed  in  volume  21  of  the  Society's 
Proceedings  and  Collections,  since  the  experiment  will  be 
of  great  interest.  Of  first  value  to  historical  research  is  the 
collection,  preservation  and  scholarly  editing  and  publishing 
of  such  documents,  and  this  is  the  prime  responsibility  of  all 
local  historical  societies. 

The  Society  is  particularly  fortunate  in  having  the  Sheldon 


Reynolds  Memorial  Fund  for  the  purpose  of  doing  this  from 
all  available  documentary  sources  on  the  Connecticut  migra- 
tion into  Northeastern  Pennsylvania.  This  project,  under 
the  editorship  of  Julian  P.  Boyd,  has  resulted  in  the  accumu- 
lation of  approximately  8,000  photostats  of  manuscripts 
relative  to  the  subject  from  nearly  all  of  the  principal  public 
archives  in  this  country,  and  from  several  large  private  col- 
lections. These  photostats  have  all  been  transcribed  and  the 
principal  task  remaining  to  be  done  is  that  of  seeing  the 
extensive  publication  through  the  press.  The  first  volume 
which  embraces  the  years  1750  to  1755,  is  now  in  press,  and 
will  appear  shortly.  Besides  containing  much  fresh  docu- 
mentary sources  which  will  throw  considerable  light  on  the 
Susquehanna  Company  in  its  formative  years,  the  volume 
will  contain  an  introduction  by  the  editor  showing  especially 
the  economic  and  social  background  of  a  movement  which 
was  essentially  a  part  of  the  whole  westward  migration  in 
America.  The  introduction  will  also  contain  a  chapter  on 
"Connecticut's  Colonial  Secret",  tending  to  show  that  Con- 
necticut was  an  unmatched  colonizing  center  sending  out 
satellite  communities  all  the  way  across  the  continent,  and 
explaining  her  expansiveness  on  the  basis  of  her  racial  stock, 
her  system  of  government,  her  educational  system,  her  re- 
ligion, and  especially  her  system  of  land  tenure  and  distri- 
bution. In  fact,  according  to  the  introduction,  this  whole 
episode  ofifers  the  best  opportunity  in  American  history  for  a 
study  of  different  land  systems  in  competition,  for  it  is  the 
outstanding  example  of  one  of  the  "quit-rent"  colonies  com- 
ing in  conflict  with  a  "fee-simple"  colony. 

The  photostats  of  the  manuscripts  which  pertain  to  this 
project  are  bound  in  loose-leaf  volumes  and  will  be  arranged 
in  the  same  order  as  the  printed  volumes,  so  that  the  index  to 
the  published  work  will  also  serve  as  an  index  to  the  photo- 
stats of  the  original  documents.  This  will  be  a  convenience 
for  those  who  cherish  the  chirography  of  their  ancestors 
and  also  for  those  skeptical  students  who  may  doubt  the 
editor's  transcription  of  the  documents.  It  is  expected  that 
the  work  will  occupy  twelve  royal  octavo  volumes  of  about 
five  hundred  pages  each. 

This  project  is  of  such  importance  that  it  has  already  at- 
tracted the  attention  of  some  of  the  leading  historians  in  the 
country.  The  editor  has  secured  the  co-operation  of  three 
outstanding  historians  to  act  as  an  advisory  editorial  board 


REPORTS  XXXVU 

in  connection  with  the  work:  Dr.  Charles  M.  Andrews  of 
Yale,  Dr.  N.  S.  B.  Gras  of  Harvard,  and  Dr.  St.  George  L. 
Sioussat  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania.  A  further 
evidence  of  the  attention  which  this  project  is  attracting  is 
the  fact  that  the  American  Historical  Association  requested 
Mr.  Boyd  to  take  a  place  on  its  program  at  its  annual  meet- 
ing held  at  Durham,  North  Carolina,  December  30,  1929,  to 
January  i,  1930.  Mr.  Boyd  read  a  paper  at  the  session  of 
the  Conference  of  Historical  Societies  on  December  30,  and 
discussed  the  scope  of  the  project  and  the  manner  in  which 
it  was  being  carried  on.  He  pointed  out  the  usual  defects 
in  the  publications  of  local  historical  societies  and  suggested 
as  one  remedy  the  establishment  of  connecting  links  between 
the  universities  and  the  historical  societies  by  such  devices  as 
the  editorial  advisory  board.  He  also  pointed  out  the  need 
of  such  an  investigation  of  the  Connecticut  migration  to 
Pennsylvania  as  the  Sheldon  Reynolds  Memorial  Fund  en- 
ables this  Society  to  make. 

Under  the  Chairmanship  of  Mrs.  Frederic  Hillman,  the 
lectures  given  during  1929  were  as  follows,  and  in  this  con- 
nection the  thanks  of  the  Society  are  due  to  the  First  Pres- 
byterian Church,  and  St.  Stephen's  Church  for  the  use  of  the 
auditoriums : 

February  26.  Dr.  Dixon  Ryan  Fox,  "Early  American 
Snobs." 

March  26.  Dr.  Carl  Guthe,  "The  Hidden  Story  of  the 
Indian." 

April  15.  Mrs.  Ethel  Park  Richardson,  "Songs  of  the 
Southern  Mountains." 

October  29.  Miss  Constance  Reynolds,  "The  Market 
Street  Bridges  at  Wilkes-Barre." 

November  18.  Edward  H.  Thompson,  "America's 
Answer  to  Egypt." 

Two  of  these  lectures  have  had  interesting  results,  the  one 
by  Dr.  Guthe,  with  subsequent  meetings  of  Pennsylvanians 
interested  in  Archaeology,  has  led  to  the  organization  of  the 
Society  For  Pennsylvania  Archaeology.  This  Society  will 
serve  as  a  clearing  house  of  information  on  the  Pennsylvania 
Indian.  An  opportunity  for  consultation  and  study  by  local 
collectors  and  archaeologists  possibly  will  develop  into  the 
organization  for  directing  the  actual  extended  Indian  Sur- 
vey of  Pennsylvania. 

The  Indian  Survey,  under  the  Chairmanship  of  the  Direc- 


XXXVlll  REPORTS 

tor  of  this  Society,  has  been  progressing  well.  Three  expedi- 
tions did  field  work  in  the  State,  the  reports  of  which  will 
be  published.  Dr.  Speck's  Big  House  ceremony  manuscript 
will  be  published  by  the  Historical  Commission,  also  one  by 
Max  Schrabisch  on  the  head  waters  region  of  the  Delaware 
River.  Mrs.  Alanson  Skinner  spent  two  months  on  the 
Cornplanter  Seneca  Reservation. 

As  the  work  progresses  the  need  of  a  permanent  central 
organization  becomes  more  and  more  apparent  and  it  is  ex- 
pected that  the  Society  for  Pennsylvania  Archaeology  will  be 
equal  to  the  responsibilities  by  the  time  the  need  becomes 
imperative. 

The  second  lecture,  bringing  about  a  marked  improvement 
in  the  work  of  the  Society,  was  the  outstanding  one  of  Miss 
Reynolds,  which  aroused  great  public  interest  in  local  history. 
The  outgrowth  of  this  is  the  formation  of  a  local  history 
seminar  by  Mr.  Boyd  for  the  purpose  of  studying  local  his- 
torical subjects,  social  and  economic  as  well  as  political,  with 
the  expectation  of  developing  speakers  and  furnishing  lec- 
ture material  for  the  Society.  If  this  grows  as  the  present 
interest  gives  promise,  it  will  be  another  important  contribu- 
tion of  the  Society  to  the  general  topic  of  local  historical 
work. 

The  addresses  and  reports  delivered  by  the  Director  of  the 
Society  and  Mr.  Boyd,  as  given  below,  are  an  index  to  the 
general  interests  of  the  Society : 

By  the  Director. 

January  21.     Harrisburg  Civic  Club — Indian  Survey. 

March  6.     Abington  Women's  Club — Indian  Survey. 

April  8.  Genealogical  Society  Council,  Philadelphia — In- 
dian Survey. 

April  9.     Wyoming  Valley  Women's  Club,  Wilkes-Barre 
— Sullivan  Expedition. 

Atherton    Bible   Class,   Wilkes-Barre — Sullivan 
Expedition. 

June  5.  Wyoming  Monument  Association,  Wyoming — 
Sullivan  Expedition. 

June  23.  Sullivan  Expedition  Tablet  Dedication — Wilkes- 
Barre. 

September  13.  Wyoming  Seminary,  Kingston — Research 
work  in  London. 

By  Julian  P.  Boyd,  editor  of  Susquehanna  Papers. 


REPORTS  XXXIX 

July  29.     Broadcast,  Harrisburg,  on  Susquehanna  Papers. 

August  20.  Broadcast,  Hartford,  Conn.,  on  Susquehanna 
Papers. 

November  12.  Phalanx  Club,  Wilkes-Barre,  on  Southern 
History. 

December  30.  Durham,  N.  C,  before  American  Historical 
Association — address  on  Susquehanna  Papers,  as  part  of 
publication  policy  of  this  Society. 

Also  two  minor  addresses  before  young  people's  societies 
on  local  history. 

The  last  talk  of  the  Director's,  as  noted  above,  refers  to 
her  summer's  v^ork  in  London,  as  a  representative  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Historical  Commission,  doing  research  work 
in  the  British  Archives  and  conferring  with  the  authorities 
at  Deal,  England,  in  regard  to  a  monument  to  the  sailing  of 
William  Penn.  Through  the  fortunate  finds  of  a  research 
worker  in  the  British  Museum  it  was  possible  to  determine 
definitely  that  William  Penn  sailed  from  Deal  on  August  31, 
1682,  a  point  in  dispute  in  Pennsylvania  History. 

The  Sullivan  Expedition  observances  in  this  locality  were 
carried  out  as  arranged  by  the  Director,  the  opening  one 
being  held  June  23  on  the  River  Common,  Wilkes-Barre,  to 
commemorate  the  arrival  of  General  Sullivan  with  his  army, 
the  last  one  being  in  Athens  on  August  22.  Of  permanent 
value  in  this  connection  are  the  historical  Commission's 
souvenir  programs,  giving  data,  portraits  of  officers,  a  map 
of  the  expedition,  and  the  list  of  Pennsylvania  observances, 
and  the  official  pictorial  map  of  the  expedition  through  Penn- 
sylvania. Copies  of  both  of  these  may  be  secured  at  the 
Historical  Society's  building.  It  is  expected  that  the  Director 
of  this  Society,  as  Secretary  of  the  Historical  Commission, 
will  co-operate  with  the  New  York  Department  of  History 
and  Archives  in  locating  and  publishing  hitherto  unknown 
Sullivan  Expedition  material. 

The  publications  of  the  Society  during  1929  were  the  an- 
nual report  of  the  President  for  1928;  a  circular  describing 
the  purpose  and  work  of  the  Society ;  the  Wyoming  Com- 
memorative Association  Proceedings  for  1929;  and  volume 
20  of  the  Society's  Proceedings  and  Collections,  with  sepa- 
rates of  the  articles  included  in  it.  Material  for  volume  21 
is  now  being  collected  and  with  its  publication  in  1930  the 
publications  of  the  Society  will  be  brought  up  to  date. 


xl  REPORTS 

Valuable  work  done  by  the  Society  during  the  autumn  of 
1929,  and  through  the  financial  co-operation  of  patriotic 
citizens  of  the  valley,  is  the  restoration  of  the  tattered  battle 
flags  in  the  possession  of  this  Society,  which  had  been  carried 
by  local  regiments  in  the  Mexican  and  Civil  Wars.  The  work 
was  done  by  Mrs.  Helena  M.  Cook,  representing  Mrs.  Kath- 
erine  Fowler  Richey,  and  aroused  great  local  interest.  Mo- 
tion pictures  of  Mrs.  Cook  with  several  of  the  G.  A.  R. 
veterans  were  shown  in  local  theatres.  Two  guidons  and 
four  flags  were  preserved.  The  pity  is  that  the  work  has 
been  necessarily  delayed  until  the  condition  of  the  flags  be- 
came so  fragile  that  much  of  the  fabric  turned  to  powder  as 
handled.  No  other  process  could  preserve  so  well  these 
glorious  emblems  of  our  local  patriotism. 

Through  the  generosity  of  the  family  of  General  Asher 
Miner,  this  Society  was  privileged  to  distribute  copies  of  Mrs. 
Morton's  life  of  her  father. 

An  event  of  State  significance  was  our  local  observance  of 
the  Pulaski  Sesqui-Centennial  on  October  12  which  became  a 
State  official  observance,  the  Governor  and  other  State  of- 
ficers taking  part  in  the  program.  The  meetings  of  the  com- 
mittees were  held  in  the  Institute  Building  through  the  cour- 
tesy of  the  Society  and  the  Director  of  the  Society  was  on 
the  executive  and  program  committees,  so  that  the  Society 
thereby,  played  an  important  part  in  the  celebration. 

The  regular  work  made  the  usual  progress.  The  com- 
munity calendar  is  an  accepted  fact  in  the  plans  of  local  or- 
ganizations ;  family  reunions  have  responded  to  appeals  for 
local  genealogical  data ;  the  visitors  to  the  building  for  study 
and  for  examination  of  exhibits  were  many  more  than  in 
1927  though  not  equaling  the  crowds  of  the  Sesqui-Centen- 
nial. The  number  of  visitors  in  1929  was  1400  men,  800 
women,  4600  children  and  450  students  with  13  school  classes. 

The  publication  of  volume  20  has  necessitated  the  re- 
checking  of  our  exchange  lists,  a  much  needed  piece  of  work. 
The  regular  work  of  cataloguing  books ;  assisting  genealog- 
ical students ;  and  looking  up  information  for  genealogical 
correspondents ;  and  co-operation  with  local  organizations  in 
publicity  exhibits,  etc.,  has  progressed  nicely.  Thirty  gene- 
alogical inquiries  were  answered  by  letter.  The  number  of 
books  catalogued  is  541  of  which  175  were  gifts;  25  ex- 
changes, and  185  purchases.  The  following  lists  of  selected 
titles  indicate  the  general  character  of  the  books  added  to  the 


REPORTS  xll 

Library.     The  government  documents  received  during  the 
year  were  2,360. 

HISTORY. 

Steiner :    Archives  of  Maryland. 

De  Lue :   The  story  of  Walpole,  Mass.,  1724-1924. 

Brower :  History  of  the  Collegiate  Reform  Dutch  Church, 
New  York. 

O'Brien :   In  old  New  York. 

Worner :  Old  Lancaster  tales  and  traditions. 

Goodrich:  Lives  of  the  signers  to  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence. 

SutcliflF :   Travels  in  some  parts  of  North  America,  1812, 

Hist.  Society  of  Delaware  Co. :  Old  St.  David's  Church, 
Radnor  Pa.,  1700- 1906  and  others. 

GENEALOGY. 

Seaman  :   Seaman  Family  in  America. 

Wentworth  :   Wentworth  genealogy,  3  vols. 

Holman :   The  Holmans  in  America. 

Weston :  Hon.  Seth  Sprague  of  Duxbury,  Plymouth  Co., 
Mass. 

Converse :  Converse  family  and  allied  families,  2  vols. 

Spofiford :    Encyclopedia  of  Pennsylvania  biography. 

Munger :  The  Munger  Book,  1639-1914. 

Parks :   Parke  families  of  Connecticut. 

Smith :  Register  of  St.  Philip's  Parish,  Charleston,  S.  C, 
1754-1810. 

Sinnett :  About  seventy-five  mss.  genealogies. 

Lowell :   Munsey-Hopkins  Genealogy. 

Holman  :   Blackman  and  allied  famiHes. 

COAL  AND  GEOLOGY. 

Sisler:   Anthracite  culm  and  silt. 

Fairchild  :  Geologic  story .  .  .  Genesee  Valley  and  Western 
New  York. 

Bayley  :  Geological  Survey  of  Georgia.  Bulletin  43. 

Smyth :   Treatise  on  coal  and  coal  mining. 

Thom :   Petroleum  and  coal. 

Dept.  of  Commerce,  Bureau  of  Mines :  Mineral  resources 
of  U.  S.  1926. 

N.  Y.  Anthracite  Operators  Conference :  Selected  bibli- 
ography on  anthracite. 

70th  Congress,  2nd  session :  Administration  of  war  min- 
erals. .  .et  al. 


xlii  REPORTS 

AMERICAN  INDIAN. 

Shoemaker :  Indian  Folk  songs. 

Tooker :  Indian  Place  names  on  Long  Island. 

Clark  :  Lights  and  Lines  of  Indian  character. 

Brownell :    Indian  Races  on  North  and  South  America. 

Fairlie  :   Stories  of  the  Seminoles. 

Swanton :   Myths  and  tales  of  the  southeastern  Indians. 

Densmore :   Chippewa  customs. 

Hunter :  Notes  on  village  sites  of  the  Huron  Indians. 

GENERAL  ITEMS. 

Pa.  Society  of  Colonial  Dames :   American  War  Songs. 

Surface:  Grain  Trade.  .  .World  War. 

Hoyt :    Pen  and  Pencil  Picture — D.,  L.  and  W.  Railroad, 

1874. 

Moore  :  Old  China  Book. 

Aurand :   Pow-wow  book  of  Pennsylvania  Germans. 

Davis  :  Authentic  history — Ku-klux  clan,  1865-77. 

Bureau  of  Navigation :  Merchant  Vessels,  United  States, 
1928. 

As  usual,  articles  of  exhibit  value  were  lent  various  local 
shops  and  organizations.  This  co-operation  not  only  helps 
those  to  whom  the  articles  are  lent,  but  serves  as  a  distinct 
means  of  publicity  for  the  Society.  An  exhibit  of  the  work 
of  the  Sheldon  Reynolds  Memorial  Publication  was  made  in 
the  State  Library  for  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Federation  of  Historical  Societies,  as  an  example  of  the 
value  of  the  Federation,  since  this  splendid  work  of  publica- 
tion is  the  direct  outgrowth  of  an  announcement  at  a  Federa- 
tion meeting  of  the  discovery  of  some  Susquehanna  Company 
papers  in  Montrose,  Pa.  The  Director  of  this  Society,  acting 
upon  this  announcement,  secured  permission  from  the  Sus- 
quehanna County  Historical  Society  to  publish  their  papers. 
This  started  the  work,  which  has  expanded  beyond  all  ex- 
pectations. The  exhibit  consisted  of  the  large  volume  of 
mounted  photostats  constituting  the  documents  included  in 
Volume  I  of  the  publication,  and  the  title  page  of  Volume  I. 

Public  interest  has  been  manifested  by  the  large  attendance 
at  the  lectures  and  the  great  number  of  gifts  received  during 
the  year.     A  list  of  donors  is  appended  to  this  report. 

A  deposit  of  great  value  and  interest  is  that  of  genealogical 
material  belonging  to  Mrs.  Charles  Wood  as  follows :  The 
Ravenstonedale   Parish   Registers,  volumes  two   and  three, 


REPORTS 


xliii 


1710,  1780,  1781,  1812;  Registers  Parish  Church  of  Sed- 
bergh,  County  York,  1594-1800.  More  material  of  this  kind 
is  earnestly  desired  and  needed  by  the  Society. 

Among  the  gifts  of  unusual  value  are  a  Washington  letter 
given  by  Mrs.  E.  Greenough  Scott  and  a  letter  of  Alexander 
Hamilton  to  Timothy  Pickering  given  by  Mrs.  Allan  H. 
Dickson.  Their  possession  greatly  enriches  the  Society's  col- 
lection of  manuscripts. 

It  is  hoped  that  the  above  record  of  the  work  and  needs  of 
the  Society,  in  preparation  for  community  service,  and  the 
limitation  of  its  efficient  execution  through  inadequate  space 
and  inadequate  funds,  may  arouse  deeper  public  recognition 
of  the  permanent  value  of  this  Society  and  its  place  in  the 
community  through  gifts  and  bequests,  to  its  General  En- 
dowment, the  foundation  of  its  accomplishment. 

GIFTS  IN  1929. 

BOOKS  RECEIVED  FROM  : 
Adams,  James  Taylor  Holman,  Alfred  L. 

American  Historical  Society,  Inc.  Hunt,  Thomas 


Aymar,   Benjamin 

Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad  Co. 

Benner,  Allen  R. 

Bouton,  Mrs. 

Browne,  W.  Tyler 

Bunn,  Romanzo  Norton 

Cody,  L.  L. 

Cook,  William  W. 

Danielson,  Mrs.  R.  E. 

Delabarre,  Dr.   Edmund  Burke 

DeLong,  Dr.  Irwin  Hoch 

DeMoya,  Vincent 

Deming,  Mrs.  E.  W. 

DeWitt,Herman  B. 

Dille,  Thomas  Ray 

Dorrance,  Anne 

Dorrance,  Frances 

Elliott,  Stephen 

Evans,  Mrs.  Blanche  E. 

Ewing,  Thomas 

Fairchild,  Mrs.  C.  S. 

Forrest,  Mrs.  Joseph 

Gates,  Mrs.  Q.  A. 

Geological  Survey  of  Alabama 

Gilchrist,  Jessie 

Harkness,  Mrs.  J.  A. 

Harlow,  Rev.  Samuel  Allen 

Hasbrouck,  Judge  G.  D.  B. 

Haughton,  Mrs.  Ida  C. 

Heye,  Mrs.  George  G. 


Hunter,  A.  F. 

Hunter,  G.  G. 

Jackson,  Margaret 

Jones,  Harry  C. 

Jordan,  David  Starr 

Kazaczun,  Rev.  Francis 

Lee,  Revel  P. 

Lincoln,  J.  Gardner 

Lydick,  Lotus  Niles 

Markham,  Frances  G. 

Monroe,  W.  S. 

New  Jersey  Hist.  Commission 

Norris,  Mrs.  R.  V.  A. 

Perkins,  D.  W. 

Presbytery  of  Lackawanna 

(Rev.  J.  L.  Weisley) 
Rosenberger,  Jesse  Leonard 
Rutter,  Fannie  M. 
Sellers,  E.  Jacquett 
Sister  Mary  Eulalia  Herron 
Stark,  Cornelia 
Strauss,  Mrs.  S.  J. 
Struthers,  Mrs.  A.  E. 
Thomas,  Louise  M. 
Vassar  College  Library 
Welles,  Theodore 
Wetmore,  Misses 
Williams,  Anthony  L. 
Wood,  Mrs.  Charles 
Woodruff,  W.  E. 


Xliv  REPORTS 

PAMPHLETS. 

Armstrong,  W.  C.  Myers,  Wilbur  A. 

Carr,  Mrs.  Henry  J.  Rutter,  Fannie  M. 

Carson,  Mrs.  Hampton  L.  Schultz,  G.  W. 

Dill,  W.  A.  Selecky,  J.  E. 

Dorrance,  Anne  Shoemaker,  Jane  A. 

Eddy  Family  Association,  Inc.  Solomon,  Erskine  L. 

Eshleman,  H.  F.  Sowers,  A.  M. 

Fox,  Dixon  Ryan  Strauss,  Mrs.  S.  J. 

Geological  Survey  of  Alabama  Struthers,  Mrs.  E.  W. 

Gracie,  Mrs.  Archibald  Tompkins,  W.  S. 

Jackson,  Margaret  Vassar  College  Library 

Landis,  D.  H.  Wertz,  H.  A. 

Leaser,  J.  E.  Wilder,  Frank  J. 

McLellan,  Hugh  Woodruff,  W.  E. 
Markham,  Frances  G. 

PHOTOGRAPHS. 

Ayars,  Amos  H.  Jones,  Mrs.  Lawrence  B. 

Catlin,  Hon.  George  H.  Law,   Anna 

Coxe,  Edmund  J.  D.  More,  Charles 

Espy,  Bruce  Payne,  E.  W. 

Fahringer,  Robert  White,  E.  R. 

GENERAL    MUSEUM   ARTICLES. 

Ayars,  Mrs.  Shepherd :  Seven  hand  painted  Indian  designs 

Delpuech,  A.  C. :  Three  Indian  artifacts 

Hillard,  Oliver  C. :  Hawaiian  bark  table  cloth 

Humphrey,  J.  M.,  Jr. :  Old  mine  rake 

Jayne,  Mrs.  S.  C. :  Indian  stone  artifacts 

Loveland,  Mrs.  Charles  N.  :Fan,  lorgnette  and  embroidered  square 

Randall,  D.  V. :  Model  of  coal  car  with  automatic  brakes 

Rhenard,  C.  H. :  Civil  War  relics  and  nails  from  Slocum  home 

Scott,  James :  Arrowheads,  scrapers  and  chips 

Simmers,  J.  W. :  Groundhog's  skin,  and  jaw  bone 

Solomon,  Erskine  L. :  Flags  of  Spanish- American  War,  bolo  and  ship 
model 

COINS  AND  MEDALS. 

Dorrance,  Anne  Schooley,  H.  B. 

NEWSPAPERS,  CLIPPINGS  AND  MAPS. 

Berks  Co.  Historical  Society  Myers,  Wilbur  A. 

Burklin,  August  Struthers,  Mrs.  A.  E. 

Department  of  Highways,  ScrantonTrumbower,  Charles 

Dept.  of  Highways,  Scranton  Twichell,  H.  E. 

Harris,  Albert  Watertown  Daily  Times 

Jevons,  Mrs.  S.  P.  Weaver,  Gustin  C. 

Lewis,  Mrs.  Clyde 

SPECIAL  LOCAL  INTEREST. 

Amesbury,  W.  H. :  Indian  artifacts 

Bishop,  Elma:  Ancestor's  Will 

Crispin,   C.   G. :   Application   for   pension  of   Judge   Gearhart,   Dan- 
ville, Pa. 


REPORTS  xlv 

Daniels,  Mrs.  J.  H. :  Flag — Good  Will  Drum  Corps 
Dickson,  Mrs.  Allan  H. :  Autograph  letter  of  Alexander  Hamilton 
Dilley,  Miss  Minnie  E. :  Three  German  baptismal  certificates 
Klipple,  Edgar:  Form  bearing  seal  of  Daniel  Harding,  Treasurer  of 

Luzerne  County,  1844 
Quicksell,  Charles  Wallace :  Mennonite  cradle 

Scott,  Mrs.  E.  Greenough:  Autograph  letter  of  George  Washington 
Shoemaker,  Jane :  Cradle  and  roaster 

Thomas,  Louise  :  Three  letters  with  autographs  of  Rutherford  B.  Hayes 
Welles,  Edward :  Two  photostat  copies  of  the  Hollenback  family  tree 
Williamson,  J.  Pryor:  Framed  list  of  Wilkes-Barre  club  members 

LOANS    AND   DEPOSITS. 
Beck,  Dr.  H.  M.  (Theodore  Roosevelt  Exhibit) 

Burrowes,  Hubert  White,  Edward  R. 

Morgan,  Walter  Wood,  Mrs.  Charles 

Roosevelt  House  Association 

SPECIAL  SERVICE. 
Miller,  Harry  C. :  Notarial  services 
Shoemaker,    Jane    A. :    Use    of    automobile    for    distribution — lecture 

publicity 
Sterling,  Leila :  Assistance  in  lecture  publicity 
Wyoming  National  Bank :  Use  of  addressograph  machine 
First  Presbyterian  Church:  Use  of  auditorium  for  lectures 
St.  Stephen's  Church:  Use  of  auditorium  for  lectures 
Local  Newspapers:  Assistance  in  lecture  publicity,  etc. 

NEW    MEMBERS,    I929. 

ANNUAL.  Mrs.  Alanson  B.  Skinner 

Lewis  T.  Buckman  Louis  Shellbach,  3d 

N.  Grier  Parke  J.  Arlington  Rees 
J.  Campbell  Collins  life. 

R.  V.  Norris,  Jr.  Allan  P.  Kirby 

John  H.  Blackman,  Jr.  Katherine  Dickson  Darte 

Edith  Reynolds  Lloyd  Mrs.  H.  F.  Stephens  De  Witt 
Walter  B.  Dando 

DECEASED    MEMBERS,    I929. 

ANNUAL.  Thomas  M.  Herbert 

Dr.  Louise  Stoeckel  Isabella  Gilchrist 

Robert  A.  Quinn  Frederick  Stark 

Mulford  Morris,  Jr.  M.  E.  Moore 
Harold  Shoemaker  life. 

Henry  J.  Carr  Rev.  Joseph  Murgas 

Mrs.  Sara  N.  Youngblood  Mrs.  Fred  Parrish 

William  S.  McLean,  Sr.  Anthony  L.  Williams 

RESIGNED    MEMBERS,    I929. 
E.  R.  Schooley  Isador  Thalenfeld 

Harry  Ash 


xlvi  '  REPORTS 

REPORT  ON  THE  WORK  LOCATION  OF  MSS.  IN 

THE  SUSQUEHANNA  VALLEY,  JUNE  15, 

TO  SEPTEMBER  i,  1929. 


During  the  months  of  June.  July  and  August,  1929,  the 
Wyoming  Historical  and  Geological  Society  of  Wilkes-Barre, 
Pennsylvania,  began  a  work  which,  so  far  as  I  know,  is  the 
only  one  of  its  kind  ever  attempted  in  the  eastern  section  of 
this  country.  This  work  was  in  the  nature  of  a  canvass  of 
that  part  of  the  Susquehanna  Valley,  including  the  north  of 
the  Wyoming  Valley  region.  Its  purpose  was  to  discover  the 
existence  and  location  of  manuscript  material,  in  the  posses- 
sion of  private  individuals  which  was  of  historical  impor- 
tance, especially  as  it  related  to  the  history  of  that  particu- 
lar section  of  the  state ;  and  to  make  certain  that  the  material 
thus  found  would  be  preserved  for  the  use  of  historical 
workers.  The  project  was  made  possible  through  the  gen- 
erosity of  Colonel  Dorrance  Reynolds,  the  president  of  the 
Wyoming  Historical  and  Geological  Society,  whose  interest 
in  the  history  of  the  region  and  in  the  work  of  the  Society 
prompted  him  to  furnish  the  financial  backing  necessary  for 
the  enterprise.  When  it  was  determined  to  undertake  the 
canvass,  I  was  asked  and  accepted  the  opportunity  to  do  the 
field  work  connected  with  it.  This  report  of  ten  weeks  spent 
in  this  kind  of  work  is  submitted  with  two  objects  in  view — 
first,  to  briefly  set  forth  the  results  achieved,  and  second,  to 
outline  the  methods  used  with  the  hope  that  it  may  possibly 
be  of  aid  to  any  future  work  of  a  similar  nature  that  might  be 
attempted  by  this  Society  or  any  other  organization. 

The  latter  I  personally  consider  to  be  of  greater  impor- 
tance for  several  reasons.  The  work  of  the  past  summer 
was  only  a  beginning  in  comparison  with  the  possibilities  of 
future  work.  It  was  obviously  impossible  to  exhaust  the 
field,  even  in  one  region,  in  a  few  months.  In  addition  there 
are  undoubtedly  other  sections  of  this  state  and  of  other 
states  which  abound  in  historical  materials  which  could  and 
should  be  made  available  for  use  by  students  in  that  field  but 
which  are  almost  entirely  inaccessible  at  present  because  their 
existence  is  not  generally  known  or  because  they  are  kept  in 
out  of  the  way  places.  And  I  believe  that  anyone  who  will 
undertake  similar  work  in  the  future,  either  continuing  that 
already  started  here  or  beginning  anew  in  another  field,  will 


REPORTS  Xlvii 

be  glad  to  have  some  guidance  in  approaching  the  problem. 
As  stated  above,  we  knew  of  no  other  organization  which  had 
undertaken  a  systematic  search  for  privately  owned  manu- 
script collections  and  thus  we  had  no  precedents  to  use  as 
guides.  And  the  necessity  of  having  to  experiment  with 
methods  caused  delays  which  might  be  avoided  in  the  future. 
It  would  be  inadvisable  to  give  a  detailed  list  of  the  ma- 
terial located  in  this  report.  As  each  manuscript  was  un- 
earthed a  card  was  made  out  giving  the  date  and  setting  of 
the  manuscript,  whenever  possible,  a  brief  statement  of  its 
contents,  the  name  and  address  of  the  person  in  whose  pos- 
session it  was  found,  and  the  disposition  of  the  manuscript, 
i.  e.,  whether  it  was  given  to  the  Society  as  a  permanent  gift, 
deposited  for  safe  keeping,  or  merely  loaned  in  order  that  a 
copy  could  be  made.  These  cards  are  in  the  possession  of  the 
Society  as  a  detailed  record  of  the  results  of  the  summer's 
work.  I  think  a  brief  description  of  the  nature  of  the  ma- 
terial would  be  better  for  the  purposes  of  this  report.  The 
material  may  be  divided  roughly  into  public  and  private, 
according  to  whether  it  relates  to  public  affairs  more  directly 
or  to  the  affairs  of  a  private  individual.  The  division  is  not 
always  clear-cut,  however,  as  the  information  contained  in 
some  of  the  finds  shades  from  one  class  to  the  other  without 
a  distinct  break.  One  of  the  best  examples  of  public  material 
are  the  township  proprietors'  books — the  books  containing  the 
records  of  the  meetings  of  the  township  proprietors.  One 
of  these  books,  that  of  Salem  township,  was  found  intact, 
containing  the  records  from  1773  to  date.  Fragments  of  the 
book  of  New  Groton  township  and  that  of  Huntington  town- 
ship were  also  located.  Similar  to  these  is  the  record  of  the 
town  treasurer  of  Huntington  township  covering  a  period  of 
almost  forty  years  in  the  first  part  of  the  19th  century.  Other 
examples  are  early  tax  lists  and  lists  of  eligible  voters  in 
various  townships.  Still  another  are  the  docket  records  kept 
by  various  justices  of  the  peace  and  akin  to  these  is  a  book 
kept  by  Colonel  John  Franklin  which  contains  a  record  of 
the  warrants  and  orders  served  by  him  as  sheriff.  Another 
type  of  public  record  was  that  of  a  church  established  in  the 
early  days  of  a  community,  an  important  historical  source  for 
the  story  of  a  people  in  whose  lives  the  religious  phase  played 
such  a  large  part.  Another  kind  of  manuscript,  a  great  num- 
ber of  which  still  exist,  gives  both  public  and  private  infor- 
mation.   These  are  the  account  books  and  day  books  kept  by 


xlviii  REPORTS 

merchants,  lawyers,  physicians,  blacksmiths,  and  those  who 
owned  and  ran  lumber  mills  and  tanneries.  Other  material 
was  almost  entirely  private  in  nature,  such  as  family  records 
which  are  valuable  for  genealogical  purposes,  diaries,  sur- 
veyor's journals  and  field  books,  and  files  of  correspondence; 
although  in  these  there  can  also  be  found  much  that  relates 
to  public  afifairs  of  the  time  the  record  was  made. 

A  discussion  of  the  manner  in  which  the  work  was  carried 
on  falls  naturally  under  two  heads  from  the  very  nature  of 
the  work  itself — (i)  the  methods  used  to  determine  the  lo- 
cation of  privately  owned  manuscripts,  and  (2)  those  used 
to  secure  their  preservation.  I  think  the  person  best  suited 
to  do  the  work  of  locating  historical  manuscript  is  one  who 
has  had  some  training  in  historical  research  work  and  at  the 
same  time  has  a  personal  acquaintance  in  the  region  in  which 
the  work  is  to  be  done.  Lacking  this  latter  qualification  I  was 
forced  to  fall  back  upon  those  who  had  such  acquaintance. 
And  at  this  time  I  would  like  to  express  the  appreciation  due 
those  with  whom  I  came  into  contact  in  this  connection.  One 
of  the  most  encouraging  phases  of  the  work  was  the  manner 
in  which,  with  few  exceptions,  the  people  in  the  various  com- 
munities realized  the  value  of  the  work  we  were  doing  and 
were  willing  to  cooperate  in  any  way  they  could.  This  was 
true  not  only  of  those  directly  connected  with  or  actively  in- 
terested in  the  Society  but  also  those  outside  of  this  group. 

The  method  I  believe  to  be  the  quickest  and  most  success- 
ful for  the  first  part  of  the  work  is  to  interview  several  people 
in  a  community  who  have  a  knowledge  of  those  people  who 
would  most  probably  have  in  their  possession  manuscript  ma- 
terials. I  found  that  the  people  most  likely  to  have  such  in- 
formation are  those  who  are  connected  with  the  local  his- 
torical society  or,  and  these  were  generally  able  to  be  of  more 
assistance,  prominent  members  of  the  local  chapters  of  so- 
cieties such  as  the  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution, 
the  Colonial  Dames,  the  Mayflower  Society,  or  the  Sons  of 
the  American  Revolution.  Invariably  I  found  that  one  who 
is  active  in  these  societies  was  not  only  able  but  very  willing 
to  give  the  very  information  needed.  During  these  inter- 
views it  is  advisable  to  secure  all  the  information  possible, 
both  extensive  and  intensive.  By  that  I  mean  the  names  and 
residences  of  all  families  who  would  be  at  all  likely  to  pos- 
sess manuscripts  and  also  all  the  information  possible  con- 
cerning each  family — such  as  the  time  and  circumstances  of 


REPORTS  xlix 

their  settlement  in  the  community,  the  particular  interests  of 
the  various  members  (whether,  e.  g.,  a  family  of  lawyers, 
physicians,  or  merchants),  the  participation  of  any  members 
of  the  family  in  public  affairs  in  the  past  or  in  the  present, 
and  their  political  and  religious  connections.  All  this  infor- 
mation should  be  kept  on  file  for  purposes  of  reference. 
Starting  with  some  such  definite  information  as  leads  it  is 
not  very  difficult  ordinarily  to  gather  further  leads  as  the 
work  in  any  one  place  progresses.  There  are,  of  course, 
other  ways  of  getting  leads  to  start  on.  Local  histories  often 
show  the  way  to  a  source  which  has  been  used  only  partially 
if  at  all  and  which  may  still  be  in  private  hands.  The  same  is 
true,  but  to  a  less  extent,  of  the  compilations  of  biographical 
material  often  published  in  connection  with  a  local  history. 

Another  method  which  might  be  used,  and  which  must  be 
resorted  to  at  times,  is  a  house  to  house  canvass.  But  so 
much  time  is  lost  in  this  way  that  it  is  better  not  to  use  it — 
except  as  a  last  resort  and  then  only  in  very  small  communi- 
ties. It  is  by  far  better  to  be  able  to  start  with  some  definite 
information  and,  using  this  as  a  starting  point,  follow  each 
lead  as  nearly  as  possible  to  its  end  and  then  repeat  the  same 
process  with  each  lead  at  hand. 

In  using  this  method  of  securing  leads  and  working  them 
to  the  end.  I  believe  much  time  would  be  saved  by  staying  in 
one  community  or  vicinity  for  a  longer  period  of  time  than, 
as  a  general  rule.  I  did  in  the  work  of  the  past  summer.  If 
it  is  possible  to  do  so  it  is  better  to  stay  in  one  place  until 
that  has  been  thoroughly  combed  before  work  is  started  in 
another  locality.  Of  course,  this  rule  cannot  be  followed  ab- 
solutely but  I  believe  that  a  stricter  adherence  to  ic  would 
have  saved  much  time  and  brought  in  greater  results.  I  think 
that  time  could  be  saved  also  by  having  the  material  sent  to 
the  Society  instead  of  having  it  brought  in  by  the  person 
doing  the  work  in  the  field.  This  is  especially  true  when  the 
locality  of  the  work  is  of  some  distance  from  the  Society. 

As  to  the  methods  used  to  secure  the  preservation  of  the 
material  it  is  harder  to  draw  general  conclusions  for  almost 
each  case  has  to  be  handled  according  to  its  own  peculiarities. 
It  might  be  well  to  say  that  an  attempt  was  made  in  every 
instance  to  have  the  manuscript  donated  as  a  permanent  gift 
to  the  Society.  When  this  was  refused  the  owner  was  asked 
to  deposit  the  material  with  the  Society  for  safe  keeping 
without  relinquishing  the  title  to  it  or,  as  the  last  alternative, 


1  REPORTS 

to  lend  the  material  in  order  that  a  copy  would  be  made.  Ob- 
viously an  outright  gift  is  the  most  satisfactory  for  in  many 
cases  a  mass  of  material  might  be  found  which  would  be  well 
worth  while  preserving  but  its  cost  of  copying  would  make 
that  manner  of  preserving  almost  if  not  actually  prohibitive. 
The  efifort  to  secure  possession  of  these  manuscripts  after 
they  are  found  is  the  most  difficult  part  of  the  work.  In  some 
cases,  if  the  Society  were  able  to  buy  the  manuscripts,  they 
could  be  secured.  This  we  were  not  able  to  do  and  I  believe 
this  is  generally  true  of  historical  societies.  But  these  cases 
were  in  the  minority.  The  greatest  obstacle  to  overcome  is 
the  personal  interest  the  owner  has  in  the  papers — the  task 
is  to  replace  this  personal  or  family  interest  with  a  public  in- 
terest, in  other  words  to  educate  these  people  who  have 
manuscript  of  historical  value  to  the  viewpoint  that  their  per- 
sonal interest  is  subordinate  when  compared  to  the  value  of 
the  papers  for  historical  purposes.  This,  of  course,  is  largely 
the  work  of  the  manuscript  worker  because  he  has  the  op- 
portunity of  personal  contact  but  I  believe  that  he  can  be 
aided  by  a  regular  and  continued  campaign  with  circulars  or 
personal  letters  sent  to  the  various  owners  before  a  direct 
attempt  is  made  to  persuade  them  to  deposit  the  manuscripts 
with  a  Society. 

It  might  also  be  advisable  to  acknowledge  in  some  special 
manner,  say  by  some  specially  designed  certificate  or  possibly 
by  membership  in  the  society  for  a  certain  length  of  time,  the 
gift  or  deposit  of  any  manuscripts.  Whatever  the  manner 
adopted,  I  think  that  the  people  who  do  cooperate  in  this 
way  expect  some  special  recognition  from  the  organization 
that  is  undertaking  the  collection.  These  are,  however,  gen- 
eral rules  which  cannot  be  followed  in  every  case  because,  as 
was  stated  before,  each  case  must  be  dealt  with  individually. 
(Signed) 

L.  Walter  Seegers. 
Philadelphia,  Penna., 
October  2,  1929. 


REPORTS  li 

REPORT  OF  THE  TREASURER. 
Year  Ending  December  31,  1929. 

PRINCIPAL  ACCOUNT. 

RECEIPTS. 
1929. 

Jan.      I     Balance    on    hand — Savings    Account    No.    1137-A    in 

Miners  Bank  of  Wilkes-Barre  $  11,668.61 

Mar.     2     Frank  Barnes — Payment  on  principal  of  mortgage 50.00 

June  26  Minneapolis,  St.  Paul  &  Sault  Ste.  Marie  6%  Equip- 
ment Bonds,  called  for  payment 3,000.00 

26     South  Carolina  &  Georgia  R.   R.  Co.  First  Mortgage 

5l4%  Bonds,  called  for  payment 4,000.00 

Aug.  29     St.  Louis-San  Francisco  Prior  Lien  Series  "D"  Bonds, 

called  for  payment 5,125.00 

Interest  on  Savings : 

June  30,  1929 $    167.79 

December  31,  1929 264.39         432.18 

$  24,275.79 

EXPENDITURES. 

April    I    Transferred  to  Check  Account  to  pay  interest $    1,030.00 

July  13  Transferred  to  Check  Account  to  purchase  $200.00 
American  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Co.  lo-year  Con- 
vertible 4^%  Gold  Debenture  Bonds 200.00 

19    Transferred  to  Check  Account  to  pay  Sturdevant-Dilley 

Engineering  Company  (Institute  Building  Account)  . .  68.50 

24    Transferred  to  Check  Account  to  pay  accumulated  bills 

(This  transfer  was  approved  by  Mr.  S.  C.  Chase)  . . .       1,661.40 

Sept.  30    Transferred  to  Check  Account  to  apply  on  payment  of 

salaries    55-64 

Oct.    30    Transferred  to  Check  Account  to  pay  interest 225.00 

31     Transferred  to  Check  Account  to  pay  October  salaries.  531.68 

Dec.  20  Transferred  to  Check  Account  to  purchase  40  shares 
F.  W.  Woolworth  Co.  Common  Stock  (Purchase 
made  by  Colonel  Dorrance  Reynolds  and  stock  in  his 

possession)    3,008.00 

26  Transferred  to  Check  Account  to  purchase  50  shares 
American  Can  Co.  Common  Stock  (Purchase  made 
by  Colonel  Dorrance  Reynolds  and  stock  in  his  pos- 
session)           5,612.50 

30  Transferred  to  Check  Account  to  pay  T.  W.  Carwile 

(Advance  to  be  reimbursed  from  Membership  Fund) .  75-00 

31  Transferred  to  Check  Account  to  cover  overdraft 5.61 

31     Balance  on  hand,  December  31,  1929 11,802.46 

$  24,275.79 


lii  REPORTS 

GENERAL  INCOME  ACCOUNT,  1929. 

RECEIPTS. 

Balance — Checking  Account  $  374-88 

Income  from  Investments 3,689.50 

Membership  Dues  1,870.00 

Luzerne  County  Appropriation  200.00 

City  of  Wilkes-Barre  Appropriation 250.00 

Genealogical  Services   18.00 

Sale  of  Books  135.16 

Loan — Frances  Dorrance  300.00 

Gift — ^Frances  Dorrance  to  pay  one-half  of  Assistant's  salary 605.00 

Advanced  from  Savings  Account : 

To  apply  on  Salaries $    587.32 

To  pay  T.  W.  Carwile 75-00 

To  cover  overdraft 5.61 

To  pay  accumulated  bills  1,661.40 

2,329.33 

$  9,771.87 

EXPENDITURES. 

Salaries  paid  during  year $  6,108.00 

Special  Funds : 

Coxe  Publication  Fund $367.31 

City  of   Wilkes-Barre   Appropriation   paid  to   Frances 

Dorrance  to  pay  on  Yordy  account  Coxe  Publication.  250.00 

Membership  Fund — Carwile  advances  (repaid) 150.00  767.31 

Sale  of  Books  transfered  to  Book  fund I35.i6 

Insurance    398.00 

Lectures    458.20 

Books  purchased  22.50 

Binding    72.00 

Telephone  (Tolls  repaid  by  F.  Dorrance) 123.47 

Periodical  Subscriptions  54-50 

Photostats,  etc 22.75 

Postage   170.50 

Incidentals   (Petty  cash)    192.00 

General  Expense  195-77 

Supplies  259.20 

Society  Memberships  53-00 

Sullivan  Trail  Markers  (To  balance) .02 

Advance  to  Institute  Fund 575.00 

Paid  on  Institute  Expenses 164.49 

$  9,771-87 


REPORTS  liii 

INSTITUTE  BUILDING  ACCOUNT,  1929. 

RECEIPTS. 

Rent— The  Little  Theatre  of  Wilkes-Barre $  200.00 

Advance    from    income    on    Nesbitt    securities — Second    National 

Bank   2,790.00 

Advance  from  Savings  Account — Miners  Bank 1,255.00 

Advance  from  Checking  Account — Miners  Bank 575-00 

(All  advances  to  pay  interest  on  loans) 

$    4,820.00 

EXPENDITURES. 

Interest  paid $    4,620.00 

Expenses  (Repairs,  coal,  etc.)    458.20 

$    5,078.20 
Deficit  $258.20  (paid  by  General  Income  Account). 


SECURITIES  IN  HANDS  OF  THE  TREASURER. 

JULY    15,    1930. 

1,500.00  The  Wilkes-Barre  Company,  First  and  Refunding  Mortgage  5% 

Gold  Bonds,  due  July   i,   i960.     Nos.   167  for  $1,000.00  and 

No.  23  for  $500.00. 
500.00  Pacific  Gas  and  Electric  Company,  First  Mortgage  6%  20- Year 

Sinking  Fund  Gold  Bonds  due  January  i,  193 1.    Nos.  363  for 

$500.00. 
1,000.00  Lehigh  Telephone  Company,  First  and  Refunding  Mortgage  5% 

Gold  Bonds,  Series  "A",  due  July  i,  1949.     No.  M-1416  for 

$1,000.00. 
1,000.00  Muncie  and  Union  City  Traction  Company,  First  Mortgage  5% 

30- Year  Gold  Bonds,  due  July  i,  1936.   No.  715  for  $1,000.00. 
(Interest  in  default  January  i,  1925,  to  date). 

8,000.00  Great  Western  Power  Company  of  California,  First  and  Re- 
funding Mortgage  Sinking  Fund  6%  Gold  Bonds,  due  February 
I,  1952.  Nos.  M.186,  M-2482/3,  M-2512/3,  M-2523/4/5,  for 
$1,000.00  each. 
1,000.00  Columbia  and  Montour  Electric  Company,  Second  Mortgage 
30- Year  5%  Gold  Bonds,  due  February  i,  1943.  No.  1008  for 
$1,000.00. 
11,000.00  The  Wilkes-Barre  and  Wyoming  Valley  Traction  Company, 
First  Mortgage  5%  Gold  Bonds,  due  April  i,  1921,  extended 
at  7%  to  April  i,  1931.  Nos.  36,  60,  862/3/4/5/6/7/8 
9/70  for  $1,000.00  each. 


liv  REPORTS 

1,000.00  Indianapolis,  New  Castle  and  Eastern  Traction  Company,  First 
Mortgage  6%  7- Year  Gold  Bond,  due  1919,  extended  to  June 
I,  1932. 
No.  354  for  $1,000.00. 

(Interest  in  default  June  i,  1925,  to  date). 

11,000.00  Spring  Brook  Water  Company,  First  Refunding  Mortgage  5% 

Gold  Bonds,  due  April   i,   1965.     Nos.  2267/77  for  $1,000.00 

each. 
4,000.00  Government  of  the  Argentine   Nation,  External   Sinking  Fund 

6%  Gold  Bonds,  issue  of  June  i,  1925,  due  June  i,  1959.    Nos. 

M-42956/7/8/9  for  $1,000.00  each. 
3,000.00  Fruit   Growers    Express    Company,    Equipment   Trust   of    1923, 

Series  "C",  sH%  Gold  Bonds,  due  October  15,   1937.     Nos, 

3753/4/5  for  $1,000.00  each. 
4,000.00  Chesapeake  &  Ohio  Railway  Company,  General  Mortgage  4^% 

Gold  Bonds  of  1892,  due  March  i,  1992. 
200.00  American  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company,  10- Year  Convertible 

4^%  Gold  Debenture   Bonds  Nos.  TC-32-501/2  for  $100.00 

each. 
2,520.00  American  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company,  10  shares  Capital 

Stock. 
775.00  Frank  Barnes,  Mortgage  on  property  on  Union  Street,  Luzerne, 

Penn'a. 
1,400.00  Mary  A.  G.  Barrett   (deceased).  Mortgage  on  property  at   14 

West  Jackson  Street,  Wilkes-Barre,  Penn'a. 


$  51,895-00 

Securities  Held  Temporarily  By  Wyoming  National  Bank. 
$    3,050.00  50  Shares  F.  W.  Woolworth  Company — Common. 

3,450.00  50  Shares  Amer.  Smelting  &  Refining  Co. — Common. 

6,500.00  50  Shares  American  Can — Common. 


$  13,000.00 

Cash  Awaiting  Investment. 

$    3,500.00  Savings  Account — Wyoming  National  Bank. 
22,985.00  Savings  Account — Miners  Bank. 

400.00  Savings  Account — Second  National  Bank. 

$  26,885.00 
13,000.00 
51,895.00 

$  91,780.00  Total  Endowment. 


REPORTS  Iv 

SPECIAL  AND  ENDOWMENT  FUNDS. 

Henry  Herbert  Ashley  $    5,000.00 

Joseph  Swift  Balch  2,000.00 

George  Slocum  Bennett  1,000.00 

Zebulon  Butler   1,000.00 

Coxe  Publication  Fund 10,000.00 

Charles  Dorrance  Foster  1,000.00 

Lillian  Foster    5,000.00 

Horace  Edwin  Hayden  1,500.00 

Andrew  Hunlock    2,000.00 

Amelia  Beard  Hollenback  1,000.00 

Anna  Welles  Hollenback  5,000.00 

John  Welles  Hollenback   13,000.00 

Charles  Farmer  Ingham,  M.  D 500.00 

Frederick  Charles  Johnson,  M.  D 500.00 

Rev.  Jacob  Johnson  1,000.00 

Fred.  Morgan  Kirby  1,000.00 

Ralph  D.  Lacoe   1,000.00 

Augustus  C.  Laning   1,000.00 

Katherine  (Searle)   McCartney  500.00 

Charles  Miner  500.00 

Charles  Abbot  Miner   1,000.00 

Sidney  Roby  Miner  i  ,000.00 

Abram   Nesbitt    14,000.00 

Dorrance  Reynolds 2,500.00 

Sheldon  Reynolds   1,000.00 

Elizabeth  (Reynolds)  Ricketts  1,000.00 

Harry  B.  Schooley 2,500.00 

Anne  E.   (Hoyt)    Shoemaker 1,000.00 

Lazarus  Denison  Stearns  1,000.00 

Lewis  Harlow  Taylor,  M.  D 3,000.00 

Isaac  Miner  Thomas  1,000.00 

Edward  Welles   1,000.00 

Stanley  Woodward    1,000.00 

Annie  Augusta  Wright  1,000.00 

Harrison  Wright   1,000.00 

$  87,000.00 

The  present  endowment  of  the  Wyoming  Historical  and  Geological  Society 

has  been  built  up  by  the  investment  of  moneys  received  through  Perpetual 
Memberships  of  which  to  December  i,  1929,  there  are  four  Patrons  who  have 
given  ten  thousand  dollars  or  more,  four  Endowment  members  who  have 
given   five   thousand   dollars,   forty   Benefactors    giving   one   thousand,   and 


Ivi  REPORTS 

one  hundred  and  ninety  Life  members  giving  one  hundred  dollars  each.  As 
will  be  explained  later,  some  of  this  endowment  is  not  yet  available  for 
general  purposes. 

A  large  percentage  of  these  gifts  have  established  memorial  funds  desig- 
nated by  the  donors  to  be  used  for  the  general  endowment  or  for  special 
purposes  of  the  Society. 

GENERAL  ENDOWMENT. 
The  funds  invested  for  this  purpose  have  been  received  as  follows : 

George  Slocum  Bennett,  Bequest  received  1911 $    1,000.00 

Charles  Dorrance  Foster,  April  12,  1917 1,000.00 

Amelia  Beard  Hollenback  1,000.00 

John  Welles  Hollenback   13,000.00 

$4,000  given  in  1903  in  the  name  of  his  great  uncle  Matthias, 
which  together  with  the  remainder  given  over  a  period  of 
years,  constitutes  the  donor  a  Patron  of  the  Society. 

Frederick  Charles  Johnson,  M.  D 500.00 

(Minimum  |i, 000.00). 

Created  by  Dr.  Johnson  in  1909  and  to  be  completed  ultimately 

by  a  bequest  provided  in  the  will  of  Mrs.  Johnson. 

Rev.  Jacob  Johnson  1,000.00 

Established    May   4,    1909,    by    the   sale    of    the       "Historical 
Record"  of  Dr.  F.  C.  Johnson. 

Fred.  Morgan  Kirby,  given  in  1909 1,000.00 

Charles  Miner 500.00 

The  sum  of  $500.00  is  being  held  in  the  Savings  Account  until 
the  minimum  of  $1,000.00  is  reached  through  the  sale  of  the 
book  "Charles  Miner ;  A  Pennsylvania  Pioneer". 

Sidney  Roby  Miner — Given  in  1914 i,ooo.OO 

Abram  Nesbitt 14,000.00 

Given  in  1916  to  establish  memorials  for  the  following  and  to 
make  the  donor  a  Patron. 

Abram,  2d   $  1,000 

James,  Jr 4,000 

Mary  S 4,000 

Samuel    1,000 

Sarah  Myers  (Goodwin)  Nesbitt 2,000 

Sara  (Nesbitt)  Smyth  1,000 

$13,000 
Donor   1,000 

$14,000 

Lazarus  Denison  Stearns  1,000.00 

Given  June  24,  1901,  by  his  father  and  mother,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Irving  A.  Stearns. 

Dr.  Lewis  Harlow  Taylor 3,000.00 

Given  to  establish  Benefactor  memberships  for  Mrs.  Taylor 
and  the  donor  and  for  their  daughter,  Anna  Hollenback 
Taylor. 


REPORTS  Ivii 

Isaac  Miner  Thomas 1,000.00 

Given  in  1929  by  his  daughters  Louise  M.  Thomas  and  Mrs. 
Jessie  T.  Bennett  (an  additional  $1,000.00  is  to  come  later 
from  his  estate). 

Edward  Welles  1,000.00 

Annie  Augusta  Wright  (Bequest) 1,000.00 

The  Life  memberships  belong  in  this  group,  as  according  to  the  By-Laws 
they  are  to  be  invested  for  the  endowment  and  only  the  interest  to  be  used. 
There  are  to  date  one  hundred  and  ninety  Life  memberships  in  the  General 
Endowment. 


NESBITT  FUND. 
In  1924  Abram  G.  Nesbitt  promised  to  give  fifty  thousand  dollars  if  the 
Society  raised  a  like  sum,  the  entire  amount  to  be  held  in  the  Trust  Depart- 
ment of  the  Second  National  Bank.  At  the  time  of  Mr.  Nesbitt's  death  this 
amount  had  not  been  secured,  but  his  bequest  of  sixty-five  thousand  dollars 
provided  for  its  ultimate  completion.  This  sum  may  be  raised  by  gifts  of 
one  hundred  dollars  for  a  Life  membership,  or  more.  Fifty  Life  members 
have  been  secured  for  this.  In  addition  to  the  following  large  sums,  two 
gifts  of  five  thousand  dollars  each  are  promised  upon  the  completion  of  the 
sum. 

$  5,000.00  given  in  1925  to  establish  a  memorial  Endowment  membership 
for  Henry  Herbert  Ashley,  by  his  three  daughters. 
5,000.00  given  in   1924  to  establish  a  memorial  Endowment  for  Lillian 

Foster  by  her  mother,  Mrs.  Charles  Dorrance  Foster. 
5,000.00  to  establish  an  Endowment  membership  for  Anna  Welles  Hollen- 

back. 
2,500.00  given  by  Dorrance  Reynolds  toward  first  payment  on  purchase 
of  Institute  Building,  to  be  credited  to  Nesbitt  Fund  when  cost  of 
building  is  secured. 
2,500.00  given  similarly  by  Harry  B.  Schooley. 

1,000.00  given  in  1924  to  establish  a  memorial  Benefactor  membership  for 
Mrs.    R.   Bruce   Ricketts   by   her   daughter,    Mrs.   William   S. 
MacLean,  Jr. 
1,000.00  given  in   1925  by  Mrs.  Annie  E.    (Hoyt)    Shoemaker    (Mrs. 

George). 
3,000.00  given  1925-28  by  Edward  Welles,  Jr. 


SPECIAL  FUNDS. 

The  special  funds  have  been  given  in  response  to  special  needs  of  the 
Society,  to  provide  the  costs  of  addresses  and  lecturers,  for  additions  to 
library  and  museum  collections,  for  the  publication  of  valuable  material,  etc. 

These  special  funds  are  all  of  private  origin  and  were  given  on  the  distinct 
condition  that  the  income  from  them  would  be  used  only  for  the  purpose 
specified  in  the  gift,  hence  it  could  not  be  used  for  the  general  or  current 
expenses  of  the  Society.  The  special  funds,  given  with  the  condition  of 
investment  of  principal,  interest  only  to  be  used  are  as  follows : 


Iviii  REPORTS 

Joseph  Swift  Balch $    2,000.00 

Created  by  his  brother,  Edwin  Swift  Balch  for  the  purchase 
of  books — not  genealogical. 

Zebulon  Butler •  •       i.ooo.oo 

Given  in  1903  by  his  heirs  for  the  purchase  of  local  Indian 
relics,  ethnological  books  and  the  ethnological  publications  of 
the  Society. 

CoxE  Publication  Fund   10,000.00 

Given  about  February  ir,  1908,  by  the  Coxe  family  of  Drifton 
to  provide  for  the  annual  publications  of  the  Society,  toward 
which  Eckley  B.  Coxe,  Jr.,  gave  $5,000.00,  Mrs.  Eckley  Brinton 
Coxe  and  Mrs.  Alexander  B.  Coxe,  $5,000.00. 

Rev.  Horace  Edwin  Hayden 1,500.00 

Created  May,  1907,  by  Mr.  Hayden  to  secure  an  annual  geo- 
logical address  before  the  Society,  the  manuscripts  to  belong  to 
the  Society  to  be  published  by  them,  for  the  purpose  of  establish- 
ling  exchange  relations  with  other  Geological  Societites. 

Andrew  Hunlock 2,000.00 

One  thousand  dollars  was  given  in  1910  to  meet  the  great  need 
of  binding  historical  periodicals,  pamphlets,  etc.,  by  creating  a 
binding  fund,  and  later,  by  bequest,  Mr.  Hunlock  doubled  the 
amount  of  the  fund. 

Charles  F.  Ingham,  M.  D 500.00 

(Minimum  $1,000.00)  created  in  December,  1898  by  the  Society 
for  Geological  purposes. 

Ralph  D.  Lacoe  1,000.00 

Created  in  February,  1902  partly  by  gift  of  the  family  of  Mr. 
Lacoe  and  partly  by  the  Society,  through  the  sale  of  its  publica- 
tions— for  paleozoic  and  geological  purposes. 

Augustus  C.  Laning 1,000.00 

Given  in  January,  1908,  by  Mrs.  George  Cotton  Smith  in 
memory  of  her  father,  to  provide  an  annual  historical  address 
before  the  Society. 

Katherine  (  Searle)  McCartney 500.00 

Established  in  1922  by  the  bequest  of  her  daughter,  Mrs. 
Eleanor  (McCartney)  Bamford  for  the  purchase  of  genea- 
logies. 

The  Charles  Abbot  Miner  Fund 1,000.00 

Given  in  1909  by  his  family  for  the  purchase  of  geological  books 
and  specimens,  lectures,  etc. 

Sheldon  Reynolds  1,000.00 

Given  by  his  family  in  1896  for  a  memorial  library  of  rare 
American  history. 

Stanley  Woodward  1,000.00 

Created  by  his  sons  in  honor  of  his  having  been  a  founder,  to 
provide  an  annual  historical  paper  to  be  read  before  the  Society. 

Harrison  Wright    1,000.00 

A  gift  from  his  relatives  in  1895  to  create  a  memorial  library 
of  English  heraldry  and  genealogy. 


REPORTS  lix 

CERTAIN  SPECIAL  FUNDS. 
Certain  special  funds  have  been  given  not  for  investment,  but 

to  be  expended  for  some  definite  need. 

Benjamin   Dorrance,   1925-29 $     1,000.00 

The  money  establishing  this  Benefactor  membership  was  given 
from  time  to  time  by  his  daughter  for  some  special,  permanent 
need  of  the  Society,  books,  printing,  etc. 

Anna  Payne,  1923  1,000.00 

Given  by  her  father,  William  T.  Payne,  for  archaeological  in- 
vestigations of  Rock  Shelters  by  Max  Schrabisch.  Report  pub- 
lished in  volume  19  of  the  Society's  Proceedings  and  Col- 
lections. 

Sheldon  Reynolds  Memorial  Fund,  1927 25,000.00 

Given  by  his  son.  Colonel  Dorrance  Reynolds,  to  be  used  for  the 
collecting,  editing,  and  publishing  of  all  possible  source  material, 
relating  to  the  Connecticut  migration  to  the  Susquehanna  lands. 

BENEFACTOR  MEMBERSHIPS 
Established  by  gifts  of  articles,  not  money. 
During  the  existence  of  the  Society  certain  special  gifts  have  been  re- 
ceived, which  have  materially  increased  the  value  of  its  collections. 
William  Sterling  Ross — 1858. 
Gift  of   the   "Chambers"   collection   of   coins   and  other   curiosities   pur- 
chased for  $2,000.00  at  the  sale  of  the  Abbott  Museum  which  formed  a 
nucleus  for  the  Society's  museum  and  gave  the   Society  a  prestige  and 
recognition  among  friends  of  science  everywhere. 
Isaac  Smith  Osterhout — 1858. 

Provision  in  his  will  that  the  Directors  of  the  Osterhout  Free  Library  set 
aside  space  to  accommodate  the  collections  of  the  Historical  Society  in- 
cluding repairs,  light  and  heat,  which  led  to  the  erection  in  1893  of  the 
present  building,  now  inadequate. 
Steuben  Jenkins — 1926. 

Gift  from  his    descendants  of  valuable  local  manuscripts. 
William  A.  Wilcox — 1927. 

Gift  of  valuable  local  manuscripts. 
Christopher  Wren — 1928. 

Made  Benefactor  by  Trustees  in  return  for  gift  of  the  remainder  of  his 
Indian  collection  by  his  sisters.  Misses  Annie  B.  and  Catherine  Wren  of 
Kingston  and  Mrs.  Fehr  of  York,  Pennsylvania. 

At  the  time  these  special  funds  were  given,  the  amounts  were  sufiBcient 
to  provide  an  adequate  income  for  the  pui-poses  designated,  but  the  in- 
creased costs  of  everything  including  lectures,  and  publications  require 
nearly  double  the  available  income — necessitating,  supplementing  or 
combining  the  sums  received  annually..  Therefore,  to  accomplish  the 
purpose  desired,  all  these  funds  should  be  enlarged. 

There  are  other  needs  for  which  members  are  urged  to  contribute  to 
meet  the  growing  work  of  the  Society,  the  oidy  organization  of  its  kind 
and  importance  in  the  State,  outside  of  Philadelphia,  Why  not  mention 
in  your  Will  gifts  for  the  increase  of  these  Funds  and  so  pei-petuate  your 
own  name  by  useful  giving  that  will  live  after  you? 


OFFICERS 

OFFICERS  FOR  1930. 


President. 

DORRANCE  REYNOLDS. 

Vice  Presidents. 

WILLIAM  H.  CONYNGHAM. 
GILBERT  S.  McCLINTOCK 
ABRAM  NESBITT,  2d. 
MRS.  FREDERICK  HILLMAN. 

Recording  Secretary. 

SAMUEL  C.  CHASE. 

Treasurer. 

CHARLES  W.  LAYCOCK. 

THEODORE  BARBER.  *    J.  CAMPBELL  COLLINS. 
JOHN  H.  BLACKMAN,  Jr.  JOHN  C.  HADDOCK. 

WILLIAM  B.  BREWSTER.  ROBERT  MINER. 

LEWIS  TAYLOR  BUCKMAN,  M.  D.         BRUCE  PAYNE. 
MALCOLM  BURNSIDE.  HARRY  B.  SCHOOLEY. 

Trustees  Committees. 

Building  and  Equipment— MESSRS.  CHASE,  BUCKMAN,  and  MINER. 
Finance— MESSRS.    REYNOLDS,    BARBER,    CONYNGHAM,    LAY- 
COCK,  MINER  and  SCHOOLEY. 
Membership— MESSRS.  CHASE,  BURNSIDE  and  BLACKMAN. 
Coal— MESSRS.  HADDOCK  and  PAYNE. 
Manuscript  and  Landmarks— MESSRS.  BREWSTER,  COLLINS  and 

McCLINTOCK. 
Lectures— MRS.  FREDERICK  HILLMAN. 

Curators. 

Numismatics— HARRY  B.  SCHOOLEY. 
Mineralogy— WILLIAM  R.  RICKETTS. 

'^™ALM'iNmG^''°  I  FREDERIC  E.  ZERBEY. 

Archaeology— WILLIAM  J.  ROBBINS. 

Historian. 

WILLIAM  A.  WILCOX. 

Historiographer. 

KATHLEEN  HAND. 


DECEASED  MEMBERS  SINCE  PUBLICATION 
OF  VOLUME  XX. 

BENEFACTOR. 
LEWIS  HARLOW  TAYLOR,  M.  D. 

LIFE. 
FANNY  (LOVELAND)  BRODHEAD  (MRS.  R.  P.) 
GRACE  (LEA)  HUNT  (MRS.  C.  P.) 
REV.  JOSEPH  MURGAS. 
ELLA  (REETS)  PARRISH  (MRS.  FRED.). 
HARRY  FRANKLIN  STERN. 

MARTHA  (SHARPE)  TUCKER  (MRS.  HENRY  ST.  GEORGE) . 
ANTHONY  LAWRENCE  WILLIAMS. 

ANNUAL. 
Sustaining. 

CHARLES  E.  CLIFT. 

Regular. 
J.  J.  BECKER. 

ELLEN  (NELSON)  BENNETT  (MRS.  GEORGE  S.). 
HENRY  J.  CARR. 
WALTER  B.  DANDO. 
GEORGE  T.  DICKOVER. 
HARRY  L.  FRENCH. 
ISABELLA  GILCHRIST. 
PEDRO  R.  GILLOTT. 
THOMAS  M.  HERBERT. 
WILLIAM  S.  McLEAN,  Sr. 
GRANVILLE  T.  MATLACK,  M.  D. 
M.  E.  MOORE. 
MULFORD  MORRIS. 
R.  V.  A.  NORRIS. 
ROBERT  A.  QUIN. 
VICTOR  S.  ROBINSON. 
HAROLD  M.  SHOEMAKER. 
FREDERIC  W.  STARK. 
LOUISE  M-  STOECKEL,  M.  D. 
ISAAC  M.  THOMAS. 
SARA  N.  YOUNGBLOOD   (MRS.  F.  J.). 


NECROLOGY. 


J.  J.  BECKER, 

prominent  in  business  life  in  Wilkes-Barre  for  many  years, 
as  confectioner,  and  vice-president  of  Wilkes-Barre  Savings 
and  Deposit  Bank,  died  on  March  3,  1930.  He  had  been  a 
member  of  the  Society  since  1923. 

MRS.  ELLEN  WOODWARD  NELSON  BENNETT 
(MRS.  GEO.  S.), 
born  November  24,  1849,  ^li^d  November  26,  1928,  in  Wilkes- 
Barre,  where  she  had  lived  all  her  life.  She  was  the  daughter 
of  the  prominent  educator,  Rev.  Reuben  Nelson,  the  first 
principal  of  Wyoming  Seminary.  She  married  in  1872, 
George  Slocum  Bennett,  descendant  of  the  earliest  settlers 
in  the  Wyoming  Valley,  and  a  great  nephew  of  Frances 
Slocum,  the  "lost  sister  of  Wyoming",  who  was  stolen  by 
the  Indians  at  the  time  of  the  Battle  of  Wyoming,  July  3, 
1778.  Mrs.  Bennett  had  been  a  member  of  the  Society  since 
1923. 

MRS.  FANNY  (LOVELAND)  BRODHEAD  (MRS.  ROBERT  P.), 

was  the  daughter  of  William  and  Lydia  Hurlburt  Loveland 
and  descended  from  old  and  prominent  families  of  the  Wyo- 
ming Valley.  She  was  active  in  civic  and  church  affairs  and 
was  a  graduate  of  Vassar  College.  She  died  August  23, 
1928.  Mrs.  Brodhead  became  a  Life  member  of  the  Society 
in  1916. 

HENRY  JAMES  CARR, 
who   for   38  years   had   been   librarian   of    Scranton   Public 
Library,  died  on  May  21,  1929,  aged  79  years.    He  had  been 
a  member  of  the  Society  since  1914. 

CHARLES  E.  CLIFT, 

a  graduate  of  Brown  University  1897,  member  of  F.  W. 
Woolworth  Company,  and  a  resident  of  Wilkes-Barre  for 
several  years,  was  born  in  Middletown  Springs,  Vermont, 
March  9,  1870,  and  died  January  10,  1928.  Mr.  Clift  was 
particularly  interested  in  civic  affairs  and  his  death  was 
thought  to  have  been  hastened  by  his  leadership  in  a  success- 
ful Y.  M.  C.  A.  Drive.  He  had  been  a  sustaining  member  of 
the  Society  since  1924. 


NECROLOGY  Ixui 

WALTER  B.  DANDO, 

aged  23  at  time  of  his  death  December  29,  1929,  the  son  of 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  H.  Dando.  He  became  a  member  of  the 
Society  in  1929. 

GEORGE  T.  DICKOVER, 

born  January  28,  1849,  ^  member  of  an  old  Wilkes-Barre 
family  and  a  well  known  business  man,  died  June  28,  1928, 
He  became  a  member  of  the  Society  in  1923. 

HARRY  LIVINGSTONE  FRENCH, 

born  in  Plymouth,  November  21,  1871,  died  January  17, 
1928.  He  was  well  known  as  an  architect  and  was  descended 
from  old  Wyoming  Valley  families.  Mr.  French  became  a 
member  of  the  Society  in  1907. 

MISS  ISABEL  M.  GILCHRIST, 

a  descendant  of  the  colonial  family  of  Horton  street,  the 
homestead  of  John  Horton  of  the  Revolution  still  stands  at 
the  foot  of  Division  street  on  Carey  avenue.  Miss  Gilchrist 
died  October  24,  1929,  at  her  summer  home  at  Harvey's 
Lake;  she  had  been  a  member  of  the  Historical  Society  since 
1923. 

PROF.  PEDRO  RAMON  GILLOTT, 
a  native  of  Cuba,  born  December  31,  1866,  came  to  the 
United  States  in  1880,  and  graduated  from  Wesleyan  Uni- 
versity in  1892,  later  studying  at  Heidelberg,  Germany. 
In  1894  he  was  called  as  head  of  the  English  Depart- 
ment of  the  Wyoming  Seminary,  Kingston,  Pa.,  but  after  a 
few  years  he  took  up  his  chosen  field,  languages,  of  which  he 
was  past  master.  As  teacher  of  the  modern  and  classic  lan- 
guages, he  achieved  national  recognition  as  an  outstanding 
secondary  school  educator. 

Many  times  he  was  pressed  into  other  branches  of  teach- 
ing as  his  knowledge  of  history,  mathematics,  philosophy,  etc., 
was  unbounded.  His  students,  scattered  all  over  the  world, 
mourn  him  not  only  as  their  teacher,  but  as  a  wise  friend. 
He  died  January  11,  1930.  He  had  been  a  member  of  the 
Society  since  1927. 

THOMAS  M.  HERBERT, 
born  in  Carbon  county.  Pa.,  in   1868,  became  a  lawyer  at 
Luzerne  County  Bar  in  1895,  where  he  was  well  known  as  a 
defense  lawyer.    He  had  been  a  member  of  the  Society  since 
1927.    Mr.  Herbert  died  September  2,  1929. 


Ixiv  NECROLOGY 

MBS.  GRACE   (LEA)  HUNT, 

a  native  of  New  Orleans,  daughter  of  the  late  Judge  James 
Neilson  Lea,  and  descendant  of  well-known  colonial  families, 
was  widely  known  in  this  community,  for  her  many  beauti- 
ful and  noble  qualities.  She  married  Charles  Parrish  Hunt 
of  this  city  April  6,  1875,  and  had  been  a  distinguished  resi- 
dent here  since  that  time.  Mrs.  Hunt  passed  away  March 
28,  1930.  She  became  a  Life  member  of  the  Society  in  1927, 
having  been  an  Annual  member  from  1923  to  1927. 

DR,  GRANVILLE  T.  MATLACK, 

a  prominent  physician  and  surgeon,  died  July  26,  1928.  He 
was  born  February  5,  1862,  at  Downingtown,  Chester  Coun- 
ty, Pa.,  graduated  from  Jefiferson  Medical  College  in  1884, 
and  came  to  Wilkes-Barre  soon  afterwards.  Dr.  Matlack  at- 
tained great  prominence  in  his  profession.  He  became  a 
member  of  the  Society  in  1900. 

WILLIAM  SWAN  McLEAN, 

died  June  19,  1929.  at  the  age  of  88,  having  been  born  May 
27,  1841.  Educated  at  Wyoming  Seminary  and  graduated 
from  Lafayette  College  in  1865,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
of  Luzerne  County  in  1867,  and  became  one  of  its  most 
prominent  members.  His  private  library  was  a  noted  one. 
He  had  been  a  member  of  the  Society  for  sixty  years,  since 
1870. 

MULFORD  MORRIS, 
died  on  March  3,  1929,  at  the  age  of  39  years ;  he  was  a 
lawyer  and  the  son  of  Rev.  E.  J.  Morris,  a  prominent  figure 
of  the  community.  Mr.  Morris  was  a  member  of  the  artillery 
branch  of  the  American  Army  during  the  World  War,  and 
had  been  a  member  of  the  Society  since  1923. 

MARTIN  E.  MOORE, 

of  Wilkes-Barre,  born  i860,  died  December  23.  1929,  was 
at  his  death  the  dean  of  the  real  estate  men  in  Wilkes-Barre 
and  vicinity.  He  was  connected  with  many  societies  and  had 
been  a  member  of  the  Society  since  1923. 

REV.  JOSEPH  MURGAS, 

noted  scientist  and  an  esteemed  Slovak  priest  died  May  11, 
1929,  aged  65.  He  was  a  pioneer  in  the  development  of  the 
wireless  system  even  before  Marconi  perfected  his  system. 


NECROLOGY  IxV 

Father  Murgas  was  also  a  naturalist  and  artist.  He  was 
honored  for  his  service  during  the  World  War  and  was 
presented  with  a  medal  by  the  government  of  Czecho- 
slovakia, in  which  country  he  was  born,  February  17,  1864. 
Among  all  his  high  attainments  Father  Murgas  is  spoken  of 
first  as  a  man  of  God ;  his  talents  being  subservient  to  the 
good  of  his  church  and  his  people.  He  was  in  charge  of  the 
Sacred  Heart  Church  of  Wilkes-Barre.  Rev.  Joseph  Murgas 
became  a  Life  member  of  the  Society  in  1927. 

ROBERT  VAN  ARSDALE  NORRIS, 

a  widely  known  mining  engineer,  died  May  20,  1928.  He 
was  born  at  Newark,  New  Jersey,  May  2,  1864,  and  a  grad- 
uate at  Columbia  School  of  Mines  in  1885.  He  was  of  un- 
usual ability  as  a  mining  expert  and  a  lecturer.  He  became 
a  member  of  the  Society  in  1896. 

MRS.  ELLEN  (REETS)  PARRISH  (MRS.  FRED.  B.) 

a  prominent  resident  of  this  community  and  widow  of  Fred- 
erick B.  Parrish,  president  of  several  coal  companies,  was  the 
daughter  of  the  late  Charles  F.  Reets.  Mrs.  Parrish  had 
been  a  Life  member  of  the  Society  since  1896.  She  died 
February  9,  1929? 

ROBERT  A.  QUIN, 

born  in  Pottsville,  January  17,  1864,  became  a  prominent 
coal  company  executive,  as  vice-president  of  the  Susquehanna 
Collieries  Company.  He  died  as  a  result  of  a  fall  on  the  ice 
in  Wilkes-Barre,  January  23,  1929.  Mr.  Quin  was  a  man  of 
outstanding  ability  in  the  anthracite  coal  business  and  was 
a  member  of  many  societies ;  he  had  been  a  member  of  this 
Society  since  1908. 

VICTOR  S.  ROBINSON, 

a  leading  man  in  the  real  estate  business  in  the  Wyoming 
Valley,  died  on  January  12,  1930.  He  was  born  February 
6,  1885,  and  had  been  educated  as  a  teacher.  Mr.  Robinson 
was  a  member  of  many  societies  and  a  member  of  this  So- 
ciety since  1923. 

HAROLD  MERCER  SHOEMAKER, 

a  descendant  of  some  of  the  oldest  families  of  this  com- 
munity died  on  May  16,  1929,  aged  47  years.  Among  his 
ancestors  were   Col.   Nathan   Denison  in  command  of   the 


Ixvi  NECROLOGY 

troops  at  the  Battle  of  Wyoming,  July  3,  1778,  and  Lt.  Eli- 
jah Shoemaker,  who  was  killed  in  that  battle.  Mr.  Shoe- 
maker became  a  member  of  the  Society  in  1907. 

FREDERIC  W.  STARK, 

died  October  28,  1929,  was  born  April  30,  1870,  educated  in 
Wilkes-Barre,  became  a  prominent  business  man,  being  as- 
sociated with  the  Dupont  Powder  Company.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  many  clubs  and  had  been  a  member  of  the  Society 
since  1923. 

HARRY  FRANKLIN  STERN, 
born  in  Philadelphia  in  1855,  died  February  23,  1928.  He 
removed  to  Wilkes-Barre  in  1899,  when  he  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  firm  of  Isaac  Long.  He  was  unusually  interested 
in  civic  and  artistic  afifairs,  and  became  a  life  member  of  the 
Society  in  1923. 

DR.  LOUISE  M.  STOECKEL, 
who  died  January  14,  1929,  in  her  83d  year,  was  a  pioneer 
professional  woman  of  this  county.  She  taught  in  dififerent 
localities  in  the  county  for  a  time  and  by  her  own  efforts 
graduated  from  the  Woman's  Medical  College,  Philadelphia 
in  1890.  She  practised  medicine  to  almost  the  last  of  her 
life.  She  was  a  member  of  many  organizations,  among  them 
this  Society. 

DR.  LEWIS  H.  TAYLOR, 
a  distinguished  citizen  of  Wilkes-Barre,  born  July  29.  1850, 
died  November  5,  1928.  He  was  a  teacher  in  this  city  for 
several  years  and  then  studied  medicine  at  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania  and  graduated  in  1880;  he  also  studied  in 
Vienna,  Austria,  in  1883-84.  He  took  up  the  special  study 
of  the  eye,  ear,  nose  and  throat.  Dr.  Taylor  was  eminent 
not  only  as  a  physician  but  as  a  citizen  of  many  splendid 
characteristics  and  personalities. 

He  had  been  the  First  Vice-President  of  the  Wyoming 
Historical  and  Geological  Society  for  the  past  twenty-three 
years  and  a  Benefactor  since  1893.  I"  his  death,  the  Society 
has  sustained  the  loss  of  a  valued  officer  and  member  whose 
unfailing  co-operation  and  generosity  have  been  a  constant 
source  of  encouragement  and  help. 

ISAAC  M.  THOMAS, 

born  February  i,  1844,  died  January  30,  1928.  A  life-long 
resident  of  Wilkes-Barre  and  descendant  of  pioneer  families, 


NECROLOGY  Ixvii 

he  was  identified  with  many  business  interests  in  the  com- 
munity and  was  trustee  and  director  of  many  boards.  He 
was  a  member  and  trustee  of  the  Wyoming  Historical  and 
Geological  Society  from  191 5  to  the  time  of  his  death.  Mr. 
Thomas  was  noted  for  charitable  giving  and  interest  in 
worthy  causes. 

MRS.  MARTHA  (SHARPE)  TUCKER  (MRS.  HENRY  ST.  G.), 
a  member  of  a  prominent  Wilkes-Barre  family  and  wife  of 
a  distinguished  Virginian  politician  and  legislator,  died  Feb- 
ruary 18,  1928.  Mrs.  Tucker  was  a  graduate  of  Vassar  Col- 
lege and  was  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of  that 
institution.    She  became  a  life  member  of  the  Society  in  1900. 

ANTHONY  L.  WILLIAMS, 

aged  67  years,  died  August  5,  1929,  at  Portland,  Oregon, 
while  on  a  trip  to  Alaska.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Bar  of 
Luzerne  County,  and  was  associated  with  many  societies  and 
institutions  of  Luzerne  County.  Mr.  Williams  became  a 
Life  member  of  the  Society  in  1907. 

MRS.  SARAH  NIXON  YOUNGBLOOD   (MRS.  F.  J.), 

a  native  of  the  Wyoming  Valley,  died  on  May  22,  1929.  She 
was  a  member  of  the  D.  A.  R.  and  other  societies,  and  joined 
this  Society  in  1926. 


ROLL  OF  MEMBERSHIP, 

July  15,   1930. 


HONORARY. 


Joseph  Barrel!,  Ph.  D. 
*Rev.  Wm.  M.  Beauchamp,  S.  T.  D. 

Archaeologist,  author. 
L.  Vernon  Briggs,  M.  D.,  Author. 
Clarence  Chamberlin,  Aviator. 
Reuben  Nelson  Davis.  Naturalist,  author 
Rev.    George    P.    Donehoo,   D.  D.,    His- 
torian, archaeologist. 
*Hon.     Samuel     Abbott     Green,     LL.  D. 

Historian,  genealogist,  author. 
*Rev.    Samuel    Hart,    D.    D.      Historian, 

author. 
*Rt.  Rev.  J.  M.  Levering,  D.  D. 
*Thomas    Lynch    Montgomery,    Litt.    D. 
Librarian. 
Information  on  the  life  and  work  of 


Arthur  C.  Parker.   Archaeologist,  autlior. 
Frederick  B.  Peck,  Ph.  D.     Geologist. 
*Joseph  George  Rosengarten,  LL.  D. 
William  Berryman  Scott,  Ph.  D.    Geol- 
ogist. 
;        John  L.  Stewart,  Ph.  D. 

Lion  Gardiner  Tyler,   LL.   D.     Genealo- 
gist, author. 
Rev.  Ethelbert  Dudley  Warfield,  LL.  D. 

Historian. 
David  White.     Geologist. 
Edward  H.  Williams,  Jr.,  F.  G.  S.  A. 
Engineer,  geologist,  author. 

these  members  will  be  much  appreciated. 


CORRESPONDING. 


*Edwin  Swift  Balch.     Author. 
*Thomas  Willing  Balch.    Lawyer. 
John  Seymour  Ball. 
*Edmund  Mills  Barton.     Librarian. 
*D.  L.  Belden.     Ornithologist. 
*A.  F.  Berlin.    Archaeologist. 
Maynard  Bixby,  Mineralogist. 
T.  V.  Braidwood. 
Philip  Alexander  Bruce,  LL.  D.     Hist 

torian,  author. 
D.  M.  Collins. 
*Stewart  Culin. 
Samuel  L.  Cutter. 
John  H.  Dager. 

N.  H.  Darton,  F.  G.  S.  A.    U.  S.  Geol- 
ogist. 
Harry  Cassel  Davis,  A.  M.,  Ph.  D.,  Sec 

of  George  Washington  University. 
Rev.  Samuel  Bayard  Dod,  A.  M. 
Elnathan  F.  Duren. 

George  M.  Elwood,  F.  R.  M.  S.    Biol- 
ogist. 
William  Frear,  Ph.  D.     Chemist. 
Hon.  John  Gosse  Freeze. 
Frank  Butler  Gay.     Librarian. 
P.  C.  Gritman. 
Stephen  Harding. 
T)eceased. 
Information  on  the  life  and  work  of 


A.  L.  Hartwell. 

Thomas  Cramer  Hopkins,  Ph.  D.    Geol- 
ogist. 

Ray  Greene  Huling,  Sc.  D.    Archaeolo- 
gist. 

Hon.  William  Hunting  Jessup.    Jurist. 

Charles  Johnson. 

James  Furman  Kemp,  Ph.  D.    Geologist. 

Rev.  Charles  H.  Kidder. 

J.  R.  Loomis,  M.  D. 

Hon.  John  Maxwell. 

Edward  Miller. 
*Millard  P.  Murray. 

John  Peters. 

James  H.  Phinney. 

William  Poillon. 

S.  R.  Reading. 

J.  C.  Rhodes. 

Henry     M.     M.     Richards.       Historian, 
author. 

William  M.  Samson. 

Gertrude  (Griffith)  Sanderson. 

W.  H.  Starr. 

Thomas  Sweet,  M.  D. 

Samuel  French  Wadhams.    Lawyer. 

Abraham  Waltham. 

Margaret  (Lacoe)  White  (Mrs.  Baird). 

these  members  will  be  much  appreciated. 


ROLL  OF  MEMBERSHIP 


Ixix 


♦John  Butler  Conyngham. 
♦James  Plater  Dennis. 


♦John  Welles  HoUenback. 


perpetual  members. 
Founders. 

♦Hon.  Henry  Martyn  Hoyt. 
♦Hon.  Stanley  Woodward. 

Patrons. 

♦Abram  Nesbitt. 

Endowment. 


ERRATA. 


Page  LXXII,  second  column  : 

Insert,  *  Theodore  Strong  (memorial  by  his  daughter, 
Mrs.  May  Strong  Watson  (Mrs.  W.  L.). 

Page  LXXIII,  first  column  : 

Cancel,  W.  L.  Watson  Memorial,  etc. 
Through    a    misunderstanding    this    memorial    was    re- 
corded instead  of  the  one  for  Mr.  Strong,  long  a  resi- 
dent of  Wyoming  Valley. 


♦Isaac  Smith  Osterhout. 

♦Lucy  W.  Abbott. 

John  H.  Abbott. 

Frederick  W.  Ahlborn. 

Marion  (Ashley)  Ahlborn  (Mrs.F.W.). 
♦Emily  Isabella  Alexander. 
♦Caroline  (Beadle)  Ashley  (Mrs.  H.  H.). 
♦Lucius  Ashley. 

Thomas  Henry  Atherton. 

•Deceased. 


•^Jriarrison  Wright. 


Life. 


Clare  (Hillman)  Ayars  (Mrs.  Shepherd). 
Mary    Slocum    (Butler)     Ayres     (Mrs. 

Eugene  B.). 
Theodore  S.  Barber. 
Katherine  (Derr)  Barney  (Mrs.  Austin 

D.). 
Stanley  Barney. 
*Gustav  Adolph  Bauer. 


ROLL  OF  MEMBERSHIP, 

July  15,   1930. 


Joseph  Barrel!,  Ph.  D. 
*Rev.  Wm.  M.  Beauchamp,  S.  T.  D. 

Archaeologist,  author. 
L.  Vernon  Briggs,  M.  D.,  Author. 
Clarence  Chamberlin^  Aviator. 


HONORARY. 

Arthur  C.  Parker.   Archaeologist,  autlior. 
Frederick  B.  Peck,  Ph.  D.     Geologist. 
*Joseph  George  Rosengarten,  LL.  D. 
William  Berryman  Scott,  Ph.  D.    Geol- 


of  George  Washington  University. 

Rev.  Samuel  Bayard  Dod,  A.  M. 

Elnathan  F.  Duren. 

George  M.  Elwood,  F.  R.  M.  S.    Biol- 
ogist. 

William  Frear,  Ph.  D.     Chemist. 

Hon.  John  Gosse  Freeze. 

Frank  Butler  Gay.     Librarian. 

P.  C.  Gritman. 

Stephen  Harding. 
*t)eceased. 


J.  L.  Knodes. 

Henry    M.     M.     Richards.       Historian, 

author. 
William  M.  Samson. 
Gertrude  (Griffith)  Sanderson. 
W.  H.  Starr. 
Thomas  Sweet,  M.  D. 
Samuel  French  Wadhams.    Lawyer. 
Abraham  Waltham. 
Margaret  (Lacoe)  White  (Mrs.  Baird). 


Information  on  the  life  and  work  of  these  members  will  be  much  appreciated. 


ROLL  OF  MEMBERSHIP 


Ixix 


♦John  Butler  Conyngham. 
♦James  Plater  Dennis. 


*John  Welles  Hollenback. 


PERPETUAL    MEMBERS. 
Founders. 

*Hon.  Henry  Martyn  Hoyt. 
*Hon.  Stanley  Woodward. 

Patrons. 

*Abram  Nesbitt. 


Endowment. 
♦Henry    Herbert    Ashley    (memorial    by      ♦Lillian  Foster  (memorial  by  her  mother). 

his  three  daughters).  Anna  Welles  Hollenback. 

♦Eckley  Brinton  Coxe,  2nd. 

Benefactors. 


♦Edwin  Swift  Balch. 
♦Joseph  Swift  Balch. 
♦George  Slocum  Bennett. 
♦Zebulon  Butler. 

♦Sophia  E.   (Norris)   Coxe   (Mrs.  Alex- 
ander Brinton). 
♦Sophie  G.   (Fisher)  Coxe  (Mrs.  Eckley 

Brinton). 
♦Benjamin  Dorrance. 
♦Charles  Dorrance  Foster. 
♦Rev.  Horace  Edwin  Hayden. 

Amelia  Beard  Hollenback. 
♦Matthias  Hollenback. 
♦Andrew  Hunlock. 
♦Steuben  Jenkins. 
♦Frederick  Charles  Johnson,  M.  D. 
♦Rev.  Jacob  Johnson. 

Fred  Morgan  Kirby. 
♦Ralph  D.  Lacoe. 
♦Augustus  C.  Laning. 
♦Hon.  Charles  Miner. 
♦Hon.  Charles  Abbott  Miner. 
♦Sidney  Roby  Miner. 

Abram  Nesbitt,  2nd. 
♦Abram  Goodwin  Nesbitt. 
♦James  Nesbitt. 

Samuel  Nesbitt. 
♦Isaac  Smith  Osterhout. 


Anna  Payne. 
♦Sheldon  Reynolds. 
♦Elizabeth  (Reynolds)  Ricketts  (Mrs.  R. 

B.),      (memorial     by     Mrs.     W.     S. 

McLean,  Jr.). 
♦William  Sterling  Ross. 
♦Anne     E.     (Hoyt)     Shoemaker     (Mrs. 

George). 
♦Elizabeth  (Laning)   Smith  (Mrs.  George 

Cotton ) . 
♦Sara   (Nesbitt)   Smythe  (Mrs.  Hugh). 
♦L.    Denison    Stearns    (memorial   by   his 

parents). 
Anna  Hollenback  Taylor. 
♦Lewis  Harlow  Taylor,  M.  D. 
Emily      (Hollenback)      Taylor      (Mrs. 

Lewis   H.). 
♦Isaac    M.    Thomas     (memorial    by    his 

daughters,  Louise  M.  Thomas  and  Jes- 
sie  (Thomas)    Bennett. 
♦Edward  Welles. 
Edward  Welles,  Jr. 
William  A.  Wilcox. 
♦Hon.  Stanley  Woodward. 
♦Christopher  Wren. 
♦Anna  Wright. 
♦Harrison  Wright. 


Life. 


♦Lucy  W.  Abbott. 

John  H.  Abbott. 

Frederick  W.  Ahlborn. 

Marion  (Ashley)  Ahlborn  (Mrs.F.W.). 
♦Emily  Isabella  Alexander. 
♦Caroline  (Beadle)  Ashley  (Mrs.  H.  H.). 
♦Lucius  Ashley. 

Thomas  Henry  Atherton. 

•Deceased. 


Clare  (Hillman)  Ayars  (Mrs.  Shepherd). 
Mary    Slocum    (Butler)     Ayres    (Mrs. 

Eugene  B.). 
Theodore  S.  Barber. 
Katherine  (Derr)  Barney  (Mrs.  Austin 

D.). 
Stanley  Barney. 
♦Gustav  Adolph  Bauer. 


Ixx 


ROLL  OF   MEMBERSHIP 


*George  Reynolds  Bedford. 

♦Emily  (Fuller)  Bedford  (Mrs.  Geo.  R.). 

Paul  Bedford. 
*Martha  Bennett. 
*Priscilla  (Lee)  Bennett  (Mrs.  Ziba  P.). 

Z.  Piatt  Bennett. 

Charles  Welles  Bixby. 

Edward  Welles  Bixby,  M.  D. 
♦Joseph  Habersham  Bradley,  Jr. 
♦William  Brisbane,  M.  D. 

Charles  Brodhead. 
♦Robert  Packer  Brodhead. 
♦Fannie     (Loveland)     Brodhead     (Mrs. 
R.  P.). 

Edith  Brower. 

Percy  A.  Brown. 
♦Samuel  LeRoi  Brown. 

E.  U.  Buckman,  M.  D. 

Lewis  T.  Buckman,  M.  D. 

Bernard  F.  Burgunder. 

Emily  (Ryman)  Burlingham  (Mrs.  Ed- 
ward J.). 

Anthony  C.  Campbell. 
♦Phineas  M.  Carhart. 

George  W.  Carr,  M.  D. 

Louise   (Clarkson)    Carr   (Mrs.  George 
W.). 

George  H.  Catlin,  LL.D. 

Helen  (Walsh)  Catlin  (Mrs.  Geo.  H.). 
♦Sterling  Ross  Catlin. 

Grace  G.  Clift  (Mrs.  C.  E.). 

J.  Campbell  Collins. 

M.  E.  Comerford. 

George  Guthrie  Conyngham. 

John  Nesbitt  Conyngham. 

Bertha    (Robinson)    Conyngham    (Mrs. 
John  N.). 
♦Mae    (Turner)    Conyngham    (Mrs.   W. 
H.). 

William  Hillard  Conyngham. 

Jessie  (Guthrie)   Conyngham  (Mrs.  W. 

H.). 
♦William  Lord  Conyngham. 

William  Lord  Conyngham,  and. 

Bolton  G.  Coon. 
♦Frederic  Corss    (memorial  by  his  wife 
Mrs.  Frederic  Corss). 

Martha  (Hoyt)  Corss  (Mrs.  Frederic). 

Hon.  Clarence  D.  Coughlin. 

Henry  Hall  Covell,  M.  D. 
♦Alexander  Brinton  Coxe. 
♦Eckley  Brinton  Coxe. 

•Deceased. 


♦John  M.  Crane. 

♦Nathan  Beach  Crary. 

♦Edmund  Lovell  Dana. 

♦Alice      (McClintock)      Darling      (Mrs. 

Vaughn). 
♦Edward  Payson  Darling. 
*Thomas  Darling. 

Katherine  Dickson  Darte. 

Dorothy  Ellen   (Dickson)   Darte   (Mrs. 
Franck  G.). 

Andrew  Livingston  Davenport. 
♦Andrew  Fine  Derr. 

Andrew  Fine  Derr,  Jr. 

Elizabeth  Lowrie  Derr. 

Harriet   (Lowrie)   Derr   (Mrs.  Andrew 
F.). 
♦Henry  Haupt  Derr. 
♦Mary  D.  (Fell)  Derr  (Mrs.  H.  H.). 

Olin  Derr. 

Thompson  Derr,  2nd. 

H.  B.  De  Witt. 

Harriet  F.  (Stephens)  De  Witt. 
♦Allan  Hamilton  Dickson. 

Kate  (Pettebone)  Dickson  (Mrs.  Allan 
H.). 
♦Charles  Dorrance. 

Charles  Dorrance,  E.  M. 
♦Rev.  John  Dorrance. 

Clark  Wright  Evans. 

Marion  Annette  Evans. 
♦Alexander  Farnham. 
♦Jesse  Fell. 

Joseph  Fleitz. 
♦Liddon  Flick. 

Reuben  Jay  Flick. 

Fred  S.  Fowler. 

Louis  Frank. 

C.  G.  Goeringer. 
♦Joseph  Wright  Graeme. 

C.  C.  Groblewski,  M.  D. 

Malcolm  Guthrie,  M.  D. 

Sarah     H.     (Wright)     Guthrie     (Mrs. 
Geo.  W.). 

John  C.  Haddock. 
♦Elisha  Atherton  Hancock. 

Bayard  Hand. 
♦Garrick  Mallery  Harding. 

Daniel  L.  Hart. 
♦Henry  Harrison  Harvey. 
♦Jennie  (DeWitt)  Harvey  (Mrs.  H.H.). 
♦Jameson  Harvey. 

Robert  R.  Harvey. 


ROLL  OF  MEMBERSHIP 


Ixxi 


*James  C.  Haydon. 

Hon.  E.  Foster  Heller. 

Tuthill  R.  Hillard. 

Doris  Hillman. 

Frances  Parrish  Hillman. 

Frederick  Hillman. 

Mabel   (Murphy)   Hillman  (Mrs.  Fred- 
erick). 

George  Baker  Hillman. 
*Henry  Baker  Hillman. 
*George  Matson  Hollenback. 
♦Juliette  Geneve  Hollenback. 
♦Elizabeth  Waller  Horton. 
♦Abraham  Goodwin  Hoyt. 
♦Augusta  Hoyt. 
♦Edward  Everett  Hoyt. 
♦John  Dorrance  Hoyt. 
♦Martha  Goodwin  Hoyt. 

C.  F.  Huber. 

Leonore  B.  (Jones)  Humphrey  (Mrs.  J. 
M.). 

Hannah  (Grouse)  Hughes  (Mrs.R.M.). 

James  H.  Hughes. 

William  Frank  Hughes. 

Anna  M.  Hunt. 

Charles  P.  Hunt. 
♦Grace  (Lea)  Hunt  (Mrs.  C.  P.). 
♦Francis  William  Hunt. 

Lea  Hunt. 
♦Charles  Farmer  Ingham,  M.  D. 

Georgia  (Post)  Johnson  (Mrs.  F.  C). 

Frederick  Green  Johnson. 

Carleton  C.  Jones. 
♦Edwin  Horn  Jones. 
♦Rev.  Henry  L.  Jones,  S.  T.  D. 

Lawrence  B.  Jones. 

Martha    (Bennett)    Jones    (Mrs.    Law- 
rence B.). 
♦Richard  Jones. 

William  J.  Kear. 

P.  S.  Kielty. 

Allan  P.  Kirby. 

Jessie   A.    (Owen)    Kirby    (Mrs.    Fred. 
M.). 

Edgar  L.  Klipple. 
♦George  Brubaker  Kulp. 

John  Laning. 
♦William  Arthur  Lathrop. 

Harriet      (Williams)      Lathrop      (Mrs 
W.  A.). 
♦Woodward  Leavenworth. 
♦Woodward  Leavenworth,  Jr. 

•Deceased. 

tAlso  Supporting  member. 
l:Also  Sustaining  member. 


♦George  Gaboon  Lewis. 

♦William    Drake    Loomis    (memorial    by 

Mrs.  Loomis). 
♦Edward  Sterling  Loop. 

Charles  Noyes  Loveland. 
♦Elizabeth  Shephard  Loveland. 
♦George  Loveland. 

George  Loveland. 

Josephine  N.  Loveland. 
♦William  Loveland. 
♦Andrew  Hamilton  McClintock. 
♦Augusta   (Cist)   McClintock   (Mrs.  An- 
drew Todd). 
fGilbert  S.  McClintock. 

Margaret   McLean. 

MacWilliam's. 
♦William  Ross  Maffet. 
♦John  Miner  Carey  Marble. 

Alvan  Markle. 

John  Markle. 

Frank  F.  Matheson. 

Mrs.  Burr  Churchill  Miller. 

Burr  Churchill  Miller,  Jr. 

Reynolds  Churchill  Miller. 
♦Asher  Miner. 

Charles  Howard  Miner,  M.    D. 
♦Eliza    Ross     (Atherton)     Miner    (Mrs. 

C.  A.). 
♦Charles  Morgan. 
♦Rev.  Joseph  Murgas. 
♦Frances    E.     (Parrish)    Murphy    (Mrs. 

Jos.  A.). 
♦Joseph  Andrew  Murphy   (memorials  by 
their  daughter,  Mrs.  Mabel  (Murphy) 
Hillman  (Mrs.  Frederick). 
♦Lawrence  Myers. 
♦Frederick  Nesbitt. 

Fredericka  Nesbitt. 
♦George  Francis  Nesbitt. 
♦Ralph  Nesbitt. 

♦Sara  Myers    (Goodwin)    Nesbitt    (Mrs. 
Abram). 

Daniel  Edwards  Newell. 

George  Nicholson. 

Esther    (Shoemaker)    Norris    (Mrs.   R. 
V.  A.). 
♦Anna  (Miller)  Oliver  (Mrs.  Allan  M.). 
♦Lewis   Compton   Paine. 
♦Henry  W.  Palmer. 
♦Rev.  Nathan  Grier  Parke. 
tF.  E.  Parkhurst,  Sr. 
♦Charles  Parrish. 


Ixxii 


ROLL  OF  MEMBERSHIP 


♦Mary     (Conyngham)     Parrish      (Mrs. 

Charles). 
*Ella  (Reets)  Parrish  (Mrs.  Fred.  B.). 
♦Calvin  Parsons. 
♦Oliver  Alphonso  Parsons. 
♦Joseph  Emmet  Patterson. 
♦William  Grant  Payne. 

William  Theodore  Payne. 
♦Payne  Pettebone. 
♦Francis  Alexander  Phelps. 
♦John  Case  Phelps. 

♦Martha    (Bennett)    Phelps    (Mrs.  John 
C). 

Rollo  Green  Plumb. 

William  John  Raeder. 
♦John  Reichard,  Jr. 
♦Annie   B.    (Dorrance)    Reynolds    (Mrs. 

Sheldon). 
♦Benjamin  Reynolds. 

Grace    (Fuller)    Reynolds    (Mrs.    Ben- 
jamin). 

Dorrance  Reynolds. 

Mabel   (Doudge)   Reynolds   (Mrs.  Dor- 
rance). 

Edith  Lindsley  Reynolds. 
♦George  Murray  Reynolds. 

Schuyler  Lee  Reynolds. 
♦William  Champion  Reynolds. 
♦Charles  Francis  Richardson. 

Elizabeth  Miner    (Thomas)    Richardson 
(Mrs.  Chas.  F.). 
♦Robert  Bruce  Ricketts,  2nd. 

William  Reynolds  Ricketts. 
♦Ferdinand  Vandevere  Rockafellow. 

Helen  Ross. 

Mary  Ross. 

E.  M.  Rosser. 

Roselys  Ryman. 
♦Theodore  F.  Ryman. 
♦William  Penn  Ryman. 
♦Charlotte  M.  Ryman  (Mrs.  W.  P.). 

Caroline    J.     (Sharpe)     Sanders     (Mrs. 
Marion). 

William  N.  Schang. 
♦Joseph  John  Schooley. 

Mahlon  S.  Shafifer. 
♦Elizabeth  M.  Sharpe. 

Mary  A.  Sharpe. 
♦Richard  Sharpe,  Sr. 
♦Sallie   (Pattert-on)   Sharpe   (Mrs.  Rich- 
ard). 

Richard  Sharpe. 

"Deceased. 

JAlso  Sustaining  member. 


♦Sallie  Sharpe. 

Richard  Sharpe,  Jr. 
♦Arthur  Yeager  Shepherd. 

A.  C.  Shoemaker,  M.  D. 
♦Charles  Jones  Shoemaker. 
♦George  Shoemaker. 
♦Esther     (Stearns)     Shoemaker     (Mrs. 

Harold  M.). 
♦Irving  Stearns  Shoemaker. 

Jane  Augusta  Shoemaker. 
♦Lazarus  Denison  Shoemaker. 
♦Levi  Ives  Shoemaker,  M.  D. 
♦Cornelia    W.     (Scranton)     Shoemaker 
(Mrs.  Levi  I.). 

Albert  D.  Shonk. 
♦J.  Bennett  Smith. 

Smith-Bennett  Corporation. 

Eleanor  Parrish  Snyder. 

Katharine  Conyngham  Snyder. 

Hon.  A.  J.  Sordoni. 

♦Frederic   W.    Stark    (Memorial   by   his 
wife  Mrs.  Frederic  W.). 

Mary  Louise  Stark. 
♦Addison  Alexander  Sterling. 
♦Harry  Franklin  Stern. 

Julius  Long  Stern. 
♦Forrest  Garrison  Stevens. 

Rosa  (Sharpe)  Stevens  (Mrs.  Yale). 

Sarah   Covell    (Maffet)    Stevens    (Mrs. 
C.  J.). 

Walter  S.  Stewart,  M.  D. 
♦Thomas  Kirkbride  Sturdevant. 
♦James  Sutton. 
♦John  Henry  Swoyer. 
♦Ellen  E.  (Miner)  Thomas  (Mrs.  Jesse). 

Louise  Miner  Thomas. 
♦Percy  Rutter  Thomas. 
♦Sallie  Brinton  Thomas. 
♦William  Tompkins. 

C.  Rosa  Troxell. 
♦Ephraim  Troxell. 
♦Martha  (Sharpe)  Tucker  (Mrs.  Henry 

St.  George). 
tJohn  Augustus  Turner. 
♦Samuel  Gonsalus  Turner. 

Louis  Hollenback  Twyeffort. 

John  H.  Uhl. 

Sarah  (James)  Uhl  (Mrs.  Russell). 

Hon.  W.  A.  Valentine. 

Isaac  S.  Van  Scoy. 
♦Stephen  Buckingham  Vaughn. 


ROLL  OF  MEMBERSHIP 


Ixxiii 


♦Esther   T.    (French)    Wadhams    (Mrs. 

Elijah  C). 
♦Frances  (Lynde)  Wadhams  (Mrs.  Cal- 
vin). 
Raymond  Lynde  Wadhams.M.  D. 
♦David  Jewett  Waller. 
Bessie  (Roberts)  Warner  (Mrs.  Sidney). 
W.  O.  Washburn. 
Louis  A.  Watres. 
*W.  L.  Watson    (Memorial  by  his  wife 
May  (Strong)  Watson  (Mrs.  W.  L.). 
Frederick  J.  Weckesser. 
Stella   L.    (Hollenback)    Welles    (Mrs. 
Edward). 
♦Henry  Hunter  Welles. 
•Deceased. 


Frank  J.  Wilder. 
*Anthony  Lawrence  Williams. 

George  Woodward,  M.  D. 

Marion  (Hillard)  Woodward  (Mrs.  J. B.). 

Stanley  Woodward,  Jr. 
*Emily   L.    (Cist)    Wright    (Mrs.    Har- 
rison). 

George  Riddle  Wright. 

Harrison  Wright,  3d. 
♦Jacob  Ridgway  Wright. 

John  B.  Yeager. 

Margaret  (Myers)   Yeager   (Mrs.  John 
B.). 
♦Elias  Baylits  Yordy. 


EXTRACT  FROM  BY-LAWS. 

Perpetual  Membership. 

Any  individual  gift  of  $10,000.00  shall  make  the  donor  a  Patron  of  the  Society, 
or  any  one  whom  he  may  wish  to  name  either  as  a  living  or  as  a  memorial  Patron. 

Any  individual  gift  of  $5,000.00  shall  entitle  the  donor  to  an  Endowment  member- 
ship personally,  or  any  one  whom  he  may  wish  to  name,  either  as  a  living  or  as  a 
memorial  endowment  member. 

Any  person  contributing  to  the  Society  at  any  one  time  a  sum  not  less  than 
$1,000.00  shall  be  placed  on  the  Perpetual  membership  list  as  a  Benefactor  either 
personally,  or  any  one  he  may  name  as  a  living  or  a  memorial  Benefactor. 

The  payment  of  $100.00  at  any  one  time  by  a  member  not  in  arrears  shall  consti- 
tute him  or  any  one  he  may  name  a  Life  Alember. 

The  perpetual  membership  lists  shall  be  published  in  each  volume  of  the  "Pro- 
ceedings and  Collections"  of  the  Society. 

All  moneys  received  on  account  of  perpetual  memberships  shall  be  securely 
invested  by  the  Trustees  in  the  name  of  the  Society  and  shall  form  a  fund  either 
as  part  of  the  general  endowment,  or  as  a  special  fund,  to  be  designated  by  the 
member,  the  interest  only  of  which  shall  be  available  for  the  uses  of  the  Society. 


The  perpetual  member  is  entitled  to  all  the  publications  and  privileges  of  the 
Society  without  further  payment  of  dues.  This  membership  establishes  a  perma- 
nent memorial,  which  never  expiring,  always  bears  interest  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Society.    It  is  therefore  a  living  membership  perpetually. 


Ixxiv 


ROLL  OF  MEMBERSHIP 


tGilbert  S.  McClintock. 


Charles  H.  Biddle. 
Malcolm  Burnside. 
*C.  E.  Clift. 
Henry  Lazarus. 


Annual  Members. 

supporting. 

Harry  B.  Schooley. 

SUSTAINING. 

George  R.  McLean. 
Hon.  William  S.  McLean,  Jr. 
fF.  E.  Parkhurst,  Sr. 
tJohn  Augustus  Turner. 


Edwin  W.  Abbott. 

Charles  E.  Ash. 

Charles  M.  Austin. 

Joshua  Baily,  Jr. 

Elsie  L.  Baker. 

Amy  (Sturdevant)  Barber  (Mrs.  Theo- 
dore S.). 

Wm.  T.  Barnes. 

Godwin  Beard. 

Andre  A.  Beaumont. 

*J.  J.  Becker. 

Constance  (Reynolds)  Belin  (Mrs.C.  W.). 

♦Ellen  (Nelson)  Bennett  (Mrs.  George). 

George  Slocum  Bennett. 

Justin  Bergman. 

Elma  C.  Bishop. 

Helen  (Miner)  Bixby  (Mrs.  C.  W.). 

John  Hughes  Blackman. 

John  H.  Blackman,  Jr. 

C.  C.  Bowman. 

Julian  Parks  Boyd. 

Sarah  Porter  (Smith)  Boylston  (Mrs. 
Samuel  S.). 

William  Brewster. 

Allan  Colby  Brooks,  M.  D. 

Frances  E.  Brooks. 

Mary  G.  Brundage. 

Herman  Burgin,  M.  D. 

Mildred  (Sacks)  Burgunder  (Mrs.  Ber- 
nard F.). 

Betsy  (Denison)  Bush  (Mrs.  Joseph  H.). 

B.  Harold  Carpenter. 

Hon.  E.  N.  Carpenter. 

Lansing  T.  Carpenter. 

Walter  S.  Carpenter,  Sr. 

•Deceased. 


*Henry  James  Carr.     ^ 
William  H.  Castle. 
Rev.  E.  P.  Caulfield. 
Harry  E.  Chase. 
Samuel  Cogswell  Chase. 
John  M.  Cobb. 
Joel  Cohen. 
Mrs.  E.  A.  Conroy. 
William  Gary  Cooke. 
Bolton  G.  Coon. 
J.  S.  Coons. 
W.  B.  Crane. 

Edith  L.  Crane   (Mrs.  W.  B.). 
Martha  L.  Crary. 
Sara  Wood  Crary. 
Jessie  W.  Cunningham. 
Charles  W.  Dana. 
Edmund  L.  Dana. 
♦Walter  B.  Dando. 
Fuller  L.  Davenport,  D.  D.  S. 
George  R.  Dean. 
H.  D.  Deemer. 
De  Frenes  and  Company. 
Ralph  E.  DeWitt. 
♦George  T.  Dickover. 
Oscar  H.  Dilley. 
Victor  Lee  Dodson. 
Anne  Dorrance. 
Frances  Dorrance. 
John  H.  Doughty. 

Muriel  (Weston)  Doughty  (Mrs.  J.  H.). 
Francis  Douglas. 
Gwillym  Edwards. 

Hortense    (Beaumont)    Elliott    (Mrs.   C. 
P.). 


ROLL  OF  MEMBERSHIP 


Ixxv 


Fred.  M.  Eshelman. 

Bruce  M.  Espy. 

R.  B.  Espy. 

Tallie  Evans. 

George  L.  Fenner. 

Gregory  Ferenbach. 

Hon.  John  S.  Fine. 

Rev.  Frederick  L.  Flinchbaugh. 

Charles  S.  Forve. 

Oscar  Curtiss  Foster. 

Emma   (Merril)   Frantz   (Mrs.  G.  L.  C). 

Max  Friedman. 

W.  H.  Fregans. 

♦Harry  L.  French. 

Harriet  May  Fuller. 

Hon.  Henry  A.  Fuller. 

A.  S.  Galland. 

Minnie  (Strauss)  Galland  (Mrs.  George 
S.). 

John  H.  Garrahan. 

Rev.  Edmund  Jayne  Gates. 

Helen  Gates. 

Mary  Gates. 

Natalie  Gates. 

James  Gibbon. 

♦Isabel  M.  Gilchrist. 

♦Pedro  R.  Gillott. 

Charles  K.  Gloman. 

Harry  F.  Goeringer. 

Maude  (Whiteman)  Goflf  (Mrs.  William 
S.). 

Ray  L.  Grant. 

Rev.  John  Hall  Griffith. 

Dorothy  (Matlack)  Haddock  (Mrs. 
J.  C). 

Jennie  (Sharte)  Haddock  (Mrs.  John 
C,  Sr.). 

Anna  C.  Halsey. 

Margaret  (Colton)  Hand  (Mrs.  Bayard). 

Kathleen  Hand. 

William  G.  Harding. 

Ellen  (Brisbane)  Harding  (Mrs.  Wil- 
liam G.). 

J.  Slosson  Harding,  Jr. 

James  P.  Harris. 

Caroline  I.  Harrower. 

*  Deceased. 


Marion  (Burgess)  Harvey  (Mrs.  Lan- 
ing). 

Mary  Harvey. 

Louise  B.   (Roe)   Healy  (Mrs.  L.  W.). 

George  P.  Heffernan. 

Thomas  F.  Heffernan. 

Louise  E.  Heffernan  (Mrs.  T.  F.). 

*Thomas  M.  Herbert. 

C.  F.  Hess. 

Elizabeth  (Atherton)  Hewitt  (Mrs. 
Ashley  Cooper). 

Samuel  H.  Hicks. 

Lord  Butler  Hillard. 

Oliver  C.  Hillard. 

Charles  W.  Honeywell. 

Catherine  Horan. 

Mernie  (Turrell)  Howarth  (Mrs. 
George ) . 

John  T.  Howell. 

Maud  Buckingham  Hoyt. 

John  M.  Humphrey. 

Lydia  Atherton  (Stites)  Hunt  (Mrs.  Irv- 
ing O.). 

E.  A.  Innes. 

E.  R.  James. 

John  E.  Jenkins. 

M.  Clark  Johnson,  M.  D. 

Hon.  Benjamin  R.  Jones. 

Mabel  (Haddock)  Jones  (Mrs.  Carleton 
C). 

Carleton  Haddock  Jones. 

Edmund  E.  Jones. 

Henry  L.  Jones,  2nd. 

Katharine  Carleton  Jones. 

Harry  E.  Jordan. 

Ernestine  Martin  Kaehlin. 

Thomas  Hale  Keiser. 

Edward  H.  Kent. 

Claude  S.  King. 

Ella  Kintz. 

Willard  Kintz. 

Joseph  James  Kocyan,  M.  D. 

Rev.  Ferdinand  von  Krug. 

David  H.  Lake,  M.  D. 

Elmer  H.  Lawall. 

Charles  Wilber  Laycock. 


Ixxvi 


ROLL  OF   MEMBERSHIP 


I.  M.  Leach,  Jr. 

Nellie  K.  Leach. 

Grace  A.  Leacock. 

Ida    C.     (Miller)     Leavenworth     (Mrs. 

Woodward). 
Charles  W.  Lee. 
Henry  Lees. 
Ida  Vie  Lendrum. 
Charles  L.  Levy. 

Eva  (Goldsmith)  Levy  (Mrs.  Felix). 
Robert  Levy. 
Asa  E.  Lewis. 
W.  E.  Lewis. 

Mrs.  Edith  (Reynolds)  Lloyd. 
Cosmar  P.  Long. 

Eva  (Stewart)  Loomis  (Mrs.  W.  D.). 
John  S.  Lopatto. 

Flora  (Kintz)  McCabe  (Mrs.  Wesley  P.). 
Hetty  C.  McClelland. 
Cornelius  J.  McCole. 
*William  S.  McLean,  Sr. 
Frances  Leigh  (Ricketts)  MacLean  (Mrs. 

William  S.,  Jr.). 
Catherine  McNelis. 
Martha  Adelia  Maffet. 
Frances  G.  Markham. 
G.  Guthrie  Marvin. 
*Granville  T.  Matlack,  M.  D. 
Peter  P.  Mayock,  M.  D. 
Elmer  L.  Meyers,  M.  D. 
Nat  Myers. 
Sara  Miles. 
J.  M.  Miles. 

Clara  (Gardner)   Miller  (Mrs.  F.  S.). 
Harry  C.  Miller. 
Grace   (Shoemaker)   Miner   (Mrs.  Chas. 

H.). 
Robert  C.   Miner. 
A.  E.  Moat. 
*M.  E.  Moore. 
Benjamin  F.  Morgan. 
Charles  E.  Morgan. 
*Mulford  Morris. 
W.  D.  Morris,  Jr. 
Reuben  H.  Morrish. 
E.  B.  Mulligan. 
James  Mulligan. 
Samuel  T.  Nicholson. 
*R.  V.  A.  Norris. 
R.  V.  A.  Norris,  Jr. 
Louis  H.  O'Connell. 

'Deceased. 


Zeta  (McGlynn)  O'Hara  (Mrs.  James). 
Frank  Pardee. 
Israel  P.  Pardee. 

E.  W.  Parker. 

F.  E.  Parkhurst,  Jr. 
N.  Grier  Parke. 

Zora    Gould     (Calhoun)     Parks     (Mrs, 

A.  L.). 
Bruce  Payne. 
William  H.  Peck. 
William  J.  Peck. 
Bruce  R.  Peters. 
E.  R.  Pettebone. 
J.  S.  Pettebone. 
Stephen  C.  Pettebone. 
Charles  Pfififerling. 
E.  D.  Phillips. 
Myra  Poland. 
Marion     (Weckesser)     Pool     (Mrs.     J. 

Henry). 
Samuel  Potts. 
Theodore  Carpenter  Potts. 
Bertha  A.  Pringle. 
Elizabeth  H.  Pringle. 
*Robert  A.  Quin. 
N.  H.  Raiber. 
J.  A.  Redington. 
J.  Arlington  Rees. 
J.  Herbert  Reynolds. 
Pierce  Reynolds. 
William  Nicholas  Reynolds,  Jr. 
William  J.  Robbins. 
*Victor  S.  Robinson. 
David  Rosenthal. 
K.  J.  Ross. 
Lloyd  M.  Royer. 
William  J.  Ruff. 
Harold  N.  Rust. 
Edward  F.  Ryman. 

Louise  (Lynch)  Ryman  (Mrs.  Leslie  S.). 
H.  S.  Sage. 
Mrs.  Louis  Schloss. 
Winifred      (Griffith)      Schooley      (Mrs. 

Harry  B.). 
Joseph  Schuler. 
Joseph  H.  Schwartz. 
Elizabeth    (Woodward)    Scott   (Mrs.   E. 

G.). 
Henry  Shapiro. 
Louis  Shellbach,  3d. 
Edward  S.  Shepherd. 
William  C.  Shepherd. 


ROLL  OF   MEMBERSHIP 


Ixxvii 


♦Harold  M.  Shoemaker. 

Edwin  Shortz,  Jr. 

Dorothy  P.  Skinner  (Mrs.  Alanson). 

Frank  P.  Slattery. 

Alexander  Sloan. 

Archie  DeWitt  Smith. 

Ernest  G.  Smith. 

Marjorie  (Harvey)  Smith  (Mrs.  Ernest 
(G.). 

H.  S.  Smith. 

Ralph  Alexander  Smith. 

Robert  C.  Smith. 

Jessie  (Stocker)  Smith  (Mrs.  Robert 
C). 

William  Henry  Smith. 

Erskine  L.  Solomon. 

Rev.  L.  L.  Sprague,  D.  D. 

Cornelia  M.   Stark. 

Claire  (Warbrick)  Stark  (Mrs.  Fred- 
eric W.). 

S.  Judson  Stark. 

Joseph  L.  Stearns. 

Paul  Sterling. 

Arline  (Payne)   Sterling  (Mrs.  Paul) 

W.  Carl  Sterling. 

*Louise  M.  Stoeckel,  M.  D. 

Emilie  T.  Strauss. 

W.  C.  Sutherland. 

Delbert  K.  Tarr. 

Edward  Sweetser  Tillotson. 

William  Stark  Tompkins. 

*Deceadse. 


Elizabeth  W.    (Ayres)    Tompkins    (Mrs. 

W.  S.). 
Mary  L.  Trescott. 

Ellen  (Page)  Trumbower  (Mrs.  C.  K.). 
Henry  C.  Turner. 
Richard  Turner. 
Anna  Elizabeth  Turrell. 
George  Henry  Turrell. 
Margaret    (Clark)    Turrell    (Mrs.    Geo. 

H.). 
Walter  Vandermark. 
Lydia  F.  Wadhams. 
Ralph  H.  Wadhams. 
Charles  B.  Waller. 
Samuel  D.  Warriner. 
May  (Strong)  Watson  (Mrs.  W.  L.). 
Mary  Weir. 

Henry  Hunter  Welles,  Jr. 
Theodore  L.  Welles. 
Ambrose  West. 
Gladys  I.  Wiener. 

Wilkes-Barre  Multigraphing  Company. 
Benjamin  F.  Williams. 
Hayden  Williams. 
John  D.  Williams. 
Thomas  H.  Williams. 
O.  R.  Wolfe. 
Annie  B.  Wren. 
Stanley  M.  Yetter. 
Mrs.  James  Watts  Young. 
*Mrs.  F.  J.  Youngblood. 
Frederic  Edgar  Zerbey. 


EXTRACT  FROM  BY-LAWS. 

Any  one  paying  the  sum  of  $25.00  annually  shall  be  listed  as  a  Sustainmg 
member.  Any  one  paying  the  sum  of  $50.00  annually  shall  be  listed  as  a  Support- 
ing member. 

Sustaining  and  Supporting  members  who  continue  their  annual  payments 
throughout  life  shall  be  entered  on  a  permanent  list  of  such  membership. 


SUMMARY  OF  MEMBERSHIP. 
July  15,   1930. 

Perpetual    366 

Founders    4 

Patrons     2 

Endowment     4 

Benefactors    45 

Life     311 

Annual    31a 

Supporting    2 

Sustaining    8 

Regular     302 


678 


Ixxviii  BY-LAWS 

BY-LAWS.* 


MEMBERSHIP. 

1.  The  membership  shall  consist  of  four  classes:  Hon- 
orary, Corresponding,  Annual  and  Perpetual.  Any  per- 
son of  recognized  attainments  in  science  or  belles-letters  shall 
be  eligible  to  Honorary  Membership.  Any  person  not  re- 
siding within  Luzerne  County  may  be  elected  a  Correspond- 
ing Member.  Any  person  duly  elected  and  paying  the  an- 
nual dues  hereinafter  stated,  shall  be  an  Annual  Member. 
A  person  shall  be  eligible  for  Perpetual  Membership  by 
paying  any  of  the  amounts  hereinafter  stated  as  a  basis  for 
said  membership. 

2.  For  Honorary  Membership,  no  dues  shall  be  required. 
For  Corresponding  Membership,  no  dues  shall  be  re- 
quired. 

The  dues  of  an  Annual  Member  shall  be  as  follows : 
Regular  Membership,  Five  dollars  per  annum. 
Sustaining  Membership,  Twenty-five  dollars  per  an- 
num. 

Supporting  Membership,  Fifty  dollars  per  annum. 
Sustaining  and   supporting  Members  who   continue 
their  annual  payments  through  life  shall  be  entered 
on  a  permanent  list  of  such  membership. 

For  Perpetual  Membership  no  dues  shall  be  required, 

but  shall  be  established  by  the  payment  of  any  one  of 

the  following  stated  amounts : 

A  contribution  of  One  Hundred  Dollars  to  the  Society 
shall  entitle  the  donor  to  a  Life  Membership. 

Any  person  contributing  to  the  Society  a  sum  not 
less  than  One  thousand  dollars,  shall  be  a  Benefactor 
of  the  Society. 

A  contribution  of  not  less  than  Five  thousand  dollars 
shall  entitle  the  donor  to  an  Endowment  Membership. 
Any  person  contributing  to  the  Society  a  sum  not 
♦Amended  at  a  meeting  held  Feb.  i8.  1930. 


BY-LAWS  Ixxix 

less  than  Ten  thousand  dollars,  shall  be  a  Patron  of 
the  Society. 

Any  of  the  above  Perpetual  Memberships  may  be 
established  in  the  name  of  the  donor,  or  of  any  living 
or  deceased  person  or  persons  selected  by  the  donor. 
The  Perpetual  Membership  list  shall  be  published 
in  each  volume  of  the  Society's  "Proceedings  and  Col- 
lections." 

All  moneys  received  on  account  of  Perpetual  Mem- 
berships shall  be  securely  invested  by  the  Trustees 
in  the  name  of  the  Society,  for  the  general  uses  of 
the  Society,  or  for  any  special  purpose  or  purposes 
designated  by  the  donor. 

3.  All  names  proposed  for  Honorary,  Corresponding  or 
Annual  Membership,  shall  be  referred  to  the  Board  of  Trus- 
tees as  Committee  on  Members,  and  upon  the  affirmative 
recommendation  of  a  majority  shall  be  considered  elected  to 
membership,  and  notice  sent  to  that  eflFect.  The  Board  of 
Trustees,  may,  by  majority  approval,  place  any  name  on  the 
Perpetual  Membership  Roll  on  payment  of  the  required 
amount  for  such  membership. 

4.  The  fiscal  year  of  the  Society  shall  begin  January  first, 
at  which  time  the  dues  for  Annual  Members  shall  become  due 
and  payable.  Persons  elected  after  October  first,  in  any  year, 
shall  be  exempt  from  payment  of  dues  for  that  year. 

5.  No  member  who  shall  be  in  arrears  for  two  years  shall 
be  entitled  to  vote  or  be  eligible  to  any  office ;  any  failure  to 
pay  annual  dues  for  two  consecutive  years,  after  due  notice 
from  the  Treasurer,  shall  be  considered  a  forfeiture  of  mem- 
bership ;  and  no  person  whose  name  shall  be  expunged  from 
the  rolls  of  the  Society  under  the  provision  of  this  clause  shall 
be  reinstated  without  the  payment  of  his  arrears. 

6.  Resignation  of  Membership  shall  be  made  in  writing 
addressed  to  the  President  of  the  Society. 

officers  and  committees. 

7.  The  officers  of  the  Society  shall  be  a  President,  a  board 


IXXX  BY-LAWS 

of  Trustees  having  a  membership  not  less  than  five  nor  more 
than  ten,  at  the  discretion  of  the  board,  four  Vice  Presidents, 
a  Secretary,  a  Director,  a  Treasurer,  a  Librarian,  a  Historian, 
and  a  Historiographer.  The  officers  shall  be  elected  at  the 
annual  meeting,  and  hold  office  for  one  year,  or  until  their 
successors  are  elected. 

8.  The  President,  or  in  his  absence,  the  highest  officer 
present,  shall  preside  at  all  meetings  of  the  Society,  and  regu- 
late the  order  thereof,  and  when  required  give  the  casting 
vote.  The  President  shall  be  ex-officio  Chairman  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees. 

9.  The  Secretary  shall  keep  full  minutes  of  all  meetings, 
and  have  the  same  transcribed  into  a  book  of  record.  He 
shall  have  custody  of  the  by-laws,  records,  and  all  papers 
appertaining  to  his  office.  He  shall  give  notice  of  the  time 
and  place  of  all  meetings. 

10.  The  Director  shall  have  charge  of  all  work  that  may  be 
undertaken  by  the  Society.  He  shall  formulate  and  execute 
the  policies  of  administration  of  the  Society,  subject  to  the 
approval  of  the  Board  of  Trustees.  He  shall  conduct  all 
correspondence,  and  preserve  on  file  all  communications  ad- 
dressed to  the  Society.  He  shall  keep  copies  of  all  letters 
written  by  him,  and  read  at  each  meeting  such  part  of  the 
correspondence  as  the  President  may  direct.  He  shall  notify 
officers  and  members  of  their  election,  and  communicate  all 
special  votes  to  parties  interested  therein,  and  acknowledge 
and  record  all  gifts  to  the  Society. 

11.  The  Treasurer  shall  collect  the  annual  dues  of  the 
members  and  other  income  of  the  Society,  and  deposit  the 
money  in  one  of  the  Wilkes-Barre  banks  to  the  credit  of  the 
Society,  subject  to  the  check  of  the  Treasurer.  He  shall  pay 
under  proper  vouchers  all  the  ordinary  expenses  of  the  So- 
ciety; and  shall,  at  the  annual  meeting  present  a  statement  of 
the  receipts  and  expenditures  during  the  year,  together  with 
a  full  report  of  the  financial  condition  of  the  Society.     He 


BY-LAWS  Ixxxi 

shall  give  a  bond  for  the  faithful  performance  of  his  duties 
in  a  sum  to  be  fixed  by  the  Trustees,  and  by  them  held  as 
security. 

12.  The  Librarian  shall  preserve  and  arrange  in  proper 
order  all  books,  pamphlets,  documents,  manuscripts,  photo- 
graphs and  other  papers  of  the  Society,  and  keep  a  catalogue 
of  the  same,  numbering  them  with  proper  numbers  of  both 
the  general  and  special  catalogues. 

13.  There  shall  be  one  Curator  for  each  of  the  following 
departments  :  Archaeology  and  History ;  numismatics  ;  Ge- 
ology ;  Mines  and  Mining.  Each  curator  shall  have  the 
charge  and  management  of  the  special  department  assigned 
to  his  care,  and  shall  arrange,  classify  and  catalogue  the  same 
in  such  manner  as  shall  be  approved  by  the  Director. 

14.  The  Trustees  shall  have  entire  charge  of  the  business 
management  of  the  aflfairs  of  the  Society.  They  shall  ex- 
amine and  audit  the  accounts  of  the  Treasurer,  and  authorize 
and  direct  the  investment  of  the  surplus  funds.  They  shall 
make  such  appropriations  from  the  funds  for  any  purpose 
or  purposes  as  in  their  judgment  shall  seem  necessary.  They 
shall  have  the  power  to  remit  the  dues  of  members  in  cases 
when  circumstances  render  it  proper. 

15.  The  Historian  shall  endeavor  to  keep  the  local  his- 
torical collection  up  to  date  and  to  add  to  the  value  of  the 
Society's  work  by  original  research,  editing  of  material,  col- 
lection and  preservation  of  books,  etc.,  in  so  far  as  possible. 

16.  The  Historiographer  shall  collate  and  keep  a  record  of 
such  current  events  of  local  or  public  interest  as  he  may  deem 
worthy  of  preservation  ;  and  prepare  notices  of  members  de- 
ceased during  his  term  of  office. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

17.  The  annual  meeting  shall  be  held  on  a  date  as  near  the 
eleventh  clay  of  February  as  practicable.  A  stated  meeting 
thereafter  shall  be  held  on  a  date  as  near  the  fifteenth  day  of 
November  as  practicable.     The   President  may  call   special 


Ixxxii  BY-LAWS 

meetings  whenever  he  shall  deem  it  necessary.     Six  members 
shall  constitute  a  quorum  at  any  meeting. 

i8.  The  Trustees  shall  hold  meetings  prior  to  the  regular 
meetings  of  the  Society  above  stated.  The  President  may 
call  special  meetings  of  the  Trustees  whenever  he  shall  deem 
it  necessary.    A  majority  of  the  Trustees  shall  be  a  quorum. 

19.  All  reports  of  Committees  must  be  in  writing  and  ad- 
dressed to  the  President,  and  shall  be  received  and  recorded 
by  the  Secretary. 

20.  All  books,  pamphlets  and  manuscripts  shall  be  regu- 
larly numbered  and  marked  with  the  name  "Wyoming  His- 
torical and  Geological  Society,"  and  bear  the  proper  num- 
bers of  the  general  and  special  catalogues. 

21.  All  gifts  to  the  library  or  cabinet  shall,  when  practic- 
able, have  the  name  of  the  donor  attached  thereto. 

22.  No  article  belonging  to  the  Society  shall  be  taken  from 
the  rooms  without  permission  of  the  Director. 

23.  No  person  shall  have  the  right  to  use  any  manuscript 
of  the  Society  in  the  preparation  of  any  paper  or  essay  unless 
such  paper  or  essay  shall  become  its  property. 

24.  Offenses  against  these  by-laws  shall  be  dealt  with  by 
the  ofificers  and  Trustees. 

25.  The  by-laws  may  be  amended  at  any  regular  meeting 
by  vote  of  two-thirds  of  the  members  present  and  voting, 
provided,  the  proposed  amendment  or  amendments  shall 
have  been  read  and  considered  by  the  Trustees  at  a  preceding 
meeting. 

The  order  of  business  at  all  meetings  shall  be  arranged  by 
the  Director  as  the  occasion  requires. 


THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT  HARDING 


ERRATA. 


Page  10,  third  line  from  bottom, 
Cut  out  it. 

Page  12,  third  line  from  top, 

bought  should  be  brought. 

Page   13,  tenth  line  from  bottom, 

mother  should  read  ancestress. 

Page  22,,  eleventh  line  from  bottom, 

himself  should  read  his  family. 

Page  39,  Note :  later  research  discloses,  through  legal  papers 
recorded  at  Wilkes-Barre  and  Montrose,  that  Jo- 
seph Baker  lived  at  Newton  Lake  in  Clifford 
Township  instead  of  at  Elkdale. 

Page  42,  Note :  Dr.  George  Tryon  Harding,  father  of  Presi- 
dent Harding,  died  Nov.  19,  1929,  at  the  home  of 
his  daughter,  Mrs.  E.  E.  (Charity  M.)  Remsberg, 
at  Santa  Ana,  California. 


One  notable  case  was  that  of  a  town  in  Connecticut  which 
probably  never  had  a  resident  ancestor  of  the  President 
within  its  boundaries,  claiming  that  a  certain  Nathan  Harding 


meetings  whenever  he  shall  deem  it  necessary.     Six  members 
shall  constitute  a  quorum  at  any  meeting. 


THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT  HARDING 


The  interest  in  genealogy  which  has  been  growing  in  this 
country  for  a  generation,  was  greatly  stimulated  by  the 
World  War.  Patriotism  was  brought  out  of  hiding  during 
that  struggle  and  given  an  airing  that  proved  an  incentive 
to  many  people  to  seek  admission  to  membership  in  patriotic 
societies.  As  many  of  these  societies  are  entered  only 
through  family  descent,  the  proof  of  which  is  required,  the 
natural  result  has  been  a  search  for  ancestors  and  a  study  of 
history  sometimes  made  by  those  ancestors,  that  has  proved 
as  absorbing  to  the  searcher  as  cross  word  puzzles  or  "ask 
me  another". 

Almost  universally,  this  interest  in  pedigree  hunting  is  a 
self-centered  one,  the  seeker  caring  only  for  his  own  lineage 
and  interesting  himself  in  no  other.  A  peculiar  and  striking 
exception  to  this  was  shown  during  the  presidential  campaign 
of  1920,  when,  seemingly,  the  whole  country  was  reading  the 
many  articles  published  concerning  the  ancestors  of  the  Re- 
publican standard  bearer.  As  no  such  interest  was  shown  in 
the  Democratic  candidate,  we  conclude  that  our  people,  just 
emerged  from  the  horrors  of  war,  were  in  a  peculiarly  re- 
ceptive mood  to  the  romantic  and  tragic  Revolutionary  war 
histories  of  certain  members  of  the  Harding  family  made 
prominent  in  these  stories. 

Genealogists,  genealogical  societies,  magazines  and  news- 
papers all  entered  the  field,  giving  widely  different  family 
records ;  and  we  had  the  spectacle  of  people  who  never  before 
dreamed  of  bearing  relationship  to  the  Hardings,  claiming  at 
least  kinship  by  marriage  and  frantically  searching  for  proof 
of  the  same.  Even  towns  were  not  exempt  from  the  craze 
which  lasted  until  after  the  death  of  President  Harding. 
One  notable  case  was  that  of  a  town  in  Connecticut  which 
probably  never  had  a  resident  ancestor  of  the  President 
within  its  boundaries,  claiming  that  a  certain  Nathan  Harding 


2  THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT  HARDING. 

who  once  lived  there  was  his  grandfather.  This  town,  on  the 
strength  of  its  historical  mistake,  held  a  special  memorial 
service,  August  lo,  1923,  at  which  addresses  were  made  by 
several  distinguished  men.  The  State  of  Vermont  also  put 
forth  claims  similar  to  this  Connecticut  town  and  issued  a 
family  record  differing  from  all  others. 

One  genealogist  professed  to  trace  the  unbroken  lineage 
of  the  American  branch  of  the  Hardings  from  Canute,  the 
Dane,  who  ruled  England  early  in  the  eleventh  century,  and 
named  many  illustrious  men  as  he  carried  the  line  down 
through  the  centuries  to  the  present  time.  As  he  gave  authori- 
ties for  some  of  his  statements,  the  record  as  compiled  by 
him  may  be  as  true  as  such  records  usually  are.  The  entire 
absence  of  surnames  in  ancient  times  and  the  disregard  by 
younger  sons  of  the  father's  name  down  to,  and  in  the 
majority  of  cases  even  through  the  middle  ages,  combined 
with  carelessness  in  the  spelling  of  names  in  quite  modern 
times,  make  the  tracing  of  a  family  pedigree  prior  to  1500 
an  exceedingly  difficult  and  delicate  matter. 

In  1864  a  genealogy^  was  published  which  contains  the 
results  of  an  exhaustive  study  of  the  history  of  the  name 
Harding.  According  to  this  authority  it  is  a  name  found 
in  all  dialects  of  the  Goths  and  signifies  martial  valor.  It 
has  been  traced  to  France,  Germany  and  Scandinavia  and 
has  also  been  found  in  Britain  prior  to  the  establishment  of 
the  feudal  system.  It  seems  to  have  been  bestowed  indis- 
criminately upon  individuals  irrespective  of  family  relation- 
ship, and  perhaps  even  upon  tribes,  as  significant  of  qualities 
most  admired.  It  is  not  improbable  that  the  towns  in  Eng- 
land and  northern  Europe  bearing  the  name  with  various 
suffixes,  were  the  scenes  in  ancient  times  of  events  in  which 
the  Goths  gloried ;  but  in  some  instances  it  may  have  been 

^  A  genealogical  register  of  the  descendants  of  several  ancient 
Puritans",  by  Rev.  Abner  Morse,  A.  M.  Published  by  H.  W.  Button 
&  Son,  Boston,  in  1864.     In  four  volumes. 


THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT  HARDING.  3 

given  to  a  locality  because  it  was  the  frequent,  or  permanent 
retreat,  or  stronghold  of  some  individual,  or  tribe  which  had 
won  the  name  in  martial  contest.  Between  the  coming  of 
Hengist  and  Horsa  in  449  and  the  Norman  Conquest,  the 
name  had  been  thus  given  to  many  places  in  central  and 
southern  Britain  and  in  1086  there  were  seven  localities  in 
the  western  part  mentioned  in  Doomsday  Book.  By  that 
date  (1086)  the  name  had  become  common  in  the  Kingdom 
as  a  family  name  and  is  recorded  in  the  Latin  of  the  period 
as  Hardinus,  Hardine,  Hardincus,  Hardineus  filius  Elnodi, 
Hardingus  and  Hardingus  filius  Alnodi,  as  proprietors,  or  as- 
signees. It  is  said  that  these  might  have  been  wholly,  or  in 
part  Normans,  but  they  were  more  probably  Saxon  Thanes 
continued  in  their  possessions  by  William  the  Conqueror.  In 
the  nth  century  Hardin  became  a  surname  under  circum- 
stances denoting  distinction;  and  in  the  early  12th  century 
coats  of  arms  were  given  men  of  the  name.  Burke,  in  his 
"General  Armory"  gives  fifteen  distinct  coats  of  arms  by  the 
name  Hardin  or  Harding,  several  of  which  show  by  their 
simplicity  of  design  their  very  early  origin. 

Having  thus  early  become  scattered  over  England,  it  is  not 
surprising  that,  lacking  authoritative  evidence,  the  direct 
source  of  the  New  England  Hardings  should  be  largely  a 
matter  of  surmise.  No  attempt  will  be  made  in  this  paper 
to  clear  up  or  reconcile  the  many  contradictory  statements 
made  concerning  the  relationship  of  the  first  of  the  name  to 
come  to  this  country,  or  the  English  home  from  which  they 
came.  That  is  a  matter  to  be  decided  by  careful  search  of 
English  records.  Herein  we  can  only  note  what  has  been 
done  in  the  past  by  genealogists  of  the  Harding  family. 

The  genealogy  before  mentioned,  viz. :  "Descendants  of 
several  ancient  Puritans",  devotes  nearly  all  of  the  fourth 
volume  to  the  Hardings  of  America.  It  gives  a  list  of  twelve 
persons  of  the  name  who  came  to  New  England  during  the 
first  thirty-five  years  after  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims,  but 


4  THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT  HARDING, 

does  not  name  their  ancestors,  their  relationship  to  each  other 
(with  three  exceptions), or  the  place, or  places  in  old  England 
from  whence  they  came.    Their  names  are : 

1.  Richard  Harding        ) 

2.  Joseph  Harding  >•  Came  to  New  England  in  1623. 

3.  Abraham  Harding      ) 

4.  Stephen  Harding 

5.  Richard  Harnden 

6.  Edward  Haraden 

7.  Elizabeth  Harding.  (She  came  in  1635  with  Thomas 
Buttolph  whose  wife  was  her  sister.  In  1639,  when 
less  than  seventeen  years  of  age,  she  married  Abraham 
Harding  (No.  3  above)  and  among  the  descendants 
of  their  son,  Abraham,  are  several  distinguished  clergy- 
men and  an  eminent  portrait  painter,  Chester  Harding. 
See  Bryan's  English  Dictionary  of  eminent  artists  and 
American  Cyclopedias.) 

8.  Capt.  Robert  Harding  who  came  with  Gov.  Winthrop 
in  1630;  made  freeman  in  1634;  selectman  of  Boston; 
married  Hester,  daughter  of  Gov.  George  Wyllis  of 
Connecticut ;  removed  to  Rhode  Island  and  eventually 
returned  to  England,  leaving  no  descendants  in  New 
England. 

9.  Philip  Harding,  alias  "Hardy",  residence  Boston  and 

Marblehead,  Mass.;  married  Susanna ;  died  in 

1679,  leaving  a  daughter,  Jane,  who  married  • 

Rein. 

10.  William  Harding  of  New  Haven,  Conn.,  1642. 
Whipped  out  of  the  colony  in  1643,  and  nothing  fur- 
ther known  of  him. 

11.  Thomas  Harding,  received  as  an  inhabitant  of  Boston 
in  1656.  Perhaps  the  same  Thomas  who  embarked 
from  London  in  September,  1635,  for  St.  Christo- 
pher's.    He  had  no  child  recorded. 

12.  George  Harding  was  of  Marblehead,  Mass.,  in  1649, 
and  nothing  further  known  of  him. 

To  this  list  should  be  added  the  name  of  John  Harding, 
for,  in  the  record  of  Stephen  Harding,  "the  blacksmith  of 
Providence",  of  the  second  generation,  it  says,  "Stephen  is 
probably  the  son  of  John,  brother  of  Richard"  (first  on  the 
list).     The  birth  of  this  Stephen  is  given  as  occurring  at 


THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT  HARDING.  5 

Weymouth,  Mass.,  in  1624,  therefore,  his  father  must  have 
come  with  his  brothers,  Richard,  Joseph  and  Abraham  who 
arrived  with  Capt.  Robert  Gorges  in  August,  1623.  This 
book  says  further,  speaking  of  Capt.  Robert  Gorges,  "Sir 
Robert-  Gorges,  his  near  kinsman,  if  not  himself,  had  mar- 
ried Mary  Harding,  daughter  and  heir  of  WilHam  Harding; 
and  whichever  was  her  husband  we  may  reasonably  suppose 
that  some  of  Lady  Gorges  relatives  would  have  accompanied 
him.  If  she  was  his  (Capt.  Gorges)  wife,  and  attended 
him,  the  Hardings  were  probably  her  brothers."  This  is  a 
very  questionable  genealogical  conclusion. 

This  book  gives  a  very  full  account  of  Richard  Harding 
who  settled  at  Braintree,  Mass.,  soon  after  his  arrival  in  New 
England.  His  name  is  variously  spelled  in  the  old  records, 
as  are  the  names  of  most  of  the  first  settlers  in  this  country. 
In  Boston  it  was  written  "Richard  Harden  of  Bantry".  He 
was  made  a  freeman,  which  implies  church  membership,  May 
10,  1648,  and  died  after  December  18,  1657  (O.  S.),  when 
his  will  was  made.  Married  twice,  names  of  wives  not  given, 
but  is  said  to  have  left  a  son  John,  a  daughter  Lydia,  "and 
perhaps  others".  The  descendants  of  his  brother  Joseph  are 
given  in  this  book  down  to  the  middle  of  the  19th  century; 
and  the  record  of  his  brother  Abraham  (mentioned  briefly 
under  Elizabeth  Harding,  No.  7  of  the  list  of  immigrants) 
covers  thirty-three  pages  of  the  large  volume. 

This  genealogy  of  the  Hardings  is  the  only  one  of  any  ac- 
count appearing  for  many  years.  In  1909  were  published 
two  volumes  of  the  History  of  Wilkes-Barre  and  the  Wyo- 
ming Valley,  by  Oscar  J.  Harvey,  which  contain  a  brief 
record  of  the  family  of  Captain  Stephen  Harding,  one  of 
the  first  settlers  in  Exeter,  Pa.,  and  the  father  of  the  two 
Harding  boys,  Benjamin  and  Stukeley,  who  were  murdered 
by  the  Indians  three  days  before  the  Battle  and  Massacre 
of  Wyoming.     (Vol.  II:  992.).     In  1910  Mrs.  Amy  Hard- 

2  A  careless  substitution  of  names.  It  should  be  Sir  Ferdinand 
Gorges. 


6  THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT  HARDING. 

ing  DeWitt  published  a  book  entitled  "The  Hardings,  from 
their  landing  at  Boston  and  settlement  at  Weymouth  Land- 
ing or  Braintree,  in  1623".  Her  account  of  the  first  mi- 
gration of  Hardings  to  New  England  is  as  follows :  "That 
they  came  with  and  under  the  patronage  of  Sir  Fernando 
Gorges  and  his  brother  Capt.  Robert  Gorges,  .  .  .  one 
of  whom  had  married  Mary  Harding,  daughter  of  William 
of  Somersetshire,  England,  is  a  legitimate  implication  from 
the  records  of  Weymouth  and  Braintree.  Tradition  as  well 
as  historical  data  make  Richard  and  Joseph  Harding  the 
brothers  of  Lady  Gorges  and  there  can  hardly  be  a  doubt 
but  they,  the  brothers  .  .  .  were  the  ancestors  of  the 
Hardings  of  the  United  States."  Mrs.  DeWitt  does  not 
tell  us  that  she  personally  searched  the  ancient  records  of 
which  she  speaks.  It  would  be  of  interest  to  know.  In  a 
publication  of  hers  two  years  after  the  one  quoted,  entitled 
"The  Hardings  and  sketch  of  the  Wyoming  Valley",  she 
says :  "William  Harding  of  Somersetshire,  Eng.,  had  four 
sons,  Richard,  Joseph,  Abraham  and  Stephen,  and  daughter 
Mary  who  married  Mr.  Gorges,  and  doubtless  these  brothers 
were  the  ancestors  of  the  Hardings  in  the  United  States". 
No  references  to  authorities  are  given  for  this  statement. 
These  two  books  do  not  give  the  line  of  President  Harding 
but  carry  out  very  fully  the  record  of  Capt.  Stephen  Hard- 
ing, brother  of  Abraham,  the  President's  ancestor. 

In  1920  began  the  flood  of  newspaper  and  other  articles 
about  the  ancestors  of  Warren  Gamaliel  Harding.  First 
of  all  came  the  pedigree  issued  by  the  National  Republican 
Committee.  This  was  based  upon  a  long  distance  telephone 
conversation  between  an  enterprising  reporter  of  a  St.  Louis 
paper  and  Wilbur  J.  Harding  of  Keystone,  Iowa.  Mr. 
Harding^  is  authority  for  the  above  statement  and  says  that 
he  was  given  no  opportunity  to  correct  the  proof  before  it 
went  to  press.     This  pedigree  was  widely,  and  apparently 

»  Letter  from  Wilbur  J.  Harding  to  Mrs.  Miller,  dated  June  2,  1924. 


THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT  HARDING.  / 

carelessly,  copied  by  newspapers  all  over  the  country,  some 
giving  one  name  and  some  another  to  the  immigrant  ancestor. 

June  26,  1920,  the  New  York  Tribune  published  a  short 
sketch  of  the  Hardings.  This  did  not  go  back  of  Stephen 
of  the  second  generation  in  America,  and  was  fairly  correct 
in  its  record  of  later  generations,  making  only  a  few  mis- 
takes in  dates.  About  the  same  time  the  New  York  Sun 
published  a  long  article  which  compares  favorably  with  later 
research  into  the  past  history  of  the  family.  It,  also,  begins 
the  record  with  Stephen  "of  Providence",  second  generation, 
carrying  the  line  correctly  down  to  the  President,  but  gives 
much  less  space  to  his  forbears  than  to  the  family  of  Capt, 
Stephen  Harding  of  Wyoming  Valley  and  his  immediate 
family. 

October  11,  1924,  the  Public  Ledger  of  Philadelphia,  Pa., 
in  its  column  devoted  to  "Pennsylvanians,  Past  and  Present" 
written  by  Frederic  A.  Godcharles,  published  a  sketch  of 
Capt.  Stephen  Harding  and  the  Wyoming  Massacre  of  1778. 
It  closes  with  this :  'Tt  is  from  this  patriotic  family  that  the 
late  President  Warren  G.  Harding  claimed  his  descent,  and 
well  may  he  have  been  proud  of  his  ancestors".  It  is  not 
probable  that  Mr.  Godcharles  meant  to  convey  the  idea  that 
President  Harding  was  an  actual  lineal  descendant  of  Capt. 
Stephen  Harding  of  Wyoming  fame,  but  the  sentence  quoted 
is  an  unfortunate  ending  to  an  otherwise  admirable  sketch. 

The  limits  of  this  paper  do  not  permit  the  mention  of  all 
that  was  written  and  printed  about  President  Warren  G. 
Harding  between  the  years  1920  and  1925,  but  the  above 
excerpts  give  a  fairly  good  idea  of  what  they  contained. 
They  all  stressed  the  heroism  and  suflFerings  of  the  Hardings 
during  the  Battle  and  Massacre  of  Wyoming,  giving  promi- 
nence to  the  family  of  Captain  Stephen  Harding,  and  only 
casually,  if  at  all,  mentioning  the  direct  ancestors  of  the 
President. 


8  THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT  HARDING. 

One  month  after  his  inauguration,  President  Harding 
wrote  a  letter  to  the  New  England  Historic  Genea- 
logical Society  expressing  his  appreciation  of  the  honor  con- 
ferred upon  him  in  his  election  to  the  honorary  membership 
of  that  society.  With  this  letter  he  sent  an  outline  of  his 
paternal  ancestral  line  in  America.  If  it  is  the  pedigree  pub- 
lished in  the  Society's  magazine  for  April,  1921  (Vol.  yy,  p. 
243,  New  England  Historical  and  Genealogical  Register),  it 
is  far  from  satisfactory.  Among  other  incorrect  statements 
it  says:  "Major  Abraham  Harding,  Jr.,  born  1740,  died  1820, 
removed  with  his  parents  to  the  Wyoming  Valley.  On  at- 
taining his  majority  he  removed  to  Port  Jervis,  Orange  Co., 
N.  Y.,  where  he  married  Huldah  Tryon  and  entered  the  ser- 
vice of  his  country  in  Col.  William  Allison's  Regiment. 
After  the  Revolution  he  returned  to  the  Wyoming  Valley  and 
became  successively  a  captain  and  major  in  the  Pennsylvania 
militia."  It  is  unbelievable  that  President  Harding  signed 
his  name  to  any  such  hodge-podge,  and  we  conclude  that 
some  one  made  a  grave  mistake  in  copying  the  record  sent  to 
the  society.  We  are  upheld  in  this  conclusion  by  the  careful 
compiling  of  his  pedigree  by  himself  as  shown  below.  This 
is  taken  from  the  Genealogical  Department  of  the  Boston 
Transcript  of  date  October  6,  1924.  This  article  is  signed 
C.  A.  H.  and  was  written  in  answer  to  a  query  in  a  previous 
issue  of  the  paper.  We  give  an  excerpt :  "The  second  answer 
is  that  of  the  statement  issued  by  President  Harding  himself, 
over  his  own  attested  signature,  and  delivered  to  a  patriotic 
society  as  a  qualification  for  his  membership  therein.  This 
formal  statement  of  pedigree  .  .  .  places  two  genera- 
tions, if  not  three,  of  the  Hardings  in  Devonshire,  England, 
before  the  family  came  to  America ;  and  it  shows  that  back 
of  them  nothing  is  known  of  President  Harding's  ancestry. 
Upon  what  precise  record  authority  Warren  Gamaliel  Hard- 
ing reached  the  conclusion  he  gave  in  his  said  signed  pedigree 
has  not  been  published."  The  pedigree  referred  to  is  as  fol- 
lows : 


THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT  HARDING.  9 

1.  John  Harding,  of  Devonshire,  England. 

2.  Richard  Harding,  born  at  Dunboro  (Denbury)  Devon- 
shire. 

3.  Stephen  Harding,  born  in  England ;  died  at  Provi- 
dence, R.  I.,  Feb.  20,  1698. 

4.  Abraham  Harding,  died  at  Providence,  R.  I.,  Nov.  23, 
1694;  married  Deborah 

5.  Stephen  Harding,  born  at  Providence,  R.  I.,  in  1681. 

6.  Abraham  Harding,  born  at  Warwick,  R.  I.,  June  14, 
1720;  died  in  Susquehanna  County,  Pa.,  in  1806;  mar- 
ried at  Waterford,  Conn.,  Anna  Dolson. 

7.  Abraham  Harding,  born  at  Waterford,  Conn.,  in  1740; 
married  at  or  near  Waterford,  in  1762,  Huldah  Tryon. 

8.  Amos  Harding,  born  at  Port  Jervis,  N.  Y.,  March  19, 
1764;  died  in  Richland  Co.,  Ohio,  in  1839;  married  in 
Luzerne  Co.,  Pa.,  in  1784,  Phebe  Tripp,  born  in  1769 
and  died  at  LaPorte,  Ind.,  in  1847. 

9.  George  Tryon  Harding,  born  in  Luzerne  Co.,  Pa.,  June 
15,  1790;  died  at  Corsica,*  Ohio,  Jan.  9,  i860;  married 
in  Susquehanna  Co.,  Pa.,  May  i,  1816,  Elizabeth 
Madison,  born  in  1800,  died  at  Corsica,  Ohio,  Feb.  8, 
1866. 

10.  Charles  Alexander  Harding,  born  in  Susquehanna  Co., 
Pa.,  April  8,  1820;  died  at  Corsica,  Ohio,  April  17, 
1878;  married  in  Morrow  Co.,  Ohio,  March  28,  1840, 
Mary  Ann  Crawford,  born  in  Beaver  Co.,  Pa.,  August 
26,  1823,  died  at  Corsica,  Ohio,  in  March,  1895. 

11.  George  Tryon  Harding,  born  at  Corsica,  June  12, 
1847;  married  at  Gallion,  Ohio,  May  7,  1864,  Phebe 
Elizabeth  Dickerson,  born  at  Corsica,  Ohio,  Dec.  21, 
1843,  died  at  Marion,  Ohio,  May  29,  1910. 

12.  Warren  Gamaliel  Harding,  born  Nov.  i,  1865. 

In  1922  the  Sulgrave  Institution  of  America  erected  on  a 
wall  in  the  village  of  Sulgrave,  Northamptonshire,  England, 
a  tablet  in  memory  of  the  ancestors  of  President  Warren  G. 
Harding  which  bears  the  statement  that  those  ancestors  (not 
named)  once  resided  near  that  spot,  or  place.  What  proof,  if 
any,  has  been  published  by  this  society  for  its  belief  that  the 
New  England  Hardings  came  from  Sulgrave,  is  not  at 
present  available  for  reference.     Devonshire,  designated  by 

♦Now  Blooming  Grove,  Morrow  Co. 


10  THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT  HARDING. 

the  President  as  the  EngHsh  home  of  his  ancestors,  adjoins 
the  county  of  Somerset,  the  seat  of  the  Gorges  family,  which 
is  a  fact  favorable  to  the  belief  that  the  Gorges  and  Harding 
families  intermarried  and  emigrated  together  to  New  Eng- 
land. Northamptonshire  is  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  to 
the  north-east  of  these  two  counties,  a  tremendous  distance 
three  hundred  years  ago  compared  to  the  present.  However, 
that  is  no  proof  that  there  was  not  occasional  communica- 
tion, or  relationship  between  families  of  the  two  localities. 

In  1925  Wilbur  J.  Harding  published  "The  Hardings  in 
America".  If,  as  is  not  at  all  unlikely,  he  was  the  authority* 
behind  the  Devonshire  record  signed  by  the  President  in 
192 1,  later  research  surely  compelled  his  change  of  belief 
before  the  publication  of  this  book.  In  this  latest  of  Hard- 
ing genealogies  (page  21)  we  find  that  the  will  of  John 
Harding,  the  head  of  the  family  "so  far  as  can  be  traced  by 
public  records"  so  it  reads,  has  been  found  recorded  in  North- 
amptonshire, England.  This  legal  document  was  filed  March 
3,  1637,  and  contains  a  notation  that  the  testator  died  Jan- 
uary 14,  1637.  It  names  Richard,  Joseph  and  John  Harding 
as  his  sons  and  gives  certain  real  and  personal  property  to 
his  brother  William  Harding.  The  filing  of  this  will  proves 
that  John  Harding  died  a  resident  of  Northamptonshire,  and 
is  good  foundation  for  the  belief  that  he  had  lived  there 
some  time  previous  to  his  death.  That  he  removed  there 
from  Devonshire,  where  his  children  may  have  been  born,  is 
not  an  impossibility.  That  he  had  a  brother  William  is  also 
a  fact  proven  by  the  will,  and  that  this  William  had  a  daughter 
Mary  is  a  tradition  that  has  persisted  for  so  long  a  time  that, 
lacking  documentary  proof  to  the  contrary,  we  have  a  right 
to  believe  it.  This  relationship  between  William  and  his 
daughter  Mary  and  John  and  his  three  sons  named  above,  is 
further  substantiated  by  another  statement  made  in  the  gene- 

*  In  a  letter  to  Mrs.  Miller,  dated  May  10,  1924,  Abigail  Harding, 
(now  Mrs.  Ralph  T.  Lewis)  sister  of  the  President,  referred  her  to 
Wilbur  J.  Harding  as  the  recognized  genealogist  of  the  family. 


THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT  HARDING.  II 

alogy  quoted.  On  page  17,  we  read:  "In  seeking  to  uncover 
the  identity  of  those  early  pioneers  who  may  be  classed  as 
the  'First  Hardings  on  American  soil',  the  historian  must  go 
back  to  the  work,  *A  Briefe  Narration  of  the  Original  Un- 
dertakings of  the  Advancement  of  Plantations  into  the  Parts 
of  Amerika,  especially  Showing  the  Beginnings,  Progress  and 
Continuance  of  that  of  New  England',  written  by  Sir  Ferdi- 
nando  Gorges  in  1658."  According  to  this,  "which  must  be 
considered  authentic  history  of  these  undertakings",  Mary 
Harding,  wife  of  Capt.  Robert  Gorges,  is  described  as  "the 
daughter  and  heir  of  William  Harding,  Gent.";  and  in  the 
list  of  passengers  who  came  to  New  England  with  the  Gorges 
party  "we  find  the  names  of  Joseph  Harding,  John  Harding, 
wife  and  young  sons  and  Richard  Harding,  wife  and  infant 
son."  Using  this  ancient  document  as  authority,  Wilbur  J. 
Harding  argues,  correctly,  that  if  Mary  Harding  was  the  heir 
(not  co-heir)  of  her  father,  then  she  was  an  only  child ;  there- 
fore, these  Hardings,  who  emigrated  with  her,  could  not  have 
been  her  brothers,  but  were  probably  her  cousins. 

"The  Hardings  in  America"  traces  the  descent  of  Warren 
Gamaliel  Harding  from  John  Harding  of  Northamptonshire, 
England,  through  his  son  Richard,  immigrant  to  New  Eng- 
land, and  his  son,  Stephen  "of  Providence"  as  he  is  commonly 
called,  exactly  as  in  the  pedigree  written  by  the  President  and 
already  given  in  this  paper.  Sufficient  references  to  authentic 
records  are  given  to  convince  us  that  the  record  is  undoubt- 
edly correct  in  all  the  essentials,  and  it  is  used  as  the  basis 
for  the  record  which  follows : 

I.  Richard  Harding,^  born  in  England  about  1583;  died 
at  Braintree,  Mass.,  after  Dec.  18,  1657  (O.  S.)  when 
his  will  was  made.  He  settled  at  Braintree  soon  after 
his  arrival  in  this  country  in  1623  and  was  a  "mariner 
engaged  in  fishing".  He  was  twice  married,  first  in 
England  (name  of  wife  unknown),  second  to  Elizabeth 
Adams  in  Braintree,  who  survived  him.     He  left  two 

^  cf  with  record  from  "Descendants  of  several  ancient  Puritans," 
given  on  page  4. 


12  THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT  HARDING. 

sons,  children  of  his  first  wife,  and  a  daughter,  Lydia, 
only  child  of  the  second.  The  elder  son,  John,  was  the 
infant  bought  from  England.  The  younger  was, 
2.  Stephen  Harding,  born  at  Braintree,  Mass.,  about  1624. 
He  was  a  blacksmith  by  trade,  and  about  1647  migrated 
to  the  south-west  of  Braintree  settling  in  that  part  of 
old  Rehoboth  which  was  many  years  later  made  the 
town  of  Swanzey.  This  locality  was  under  the  juris- 
diction of  Plymouth  Colony  which  was  more  liberal 
than  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony,  and  therefore 
many  of  the  despised  sect  of  Baptists  had  gathered  in 
that  region.  The  recently  organized  Baptist  Church 
at  Providence,  R.  I.,  was  near  enough  to  these  settlers 
to  afiford  them  the  enjoyment  of  its  church  privileges. 
It  is  a  mistake  of  Harding  genealogists  hard  to  under- 
stand, that  they  persist  in  recording  that  Stephen 
Harding  joined  "the  Swanzey  Baptist  Church."  There 
was  no  such  church  or  town  at  the  time  he  lived  there. 
There  were  many  Baptists  around  him  and  they  prob- 
ably held  meetings  in  their  homes,  but  they  must  have 
gone  to  Providence  across  the  river  for  communion  and 
undoubtedly  were  members  of  the  Providence  Church, 
the  first  of  the  Baptist  faith  in  America.''  It  is  not 
impossible  that  Stephen  Harding  became  a  convert  to 
the  Baptist  faith  before  leaving  Braintree  and  sought 
a  home  in  the  Baptist  community  of  lower  Rehoboth  in 
consequence.  His  father  was  a  "freeman"  which  de- 
notes church  membership  in  the  Puritan  church,  and  if 
Stephen  forsook  the  faith  of  that  church  while  still  a 
resident  of  Braintree  his  life  there  was  surely  an  un- 
comfortable one.  While  living  in  Rehoboth  Stephen 
married  Bridget  Estance,  daughter  of  Thomas,  a 
Welshman  who  had  early  settled  in  Rehoboth  but  later 
removed  to  Providence,  where  Stephen  Harding  is  also 
found  in  the  public  records  of  1664.  There  he  died, 
Feb.  20,  1698,  having  had  four  daughters  and  three 
sons.    The  youngest  son  was, 

®  The  Providence  Baptist  Church  was  organized  in  1639 ;  the  Swan- 
zey Church  in  1663,  and  the  third  church  in  that  vicinity,  the  Paw- 
tucket,  in  1693.  (See  "History  of  the  Baptists"  and  "Fifty  years 
among  the  Baptists"  by  David  Benedict;  "New  England's  struggle 
for  religious  liberty",  by  Rev.  David  B.  Ford;  "A  short  history  of 
the  Baptists"  by  Henry  C.  Vedder,  D.  D.) 


THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT  HARDING,  I3 

3.  Abraham  Harding,  born  in  1656;  died  Nov.  23,  1694; 
married  Deborah  whose  last  name  is  unknown.  She 
survived  him.  marrying  Moses  Bartlett  a  year  after 
Abraham's  death.  Abraham  Harding  Hved  in  Prov- 
idence, R.  I.,  and  left  at  his  death  three  daughters  and 
four  sons.    The  fourth  child  and  third  son  was, 

4.  Stephen  Harding  (Captain),  born  at  Providence,  R.  I., 
in  1681  ;  died  in  Connecticut,  May  31,  1750.  About 
171 5  he  removed  to  Warwick,  R.  I.,  and  became  a 
prosperous  mariner,  building  and  sailing  his  own  ships, 
hence  the  title  "Captain".  Later  he  bought  400  acres 
of  land  in  the  Mohegan  tract  of  New  London  County, 
Connecticut,  near  Uncasville  and  just  south  of  the 
present  boundary  line  between  Montville  and  Water- 
ford.  He  removed  there  with  his  brother  Israel  in 
1732.  The  name  of  his  wife  is  not  recorded.  His 
children  were : 

1.  John  Harding,  who  removed  to  Redstone.  Pa.,  and 
later  to  Kentucky,  where  he  dropped  the  "g"  from  his 
name  and  his  descendants  write  it  Hardin.  Many  of 
this  branch  of  Hardings  have  been  prominentias  sol- 
diers and  statesmen  in  the  middle  west,  and  in  their 
honor  have  been  named  a  county  in  Kentucky,  one  in 
Iowa,  one  in  Illinois,  one  in  Tennessee  and  one  in  Ohio. 

2.  Abraham  Harding  (more  later). 

3.  Captain  Stephen  Harding,  of  Wyoming  Valley;  mar- 
ried Amy  Gardner,  daughter  of  Stephen  and  Frances 
(Congdon)  Gardner  and  sister  of  Stephen  Gardner, 
Jr.,  another  settler  in  the  Wyoming  Valley.  Recent 
search  of  ancient  records  in  England  and  Rhode  Is- 
land, has  established  the  fact  that  Frances  Congdon, 
mother  of  Amy  Gardner,  was  a  lineal  descendant  in 
the  14th  generation  from  Edward  III,  King  of  Eng- 
land, and  a  great-grand-daughter  of  that  mother  of 
eight  Governors  of  Rhode  Island,  Frances  Latham  and 
her  first  husband,  William  Dungan.  The  heroism  of 
Captain  Stephen  Harding,  commander  of  Jenkins  Fort 
in  Exeter,  at  the  time  of  the  Wyoming  Massacre,  has 
been  so  fully  and  admirably  told  by  all  the  historians 
and  other  writers  of  the  Wyoming  Valley  that  it  is  not 
necessary  to  recount  it  here. 

4.  Thomas  Harding,  born  May  16,  1727;  died  Feb.  20, 
1804;  married  Mary  Richards  and  resided  at  Water- 


14  THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT  HARDING. 

ford,  Conn.  "The  Hardings  in  America"  records 
seven  children ;  the  "Descendants  of  several  ancient 
Puritans"  names  nine,  four  of  whom  are  sons,  and  all 
the  children,  with  one  exception,  are  said  to  have  lived 
in  Connecticut.  One  son,  James,  lived  in  Waterford, 
Conn.,  until  1807  when,  this  genealogy  says,  he  re- 
moved to  Exeter,  Luzerne  Co.,  Pa.,  where  he  died. 
He  had,  Nancy,  Lucy,  Hannah,  Daniel  a  prominent 
citizen  of  Exeter,  James,  Eliza,  Charles. 
5.  Israel  Harding,  born  in  1733;  died  in  1783;  married 
in  1759,  Sarah  Harris.  He  is  called  Colonel  in  "Hard- 
ings in  America"  and  Captain  in  the  older  genealogy 
mentioned  above,  which  gives  the  following  account 
of  him :  "He  served  as  captain  in  the  last  French  and 
Indian  War  and  remained  in  Connecticut  until  the 
beginning  of  the  Revolution,  when  he  sided  with  the 
British.  His  brother  Thomas  used  his  influence  to 
secure  from  the  Governor  of  Connecticut  Colony  a 
permit  for  Israel  to  go  to  Long  Island  from  whence 
he  escaped  to  Nova  Scotia  where  he  died.  He  had : 
Israel,    a    merchant    of    Halifax ;    Harris,    a    Baptist 

preacher ;  a  daughter  who  married  Peck  and 

removed  to  Ohio."    The  "Hardings  in  America"  does 

not  mention   these   children   but    records   a   daughter 

Sabra   who   married   Charles   DeWolf.   residence  not 

named,  and  left  descendants. 

Abraham   Harding    (No.   2)    of   the  fifth   generation   in 

America,  son  of  Capt.  Stephen  Harding  of  Warwick  ,  R.  I., 

and   Waterford,    Conn.,   was   born   at   Warwick,   June    14, 

1720,  and  married  in  Connecticut,  about  1741,  Anna  Dolson^, 

who  died  in  Orange  County,  New  York,  in  1802.    The  name, 

Abraham  Harding,  is  found  among  the  signers  of  the  Indian 

Deed  of  1754  granting  Wyoming  lands  to  the  Susquehanna 

Company,  but  as  there  was  another  Abraham  Harding  living 

'■  Not  to  be  confused  with  the  Dutch  family  of  Dolsen — Dolsan — 
Dolson  which  settled  in  Orange  County  at  an  early  date,  coming  from 
Fishkill  on  the  Hudson. 


THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT  HARDING.  I  5 

in  Connecticut  at  that  time^  it  is  impossible  to  determine, 
surely,  which  one  it  was.  As  the  brother  of  the  Abraham 
of  this  sketch,  and  many  of  his  relatives,  were  signers  of  that 
Deed,  and  his  son,  Abraham.  Jr..  settled  in  the  Wyoming 
Valley,  it  seems  probable  that  the  signer  was  this  Abraham. 
He  continued  to  reside  in  Connecticut  for  twenty  years  after 
his  marriage  and  all  his  children  were  born  there. 

In  1 76 1,  Abraham  and  Anna  Harding  with  their  six  sons 
moved  to  Orange  County,  New  York.  It  has  been  asserted 
that  they  settled  near  Port  Jervis  in  that  part  of  the  Minisink 
which  later  became  Deerpark  Township".  If  this  is  true, 
which  is  very  doubtful,  he  remained  there  only  a  short  time, 
since  for  years  before  the  Revolution  he  was  living  eight  or 
nine  miles  to  the  northeast  of  the  present  town  of  Port  Jer- 
vis in  what  is  now  Greenville  township,  in  the  locality  later 
named  Grahamville.  It  is  certain  that  he  lived  in  this  place 
continuously  from  the  time  of  his  first  settlement  there  until 
he  left  Orange  County  for  Pennsylvania.  Grahamville  was 
not  a  village  but  by  1800  had  become  a  thickly  settled  farm- 
ing community.      In   1775   Abraham  Harding  was  assessed 

s  Joshua  Hempstead  recorded  in  his  Diary  for  Sept.  12,  1734,  that 
he  married  "Abra'h  Harden  and  Mercy  Vibber"  on  that  date.  We 
find  in  various  books  a  mention  of  an  Abraham  Harding  of  that  gen- 
eration in  Connecticut  that  could  not  have  been  the  Abraham  of  this 
sketch. 

^  In  1798  Rockland  County  was  organized  from  the  southeastern 
part  of  Orange,  and  to  offset  that  loss  of  territory  five  townships 
were  taken  from  Ulster  County  and  annexed  to  Orange  on  the  north. 
One  of  these  five  townships  was  Mamakating.  Immediately  upon  an- 
nexation, the  township  of  Deerpark  was  organized  from  a  small  por- 
tion of  Minisink  but  largely  from  Mamakating;  hence  many  so  called 
early  settlers  of  Orange  County  and  especially  of  Deerpark,  were 
really  residents  of  Ulster  County  until  1798.  Port  Jervis  was  begun 
in  1826  when  the  Delaware  &  Hudson  canal  was  being  built.  It  was 
named  for  Mr.  Jervis,  superintendent  in  charge  of  constructing  the 
canal. 


l6  THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT  HARDING. 

fourteen  shillings  for  taxes^".  After  the  division  of  New 
York  State  into  fourteen  counties  in  1788,  Orange  County 
townships  were  changed  in  area  in  some  instances,  and  the 
town  of  Minisink,  which  had  been  of  indefinite  boundaries, 
was  organized  legally  and  the  first  town  meeting  held  in 
April,  1789.  At  this  meeting  Abraham  Harding  was  elected 
a  Highway  Master  for  District  22".  In  1790  and  '91,  he 
was  elected  a  fence  viewer.  In  the  records  of  these  two  last 
meetings  he  is  called  "Captain  Harding".  During  the  Revo- 
lution he  served  as  Second  Lieutenant  in  Colonel  Allison's 
regiment  of  New  York  Militia,  being  commissioned  by  the 
Provincial  Congress  December  i,  1775^".  His  name  appears 
on  a  certificate  issued  March  4,  1836,  by  the  Deputy  Secre- 
tary of  State  for  New  York,  which  states  that  at  the  time  of 
the  Revolution  he  was  living  on  the  west  side  of  the  Wallkill 
river,  which  still  more  definitely  names  his  place  of  residence 
many  miles  east  of  Deerpark.  After  the  War  he  remained 
active  in  the  State  Militia,  being  appointed  "Captain  No.  5" 
in  1786  and  Second  Major  in  1794.  At  the  Meeting  of  the 
Council  of  Appointments  in  1803,  another  was  appointed  in 
place  of  "Abraham  Harding,  who  has  moved  away".^^  This 
record  of  military  services  shows  conclusively  that  Abraham 
Harding  held  no  higher  position  in  the  Continental  Army 

10  Ruttenber  &  Clark's  History  of  Orange  Countj%  page  677,  records 
this  assessment  under  the  town  of  Wawayanda.  Minisink  included 
for  many  years,  the  present  towns  of  Wawayanda  and  Greenville.  In 
1849  Wawayanda  was  set  ofif  from  Minisink  on  the  north  and  in  1853 
Greenville  was  taken  from  both  Minisink  and  Wawayanda.  Abraham 
Harding  lived  in  the  part  of  Minisink  which  was  later  Wawayanda 
and  still  later  Greenville.  This  accounts  for  the  many,  seemingly  con- 
tradictory statements  of  his  place  of  residence. 

11  District  22  was  later  No.  19  of  Greenville. 

12  Record  furnished  by  the  Adjutant  General,  War  Department, 
Washington,  D.  C. 

13  Council  of  Appointments,  issued  by  the  State  of  New  York,  pages 
80  and  283. 


THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT  HARDING.  I7 

than  Second  Lieutenant,^*  although  he  was  called  "Major" 
for  several  years  before  his  death.  His  wife  died  early  in 
1802  and  that  same  year  he  left  Orange  County  for  Penn- 
sylvania where  he  became  an  inmate  of  the  home  of  his 
grandson,  Amos  Harding,  in  Clifford,  Susquehanna  County, 
until  his  death  which  occurred  in  1806.  He  was  buried  on 
the  side  of  the  hill  about  thirty  rods  east  of  the  present 
Baptist  Church  of  Clififord,  on  the  farm  of  Amos  Harding, 
and  there  he  lies  today,  his  grave  obliterated  and  nothing 
left  to  show  its  exact  spot.  It  will  always  remain  a  mystery, 
which  even  tradition  does  not  illuminate,  why  Major  Abraham 
Harding  chose  to  end  his  days  in  the  rude  pioneer  home  of 
Amos  Harding.  His  son  John  was  living  in  Orange  County 
a  few  miles  north  of  him  and  many  grandchildren  were 
settled  around  him  whom  it  seems  might  have  given  him  a 
home  in  his  old  age  with  many  comforts  not  to  be  had  in 
Clifford  at  that  time.  That  he  did  end  his  days  in  Clifford 
and  that  his  ashes  repose  there,  should  be  a  matter  of  pride 
to  the  little  village  and  a  suitable  tablet  or  marker  ought  to 
be  erected  to  his  memory  establishing  the  spot  where  he  is 
buried. 

The  children  of  Abraham  and  Anna  (Dolson)  Harding: 

1.  Abraham  Harding,  Jr.  (More- later). 

2.  Amos  Harding,  born  in  1746;  died  in  1808.  The 
"Descendants  of  several  ancient  Puritans"  says  that  he 
was  a  Baptist  preacher. 

3.  John  Harding,  born  in  1749;  died  in  1813;  married 
(i),  Rhoda  King  (born  1752;  died  1788);  married 
(2),  Lydia  Tripp. ^'^^    John  Harding  had  eight  sons  and 

'*  The  name  of  Abraham  Harding  appears  as  "Major"  upon  the 
tablet  placed  by  Montrose  Chapter,  D.  A.  R.  in  the  lower  corridor  of 
the  Court  House  at  Montrose,  Pa.,  in  1924  in  memory  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary soldiers  who  lived  and  died  in  Susquehanna  County.  As  there 
were  no  inhabitants  in  that  county  during  the  war,  all  these  men  came 
there  from  many  different  States  after  peace  was  declared. 

1-^  "The  Michael  Shoemaker  Book",  page  512,  says  that  a  Mrs.  Lydia 
(Tripp)    Harding  of  Deerpark,  Orange  Co.,  N.  Y.,  who  was  born 


l8  THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT  HARDING. 

three  daughters,  all  by  his  first  wife.  They  all  married 
and  had  children.  (See  "Hardings  in  America",  page 
37).  After  his  first  marriage,  John  Harding  settled 
in  the  township  of  Mamakating,  Ulster  County,  N.  Y. 
and  is  listed  as  a  signer  for  that  township  of  the  Pledge 
of  1775.^"  In  the  Census  of  1790  his  name  is  found 
in  Mamakating  as  having  a  wife  and  three  daughters, 
two  sons  over  sixteen  and  five  under.  After  the  an- 
nexation of  Mamakating  township  to  Orange  County 
and  the  erection  of  Deerpark  in  1798,  he  is  found  in 
Deerpark,  just  over  the  line  from  Mount  Hope  township 
and  near  Otisville  in  Mount  Hope.  (See  footnote  9). 
4.  Lemuel  Harding,  born  in  1751 ;  died  before  Nov.  12, 
1796,  when  his  daughter,  Phebe.  wife  of  James  Ells- 
worth, sold  all  her  interest  "in  common  with  the  other 
heirs"  in  the  lands  of  her  father  Lemuel  Harding.^^ 
The  name  of  his  wife,  date  and  place  of  marriage,  and 
names  of  children  other  than  Phebe,  mentioned  above, 
are  not  known.  Lemuel  Harding  arrived  in  the  Wyo- 
ming Valley  May  5th,  1772.^^  and  appears  to  have 
settled  first  in  the  Pittston  District.  In  October,  1772, 
he  signed  the  petition  for  a  county  in  Wyoming  sent 
to  the  General  Assembly  of  Connecticut ;  and  at  a 
meeting  of  the  Susquehanna  Company  held  at  Hart- 
ford, Conn.,  June  2,  1773,  he  was  appointed  with  Caleb 
Bates  and  James  Brown,  a  Director  for  the  town  of 
Pittston.^^  At  the  first  Town  meeting,  held  at  Wilkes- 
Barre,  March  2,  1774,  he  was  elected  a  Grand  Juror. 
Sept.  23,  1775,  he  sold  to  Francis  Hopkins  a  Pittston 
Fort  Lot,  No.  34,  about  one  acre  in  size,  receiving  for 

Sept.  6,  1762,  and  died  Dec.  4,  1840,  daughter  of  Job  Tripp  (See  page 
560,  Shoemaker  Book),  was  married,  Nov.  17,  1816,  to  Deacon  John 
Phillips  of  Pittston  and  Abington,  Pa.,  and  adds :  "She  was  evidently 
first  married  to  a  Harding  who  had  lived  in  the  Wyoming  Valley  and 
removed  to  the  Minisink".  This  Lydia  (Tripp)  Harding  was  un- 
doubtedly the  widow  of  John  Harding  of  Deerpark  and  went  to 
the  Wyoming  Valley  to  live  near  her  Tripp  relatives ;  there  marrying 
Deacon  Phillips. 

1^  The  Pledge  to  support  and  defend  the  acts  of  the  Provincial 
Congress. 

1''  Michael  Shoemaker  Book,  page  512. 

IS  Harvey's  History  of  Wilkes-Barre,  Vol.  H:  732. 

1^  Miner's  History  of  Wyoming,  page  150. 


THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT   HARDING.  IQ 

it  £8.  This  was  probably  where  he  had  his  home  as 
he  is  henceforth  found  in  Exeter  to  which  he  seems 
to  have  removed.  He  is  found  in  the  Tax  list  for 
Exeter  in  the  year  1776,  the  valuation  of  his  property 
being  £52.,  and  he  paid  a  tax  of  £1.  los.  4d.  Nothing 
further  has  been  found  concerning  him  in  the  records. 
It  is  probable  that  he  and  his  family  sought  refuge  in 
Jenkins  Fort  in  June,  1778,  but  his  name  does  not 
appear  in  any  list  of  the  inmates  that  has  been  found. 
The  Michael  Shoemaker  Book  is  incorrect  in  attribut- 
ing military  service  to  Lemuel  Harding  in  the  Con- 
necticut Militia  during  the  French  and  Indian  War  of 
1755  to  1758.  He  was  a  small  child  during  those 
years. 

5.  Oliver  Harding,  born  in  1753;  date  of  death  unknown. 
He  came  to  the  Wyoming  Valley  in  September,  1772,^'' 
and  the  following  month  was  a  signer  of  the  petition 
for  the  erection  of  a  county  in  Wyoming.  His  name 
is  not  found  in  the  Tax  lists  for  Westmoreland,  and  it 
is  not  known  where  he  settled  in  the  Valley.  It  is  not 
improbable  that  he  made  his  home  with  one  of  his 
brothers  in  Pittston.  and  that  he  did  not  own  property 
or  make  a  home  for  himself  in  Wyoming  as  he  is  not 
further  mentioned  in  the  records  except  as  a  soldier. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  First  Westmoreland  Inde- 
pendent Company,-^  Robert  Durkee,  Captain.  In  "Con- 
necticut in  the  Revolution",  page  263,  his  name  is 
found  in  the  list  of  privates  in  Capt.  Durkee's  Wyo- 
ming Company,  no  date  given.  He  is  there  described 
as  five  feet,  nine  inches  tall,  and  twenty  years  old. 
This  book  also  gives  his  name  among  the  privates  of 
Captain  Spalding's  Independent  Company  "as  united 
June  28,  1778".  An  Oliver  Harding  is  found  in  the 
1790  Census  living  in  Chemung  Township,  Mont- 
gomery County,  N.  Y.,  credited  with  four  sons  under 
sixteen  years  of  age.  This  man  was  evidently  of 
proper  age  to  be  the  Oliver  Harding  of  this  sketch 
and  may  have  been  he.  Some  of  his  Harding  kinsmen 
were  living  in  Montgomery  County  in  1790. 

5.  Rice  Harding,  born  in  1755;  died  in  1800.  Nothing 
further  known  of  him. 

Harvey's  History  of  Wilkes-Barre,  Vol.  H  750. 

Harvey's  History  of  Wilkes-Barre,  Vol.  H  .-892-894. 


20  THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT  HARDING. 

We  have  now  covered  a  period  of  one  hundred  and  seventy- 
five  years  after  the  coming  of  Richard  Harding  to  the  Massa- 
chusetts Bay  Colony  in  1623,  and  have  found  the  Hardings 
ever  moving  westward  until  in  the  span  of  four  lives  after 
that  of  Richard,  they  have  made  for  themselves  homes  in 
three  other  colonies.  In  all  these  years  after  the  settlement 
of  the  immigrant  Richard  at  Braintree,  they  followed  the 
vanguard  of  pioneers  to  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut  and  New 
York,  finding  upon  their  arrival  in  those  colonies  the  struggle 
of  pioneer  settlement  giving  way  to  safer  and  more  com- 
fortable living.  This  was  especially  true  in  Connecticut  and 
New  York  where  settlements  had  been  made  nearly  one 
hundred  years  before  the  Hardings  reached  those  colonies. 
But  now  comes  a  change  and  we  follow  the  fortunes  of  the 
next  members  of  the  family  to  engage  our  attention,  into  the 
wilderness  of  what  was  then  the  far  western  frontier  and 
into  the  hardships  and  dangers  of  primitive  pioneer  life. 

Abraham  Harding,  Jr.,  oldest  son  of  Abraham  and  Anna 
(Dolson)  Harding,  was  born  in  Waterford,  Conn.,  April  14, 
1744.  He  accompanied  his  parents  to  Orange  Co.,  N.  Y.,  in 
1 761,  and  in  the  following  year  returned  to  Connecticut 
where,  July  9,  1762,  he  married  Huldah  Tryon,  born  May  8, 
1743,  a  daughter  of  Joseph  and  Bridget  (Curtis)  Tryon  of 
New  London.  She  was  a  descendant  in  the  fifth  generation 
from  Abel  Tryon,  the  line  after  him  being  Joseph,  James, 
Joseph,  Huldah."-  Abraham  and  Huldah  Harding  settled  on 
a  farm  in  Orange  County,  N.  Y.,  near  his  father,  and  there 
they  remained  for  ten  years. -^ 

In  June,   1772,  Abraham  Harding,  Jr.,  in  company  with 

22  "The  Hardings  in  America",  page  36. 

23  No  record  of  Abraham  Harding,  Jr.,  during  those  ten  years  is 
to  be  found  in  Orange  County.  This  is  probably  due  to  the  fact  that 
from  1683  when  the  county  was  formed,  until  its  legal  organization  in 
1788,  it  was  attached  to  New  York  City  and  all  records  were  kept 
there :  also  the  destruction  by  fire  seventy-five  years  ago  of  many 
Orange  County  records  kept  at  Goshen  has  probably  made  it  impos- 
sible to  find  a  legal  record  of  the  old  inhabitants  of  some  sections. 


THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT  HARDING.  21 

Others  from  his  neighborhood,  followed  his  brother  Lemuel, 
who  had  gone  the  month  before,  to  the  Wyoming  Valley  in 
north-eastern  Pennsylvania.-*  He  arrived  there  on  June  20th, 
evidently  to  look  the  ground  over  and  prepare  a  home  for  his 
family,  as  on  the  26th  of  the  same  month  he  left  the  Valley, 
remaining  away  six  weeks. -^  It  is  supposed  that  he  went 
back  to  Orange  County,  N.  Y.,  to  bring  his  family  to  their 
new  home.  He  settled  on  the  east  side  of  the  Susquehanna 
river  in,  or  near,  what  is  now  the  city  of  Pittston.-"  He 
immediately  took  a  prominent  position  in  civic  affairs  and 
his  name  appears  as  a  member  of  important  committees  in 
Wyoming  during  the  years  preceding  the  Massacre.  He  was 
a  signer  of  the  petition  for  the  erection  of  a  county  in  Wyo- 
ming sent  to  the  General  Assembly  of  Connecticut  Colony 
in  October,  1772.-"  At  the  first  Town  meeting,  held  March 
2,  1774,  he  was  elected  a  fence  viewer,^^  and  November  22 
of  the  same  year,  at  a  Town  meeting,  he  and  eight  other  men 
were  appointed  a  committee  "to  make  inquiry  into,  and  search 
after  any  person  or  persons  that  are  suspected  to  have  taken 
land  under  the  title  of  Pennsylvania,  .  .  .  and  that 
they  have  full  power  to  expel  any  person  or  persons  from 
this  purchase  and  town,  whom  they  or  ye  major  part  of  them 
judge  unwholesome  inhabitants,  on  account  of  their  taking 
land  under  ye  title  of  Pennsylvania,"  etc.-^    In  August,  1774, 

2*  The  name  of  Abraham  Harding  appears  in  the  Hst  of  settlers  in 
Pittston,  April  30,  1772  (Vol.  11:84,  Wyoming  Historical  and  Geo- 
logical Society  Proceedings),  when  he  appears  to  have  drawn  a  lot  for 
Isaiah  Halstead.  He  could  not  have  stayed  in  Wyoming  long  at  this 
time. 

25  Harvey's  History  of  Wilkes-Barre,  Vol.  H :  736. 

-**  W.  J.  Harding  is  incorrect  in  saying  (page  81,  "Hardings  in 
America")  that  Abraham  Harding  settled  "up  the  river"  on  the  west 
side  in  Exeter,  in  what  he  calls  the  "Harding  region".  He  is  found 
in  the  Westmoreland  records  nowhere  except  in  Pittston  District. 

27  Harvey's  History  of  Wilkes-Barre,  Vol.  H :  752. 

28  Miner's  History  of  Wyoming,  page  156. 

29  Miner's  History  of  Wyoming,  pages  156-161.  On  the  latter  page 
it  says :  "These  nine  gentlemen  named  on  the  committee,  embraced,  as 
rightly  it  should  in  matters  so  delicate  and  important,  one  of  the 
leading  men  from  each  township  or  district." 


22  THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT  HARDING. 

Abraham  Harding  was  one  of  a  committee  of  three  to  ap- 
praise a  dwelling  house  and  lot  in  Pittston  District  in  "ye 
North  East  corner  of  ye  Fort",  taken  in  execution  of  Lovinia 
Hawkins  vs.  Daniel  Adams.  "The  above  named  men  were 
all  under  oath  and  delivered  to  ye  plaintiff  in  peaceable  pos- 
session"^". In  1777  he  was  a  Director  for  Pittston  District 
with  Daniel  Ross  and  Isaiah  Halstead,  and  these  three  men 
distributed  to  Isaac  Finch  a  mill  seat  on  the  Lackawanna 
river  near  the  mouth  of  Spring  Brook.  It  was  a  corner  lot, 
No.  54.  The  date  of  this  transaction  was  March  31,  1777.^^ 
In  the  Westmoreland  Tax  list  for  1776,  the  valuation  of  his 
taxable  property  is  given  as  £55.,  and  he  paid  a  tax  of 
£1.  I2S,  id.  In  August,  1777,  his  valuation  is  £28.  and  he 
paid  £i.8s.  In  November,  1778,  the  valuation  was  £28.  and 
the  tax  paid  was  £1.  8s.,  both  valuation  and  tax  the  same  as 
the  year  before.^-  He  still  resided  in  Pittston  District  when 
in  June,  1778,  the  alarm  occasioned  by  the  impending  in- 
vasion by  the  British  and  Indians  drove  the  settlers  of  Wyo- 
ming to  the  Forts  for  protection.  It  is  uncertain,  lacking 
definite  records,  to  what  fort  Abraham  Harding  took  his 
family.  "The  Hardings  in  America"  (page  90),  records 
an  interview  given  by  Amos  Harding,  son  of  Abraham,  in 
his  old  age,  in  the  presence  of  his  grandson  ten  years  of  age. 
This  grandson  in  his  old  age  repeated  what  he  remembered 
of  this  interview.  It  is  easy  to  believe  that  in  the  lapse  of 
years  the  remembrance  of  that  interview  became  hazy  in  the 
mind  of  the  grandson.  He  certainly  got  some  dates  wrong 
which  we  cannot  believe  was  the  mistake  of  the  grand-father. 
However,  if  he  was  correct  in  reporting  that  his  grand-father 
said  the  family  of  Abraham  Harding  was  in  Jenkins  Fort 
at  the  time  of  the  Battle  of  July  3rd,  1778,  it  must  be  accepted 

30  Proceedings  of  the  Wyoming  Historical  and  Geological  Society, 
Vol.  II :  80. 

31  Deed  Book,  No.  i,  page  309,  Wilkes-Barre,  Pa. 

32  Proceedings  of  the  Wyoming  Historical  and  Geological  Society, 
Vol.  V :  237-239. 


THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT  HARDING.  23 

as  the  truth.  Amos  Harding  was  fourteen  years  of  age  in 
1778  and  ought  to  have  known  where  his  family  was  at  that 
time.  On  the  other  hand,  we  do  not  find  Abraham  Harding 
listed  as  an  inmate  of  that  Fort,  and  we  know  that  he  was 
not  with  the  Hardings  and  others  who  went  up  the  river  to 
work  on  June  30th  when  Benjamin  and  Stukeley  were  killed. 
His  name  is  not  among  the  survivors  of  the  Battle ;  nor  is  it 
found  among  those  named  as  inmates  of  the  Pittston  Fort.^^ 
In  Sheldon  Reynolds'  "Frontier  Forts"  he  says :  "All  the 
families  living  in  Pittston  and  its  neighborhood  were  as- 
sembled within  this  (Pittston  Fort)  enclosure  during  the 
Battle  of  Wyoming."  And  he  says  further,  in  speaking  of 
the  small  detachment  of  the  24th  Regiment  stationed  at  the 
Fort  as  well  as  the  men  of  Pittston  who  were  there :  "The 
responsibility  of  protecting  the  women  and  children  under 
their  charge  outweighed  every  other  consideration".  It  seems 
improbable  that  Abraham  Harding  would  take  his  family 
across  the  river  to  Jenkins  Fort  directly  towards  and  almost 
in  the  path  of  the  oncoming  enemy,  and  to  a  fort  much  more 
exposed  to  danger  than  the  one  near  by  at  Pittston.  Also, 
the  men  of  Wyoming  were  working  in  their  fields  until  the 
very  presence  of  the  foe  prevented.  Why  would  he  put  the 
river  between  himself  and  his  farm  at  this  critical  time  and 
deprive  his  wife  and  children  of  his  protection  while  culti- 
vating his  crops  ?  Weighing  all  the  evidence  at  hand,  it  seems 
reasonable  to  think  that  Abraham  Harding  and  his  family 
were  in  Pittston  Fort  July  3rd,  1778,  rather  than  prisoners 
with  the  inmates  of  Jenkins  Fort  on  that  day.  They  fled 
with  the  other  refugees  over  the  Pocono  and  through  the 
"Shades  of  Death",  their  eleven  year  old  son,  Joseph,  dying 
on  the  way,  the  hardships  of  the  terrible  journey  proving  too 
much  for  his  strength.  They  undoubtedly  found  a  refuge 
with  their  many  relatives  in  the  old  home  in  Orange  County, 

33  Wyoming  Historical  and  Geological  Society's  Proceedings,  Vol. 
II :  79.    List  of  inmates  of  Pittston  Fort. 


24  THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT  HARDING. 

N.  Y.,  although  no  account  of  the  four  months  following  the 
flight  from  Wyoming  has  come  down  to  us.^* 

In  the  latter  part  of  October,  1778,  Abraham  Harding  and 
family  returned  to  Wyoming,  taking  up  again  the  task  of 
making  a  home.  With  the  help  of  his  only  remaining  son, 
Amos,  he  cleared  away  much  of  the  forest  on  his  land 
and  in  the  course  of  time  had  a  very  comfortable  home. 
Apparently,  he  had  financial  troubles  for  a  while  after  his 
return,  as  did  many  of  his  neighbors,  and  we  find  him  in 
debt  to  the  estate  of  Captain  Obadiah  Gore,  for  a  "note  in 
hand"  to  the  amount  of  £3.  los.,  September  i,  1780.  When 
the  agitation  for  the  erection  of  Luzerne  County  arose,  he 
and  his  son  Amos  both  signed  the  petition  to  the  General 
Assembly  of  Pennsylvania.^^  November  19,  1787,  he  sold 
to  Alexander  MacKay  one-half  of  Meadow  Lot,  No.  7,  in 
Pittston  Township.  This  was  acknowledged  November  27, 
1787,  and  recorded  at  Wilkes-Barre,  May  31,  1788,  in  Deed 
Book,  No.  I,  page  49.  Another  record  is :  Abraham  Harding 
of  Pittstown,  Luzerne  County  to  Enos  Brown.  Acknowledged 
April  27,  1789,  before  Benjamin  Carpenter,  Judge  of  Lu- 
zerne County.  Lot  No.  32  of  first  division  of  Farm  Lots, 
Pittstown  Township.  Sum  paid  £36.  Recorded  at  Wilkes- 
Barre  in  Deed  Book,  No.  i,  page  154.^*^ 

2*  "The  Hardings  in  America"  (page  84),  intimates  that  the  Hard- 
ings  remained  at  Stroudsburg  until  their  return  to  Wyoming  in  the 
fall ;  but  any  one  familiar  with  the  history  of  the  refugees  and  condi- 
tions at  Stroudsburg,  will  doubt  that  they  were  there  very  long. 
Orange  County  was  a  comparatively  easy  journey  from  Stroudsburg, 
and  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  they  accompanied  the  many 
other  refugees  who  went  on  to  that  region. 

35  A  copy  of  this  petition  is  now  in  the  Library  of  the  Philosophical 
Society  in  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  from  which  this  record  is  taken. 

36  From  a  study  of  other  deeds  and  records  found  in  Wilkes-Barre, 
we  find  that  there  was  another  man  by  the  name  of  Abraham  Harding 
owning  property  in  Pittston  during  the  years  1790  to  1794,  and  prob- 
ably living  there  for  a  portion  of  those  years.  We  find:  Deed  No.  i. — 
"Abraham  Harding  of  Pittstown  to  Henry  Harding,  son  of  said 
Abraham.    Date  Nov.  22,  1790.    Acknowledged  by  one  of  the  witnesses 


THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT  HARDING.  2$ 

Abraham  Harding,  Jr.,  died  October  22,  181 5,  and  his  wife 
in  1812,  according  to  the  family  record  in  the  Bible  of  Amos 
Harding,  their  son.  The  place,  or  places,  of  their  deaths  are 
not  given  in  this  family  record.  Some  of  their  kinsmen 
believe  that  they  died  in  Orange  County,  N.  Y.,  but  offer  no 
proof  of  same.  As  we  have  shown,  the  name  Abraham  Hard- 
ing was  borne  by  several  men  in  that  county,  and  it  is  difficult 
to  distinguish  between  them.  None  claim  that  they  returned 
to  Orange  County  before  1800.  The  late  Major  A.  J.  Hard- 
ing of  Chicago,  who  spent  many  years  and  much  money  in 
the  preparation  of  a  genealogy  of  the  Hardings  which  was 
never  published,  asserted  that  he  had  positive  proof  that  they 
died  in  Luzerne  County,  Pa. ;  but  whatever  that  proof  was  is 

and  recorded  May  7,  1791.  One  half  of  two  Meadow  Lots,  Township 
of  Pittstown — numbers  6  and  8  and  one  half  of  50  acres  being  lot  on 
which  I  now  live — bounded  southerly  on  land  of  James  Benedict  and 
northerly  on  land  of  Mr.  Sandford  together  with  all  right  in  other 
divided  land."  Plainly,  on  the  face  of  it,  this  was  not  the  Abraham 
Harding  of  this  sketch,  for  HE  HAD  NO  SON  HENRY.  Again 
we  find:  Deed  No.  2. — "Abraham  Harding  and  Henry  Harding  of 
Pittstown,  to  William  Miller.  Date  May  22,  1793.  Lot  of  100  acres, 
regularly  laid  out  to  Stephen  Harding."  Fiom  other  records  we  find 
that  a  Stephen  Harding  died  in  Pittston  prior  to  Sept.  11,  1793,  when 
Henry  Harding  was  appointed  administrator  of  his  estate.  Both  Henry 
and  his  father,  Abraham  Harding,  appear  to  have  been  heirs  of 
Stephen  Harding,  and  to  have  been  closely  related  to  him.  Again  we 
find:  Deed  No.  3 — "Abraham  Harding,  now  living  in  Township  of 
Minisink  in  County  of  Orange,  New  York,  to  Orman  Ensign,  land  in 
Pittstown.  Date  June  18,  1794."  (The  Michael  Shoemaker  Book, 
page  511,  quotes  these  deeds  as  executed  by  Abraham  Harding  of  this 
sketch.)  The  Abraham  Harding  of  this  sketch  signed  the  petition 
mentioned  on  page  28,  in  April,  1794.  Why  was  he  so  interested  in 
that  petition  if  he  was  to  remove  to  Minisink  in  two  months,  June  18, 
1794,  the  date  of  deed  No.  3?  An  Abraham  Harding  is  found  in  the 
1790  census  for  Minisink  Township,  Orange  County,  N.  Y.,  who  was 
not  Major  Abraham  Harding  (page  16)  of  the  same  township.  He 
might  have  been  the  Abraham  of  these  deeds  as  there  was  time  between 
the  taking  of  the  census  and  November  22,  1790,  the  date  of  the  first 
deed,  for  him  to  remove  to  Pittston.  He  evidently  returned  to  Minisink 
before  June  18,  1794,  the  date  of  the  third  deed. 


26  THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT  HARDING. 

now  lost  by  the  scattering  of  his  manuscript  among  his 
descendants.  A  recent  search  of  the  probate  records  of 
Orange  and  Luzerne  Counties  throws  no  light  upon  this 
problem  which  seems  to  be  unsolvable. 

The  children  of  Abraham  and  Huldah  (Try on)  Harding 
were: 

1.  Amos  Harding,  born  March  19,   1764;  died  July  10, 

1839- 

2.  Joseph  Harding,  born  in  1766  in  Orange  County,  N. 
Y. ;  died  in  July,  1778,  on  the  Pocono  mountain,  Pa., 
in  the  retreat  from  Wyoming  after  the  massacre. 

3.  John  Harding,  born  in  Orange  County,  N.  Y.,  in  1768; 
died  in  the  Wyoming  Valley  in  1776. 

4.  Daughter,  born  in  Orange  County,  N.  Y. ;  died  there 
in  childhood. 

5.  Daughter.  She  married  John  Saxon  in  1801  and  went 
to  Ontario  County.  N.  Y.,  in  1804. 

Amos  Harding,^^  oldest  child  of  Abraham  and  Huldah 
(Tryon)  Harding,  was  born  March  19,  1764,  in  Orange 
County,  N.  Y.,  and  died  July  10,  1839,  in  Blooming  Grove, 
Morrow  County,  Ohio.  He  accompanied  his  parents  to  the 
Wyoming  Valley  in  1772  and  passed  through  the  horrors  of 
the  British  and  Indian  invasion  in  the  summer  of  1778  and 
the  terrible  journey  across  the  mountains  to  safety  after  the 
massacre.  After  the  return  of  the  family  to  the  valley  in  the 
fall  of  1778,  he  assisted  his  father  in  clearing  and  otherwise 
improving  his  farm  in  Pittstown.  August  21,  1784,  he 
married  Phoebe  Tripp,^^  daughter  of  William  and  Sarah 
(Slocum)  Tripp.     She  was  born  in  Orange  County,  N.  Y., 

37  In  "The  Michael  Shoemaker  Book",  page  514,  Amos  Harding  is 
said  to  be  the  son  of  Thomas  and  grandson  of  Capt.  Stephen  and 
Amy  (Gardner)  Harding,  and  his  wife  Phoebe  is  said  to  be  the 
daughter  of  Isaac  and  Eleanor  (Frear)  Tripp  of  Clifford. 

3^  She  was  fifth  in  descent  from  John  Tripp  and  his  wife,  Mary 
Paine,  of  Portsmouth,  R.  I.  The  line  is :  John,  Peleg,  Job,  Isaac, 
William,  Phoebe.  She  was  sixth  from  Anthony  Slocum.  The  line  is: 
Anthony,  Giles,  Samuel,  Giles,  Joseph,  Sarah,  who  married  William 
Tripp,  Phoebe.  She  was  a  cousin  of  Frances  Slocum,  the  "captive  of 
Wyoming". 


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V 


Petition  for  the  erection  of  Nicholson  Township. 


THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT  HARDING.  27 

August  17,  1767.  and  died  at  the  home  of  her  son,  John 
Harding,  in  LaPorte  County,  Indiana,  November  2,  1844. 
Her  parents  were  early  settlers  in  the  Wyoming  region  and 
among  the  sufferers  during  and  after  the  massacre. 

After  the  marriage  of  Amos  Harding  his  father  gave  him 
half  of  the  improved  part  of  his  farm  and  there  he  and  his 
wife  lived  for  sixteen  years.^^  Nine  of  their  children  were 
born  in  that  home.  His  name  is  found  in  the  1790  census 
credited  with  one  son  and  two  daughters.  The  long  con- 
troversy between  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  and  the  Connecti- 
cut settlers  in  Wyoming  and  the  uncertainty  of  the  final 
outcome  so  discouraged  him  that  he  decided  to  leave  the 
Valley  and  make  a  home  elsewhere.*''  When  and  to  whom 
he  sold  his  Pittston  farm  is  not  known  as  no  deeds  of  such 
transaction  can  now  be  found ;  but  that  he  was  well  supplied 
with  money  when  he  left  there  is  evidenced  by  his  purchase 
of  land  and  his  other  business  dealings  in  the  new  home  to 
which  he  removed. 

He  was  a  signer  of  the  petition  to  the  Pennsylvania  General 
Assembly,  praying  for  the  erection  of  Luzerne  County;  and 
was  also  a  signer  of  the  manuscript  petition  for  the  erection 
of  Nicholson  Township  to  the  Luzerne  County  Quarter  Ses- 
sions,— furnished  by  William  A.  Wilcox  of  Scranton,  Penn- 
sylvania*\  Nicholson  Township  erected  in  1795  by  this 
petition  included  that  part  of  the  present  county  of 
Susquehanna  which  covers  the  townships  of  Clifford, 
Lenox,  Herrick,  Gibson,  Harford,  the  southern  part  of 
Ararat  and  eastern  parts  of  Lathrop,  and  Brooklyn.  In  the 
present  counties  of  Wyoming  and  Lackawanna  it  included 
those  parts  of  Fell,  Greenfield,  Benton  and  the  eastern  half 
of  Nicholson  north  of  a  line  drawn  east  from  the  mouth  of 
Meshoppen  Creek  to  the  Wayne  county  line. 

39  Statement  of  Amos  Harding.  See  page  91,  "Hardings  in 
America." 

■*o  From  family  records,  quoted  by  W.  J.  Harding  in  a  letter  to 
Mrs.  Miller  dated  June  2,  1924.  . 

*^  See  frontispiece. 


28  THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT  HARDING. 

Thornbottom  was  a  locality, — not  a  municipality  with  boun- 
daries. It  was  on  the  Tunkhannock  Creek  about  where  the 
Borough  of  Nicholson  is,  with  its  big  D.,  L.  &  W.  railroad 
viaduct ;  bottom  meaning  bottomlands  along  the  stream.  The 
signers  to  the  petition  may  not  have  all  been  residents  at  the 
time  of  signing,  some  possibly  being  merely  owners  of  prop- 
erty there.  We  have  no  reason  to  think  that  Abraham  Hard- 
ing resided  there  and  we  know  that  his  son  Amos  (also  a 
signer)  did  not  become  a  resident  of  Nicholson  Township 
until  1800.    The  petition  reads: 

To  The  Honorable  Cort  to  be  Holden  at  Wilksberry 
in  and  for  the  County  of  Luzarn  on  the  Third  monday 
in  november  Instant  Come  your  Honnours  humble  Pe- 
tioners  and  Begs  Leave  To  inform  yours  Honours  That 
on  Runing  An  East  Line  from  the  mouth  of  Meshoping 
it  Appears  to  be  on  the  South  of  Us  and  of  Cours  we 
Cannot  belong  to  The  Towndship  of  Tunkhannock  and 
the  Cituation  of  the  Cuntry  Deprives  us  of  Thosse  In- 
estemable  Privileges  That  our  fellow  Citizens  Enjoy  In 
giveing  our  Votes  in  Elections  as  The  Distance  is  at 
Least  forty  miles  The  Nearess  way  Ever  yet  Ocupied  as 
a  Road  to  Wialusink  we  there  fore  Humbly  Pray  That 
Your  Honours  Would  Take  The  maters  afore  Said  into 
your  Wise  Considration  and  grant  Us  Releas  by  Setting 
Us  off  as  a  Seperate  Township  Bounded  on  the  South 
By  the  North  line  of  The  township  of  Tunkhannock  and 
on  the  East  West  and  North  as  in  your  Wisdom  be 
found  most  Proper  and  yours  Honours  Humble  Pe- 
tioners  as  in  Duty  Bound  Shall  Ever  Pray 

Isaiah  Hallsted 
Thornbottom  April  1794  Reuben  Coller 

Isaac  Doud 
Eliphulet  Stephens  Juner  Amos  Harding 

Henry  Felten  Jacob  Hoit 

Samuel  Woodruff  Elemuel  Cary 

Beniaman  Kidder  Henery  Allison 

Daniel  Coller  Ebenzr.  Bartlett 

Jesse  Coller  Ebenezer  Stephens 

Joseph  Hallsted  John  Sager 

Samuel  Hallsted  John  Robinson 

Abraham  Harding  Joseph  Rider 


THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT  HARDING.  29 

In  March,  1800,*-  Amos  Harding  with  his  wife  and  eight 
children  (one  child  having  previously  died)  removed  to  that 
part  of  Nicholson  township  in  Luzerne  County  which  is  now 
Clifford  township,  Susquehanna  County,  Pa.*^  This  place 
was  forty,  or  more  miles  from  their  old  home  in  the  Wyoming 
Valley,  in  a  dense  forest  with  scarcely  a  clearing,  or  habita- 
tion between  it  and  the  Susquehanna  river  at  Pittston.  There 
were  no  roads  of  any  kind  between  the  two  places,  but  the 
snows  which  usually  cover  this  region  in  March  may  have 
made  possible  the  moving  of  household  goods  and  other 
necessities  upon  sleds  through  the  pathless  forest ;  otherwise 
they  had  to  be  carried  upon  the  backs  of  horses  or  oxen. 
The  new  home  to  which  they  came  had  no  name,  but  was 
called  "the  Beech  woods",  an  appellation  given  to  a  large 
stretch  of  country  in  the  present  counties  of  Susquehanna 
and  Lackawanna.** 

42  This  date  is  determined  from  authentic  records. 

43  Luzerne  County  was  erected  from  Northumberland  County  in 
1786  and  then  included  Susquehanna  County  which  was  erected  from 
Luzerne  in  1810  and  legally  organized  in  1812.  Clifford  township, 
which  was  erected  by  Luzerne  County  in  1806,  is  in  the  southeast 
corner  of  Susquehanna  County,  being  bounded  on  the  east  by  Wayne 
County  and  on  the  south  by  Lackawanna.  The  valley  in  which  is  now 
the  village  of  Clifford  and  the  place  where  Amos  Harding  settled,  is 
just  north  and  within  sight  of  the  division  line  between  the  counties  of 
Susquehanna  and  Lackawanna.  This  valley  lies  nearly  north  and  south 
and  is  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  long  and  of  varying  width, 
nowhere  being  a  half  mile  broad.  It  has  an  elevation  of  about  iioo 
feet.  December  28,  1774,  warrants  for  lots  37,  38  and  39  (See  War- 
rantee map  of  Greenfield  township,  Lacka.  Co.),  in  Northumberland 
County,  Pa.,  containing  311  acres,  4  perches  each,  were  granted  by 
Pennsylvania  to  John  Maxwell  Nesbitt  and  deeded  to  him  May  4,  1796. 
These  lots  were  patented  to  David  H.  Conyngham  October  24,  1800, 
and  later  became  the  property  of  Redmond  Conyngham.  (Record 
furnished  by  the  Deputy  Secretary  of  Internal  Affairs,  Harrisburg, 
Pa.)     The  village  of  Clifford  and  most  of  the  valley  lie  in  lot  zi- 

**  Some  years  later  the  cluster  of  houses  which  formed  the  nucleus 
of  the  village  of  Clifford  was  called  Farmersville,  a  name  which  clung 
to  it  even  after  the  establishment  of  the  Clifford  post  office  in  1851. 
Letters  came  to  Clifford  post  office  directed  to  Farmersville  as  late 
as  1866. 


30  THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT   HARDING. 

Upon  the  arrival  of  the  Harding  family  at  Clifford  they 
found  a  settler,  Adam  Miller,  already  upon  the  ground.  He 
had  come  there  in  the  spring  of  1799  and  bought  all  the  land 
in  the  upper,  or  southern  end  of  the  valley,  building  his  log 
cabin  on  the  west  side  of  the  creek.*^  See  illustration  i), 
Mr.  Harding  bought  land  of  Mr.  Miller  on  the  east 
side  of  the  creek  and  built  his  cabin  a  few  rods  east  of  the 
present  main  street  of  the  village  and  on  the  north  side  of 
the  cross  road  leading  to  Dundaff.  The  site  of  this  cabin  is 
now  (1928)  the  property  of  Mrs.  Andrew  Chamberlain  and 
the  cabin  stood  in  what  is  her  back  garden. 

In  September,  1800,  six  months  after  coming  to  Clifford, 
Lydia,  the  twelve  year  old  daughter  of  Amos  and  Phoebe 
Harding,  died.  This  was  the  first  death  to  occur  in  Clifford 
township.*®  and  the  first  burial  in  the  cemetery  on  the  hill 
east  of  the  present  Baptist  church.  Two  years  later  Major 
Abraham  Harding  came  from  Orange  County,  N.  Y.,  to 
live  with  his  grandson  Amos,  and  his  was  the  second  death 
to  occur  in  the  family  after  their  removal  to  Clifford,  and 
the  second  in  the  town  so  far  as  the  records  show.  Before 
his  death  in  1806  three  more  children  had  been  born  to  Amos 
and  Phoebe  Harding,  and  in  the  light  of  present  day  com- 
forts it  is  hard  to  understand  how  three  adults  and  ten  chil- 
dren could  live  in  the  small  cabin  of  two  rooms  and  a  loft. 

Amos  Harding  bought  from  time  to  time  all  the  Miller 

*5  This  creek  is  a  tributary  of  the  east  branch  of  the  Tunkhannock 
creek.  It  flows  in  a  northerly  direction  the  whole  length  of  Clifford 
valley.  On  an  ancient  map  is  it  called  "Betsey's  Brook",  but  it  has 
borne  the  name  of  "The  Aldermarsh"  since  the  first  settlers  came  to 
Clifford.  The  land  of  Adam  Miller  covered  the  site  of  the  village  on 
the  east  side  of  the  creek  and  on  the  west  side  it  stretched  to  the  edge 
of  lot  38.  It  appears  that  he  bought  directly  of  John  M.  Nesbitt,  but 
apparently  the  Deed  was  not  recorded  at  Wilkes-Barre  as  it  is  not  to 
be  found  there  now. 

■*®  It  has  always  been  believed  heretofore,  and  so  stated  in  all  his- 
tories of  Susquehanna  County,  that  the  first  death  to  occur  in  Clifford 
was  that  of  Huldah,  daughter  of  Amos  Harding.  She  was  not  born 
until  four  years  after  the  death  of  Lydia.  The  above  record  is  from 
the  family  bible  of  Amos  Harding  and  is  correct. 


THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT  HARDING.  3I 

land  on  the  east  side  of  the  creek;  and  finally  when  Mr. 
Miller  decided  to  move  up  on  the  hill  west  of  the  valley, 
Mr.  Harding  bought  the  farm  on  the  west  side  of  the 
creek,  giving  Mr.  Miller  the  privilege  of  occupying  the  cabin, 
while  building  his  new  home  on  the  hill.  This  farm  was 
somewhat  cleared  and  several  acres  were  under  cultivation. 
Before  moving  into  the  Miller  cabin  in  1812,  Mr.  Harding 
added  a  large  room  to  it,  making  a  very  comfortable  home. 
It  was  the  largest  cabin  for  many  miles  around  and  had 
housed  the  first  school  taught  in  the  valley,  the  Miller  and 
Harding  children  being  for  several  years  the  only  pupils. 
During  Mr.  Miller's  occupancy,  religious  services  were  often 
held  in  one  of  the  rooms  of  this  cabin,  and  the  custom  was 
continued  after  the  Hardings  moved  into  it.  Mr.  Miller  built 
a  large  frame  barn  near  this  cabin  which  stands  to-day 
(1928)  in  a  good  state  of  preservation,  having  been  in  con- 
stant use  for  nearly  a  century  and  a  quarter.  It  is  the  oldest 
building  now  standing  in  Clifford  township.  (See  illustra- 
tion 2).  This  second  home  of  Amos  Harding  stood 
about  fifteen  rods  in  a  northeasterly  direction  from  the  barn, 
mentioned  above,  and  between  it  and  the  creek. 

August  I,  1816,  Mr.  Harding  bought  of  William  E.  Rob- 
inson between  35  and  36  acres  of  land  on  the  hill-side  south 
of  the  valley;  consideration,  $55.65.  This  land  lay  in  both 
Lots  -^y  and  38,  granted  to  John  M.  Nesbitt  and  ran  over  the 
county  line  into  Greenfield  township.  (Deed  recorded  at 
Montrose,  Pa.,  Nov.  17,  1818,  in  Deed  Book,  No.  3,  page 
55.)  On  the  same  day  he  bought  another  tract  of  Mr.  Rob- 
inson containing  105  acres  in  Clifford  and  Greenfield  town- 
ships;  consideration,  $166.00.  (Deed  recorded  at  Wilkes- 
Barre,  Jan.  2.y,  1820,  in  Deed  Book,  No.  20,  page  120.) 
December  i,  1816,  he  bought  of  Redmond  Conyngham,  118 
acres,  44  perches  of  land  in  Lot  38  (to  the  west  of  Lot  };j) 
granted  to  John  M.  Nesbitt;  consideration,  $188.00.  (Deed 
recorded  at  Wilkes-Barre,  June  27,  1820,  in  Deed  Book,  No. 


32  THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT  HARDING. 

21,  page  54.)  These  purchases  of  land,  with  what  he  had 
bought  of  Adam  Miller,  made  Amos  Harding  the  possessor 
of  nearly,  if  not  quite,  5CXD  acres  in  Clifford  and  Greenfield 
townships. 

The  first  day  of  January,  1817,  Mr.  Harding  sold  to  his 
son-in-law,  James  Stearnes,  40  acres  of  the  land  lying  in 
Clifford  that  he  had  bought  of  Redmond  Conyngham;  con- 
sideration, $100.00.  The  witnesses  to  this  Deed  were  M.  R. 
Harding  and  Tryon  Harding.  (Recorded  at  Wilkes-Barre, 
April  27,  18 19,  in  Deed  Book,  No.  20,  page  50.)  He  sold 
to  his  son,  Tryon  Harding  (Deed  and  date  not  found), 
between  six  and  seven  acres  of  the  northern  end  of  the 
Conyngham  tract.  Tryon  Harding  sold  this  land  to  Jacob 
Bedford,  September  2,  1822;  consideration,  $60.00  (Recorded 
at  Montrose,  Pa.,  in  Deed  Book,  No.  5,  page  319.)  Jacob 
Bedford  afterward  sold  this  to  Nathan  Callender,  date,  De- 
cember I,  1824;  consideration,  $48.00.  (Recorded  at  Mont- 
rose, Dec.  I,  1824,  in  Deed  Book,  No.  5,  page  320.)  It  is 
still  included  in  what  is  known  as  the  Callender  Farm. 

Amos  Harding  sold  to  James  Finn,  October  15,  1818,  112 
acres  of  the  141  that  he  had  bought  of  William  E.  Robinson ; 
consideration,  $1900.00  (Recorded  at  Montrose,  Nov.  17, 
1818,  in  Deed  Book,  No.  3.  page  53.)  December  i,  1824, 
James  Finn  and  wife  Polly  deeded  this  land  to  Nathan  Cal- 
lender; consideration,  $2500.00  (Recorded  at  Montrose,  in 
Deed  Book,  No.  5,  page  317.)  None  of  this  land  is  now 
included  in  the  Callender  farm.  When  and  to  whom  it  was 
sold  by  Callender  is  not  now  known,  but  it  covered  the 
southern  part  of  the  village  and  also  the  farm  for  many  years 
owned  and  occupied  by  John  Halsted  now  the  property 
(1928)  of  Emery  G.  Greene.  By  changes  in  the  county  line 
after  the  date  of  the  survey  of  this  land  as  described  in  the 
Deed,  all  of  it  now  lies  in  Clifford  township. 

'  June  I.  1820.  Amos  Harding  sold  to  Nathan  Callender  223 
acres  of  land,  "excepting  46  acres  previously  deeded  to  James 


THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT  HARDING.  33 

Stearnes  and  Tryon  Harding",  as  the  Deed  reads ;  considera- 
tion, $1500.00;  witnesses,  James  Finn  and  Harly  Hobbs. 
(Recorded  at  Wilkes-Barre  in  Deed  Book,  No.  21,  page  55.) 
Most,  perhaps  all,  of  the  177  acres  of  this  tract  that  went  to 
Mr.  Callender  was  the  Adam  Miller  farm  which  Mr.  Harding 
had  bought  in  1810.  Mr.  Callender  lived  in  Dundaff  and 
never  occupied  the  farm  himself.*'  Mr.  Harding  continued 
to  live  upon  it  until  his  removal  to  Ohio.  It  is  evident  that 
the  remainder  of  the  land  l^ought  by  Mr.  Harding  in  Clifford 
was  sold  to  members  of  his  family,  but  no  records  of  sales 
are  now  to  be  found  with  one  exception,  viz. :  the  sale  of  20 
acres  of  the  land  bought  of  William  E.  Robinson,  to  his  son 
Salmon  E.  Harding  before  the  26th  of  October,  1818,  upon 
which  date  the  said  Salmon  E.  Harding  sold  it  to  George 
Oram.  (Deed  recorded  at  Montrose  in  Deed  Book,  No.  3, 
page  580.)  This  land  "by  sundry  mentioned  conveyances" 
(so  reads  a  subsequent  Deed)  became  the  property  of  Henry 
Cuddeback.  It  is  upon  this  land  that  the  Harding  burial 
ground  on  the  hill  east  of  the  Baptist  Church  lies;  and, 
because  of  certain  restrictions  imposed  upon  the  owners  re- 
lating to  the  preservation  of  said  burial  plot,  some  trouble  of 
a  legal  nature  arose.  Therefore,  on  September  4,  1829,  Amos 
and  Phoebe  Harding,  then  living  in  Richland  Co.,  Ohio,  gave 
a  deed  to  Henry  Cuddeback  for  this  land,  consideration  fifty 
cents,  to  make  good  said  Cuddeback's  title.  (Deed  recorded 
at  Montrose,  Dec.  i,  1829,  in  Deed  Book,  No.  7,  page  429.) 
Phoebe  Harding  signed  this  deed  with  a  mark. 

A  curious  and  unexplainable  transaction  between  Amos 
Harding  and  three  of  his  sons  was  recorded  at  Montrose 
May  I,  1815,  in  Deed  Book,  No.  i.  page  454.  It  reads: 
"This  Indenture  made  and  concluded  this  first  day  of  April, 

^'  Nathan  Callender  died  in  1830  and  his  widow  then  removed  from 
Dundaff  to  her  farm  in  Clifford.  It  had  evidently  been  rented  after 
Mr.  Harding  left  it,  and  at  one  time  was  occupied  by  a  Mr.  Mackey. 
J.  M.  Callender,  son  of  Nathan,  inherited  it  and  in  turn  it  descended 
to  his  daughter,  now  deceased,  whose  husband,  Eugene  Kennedy,  now 
(1928)  occupies  it. 


34  THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT  HARDING. 

A.  D.  1815,  between  Salmon  E.  Harding,  Mordica  Harding 
and  Ebenezer  S.  Harding  all  of  Clifford,  Susquehanna 
County  and  State  of  Pennsylvania,  of  the  first  part  and 
Amos  Harding  and  his  wife  of  the  second  part,  WIT- 
NESSETH, that  Whereas  the  said  Amos  Harding  hath  this 
day  deeded  all  his  property  both  real  and  personal  to  the  said 
parties  of  the  first  part  in  consideration  of  the  support  and 
maintenance  of  himself  and  wife  during  their  life  time  and 
the  support  and  maintenance  of  the  young  children  until  the 
ages  of  fourteen  years  in  consequence  of  the  said  Deeds  and 
for  the  consideration  of  the  personal  property.  We  do  lease 
and  set  over  unto  the  said  Amos  Harding  and  to  his  wife 
during  their  life  time  all  the  said  property  in  Clifford  whereon 
we  now  live  which  was  deeded  by  the  said  Amos  Harding  by 
deeds  bearing  even  date  herewith  the  said  Amos  to  enter  into 
and  take  possession  of  the  said  premises  at  any  time  when 
he  shall  think  meet  or  his  wife  if  she  outlives  her  husband 
has  the  same  privileges  the  said  Amos  has,  during  her  life- 
time. In  witness  whereof  we  have  hereunto  set  our  hands 
and  seals  the  day  and  year  first  above  written.  (Signed) 
S.  E.  Harding.  Mordeca  Harding.  E.  S.  Harding.  Ac- 
knowledged before  A.  Dimock,  Justice.     April  25,  181 5." 

Amos  Harding  and  Adam  Miller  were  among  the  heaviest 
tax  payers  in  Clifford  through  the  years  up  to  and  including 
1813.*^  By  that  time  many  settlers  had  come  into  the  town- 
ship, but  few  had  made  their  homes  in  Clifford  valley.*^ 
Amos   Harding  and  Adam   Miller  appear  to  have  worked 

48  "Assessment  of  1804  in  Nicholson  Township,  Luzerne  County. 
Amos  Hardin,  18  acres  improved  land,  $72.  One  house,  $7.  7  horses 
and  cattle,  $76."  Some  of  the  18  acres  were  improved  when  Amos 
Harding  bought  of  Adam  Miller,  and  a  good  sized  apple  orchard  had 
been  started. 

*^  Among  these  few  settlers  in  Clifford  valley  was  Isaac  Tripp.  His 
father  and  the  father  of  Phoebe,  wife  of  Amos  Harding,  were  half 
brothers.  Isaac  Tripp  was  a  son  of  Job  and  Hannah  (Rice)  Tripp  of 
the  Wyoming  Valley.  He  was  5th  in  descent  from  John  and  Mary 
(Paine)  Tripp  of  Portsmouth,  R.  I.,  the  line  being  John,  Job,  Job,  Jr., 
Isaac,  Job,  Isaac  of  this  sketch.     In  his  youth  he  was  captured  by  the 


THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT  HARDING.  35 

together  in  the  promotion  of  every  enterprise  for  the  better- 
ment of  the  Httle  community.  They  were  instrumental  in 
building  in  1814  the  first  school  house  which  stood  upon,  or 
very  near  the  site  of  the  present  village  school  house;  and 
they  laid  out  and  built  the  first  road  in  Clifford.  It  led  from 
their  cabins  in  the  valley  over  the  hill  to  the  southwest,  past 
what  in  after  years  was  known  as  the  "Tinker  farm".  This 
road  has  long  been  abandoned.  Amos  Harding  was  one  of 
the  five  "managers"  (for  soliciting  funds?)  of  the  Milford 
and  Owego  Turnpike  and  was  undoubtedly  a  subscriber  and 
share-holder.  (Centennial  history  of  Susquehanna  County, 
page  48.) 

Mr.  Harding  was  active  in  the  organization  of  the  CliiTord 
Baptist  Church  and  one  of  its  first  members.  This  church 
was  organized  October  20,  1817,  in  the  school  house  at 
CliiTord  mentioned  above.  It  became  one  of  the  churches  in 
the  Abington  Baptist  Association.  For  some  unknown  reason 
Amos  Harding  was  not  one  of  the  original  thirty-four  mem- 
bers although  we  find  the  names  of  his  wife,  three  sons  and 
wives  of  two  on  that  list ;  but  at  the  second  Covenant  meeting 
of  the  church,  held  December  20,  18 17,  he  and  his  daughter 
Abigail,  wife  of  James  Stearnes,  were  admitted  to  member- 
ship on  "experience".  The  day  before,  December  19th,  an 
important  church  meeting  had  been  held  at  Mr.  Harding's 
house  where  much  interesting  business  was  transacted.  The 
Abington  Baptist  Association  met  with  the  Cliflford  Church 
on  Wednesday,  September  6,  1820,  the  meetings  being  held  in 
a  new  unused  barn  belonging  to  Salmon  E.  Harding.  The 
delegates  were  entertained  at  dinner  at  the  home  of  Amos 
Harding,  but  he  was  not  present  being  called  to  Ohio  on 
business.    There  is  a  tradition  long  remembered  in  CliiTord, 

Indians  in  Providence  township,  and  remained  a  prisoner  in  Canada 
until  after  the  close  of  the  Revolution.  He  married  Eleanor  Frear 
and  their  descendants  for  two  or  three  generations  lived  in  Clifford, 
but  the  family  is  now  extinct.  Isaac  Tripp  was  one  of  the  34  original 
members  of  the  Clifford  Baptist  Church  and  was  afterward  a  deacon 
of  this  church. 


36  THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT   HARDING. 

that  Mr.  Harding,  being  anxious  that  the  food  served  at  the 
dinner  should  be  of  the  best,  left  a  ten  dollar  bill  (a  large 
sum  in  those  days)  with  his  wife  with  strict  orders  that  the 
butter  especially,  should  be  of  the  best  quality,  "for",  said  he, 
"if  the  bread  is  not  just  right,  if  the  butter  be  good  it  might 
do  very  well".  He  occasionally  preached  in  Clifford  and 
other  places.  He  preached  at  Bethany,  Wayne  County,  Pa., 
in  1819,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Baptist  Association,  using  for 
his  text  the  words,  "Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart".  He  also 
conducted  the  funeral  service  for  his  little  daughter  Huldah, 
who  died  in  1808,  and  according  to  the  custom  of  the  time 
preached  a  sermon.  This  child  who  was  only  four  years  old 
was  drowned  in  a  spring  a  few  rods  east  of  the  Harding 
cabin.  This  was  undoubtedly  where  the  family  got  its  drink- 
ing water  for  they  had  walled  the  spring  from  the  bottom. 
Huldah  leaned  over  the  top  of  the  wall  and  fell  in.^°  Another 
child,  Jemima,  born  in  1810,  died  in  Clififord  in  childhood. 
Joseph,  born  in  181 1,  died  in  1813.^^ 

Four  children  of  Amos  and  Phoebe  Harding  were  buried 
in  the  plot  on  the  hillside,  and  with  the  grandfather  and  first 
wife  of  Tryon  Harding  there  are  six  graves  of  the  family 
there.  To  recapitulate,  the  names  and  dates  of  deaths  of 
these  Hardings  are : 

1.  Lydia  Harding,  died  in  September,  iSoo. 

2.  Major  Abraham  Harding,  died  in  1806. 

3.  Huldah  Harding,  died  in  1808. 

4.  Jemima  Harding,  died  in  1811. 

5.  Joseph  Harding,  died  in  October,  1813. 

6.  Anna  (Roberts)   Harding,  first  wife  of  Tryon  Hard- 
ing, died  July  20,  181 5. 

When  the  newer  cemetery  was  laid  out  in  the  northern  end 
of  the  valley  in  1816,  some  of  the  graves  in  this  little  burial 
ground  were  moved  to  it ;  but  the  Harding  graves  were  left 

50  This  spring  is  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  back  of  the  Baptist  Church. 

■''1  "Joseph  Harding,  son  of  Amos  Harding,  died  at  Clififord,  Pa., 
October,  1813."  From  notices  of  deaths  published  in  the  Susquehanna 
Democrat  of  Wilkes-Barre.  (See  Wyoming  Historical  and  Geological 
Society's  Proceedings,  Vol.  10,  page  175.) 


THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT  HARDING.  37 

undisturbed.  They  remain  there  to-day,  with  no  stones  or 
marks  of  any  kind  to  show  their  exact  location.  Half  a 
century  ago  the  last  vestige  of  a  mound  was  leveled  by  the 
ruthless  plow.^- 

The  exact  time  of  the  removal  of  Amos  Harding  from 
Clifford  to  Ohio  is  a  matter  of  dispute.  He  was  taxed  in 
Clifford  for  the  last  time  in  1819  and  he  sold  his  homestead 
property  to  Nathan  Callender  in  June,  1820;  but  it  is  certain 
that  he  was  still  living  there  in  September  of  that  year  and 
neighborhood  tradition  names  a  still  later  date  for  his  re- 
moval. The  weight  of  evidence,  however,  favors  late  1820 
or  early  1821  as  the  true  date.  The  records  of  the  Clifford 
Baptist  Church  for  the  years  between  18 18  and  1828  are 
lost,  but  in  1830  it  is  recorded  that  Amos  Harding  and  his 
wife  had  previously  (no  date  given)  been  dismissed  by 
letter. 

Amos  Harding  must  have  been  a  man  of  strong  character 
to  make  so  lasting  an  impression  upon  a  community  as  he  did 
upon  Clifford.  There  are  aged  people  still  living  who  re- 
member the  anecdotes  and  traditions  concerning  him  which 
were  told  to  them  by  his  contemporaries.  By  the  aid  of  these 
stories,  we  picture  him  as  a  high-spirited  man  of  an  adven- 
turous nature,  stern,  unbending  in  matters  affecting  his  con- 
victions of  right  and  justice,  with  strong  religious  beliefs,  a 
"Hard-shell  Baptist"  of  the  old  school,  a  shrewd  and  pros- 
perous business  man  but  generous  and  kind  in  his  dealings 
with  his  family  and  neighbors.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that 
Clifford  lost  so  early  in  its  history  this  sturdy  pioneer.  In 
his  western  home  he  repeated  the  history  of  his  activities  in 
Clifford,  and  he  died  there  an  honored  and  respected  citizen. 

Children  of   Amos  and   Phoebe    (Tripp)    Harding;   nine 

°-  This  burial-ground  on  the  farm  of  Amos  Harding,  was  used  by 
the  community  and  there  were  at  least  twelve  burials  there,  some  say 
more.  The  last  burial  on  the  hill  was  that  of  John  Robinson,  father 
of  William  E.  Robinson,  and  the  first  burial  in  the  newer  cemetery 
was  that  of  Eleanor  (Nicholson)  Miller,  wife  of  Adam  Miller,  who 
died  in  March,  1816. 


38  THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT  HARDING, 

born  at  Pittston,  Luzerne  Co.,  Pa.,  and  eight  at  Clifford, 
Susquehanna  Co.,  Pa. 

1.  Abigail  Harding,  born  May  14,  1785;  died  Sept.  3, 
1861 ;  married  at  Clifford,  Pa.,  Dec.  25,  1802,  James 
Stearnes  (born  at  Attleboro,  Mass.,  Aug.  5,  1779;  died 
in  Ohio,  May  5,  1837.)  He  was  a  son  of  Joseph  and 
Rhoda  (Tingley)  Stearnes.  (See  "The  Tingley 
family",  by  R.  M.  Tingley,  p.  86.)  They  had  ten 
children,  eight  born  in  Clifford  and  two  in  Ohio. 

2.  Lydia  Harding,  born  in  1788;  died  at  Clifford  in  Sept., 
1800. 

3.  George  Tryon  Harding  (more  later). 

4.  William  Tripp  Harding,  born  July  15,  1792;  died  Feb. 
8,  1884;  married  first,  at  Clifford.  Pa.,  in  1811,  Min- 
erva Martindale.  who  was  either  killed  by  wild  beasts 
or  carried  off  by  Indians  soon  after  her  marriage. 
(See  "The  Hardings  in  America",  p.  133).  He  mar- 
ried second,  in  Ohio.  Dec.  8,  1823,  Mary  Otis  (born 
March  31,  1787;  died  Dec.  4,  1865.)  They  had  five 
children. 

5.  Ruami  Harding,  born  in  1793;  died  at  Pittston,  Pa., 
in  1799. 

6.  Salmon  (or  Solomon)  E.  Harding,  born  Jan.  31,  1794; 
died  at  Gabon.  Ohio,  Feb.  7,  1872;  married  first,  at 
Clifford.  Pa.,  in  181 5.  Anna  Wheat  (born  March  28, 
1795;  died  Sept.  5,  1836.)  They  had  eight  children. 
He  married  second,  in  1837,  Eliza  Lathrop.  They  had 
one  child.  He  married  third,  Susan  Mason.  In 
Clifford  he  lived  near  the  school  house  and  was  active 
in  all  church  affairs.  He  signed  his  name  Salmon 
while  he  lived  in  Clifford  and  it  is  so  written  in  the 
church  record.  He  organized  the  Bethel  Baptist 
Church  in  Richland  Co.,  Ohio,  and  was  for  many  years 
its  pastor. 

7.  Mordecai  Rice  Harding,  born  Nov.  18,  1795;  died  in 
Ohio,  March  21.  1870;  married  at  Clifford,  Pa.,  Sept. 
18,  1817.  Susannah  (Baker)  Newton,  daughter  of 
Ebenezer  Baker  and  widow  of  Thomas  Newton. 
Mordecai  and  Susannah  had  nine  children.  After  her 
death  he  married,  Jan.  15,  1852,  Martha  Steele,  who 
survived  him.  He  was  for  fifty  years  a  deacon  of  the 
Blooming  Grove.  Ohio,  Baptist  Church,  and  is  buried 
in  the  old  cemetery  in  that  village. 


THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT  HARDING.  39 

8.  Welthy  Harding,  born  March  15,  1797;  died  August 
19,  1886;  married  first,  at  Clifford,  Pa.,  Nov.  6,  1814, 
Joseph  Baker  (born  Aug.  30,  1788;  died  Jan.  8,  1834) 
a  son  of  Ebenezer  Baker.  They  Hved  in  the  part  of 
Clifford  township  now  called  Elkdale,  three  miles  from 
Clifford  village.  They  had  nine  children.  She  mar- 
ried second,  in  Ohio,  Jan.  24,  1835,  Hiram  Wells  (died 
Jan.  24,  1885).    They  had  four  children. 

9.  Ebenezer  Slocum  Harding,  born  Aug.  23,  1798;  died 
April  22,  1882;  married  first,  in  Ohio,  June  21,  1821, 
Mary  Webster  (born  April  3,  1801 ;  died  April  28, 
1844.)  She  had  eleven  children.  He  married  second, 
June  8,  1845,  Naoma  Wilson.  She  had  two  children. 
He  was  an  "Old  School  Baptist"  preacher. 

10.  Benjamin  Franklin  Harding,  the  first  child  of  Amos 
and  Phoebe  Harding  born  in  Clifford.  Born  Aug.  6, 
1802;  died  April  3,  1838;  married  in  Ohio,  in  1824, 
Anna  Jackson  (born  1800;  died  1890.)  They  had  five 
children.  He  was  a  member  of  the  "Old  School  Bap- 
tist" Church  and  often  officiated  as  pastor. 

11.  Huldah  Harding,  born  in  Clifford  in  1804;  died  there 
in  1808. 

12.  Hilah  Harding,  born  April  10,  1805;  died  Sept.  13, 
1877;  married  in  Ohio,  Oct.  21,  1821,  Amos  G. 
Webster  (born  March  31,  1799;  died  Jan.  27,  1879.) 
They  had  eight  children. 

13.  John  Harding,  born  July  11,  1807;  died  April  22, 
1884;  married,  Feb.  10.  1830,  Elvira  Dunham  (born 
in  1812;  died  in  April,  1889.)  He  went  with  his  par- 
ents to  Ohio  and  lived  in  Richland  County  until  1834 
when  he  removed  to  LaPorte  County,  Indiana.  John 
and  Elvira  Harding  had  ten  children.  He  was  a  wagon 
maker  by  trade  and  a  farmer. 

14.  Chauncey  C.  Harding,  born  Jan.  14,  1809;  died  in 
Huron  County,  Ohio,  Dec.  8,  1880;  married,  Feb.  22, 
1830,  Rachel  Story  (born  Jan.  22,  1809;  died  March 
10,  1869.)  After  his  marriage  he  settled  in  Marion 
County.  Ohio.    He  and  his  wife  had  six  children. 

15.  Jemima  Harding,  born  at  Clifford,  Pa.,  in  1810;  died 
there  in  181 1. 

16.  Joseph  Harding,  born  at  Clifford,  Pa.,  in  181 1;  died 
there  in  Oct.,  1813. 


40  THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT  HARDING. 

17.  Mahala  Harding,  born  at  Clifford,  Pa.,  June  25,  1813; 
died  in  Harrison  Co.,  Missouri,  Feb.  26,  1904;  married 
in  Richland  County,  Ohio,  Oct.  19,  1834,  Richard  L. 
Field  (born  May  24,  1808;  died  Nov.  8,  1892.)  They 
had  fourteen  children. 

All  the  children  of  Amos  Harding  settled  in  Ohio.  Mor- 
decai  was  the  first  to  go.  In  July,  18 18,  he  and  his  wife  went 
to  Richland  County  and  remained  two  years,  when,  the  In- 
dians becoming  so  hostile  they  feared  for  their  safety,  they 
returned  to  Clifford  and  stayed  a  year.  In  1821  they  went 
back  to  Ohio,  their  parents  and  others  of  the  family  accom- 
panying them. 

George  Tryon  Harding,  oldest  son  of  Amos  and  Phoebe 
Harding,  was  born  at  Pittston,  Luzerne  County,  Pa.,  June  15, 
1790,  and  died  at  Blooming  Grove,  Morrow  County,  Ohio, 
January  9,  i860.  He  married  first,  at  Clifford,  Pa.,  Anna 
(or  Ella)  Roberts  who  died  July  20,  1815.  They  had  two 
daughters : 

1.  Huldah  Harding,  born  May  7,  1813;  died  May  27, 
1898;  married  in  1831,  Abraham  Logan  and  had  ten 
children. 

2.  Phoebe  Ann  Harding,  born  May  11,  1815;  died  in 
1898;  married  in  1833,  William  Boyce  and  had  ten 
children. 

Mr.  Harding  married  second,  Elizabeth  Madison,  who  was 
born  July  26,  1800,  and  died  Feb.  8,  1886.  She  was  a 
daughter  of  William  and  Mary  (Hooker)  Madison."  Tryon 
Harding  (as  he  is  called  in  all  records  of  him  in  Clifford,  and 

^3  The  Madison  genealogy  as  given  in  "The  Hardings  in  America" 
is  as  follows:  John  (1605-1690)  came  from  England  to  Virginia  in 
1670;  Thomas  (b.  Eng.  1632 — d.  1698);  Joseph  (1672-1763)  ;  Joseph 
(1701-1773);  John  (1729-1803),  a  Baptist  preacher;  William  (1776- 
1840),  mar.  Mary  Hooker;  Elizabeth,  mar.  George  Tryon  Harding. 
The  story  told  on  page  128  of  the  book  quoted,  that  John  Madison, 
grandfather  of  Elizabeth,  organized  the  first  Baptist  Church  in  Sus- 
quehanna County,  Pa.,  is  not  supported  by  history.  It  must  have  been 
a  church  in  a  county  adjacent  to  Susquehanna. 


THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT  HARDING.  4I 

apparently  also  by  his  family)  and  his  wife  Elizabeth  were 
two  of  the  34  original  members  of  the  Clifford  Baptist 
Church.  Her  name  is  written  "Betsy"  on  the  church  roll. 
They  were  both  subsequently  dismissed  by  letter,  date  un- 
known. Nothing  of  a  legal  nature  is  recorded  of  Tryon 
Harding  in  Pennsylvania  with  the  exception  of  the  purchase 
and  sale  of  six  acres  of  land  on  the  western  side  of  Clifford 
valley.  The  story  of  these  transactions  has  already  been  told 
in  the  sketch  of  his  father.  It  is  very  improbable  that  this  is 
the  only  land  he  owned  in  Clifford,  or  that  he  resided  upon  it 
for  there  is  no  tradition  of  a  house  ever  standing  upon  this 
steep  hillside.  So  far  as  known  it  has  always  been  covered,  as 
it  is  to-day,  by  a  woods  with  thick  undergrowth. 

Tryon  Harding  was  the  last  of  his  family  to  leave  Clifford, 
the  date  of  his  departure  as  given  in  "The  Hardings  in 
America"  being  1822.  In  Ohio  he  eventually  became  the 
possessor  of  the  original  farm  purchased  there  by  his  father, 
Amos  Harding,  which  is  still  owned  by  Tryon's  descendants. 
He  appears  to  have  prospered  financially  in  his  Ohio  home. 
He  is  buried  beside  his  father  in  the  Blooming  Grove  cem- 
etery. 

The  children  of  George  Tryon  and  Elizabeth  Harding,  all 
born  at  Clifford,  Pa.,  were: 

1.  William  Oliver  Perry  Harding,  born  June  20,  1818; 
died  March  28,  1901 ;  married  in  1839,  Isabenda  Mc- 
Gowan  (born  Dec.  27,  1815;  died  April  28,  1898). 
They  had  six  children. 

2.  Charles  Alexander  Harding.     (More  later). 

3.  Mary  Miranda  Harding,  born  Jan.  30,  1822  ;  died  Sept. 
25,  1888;  married,  May  20,  1840,  Marcus  W.  Bennett. 
They  had  eight  children. 

Charles  Alexander  Harding,  son  of  George  Tryon  and 
Elizabeth  (Madison)  Harding  and  grandfather  of  President 
Warren  Gamaliel  Harding,  was  born  at  Clifford,  Pa.,  April 
8,  1820,  two  years  before  his  parents  removed  to  Blooming 
Grove,  Ohio.     May  28,  1840,  he  married  Mary  Ann  Craw- 


42  THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT   HARDING. 

ford,  who  was  born  August  26,  1823,  and  died  March  11, 
1895.  She  was  a  daughter  of  Joshua  and  Sophia  Crawford. 
He  inherited  from  his  father  the  farm  that  Amos  Harding 
owned  and  resided  upon  at  Blooming  Grove,  Ohio,  and  was 
a  successful  farmer.  He  was  an  active  member  of  the 
Blooming  Grove  Baptist  Church,  the  land  upon  which  it 
stands  being  donated  by  him.  He  also  gave  the  land  upon 
which  stands  the  Blooming  Grove  school  house.  He  died 
April  3,  1878,  and  is  buried  in  the  Blooming  Grove  cemetery 
beside  his  father  and  grandfather.  The  children  of  Charles 
Alexander  and  Mary  Ann  (Crawford)  Harding  were: 

1.  Phoebe  A.  Harding,  born  April  21.  1841 ;  died  April 
8,  1912;  married  Oct.  i860.  Thomas  Mitchell  and  had 
one  child  that  died  in  infancy. 

2.  Sophia  Harding,  born  Nov.  i,  1842;  died  Nov.  17, 
1909;  married  first,  Dec.  18,  1858,  Simon  Ayres  Num- 
bers and  had  three  children.  She  married  second, 
Daniel  V.  Miller. 

3.  George  Tryon  Harding.  M.  D.     (More  later). 

4.  Elizabeth  Harding,  born  April  27,  1846;  died  Sept.  2, 
1852. 

5.  Mary  Matilda  Harding,  born  June  30,  1849;  died 
March.  1850. 

6.  Lydia  Frances  Harding,  born  March  14.  1852;  mar- 
ried, Oct.  3,  1871,  Mr.  Wyant  and  had  three  children. 

7.  Margaret  Caroline  Harding,  married,  Nov.  30,  1872, 
Daniel  Marshman.  and  had  four  children. 

8.  Catherine  Harding,  born  and  died  in  1857. 

9.  Sarah  Eleanor  Harding,  born  August  30,  1858;  mar- 
ried. Dec.  25.  1874,  Albert  Wheeler  Dickerson  who 
died  in  1919.    They  had  one  child. 

George  Tryon  Harding,  M.  D.,  only  son  of  Charles  Alex- 
ander Harding,  was  born  June  12,  1S44.  He  married  first, 
May  7,  1864,  at  Gallon,  Ohio,  Phoebe  Elizabeth  Dickerson 
(born  in  1843;  died  May  20,  1910),  daughter  of  Isaac  Haines 
and  Charity  Malvina   (Van  Kirk)    Dickerson,^*  natives  of 

5*  The  Van  Kirk  family  is  descended  from  Joseph  Van  Kirk  of 
New  Jersey,  who  had  seven  sons  in  the  Revolutionary  War.  Three 
of  these  sons  settled  in  Washington  County,  Pa.,  after  peace  was  de- 


THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT  HARDING.  43 

Washington  County,  Pa.  Dr.  Harding  is  a  Civil  War  Vet- 
eran and  in  1884  served  as  Surgeon  General  of  the  National 
G.  A.  R.  He  graduated  from  the  Cleveland  Homeopathic 
Medical  College  in  1873  and  has  practiced  his  profession  in 
Caledonia  and  Marion,  Ohio.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Bap- 
tist Church  and  in  politics  is  a  Republican.  August  11,  192 1, 
he  married  second,  Alice  Severns.  He  resides  at  Marion, 
Ohio. 

The  children  of  George  Tryon  and  Phoebe  E.  (Dickerson) 
Harding  are.^^ 

1.  Warren  Gamaliel  Harding,  President  of  the  United 
States,  born  Nov.  i.  1865;  died  August  2,  1923.  He 
married  Florence  Kling,  who  died  Nov.  21,  1924. 
They  had  no  children. 

2.  Charity  M.  Harding. 

3.  Mary  Clarissa  Harding. 

4.  Eleanor  P.  Harding. 

5.  Charles  Alexander  Harding  (born  1874;  died  1878). 

6.  Abigail  Victoria  Harding. 

7.  George  Tryon  Harding,  Jr.,  M.  D. 

8.  Phoebe  Caroline  Harding. 


Members  of  the  Clifford  Baptist  Church,  who  were  of  the 
Amos  Harding  family : 

1.  Tryon  Harding.     (Name  written  Hartin). 

2.  Salmon  E.  Harding. 

3.  Mordecai  Harding.     (Name  written  Mordaue). 

4.  Phebe  Harding.     (Wife  of  Amos  Harding). 

5.  Betsy  Harding.     (Wife  of  Tryon  Harding). 

6.  Susannah  Harding.     (Wife  of  Mordecai  Harding). 

7.  Joseph  Baker.     (Husband  of  Welthy  Harding). 

8.  Welthy  Baker.     (Wife  of  Joseph  Baker  and  daughter 
of  Amos  Harding.     Her  name  written  "Petty"  Baker 

on  the  church  roll ;  evidently  a  nick-name). 

clared.  One  of  these,  William  Van  Kirk,  married  Deborah  Walters 
and  had  five  sons  and  five  daughters.  One  daughter  was  Charity 
(1803-1878),  who  married  Isaac  Haines  Dickerson  and  they  migrated 
to  Blooming  Grove,  Ohio.  Their  daughter,  Phoebe,  married  Dr. 
George  Tryon  Harding. 

ss  The  records  of  these  children  are  given  in  detail  in  "The  Hard- 
ings  in  America". 


44  THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT  HARDING. 

The  above  names  are  found  in  the  list  of  34  original  mem- 
bers.    Those  below  were  admitted  to  membership  within  a 
few  weeks  after  the  organization  of  the  church. 
9.  William  Harding. 

10.  Amos  Harding. 

11.  Anna  Harding.     (Wife  of  Salmon  E.  Harding). 

12.  Abigail  Stearnes.     (Daughter  of  Amos  Harding  and 
wife  of  James  Stearnes.     Name  written  Starns). 

All  were  dismissed  by  letter,  but  dates  not  given. 

The  names  Lydia  Harding  and  Amy  Harding  are  also 
found  upon  the  church  roll  as  original  members.  They  were 
not  of  the  Amos  Harding  family,  but  probably  lived  in  the 
part  of  Clififord  later  set  off  to  Herrick  township  where  a 
Luke  Harding  settled. 

The  purpose  of  this  article,  which  is  to  tell  the  story  of 
the  ancestors  of  President  Warren  G.  Harding,  who  lived 
in  Luzerne  and  Susquehanna  Counties,  Pa.,  properly  ends 
with  the  migration  of  the  Amos  Harding  family  to  Ohio; 
but  the  following  facts  concerning  the  village  of  Blooming 
Grove,  Ohio,  and  the  Baptist  Church  there,  both  founded 
by  Amos  Harding  and  his  sons,  seem  to  belong  with 
the  narrative.  We  are  indebted  to  George  Tryon  Harding, 
Jr.,  M.  D.,  brother  of  President  Harding,  who,  upon  request, 
very  kindly  furnished  what  follows.  We  quote  from  his 
letter : 

"Blooming  Grove  in  North  Bloomfield  Township,  Morrow 
County,  Ohio,  had  the  name  of  Corsica  for  its  postoffice  for 
many  years,  but  with  the  coming  of  rural  delivery,  that  post- 
office  went  out  of  existence,  and  the  town  is  still  Blooming 
Grove.  It  is  served  by  rural  delivery  from  Gabon,  a  town 
of  nine  or  ten  thousand  inhabitants,  five  miles  away.  It  has 
about  100  inhabitants  and  there  is  a  Methodist  Church  with 
a  resident  pastor  and  a  Seventh-day  Adventist  Church  with 
its  local  elder,  both  of  which  organizations  are  active. 
The  first  Baptist  church  in  the  community  was  located  at 
the  corners  about  one  mile  north  of  Blooming  Grove  on  the 


THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT   HARDING.  45 

original  farm  owned  by  the  Hardings.  In  1865  an  attempt 
was  made  to  move  it  to  the  village,  but  it  was  too  frail  and 
was  left  on  a  piece  of  land  owned  by  one  of  the  Hardings 
about  one-fourth  of  a  mile  from  the  village."  (Dr.  Harding 
does  not  say  so,  but  from  what  follows  it  appears  that  this 
church  building  was  abandoned  when  they  failed  to  move  it 
to  the  village.)     He  continues: 

"In  1 87 1  the  present  brick  building  (church)  was  built  on 
land  donated  by  my  grandfather.  Charles  Alexander  Hard- 
ing, the  same  being  a  portion  of  the  part  of  the  original  farm 
of  George  Tryon  Harding  that  v/as  left  to  his  son  Charles 
Alexander  at  his  death.  It  is  located  about  five  hundred  feet 
north  of  the  intersection  of  the  highways  marking  the  loca- 
tion of  Blooming  Grove  .  .  .  and  is  at  the  very  edge 
of  the  village.  It  stands  upon  the  site  of  a  former  frame 
church"  (which  was  probably  the  first  church  in  the  village, 
we  gather  from  other  remarks  in  the  letter.)  "A  little  way 
north  (from  this  church)  and  on  the  west  side  of  the  same 
road,  is  the  village  cemetery  originally  donated  by  Solomon 
Harding  .  .  .  This  Solomon  Harding,  sometimes  called 
Salmon,  was  one  of  the  original  settlers  in  this  community 
and  is  credited  with  having  been  a  local  preacher,  and  is  also 
said  to  have  erected  the  little  frame  church  located  about 
two  and  a  half  miles  northwest  of  Blooming  Grove  and  two 
and  a  half  miles  from  Gallon,  which  was  for  many  years 
occupied  by  the  so  called  Hard-shelled  Baptists."  We  learn 
from  this  that  Amos  Harding  and  his  sons  covered  a  large 
stretch  of  country  with  their  holdings  of  real  estate ;  and 
that  the  different  members  of  the  family  organized  three 
difTerent  Baptist  churches  in  Morrow  County  instead  of  one 
as  we  had  supposed. 

In  speaking  further  of  the  village  church  erected  in  1871, 
Dr.  Harding  says  :  "The  congregation  disbanded  in  1912.  It 
was  then  a  member  of  the  Mansfield  Baptist  Association,  and 
the  last  pastor  was  Rev.  Cunningham.     There  is  no  Baptist 


46  THE  ANCESTRY  OF  PRESIDENT   HARDING. 

church  in  Blooming  Grove  now  but  there  is  one  in  Galion, 
I  purchased  this  Blooming  Grove  Baptist  Church  on  Decem- 
ber 5,  1925,  from  five  men  duly  elected  and  qualified  as  act- 
ing trustees  of  the  Mansfield  Baptist  Association,  the  gov- 
erning body  having  charge  of  the  interests  of  the  Baptist 
churches  located  in  Morrow,  Crawford,  Richland  and  Ash- 
land counties.  They  were  authorized  by  order  of  the  Court 
of  Common  Pleas  of  Morrow  County  ...  to  sell  the 
premises  of  the  Regular  Baptist  Church  of  Blooming  Grove, 
Morrow  County,  Ohio,  a  religious  society  incorporated  under 
the  laws  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  which  society  had  become 
extinct.  On  the  28th  day  of  December,  1925,  I  gave  a  deed 
of  lease  to  L.  O.  Harding,  Benn  Stevens,  and  E.  E.  Dicker- 
son,  the  former  two  being  descendants  of  Amos  Harding,  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  all  of  them  being  my  relatives  and  living 
with  their  families  and  conducting  farming  enterprises  in  that 
community,  and  they  were  to  use  it  for  the  benefit  of  the 
community.  The  chief  use  it  has  been  put  to  thus  far  has 
been  as  a  place  for  athletic  activities  of  the  members  of  the 
local  junior  high  school. 

'T  have  heard  my  father  speak  of  the  interest  that  his  grand- 
parents took  in  religious  and  educational  matters  and  of  the 
efiforts  that  they  put  forth  in  behalf  of  promoting  these  things 
in  the  new  pioneer  community.  The  early  settlers  came  when 
the  country  was  still  visited  frequently  by  Indians  who  had 
given  up  their  ownership  of  the  land  by  the  Greeneville 
treaty  which  went  into  effect  in  18 19.  I  have  heard  father 
tell  how  they  usually  kept  a  young  steer  to  fatten  up  for  the 
meetings  of  the  Baptist  Association,  so  that  they  might  extend 
hospitality  to  all  Viz-ho  came  to  attend,  and  how  delighted  they 
were  to  entertain  their  fellow  Baptists  on  such  occasions  at 
the  home  of  his  father." 


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THE  AMERICAN  ANCESTRY  OF 
SILENCE  WASHBURN, 

WIFE   OF    JESSE    WASHBURN 

AND 

MOTHER  OF  DANIEL  WASHBURN,   WHO  ESCAPED  THE 

WYOMING   MASSACRE. 


John  Washburn,  son  of  John  and  Martha  Stevens 
Washburn,  was  born  in  Evesham  on  Shakespeare's  Avon 
in  1597.  On  November  23,  1618,  he  married  Margerie, 
daughter  of  Robert  and  Ellen  Taylor  Moore  of  Evesham, 
He  emigrated  to  Duxbury,  Mass.,  about  163 1.  In  1635,  his 
wife,  then  aged  49,  and  two  sons,  John  aged  14,  and  Philip 
aged  II,  joined  him  there,  coming  over  in  the  ship  "Elizabeth 
and  Ann."  That  he  was  an  early  settler  in  Duxbury  is  proved 
by  the  facts  that  in  1632  he  had  an  action  in  court  against 
Edward  Doten  and  was  assessed  for  taxes  in  1633.  In  1634, 
he  purchased  Edward  Bompasse's  place,  called  Eagle's  Nest, 
where  Bompasse  had  erected  a  "palisado."  He  and  his  two 
sons  were  reported  as  able  to  bear  arms  in  1643.  He  and  his 
son,  John,  were  two  of  the  fifty-four  original  proprietors  of 
the  town  of  Bridgewater,  Mass.,  in  1645.  They  bought  the 
land  from  the  Indian  Sachem,  Massasoit.  John  Washburn 
went  to  live  in  Bridgewater  about  1665,  a  lot  having  been 
assigned  to  him  on  October  9,  1665.  He  died  there  before 
1670.  John  and  Margerie  Moore  Washburn  had  four  chil- 
dren: I.  Mary;  2.  John;  3.  Philip,  died  young;  4.  Philip. 

John  Washburn,  son  of  John  and  Margerie  Moore  Wash- 
burn, was  born  in  Evesham  in  1620.  He  came  to  America  in 
the  "Elizabeth  and  Ann"  in  1635.  In  1638,  A.  Simpson  was 
presented  in  court  for  "striking  and  abusing  John  Washburn, 
the  younger,  in  the  meeting-house  on  the  Lord's  Day."  He 
was  a  tailor  by  trade.  On  December  6,  1645,  ^^  married 
Elizabeth  Mitchell,  daughter  of  Experience  and  Jane 
Cooke  Mitchell.  He  lived  in  Duxbury,  where  his  father  had 
given  him  a  house  and  lands  at  Wreems  Harbor.    In  time  he 


SILENCE    WASHBURN.  49 

became  the  second  largest  landholder  in  the  town.  He  served 
against  the  Narragansett  Indians  in  1645,  being  one  of  the 
six  men  furnished  by  Duxbury  under  Sergeant  Samuel  Nash. 
He  sold  his  Wreems  Harbor  property  in  1670,  and,  about 
that  time,  removed  to  Bridgewater,  Mass.  He  died  November 
12,  1686,  leaving  a  will  by  which  he  divided  his  property 
among  his  children  (Plymouth  County  Probate  Office,  Vol. 

1,  p.  84).  John  and  Elizabeth  Mitchell  Washburn  had  eleven 
children  :  i.  John  ;  2.  Thomas  ;  3.  Joseph ;  4.  Samuel ;  5.  Jona- 
than ;  6.  Benjamin;  7.  Mary;  8.  Elizabeth;  9.  Jane;  10. 
James ;  11.  Sarah. 

Experience  Mitchell  was  one  of  the  forefathers.  He 
was  at  Leyden  with  the  Pilgrims  and  left  a  brother,  Thomas, 
who  lived  and  died  in  Holland.  In  1623,  he  came  to  America 
in  the  third  ship  "Ann",  in  the  same  ship  with  his  future  wife, 
Jane  Cooke.  He  had  a  share  in  the  first  division  of  lots  in 
Plymouth  in  1623  and  of  the  live  stock  in  1627.  He  lived  at 
Spring  Hill.  In  1631,  he  sold  Spring  Hill  to  Samuel  Eddy 
and  removed  to  Duxbury,  where  in  1650,  he  purchased 
William  Paybody's  house  and  farm.  He  was  an  original^ 
proprietor  of  Bridgewater  and  was  allotted  76  acres  of  land 
on  John  River,  which,  however,  he  soon  sold.  Later  in  life, 
he  made  Bridgewater  his  home,  living  at  a  place  called  Joppa. 
He  died  in  1689,  aged  80.  His  will  was  dated  December  5, 
1689,  and  is  recorded  in  Probate  Record  I,  p.  44.  Experience 
and  Jane  Cooke  Mitchell  had  eight  children:     i.  Thomas;" 

2.  John;  3.  Jacob;  4.  Edward;  5.  Elizabeth;  6.  Mary;"^ 
7.  Sarah;  8.  Hannah. 

Francis  Cooke  was  born  in  Scrooby,  Eng.,  in  1577.  His' 
ancestors  were  Roman  Catholics ;  and  there  is  some  uncer- 
tainty as  to  when  he  espoused  the  cause  of  the  Separatists. 
He  must  have  gone  to  Holland  much  earlier  than  the  other 
Separatists:  for  in  1603  (probably  June  30)  he  married 
Hester  Mahieu  in  Leyden.  She  was  the  daughter  of 
Jennie  Mahieu  of  Canterbury,  Eng.,  and  was  known  as 


50  THE  AMERICAN   ANCESTRY  OF 

Hester,  the  Walloon.  They  lived  at  the  home  of  their  pastor, 
Rev.  John  Robinson,  while  in  Leyden.  This  large  house  was 
used  as  a  place  of  worship  by  the  Separatists.  Francis  Cooke, 
though  a  woolcomber  at  the  time  of  his  marriage,  seems  to 
have  been  a  husbandman  and  carpenter  in  Plymouth.  He 
and  his  son,  John,  embarked  on  the  "Speedwell"  at  Delft- 
haven  in  July,  1620.  At  Southampton,  they  were  transferred 
to  the  "Mayflower",  and  came  with  the  first  Pilgrims  to 
America.  He  was  the  seventeenth  signer  of  the  Mayflower 
Compact.  On  January  7,  1621,  the  Pilgrims  divided  into 
nineteen  companies  so  that  it  would  not  be  necessary  to  put 
up  so  many  houses.  The  company  in  which  Francis  and  John 
Cooke  were  placed  had  a  plot  on  the  south  side  of  the  street 
between  AUerton  on  the  east  and  Winslow  on  the  west.  In 
the  first  division  of  land,  Francis  Cooke  got  two  acres  south 
of  the  brook  and  four  acres  on  Strawberry  Hill.  Hester 
Cooke  came  over  in  the  "Ann"  in  July,  1623,  with  three 
children :  Jacob,  Jane  and  Hester.  Their  house  in  Plymouth 
was  in  Leyden  Street,  adjoining  that  of  Edward  Winslow, 
•  Francis  Cooke  had  six  shares  in  the  division  of  the  land  in 
1.626.  A  daughter,  Mary,  was  born  in  1626,  which  gave  him 
an  additional  share  in  the  division  of  the  cattle  in  1627.  In 
June,  1627,  he  was  one  of  the  "Purchasers",  who  bought  out 
.the  "Adventurers" ;  and  next  month  he  signed  an  agreement 
between  the  "Purchasers"  and  the  "Undertakers"  giving  the 
latter  six  years'  control  of  the  trade  of  the  colony  with  the 
outside  world.  He  was  the  owner  of  a  parcel  of  upland  next 
to  John  Shaw  on  Smelt  River,  land  next  to  John  Coombs  at 
Rocky  Nook,  six  acres  at  North  Meadow  by  Jones  River, 
"three  holes  of  meddow  lying  at  the  Hither  end  of  Create 
Meddow  Caled  Jones  River" ;  and  he  and  his  son,  John, 
owned  land  at  North  River.  He  was  one  of  the  Proprietors 
of  Little  Compton,  R.  I.,  1651 ;  of  Dartmouth,  1652;  and  of 
Middleboro,  1662.  He  and  his  son,  John,  contributed  one- 
sixteenth  of  the  cost  of  building  a  bark  of  forty  or  fifty  tons 


SILENCE    WASHBURN,  51 

on  February  3,  1642.  He  was  taxed  i8s.  in  1633,  and  appears 
on  the  tax  list  of  Plymouth  in  1646  and  again  between  1648 
and  1659.  He  is  mentioned  as  able  to  bear  arms  in  1643. 
He  was  appointed  to  take  the  inventories  of  the  estates  of 
Martha  Harding  and  Francis  Eaton.  He  was  appointed  a 
surveyor  to  lay  out  land  in  twenty-acre  lots,  to  lay  out  high- 
ways for  Plymouth,  Duxbury,  Eel  River,  and  the  Jones 
River  District,  and  to  measure  the  meadows  about  Edward 
Doty's.  He  was  appointed  to  settle  differences  about  the 
accounts  of  Dr.  Samuel  Fuller  and  Peter  Brown,  to  fix  the 
bounds  between  John  Shaw,  Kenelm  Winslow  and  John 
Atwood,  to  settle  the  controversy  between  Thomas  Pope  and 
William  Shurtlelif  concerning  the  boundary  of  lands  on 
Strawberry  Hill.  It  is  known  that  he  served  on  at  least  one 
coroner's  jury,  eleven  civil  juries,  three  grand  juries  and  two 
petit  juries.  Francis  Cooke  died  at  Plymouth  April  17,  1663. 
His  will  and  inventory  are  of  record  in  Plymouth  County, 
Wills  and  Inventories,  Vol.  II,  Part  II,  folios  i  &  2.  The 
inventory  shows  his  personal  estate  to  have  been  worth  £86, 
IIS.  id.  Hester  Mahieu  Cooke  died  between  June  28, 
1666,  and  December  18,  1675.  Francis  Cooke  is  described 
by  one  of  his  biographers  as  "a  man  of  sound  judgment,  of 
decisive,  though  not  arbitrary,  action,  who  could  see  both 
sides  of  any  question,  even  when  the  necessity  of  action  or 
conviction  be  against  his  interest.  In  1634,  he  was  chosen 
referee  in  settlement  of  various  affairs  between  members  of 
the  colony.  His  death  in  1663,  was  regarded  as  an  irreparable 
loss  by  his  townsmen."  Francis  and  Hester  Mahieu  Cooke 
had  five  children:  i.  John;  2.  Jacob;  3.  Jane;  4.  Hester; 
5.  Mary. 

John  Washburn,  son  of  John  and  Elizabeth  Mitchell 
Washburn,  was  born  about  1646,  and  died  between  17 19  and 
1724.  On  April  16,  1679,  he  married  Rebecca  Lapham. 
They  resided  in  Bridgewater,  Mass.,  he  being  one  of  the 
original  proprietors   of   that  settlement.     He   and   his   two 


52  THE  AMERICAN   ANCESTRY  OF 

brothers,  Samuel  and  Thomas,  were  soldiers  in  King  Philip's 
War.  John  and  Rebecca  Lapham  Washburn  had  six  chil- 
dren :  I.  JosiAH  ;  2.  John  ;  3.  Joseph  ;  4.  William ;  5.  Abigail ; 
6.  Rebecca. 

Thomas  Lapham  was  a  close  friend  of  Rev.  John  Lothrop 
and  Elder  Nathaniel  Tilden,  who  came  from  Kent  County, 
Eng.  It  is,  therefore,  supposed  that  Thomas  Lapham  also 
came  from  Kent  County.  It  is  thought  he  came  to  America 
in  1634.  He  was  at  Scituate,  Mass.,  in  1635.  He  joined  the 
First  Church  in  Scituate  on  March  24,  1636,  and  on  March 
13,  1637,  married  Mary  Tilden.  He  died  in  1648,  leaving 
a  will.  The  name,  Thomas  Lapham,  seldom  appears  in  the 
town  records ;  but  is  frequently  found  in  the  ecclesiastical 
history  of  the  town.  Thomas  and  Mary  Tilden  Lapham  had 
six  children:  i.  Elizabeth;  2.  Mary;  3.  Thomas;  4.  Lydia; 
5.  Rebecca  ;  6.  Joseph. 

Elder  Nathaniel  Tilden  was  of  Tenterden,  Kent  County, 
Eng.  He  came  to  Massachusetts  in  1634  with  his  family  in 
the  "Hercules"  of  Sandwich.  He  had  previously  visited  Ply- 
mouth Colony,  being  at  Scituate  in  1628.  He  brought  with 
him  seven  children,  all  born  in  England,  and  several  servants. 
His  wife  was  Lydia  Bourne,  daughter  of  Thomas  Bourne. 
Nathaniel  Tilden  was  a  Ruling  Elder  of  Rev.  Lothrop's 
church  and  one  of  the  wealthiest  of  the  early  settlers.  He 
died  in  1641.  His  widow  married  Timothy  Hatherly  in  1642. 
In  his  will  he  gave  his  wife,  Lydia,  the  income  from  his  stone 
house  with  the  lands  in  Tenterden,  in  which  "Richard  Lam- 
beth dwelleth."  Nathaniel  and  Lydia  Bourne  Tilden  had 
seven  children:  i.  Joseph;  2.  Thomas;  3.  Mary;  4.  Sarah; 
5.  Judith ;  6.  Lydia ;  7.  Stephen. 

JosiAH  Washburn,  son  of  John  and  Rebecca  Lapham 
Washburn,  was  born  February  11,  1680.  He  resided  in 
Bridgewater,  ]\Iass.,  where  he  died  on  April  16,  1732.  On 
February  11,  1702,  he  married  Mercy  Tilson,  who  died  in 
1719.    He  later  married  Sarah  Richmond.    He  and  Mercy 


SILENCE    WASHBURN.  53 

Tilson  had  7  children:  i.  Joanna;  2.  Joseph;  3.  Lydia; 
4.  Jemima;  5.  Rebecca;  6.  Josiah;  7.  Mercy.  He  and  Sarah 
Richmond  had:  8.  Mary;  9.  Silence;  10.  Nathan.  (See 
note  under  Sarah  Richmond). 

John  Richmond,  son  of  Henry  Richmond,  alias  Webb, 
was  born  at  Ashton-Keynes,  Wilts,  Eng.,  in  1594.  He  mar- 
ried in  England.  He  and  his  brother,  Henry,  were  both 
officers  of  distinction  in  the  civil  wars,  John  in  the  King's 
Army  and  Henry  in  Cromwell's.  As  a  result  their  father's 
house  was  repeatedly  plundered  by  both  armies.  "On  the 
night  preceding  one  of  the  engagements,  Henry  went  into 
the  camp  of  the  other  army,  eluded  the  vigilance  of  the 
sentinels,  and  reached  John's  tent  in  the  hope  of  enjoying  an 
affectionate  interview  previous  to  the  uncertain  events  of  the 
morrow.  On  his  entering  the  tent,  John,  alarmed  at  the  sudden 
appearance  of  a  stranger,  as  he  conceived  Henry  to  be,  rose 
upon  his  bed  and  shot  him  dead  upon  the  spot.  When  he 
discovered  his  mistake,  it  is  said  he  became  deranged."  This 
event,  no  doubt,  accounts  for  John's  restless  career.  John 
then  joined  a  colony  of  cadets  of  noble  English  families  on 
the  western  coast  of  Ireland.  Here  George  Richmond,  pos- 
sibly a  cousin,  was  established  and  largely  interested  in 
navigation.  He  carried  on  a  flourishing  trade  with  Saco,  Me. 
About  1635,  John  migrated  to  Saco,  probably  on  one  of 
George  Richmond's  ships,  and  engaged  in  business  there. 
Records  of  courts  held  at  Saco  under  Capt.  William  Gorges 
mention  a  number  of  suits  in  which  John  Richmond  was  a 
party.  Nothing  seems  to  be  known  of  him  between  1643  and 
1655 ;  and  it  is  believed  he  returned  to  England  and  engaged 
in  the  civil  wars  between  those  dates.  He  was  absent  from 
Taunton  most  of  his  life;  and  records  mention  him  as  being 
at  Newport,  R.  I.,  and  other  places.  But  he  returned  to 
Taunton,  where  he  died  March  20,  1664.  He  was  the  owner 
of  six  shares  of  the  original  purchase  of  Taunton,  was  a 
large  landholder  and  quite  wealthy  for  his  time.    In  1656,  he 


54  THE  AMERICAN   ANCESTRY  OF 

was  one  of  the  commissioners  for  Newport  in  the  Court  of 
Commissioners  held  at  Portsmouth,  R.  I.  He  took  the  oath 
of  fidehty  at  Taunton  before  1640.  The  members  of  his 
family  were  large  owners  of  land  in  the  easterly  part  of 
Taunton  and  gave  the  name,  Richmondtown,  to  a  village  in 
that  locality.  John  Richmond  had  four  children:  i.  John; 
2.  Edward ;  3.  Sarah ;  4.  Mary. 

John  Richmond,  son  of  John  Richmond,  was  born  in 
England  in  1627,  and  died  at  Taunton,  Mass.,  on  October  7, 
1715.  He  was  a  well-educated  and  cultured  gentleman.  He 
lived  in  Taunton  at  Neck  of  Land  about  three-fourths  of  a 
mile  from  the  "Green"  or  "Center",  where  he  and  his  wife 
are  buried.  On  September  28,  167 1,  he  and  four  others 
bought  from  Philip  and  his  head-men  a  tract  of  land  includ- 
ing Taunton,  of  which  the  purchasers  were  already  in  pos- 
session. In  1672,  he  and  James  Walker  were  appointed  to 
purchase  other  lands  from  the  Indians.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  Town  Council  in  1675-76  and  in  1690,  and  also  served 
as  constable,  commissioner,  and  surveyor.  In  March,  1677, 
he  was  distributor  of  ten  pounds,  Taunton's  share  of  the 
Irish  Charity  sent  from  Dublin  in  1676  to  be  divided  among 
the  sufferers  in  King  Philip's  War.  He  was  a  member  of 
every  important  committee  in  Taunton  for  the  purchase, 
division,  and  settlement  of  land  and  other  matters  of  public 
interest.  He  was  interested  in  several  extensive  purchases  of 
land  from  the  Indians  in  both  Massachusetts  and  Rhode  Is- 
land. Judging  from  the  date  of  birth  of  Abigail  Rogers,  he 
must  have  had  two  wives.  Who  his  first  wife  was  is  not 
known.  She  must  have  died  about  1662.  About  1663,  it  seems, 
he  married  Abigail  Rogers.  She  was  born  in  1641  and  died 
August  I,  1727.  John  Richmond  had  eleven  children:  i. 
Mary;  2.  John;  3.  Thomas;  4.  Susanna;  5.  Joseph;  6.  Ed- 
ward; 7.  Samuel;  8.  Sarah;  9.  John;  10.  Ebenezer;  11.  Abi- 
gail. 

John  Rogers  compiled  the  Matthews  Bible  partly  from  the 


SILENCE    WASHBURN.  55 

Tyiidale  translation  and  partly  from  the  Coverdale  transla- 
tion, adding  notes  of  a  strong  Protestant  tendency.  He  was 
the  first  Protestant  martyr  under  Queen  Mary  of  England. 
Thomas  Rogers,  great  grandson  of  John  Rogers,  was  born 
about  1587.    About  1606  he  married  Grace  ;  in  Dorset 

or  Wilts.  He  and  his  eldest  son,  Joseph,  came  over  in  the  May- 
flower in  1620.  Thomas  Rogers  died  in  the  first  sickness  in 
February,  1621,  and  was  buried  on  Cole  Hill.  There  is  no 
evidence  that  he  lived  with  the  Pilgrims  in  Leyden,  Holland, 
or  that  he  went  to  England  in  the  Speedwell.  The  fact  that 
his  wife  and  young  children  were  not  with  him  on  the  May- 
flower would  seem  to  indicate  that  his  family  remained  at 
their  home  in  Dorsetshire  or  Wiltshire.  The  family  prob- 
ably remained  with  the  brother  William,  who  afterwards 
married  the  widow  of  Thomas.  Upon  the  death  of  William 
about  1630,  the  other  children  of  Thomas  migrated  to 
America.  Among  the  children  of  Thomas  were:  i.  Joseph; 
2.  Thomas ;  3.  William ;  4.  John  ;  5.  James. 

John  Rogers  of  Duxbury,  son  of  Thomas  Rogers,  accord- 
ing to  Bradford,  came  over  some  time  later  than  his  father. 
Among  those  "rated"  on  March  25,  1633,  were  Joseph  and 
John  Rogers — 9  shillings  each.  In  1634,  Edmund  Chandler 
sold  him  a  lot  of  land  on  the  Duxbury  side.  John  Rogers 
was  propounded  a  freeman  on  September  7,  1641,  and  ad- 
mitted March  i,  1642.  On  April  16,  1639,  he  married  Ann 
Churchman.  In  1640,  he  was  granted  fifty  acres  of  land  at 
North  River,  which  he  soon  sold.  In  1644,  he  was  appointed 
surveyor  of  Duxbury  and  the  same  year  was  appointed  to 

Note. — Thomas  Rogers,  the  Pilgrim,  was  a  descendant  of  Edward  I., 
King  of  England,  and  his  wife,  Eleanor  of  Castile,  in  the  following 
line:  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Edward  I.,  and  Humphrey  de  Bohun 
VIII. ;  Margaret  de  Bohun  and  Hugh  de  Courtenay,  Earl  of  Devon ; 
Sir  Philip  de  Courtenay  and  Margaret  Wake ;  Sir  John  de  Courtenay 
and  Anne  Champernowne ;  Sir  Philip  de  Courtenay  and  Elizabeth 
Hungerford ;  Catherine  de  Courtenay  and  Thomas  Rogers ;  John 
Rogers  and  Margaret  Wyatt;  John  Rogers,  the  Martyr,  and  Adriana 
Pratt  (deWeyden);  Bernard  Rogers;  Thomas  Matthew  Rogers; 
Thomas  Rogers,  the  Pilgrim. 


56  THE  AMERICAN   ANCESTRY  OF 

lay  out  a  highway.  He  took  a  share  of  land  at  Bridgewater, 
but  sold  before  it  was  laid  out  to  him.  In  1650,  a  way  to 
Massachusetts  Path  was  laid  out  over  his  land  and  he  was 
allowed  a  tract  of  upland  in  lieu  of  the  damages  resulting. 
In  1657,  he  was  one  of  the  deputies  from  Duxbury;  in  1666, 
was  constable ;  and  in  1669  was  surveyor  of  highways.  His 
name  is  repeatedly  found  on  juries  and  inquests.  In  1666, 
the  court  gave  him  liberty  to  "look  for  land",  and  in  1673 
granted  him  100  acres  of  land  between  Taunton  and  Teticut. 
In  1687,  he  conveyed  to  his  grandsons,  Joseph  and  Edward 
Richmond,  100  acres  of  land  in  Middleboro.  His  will  was 
dated  August  26,  1691,  and  probated  September  20,  1692. 
John  and  Ann  Churchman  Rogers  had  four  children:  i. 
John;  2.  Abigail;  born  in  1641,  died  August  i,  1727;  3. 
Anna ;  4.  Elizabeth. 

Ann  Churchman  was  probably  the  daughter  of  Hugh 
Churchman  who  settled  at  Lynn,  Mass.,  in  1640,  and  died 
in  1644.    His  will  was  probated  July  9,  1644. 

Edward  Richmond,  son  of  John  and  Abigail  Rogers 
Richmond,  was  born  in  Taunton,  Mass.,  on  February  8,  1665, 
He  married,  first,  Mercy  ;  and,  second,   on   May  6, 

171 1,  Rebecca  Thurston.  Upon  her  death,  he  married 
Mary  .    He  and  his  brother,  Joseph,  bought  150  acres 

of  land  in  Middleboro  from  John  Rogers  of  Duxbury.  His 
will  is  dated  June  3,  1738,  was  probated  December  9,  1741, 
and  is  recorded  in  will  book  10,  page  iii,  Taunton,  Mass. 
By  his  first  wife  he  had  eight  children:  i.  Mercy; 
2.  Edward;  3.  Richard;  4.  Josiah;  5.  Nathaniel;  6.  Seth; 
7.  Elizabeth;  8.  Phebe.  By  his  second  wife  he  had  four 
children:   9.  Sarah;  10.  Mary;  11.  Priscilla;  12.  Enice. 

Edward  Thurston  was  the  first  of  the  name  in  the 
Colony  of  Rhode  Island.  In  June,  1647,  he  married  Eliza- 
beth MoTT.  He  is  mentioned  as  a  freeman  in  1655,  as  com- 
missioner, assistant,  and  deputy  from  Newport  for  many 
years,  from  1663  to  1690.    On  August  26,   1686,  he,  with 


SILENCE    WASHBURN.  57 

others,  signed  an  address  for  the  Quakers  of  Rhode  Island 
to  the  King.  He  died  March  i,  1707,  aged  90.  His  wife 
died  September  2,  1694.  aged  67.  His  will,  dated  January  11, 
1704,  was  probated  March  12,  1707.  Edward  and  Elizabeth 
Mott  Thurston  had  twelve  children:  i.  Sarah;  2.  Elizabeth; 
3.  Edward;  4.  Ellen;  5.  Mary;  6.  Jonathan;  7.  Daniel; 
8.  Rebecca;  9.  John;  10.  Content;  11.  Samuel;  and  12. 
Thomas. 

Adam  Mott,  aged  39,  from  Cambridge,  Eng.,  his  second 
wife,  Sarah,  aged  31,  four  children  by  a  former  wife,  and 
Mary  Lott,  a  daughter  of  Sarah  by  a  former  husband,  were 
passengers  from  London  for  New  England  in  the  "Defence" 
in  July,  1634.  He  was  a  tailor  and  "brot  testimony  from  the 
Justices  of  the  Peace  and  Minister  of  Cambridge."  On  May 
25,  1636,  he  was  admitted  as  a  freeman  of  the  Colony  of 
Massachusetts,  and,  in  the  same  year,  he  was  granted  land 
at  Hingham.  Adam  and  Sarah  Mott  were  members  of  the 
First  Church  of  Roxbury.  After  the  birth  of  their  first 
child,  they  removed  to  Rhode  Island,  where,  on  June  23. 
1638,  he  had  a  grant  of  land  in  Portsmouth.  On  August  i, 
1638,  Adam  and  John  Mott  were  on  the  list  of  inhabitants 
of  the  island  of  Aquednecke.  Adam  was  on  the  court  roll  of 
freemen,  March  16,  1641 ;  and  Adam,  Sr.,  and  Adam,  Jr., 
were  on  the  roll  of  freemen  in  1655.  The  family  record  says 
that  Adam  first  located  near  Bristol  Ferry,  that  he  after- 
wards removed  to  a  farm  "near  the  sea  or  salt  water",  and 
that  he  there  built  two  houses,  one  for  himself  and  the  other 
for  his  son,  Adam,  Jr.,  who  married  his  own  step-sister, 
Mary  Lott.  His  will  dated  April  2,  1661,  probated  August 
31,  1661,  is  of  record  in  the  Ofifice  of  the  Town  Clerk  of 
Portsmouth,  R.  I.  By  his  first  wife,  he  had  four  children: 
I.  John  ;  2.  Adam ;  3.  Jonathan ;  4.  Elizabeth.  By  his  second 
wife  he  had  three  children  :   5.  Jacob ;  6.  Eleazer ;  7.  Gershon. 

Jonathan  Thurston,  son  of  Edward  and  Elizabeth  Mott 
Thurston,  was  born  in  Newport,  R.  I.,  on  January  4,  1659. 


58  THE  AMERICAN   ANCESTRY  OF 

In  1678,  he  married  Sarah  .     He  died  in  1740.    His 

will  was  made  August  22,  1735,  and  probated  in  Taunton, 
April  15,  1740,  and  recorded  there  in  will  book  9,  page  390. 
He  had  eighteen  children:  i.  Edward;  2.  Elizabeth;  3, 
Mary;  4.  Jonathan;  5.  Rebecca,  born  November  28,  1689; 
6.  Content;  7.  Sarah;  8.  John;  9.  Eleanor;  10.  Hope;  11. 
Abigail;  12.  Patience;  13.  Amy;  14.  Peleg;  15.  Jeremiah;  16. 
Susanna;  17.  Joseph;  18.  Job. 

Sarah  Richmond,  daughter  of  Edward  and  Rebecca 
Thurston  Richmond,  was  born  in  Taunton,  Mass.,  on  De- 
cember 20,  171 1.  She  married  Josiah  Washburn.  He  died 
April  16,  1732,  and  she  and  Edward  Richmond  administered 
on  the  estate  in  1734.  On  February  13,  1738,  she  married 
Samuel  Crane  of  Milton,  Mass.  By  her  first  husband,  she 
had  the  following  children  :  i.  Mary;  2.  Silence;  3.  Nathan. 
By  her  second  husband,  she  had  one  son,  Samuel,  who  died 
unmarried  leaving  a  considerable  estate.  This  estate  descended 
to  his  half-brother  and  half-sisters. 

Silence  Washburn,  daughter  of  Josiah  and  Sarah  Rich- 
mond Washburn,  was  born  in  Bridgewater,  Mass.,  about  the 
year  1730.  On  December  29,  1748,  she  married  Jesse  Wash- 
burn in  Bridgewater,  Mass.  About  1760,  Jesse  migrated  to 
what  is  now  Monroe  County,  Pa.  Shortly  thereafter  Silence 
died.  It  is  not  known  whether  she  died  in  New  England  or 
in  Pennsylvania. 

Jesse  Washburn  is  said  to  have  been  born  in  Kingston, 
Mass.,  and  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  son  of  Elisha  Wash- 

NoTE. — The  children  of  Josiah  and  Sarah  Richmond  Washburn  are 
usually  given  as  above.  At  the  time  of  the  distribution  of  the  estate  of 
Samuel  Crane,  the  law  of  Massachusetts  gave  the  oldest  male  heir  the 
same  share  in  an  estate  as  any  other  child.  Receipts  in  the  Registry 
Office  in  Plymouth,  Mass.,  shovi?  that  the  estate  of  Samuel  Crane  was 
divided  into  four  nearly  equal  parts,  as  follows :  one  part  to  Jonathan 
Washburn;  one  part  to  Josiah  Washburn;  one  part  to  the  heirs  of 
Silence  Washburn ;  and  one  part  to  Silvanus  Pratt,  Olive  Howe,  and 
Marcus  Howe.  This  would  seem  to  indicate  that  there  were  two  sons : 
Jonathan  and  Josiah. 


SILENCE    WASHBURN,  59 

burn.  On  December  29,  1748,  he  married  Silence  Washburn 
of  Bridgewater,  Mass.  About  1760,  he  migrated  to  Pennsyl- 
vania and  settled  in  what  is  now  Monroe  County.  The  first 
authoritative  statement  we  have  concerning  his  life  in  Penn- 
sylvania is  found  in  the  court  records  of  Northampton 
County.  He  owned  a  small  tract  of  land  on  Beaver  Creek 
west  from  Delaware  Water  Gap.  He  seems  to  have  been  a 
carpenter  and  mill-wright.  On  August  29,  1762,  he  entered 
into  an  agreement  of  partnership  with  William  Lollar  to 
build  a  small  mill  on  his  land.  An  agreement  having  been 
reached  to  satisfy  Lollar  for  his  interest  in  the  mill,  on 
October  27,  1762,  William  Lollar  conveyed  to  Jesse  Wash- 
burn his  interest  in  the  property.  On  August  21,  1765, 
Jesse  Washburn  made  application  for  200  acres  of  land  on 
McMichael's  Creek,  also  within  the  present  limits  of  Monroe 
County.  It  seems  that  for  some  reason  he  could  not  keep  his 
agreement  with  Lollar:  for,  on  June  4,  1781,  Sheriff  John 
Harzel  conveyed  to  Myer  Hart  189  acres  of  land  on 
McMichael's  Creek  to  satisfy  a  judgment  of  Lollar  against 
Washburn.  His  reverses  in  the  Lehigh  Valley  together  with 
Indian  troubles  there  probably  caused  him  to  direct  his  atten- 
tion to  the  attempt  of  the  people  of  Connecticut  to  settle  the 
Wyoming  Valley.  Among  these  settlers  were  some  of  his 
kinsmen.  He  removed  to  the  Wyoming  Valley  some  time 
before  1778.  The  poll  and  ratable  estates  accepted  by  the 
Connecticut  Assembly  in  1778  show  that  he  was  assessed 
thirty  pounds  in  Plymouth  District,  Westmoreland  County. 
On  February  17,  1778,  he  bought  from  Asaph  Whittlesey  a 
house  lot  and  a  meadow  lot  in  lower  Shawnee  meadow,  West- 
moreland Co.,  Conn.,  now  Plymouth,  Luzerne  Co.,  Pa. 
(This  Asaph  Whittlesey  was  a  captain  and  lost  his  life  at 
the  head  of  his  men  in  the  Wyoming  Massacre).  Jesse 
Washburn  sold  this  property  to  his  son-in-law,  Jacob  An- 
dreas, on  March  28,  1791.  At  the  time  of  the  massacre, 
Jesse  Washburn  was  living  in  the  Wyoming  Valley.    He  did 


60  THE  AMERICAN    ANCESTRY  OF 

not,  however,  take  part  in  the  battle,  his  place  being  filled 
by  his  son,  Daniel.  During  the  battle  Jesse  with  his  second 
wife,  his  son  Caleb,  and  two  small  children,  and  Mrs.  William 
Woodring  with  her  five  children  fled  to  Shawnee  Fort  (Ply- 
mouth). Here  about  midnight  they  were  joined  by  Daniel, 
who  had  escaped  the  massacre.  In  the  morning  they  made 
a  raft  and  floated  down  the  Susquehannah  to  the  mouth  of 
the  Little  Wapwallopen.  They  then  made  their  way  over  the 
mountains  and  down  the  Lehigh  Valley  to  Gnadenhuetten 
(Weissport).  arriving  there  the  third  day  after  the  battle. 
Jesse  Washburn  died  between  1800  and  18 10.  On  August 
25,  1810,  Jesse  Washburn  (Jr.)  of  Chestnuthill  Township, 
Northampton  Co.,  Pa.,  and  Daniel  Washburn  and  Caleb 
Washburn  of  East  Penn  Township  in  the  same  county,  sons 
and  heirs-at-law  of  Jesse  and  Silence  Washburn  of  Bridge- 
water,  Mass.;  Peter  Andreas,  natural  guardian  of  his  chil- 
dren by  Thankful  Washburn,  deceased,  one  of  the  daughters 
and  heirs  of  Jesse  and  Silence  Washburn;  Jacob  Andreas, 
natural  guardian  of  his  children  by  Sarah  Washburn,  de- 
ceased, another  daughter  and  heir  of  Jesse  and  Silence  Wash- 
burn ;  and  Catharine  Blin,  only  daughter  and  heir  of  Rebecca 
Blin,  deceased,  who  was  another  daughter  and  heir  of  Jesse 
and  Silence  Washburn,  granted  to  Solomon  Hayward  a 
power  of  attorney  to  convey  their  interest  in  the  estate  of 
Samuel  Crane.  (Recorded  in  deed  book  118,  at  page  32, 
Plymouth,  Mass.).  During  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  Jesse 
Washburn,  Sr.,  served  as  a  lieutenant  in  the  Northampton 
County  Militia  (Pa.  Arch.  5,  VIII,  281,  305,  561  :  5,  IV, 
353.  670:  3,  XXIII,  305,  306).  It  is  sometimes  difficult  to 
tell  which  Jesse  is  referred  to  in  the  Archives ;  that  both  were 
soldiers  in  the  Revolution  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  the 
muster  roll  of  May  14,  1778,  Fourth  Battalion,  First  Com- 
pany, Capt.  John  Gregory,  shows  that  Jesse  Whasborn  was 
Sergeant  and  that  Jesse  Whasborn  was  a  fourth  class 
private  in  the  same  company  (Pa.  Arch.  5,  VIII,  305,  306). 
There  is  fair  evidence  that  they  were  both  lieutenants  before 
the  end  of  the  War.  Jesse  Washburn  married  a  second  time, 


SILENCE    WASHBURN.  6l 

a  daughter,  it  is  said,  of  John  Rhodes ;  and  raised  a  second 
family. 
Jesse  and  Silence  Washburn  had  the  following  children : 

I.  Rebecca,  married  Jacob  Blin  and  had  a  daughter, 
Catharine  Blin. 

II.  Thankful,  born  about  1752;  died  before  1810  and  is 
buried  at  St.  Johns,  Pa.  On  December  8,  1772,  she  married 
Peter  Andreas,  who  was  a  sergeant  in  the  Revolution  (Pa. 
Arch.  5,  VIII,  233,  449,  465.  509).  Peter  and  Thankful 
Washburn  Andreas  had  the  following  children : 

1.  Sarah,  born  September  12,  1773,  married  John 
Raeber. 

2.  John  Jacob,  born  January  15.  1776. 

3.  Anna  Elizabeth,  born  November  14,  1777. 

4.  Anna  Maria,  born  May  3,  1780.  married  Martin 
Rehrig. 

5.  John  Peter,  born  March  21.  1782,  married  Nancy 
Miller. 

6.  Daniel,  born  May  23,  1784,  married  Gertrude 
Guldner. 

7.  John,  born  June  23,  1786;  married,  first,  Barbara 
Balliett;  second,  Susanna  Barager;  third,  Margaret 
Barager. 

8.  John  George,  born  October  30,  1788,  married  Cath- 
arine Miller. 

9.  John  William,  born  June  19,  1791,  died  unmarried. 
10.  Magdalena,  born  May  21,  1794. 

III.  Jesse,  born  July  25,  1759,  died  April  2,  1716.  He 
was  a  soldier  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  perhaps  a  lieutenant. 
He  married  Catharine  ,  and  had  the  following  children  : 

1.  Daniel,  married  Elizabeth  Greenzweig. 

2.  John. 

3.  Elizabeth. 

4.  Lydia,  married  Isaac  Schmidt. 

5.  Susan. 

6.  Sarah,  married  Ludwig  Kleindufif. 

7.  Mary,  born  in  1785,  died  March  20,  1866. 

8.  Rosina. 

9.  Nancy. 

IV.  Sarah  was  born  February  14,  1760,  and  died  Febru- 
ary 22,  1803.   She  married  Jacob  Andreas,  who  was  a  soldier 


62  THE  AMERICAN   ANCESTRY  OF 

in  the  Revolution  (Pa.  Arch.  5,  VIII,  450,  465,  510).    They 
had  five  children : 

1.  Elizabeth,  married  Henry  Roth. 

2.  John  Jacob. 

3.  John. 

4.  Stephen. 

5.  William. 

V.  Daniel,  born  in  1763 ;  baptised  in  Unionville  Reformed 
Church,  April  19,  1782;  married  Barbara  ,  in  1784. 
He  was  one  of  the  last  survivors  of  the  Wyoming  Massacre, 
and,  in  1846,  wrote  an  account  of  his  experience  in  that 
battle.  His  name  is  to  be  found  among  those  of  the  survivors 
on  the  southeast  side  of  the  monument  near  Forty  Fort.  He 
was  a  soldier  in  the  Revolution  (Pa.  Arch.  5,  IV,  353,  670: 
5,  VIII,  440,  449,  496,  509).  He  is  buried  in  Maple  Grove 
Cemetery,  Beaver  Meadows,  Pa.,  in  an  unmarked  grave. 
This  cemetery  is  neglected  and  overgrown  with  bushes  and 
trees.  But  one  grave  is  marked,  that  of  a  New  England 
soldier  of  the  Revolution! 

VI.  Caleb. 

References  :  Cutter's  Personal  Memoirs  of  Massachu- 
setts Families ;  Washburn  Family,  by  E.  A.  B.  Barnard ; 
Ebenezer  Washburn,  by  George  T.  Washburn ;  Bridgewater, 
by  Mitchell ;  Ancient  Landmarks  of  Plymouth,  by  Davis ; 
Savage's  Genealogical  Dictionary  of  New  England  Families ; 
Duxbury,  by  Winslow ;  Plymouth  Settlement,  by  Bradford; 
"Mayflower  Descendants" ;  Signers  of  the  Mayflower  Com- 
pact; Lapham  Family,  by  W.  B.  Lapham ;  Richmond  Family, 
by  J.  B.  Richmond ;  John  Rogers  Families  of  Plymouth  and 
Vicinity,  by  J.  H.  Drummond ;  Thurston  Genealogies,  by 
Brown  Thurston  and  Myrick  Thurston ;  Lineage  of  the 
Rogers  Family,  by  John  Cox  Underwood ;  Probate  and 
Registry  Records  of  Portsmouth,-  R.  I.,  and  Plymouth  and 
Taunton,  Mass.,  especially  wills,  deeds,  and  receipts  in  settling 
the  estate  of  Samuel  Crane ;  Court  Records  of  Northampton, 
Monroe,  and  Luzerne  Counties,  Pa. 

William  Tilden  Stauffer, 
a  descendant  of 

Newport  News,  Va.,  Jesse  and  Silence  Washburn 

July  25,  1928.  in  the  fifth  generation. 


Powder  horn  in  possession  of  Wyoming  Historical  and   Geological   Society. 
Engravings  on  a  buffalo  horn,  bone  disk  inlays  and  plug. 


INDIAN-LOVING  CATLIN.  63 

THE  CATLIN  POWDER  HORN. 


The  acquisition  by  the  Society  of  this  remarkably  engraved 
buffalo  horn,  through  the  generosity  of  Mr.  Edward  Welles, 
Jr.,  has  suggested  the  publication  of  the  following  brief 
description  of  the  horn  itself  and  the  biographical  sketch  of 
Catlin,  whose  name  is  known  and  whose  work  is  prized  both 
in  America  and  Europe. 

The  fact  that  George  Catlin  was  born  in  Wilkes-Barre  is 
little  known  and  in  itself  warrants  this  presentation  of  his 
life  and  work  to  his  fellow  citizens  of  later  generations. 

As  stated  by  Dr.  Arthur  C.  Parker,  Director  of  the 
Rochester,  N.  Y.,  Museum  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  this 
powder  horn,  made  from  a  buffalo  horn,  was  given  by  George 
Catlin,  the  artist,  to  a  Seneca  Chief  who  visited  Niagara  Falls 
at  the  time  Catlin  painted  Red  Jacket's  picture.  Tradition 
says  that  Catlin  gave  it  to  Red  Jacket,  himself.  It  was  for 
many  years  in  the  possession  of  a  Seneca  family  directly  de- 
scended from  Sayenqueraughta,  the  Seneca  leader  in  the 
Battle  of  Wyoming. 

Dr.  Walter  Hough,  Head  Curator  of  Anthropology  in  the 
United  States  National  Museum,  when  the  horn  was  shown 
him  in  March,  1924,  stated  that  he  "believed  that  this  un- 
doubtedly is  the  work  of  George  Catlin." 

The  reproductions  of  the  engravings  were  made  with  much 
painstaking  care  by  Mr.  William  G.  Ackerman  of  Wilkes- 
Barre. 

The  following  account  of  the  horn  is  by  Dr.  Parker: 

This  specimen  came  from  the  Tonawanda  Seneca  reserva- 
tion in  Genesee  County,  New  York,  and  is  from  the  Doctor 
collection  which  was  divided  in  three  lots.  The  first  lot  was 
acquired  by  the  State  Museum,  Albany,  the  second  by  Mr. 
Alvin  H.  Dewey  of  Rochester,  and  the  third  by  the  Wyoming 
Historical  and  Geological  Society,  Wilkes-Barre,  Pa. 


64  INDIAN-LOVING  CATLIN. 

Mrs.  Laura  M.  Doctor  had  many  fine  specimens  and  relics 
of  old  Indian  days  which  had  come  down  to  her  through  her 
connection  with  several  notable  Indian  families,  the  Parkers, 
the  Mountpleasants  and  the  Poudrays.  A  photograph  of 
some  of  these  specimens  is  shown  in  "The  Life  of  General 
Ely  S.  Parker",  a  publication  of  the  Buffalo  Historical 
Society. 

While  there  is  no  written  data  concerning  the  powder 
horn,  the  tradition  is  that  it  was  given  to  John  Blacksmith 
(or  Red  Jacket)  about  1825,  when  Red  Jacket's  picture  was 
painted  by  George  Catlin  at  Niagara  Falls.  There  is  some 
mention  of  this  occasion  in  Catlin's  "North  American  In- 
dians," Vol.  2,  page  104.  Red  Jacket,  who  was  then  old, 
returned  to  the  home  of  a  relative  where  he  left  the  powder 
horn  and  several  other  trinkets  and  articles  of  clothing.  Some 
of  these  articles,  including  the  celebrated  "Washington 
medal"  were  acquired  by  the  Parker  family,  and  eventually 
passed  into  the  hands  of  Gen.  Ely  S.  Parker,  a  member  of  a 
prominent  Seneca  clan.  A  few  of  the  articles  were  taken 
by  him  to  New  York,  while  others  remained  in  his  old  home 
and  upon  his  death  reverted  to  his  niece,  Mrs.  Laura  M, 
Doctor.  Mrs.  Doctor  requested  the  writer  to  dispose  of 
most  of  the  articles  for  her  benefit,  and  this  commission  was 
carried  out. 

Whether  the  horn  was  engraved  by  Catlin  or  not,  there  is 
only  the  evidence  of  the  object  itself,  but  the  figures  are  so 
similar  in  all  respects  to  the  work  of  this  well  known  artist, 
and  the  tradition  that  Catlin  made  it  so  clear,  that  it  may  be 
accepted  as  plausible.    It  is  called  the  Catlin  powder  horn. 

The  figures  represent  certain  activities  and  objects,  as  fol- 
lows;  beginning  at  the  upper  left  corner  of  the  drawing: 

1.  A  chief,  pointing  to  a  standard, 

2.  An  Indian  holding  a  standard  or  flag  with  the  device  of 
a  lion, 

3.  An  Indian  skinning  a  bufifalo, 


Engravinijs  on  Catlin  jjowder  horn.     (Dravvti  by  William  G.  Ackermati). 


Buffalo  Chase.    (Plate  io8,  vol.   i,  p.  253,  Letters  and  Notes,   1841).    Inserted  for 
comparison  with  drawings  on  powder  horn. 


66  INDIAN-LOVING  CATLIN, 


The  Indian's  quiver  and  bow  hung  in  a  tree, 


An  Indian  on  horseback  snaring  a  rabbit, 
A  camp  fire,  at  which  the  hunter  roasts  the  meat,  and 
The  woman  and  baby  stand  by,  looking  on, 
A  horseman  with  spear  and  shield  rushes  forward,  fol- 
lowed by 

A  warrior  with  a  scalp, 
A  hunter  is  shooting, 

A  bear  standing  upright,  back  of  which  drowses 
A  hare, 

A  seated  figure  is  smoking  while  watching, 
A  leaping  Buffalo-head  dancer,  who  circles  about 
The  singer  and  drummer,   whose  rhythm  is  also  im- 
parted to 

Another  masked  dancer  with  a  buffalo  head, 
A   fleeing  coyote,   seems  to   betoken  the   approach   of 
hunters, 

A  wounded  Buffalo  reveals 
The  pursuing  hunter,  back  of  which  comes 
A  moose,  followed  by 
A  hunter  with  a  gun. 
The  pictographs  seem  to  represent  a  general  impression  of 
hunting  episodes  and  camp  life  on  the  prairies,  and  as  their 
sequence  is  not  as  an  Indian  would  arrange  them,  nor  the 
sketches  like  the  cruder  technique  of  the  plains  people,  the 
work  must  have  been  done  by  a  white  man,  and  undoubtedly 
by  George  Catlin. 

A.  C.  Parker,  Director, 
Rochester  Museum  of  Arts  and  Sciences, 


Red  Jacket  (Sa-go-ye-wat-ha),  Head  Chief  of  the  Senecas.    Plate  205,  vol.  2,  p.   104, 

Letters  and  Notes,   1841.    Portrait  painted  at  Niagara  Falls  at  the 

time  the  powder  horn  was  given  Red  Jacket. 


INDIAN-LOVING  CATLIN. 

By  Marion  Annette  Evans. 


That  biography  is  the  most  compelHng,  which  can  boast, 
between  the  encyclopedia  dates  of  "Born-Died",  a  stiff, 
straight  line  of  purpose  held  to  in  the  face  of  upbringing, 
education,  precedent,  and  family  ties.  When,  by  chance, 
romance  and  adventure  run  parallel  with  such  a  purpose,  the 
"life"  in  question  makes  no  dull  reading. 

Yet  it  is  not  only  as  an  original  and  highly  flavored  "life", 
with  scenes  shifting  from  the  tepee  of  a  Rocky  Mountain 
Indian  to  the  salon  of  a  King  of  France,  that  the  76  years  of 
George  Catlin  primarily  interest  his  townsfolk  of  another 
generation.  It  is  as  a  contribution  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
human  race,  to  the  science  of  anthropology,  that  they  become 
three  score  and  sixteen  years  of  worth-while  biography. 

The  secret  of  Catlin's  success  during  his  life,  and  for  a 
century  after,  was  simply  this :  that  he  did  what  no  one  else 
was  doing  at  the  time;  that  he  did  it  well,  and  did  nothing 
else — but  paint  Indians !  Around  that  occupation  has  grown 
a  biography  that  is  one  of  the  most  picturesque  bits  in  a 
picturesque  period  of  our  history,  a  source  of  gratitude  to 
the  historian  and  a  delight  to  the  layman. 

George  Catlin  was  born  on  July  26,  1796,  in  Wilkes-Barre, 
Pennsylvania,  when  Wyoming  Valley  was  recovering  from 
the  horrors  of  the  massacre  and  the  Pennamite  wars. 
Wilkes-Barre  was  27  years  old  and  had  250  inhabitants, 
living  in  150  wooden  houses.  There  was  a  jail,  though  no 
church,  in  the  town,  and  a  two-story  log  courthouse  stood 
on  the  Public  Square.  "No  bridge  spanned  the  Susquehanna, 
but  there  was  a  public  ferry  at  the  foot  of  Northampton 
street,  and  several  Inns  furnishing  'entertainment  for  man 
and  beast'."  Easton  was  the  nearest  town,  and  could  be 
reached  on  horse  back  only. 

Of  his  birth,  Catlin  himself  says  he  was  "born  in  Wyo- 
ming, in  North  America! — of  parents   (Putnam  and  Polly 


'From  oiii;inal  watcr-col 


William   II.    Miner). 


INDIAN-LOVING  CATLIN.  69 

Sutton  Catlin)  who  entered  that  beautiful  and  famed  valley 
soon  after  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War."  Of  his  im- 
mediate forbears,  it  is  known  that  his  father,  a  lawyer  and 
a  man  of  means  in  the  colonies  was  of  a  philosophical  turn 
of  mind,  his  mother  "a.  woman  of  fine  artistic  taste."  His 
maternal  grandparents  were  pioneers  who  had  survived  the 
Wyoming  Massacre,  his  grandmother  and  mother  (aged 
seven),  were  among  those  taken  prisoner  by  the  British  and 
Indians  at  the  surrender  of  Forty  Fort,  his  grandfather  one 
of  the  famous  few  who  swam  the  Susquehanna  and  re- 
turned alive.  He  writes:  "The  early  part  of  my  life  was 
whiled  away,  apparently  somewhat  in  vain,  with  books  re- 
luctantly held  in  one  hand  (in  the  Wilkes-Barre  Academy, 
to  which  he  was  sent  from  New  York  State)  and  a  rifle,  or 
fishing-pole  firmly  and  affectionately  grasped  in  the  other. 
At  the  urgent  request  of  my  father,  who  was  a  practising 
lawyer,  I  was  prevailed  upon  to  abandon  these  favorite 
themes,  and  also  my  occasional  dabblings  with  the  brush, 
which  had  secured  already  a  corner  in  my  affections ;  and  I 
commenced  reading  the  law  for  a  profession,  under  the 
direction  of  Reeve  and  Gould",  of  Litchfield,  Connecticut 
(founders  of  the  first  Law  School  in  this  country).  "I 
attended  the  lectures  of  these  learned  judges  for  two  years 
—was  admitted  to  the  bar— and  practised  the  law  as  a  sort  of 
nimrodical  lawyer  in  my  native  land,  for  a 'term  of  two  or 
three  years." 

Circumstances  as  well  as  natural  inclination  played  a  part 
in  determining  Catlin's  life  work.  His  introduction  to  the 
wilderness  had  taken  place  when  he  was  one  year  old,  and 
rode  on  horseback  in  front  of  his  mother  over  forty  miles  of 
Indian  trail  when  his  family  left  Wilkes-Barre  for  Onaquagua 
Valley,  New  York  State.  "Trappers,  hunters.  Revolution- 
ary soldiers,  Indian  fighters"  all  came  to  his  father's  house 
in  Broome  County.  His  overwhelming  desire  for  an  out- 
door life  rather  than  the  indoor  industry  of  the  law  was  not 


70  INDIAN-LOVING  CATLIN. 

unnatural.  As  early  as  1824  his  interest  in  natural  history 
was  evident,  but  his  intention  of  founding  an  ethnological 
and  natural  history  museum  was  interrupted  by  the  death  of 
a  younger  brother  who  was  to  have  collaborated  with  him. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  Catlin  found  the  lawyer's  table, 
and  even  the  judge's  bench  in  the  Wilkes-Barre  Court  House 
so  covered  with  "sketches  of  judges,  jurors  and  culprits,"  and 
his  heart  so  little  in  his  profession,  that  in  1823  he  deliberately 
packed  himself  out  of  the  law,  and  into  the  pursuit  of  paint- 
ing by  "converting  his  library  into  paint  pots",  and  taking 
up  his  residence  in  Philadelphia,  the  art  center  of  the 
day.  Here,  for  five  years,  without  teacher,  or  adviser, 
he  established  a  reputation  for  portrait  and  particularly 
miniature  painting,  that  "admitted  him  to  the  fellowship 
of  Thomas  Sully,  Charles  Wilson  and  Rembrandt  Peale", 
and  won  him  the  place  of  Pennsylvania  Academician  in  the 
Academy  of  Fine  Arts,  and  portrait  painter  of  Dolly 
Madison  and  Governor  Clinton.  It  was  while  in  Albany 
on  this  last  commission  that  he  met  his  future  wife, 
Clara  B.  Gregory,  whom  he  married  in  1828.  He  was  fast 
becoming  a  popular  portrait  painter  of  fashionable  Philadel- 
phia, and  would  no  doubt  have  faded  into  comparative  ob- 
scurity in  a  generation,  had  not  chance  fixed  for  him  a  "whole 
life-time  of  enthusiasm" — "A  delegation  of  some  ten  or  fif- 
teen noble  and  dignified  looking  Indians,  from  the  wilds  of 
the  'Far  West',  suddenly  arrived  in  the  city,  arrayed  and 
equipped  in  all  their  classic  beauty, — with  shield  and  helmet, 
— with  tunic  and  manteau, — tinted  and  tasselled  off,  exactly 
for  the  painter's  palette  ! 

"In  silent  and  stoic  dignity,  these  lords  of  the  forest 
strutted  about  the  city  for  a  few  days,  wrapped  in  their  pic- 
tured robes,  with  their  brows  plumed  with  the  quills  of  the 
war-eagle,  attracting  the  gaze  and  admiration  of  all  who 
beheld  them." 

At  the  departure  of  these  representatives  of  a  dying  race, 


George  Catliii:  aet.   28.     (From  a  painting  in  oil  !,.v  himself  in    iS^m). 


INDIAN-LOVING  CATLIN.  71 

Catlin,  after  long  and  deep  reflection,  entered  upon  the  great 
decision  of  his  life — that  "the  history  and  customs  of  such  a 
people,  preserved  by  pictorial  illustrations,  are  themes  worthy 
the  lifetime  of  one  man,  and  nothing  short  of  the  loss  of  my 
life  shall  prevent  me  from  visiting  their  country  and  becom- 
ing their  historian.  There  was  something  inexpressibly  de- 
lightful in  the  above  resolve",  he  writes  of  this  experience, 
"which  was  to  bring  me  amidst  such  living  models  for  my 
brush. 

"I  had  fully  resolved — I  opened  my  views  to  my  friends 
and  relations,  but  got  not  one  advocate  or  abettor.  I  tried 
fairly  and  faithfully,  but  it  was  in  vain,  to  reason  with  those 
whose  anxieties  were  ready  to  fabricate  every  difficulty  and 
danger  that  could  be  imagined,  without  being  able  to  under- 
stand, or  appreciate  the  extent  or  importance  of  my  designs, 
and  I  broke  from  them  all, — from  my  wife  and  my  aged 
parents, — myself  my  only  adviser  and  protector." 

Equally  perturbed  by  the  fate  of  the  buffalo,  he  suggested 
to  the  government  the  establishing  of  a  bison  range  as  a 
National  Park  in  the  region  of  the  Yellowstone,  saying  in 
1832,  "I  would  ask  no  other  monument  to  my  memory  nor 
any  other  enrollment  of  my  name  among  the  famous  dead 
than  the  reputation  of  having  been  the  founder  of  such  an 
institution." 

In  1832,  Catlin  began  his  adventure  of  "lending  a  hand  to 
a  dying  nation  who  have  no  historians  or  biographers  to  por- 
tray their  native  looks  and  history,  and  snatching  from  a 
hasty  oblivion  what  could  be  saved  for  the  benefit  of  pos- 
terity". This  stiff,  straight  purpose  extended  in  time  over 
forty  years  of  his  life  and  carried  him  far  from  Wyoming 
Valley,  often  in  advance  of  the  "covered  wagon",  through 
the  wilds  of  North  and  even  South  America  to  England, 
France,  and  Belgium  and  back  again  to  the  unromantic 
locality  of  Jersey  City  where  he  died  December  23,  1872. 

For  the   first   six  years   after  his   spectacular   departure 


Catlin  painting  a  Mandan  Chief.    (From  frontispiece,  Letters  and  Notes,  1841,  vol.   i). 


INDIAN-LOVING  CATLIN.  73 

into  the  wilderness,  he  confined  his  researches  to  the  North 
American  Indian,  visiting  48  tribes  of  the  Redskins  who  were 
still  living  in  their  native  haunts  unspoiled  by  the  white  man's 
influence — Indians  of  the  Yellowstone  River,  Indian  terri- 
tory, Arkansas,  roaming  over  "Indian  land"  which  then  in- 
cluded part  of  "Ohio,  Illinois,  Indiana,  Michigan,  Wisconsin, 
Alabama,  Florida,  land  west  of  the  Mississippi  to  the  Rocky 
Mountains  and  in  Oregon."  During  this  time  he  accompanied 
Captain  and  Governor  William  Clark,  Superintendent  of  In- 
dian affairs  under  President  Jackson,  to  the  treaties  held  with 
the  Winnebagoes,  Menominees,  Shewanos,  Socs,  Foxes  and 
Konzas.  He  lived  among  some  scattered  four  hundred  thou- 
sand souls,  still  left  undegraded  "of  the  sixteen  million  who 
once  said  that  number  of  daily  prayers  to  the  Great  Spirit, 
and  gave  thanks  for  his  goodness  and  protection.."  During 
the  last  three  years  his  wife  was  his  indefatigable  companion 
through  prairie  and  forest,  and  her  "journal  of  thirteen  thou- 
sand miles  of  wild  rambles"  has  no  doubt  contributed  meas- 
urably to  the  interest  of  Catlin's  published  notes.  It  is  in- 
teresting to  think  of  them,  dressed  in  the  complicated  fashion 
of  the  period,  wandering  in  unbroken  wilderness,  with  no 
"civilized"  protection  at  their  command,  carrying  freshly 
painted  portraits  in  a  tin  box  on  Catlin's  back,  the  dry 
paintings  unstretched,  rolled  up  in  knapsacks.  Picturesque, 
amazing. 

At  the  end  of  six  years  of  transporting  canvas  and 
brush  over  prairie  and  primeval  forest,  Catlin  returned  to 
New  York  with  three  hundred  and  ten  portraits  in  oil,  two 
hundred  "genre"  scenes,  containing  views  of  villages,  dances, 
games,  religious  ceremonies,  buffalo  hunting,  etc.,  and  an 
extensive  collection  of  costumes  and  implements,  from  wig- 
wam to  quill  and  rattle.  These  formed  "Catlin's  North 
American  Indian  Gallery,"  which  he  exhibited  in  New  York, 
Philadelphia,  Washington,  Boston,  etc.,  adding  to  the  collec- 
tion some  work  done  among  the  Florida  Indians  in  18^8. 


74  INDIAN-LOVING  CATLIN. 

This  collection,  reproduced  later  in  England  in  line  draw- 
ing, with  copious  notes,  and  letters  written  to  the  "New  York 
Commercial  Advertiser,"  by  the  author  during  his  travels, 
make  up  the  two  invaluable  volumes  compiled  as  "Letters 
and  Notes  of  the  Manners,  Customs,  and  Condition  of  the 
North  American  Indians." 

Catlin's  "savages"  more  than  met  his  expectations.  During 
all  this  time  he  received  only  the  greatest  hospitality,  had 
nothing  stolen  from  him,  and  met  with  no  physical  maltreat- 
ment, although  he  was  often  distrusted  by  the  chiefs  who  did 
not  like  to  see  themselves  "made  alive  with  paints".  He  was 
their  great  friend,  the  first  white  man  ever  admitted  to  the 
famous  Pipestone  quarry  where  for  "untold  generations  the 
red  man  had  found  material  for  his  sacred  calumets."  The 
stone  has  long  been  known  as  "Catlinite".* 

In  1839  his  achievement  received  international  recognition. 
He  was  invited  to  journey  to  London  to  lecture  about  his 
Indian  friends  and  their  customs,  and  exhibit  his  paintings. 
In  the  fall  of  this  year  "he  sailed  from  New  York  with  600 
portraits  and  paintings,  several  thousand  specimens  of  Indian 
costum.es,  weapons,  etc.,  and  two  grizzly  bears  in  a  large  iron 
cage." 

In  1840  the  Indian  Gallery  was  opened  in  Egyptian  Hall, 
Picaddilly,  London,  and  was  visited  by  leading  social  and 
literary  lights.  Catlin  and  his  wife,  who  had  joined  him  in 
London  with  their  two  young  children,  were  much  sought 
after  by  the  bell-hatted,  poke-bonneted  society  of  the  day, 

*The  Minnesota  Legislature  of  1925  established  a  State  park  at 
the  famous  Pipestone  quarry  where  for  untold  generations  the  red 
men  had  found  material  for  their  sacred  calumets.  The  stone,  which 
has  the  peculiarity  of  cutting  easily  from  the  quarry  and  then  hard- 
ening by  exposure,  has  long  been  known  as  "Catlinite,"  because  the 
Indian  artist  George  Catlin  was  supposed  to  have  been  the  first  white 
man  ever  admitted  to  the  sacred  precincts  of  the  quarry.  Many  of 
the  sacred  Indian  pipes  in  historical  museums  are  made  of  the  stone 
from  this  Minnesota  deposit.  Wisconsin  Magazine  of  History,  v.  9, 
p.  236-37. 


INDIAN-LOVING  CATLIN.  75 

were  entertained  in  the  houses  of  the  nobility,  and  CatHn 
was  requested  to  lecture  before  distinguished  scientific  so- 
cieties, among  them  the  Royal  Institution  of  Great  Britain. 

In  1843  he  closed  the  London  exhibition  and  took  it  to 
Liverpool,  being  quite  worn  out  by  his  endeavors,  the  main 
difficulty  being  the  need  of  answering  questions.  His  cura- 
tor had  threatened  previously  to  print  the  answers  to  the 
hundred  most  often  recurring  and  stupid  queries,  to  save 
their  throats;  such  as,  "The  Indians  have  no  beards  at  all", 
"Mr.  Catlin  is  not  an  Indian".  "You  can't  come  overland 
from  America".  "The  Americans  are  zvhite  like  the  Eng- 
lish, and  speak  the  same  language,  only  they  speak  it  better 
in  general".  "Reason  ?  Yes,  why  do  you  think  they  are  wild 
beasts?  To  be  sure  they  reason  as  well  as  we  do".  "They 
sometimes  eat  a  great  deal,  but  generally  not  so  much  as 
white  people".  "They  all  have  their  religion,  they  all  wor- 
ship the  great  spirit",  etc. 

The  gallery  then  went  on  tour  through  England  and  Scot- 
land. While  in  Manchester,  the  first  of  the  bands  of  Indians 
which  Mr.  Catlin  was  to  meet  abroad  came  across  his  path. 
It  was  the  custom  at  that  time  for  Americans  to  bring  parties 
of  a  dozen  or  more  Indians  to  Europe  for  "show"  purposes, 
to  raise  funds  for  the  manager  and  incidently  the  Indians. 
It  was  this  renewed  contact  with  living  Indians  which  in- 
fluenced Catlin  from  this  time  on  to  take  copious  notes  on 
his  European  travels,  in  order  to  note  the  effect  "of  civilized 
life  on  their  untutored  minds".  These  notes  grew  into  two 
more  Indian  volumes  called  Catlin 's  ''Notes  on  Eight  Years 
Travel  and  Residence  in  Europe  with  his  North  American 
Indian  Collection,  with  Anecdotes  and  Incidents  of  the 
Travels  and  Adventures  of  Three  Different,  Parties  of  Indians 
Whom  he  Introduced  to  the  Courts  of  England,  France  and 
Belgium".  To  these  books  we  owe  the  delightful  knowledge 
of  these  fascinating  years  of  his  life. 

This  first  party  of  Redskins  was  attached  to  his  Gallery 


76  INDIAN-LOVING  CATLIN. 

and  put  under  his  guidance,  in  return  for  the  "hospitahty  and 
kindness  I  have  received  in  the  wildernesses  of  America". 
These  Indians  advanced  upon  the  Gallery  at  their  first  visit 
as  though  it  were  alive,  trying  to  shake  hands  with  friends 
they  recognized  among  the  portraits,  and  falling  upon  ene- 
mies with  whoops  and  yells.  About  this  time  Catlin  and 
the  nine  Ojibbeways  presented  themselves  for  a  command 
performance  at  Windsor  Castle  for  the  delectation  of  Queen 
Victoria.  Later,  their  arch  enemies  the  loways,  were  invited 
to  breakfast  with  Mr.  Disraeli ;  but  whether  Ojibbeway  or 
loway  they  were  regally  entertained  everywhere  and  were 
conducted  on  sightseeing  tours  that  filled  them  with  amaze- 
ment and  concern.  From  the  slant  of  lives  so  free  from 
"civilized"  complications,  they  could  not  understand  the  "so 
vast  many  poor  people"  that  filled  the  foreign  capitals,  or  the 
system  then  in  practice  of  imprisonment  for  debt.  "How 
can  he  pay  back  the  money  then,  if  they  shut  him  up"  they 
asked  reasonably,  and  at  the  Zoo  their  hearts  went  out  to  the 
"poor  prisoner  buffalo".  The  need  of  sending  greeting  to 
England's  Chief  was  greatly  on  their  minds,  and  on  one  oc- 
casion the  Indian  leader,  in  the  presence  of  an  official,  drew 
from  his  shirt  a  shining  medal  of  the  former  King  of  Eng- 
land, saying,  "Tell  your  Great  Father  that  you  have  seen  him, 
and  that  we  keep  his  face  bright".  When  he  was  informed 
that  the  Great  Father  was  now  a  lady  named  Victoria,  he 
withdrew  in  confusion  to  smoke  a  pipe  of  tobacco  in  council 
and  arrange  a  way  to  get  the  message  through.  He  returned 
at  last  saying,  "Tell  your  Great  Mother  that  you  have  seen 
your  Great  Father  and  that  we  keep  his  face  bright". 

When  the  Ojibbeways  left  London,  Catlin  withdrew  from 
the  gallery  for  three  months  to  prepare  for  publication  a  port- 
folio of  twenty-five  large  tinted  drawings,  called  "Hunting 
Scenes  and  Amusements  of  the  North  American  Indians." 
to  which  many  of  the  crowned  heads  of  Europe  subscribed. 
At  the  completion  of  this,  a  band  of  Indians  from  Iowa  ap- 


Olui^c  Call 


ituic-   li\    W  itki 


INDIAN-LOVING  CATLIN.  77 

peared  at  Liverpool  and  were  attached  to  the  Catlin  outfit, 
and  in  1845,  accompanied  by  his  wife  and  four  children,  the 
Indians  and  eight  tons  of  exhibits,  he  journeyed  to  Paris  and 
estabHshed  himself  in  the  Salle  Valentino,  near  the  Louvre. 
Shortly  afterwards  His  Majesty,  King  Louis-Philippe,  com- 
manded his  presence  with  the  loway  Lidians  at  the  Tuileries. 
His  Majesty  and  much  of  the  royal  connection  awaited  the 
Indian  braves  in  the  reception  hall  under  the  great  chande- 
lier, where,  "with  buffalo  robes  wrapped  around  them,  and 
decorated  with  wampum  and  medals,  necklaces  of  grizzly 
bears'  claws,  bows  and  quivers,  tomahawks,  etc.,  the  Indians 
were  announced  by  a  half  dozen  huge  porters  in  flaming 
scarlet  liveries  and  powdered  wigs."  After  some  conversa- 
tion on  both  sides,  the  chief  presented  the  King  "with  a  beau- 
tiful blue  pipe,  his  braves  performed  some  interesting  dances," 
and  were  "regaled  with  an  abundance  of  rich  refreshments 
including  'first  rate'  champagne". 

In  Paris,  the  same  success  followed  that  had  greeted  the 
British  exhibition.  The  exhibit  had  to  run  matinees,  and  the 
patrons  included  Victor  Hugo  and  George  Sand.  In  the 
midst  of  these  activities  the  wife  of  the  loway  chief,  "Little 
Wolf",  died.  Poignantly  enough,  this  Indian  squaw  was 
buried  from  the  Church  of  the  Madeleine,  and  interred  in 
Montmartre  Cemetery.  After  this  tragedy  the  Indians  de- 
cided to  return  to  America,  and  shortly  after  their  departure 
Mrs.  Catlin  died  very  suddenly  in  Paris,  leaving  three 
daughters  and  a  little  son.  As  the  Indian  collection  was  still 
open,  and  the  lease  not  yet  expired,  Catlin  "in  the  midst  of 
his  grief"  decided  to  remain  in  Paris.  At  this  time  eleven 
Canadian  Indians  appeared  and  were  persuaded  to  join  the 
gallery. 

The  interest  of  Louis-Philippe  in  things  American,  and 
Indian  in  particular,  was  at  high  pitch,  and  while  in  Paris, 
Catlin  was  invited  to  the  royal  breakfast  table  at  the  palace 
of  St.  Cloud,  at  which  time  the  King  discussed  his  early 


78  INDIAN-LOVING  CATLIN. 

travels  in  America,  mentioning  his  journey  by  canoe  to  a 
small  town  called  Wilkes-Barre  in  the  Valley  of  Wyoming. 
"I  here  surprised  his  Majesty"  writes  Catlin  in  his  detailed 
description  of  this  banquet  at  which  sat  two  Kings  and  two 
Queens  "by  informing  him  that  I  was  a  native  of  Wilkes- 
Barre  and  that  while  his  Majesty  was  there  I  was  an  infant 
in  my  mother's  arms".  Catlin  was  commissioned  by  the  King 
to  paint  fifteen  pictures  for  the  palace  at  Versailles,  his  ex- 
hibit having  been  moved  to  the  Salle  de  Seance  in  the  Louvre, 
where  Louis-Philippe  was  a  delighted  visitor.  An  expedition 
to  Brussels  with  the  gallery  was  broken  up  by  a  smallpox 
epidemic  among  the  Indians  and  Catlin  returned  poorer  by 
over  a  thousand  dollars. 

Shortly  after  this,  the  death  of  his  much  loved  little  son, 
his  "Tambour  Major",  caused  such  a  distaste  for  Paris  in 
his  mind,  that  he  returned  to  London  with  his  three  little 
daughters  and  his  collections.  Two  years  later,  in  1852, 
urged  by  Alexander  von  Humboldt,  his  friend  and  scientific 
advisor,  he  succumbed  to  the  lure  of  his  former  wanderings, 
and  set  out  for  the  Far  West,  Central  and  South  America. 
Since  he  was  deprived  of  Mrs.  Catlin's  companionship,  he 
did  not  undertake  this  journey  entirely  alone,  but  was  ac- 
companied by  a  faithful  black,  named  Caesar  Bolla,  who  car- 
ried his  heavier  equipment  and  formed  an  impressive  body 
guard. 

The  account  of  these  five  lucrative  years  is  published  in 
"Last  Rambles  Amongst  the  Indians  of  the  Rocky  Mountains 
and  the  Andes".  In  i860  he  returned  to  Europe,  exhibiting 
these  further  researches  and  writing  accounts  of  his  last  ad- 
venture, returning  to  the  United  States  the  year  before  his 
death.  This  last  volume  gives,  on  a  smaller  scale  than  his 
previous  work,  a  pictorial  and  verbal  record  of  the  Indian  of 
Central  and  South  America.  This  journey  had  only  empha- 
sized in  his  mind  the  value  of  the  work  he  had  undertaken 


Catlin  as  he  ip  learerl   in   i  ondo  i   Cnci     i  S4      (I-irm   1   \Noorkut   U    \\      T.    Linton, 

in    M  TES    or    IK      1     \t\Rs      TRWLIS      ETC        1S4S) 

"He   \vn,    -iluut    hxe    feet     pi-ht    nicies    till     ^tuuU     one    of    the    most    Rraceful 

1^   of   -1   hnt     ht  ilthv   hronze. 
iccful. 

-Mayne   Reid.    1851. 


specir 
well   1 


f   ht  ni 
tKim.l, 


c\ei    encciinteied       He   \ 
e\ci\    •jebLine   he   wa;,  ri 


INDIAN-LOVING  CATLIN.  79 

and  the  plight  of  the  red  man  where  contact  with  the  white 
man  had  robbed  him  of  his  dignity  and  his  entity. 

"Art  may  mourn  when  these  people  are  swept  from  the 
earth",  he  says  sadly  in  the  conclusion  of  his  last  volume. 
What  one  man  could  do  to  alleviate  such  a  condition,  Catlin 
did  superlatively.  A  study  of  the  line  illustrations  of  the 
books,  and  the  large  original  paintings  now  preserved  in  the 
National  Museum  at  Washington,  and  the  American  Museum 
of  Natural  History  in  New  York  gives  immediate  proof  that 
he  accomplished  his  purpose  of  preserving  a  record  of  the 
American  Indian  that  is  unsurpassed  in  accuracy,  scope,  and 
detail. 

Of  the  work  itself,  considered  from  the  point  of  view  of 
its  place  in  the  field  of  art,  Catlin  himself  begged  us  to  re- 
member that  "every  painting  has  been  made  from  nature,  and 
that  too,  when  I  have  been  paddling  my  canoe,  or  leading  my 
pack  horse  over  and  through  tractless  wilds.  The  world  will 
surely  be  kind  and  indulgent  enough  to  receive  and  estimate 
them  as  they  have  been  intended,  as  true  and  facsimile  traces 
of  individual  life  and  historical  fact,  and  forgive  me  for  their 
present  unfinished  and  unstudied  condition  as  works  of  art". 
Nevertheless,  aside  from  recording  for  science,  for  all  time, 
the  Indian  "in  his  genuine  native  trappings",  Catlin  has  con- 
tributed something  to  American  art  by  the  very  "primitive" 
quality  of  his  work.  It  is  a  lucky  thing,  according  to  Edwin 
Balch,  that  he  was  never  taught  to  draw  academically,  in  the 
grandiose  style  of  the  day,  and,  as  the  French  Press  said  of 
him  in  1848,  "without  the  European  convention".  For  this 
reason,  his  accuracy  is  never  interfered  with  by  a  striving  for 
effect. 

To  quote  briefly  from  Edwin  Swift  Balch.  whose  "Art  of 
George  Catlin"  was  read  before  the  American  Philosophical 
Society  in  1918. 

"Almost  all  of  the  pictures  are  about  nineteen  by  twenty- 
five  inches  in  size,  lengthwise,  often  oval.    The  paper  is  light, 


8o  INDIAN-LOVING  CATLIN. 

grayish  brown,  the  register  is  usually  middle,  bright  colors 
are  used  sparingly  and  only  in  accents.  The  paint  is  laid  on 
thin  and  smooth,  almost  like  tinted  drawing,  rather  than  paint- 
ing. Catlin  made  every  speck  of  paint  go  as  far  as  possible 
in  the  wilderness. 

"Detail  is  perfectly  carried  out ;  perspective  is  good ;  sense 
of  proportion  is  splendid ;  light  and  shade  are  well  managed. 
His  dramatic  instinct  shows  in  his  ability  to  place  a  scene  on 
a  canvas  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  a  picture  of  it.  He  can 
create  an  appearance  of  a  crowd,  a  multitude  of  animated 
beings,  Indians  or  bison,  as  few  painters  have  done;  his 
only  error  being  the  open-scissor  action  of  his  galloping 
animals,  which  no  white  man  discovered  was  wrong  until 
instantaneous  photography  obliterated  it  from  art.  Every- 
where there  is  a  sincere  rendering  of  what  he  saw,  a  faithful 
rendition  of  the  form  and  colors  of  nature." 

By  and  large,  Catlin's  work,  as  art,  is  of  great  value  for 
its  originality  and  freedom  from  tradition,  its  very  naivity 
being  its  strength.    The  method  is  always  distinctly  Catlin. 

In  commenting  on  the  exhibition  in  London  in  1848  the 
Morning  Post  has  to  say  of  Mr.  Catlin  that  he  has  a  share 
of  unconquerable  perseverance  such  as  falls  to  few  artists  in 
any  country.  TJie  Spec  tat  oj'  announces  that  his  Indian  Gal- 
lery will  give  a  more  lively  and  distinct  idea  of  the  Aborigines 
of  North  America  than  a  whole  course  of  reading.  The  Neiv 
York  World  writes  that  Catlin  has  perpetuated  the  portraits 
of  a  nation. 

In  his  own  words  he  has  given  his  good  friends,  the  In- 
dians, to  the  world  in  their  native  simplicity  and  dignity,  not 
as  the  white  man  knows  them — "their  plumage  despoiled, 
harassed,  chased — a  basket  of  dead  game".  The  stiff,  straight 
purpose  of  Catlin's  life  was  supremely  successful.  The  scenes 
he  knew  have  disappeared  from  the  earth,  but  he  has  left  a 
record  "unique  and  imperishable  for  the  benefit  of  future 


Portrait  of  George  Catliii   (1796-1878),  by  William  H.   Fiske  in   1849.     Lent  to  the  U.   S. 

National   ]V[useuni.   Smithsonian   Institntion,   Washington,    D.    C,   by   ^Mrs.    Louise 

Catlin   Kinney,   in    1904.      (Ji    length,   oil   on   canvas.) 


INDIAN-LOVING  CATLIN.  8l 

ages."  Indian-loving  Catlin  may  have  seemed  to  his  genera- 
tion "to  have  spoken  too  well  of  the  Indians",  yet  if  this 
generation  would  learn  about  Indians  it  must  gratefully, 
humbly  and  a  little  shamefacedly  "turn  to  Catlin." 


Biographical  and  critical  data  taken  from  the  following : 

Balch,  E.  S. :     Art  of  George  Catlin. 

Catlin,  George :  Letters  and  notes  on  the  manners,  customs 
and  condition  of  the  North  American  Indians. 

Notes  of  eight  years  travel  and  residence  in  Europe. 

Descriptive  catalogue  of   Catlin's   Indian   Collection. 

London. 

Catlin,  C.  B.  G. :   Rambles  in  South  America. 

Godcharles,  F.  A. :     Daily  stories  of  Pennsylvania. 

Harvey,  O.  J. :  Royalty  in  the  Wyoming  Valley.  Proceed- 
ings and  Collections  of  Wyoming  Historical  and  Geo- 
logical Society,  volume  i6. 

Humphreys,  M.  G.,  Ed. :      The  Boy's  Catlin. 

Lamb's  Biographical  dictionary  of  the  United  States,  vol.  i, 
P-  595- 

Miner,  W.  H. :  George  Catlin — a  Memoir  and  a  Bibliogra- 
phy.    From  The  Literary  Collector.     1901. 


82 


INDIAN-LOVING  CATLIN. 


ANCESTRY  OF  GEORGE  CATLIN. 

Catlin,  Thomas  of  Hartford,  m.  1646;  d.  1662? 
Catlin,  John  of  Thos.  of  Hartford;  b.  1647;  m.  Mary  Mar- 
shall, July  27,  1665. 
Catlin,  Samuel  of  John  from  Hartford;  b.  Nov.  4,  1673;  ^• 

Elizabeth  Norton  of  Farmington,  Jan.  5,  1702/3;  d.  Aug. 

4,  1724- 
Catlin,  John  of  Samuel,  b.  Oct.  20,  1703;  d.  about  1768  ae. 

65;  m.  Margaret  (Seymour)  Gross,  Aug.  25,  1731. 
Catlin,  Eli,  son  of  John,  b.  Jan.  22,   1733/4;  m.  Elizabeth 

Ely. 
Catlin,  Putnam,  son  of  Eli  (Susquehanna  Co.,  Pa.)  ;  b.  Nov. 

8,  1764;  m.  Polly  Sutton,  1789. 
Catlin,  George  (the  artist),  son  of  Putnam,  and  the  fifth  of 

fourteen  children.    Born  July  26,  1796;  died  December  23, 

1872. 


From  Genealogical  Register  of  the  Inhabitants  of  the 
Town  of  Litchfield.  Conn.,  by  George  C.  Woodruff.  1845, 
and  Biography  and  Ancestry  of  Hon.  George  Henry  Catlin, 
Scranton,  Pennsylvania,  by  S.  Fletcher  Weyburn,  1930, 


Tomb  of  Mrs.  George  Catlin  in  Greenwood  Cemetery.    (Taken  from  the  illustration  in 

Greenwood,  a  directory  for  visitors,  by  N.  Cleveland.     New  York,   1849. 

A   similar   plate  appears   in  the   edition  of    1852   but  the   name 

is  misspelled   Catline.) 


George    Catl 


:.    72    (From    a    jiliotoKra] 
Brussels,    1868.) 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  CATLIN'S  WORKS. 

By  William  Harvey  Miner. 


1838 

Catalogue/  of/  Portraits,  Landscapes,/  Manners  and 
Customs,/  Costumes,  etc.,/  collected  during  seven  years' 
travel  amongst  thirty-eight  different  tribes,  speaking  differ- 
ent languages./*********/  New  York :/  Piercy  &  Reed, 
Printers,  7  Theatre  Alley,/  1838./ 
Sm  12  mo.,  sewn,  38  p. 

This  is  the  true  basic  and  absolutely  first  form  of  Catlin's 
catalogue  on  which  all  of  his  later  ones  were  designed.  It  is 
not  generally  known  that  there  was  a  second  issue  of  the  same 
year  identical  in  every  way  except  that  it  contained  40  instead 
of  36  pages.  Catlin  used  this  catalogue  in  New  York  and  in 
Boston  when  he  had  his  exhibition  in  Faneuil  Hall  in  Sep- 
tember, 1838.  The  second  issue  of  this  catalogue  is  exceed- 
ingly scarce. 


1841 

Letters  and  Notes/  on  the/  Manners,  Customs  and 
Condition/  of  the/  North  American  Indians/  By 
Geo.  Catlin./  Written  during  eight  years'  travel  amongst 
the  wildest  tribes  of/  Indians  in  North  America,/  in  1832, 
33-  34,  35,  36.  37,  38,  and  39./  In  two  volumes,/  with 
four  hundred  illustrations  from  the  author's  original  paint- 
ings :  Published  for  the  author  by/  David  Bogue,  Fleet 
Street,/  1841./ 

Volume  I,  front.,  i  leaf,  printer's  imprint  on  verso ;  con- 
tents, iii-viii ;  text,  p.  1-264. 

Volume  II,  iii-viii,  text,  p.  1-256;  Appendices,  257-66, 
royal  octavo. 

In  this  true  first  issue  of  the  first  edition  the  figures  only 
are  numbered,  not  the  plates.  Such  numbers  as  are  omitted 
were  never  issued  and  not  found  in  any  edition.  This  de- 
scribes the  genuine  first  edition  of  Catlin's  most  important 
book.  It  was  printed  at  the  author's  expense.  At  least  ten 
editions  were  done  in  London  during  his  lifetime.     A  good 


84  INDIAN-LOVING  CATLIN. 

set  of  the  first  edition  fetches  about  $25.00  to-day.  The 
most  desirable  edition  from  the  collector's  standpoint  is  the 
tenth  published  by  Henry  G.  Bohn  in  1866  with  the  plates 
brilliantly  coloured.  Field  in  his  Indian  Bibliography  says  on 
doubtful  authority  that  only  twelve  sets  were  so  done.  This 
edition  when  found  readily  brings  $100.00. 


1841 

A/  Descriptive  Catalogue/  of/  Catlin's  Indian  Gal- 
lery;/ Containing/  Portraits,  Landscapes,  Costumes, 
etc.,/  and/  Representations  of  the  manners  and  customs/ 
of  the/  North  American  Indians./  Collected  and  painted 
entirely  by  Mr.  Catlin,/  during  seven  years'  travel  amongst 
48  tribes,  mostly  speaking  different  languages/*********/ 
Now  exhibiting  in  The  Egyptian  Hall,  Piccadilly,  London./ 
Octavo.    48  p. 

This  is  the  original  catalogue  of  the  first  London  exhibi- 
tion. Though  no  date  appears  on  the  title  page,  it  is  1841.  It 
was  printed  by  C.  &  J.  Adlard  in  Bartholomew  Close.  The 
last  page  of  this  catalogue  specifically  mentions  the  nine 
Ojibbeway  Indians  giving  the  name  of  each  one.  My  own 
copy  has  a  note  in  Catlin's  hand  to  the  effect  that  the  exhibit 
"will  continue  'til  March  20th." 


1841 

Letters  and  Notes/  on  the/  Manners,  Customs,  and 
Condition/  of  the/  North  American  Indians/  By 
Geo.  Catlin./  Written  during  eight  years'  travel  amongst 
the  wildest  tribes  of/  Indians  in  North  America./  In  1832, 
33>  34>  35»  36,  37.  38,  and  39,/  in  two  volumes/  With 
four  hundred  illustrations,  carefully  engraved  from  his 
original  paintings/  New  York :/  Wiley  and  Putnam,  161 
Broadway/  1841. 

Volume  I,  p.  i-viii,  1-264,  slip  of  errata. 

Volume  II,  p.  i-viii,  1-266. 

Plates  and  maps,  royal  octavo. 

This  is  the  first  American  edition.     Sabin  points  out  that 
some  copies  have  the  imprint,  London,  Wiley  and  Putnam,  A 


INDIAN-LOVING  CATLIN.  85 

second  and  third  edition  were  done  in  New  York  in  1842  and 
a  fourth  in  1843.  Pilling  records  an  edition  in  1844  but  I 
have  never  seen  it,  although  there  was  a  fourth  London  in 
this  year.    See  also,  the  Philadelphia  edition  of  i860  passim. 


1841 

Illustrations/  of  the/  Manners,  Customs,  and  Con- 
dition/ OF  the/  North  American  Indians  :/  In  a  series 
of  Letters  and  Notes/  written  during  eight  years  of  travel 
and  adventures  among  the/  wildest  and  most  remarkable 
tribes  now  existing./  With  three  hundred  and  sixty  en- 
gravings./ From  the  author's  original  paintings./  By 
Geo.  Catlin./  In  two  volumes.  London:/  Henry  G. 
Bohn,  York  Street,  Covent  Garden/  1841. 

Volume  I,  p.  i-viii,  1-214. 

Volume  II,  p.  i-vii,  1-266. 

Maps  and  plates,  royal  octavo. 

_  This  is  the  second  issue  of  Catlin 's  first  work  with  changed 
title-page  and  rearrangement  of  the  pagination. 


1842 

Catalogue/  of  the/  Second/  Exhibition/  of  Objects 
Illustrative  of  the/  Fine  Arts,  Natural  History,/ 
Philosophy,/  Machinery,  Manufactures,/  Antiqui- 
ties, etc./  (small  design)./  Liverpool:/  Printed  by  D. 
Marples,  Ford  Street./  1842. 
Octavo,  unbound. 

Section  20  of  this  catalogue  refers  to  Mr.  Catlin's  room, 
comprising  the  Indian  Gallery  and  Museum,  which  contained 
portraits  of  Chiefs  and  others;  also  various  articles  of  cos- 
tume and  domestic  economy  and  weapons  of  war;  a  Wig- 
wam or  Indian  dwelling,  numerous  landscapes,  etc. ;  also 
a  perfect  model  of  the  Falls  of  Niagara.  An  address  or 
description  of  the  collection  by  Catlin  is  included  on  page 
loi.  This  is  exceedingly  scarce.  I  have  never  seen  another 
copy. 


86  INDIAN-LOVING  CATLIN. 

1844 

Catlin's/  North  American  Indian  Portfolio./  Hunting 
Scenes  and  Amusements  of  the  Rocky  Mountains/  and 
Prairies  of  America./  from  drawings  of  the  wildest  and 
most  remote  tribes  of  savages  in  North  America./  Lon- 
don/ 1844/  PubHshed  by  subscription/  By/  Geo.  Catlin/ 
Egyptian  Hall/. 

Atlas  folio,  8  printed  pages,  25  plates  (18x25  inches). 

The  original  edition  of  this  work  consisted  of  25  plates 
with  8  pages  of  letter  press  descriptive  of  the  plates  as  shown. 
Later  during  the  same  year  the  whole  work  was  reissued 
with  6  additional  plates  or  31  in  all.  No  text  was  included 
in  this  second  printing.  Each  issue  was  made  in  two  ways. 
The  printed  tints  at  five  guineas  and  the  printed  tints  coloured 
at  eight  guineas.  The  art  work  throughout  was  done  at  the 
Lithographic  Press  of  Day  &  Haghe  and  included  those 
pictures  most  admired  in  The  Indian  Gallery  then  being 
exhibited  at  The  Egyptian  Hall.  The  correct  size  of  each 
sheet  is  18x25  inches.  It  is  unquestionably  Catlin's  greatest 
art  work  and  for  purpose  of  proper  collation  I  am  appending 
a  list  of  the  plates  with  the  numbers  which  are  not  in  sequence 
in  the  folio. 

(i)  North  American  Indians;  (2)  Buffalo  Bull;  (3)  Wild 
Horses;  (4)  Catching  the  Wild  Horses;  (5)  Buffalo 
Hunt;  (6)  Buffalo  Hunt;  (7)  Buffalo  Dance;  (8)  Buffalo 
Hunt;  (9)  Wolves  Attacking  Buffalo;  (10)  Buffalo  Hunt; 
(II)  Buffalo  Hunt;  (12)  Buffalo  Hunt;  (13)  Buffalo 
Hunt;  (14)  Snow  Shoe  Dance;  (15)  Buffalo  Hunt;  (16) 
Wounded  Buffalo;  (17)  Dying  Buffalo;  (18)  Bear  Dance; 
(19)  Attacking  the  Grizzly  Bear;  (20)  Antelope  Shoot- 
ing; (21)  Ball  Players;  (22)  Ball  Play  Dance;  (23)  Ball 
Play;  (24)  Archery  of  the  Mandans ;  (25)  Wi-jun-jon; 
(26)  Joc-o-Sot;  (27)  Scalp  Dance;  (28)  Mah-To-Toh- 
Pa;  (29)  War  Dance;  (30)  Buffalo  Hunting;  (31)  Ojib- 
beways. 

Numbers  26  to  31  inclusive  are  the  added  plates. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  plate  No.   10,  The  Buffalo 

Hunt,  is  occasionally  to  be  found  reprinted  in  this  country 

by  Currier  &  Ives.    But  its  rarity  makes  it  a  most  sought  for 

example  and  when  found  it  commands  very  high  prices.     A 


INDIAN-LOVING  CATLIN.  87 

set  of  the  Portfolio  in  good  condition  either  the  25  or  31 
plates  with  the  hand  colouring  brings  at  this  time  from 
$250.00  to  $300.00  in  good  condition.  The  original  binding 
was  of  a  dark  coloured  three-quarter  roan,  with  cloth  or 
board  sides. 

See  the  following  item  (1845)  for  the  rare  American 
edition,  not  so  well  executed  but  bringing  more  money  on 
account  of  its  scarcity. 


1844 

Fourteen/  Ioway  Indians./  Key/  to  their  various  Dances, 
Games,  Ceremonies,  Songs,/  Religion,  Superstitions,  Cos- 
tumes, Weapons,  etc.,  etc.,/  By  Geo.  Catlin./  IV.  S.  John- 
son, "Nassau  Steam  Press",  Nassau  Street/  Soho. 

The  above  is  merely  a  four  page  circular,  or  dodger  evi- 
dently given  out  at  the  door  of  the  Exhibition  rooms :  The 
verso  of  the  cover  is  blank,  the  inside  refers  to  the  Notes  of 
Travel,  etc.,  stating  that  it  was  originally  published  at  two 
pounds  ten  shillings  and  that  it  is  at  this  time  (1844)  reduced 
to  one  pound  ten  shillings.  On  the  front  cover  is  an  illustra- 
tion of  an  Ioway  chief,  evidently  drawn  after  Catlin  but 
poorly  executed.  The  full  title  of  the  Ioway  Indian  pamphlet 
follows. 


1844 

Unparalleled  Exhibition/  The/  Fourteen/  Ioway  In- 
dians/ AND  their/  Interpreter/  just  arrived  from  the 
upper  Missouri,  near/  the  Rocky  Mountains,  North 
America/  "White  Cloud",/  the  head  chief  of  the  tribe,  is 
with  this  interesting  party,  giving  them  that  peculiar  in- 
terest, which/  no  other  party  of  American  Indians  have 
had  in  a/  foreign  country ;  and  they  are  under  the  immedi- 
ate/ charge  of/  G.  H.  C.  Melody,  who  accompanied  them 
from  their  country,/  with  their  favorite  interpreter,/  Jeff- 
rey Dora  way./  Price  six-pence.  London:/  W.  S.  Johnson, 
"Nassau  Steam  Press",  Nassau  Street/  MDCCCXLIV 
(1844). 
i6mo,  28p. 


88  INDIAN-LOVING  CATLIN. 

1845 

Catlin's  North  American  Indian  Portfolio:/  Hunting 
Scenes  and  Amusements/  (of  the  Rocky  Mountains  and 
Prairies  of  America),/  From  Drawings  and  notes  of  the 
author/  Made  during  eight  years'  travel  amongst  48  of 
the  wildest  and  most  remote  tribes  of  savages  of  North 
America./  New  York. :/  James  Ackertnan,  304  Broad- 
way, cor,  Duane  street,/  1845. 
25  col.  plates,  Atlas  folio,  8  p.  text. 

This  is  the  excessively  rare  American  edition  done  only  a 
few  months  after  the  London  printing.  The  publisher 
(Ackerman)  made  the  plea  that  good  color  work  could  be 
done  here  as  well  as  abroad  and  in  this  work  fully  justified 
his  claim.  The  additional  six  plates  were  not  included  in 
this  issue. 


1845 

Catalogue  raisonne/  de/  La  Galerie  Indienne  de  Mr 
Catlin,/  renfermant/  des  portraits,/  des  paysages,  des 
costumes,  etc.,/  et/  des  scenes  de  moeurs  et  coutumes/ 
des/  Indiens  de  I'Amerique  du  Nord./  ********y  collection 
entierement  faite  et  peinte  par  Mr.  Catlin/  pendant  un 
sejour  de  8  ans  parmi  48  tribus  sauvages./  *********/ 
Prix:  50  centimes./  imprimerie  de  Wittersheim,/  Rue 
Montmorency,  8./   1845. 

Octavo,  light  blue  wrappers,  47  p. 

Seldom  found  with  the  wrappers  intact,  as  the  fourth  cover 
has  a  drawing  by  Catlin  of  an  Indian  man  and  woman  and 
the  only  catalogue  issued  by  Catlin  that  contained  any  feature 
of  this  kind  and  it  seems  to  have  been  generally  sought  for 
on  account  of  the  illustration.  It  appears  quite  frequently 
with  this  portion  of  the  cover  lacking. 


1848 

Descriptive  catalogue/  of  /  Catlin's  Indian  Collec- 
tion,/ containing/  portraits,  landscapes,  costumes,  etc.,/ 
and/  representations  of  the  manners  and  customs/  of  the/ 


INDIAN-LOVING  CATLIN.  89 

North  American  Indians./  collected  and  painted  entirely 
by  Mr.  Catlin,  during  eight  years'  travel  amongst/  forty- 
eight  tribes  mostly  speaking  different  languages./********/ 
also/  opinions  of  the  press  in  England,  France,  and  the 
United  States,/  ********/  London :/  published  by  the 
author,/  at  his  Indian  collection.  No.  6,  Waterloo  Place,/ 

>|c:(!Hs*****/      1848 

Octavo,  88  p.,  sewn. 

This  is  the  standard  catalogue  used  by  Catlin  both  in 
England  and  on  the  continent. 

I  possess  three  copies  of  this :  one  presented  by  Catlin  to 
Hon.  John  G.  Palfrey  with  his  compliments ;  one  given  to 
The  Royal  Linnean  (sic)  Society;  and  one  belonging  for- 
merly to  Henry  R.  Schoolcraft  with  his  autograph  on  first 
page. 


1848 

Catlin's  Notes/  of/  eight  years'  travels  and  resi- 
dence; IN  Europe,/  with  his  North  American  Indian 
COLLECTION  :/  with  anecdotes  and  incidents  of  the  travels 
and  adventures  of  three/  different  parties  of  American 
Indians  whom  he  introduced/  to  the  courts  of/  England, 
France  and  Belgium./  In  two  volumes,  octavo./  with 
numerous  illustrations./  New  York  :/  Burgess,  Stringer 
&  Co.,  22  Broadway./    1848. 

Octavo,  Volume  I,  253  p..  Volume  II,  277  p. 

This  is  the  first  issue  of  this  work.  Published  in  London 
in  the  same  year  and  in  four  separate  editions.  Also  pub- 
lished in  1852  under  a  different  title  with  practically  the  same 
content  as  Adventures,  etc.,  q.  v. 


1848 

Catlin's  Notes/  of/  eight  years'  travels  and  resi- 
dence/ IN  Europe,/  with  his  North  American  In- 
dian Collection./  with/  anecdotes  and  incidents  of  the 
travels  and  adventures  of/  three  different  parties  of  Amer- 
ican Indians  whom  he/  introduced  to  the  courts  of/  Eng- 


90  INDIAN-LOVING  CATLIN, 

land,  France,  and  Belgium./  in  two  volumes,  octavo./ 
vol.  I./  (vol.  II.)  with  numerous  illustrations./  London:/ 
Published  by  the  author,/  at  his  Indian  Collection,  No.  6, 
Waterloo  Place./  ******/    1848. 

Octavo,  Volume  I.  296  p..  Volume  II.  325  p.  and  appen- 
dices A.  and  B.  Printed  in  London  by  William  Clowes 
and  Sons. 

Original  binding  was  cloth  with  designs  in  blind  tool  except 
on  front  cover  of  each  volume  where  the  design  in  gold  is  of 
the  author  and  an  Indian  chief  shaking  hands.  The  binding 
of  the  editions  was  done  by  Bone  &  Son,  16  Fleet  street, 
London. 

There  are  twenty-four  plates  in  outline  through  the  two 
volumes,  numbered  consecutively,  including  a  portrait  in 
woodcut  by  W.  J.  Linton  of  George  Catlin. 


1848 

Die  Indianer  Nord-Amerikas/  und  die  wahrend  eines 
achtjahrigen  Aufenthalts  unter  den  wildesten  Stammen/ 
erlebten  Abenteuer/  und  Schicksale  von/  G.  Catlin/  nach 
der  fiinften  englischen  Ausgabe/  deutsch  herausgegeben 
von  Dr.  H.  Berghaus/  Brussel  und  Leipzig/  1848./ 

Royal  octavo,  10  preliminary  p.,  382  p.  text,  24  fine  col- 
oured plates. 

Second  edition    (without  change),   Brussel,   Muquardt, 
1851. 

This  original  German  edition  has  notes  by  the  translator 
and  is  considered  by  some  to  be  the  finest  of  all  the  colored 
plate  issues. 

A  new  edition  of  this  book  was  issued  in  Berlin  in  1924 
with  a  foreword  by  Adolph  Sommerfeld,  dated  October  of 
that  year.  The  title  page  is  practically  the  same  and  the 
number  of  plates  in  color  also  identical,  though  very  inferior 
in  quality. 

A  copy  of  the  original,  mentioned  above,  sold  in  New  York 
in  March,  1927,  for  $37.50.  My  own  copy  of  this  book  was 
in  the  original  loose  boards  with  ties  to  hold  the  plates  in 
place.     This  was  at  the  time  a  not  uncommon  method  of 


INDIAN-LOVING  CATLIN.  9I 

making  German  books,  the  idea  being  to  rebind  according  to 
the  manner  desired  as  later  and  even  today  is  in  vogue  in 
France. 


1848 

Catlin's/  Notes/  for  the/  Emigrant  to  America./ 
London :/  Published  by  the  Author,  at  his  Indian  collec- 
tion, 6,  Waterloo/  Place,  Pall  Mall :  and  to  be  had  of  all 
booksellers,/  *********/    jg^g_ 

Octavo,  15  p. 

On  verso  of  title  is  printer's  name,  G.  Smallfield,  Mercury 
office  Leicester,  and  the  printer's  name  appears  again  at  bot- 
tom of  page  15. 

Signed  with  the  date  by  Catlin  from  No.  6  Waterloo  Place. 
He  states  that  he  is  about  to  leave  for  the  U.  S.  western 
borders  and  solicits  correspondence  with  contemplating  emi- 
grants. The  work  deals  with  (i)  General  Notes,  (2)  Routes, 
(3)  Routes  from  New  York  City  to  the  Far  West,  (4) 
Where  to  go,  (5)  Public  Lands,  (6)  Public  Schools,  (7) 
Titles  to  Lands,  (8)  Naturalization  and  Elective  Franchise, 
(9)  Protection  to  Emigrants,  (10)  Texas,  (11)  Flower  of 
the  Texas  Prairies.  This  is  a  very  rare  item.  I  have  never 
seen  a  copy  for  sale.  My  data  and  collation  are  from  the  one 
in  the  British  Museum  which  I  have  examined  most  care- 
fully.   Not  in  Raines  Bibliography  of  Texas. 


1852 

Noble  deeds/  and/  brilliant  exploits/  of/  Heroes  of 
ALL  ages  and  Nations./  selected  as/  examples  for  the 
emulation  of  youth./  *******/  With  numerous  illustra- 
tions,/ ******/  Philadelphia:/  Willis  P.  Hazard,  178, 
Chestnut  Street./  1852. 
Octavo,  252  p. 

Page  122  reproduces  from  Illustrations  and  Manners  the 
plate  showing  "Mr.  Catlin  painting  the  portraits  of  the  In- 
dian Chiefs,"  pages  123-26  contain  a  sketch  of  the  life  of 
Catlin  which  is,  as  far  as  I  can  ascertain,  the  first  printed 
account  of  the  man  and  his  work  by  anyone  aside  from  him- 


92  INDIAN-LOVING  CATLIN. 

self  as  given  in  the  foreword  of  his  various  books.  The  book 
has  no  literary  value  and  is  important  only  because  of  the 
above  features.  

1852 

Adventures/  of  the/  Ojibbeway  and  Ioway  Indians/ 
in/  England,  France  and  Belgium  :/  being  notes  of 
eight/  years  travel  and  residence  in  Europe/  with  his 
North  American  Indian  collection,/  By  Geo.  Catlin./  in 
two  volumes./  Vol.1./  (Vol.  II.)  with  numerous  engrav- 
ings./ Third  edition./  London :/  Published  by  the  author 
at  his  Indian  collection,  No.  6,  Waterloo  Place./    1852. 

This  is  the  same  as  Notes  of  Eight  Years'  Travels,  etc., 
first  published  in  1848. 


1860 

Letters  and  Notes/  on  the/  Manners,  Customs,  and 
Condition/  of  the/  North  American  Indians,/  writ- 
ten during  eight  years'  travel  amongst  the  wildest/  tribes 
of  Indians  in  North  America./  vignette  of  Indian  holding 
spear/  By  Geo.  Catlin./  two  volumes  in  one/  With  one 
hundred  and  fifty  illustrations  on  steel  and  wood./  Phila- 
delphia :/  /.  W.  Bradley,  48,  North  Fourth  Street/  i860. 
792  pages  which  include  Appendix  labelled  C. 

This  issue  should  contain  sixteen  pages  of  publisher's  ad- 
vertisements at  the  end  of  the  text. 

The  majority  of  the  illustrations  are  poor  imitations  of 
Catlin's  work  and  none  of  the  steel  plates  are  after  Catlin 
but  for  the  most  part  copied  from  the  work  of  Karl  Bodmer. 


1860 

Steam  Raft./  *******/  suggested  as  a  means  of  security  to 
human/  life  upon  the  ocean./  *******/  gy/  Qqq  Catlin,/ 
author  of  "Notes  of  Travels  amongst  the  North  American 
Indians,"/  etc.,  etc.,  *******y  Manchester :/  Printed  and 
published  by  George  Falkner,  King  Street./    i860. 

Octavo,   16  p.,  2  folded  printed  diagrams  of  the  raft. 

Printers'  advertisement  at  bottom  of  last  page. 


INDIAN-LOVING  CATLIN.  93 

The  introductory  remarks,  pages  3-4.  are  by  Joseph  Ads- 
head  of  Manchester  who  also  stood  for  the  expense  of  print- 
ing. The  work  is  signed  by  Geo.  CatHn,  Rio  Grande,  Brazil, 
November  12,  1859.  It  is  the  scarcest  and  rarest  of  all 
Catlin  items.  A  copy  was  offered  in  London  in  February  of 
the  present  year  (1929)  for  $50.00. 

This  shows  the  wonderful  advance  in  prices  within  the  last 
decade.  A  copy  was  offered  to  me  in  March,  191 3,  by  Henry 
Gray  (since  deceased)  of  London  for  2/6.  I  might  add  that 
the  last  figure  is  nearer  to  the  actual  value  of  the  booklet. 
It  is  more  a  curiosity  than  otherwise,  the  literary  and  scientific 
value  being  nil. 


1861 

Life/  amongst/  the  Indians./  (drawing  of  medicine 
man)/  By  George  Catlin,/  author  of  Notes  of  Travels 
amongst  the  North  American  Indians  etc.,  etc.,/  London: 
Sampson  Low,  Son  &■  Co.,  4y  LudgateHiW./  1861./  (The 
right  of  translation  is  reserved). 

i2mo,  360  p.,  front.,  12  plates  printed  on  tint  blocks. 

The  first  edition  of  this  book  is  in  dark  green  cloth  with 
design  in  gold  on  front  cover  and  backbone.  The  title  is  in 
gold  on  back  only.  There  are  16  pages  of  Sampson  Low 
advertisements  at  the  end  of  the  text  dated  Oct.,  1861.  It 
was  reissued  at  various  times  without  change  of  text  but  can 
be  determined  as  to  time  by  the  dates  of  the  advertisements. 
The  original  published  price  was  five  shillings. 

It  was  reprinted  in  this  country  by  Appleton  in  1867,  with 
339  pages  following  the  later  English  editions  as  to  number 
of  pages. 


1863 

La  vie/  CHEZ  LEs  Indiens/  scenes  et  aventures  de  voyage/ 
parmi  les  tribus/  des  deux  Ameriques/  ouvrage  ecrit  pour 
la  jeunesse/  par  G.  Catlin/  traduit  et  annote/  par  F.  de 
Lanoye/  Et  illustre  de  25  gravures  sur  bois/  ********y' 
Paris/  Librairie  de  L.  Ha  chef  te  et  cie/  Boulevard  Saint- 
Germain,  No.  yy/  *******/  1863/  Droit  de  traduction 
reserve. 


94  INDIAN-LOVING  CATLIN. 

i2mo,  379  p.,  appendices  a,  b,  c,  d,  and  index  2  p. 

This  first  edition  was  printed  by  Ch.  Lahure  et  cie  and 
bound  in  flexible  red  cloth  with  gold  design  on  front  cover, 
title  on  backbone  and  also  on  front  cover,  within  scroll,  all 
edges  are  gilt.  There  is  a  short  sketch  of  Catlin  occupying 
two  pages  by  the  translator  Ferdinand  de  Lanoye.  Has  five 
lines  of  errata  on  page  392.  There  are  24  woodcuts  through 
the  text. 

I  have  seen  a  reference  to  a  second  edition,  Paris  1866  in 
i8mo,  said  to  contain  396  pages.  Sabin  notes  this  but  I  have 
never  had  it. 


1864 

The/  Breath  of  Life/  ********y  qr/  Mal-Respiration./ 
and  its/  eflfects  upon  the  enjoyments  &  life  of  man,/ 
*******/  By  Geo.  Catlin./  Author  of  "Notes  of  Travel 
amongst  the  North  Amer.  Indians."/  etc.,  etc.,  etc.,/ 
********/  John  Wiley,  New  York,/    1864. 

Also  published  under  title :  Shut  your  Mouth.    By  George 
Catlin.  With  26  illustrations  from  drawings  by  the  author. 
London,  N.  Triibncr  &  Co.,  1869.    (All  rights  reserved). 
i2mo,  92  p. 
A  treatise  on  respiration,  with  precepts  derived  from  the 
practice  and  habits  of  the  Indians. 

Octavo,  printed  board  covers,  76  p.,  Appendix  i  p. 

The  preface  of  three  lines  is  on  the  verso  of  the  title.  The 
little  book  was  entered  for  copyright  in  1861  by  John  Wiley 
and  printed  and  stereotyped  by  R.  CraigJiead,  81  Centre 
street.  New  York.  The  Appendix  by  the  author  is  dated 
i860,  from  Rio  Grande,  Brazil.  English  editions  up  to  the 
8th  were  done  in  London  by  Triibner  &  Co.  until  as  late  as 
1878,  and  wholly  reprinted  in  London  by  Ballantyne  & 
Hanson  with  entirely  different  pagination.  Leo  Kofler,  in 
The  Art  of  Breathing,  London,  1902,  refers  to  "Shut  your 
Mouth",  saying  it  is  of  the  highest  authority.  I  have  seen 
references  to  an  edition  of  1865  said  to  have  been  printed 
and  published  in  New  York  but  the  book  has  never  come 
under  my  observation.  I  have  also  seen  an  edition  printed  in 
manuograph,  but  have  no  record  of  it.  Any  of  the  regular 
editions  sell  usually  for  about  three  or  four  dollars. 


INDIAN-LOVING  CATLIN.  95 

1865 

An/  account  of  an  annual  religious  ceremony/  prac- 
ticed   BY    THE    MaNDAN    TRIBE/    OF    NORTH    AMERICAN 

Indians/   London/    1865. 

Quarto,  8  p. 

I  have  somewhere  seen  the  statement  that  only  fifty  copies 
of  this  pamphlet  were  printed.  There  is  no  author's  name  on 
the  title  page.  It  was  reprinted  in  Germany  in  191 3,  with- 
out place,  date  or  publisher.  My  copy  is  from  that  issue. 
My  own  conviction  is  that  Catlin  wrote  it  as  the  style  is  his 
in  almost  every  detail.  In  Sabin's  Dictionary  there  is  an 
interesting  note  concerning  the  suppression  of  the  item  (No. 
1 1 528).  Another  point  regarding  Catlin 's  authorship  is  this  : 
In  The  Bibliographical  and  Historical  Miscellanies  published 
by  The  Philobiblon  Society  (London,  1854-1884),  there  is 
included  in  volume  xii.  for  1866,  George  Catlin's  Account  of 
an  annual  religious  ceremony  practiced  by  the  Mandan  tribe 
of  North  American  Indians,  67  pages.  This  differs  very 
slightly  from  the  above  mentioned  item  though  the  obscenities 
are  if  possible  slightly  modified.  It  is  my  opinion  that  some- 
one reprinted  this  and  made  it  purposely  worse  than  it  should 
be,  hence  Catlin's  ire. 


1865 

The/  Indians  of  North  America./  (small  design)/  Lon- 
don:/   The  Religious  Tract  Society;  Established   1799./ 
Depository,    56.    Paternoster   Row,   and   65    Saint    Paul's 
Churchyard ;/  sold  by  the  booksellers./ 
i6mo,  296  p. 

An  anonymous  juvenile  book  without  date,  circa  1865,  re- 
produces many  of  Catlin's  illustrations,  notably  the  various 
Indian  dances  and  also  the  interior  of  a  Mandan  Indian 
mystery  lodge.  By  clever  rearrangement  it  produces  Catlin's 
descriptions  word  for  word  but  without  giving  any  credit. 


1867 
O-kee-pa  :/   A  religious  ceremony ;/  and  other  customs/  of 
the  Mandans./    By/  George  Catlin./    With  thirteen  col- 
oured illustrations./  London :/  Triibncr  and  Co.,  60  Pater- 
noster Row./   1867./   All  rights  reserved. 


96  INDIAN-LOVING  CATLIN. 

Tall  octavo,  52  p. 

Published  in  America  in  the  same  year  and  from  the  same 
sheets  and  plates  in  colour  by  J.  B.  Lippincott  &  Co. 

This  book  was  written  by  Catlin  to  refute  the  statement 
which  had  been  made  that  he  had  earlier  issued  a  pamphlet 
regarding  a  religious  ceremony  of  the  most  obscene  and 
erotic  nature  as  practised  among  the  Mandans.    See  item  1865. 


1868 

Last  Rambles  Amongst/  the  Indians  of  the  Rocky/ 
Mountains  and  the/  Andes/  By  George  Catlin,/ 
author  of  "Life  Amongst  the  Indians,"  etc.,  etc.,/ 
(printer's  device)/  London:/  Sampson  Low,  Son  and 
MarstonJ  Milton  House,  Ludgate  Hill./  1868.  (The 
right  of  translation  reserved)/ 
i2mo,  361  p.,  front.,  16  illus. 

This  book  in  the  first  edition  was  published  in  January, 
1868.  Some  copies  carry  the  October,  1867,  advertisements 
at  the  end  of  the  text.  It  should  be  bound  in  blue  cloth  with 
gold  design  on  front  cover  and  title  on  back  bone.  Title  in 
gold  on  back  only.  The  true  first  edition  has  a  page  of 
errata  following  the  list  of  illustrations.  It  is  one  of  the  best 
of  Catlin's  lesser  works.     Value  about  $5.00. 


1870 

The/  lifted  and  subsided/  rocks  of  America/  with  their 
influence  on  the/  oceanic,  atmospheric,  and/  land  cur- 
rents,/ and  the/  distribution  of  races./  By/  Geo.  Cat- 
lin:/  Triihner  &  Co.,  60  Paternoster  Row./  1870./  (All 
rights  reserved.)/ 

i2mo,  xii-f-228  p.,  I  map. 

Catlin's  last  publication.  The  work  in  no  way  enhanced 
his  reputation  and  might  better  have  been  left  unpublished  as 
the  theories  he  advanced  were  neither  scientific  nor  sound. 


1871 

North  and  South  American  Indians./**********/  Cat- 
alogue/ descriptive  and  instructive/  of/  Catlin's  Indian 
Cartoons./  ********/  portraits,  types,  and  customs./    600 


INDIAN-LOVING  CATLIN.  97 

paintings  in  oil,/  with/  20,000  full  length  figures/  illus- 
trating their  various  games,  religious  ceremonies,  and  other 
customs./  and/  t.'j  canvas  paintings/  of/  LaSalle's  dis- 
coveries./***********/ New  York :/  Baker  &  Godwin, 
Printers,/  Printing  House  Square./  1871. 

Octavo,  blue  printed  wrappers.  85  p.,  i  blank  page.  Ap- 
pendices a,  b,  c.  to  page  99. 

From  the  standpoint  of  notes  this  is  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant of  Catlin's  Catalogues. 


1880 

Life/  among/  the  Indians/  By/  George  Catlin :/  (draw- 
ing of  Indian  Medicine  Man)/  London:  Gall  and  Inglis, 
25  Paternoster  Square ;/  and  Edinburgh./ 
Octavo,  351  p. 

An  entire  resetting  of  the  original  edition,  poorly  produced 
and  with  but  eleven  instead  of  twelve  plates.  My  copy  is 
coloured  throughout  but  I  believe  the  edition  was  also  done 
plain  though  I  have  never  seen  it  so.  Apparently  the  popu- 
larity of  this  book  demanded  this  reissue,  but  it  is  very  poorly 
done  and  would  certainly  not  have  been  sanctioned  by  Catlin 
if  published  during  his  Hfe-time.  No  date  is  to  be  found  on 
the  book  but  it  was  circa  1880. 


1909 

The  Boy's  Catlin/  My  life  amongst  the  Indians/  By/ 
George  Catlin/  Edited  with  biographical  sketch  by/ 
Mary  Gay  Humphreys/  with  sixteen  illustrations  from 
the/  author's  original  drawings/  New  York/  Charles 
Scrihner's  Sons/  1909./ 
Octavo,  375  p. 

A  good  elementary  survey  of  Catlin's  life  and  work  but  of 
no  literary  or  ethnological  value. 


NON-MARINE    SHELLS    OF    UPPER    CARBON- 
IFEROUS ROCKS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 
By  John  H.  Davies,  M.  E.,  F.  G.  S. 


During  recent  years  much  work  has  been  done  on  the 
non-marine  shells  of  the  genera  Carhonicola,  Anthracomya, 
and  Naiadites,  in  Great  Britain  and  other  parts  of  Europe. 
Wheelton  Hind*  made  a  comprehensive  study  of  these 
genera  and  his  monographs  include  a  critical  bibliography  and 
detailed  descriptions  accompanied  by  numerous  plates.  He 
made  important  advances  in  the  systematic  classification  of 
the  shells  and  proved  their  value  for  identifying  and  corre- 
lating coal  seams  as  well  as  zoning  the  Coal  Measures,  parti- 
cularly in  Staffordshire.  In  France,  Prof.  Pruvost  has  been 
successful  in  the  use  of  the  non-marine  lamellibranchs  for  the 
correlation  of  the  Coal  Measures. 

Davies  and  Trueman  (1927)^  have  found  it  necessary  to 
have  a  more  refined  nomenclature  than  that  previously  used 
in  order  to  make  more  accurate  subdivisions  of  the  Coal 
Measures  of  Great  Britain.  Certain  specific  names  used  in 
a  wide  sense  by  Hind,  Pruvost,  and  others  have  been  re- 
stricted, and  many  new  species  have  been  described.  By 
means  of  detailed  studies  of  the  non-marine  lamellibranchs 
six  zones  have  been  established  which  are  as  follows : 


SERIES. 

ZONES. 

Upper  Coal  Measures. 

6.  Anthracomya  tenuis. 
5.  Anthracomya  phillipsii. 

i  4.  Anthracomya  pulchra. 

Middle  Coal  Measures. 

<  3.  Carhonicola  similis. 

(  2.  Anthracomya  modiolaris. 

Part     of     Middle     Coal 

I.  Carhonicola  ovalis. 

Measures,  Lower  Coal 
Measures  and  Millstone 
Grit. 

Not  only  have  these  shells  made  it  possible  to  zone  the  Coal 


NON-MARINE  SHELLS. 


99 


Measures  of  Great  Britain,  but  a  detailed  study  of  them  in 
certain  districts  over  small  areas  has  proved  of  great  value 
in  the  economic  mining  of  coal  seams,  especially  in  disturbed 
and  faulted  areas. 

In  the  course  of  this  recent  work  in  Britain  it  has  proved 
useful  to  make  studies  of  the  dimensions  and  variability  of 
the  specimens  at  successive  horizons.  It  is  usual  to  measure 
the  greatest  length,  L,   (Fig.  i.),  parallel  to  the  hinge  line, 


Fig.   I. 

and  express  the  greatest  height,  H,  perpendicular  to  the 
hinge  line,  and  the  greatest  thickness,  T,  and  length  of  an- 
terior end.  A,  as  percentages  of  the  length.  Angles  between 
the  hinge  line  and  keel,  and  between  the  upper  posterior 
border  and  the  hinge  line,  are  called  a  and  /?,  respectively. 
The  range  of  the  variation  at  any  horizon  has  been  found 
to  be  characteristic  of  the  horizon  over  a  wide  area.  (Davies 
and  Trueman,  1927).- 

The  generic  names  Carbonicola,  Anthracomya,  and  Naia- 
dites  distinguish  three  forms.  Carbonicola  is  the  name  ap- 
plied to  shells  with  the  umbo  some  distance  from  the  anterior 
end ;  the  posterior  end  of  Anthracomya  is  expanded,  and  the 
umbo  is  nearer  the  anterior  end.  Naiadites  has  the  umbo  at 
or  near  the  extreme  end  (Fig.  2). 

u  K 


Fig.  2. 


100  NON-MARINE  SHELLS. 

Little  appears  to  have  been  done  in  the  United  States  of 
America  on  the  non-marine  lameUibranchs  of  the  Coal 
Measures.  This  may  be  due  to  the  workings  of  thick  coal 
beds  which  do  not  require  the  ripping  of  the  roof,  where  most 
of  the  shells  are  usually  found.  Dawson's  pioneer  work^  on 
the  shells  from  the  Coal  Measures  of  Canada  and  Nova 
Scotia  is  discussed  by  Wheelton  Hind.  Figures  named 
Naiadites  elongata  and  Naiadites  laevis  reproduced  on  plate 
2,  figures  1 6  and  17,  by  G.  A.  White"  are  species  of  Anthra- 
comya  as  the  umbones  are  some  distance  from  the  anterior 
end.  Fig.  15  represents  Naiadites  carbonaria,  (Dawson). 
No  attempt  is  made  to  give  a  detailed  bibliography  of  Amer- 
ican non-marine  lameUibranchs. 

Prof.  P.  Pruvost  (1913)^  collected  specimens  from  the 
roofs  of  the  veins  in  the  Coal  Measures  of  Canada,  but  found 
no  marine  bands.  He  found  Leaia  and  Anthracomya  in  blue 
and  red  shales,  and  Carbonia  and  Estheria  are  recorded.  The 
Canadian  basins  reminded  him  of  the  Upper  Carboniferous 
of  England.  Naiadites  carbonaria  was  considered  by  him 
to  be  the  equivalent  of  Naiadites  modiolaris. 

Prof.  P.  E.  Raymond*^  records  "a  thin-bedded  black  shale, 
with  great  numbers  of  specimens  of  Carbonicola  and  Spiror- 
bis"  from  a  section  at  Jeannette,  Pa.  In  a  higher  horizon  he 
found  Estheria  and  Leaia  tricarinata. 

In  both  Riversdale  and  Parrsboro  formation  of  the  Rivers- 
dale  series  of  Canada,  W.  A.  BelP  records  species  of  Leaia 
and  Anthracomya  together  with  a  naiaditiform  Anthracomya. 

In  the  course  of  a  recent  visit  to  America  the  writer  had 
an  opportunity  of  examining  the  shells  preserved  in  various 
museums  and  of  collecting  specimens  in  collieries.  It  appears 
from  his  observations  that  the  shells  are  well  represented  in 
North  America  and  that  often  they  are  of  species  comparable 
with  those  found  in  Europe.  The  following  non-marine 
lameUibranchs  which  are  in  the  collection  of  the  United 
States  Geological  Survey,  Department  of  Interior,  Washing- 
ton, D.  C,  may  be  recorded : 


NON-MARINE  SHELLS.  lOI 

Anthracomya  sp.  (No.  2789).  Some  of  the  shells  had 
their  valves  open  and  looked  somewhat  like  Carbonicola 
aquilina,  but  the  hinge  is  long  and  the  anterior  end  is  short. 
A  large  number  of  small  specimens  are  preserved  on  the 
same  shale.  Growth  lines  are  faint.  One  specimen  is  un- 
doubtedly Anthracomya.    Horizon  :  Conemaugh  Higher. 

Naiadites  has  been  collected  from  many  coal  fields.  No. 
713,  is  a  crushed  elongate  Naiadites  sp.  on  a  soft  greyish 
mudstone.  Crushed  Naiadites  sp.  (Nos.  1124)  are  often 
pyritised  and  shine  on  this  fissile  shale.  Many  of  these  have 
a  wrinkled  periostracum  and  some  are  associated  with  Cor- 
daites.  Nos.  1143  are  broken  specimens  of  Naiadites  on  a 
fissile  shale  which  contained  plant  remains.  Specimens  num- 
bered 1 147  are  similar  to  Nos,  1124.  Locality:  Lime  Creek, 
South  Fork,  Sewell  Coal,  New  River  Group;  Pottsville 
Series. 

Shells  No.  893  are  crushed  Carbonicola  sp,  with  prominent 
growth  lines.  On  a  bronze  colour  mudstone  there  is  an 
Anthracomya  sp.     Locality  705. 

Shells  No.  2177  Anthracomya  sp.  Horizon:  Upper  Potts- 
ville, Tennessee. 

Nos.  698  Naiadites  sp.  crushed.  Naiadites  cf.  quadrata 
with  Spirorhis.;  faint  growth  lines.  Horizon :  Top  of  Lower 
Pottsville  Series. 

Nos.  698  (with  No.  40  and  No.  41  named  Anthracomya 
lineata),  are  Naiadites.  The  umbo  is  at  the  extreme  upper 
anterior  margin.    Horizon :    Near  top  of  Lower  Pottsville. 

No.  827  marked  "Naiadites"  may  be  an  Anthracomya  with 
a  small  round  keel.  Left  valve  only  is  shown ;  faint  growth 
lines.    Plant  life  on  same  rock. 

Its  formula  is  15;  60;  — ;  26;  30. 

No.  673  crushed  specimens  of  Naiadites  cf.  elongata.  On 
a  thin  film  of  Naiadites  there  is  Spirorhis.  Horizon :  Mid. 
Potts.  Loc. :    Tennessee.     Brickville. 

No,  2338  is  a  small  but  very  good  elongate  specimen  of 


I02 


NON-MARINE  SHELLS. 


Naiadites.  12;  37;  12.  Length  of  hinge  Hne  from  anterior 
end  is  7  mm.     Hor. :  Mid.  Potts.     Locahty :   Tennessee. 

No.  2163  Crushed  Naiadites  sp.  Hor. :  Mid.  Potts.  Lo- 
cation, Tennessee. 

Specimens  No.  2394  are  poor  crushed  Naiadites. 

No,  820  Naiadites  sp.    Locahty,  Virginia. 

No.  2394  poor  specimens  of  crushed  Naiadites  sp.  Hori- 
zon, Upper  Potts.    Location,  probably  Kentucky, 

Green  Label  No.  2964  equals  No.  121 5  crushed  Naiadites 
sp.  on  dark  hard  sandy  mudstone.  Growth  lines  are  distinct 
and  shells  shiny.  Horizon:  Mid.  Potts,  Sewell,  Locality, 
West.  Va. 

No.  2150  very  small  crushed  Naiadites  sp.  with  wrinkled 
periostracum.     Horizon:  Mid.  Potts.     Locality,  West  Va. 

No.  706  Old  label  61  Small  Naiadites  sp,  9,5;  58;  — , 

No.  706  Old  label  No.  20.  Elongate  Naiadites  sp.  24; 
48;-;  (Fig.  3). 

No.  3615  Large  number  of  crushed  and  broken  Naiadites 
sp.  Hor. :  Allegheny.    Locality,  Va, 


Fig.  ^.t  Fiff  ^  i,  Fig.  -5,    H  Fig.  IS.  3 

No.  1 146  Crushed  Naiadites  cf.  elongata  on  dark  fissile 
shale.    Hor, :  Pottsville, 

No,  903  Impression  of  Carhonicola  cf,  aquilina?  30; 
40;  — ;  23,3.  Very  faint  growth  Hnes.  Another  compressed 
specimen  with  upper  posterior  end  broken.  33 ;  51.5  ;  — ;  21. 
These  are  like  crushed  Carhonicola  communis.  Hor.  and 
locality,  Dorrance  Shaft,  Wilkes-Barre,  Pa. 

No.  5390  Casts  of  Carhonicola  something  similar  in  shape 
to  Carhonicola  nitida  (Davies  and  Trueman)  but  the  small 
specimens  show  growth  lines  different  from  Carhonicola. 
Locality,  Alabama,  Penn. 


NON-MARINE  SHELLS.  IO3 

No.  719  (28  and  29)  thin  film  of  Naiadites  sp. 
No.  2756  Small  Naiadites  sp.  Hor:  Allegheny?  Loc,  W. 
Va. 

No.  2771  (Nos.  II  and  12)  Elongate  forms  of  crushed 
Naiadites  sp.    Hor. :  Upper  Potts.    Locality,  W.  Va. 

No.  708  (21)  Crushed  elongate  Naiadites  sp.  on  a  dark 
fissile  shale.  28;  42;  — .  The  length  of  hinge  line  from 
anterior  end  is  20  mm.  Hor. :  Upper  Potts.  Locality, 
W.  Va.  There  were  higher  forms.  (Fig.  4). 
Nos.  2130,  2169  (18)  Naiadites  cf.  elongata. 
No.  2585  (52)  Naiadites  cf.  elongata.  Hor.:  Up.  Potts. 
Locality,  W.  Va. 

No.  703  (27)  Naiadites  sp.  Hor. :  Lower  Potts,  Lo- 
cality, W.  Va. 

The  following  is  a  summary  of  the  series,  shells,  and  lo- 
calities of  the  Non-Marine  fossils  of  the  Upper  Carboni- 
ferous rocks.  United  States  of  America : 

3.  Conemaugh.  Anthracomya  sp.  and  Carbonicola  cf. 
aquilina. 

2.  Allegheny?  Large  number  of  crushed  and  broken 
Naiadites  sp.  in  Virginia. 

'  Upper  Pottsville.  Crushed  Naiadites  cf.  elongata 
with  distinct  growth-lines  are  common  in  West  Vir- 
ginia.   Crushed  Naiadites  in  Kentucky, 

Middle  Pottsville.  Naiadites  sp,  in  Virginia  and 
Tennessee ;  Naiadites  cf .  elongata  with  Spirorbis  in 
Tennessee, 

Lower  Pottsville.     Naiadites  sp.     West  Virginia. 
The  shells  are  often  pyritised  and  shiny,   many  having 
wrinkled  periostracum.     Some  are  associated  with  cordaites. 
jft     *     *     *     * 

In  the  collection  of  the  United  States  Geological  Survey 
there  was  a  slab  crowded  with  Naiadites  carhonaria,  (Daw- 
son) from  South  Joggins,  Nova  Scotia,  The  left  valve  of 
one  shell  (Fig.  5)  gives  the  following  formula:  25;  60; 
?5o;   ii;=46°.     The  umbo  is  a  short  distance  from  the 


104 


NON-MARINE  SHELLS. 


anterior  end.  The  keel  is  not  sharp.  Growth  lines  are  faint, 
but  clear.  The  right  valve  is  not  preserved  so  the  thickness 
in  the  above  formula  is  taken  as  twice  that  of  the  left  valve. 

The  following  specimens  are  in  the  Wyoming  Historical 
and  Geological  Society  Museum,  Wilkes-Barre,  Pa. : 

Fig.  6  shows  the  left  valve  and  the  umbo  of  the  right  valve 
of  a  stout  Carbonicola  sp.  The  growth  lines  are  very  faint 
and  umbones  are  not  contiguous.  Anterior  end  short, 
rounded  and  swollen;  posterior  end  produced  and  com- 
pressed, 31;  58;  —;  39- 

Fig.  7  represents  the  right  valve  of  Carbonicola  sp.  It  is 
almost  flat  on  mudstone.  The  posterior  end  is  high  and 
tends  to  resemble  that  of  Anthracomya,  but  the  anterior  end 
is  long.  The  umbones  are  raised  above  the  hinge  line  and 
the  greatest  height  is  from  the  umbones  to  the  lower  margin. 
Growth  lines  distinct,  anterior  and  posterior  margins  con- 
vex.   24;  50;  — ;  42. 

Fig  8  shows  two  flat  valves  of  Carbonicola  sp.  which  in 


NON-MARINE  SHELLS,  IO5 

general  form  resembles  Carhonicola  ovalis  but  may  not  be 
related  to  that  species.  The  posterior  inferior  margin  of 
the  right  valve  is  broken.  Shell  is  ovate,  flattened  and  com- 
pressed. Growth  lines  distinct.  Dimensions  of  left  valve, 
32;  40.6;  — ;  25.    This  shell  tends  towards  Anthracomya. 

A  specimen  recorded  as  Anthracomya  sp.  is  shown  in 
Fig.  9.  It  is  a  left  valve  of  a  shell  which  is  transversely 
oblong,  with  upper  and  lower  margins  almost  parallel,  but 
slightly  convex.  The  umbones  are  hardly  raised  above  the 
hinge  line  and  are  situated  a  little  over  a  third  of  the  length 
from  anterior  end.  Greatest  height  is  a  little  behind  umbo. 
28;  50;  — ;  35.7    The  growth  lines  are  distinct. 

Another  specimen  (Fig.  lo)  shows  the  left  valve  of  an 
Anthracomya  with  the  impression  of  another  valve.  They 
are  marked  by  coarse  growth  lines.  24;  58;  — ;  33.  In 
form  this  shell  resembles  Anthracomya  ruhida,  but  it  is 
probably  a  distinct  species. 

Crushed  specimens  of  Anthracomya  were  collected  on  the 
rubbish  heaps  of  the  Lehigh  &  Wilkes-Barre  Coal  Company 
collieries,  Wilkes-Barre.  As  the  materials  of  the  tip  came 
from  the  roof  of  several  coal  seams  the  exact  horizon  is  not 
known.  An  elongate  form  of  Anthracomya  sp.  is  shown  in 
Fig.  II.  It  gives  the  following  formula:  17;  35;  — ;  12. 
It  resembles  Anthracomya  lanceolata,  (Hind),  but  the  an- 
terior end  is  not  so  low  and  short.  The  recurving  of  the 
growth  lines  on  the  posterior  end,  and  the  percentage  height 
are  similar.  Thickness  cannot  be  measured.  (These  speci- 
men's are  in  the  writer's  collection). 

In  conclusion,  it  may  be  noted  that  while  fossils  of  the 
non-marine  shells  are  apparently  less  abundant  in  the  Upper 
Carboniferous  of  North  America  than  in  parts  of  Europe, 
they  nevertheless  are  fairly  widely  distributed.  It  may  be 
suggested  that  a  detailed  study  of  their  distribution  would 
be  of  value  in  the  identification  and  correlation  of  the  coal 
beds,  and  the  zoning  of  the  rocks. 


I06  NON-MARINE  SHELLS, 

It  is  a  pleasant  duty  to  acknowledge  my  indebtedness  to 
Mr.  T.  H.  Williams,  Mr.  George  Williams,  Edwardsville, 
and  Mr.  John  D.  Joseph,  Wilkes-Barre,  for  conducting  me 
through  the  mines  and  aiding  me  in  the  collection  of  speci- 
mens on  the  rubbish  tips.  Miss  Frances  Dorrance,  Director 
of  Wyoming  Historical  and  Geological  Society,  kindly  lent 
me  four  specimens  from  the  Museum;  while  to  Dr.  G.  H. 
Girty,  Washington,  D.  C.,  I  am  indebted  for  providing  every 
facility  to  study  specimens  collected  by  the  United  States 
Geological  Survey,  and  also  for  some  fossils  which  he  gave 
me.  To  Dr.  A.  E.  Trueman,  Swansea,  my  thanks  are  due 
for  helpful  suggestions  in  the  preparation  of  the  paper. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

1.  Bell,  W.  A.  (May,  1927),  Trans.  Roy.  Soc,  Canada, 
Sect.  4. 

2.  Davies,  J.  H.,  and  Trueman,  A.  E.  (1927),  "A  Revision 
of  the  Non-Marine  Lamellibranchs  of  the  Coal  Measures, 
and  a  Discussion  of  their  Zonal  Sequence."  Quart.  Journal 
Geol.  Soc,  vol.  ixxxiii,  pt.  2,  p.  210,  and  plates  XVI.  and 
XVII. 

3.  Dawson,  J.  W.,  "Acadian  Geology,"  ist  Ed.,  i860,  and 

2nd  Ed.,  1868. 

4.  Hind,  Wheelton,  (1894-95).  "A  Monograph  on  Car- 
bonicola,  Anthracomya,  and  Naiadites."  Part  I.  and  Part  II, 
Palaeont,  Soc. 

5.  Pruvost,  P.  (1919).  "Comparaison  entre  le  Terrain 
Houiller  du  Nord  de  la  France  et  celui  de  la  Grande- 
Bretagne,  de'apres  la  Succession  des  Faunes."  C.  R.  Acad, 
Sci.,  Paris.  Vol.  clxviii.  (1919). — "Introduction  a  I'Etude  du 
Terrain  Houiller  du  Nord  du  Pas-de-Calais ;  La  Faune  Con- 
tinental du  Terrain  Houiller  du  Nord  de  la  France."  Mem, 
Esp.    Carte  Geol.,  France. 

6.  Raymond,  Percy  E.  "Some  Sections  in  the  Conemaugh 
Series  between  Pittsburg  and  Latrobe,  Pennsylvania."  Re- 
print from  Ann.  of  the  Carnegie  Museum,  Vol.  V.,  Nos.  2 
and  3,  1909. 

7.  White,  C.  A.  (1882).  "A  Review  of  the  Non-Marine 
Fossil  Mollusca."    Ann.  Rept.,  U.  S.  Geol.  Survey, 


THE  STUDENT  AT  PARIS  IN  THE  THIRTEENTH 
CENTURY 

A  LECTURE  DELIVERED     AT     THE     ANNUAL     MEETING     OF     THE     WYOMING     HISTORICAL 
AND   GEOLOGICAL   SOCIETY. 

By  Andre  Alden  Beaumont,  Jr. 
March  i8,  1927 


Twenty-seven  years  ago  the  University  of  Paris  celebrated 
the  seven  hundredth  anniversary  of  its  founding.  The  cele- 
bration was  misleading  in  the  sense  that  it  presumes  an  actual 
date  of  foundation  for  an  institution  that  was  already  in 
existence  in  the  year  1200  when  it  was  recognized  by  King 
Philip  Augustus.  In  common  with  parliaments,  another 
product  of  the  Middle  Ages,  the  universities  had  no  birth- 
days. They  "just  grew."  Almost  a  hundred  years  before 
the  Abbot  Guibert  of  Nogent-sur-Seine,  on  the  great  high- 
way from  Burgundy  and  the  South,  wrote,  "I  see  villages 
and  towns  fairly  burn  with  eagerness  in  the  study  of  gram- 
mar," and  Abelard  had  drawn  his  thousands  of  students  from 
the  established  school  of  Notre  Dame  to  the  heights  of  Mont- 
Sainte-Genevieve.  And  the  monk  Froidmont  had  noticed 
with  a  touch  of  bitterness  that  "the  scholars  are  wont  to 
roam  around  the  world  and  visit  all  its  cities,  till  much  learn- 
ing makes  them  mad ;  for  in  Paris  they  seek  liberal  arts,  in 
Orleans  authors,  at  Salerno  gallipots,  at  Toledo  demons,  and 
in  no  place  decent  manners." 

The  University  of  Paris  then,  in  so  far  as  it  was  a  center 
of  learning,  had  existed  long  before  1200.  The  eleventh 
century  had  experienced  a  great  upheaval  of  medieval  life  in 
many  phases.  A  new  spirit  of  enquiry  and  adventure  was 
abroad,  a  spirit  akin  to  the  later  Renaissance.  Some  men 
showed  it  by  answering  the  call  of  Duke  William  of  Nor- 
mandy to  go  adventuring  to  England,  many  more  by  follow- 
ing the  greater  adventure  of  Pope  Urban  II.  to  recover  the 
Holy  Land  from  the  Mohammedan,  and  others,  inflamed 
with  the  same  zeal  and  enthusiasm,    went    to    examine   the 


I08  THE  STUDENT  AT  PARIS  IN  THE 

subtle  theories  of  the  philosophers  and  teachers.  Thus  a 
school  appeared  wherever  a  teacher  collected  disciples  about 
him.  A  gradual  increase  in  the  subject  matter  enabled  the 
teachers  to  be  always  interesting.  During  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury the  works  of  Aristotle  and  other  Greeks  made  their  ap- 
pearance in  Western  Europe  partly  by  way  of  Italy  and 
Sicily  but  more  from  Mohammedan  Spain.  So  great  was  the 
enthusiasm  for  Aristotle  that  Dante  was  to  call  him  "the 
master  of  them  that  know."  Many  of  the  new  schools  were 
ephemeral  and  disappeared  upon  the  death  of  the  great 
teacher.  But  some  enjoyed  advantages  sufificient  to  insure 
their  permanence.  Such  a  one  is  Paris,  the  model  for  all 
universities  north  of  the  Alps  and  therefore  the  mother  of  us 
all.  For  at  Paris  had  long  existed  a  school  attached  to  the 
cathedral  of  Notre  Dame,  and  from  Paris  the  king  drew 
scholars  to  serve  him  in  the  growing  business  of  the  state. 
At  Paris  had  taught  Abelard,  the  greatest  teacher  of  the  day, 
the  charm  of  whose  personality  could  draw  students  into  the 
depths  of  the  wilderness  or  back  within  the  walls  of  the 
town.  The  University  of  Paris  was  indeed  built  of  men 
(batie  en  hommes),  as  one  of  her  historians  boasts.  For 
Abelard 's  pupils  adopted  his  methods  and  felt  his  intellectual 
curiosity  while  remaining  safe  within  the  boundaries  of  re- 
spectable orthodoxy.  Abelard  had  accustomed  students  to  go 
to  Paris.  His  pupils  who  followed  him  as  teachers  made 
it  a  habit  until  the  University  developed  almost  imperceptibly 
out  of  the  cathedral  school,  while  retaining  the  ecclesiastical 
character  of  its  origin  and  its  privileges  and  the  guiding  care 
of  the  chancellor  of  the  cathedral. 

The  new  method  of  teaching  which  made  Abelard  and  the 
School  of  Paris  famous  was  the  disputation.  Abelard's  in- 
terest was  to  train  scholars  to  think  independently.  The  men 
of  the  earlier  Middle  Ages  were  dependent  upon  authority — 
the  authority  of  St.  Augustine,  of  St.  Dionysius,  or  of  some 
other  church  father.    By  merely  pointing  out  that  the  worthy 


THIRTEENTH    CENTURY.  IO9 

fathers  frequently  disagreed  on  essential  points  of  dogma 
Abelard  overthrew  the  whole  system  of  dependence  upon 
authority.  He  proposed  the  question  and  then  skillfully 
drew  up  the  authorities  on  both  sides.  This  opened  the  dis- 
cussion, which  was  all  that  Abelard  desired.  'The  first  key 
1  to  wisdom  is  this — constant  and  frequent  interrogation  .  .  . 

For  by  doubting  we  are  led  to  question,  by  questioning  we 
arrive  at  truth,"  he  wrote  in  the  preface  of  his  textbook. 
This  is  the  new  method  of  teaching  which,  added  to  Abelard's 
clear  reasoning  and  beauty  of  voice,  drew  students  across 
mountains  and  narrow  seas  in  such  numbers  that  an  old  say- 
ing runs,  "the  Italians  have  the  Papacy,  the  Germans  have 
the  Empire,  and  the  French  have  Learning." 

We  are  wont  to  think  of  the  university  as  a  great  institu- 
tion with  a  complicated  machinery  of  faculties  and  trustees, 
dormitories,  laboratories,  and  endowments,  publications  and 
athletic  teams.  Looking  at  Paris  in  1200  we  would  find  none 
of  these  excrescences  save  one— the  faculty.  And  some  of 
us  might  be  disturbed  at  hearing  men  speak  of  the 
"university"  of  the  shoemakers,  or  of  the  iron-mongers,  or 
of  the  fishermen  of  the  Seine.  For  the  term  universitas 
meant  merely  "the  members"  of  a  group,  a  sworn  brother- 
hood of  persons  following  a  common  calling,  a  gild  of 
artisans,  a  league  of  merchants  or  of  soldiers  on  crusade.  It 
was  only  later  and  quite  by  accident  that  the  term  became  re- 
stricted to  a  learned  corporation.  The  University  had  its 
members  but  beyond  that  nothing.  There  was  no  library,  no 
lecture  hall,  no  dormitory,  and  no  money.  Yet  in  that  very 
poverty  lay  the  greatest  strength  of  the  developing  institution. 
The  University  might  find  a  home  wherever  there  were  rooms 
to  be  hired  and  convents  or  churches  to  be  borrowed.  If  the 
king  or  the  citizens  of  Paris  proved  oppressive,  the  Univer- 
sity could  move  at  a  moment's  notice  and  migrate  to  some 
more  hospitable  town.  The  threat  of  such  a  suspension  of 
lectures  and  subsequent  migration  always  brought  the  citizens 


no  THE  STUDENT  AT  PARIS  IN  THE 

to  terms,  for  much  as  they  disliked  the  students  they  could  not 
forego  the  opportunities  of  economic  gain  which  their 
presence  insured. 

The  teachers,  the  Masters  of  Arts,  formed  this  corpora- 
tion, probably  about  the  year  ii/O,  for  the  advantages  of 
cooperative  bargaining  in  the  matter  of  rooms  and  board,  and 
in  order  to  insist  upon  certain  standards  of  learning  before 
one  might  presume  to  teach.  They  were  all  teachers  of  the 
arts — the  seven  arts  which  had  been  at  the  basis  of  Roman 
education — the  trivium,  grammar,  rhetoric,  and  logic,  and 
the  quadrivium,  arithmetic,  astronomy,  geometry,  and  music. 
The  higher  faculties  of  Medicine,  Laws,  and  Theology  were 
mere  off-shoots  of  this  central  core — ^the  Faculty  of  Arts. 
The  University  was  further  divided  into  national  groups 
corresponding  to  the  most  prominent  countries  whose  citi- 
zens crossed  seas  or  mountains  in  search  for  divine  philo- 
sophy. They  were  organized  into  four  nations,  "the  honor- 
able nation  of  the  Gauls,"  "the  venerable  nation  of  the  Nor- 
mans," "the  very  faithful  nation  of  the  Picards,"  and  "the 
very  constant  nation  of  the  English."  These  controlled  the 
University  and  elected  the  rector,  whose  term  was  short  but 
whose  power  was  great  for  he  represented  them  in  all  deal- 
ings with  the  outside  world.  The  chancellor  was  not  a  mem- 
ber of  the  University  although  he  continued  to  grant  the 
license  to  teach.  The  nations  were  subdivided  into  several 
provinces,  each  with  a  dean  at  its  head.  These  terms  require 
some  explanation  for  the  four  by  no  means  include  all  the 
nationalities  studying  at  Paris.  Thus  the  English  nation 
included  Germans  and  Scandinavians  and  all  the  North  and 
East  of  Europe,  while  the  single  province  of  Bourges  in  the 
Gallic  nation  embraced  all  Berrichon,  Spanish,  Italian,  Syrian, 
Egyptian,  Persian,  and  Armenian  students.  Each  nation  held 
a  key  to  one  of  the  four  locks  of  the  chest  in  which  the  funds 
of  the  University  were  kept,  when  there  were  any,  and  a 
considerable  amount  of  time  seems  to  have  been  spent  in 


THIRTEENTH   CENTURY.  Ill 

"drinking  up  the  surplus,"  as  the  process  was  called.  From 
the  records  of  the  English  nation  alone  a  learned  monograph 
has  been  written  on  the  taverns  of  medieval  Paris.  The  Car- 
dinal Jacques  de  Vitry  has  left  us  an  amusing  account  of  the 
nations.  "They  wrangled  and  disputed  not  merely  about  the 
various  sects,  or  about  some  discussions,  but  the  differences 
between  the  countries  also  caused  dissentions,  hatreds,  and 
virulent  animosities  among  them,  and  they  impudently  uttered 
all  kinds  of  affronts  and  insults  against  one  another.  They 
affirmed  that  the  English  were  drunkards  and  had  tails ;  the 
sons  of  France  proud,  effeminate,  and  carefully  adorned  like 
women.  They  said  that  the  Germans  were  furious  and 
obscene  at  their  feasts ;  the  Normans,  vain  and  boastful ;  the 
Poitevins,  traitors  and  always  adventurers.  The  Burgundians 
they  considered  vulgar  and  stupid.  The  Bretons  were  re- 
puted to  be  fickle  and  changeable,  and  were  often  reproached 
with  the  death  of  Arthur.  The  Lombards  were  called 
avaricious,  vicious,  and  cowardly;  the  Romans,  seditious, 
turbulent,  and  slanderous ;  the  Sicilians,  tyrannical  and  cruel ; 
the  inhabitants  of  Brabant,  men  of  blood,  incendiaries, 
brigands,  and  ravishers ;  the  Flemish,  fickle,  prodigal,  glut- 
tonous, yielding  as  butter,  and  slothful.  After  such  insults, 
from  words  they  often  came  to  blows." 

To  turn  now  to  the  students  themselves,  to  examine  their 
lives,  their  work  and  their  play,  we  have  a  number  of  sources 
on  which  we  may  draw.  We  may  find  them  in  their  letters 
home,  generally  asking  for  money  in  the  thirteenth  as  in  the 
twentieth  century,  in  their  songs  which  they  composed  and 
sang  in  the  taverns  of  an  evening,  in  the  invectives  of  the 
moralists  against  their  manner  of  life,  in  the  records  of  the 
courts  of  law,  wherein  their  frequent  disturbances  of  the 
peace  are  noted,  as  well  as  in  the  chronicles  and  documents 
of  the  time. 

The  bright  young  man  who  had  attracted  the  favorable 
notice  of  his  teachers  in  the  monastic  school  near  his  home 


112  THE  STUDENT  AT  PARIS  IN  THE 

would,  if  he  lived  north  of  the  Alps  in  the  thirteenth  century, 
have  desired  to  continue  his  education  in  the  famous  school  of 
Paris.  Were  not  her  schools  praised  above  all  others? 
Stephen  of  Tournai  writes,  "In  that  time  letters  flourished 
at  Paris.  Never  before  in  any  time  or  in  any  part  of  the 
world,  whether  in  Athens  or  Egypt,  had  there  been  such  a 
multitude  of  students.  The  reason  for  this  must  be  sought 
not  only  in  the  admirable  beauty  of  Paris,  but  also  in  the 
special  privileges  which  King  Philip  and  his  father  before 
him  conferred  upon  the  scholars.  In  that  great  city  the  study 
of  the  trivium  and  the  quadrivium,  of  canon  and  civil  law,  as 
also  of  the  science  which  empowers  one  to  preserve  the 
health  of  the  body  and  cure  its  ills,  were  held  in  high  esteem. 
But  the  crowd  pressed  with  a  special  zeal  about  the  chairs 
where  Holy  Scripture  was  taught,  or  where  the  problems  of 
theology  were  solved."  Our  young  student,  he  would  prob- 
ably have  not  been  over  fifteen  or  sixteen,  would  have  been 
little  tempted  by  the  ultimate  possibility  of  studying  theology, 
but  he  would  have  been  intent  upon  finishing  his  course  in 
Arts  as  soon  as  possible  that  he  might  enter  one  of  the  pro- 
fessions that  led  to  lucrative  employment.  There  were  no 
entrance  examinations  for  him  to  pass,  but  he  would  have 
been  expected  to  have  a  fair  knowledge  of  conversational 
Latin,  since  all  his  text-books  and  lectures  were  in  that 
language,  and  the  rules  forbade  speech  in  the  vulgar  tongue, 
even  in  play,  and  many  were  the  fines  exacted  for  slips. 

The  great  term  lasted  from  the  Feast  of  Saint  Remi 
(October  i)  to  Easter.  But  the  newcomer  would  have  been 
in  Paris  by  the  Exaltation  of  the  Holy  Cross  (September  15), 
The  freshman,  we  may  as  well  call  him  so,  although  his  me- 
dieval name  was  Bcjaunus  and  his  color  yellow  rather  than 
green,  entered  the  Latin  Quarter  and  sought  out  the  hall 
hired  by  the  nation  to  whose  membership  he  aspired,  and 
there  found  some  friend  from  home  who  would  have  helped 
him  with  his  enrollment  under  a  master  and  in  finding  a 


THIRTEENTH   CENTURY.  II3 

room.  The  chosen  master  received  him  kindly,  for  fees  were 
paid  after  direct  negotiations  between  master  and  student. 
The  problem  of  a  room  was  more  difficult  for  rents  were 
high,  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  the  nations  to  force  down  the 
cost  of  living,  and  the  rooms  themselves  small  and  dark  and 
cold.  We  have  a  letter  from  two  students  who  had  managed 
to  settle  themselves  comfortably.  It  is  from  Orleans,  but 
might  do  for  any  other  university  town.  "To  our  dear  and 
Revered  Parent,  Greetings  and  Filial  Obedience.  May  you 
be  pleased  to  learn  that,  thanks  to  God,  we  continue  in  good 
health  in  the  city  of  Orleans  and  that  we  devote  ourselves 
entirely  to  study,  bearing  in  mind  what  Cato  has  said,  'It  is 
glorious  to  know  something.'  We  live  in  a  good  stylish 
house,  separated  from  the  schools  and  market  by  only  a  single 
building,  and  we  can  therefore  attend  our  daily  courses 
without  wetting  our  feet.  We  also  have  some  good  friends 
who  are  well  advanced  and  thoroughly  desirable  in  every 
way.  We  heartily  congratulate  ourselves  upon  it,  for  the 
Psalmist  has  said,  'with  the  pure  thou  wilt  show  thyself 
pure.'  But  because  lack  of  equipment  hinders  the  achieve- 
ment of  the  aims  we  have  in  view,  we  believe  we  ought  to 
appeal  to  your  paternal  love  and  to  ask  you  to  have  the 
goodness  to  send  enough  money  by  the  bearer  to  buy  some 
parchment,  ink,  and  ink-stand,  and  such  other  things  as  we 
need.  You  will  not  leave  us  in  embarrassment,  and  will  insist 
that  we  finish  our  studies  properly,  so  as  to  be  able  to  return 
to  our  country  with  honor.  The  bearer  will  also  take  charge 
of  the  shoes  and  hose  which  you  may  have  to  send  us.  You 
can  also  send  us  news  of  yourself  by  the  same  means." 

Having  settled  his  few  belongings  and  composed  some  such 
letter  home,  the  freshman  would  have  been  eager  to  go  out 
in  the  company  of  his  friend  to  see  the  sights  of  the  densely 
populated  town.  Everywhere  were  the  students,  most  of 
them  the  sons  of  knights  and  yeomen  or  of  the  newly  rich 
merchants,  tradesmen,  or  thrifty  artisans,  the  nephews  of 


114  THE  STUDENT  AT  PARIS  IN  THE 

successful  ecclesiastics,  or  promising  lads  supported  by  the 
charity  of  kindly  abbots  or  archdeacons.  Occasionally  would 
pass  some  poor  student  who  begged  his  bread  from  door  to 
door  or  earned  a  few  sous  by  carrying  holy  water  or  assisting 
at  funerals.  Let  him  depend  on  his  only  friend,  St.  Nicholas. 
There  would  have  been  a  few  sons  of  rich  men  followed  by 
a  crowd  of  servants  ostentatiously  carrying  great  folios  bound 
in  red  and  indulging  the  medieval  love  of  fine  raiment  by  a 
display  of  Eastern  silks  and  fine  furs.  All  were  tonsured 
and  were  considered  members  of  the  clergy,  but  their  actions 
were  frequently  unclerical,  and  this  fiction  enabled  the 
scholars  to  indulge  in  crimes  without  the  smallest  fear  of  the 
summary  execution  which  would  have  been  the  fate  of  the 
apprentice.  In  costume  all  wore  a  long  garment  very  like  the 
habit  of  a  monk,  save  that  the  students  preferred  bright  hues, 
blue,  violet,  green,  or  blood-color,  to  the  conventional  brown 
or  black.  Many  wore  short  capes  in  defiance  of  the  regula- 
tions and  shoes  with  long,  pointed  toes.  The  streets  of  old 
Paris  were  narrow,  dirty,  and  dark,  but  full  of  color  and 
movement.  Hawkers  cried  their  wares,  the  shop  fronts 
opened  to  display  the  products  of  the  art  and  industry  carried 
on  within.  The  new  cathedral  of  Notre  Dame  was  finished 
only  in  1220,  but  the  students  were  already  causing  scandal 
by  their  irreverence  in  rolling  dice  on  the  altars,  even  while 
mass  was  being  said.  The  freshman  would  have  been  im- 
pressed by  the  king's  great  castle  of  the  Louvre,  dominating 
the  river,  and  would  perhaps  have  seen  the  hated  police  of 
the  Provost  of  Paris,  hereditary  enemy  of  students.  He 
would  have  been  taken  outside  the  new  walls  with  which 
Philip  Augustus  was  protecting  his  capital,  to  see  the  Pre- 
aux-clercs,  the  only  bit  of  land  owned  by  the  University — a 
sort  of  playground  won  by  usurpation  from  the  monastery 
of  St.  Germain,  with  whose  sturdy  monks  the  scholars  were 
engaged  in  incessant  litigations  and  a  succession  of  mur- 
derous affrays.    The  king  himself  leaves  us  a  notice  of  their 


THIRTEENTH   CENTURY.  II5 

fighting  proclivities.  "They  are  bolder  than  knights,"  says 
Philip  Augustus,  "for  knights  clothed  in  their  armor  hesitate 
to  engage  in  battle ;  while  these  clerks,  with  neither  helmet 
nor  hauberk,  and  with  their  tonsured  heads,  throw  themselves 
into  the  fight  armed  only  with  knives."  After  watching  the 
students  at  their  games  of  ball  or  marbles,  the  freshman 
would  have  gone  back  along  the  left  bank  of  the  Seine  and 
might  have  found  time  to  write  to  the  friend  whom  he  had 
left  at  home. 

One  student,  Guy  of  Basoches,  has  written  his  impressions 
of  Paris.  "My  situation  then  is  this :  I  am  indeed  in  Paris, 
happy  because  of  soundness  of  both  mind  and  body,  happier 
were  you  enjoying  it  too,  and  happiest  had  it  but  been  my 
lot  to  have  you  with  me.  I  am  indeed  in  Paris,  in  that  City 
of  Kings,  which  not  only  holds,  by  the  sweet  delight  of  her 
natural  dowry,  those  who  are  with  her,  but  also  alluringly 
invites  those  who  are  far  away.  For  as  the  moon  by  the 
majesty  of  its  more  brilliant  mirror  overwhelms  the  rays  of 
the  stars,  not  otherwise  does  said  city  raise  its  imperial  head 
with  its  diadem  of  royal  dignity  above  the  rest  of  the  cities. 
It  is  situated  in  the  lap  of  a  delightful  valley,  surrounded  by 
a  coronet  of  mountains  which  Ceres  and  Bacchus  adorn  with 
fervent  zeal.  The  Seine,  no  humble  stream  amid  the  army 
of  rivers,  superb  in  its  channel,  throwing  its  two  arms  about 
the  head,  the  heart,  the  very  marrow  of  the  city,  forms  an 
island.  The  suburbs  reach  out  to  right  and  left,  the  less  ex- 
cellent, even,  of  which  begets  envy  in  envious  cities.  From 
the  two  suburbs  two  stone  bridges  stretch  over  to  the  island 
and  one  of  them  has  been  named  for  its  size,  for  it  is  Great, 
faces  the  North  and  the  English  Sea,  while  the  opposite  one, 
which  opens  towards  the  Loire,  they  call  the  Little  Bridge.  .  . 

"On  this  island  Philosophy,  of  old,  placed  a  royal  throne  for 
herself,  Philosophy,  who,  despised  in  her  solitude,  with  a  sole 
attendant.  Study,  now  possesses  an  enduring  citadel  of  light 
and  immortality,  and  under  her  victorious  feet  tramples  the 
withered  flowers  of  a  world  already  in  its  dotage. 


Il6  THE  STUDENT  AT  PARIS  IN  THE 

"On  this  island,  the  seven  sisters,  to  wit,  the  Liberal  Arts, 
have  secured  an  eternal  abiding  place  for  themselves,  and, 
with  the  ringing  clarion  of  their  nobler  eloquence,  decrees  and 
laws  are  proclaimed. 

"Here  the  healing  font  of  learning  gushes  forth,  and  as  it 
were  evoking  from  itself  three  most  limpid  streams,  it  makes 
a  threefold  division  of  the  knowledge  of  the  sacred  page  into 
History,  Allegory,  and  Morals." 

Having  completed  his  letter  the  freshman  would  have  been 
led  by  his  friend  to  a  favorite  tavern  for  supper.  At  hand 
were  The  Tivo  Siuords  near  the  Petit  Pont,  The  Sign  of  Our 
Lady  in  the  rue  Saint- Jacques.  The  Swan,  The  Falcon,  and 
The  Arms  of  France.  There  the  friend  would  have  invited 
a  group  of  congenial  spirits,  students  and  some  of  the 
younger  masters,  to  enjoy  an  evening's  carouse  at  the  expense 
of  the  unsuspecting  bejaunus.  All  ages  of  students  have 
satisfied  their  bullying  instincts  at  the  expense  of  the  new- 
comer. The  medieval  freshman  was  subjected  to  consider- 
able hazing  during  the  first  months  of  his  residence,  until  he 
had  been  dipped  in  the  waters  of  a  fountain  to  be  cleansed 
of  his  country  boorishness  on  the  great  day  of  the  Holy 
Innocents  (December  28).  But  a  generous  expenditure  of 
the  money  which  his  father  fondly  believed  would  keep  him 
for  the  winter  would  have  eased  his  path.  Around  the  table 
he  would  have  heard  the  stories  of  the  glorious  fights  which 
the  students  had  carried  on  with  the  townsmen  and  their 
police.  How  the  students  had  won  their  charter  of  privileges 
from  the  king  in  that  famous  year  1200.  We  have  a  con- 
temporary report  of  the  event.  "There  was  at  Paris  a  notable 
German  scholar  who  was  bishop-elect  of  Liege.  His  servant, 
while  buying  wine  at  a  tavern,  was  beaten  and  his  wine  jar 
was  broken.  When  this  was  known,  the  German  clerks  came 
together  and  entering  the  tavern  they  wounded  the  host,  and 
having  beaten  him  they  went  ofif,  leaving  him  half  dead. 
Therefore  there  was  an  outcry  among  the  people  and  the  city 


THIRTEENTH   CENTURY.  II7 

was  Stirred,  so  that  Thomas,  the  Provost  of  Paris,  under 
arms,  and  with  an  armed  mob  of  citizens,  broke  into  the  Hall 
of  the  German  clerks,  and  in  their  combat  that  notable  scholar 
who  was  bishop-elect  of  Liege,  was  killed,  with  some  of  his 
people, 

"Therefore  the  Masters  of  the  scholars  in  Paris  going  to  the 
King  of  France  complained  to  him  of  Thomas,  the  Provost 
of  Paris,  and  of  his  accomplices  who  killed  the  aforesaid 
scholars.  And  at  their  instance  the  aforesaid  Thomas  was 
arrested,  as  were  certain  of  his  accomplices,  and  put  in  prison. 
But  some  of  them  escaped  by  flight,  leaving  their  homes  and 
occupations ;  then  the  King  of  France,  in  his  wrath,  had 
their  houses  demolished  and  their  vines  and  fruit  trees  up- 
rooted. 

"But  as  to  the  Provost,  it  was  decided  that  he  should  be 
kept  in  prison,  not  to  be  released  until  he  should  clear  him- 
self by  the  ordeal  of  water  or  sword,  and  if  he  failed,  he 
should  b€  hung,  and  if  he  was  cleared  he  should,  by  the 
King's  clemency,  leave  the  Kingdom. 

"And  yet  the  scholars,  pitying  him,  entreated  the  King  of 
France  that  the  Prevost  and  his  accomplices  after  being 
flogged  after  the  manner  of  scholars  at  school,  should  be 
let  alone  and  be  restored  to  their  occupations. 

"But  the  King  of  France  would  not  grant  this,  saying  that 
it  would  be  greatly  derogatory  to  his  honor  if  any  one  but 
himself  should  punish  his  malefactors.  Furthermore,  this 
same  King  of  France,  being  afraid  that  the  Masters  of  the 
scholars,  and  the  scholars  themselves,  would  withdraw  from 
his  city,  sought  to  satisfy  them  by  decreeing  that  for  the 
future  no  clerk  should  be  haled  to  a  secular  trial  on  account 
of  any  misdemeanor  which  he  had  committed,  but  that  if  the 
clerk  committed  a  misdemeanor  he  should  be  delivered  over 
to  the  Bishop  and  be  dealt  with  in  accordance  with  the  clerk's 
court.  Also  this  same  King  of  France  decreed  that  whoever 
was  the  Provost  of  Paris  should  take  oath  that  he  would  be 


Il8  THE  STUDENT  AT  PARIS  IN  THE 

loyal  to  the  clerks,  saving  his  loyalty  to  the  king.  Moreover 
this  same  King  conferred  upon  the  scholars  his  own  sure 
peace  and  confirmed  it  to  them  by  his  own  charter. 

"But  that  Provost,  when  he  had  been  detained  in  the  King's 
prison  for  many  days  planned  his  escape  by  flight,  and,  as  he 
was  being  lowered  over  the  wall,  the  rope  broke,  and  falling 
from  a  height  to  the  ground,  he  was  killed." 

Long  must  they  have  laughed  at  the  discomfiture  of  their 
enemies,  and  have  praised  the  wisdom  of  the  King,  whose 
capital  gained  prestige  from  their  presence.  A  few  years 
later  they  would  have  had  another  opportunity  to  try  their 
strength.  Under  the  more  pious  rule  of  the  Regent,  Blanche 
of  Castile,  the  mother  of  St.  Louis,  less  favor  was  shown  the 
scholars.  They  found  a  tavern  where  the  wine  "was  excel- 
lent and  sweet  to  drink,"  as  the  pope's  letter  says,  and  the 
following  brawl  was  carried  into  the  streets  where  many 
were  left  half-dead  (the  usual  formula).  The  Queen- 
Mother  and  her  officials  refused  all  redress  in  a  quarrel  in 
which  the  students  were  clearly  at  fault.  Thereupon,  in 
1229,  the  Masters  suspended  all  lectures  and  ordered  a  mi- 
gration to  other  cities.  Many  went  to  Angers,  but  some 
accepted  the  invitation  of  Henry  IIL  and  betook  themselves 
across  the  Channel  and,  settling  in  England,  gave  Oxford  its 
first  impulse  towards  organization.  After  two  years  the 
Queen-Mother,  alarmed  at  the  loss  of  prestige  and  of  eco- 
nomic prosperity  in  the  capital,  made  amends  and  recalled 
the  scholars.    Thereafter  they  were  more  arrogant  than  ever. 

Many  stories  would  have  been  told  over  the  wine  cups,  the 
local  gossip  of  the  universities.  Of  the  three  students  who 
were  so  poor  that  they  possessed  but  one  gown  among  them 
and  had  to  take  turns  attending  lectures ;  of  the  professor  of 
law  who  was  attacked  by  his  students  with  swords  in  his 
classroom  and  could  only  defend  himself  by  hurling  at  their 
heads  the  huge  volumes  of  the  Digest  from  which  he  had  been 
reading ;  of  the  brother  student  who  had  been  caught  for  the 


.      THIRTEENTH   CENTURY.  II9 

third  time  bringing  a  woman  of  suspected  reputation  into  the 
Hall  and  so  was  in  danger  of  expulsion;  of  the  scandal  of 
the  hisses  and  handclappings  and  loud  shouts  which  accom- 
panied some  of  the  lectures ;  or  of  the  glorious  week  of  in- 
cessant dancing  and  singing  by  which  the  students  did  honor 
to  Philip  Augustus  in  celebrating  his  victory  at  Bouvines 
over  the  Holy  Roman  Emperor.  All  this  and  much  more 
of  like  nature  would  have  been  talked  over  before  they  went 
out  to  wander  through  the  streets  to  make  the  night  hideous 
for  the  good  burghers,  whose  ordinances  required  that  they 
go  to  bed  early.  An  official  proclamation  denounces  a  class 
of  scholars,  or  pretended  scholars,  who  "by  day  and  night 
atrociously  wound  and  slay  many,  carry  ofT  women,  ravish 
virgins,  break  into  houses ;  and  commit  over  and  over  again 
robberies  and  many  other  enormities  hateful  to  God."  If 
they  got  into  no  serious  trouble  they  were  scot-free  since 
drunkenness  was  no  University  offense  whatever. 

Perhaps  the  freshman  would  have  been  shocked  by  a  group 
of  monks  at  the  next  table,  freed  for  a  time  from  the  mono- 
tonous routine  of  the  cloister,  who  had  come  to  enjoy  varied 
and  congenial  society  under  the  pretext  of  study.  These 
would  have  criticised  the  pope  and  the  cardinals  for  their 
greed,  pointing  out  that  the  only  interest  of  the  shepherd  in 
his  flock  was  in  their  fleeces.  Perhaps  they  would  have  recit- 
ed an  irreverent  and  even  blasphemous  parody  of  the  mass  or 
a  passage  from  the  Gospel  according  to  Mark's  of  Silver. 
Gross  irreverence  is  a  startling  feature  of  medieval  student 
life  and  goes  far  towards  breaking  down  our  preconceived 
notions  of  the  so-called  "Age  of  Faith."  Men  were  actually 
superstitious  only  at  the  time  of  death  and  young  men  in 
health  do  not  think  they  are  going  to  die.  The  Church  thun- 
dered against  these  heretical  and  loose-living  students  but 
could  do  nothing,  for  the  University  was  hedged-round  with 
privileges.  The  preachers  complained  that  the  students  ne- 
glected mass  and  confession  and  used  the  holy  days  as  occa- 


120  THE  STUDENT  AT  PARIS  IN  THE 

sions  for  idleness.  "In  eating  and  drinking  there  are  not 
their  equals ;  they  are  devourers  at  table,  but  not  devout  at 
mass.  At  work  they  yawn ;  at  banquet  they  stand  in  awe  of 
no  one.  They  abhor  meditation  upon  the  divine  Books,  but 
they  love  to  see  the  wine  sparkling  in  their  glasses  and  they 
gulp  it  down  intrepidly." 

After  such  a  night  the  freshman  would  have  had  great 
difficulty  in  arising  for  his  first  lecture  at  six  o'clock  and  a 
still  harder  time  waiting  for  the  ten  o'clock  dinner  hour.  How 
he  envied  the  student  of  canon  law  whose  first  lecture  started 
at  nine !  Perhaps  the  afternoon  lecture  would  have  been 
more  attractive,  especially  if  he  had  chosen  one  of  the  popular 
professors  who  deserted  the  old  theology  to  teach  novelties, 
one  of  the  type  against  whom  the  preachers  railed.  "All 
their  efforts  tend  to  please,  to  retain,  to  mislead  their  audi- 
tors." "Babblers  of  flesh  and  bone  irreverently  discuss 
spiritual  things,  the  essence  of  God,  the  incarnation  of  the 
Word !  In  the  crossways  one  hears  these  subtle  logicians 
divide  the  Indivisible  Trinity !  There  are  as  many  errors  as 
there  are  teachers,  as  many  scandals  as  there  are  hearers,  as 
many  blasphemies  as  there  are  public  squares."  "Our 
scholars,  puffed  up  with  a  vain  philosophy,  are  happy  when, 
by  force  of  subtlety,  they  have  come  upon  some  discovery! 
They  do  not  accept  the  shape  of  the  globe,  the  property  of 
the  elements,  the  beginning  and  the  end  of  the  seasons,  the 
force  of  the  wind,  the  bushes  or  their  roots !  Here  is  the 
object  of  their  studies:  they  believe  that  they  will  find  the 
reason  of  things.  But  the  supreme  cause,  the  object  and 
principle  of  everything,  they  only  see  with  blear  eyes  if  at 
all.  O,  ye,  who  would  know,  begin  not  with  the  sky,  but 
with  yourselves ;  see  what  ye  are,  what  ye  should  be  and  what 
ye  shall  be.  Of  what  use  is  it  to  discuss  the  ideas  of  Plato, 
to  read  and  reread  Scipio's  dream?  What  good  is  there  in 
all  these  inextricable  arguments  which  are  the  fashion  and  in 
that  craze  for  logical  subtleties  in  which  many  have  found 


THIRTEENTH   CENTURY.  121 

their  destruction?"  But  the  moralists  were  unheard  and  the 
students  eagerly  studied  Greek  philosophy,  hateful  to  the 
ascetic. 

The  student  followed  the  courses  in  the  Faculty  of  Arts 
for  six  years.  At  the  end  of  this  period  he  might,  if  he  were 
twenty  years  of  age,  apply  to  the  chancellor  of  the  cathedral 
for  the  examination  which  would  permit  him  to  enter  the 
ranks  of  the  masters.  The  examination  consisted  of  the  de- 
fense of  a  thesis  by  the  candidate  before  an  assembly  of 
reverend  masters,  and  was  followed  by  a  banquet  at  the  can- 
didate's expense.  That  these  tests  were  no  joke  or  mere 
formality  may  be  inferred  from  the  oath  required,  that  if 
the  candidate  were  unsuccessful  he  would  not  use  a  knife  or 
dagger  on  the  examiner.  Hear  the  voice  of  one  who  reports 
to  his  parents  the  success  with  which  he  met  the  test.  "Sing 
new  canticles  to  the  glory  of  God!  Play  the  viol  and  the 
organ ;  sound  the  loud  cymbals  !  Your  son  has  just  maintained 
a  learned  thesis  in  the  presence  of  a  numerous  assembly  of 
masters  and  students.  I  replied  to  all  the  questions  without 
hesitation ;  no  one  could  stump  me.  I  have  given  a  magni- 
ficent banquet  at  which  rich  and  poor  have  been  regaled  as 
never  before.  Already  I  have  solemnly  opened  a  school. 
And  how  full  it  has  been  since  the  first  day !  The  neighbor- 
ing schools  are  denuded  to  furnish  me  with  a  great  number 
of  auditors." 

He  was  now  a  full-fledged  master,  a  member  of  the  cor- 
poration, and  could  continue  to  lecture  to  students  or  to  pro- 
ceed to  a  higher  degree.  Many  took  the  latter  alternative 
and  enrolled  in  further  courses  in  law  or  medicine  or 
theology.  Law  and  medicine  ofifered  the  more  attractive 
futures.  In  both  were  large  incomes  to  be  made.  The 
Roman  law  opened  the  way  to  a  lucrative  profession  in  the 
service  of  the  crown,  and  the  canon  law  was  hardly  less 
profitable  because  of  the  wide  jurisdiction  of  the  clerical 
courts.     That  both  were  frequently  studied  we  know  from 


122  THE  STUDENT  AT  PARIS  IN  THE 

our  present  degrees,  LL.D.  (Doctor  of  Laws)  and  J.U.D. 
(juris  utriusque  Doctor).  Many  followed  the  more  humble 
calling  of  letter-writing,  the  ors  notaria  or  ars  dictaminis, 
which  led  the  way  to  the  chanceries  of  nobles  or  prelates, 
for  its  course  of  study  was  taken  up  with  the  writings 
issued  from  the  papal  curia  and  the  court  of  the  Emperor. 
In  the  law  course  itself,  the  student  listened  to  the  reading 
and  explanation  of  the  ponderous  tomes  of  Justinian's 
Corpus  juris  civilis,  and  to  Gratian's  codification  of  the 
canons  of  the  Church. 

Although  the  study  of  medicine  took  six  years,  from  the 
complaints  of  the  time  we  know  that  it  had  its  devotees. 
Apparently  exorbitant  charges  for  medical  attention  are  not 
confined  to  our  own  times.  A  Master  of  Arts  writes,  "With 
the  copper  and  silver  which  they  receive  for  their  poisons, 
they  build  them  fine  houses  in  Paris;"  "She  (Surgery)  has 
such  bold  hands  that  she  spares  no  one  from  whom  she 
may  be  able  to  get  money."  The  text-books  from  which 
one  might  get  this  mysterious  power  of  gaining  wealth  were 
of  Greek  or  Arabic  origin,  expensive  and  rare.  To  the 
reading  of  some  of  the  more  important  books  the  student 
had  to  listen  three  times.  The  study  consisted  almost  en- 
tirely in  listening  to  the  words  of  the  ancients,  for  there  was 
little  or  no  dissection.  When  an  animal  was  chosen  for 
experiment  the  favorite  appears  to  have  been  the  pig,  pos- 
sibly because  one  could  be  procured  so  easily  in  the  street 
of  any  medieval  city.  Only  after  the  thirteenth  century  do 
we  begin  to  hear  criticism  of  the  medical  students  as  grave- 
robbers. 

In  Paris  theology  was  the  Queen  of  the  Sciences,  and  loud 
is  the  lip-service  in  her  honor.  She  was  more  admired  than 
studied,  however,  for  the  course  required  from  eight  to 
fourteen  years,  and  there  was  no  very  certain  future  for 
the  student,  save  the  teaching  of  others,  an  unattractive 
prospect  to  most. 


THIRTEENTH   CENTURY.  I23 

All  this  time  at  Paris  the  student  was  leading  the  most 
active  intellectual  life  of  the  day.  It  was  varied,  to  be  sure, 
with  many  activities  of  a  more  profane  nature.  The  sum- 
mer-time with  its  long  vacation  was  looked  forward  to  with 
the  greatest  longing.  Then  the  students  issued  forth  from 
their  damp,  unheated  lodgings  to  wander  about  the  country 
in  the  pleasant  warmth  of  the  spring  sun.  They  frequently 
united  into  groups  for  the  purposes  of  protection  and  gain, 
for  they  took  their  viols  and  guitars  with  them  and  played 
and  danced  like  jongleurs  at  the  many  country  fairs.  We 
have  a  whole  literature  of  student  songs  describing  this  life, 
full  of  the  spontaneous  note  of  enjoyment  of  life  which  we 
are  accustomed  to  associate  with  the  Renaissance.  Disen- 
gaged from  the  ties  and  duties  imposed  by  temporal  re- 
spectability, they  sing  of  the  spring  with  its  blue  sky,  made 
for  rural  pleasures.  They  describe  a  vagabond  existence, 
the  truant  life  of  capricious  students  always  ready  to  play 
practical  jokes  on  solid  burghers  and  to  seduce  pretty 
burgesses.  Bacchus  and  Venus  and  Decius  (the  God  of 
Dice)  are  their  gods,  wherein  they  link  themselves  with 
past  Aristophanes  and  future  Rabelais.  There  are  songs 
of  love  in  many  phases  and  for  divers  kinds  of  women,  love 
of  wine,  love  of  dice,  as  well  as  satires  on  society,  moral 
dissertations  on  the  brevity  of  life,  and  the  most  licentious 
stories  in  French.    The  assembled  topers  are  thus  described  : 

Some  are  gaming,  some  are  drinking, 
Some  are  living  without  thinking; 
And  of  those  who  make  the  racket. 
Some  are  stripped  of  coat  and  jacket; 
Some  get  clothes  of  finer  feather. 
Some  are  cleaned  out  altogether; 
No  one  there  dreads  death's  invasion. 
But  all  drink  in  emulation. 

These  were  the  disciples  of  a  half -fabulous  bishop,  Golias, 
by  name,  of  whom  we  have  the  following  contemporary  de- 
scription :     "A  certain  parasite  called  Golias,  who  in  our 


124  THE  STUDENT  AT  PARIS  IN  THE 

time  obtained  wide  notoriety  for  his  gluttony  and  lechery, 
and  by  addition  to  gulosity  and  debauchery  deserved  his 
surname,  being  of  excellent  culture  but  of  bad  manners,  and 
of  no  moral  discipline,  uttered  oftentimes  and  in  many 
forms,  both  of  rhythm  and  meter,  infamous  libels  against 
the  Pope  and  the  Curia  of  Rome,  with  no  less  impudence 
than  imprudence."  The  "Confession"  of  this  Golias  con- 
tains the  famous  lines : 

,     In  the  public  house  to  die 
Is  my  resolution : 
Let  wine  to  my  lips  be  nigh 
At  life's  dissolution : 

That  will  make  the  angels  cry, 

With  glad  elocution, 
'Grant  this  toper,  God  on  high, 

'Grace  and  absolution!' 

Many  of  these  were  poor  itinerants,  debauchees  and  fre- 
quenters of  taverns,  knaves  masking  under  the  name  of 
students,  to  whom  the  Church  forbade  the  tonsure.  But 
the  genuineness  of  the  songs  cannot  be  doubted.  They  speak 
too  convincingly  of  the  freedom  of  youth,  shut  up  too  long 
in  a  foreign  atmosphere. 

THE  INVITATION   TO   YOUTH 

Take   your  pleasures,   dance   and   play, 
Each  with  other  while  ye  may : 
Youth  is  nimble,  full  of  grace ; 
Age  is  lame,  of  tardy  pace. 

We  the  wars  of  love  shall  wage. 
Who  are  yet  of  tender  age ; 
'Neath  the  tents  of   Venus   dwell 
All  the  joys  that  youth  loves  well. 

Young  men  kindle  heart's  desire ; 
You  may  liken  them  to  fire : 
Old  men  frighten  love  away 
With  cold  frost  and  dry  decay. 


THIRTEENTH   CENTURY.  125 

INVITATION   TO  THE  DANCE 

Cast  aside  dull  books  and  thought; 

Sweet  is  folly,  sweet  is  play : 
Take  the  pleasure  Spring  hath  brought 

In  youth's  opening  holiday! 
Right  it  is  old  age  should  ponder 

On  grave  matters  fraught  with  care; 
Tender  youth  is  free  to  wander, 

Free  to  frolic  light  as  air. 

Like  a  dream  our  prime  is  flown. 

Prisoned  in  a  study : 
Sport  and  folly  are  youth's  own, 

Tender  youth  and  ruddy. 

PASTORAL 

There  went  in  the  dawning  light 

A  little  rustic  maiden ; 
Her  flock  so  white,  her  crook  so  slight 

With  fleecy  new  wool  laden. 

Small  is  the  flock,  and  there  you'll  see 

The  she-ass  and  the  wether; 
This  goat's  a  he,  and  that's  a  she. 

The  bull-calf  and  the  heifer. 

She  looked  upon  the  green-sward,  where 

A  student  lay  at  leisure. 
"What  do  you  there,  young  Sir,  so  fair  ?" 

"Come,  play  with  me,  my  treasure !" 

time's  a-flying 

Laurel-crowned   Horatius, 

True,  how  true  thy  saying ! 
Swift  as  wind  flies  over  us 

Time,   devouring,   slaying. 
Where  are,  oh!  those  goblets  full 

Of  wine  honey-laden, 
Strifes  and  loves  and  bountiful 

Lips  of  ruddy  maiden? 


126  THE  STUDENT  AT  PARIS  IN  THE 

Grows  the  young  grape  tenderly, 

And  the  maid  is  growing; 
But  the  thirsty  poet,  see. 

Years  on  him  are  snowing ! 
What's  the  use  of  hoary  curls 

Of  the  bays  undying, 
If  we  may  not  kiss  the  girls. 

Drink  while  time's  a-f lying? 

We  cannot  leave  the  students  without  some  remarks  of 
caution.  "The  life  of  the  virtuous  student  has  no  annals." 
Yet  he  always  exists;  he  demands  and  secures  his  money's 
worth.  The  ideal  scholar  of  the  sermons  is  colorless  and 
obedient,  respectful  to  his  elders,  eager  to  learn,  and  keep- 
ing much  to  himself.  We  never  hear  of  him  then  or  now. 
There  is  no  novel  written,  nor  play  produced,  nor  moving 
picture  filmed  of  the  life  of  the  good  student.  When  we 
return  to  our  reunions  we  talk  not  of  the  library  and  the 
lecture  hall,  but  of  the  riots  and  escapades,  the  proms,  and 
the  foot-ball  games.  It  is  the  broadly  human  aspect  of 
student  life  that  is  the  same  yesterday,  today,  and  forever. 
We  find  them  in  the  thirteenth  century  discussing  money 
and  clothes,  rooms,  teachers,  books,  good  cheer  and  good 
fellowship,  and  these  remain  with  us.  Though  the  Middle 
Ages  are  far  away,  in  many  aspects  farther  than  classic 
times,  people  are  after  all  human  beings  and  the  funda- 
mental factors  are  not  subject  to  change.  In  his  relation 
to  life  and  learning  the  modern  student  resembles  his  me- 
dieval predecessor  far  more  than  he  knows.  His  surround- 
ings are  different,  but  his  problems  are  much  the  same,  his 
morals  are,  we  believe,  better,  but  in  his  ambitions,  his 
rivalries,  and  desire  for  learning  he  would  recognize  his 
blood-brother.  And  his  achievement  opens  the  same  door 
to  "the  ancient  and  universal  company  of  scholars." 


THIRTEENTH   CENTURY.  I27 

Bibliographical   note :      I   have   made   no   attempt   to   ac- 
knowledge my  indebtedness  in  the  body  of  this  paper.    The 
works  on  which  I  have  freely  drawn  are  listed  below. 
Compayre,  G. :     Abelard  and  the  Rise  of  the  University  of 

Paris.     New  York,  1893. 
Funck-Brentano,  Fr. :      The    Middle    Ages,    translated    by 
Elizabeth  O'Neill.     New  York,    1925.     Chapter  X,  The 
University. 
Haskins,  C.  H. :    The  Rise  of  the  Universities.     New  York, 
1923. 

The  Life  of  Medieval  Students  as  revealed  in  their 

letters,  in  American  Historical  Review,  vol.  Ill,   (1898), 
203-220. 

The  University  of  Paris  in  the  Sermons  of  the  XIII 

Century,  ibid.  vol.  X  (1904),  1-27. 
Luchaire,  A. :     Social  France  at  the  time  of  Philip  Augus- 
tus,   authorized    translation    by    E.    B.    Krehbiel.      New 
York,  1912. 
Munro,  D.  C. :  The  Middle  Ages.    New  York,  192 1.    Chap- 
ter XXXI,  The  Universities. 

The  Medieval  Student,  in  Translations  and  Reprints 

from  the  Original  Sources  of  European  History.     Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania,  vol.  II,  No.  3. 
Norton,    A.    O. :      Mediaeval     Universities.       Cambridge, 

Mass.,   1909. 
Rashdall,  H. :     The  Universities  of  Europe  in  the  Middle 

Ages.    2  vols,  in  3.     Oxford,  1895. 
Symonds,  J.  A. :      Wine,    Women    and    Song.      Portland, 
Maine,  1899. 


EARLY  AMERICAN  SNOBS. 
By  Dixon  Ryan  Fox. 

Address  at  Annual  Meeting,  February  26,   1929. 


The  great  theme  of  early  American  history  is  the  inter- 
action of  the  European  tradition  and  the  American  environ- 
ment. There  was  nothing  new  about  American  society, 
except  America.  A  new  kind  of  community,  it  is  true,  was 
to  result  from  the  peaceful  commingling  here  of  various 
European  peoples  and  from  the  circumstance  that  scarcely 
anyone  who  came  had  capital  beyond  his  wits  and  hands. 
But  though  they  were  of  different  stocks,  and  though  they 
came  largely  from  a  single  social  stratum,  the  immigrants 
brought  along  with  other  mental  furniture  a  conception  of 
classes  of  gentlemen  and  simple-men.  Nearly  every  immi- 
grant hoped  to  be  somewhat  more  of  a  gentleman  here  than 
he  had  been  in  Europe ;  in  other  words,  few  came  here  to 
be  democratic.  As  soon  as  surplus  wealth  could  support  a 
little  leisure  pretensions  were  set  up  and  privileges  claimed.^ 
At  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  this  element  in  the 
European  tradition  had  been  weakened  by  the  philosophy  of 
the  Revolution,  but  the  rapid  accumulation  of  wealth  and  the 
institution  of  a  more  vigorous  federal  government  were 
factors  strengthening  it  again.  The  constitutions  had  pro- 
claimed that  all  men  were  equal  before  the  law,  though  not 
necessarily  in  political  privilege ;  whether  America  should 
favor  or  forbid  a  social  stratification  by  custom,  was  as  yet 
quite  undecided. 

In  the  cities  we  have  briefly  sketched  there  were  no  well- 
marked  "quarters."  Houses  for  business  and  for  residence 
were  intermingled ;  usually  shop-keepers  and  even  many 
wealthy  wholesalers  lived  over  their  stores  or  behind  them 
and  most  professional   men   received   their  clients   in  their 

^J.  T.  Adams,  Provincial  Society  (A  History  of  American  Life, 
in,)  56-57. 


EARLY  AMERICAN    SNOBS.  I29 

homes.-  Nevertheless,  there  were  some  mansions  which 
people  passed  with  deferential  curiosity,  from  whose  win- 
dows on  winter  evenings  there  streamed  the  light  of  many 
candles  and  the  sound  of  flute  and  violin,  and  to  whose  doors 
came  gaily  painted  carriages  clattering  over  the  cobbles, 
homes  of  those  generally  admitted  to  be  "the  quality."^ 

At  the  top  were  the  well-to-do  old  merchant-shipping 
families,  especially  those  who  had  taken  the  right  side  during 
the  Revolution,  together  with  their  lawyers  and,  at  a  little 
economic  (and  therefore  social)  distance,  their  physicians. 
Next  were  the  rich  newcomers  who  had  moved  in  from  the 
country  during  the  war  or  afterward,  a  class  of  great  im- 
portance in  Boston — the  Prescotts,  Lees,  Cabots,  Lowells  and 
others — who,  it  was  said,  had  bought  the  property  of  exiled 
Tories  at  bargain  prices.*  Then  came  the  self-made  business 
men  whose  rise  had  been  watched  by  the  community  and  who 
could  therefore  be  recalled  in  humbler  circumstances.  All 
these  had  country  relatives,  large-acred  cousins  who  came  to 
visit,  especially  in  New  York,  where  the  manorial  tradition 
along  the  river  was  still  vigorous.  Yet,  at  least  in  the  opinion 
of  Noah  Webster,  there  was  in  general  less  "affectation  of 
superiority"  among  the  powerful  families  of  that  city  than 
in  Philadelphia.^ 

Many  of  these  families  had  broad-lawned  suburban  houses 
for  the  summer,  especially  on  Manhattan  Island  and  beside 
the  Schuylkill,  which  without  achieving  a  baronial  dignity 
yet  compared  well  with  the  lesser  manor  houses  of  the  old 

2T.  E.  V.  Smith,  New  York  in  1789  (New  York,  1889),  32;  H. 
M.  Lippincott,  Early  Philadelphia  (Philadelphia,  1917),  76;  Mrs.  St. 
J.  Ravenel,  Charleston,  the  Place  and  the  People  (New  York,  1906), 
405-406;  Anon.,  The  Congregation  "Beth  Elohim"  (Charleston,  1883), 
9.  The  New  York  post  office  was  in  the  home  of  the  postmaster  until 
1827. 

^There  were  300  carriages  in  Philadelphia  in  1804,  Lit.  Mag.,  II, 
June,  1804. 

*H.  C.  Lodge,  Boston  (Boston,  1892),  167. 

^Only  in  Philadelphia  mansions  were  people  annovmced  at  parties ; 
see  S.  Breck,  Recollections  (Philadelphia,  1877),  202. 


130  EARLY  AMERICAN    SNOBS. 

country ;  several  can  be  seen  in  Fairmount  Park  today.  But 
by  the  first  years  of  the  nineteenth  century  such  famihes  were 
discovering  the  watering  place  as  a  summer  resort.  In  1789 
Saratoga  Springs  consisted  of  three  log  cabins  hidden  in  a 
wilderness,  but  a  dissertation  published  by  a  New  York  doc- 
tor in  1793  began  the  wide-spread  advertisement  of  the  vir- 
tues of  their  waters  and  soon  a  number  of  hotels  were  built.^ 
By  1809,  we  are  assured,  "invalids  of  fashion  and  opulence" 
could  find  at  nearby  Ballston  every  luxury  they  desired.'^ 
Originally  a  resort  of  the  stricken  in  hope  of  relief  it  had 
developed  facilities  for  recreation  and  become  a  center  of 
elegant  leisure,  so  that,  in  the  phrase  of  the  Salmagundi 
Papers,  Southern  ladies  arrived  each  with  the  annual  produce 
of  a  rice  plantation  in  her  costume  with  an  occasional  com- 
petitor from  Salem  wrapped  in  the  net  proceeds  of  a  cargo 
of  whale  oil.* 

Other  springs  in  the  state  came  into  vogue, ^  but  they  were 
soon  rivalled  by  those  in  Virginia.  Berkeley  Springs  could 
show  the  airs  and  graces  of  a  fashionable  assembly  as  well 
as  cure  neuralgia,  but  the  Sweet  Springs  had  too  many 
gamblers  and  the  White  Sulphur  Springs  were  described  in 
181 7  as  a  backwoods  therapeutic  resort  as  yet  without  a 
drawing  room ;  far  to  the  west  at  Olympia,  "the  Bath  of  Ken- 
tucky," cards,  billiards  and  horses  supplemented  the  attrac- 

6"Narrative  of  Mrs.  Dwight",  in  W.  L.  Stone,  Reminiscences  of 
Saratoga  (New  York,  1880),  22-31;  Valentine  Seaman,  M.  D.,  Dis- 
sertation on  the  Mineral  Waters  of  Saratoga  (New  York,  1793)  ;  J. 
H.  French,  Gazetteer  of  New  York  State  (Syracuse,  i860),  591-592. 
In  1789  "we  knew  nothing  of  mineral  springs  and  fashionable  water- 
ing places,"  S.  Breck,  Recollections,  102. 

''American  Medical  Repository,  XI,  254,  XIII,  18. 
8 1 6th  paper,   Oct.    15,   1807.     See  also  Daniel  Adams,   Geography 
(Keene,  N.  H.,  1818). 

^See  Robert  Munro,  A  Description  of  the  Genesee  Country  (New 
York,  1804)  for  a  description  of  the  Clifton  Springs  and  "those  near 
the  head  of  the  river,  on  top  of  which  floats  Seneca  oil  (petroleum)." 


EARLY  AMERICAN   SNOBS.  I3I 

tions  of  the  waters/^  As  early  as  1790  valetudinarians  from 
the  Southern  states  and  the  West  Indies  were  being  solicited 
to  summer  at  Rockaway,  where  sea-bathing  might  cleanse 
and  brace  the  body  against  debility."  In  America  the  water- 
ing place  was  the  first  theater  of  conspicuous  leisure ;  where 
everyone  was  supposed  to  work  leisure  could  be  justified  only 
by  the  affectation  of  ill  health.  It  was  not  until  the  twenties 
that  summer  leisure  in  itself  became  respectable,  but  then,  as 
ever  since,  the  men  for  the  most  part  enjoyed  it  only  vicar- 
iously through  their  wives  and  daughters. ^^ 

When  it  is  remembered  that  in  every  other  country 
throughout  Christendom  certain  families  enjoyed  the  distinc- 
tion of  honorific  titles,  it  is  not  surprising  that  their  Ameri- 
can counterparts  in  the  reorganized  nation  of  1790,  whatever 
their  profession,  felt  a  secret  envy.  Nearly  two  centuries  of 
American  custom  were  against  them  and  most  of  the  consti- 
tutions explicitly  forbade  such  titles  of  nobility.  But  the 
designation  of  "Lady"  might  safely  be  toyed  with,  especially 
as  some  like  the  two  New  Yorkers,  Lady  Kitty  Duer  and 
Lady  Mary  Watts,  had  a  tenuous  hereditary  claim  to  it.  The 
president's  wife  was  usually  called  Lady  Washington,  at 
least  by  high  society.^^    Something,  too,  should  be  done  for 

loj.  K.  Paulding,  Letters  from  the  South  by  a  Northern  Man  (New 
York,  1817),  II,  237.  The  hot  springs  near  Harrisonburgh  were  dis- 
covered in  1804;  see  Winchester  Independent  Register,  Nov.  20,  1804; 
John  Baltzell.  Essay  on  the  Mineral  Prospects  of  the  Siveet  Springs 
of  Virginia  (Baltimore,  1802)  ;  F.  Cuming,  Tour  of  the  Western 
Country  (1807),  (Cleveland,  1904)  ;  J.  W.  Alexander,  Life  of  Arch- 
bald  Alexander  (New  York,  1854),  78. 

11 A^.  Y.  Magazine,  I,  iii. 

12c.  R.  Fish,  The  Rise  of  the  Common  Man  (A  History  of  Ameri- 
can Life,  VI),  plate  III,  (b),  with  note  on  p.  x;  Thorstein  Veblen, 
The  Theory  of  the  Leisure  Class  (New  York,  1912). 

"As  late  at  1815  some  patriotic  ladies  of  Washington  society  re- 
ferredto  Mrs.  Madison  as  "Her  Majesty";  see  Gaillard  Hunt, 
Life  in  America  One  Hundred  Years  Ago  (N.  Y.,  1914)  59. 
The  leading  literary  woman  of  the  day  shared  her  husband's  dignity 
as  Mrs.  General  Warren,  the  stately  wife  of  the  Secretary  at  War 
was  Mrs   General  Knox,  and  wives  of  doctors,  ministers,  judges  had 


132  EARLY  AMERICAN    SNOBS. 

gentlemen.  Reporting  a  reception,  the  Gazette  of  the  United 
States  listed  among  the  guests  the  ladies  of  the  Most  Hon- 
orable Mr.  Layton  and  the  Most  Honorable  Mr.  Dalton  and 
shortly  afterward  remarked  the  presence  of  the  Most  Honor- 
able Morris  and  Lady  Morris  at  the  theater.^'*  "Mr.  Profes- 
sor Pierson,"  "Mr.  Professor  Webber"  and  the  like  were 
hazarded,  though,  as  it  proved  in  this  country,  quite  hope- 
lessly.^^ Perhaps  the  practice  of  christening  children  with 
middle  names,  seldom  followed  before  1790  and,  judged  by 
college  catalogues,  almost  the  rule  forty  years  later,  was 
prompted  first  by  family  pride. ^" 

Congress  solemnly  debated  the  question  of  a  title  for  the 
president  on  the  suggestion  of  Vice  President  Adams,  who 
was  soon  to  write  so  wistfully  on  the  general  subject  in  his 
Discourses  on  Davila.  Washington  himself  was  known  to 
favor  "His  Highmightiness  the  President  of  the  United 
States  and  Protector  of  their  Liberties,"  vaguely  reminiscent 
of  aristocratic  republics  in  the  Netherlands  and  England  and 
seeming  to  go  appropriately  with  his  black  and  yellow  chariot, 
six  horse  team  and  white-and-scarlet-liveried  servants.  The 
senate  wanted  some  such  title  for  him,  but  the  yeoman  repre- 
sentatives were  obdurate ;  the  chief  executive  became  in  legal 
usage  simply  Mr.  President,  though  "His  Excellency,"  the 
title  General  Washington  had  borne  during  the  war,  adhered 

like  designation ;  but  perhaps  this  was  less  for  display  than  for  con- 
venience, and  on  such  ground  the  custom  persists  somewhat,  however 
coldly  regarded  by  "good  usage."  See,  as  a  good  example,  Abiel 
Abbot,  Discourse  .  .  .  before  the  Portsmouth  Female  Asylum 
(Portsmouth,  1807). 

i*S.  E.  Forman,  Tlie  Political  Activities  of  Philip  Freneau  (Balti- 
more, 1902),  43,  44. 

^^Medical  Repository,  I,  113.  "Mr.  Professor  Everett  and  his  dis- 
ciple, Mr.  Webster  .  .  .,  Rufus  King  to  Charles  King,  January  19, 
1824.    Rufus  King  Papers,"  (N.  Y.  Hist.  Soc). 

I'^This  is  the  contention  of  G.  P.  Krapp,  The  English  Language  in 
America  (New  York,  1925),  I,  212-218,  who  gives  interesting  lists. 
The  average  of  three-name  men  in  the  Harvard  Catalogues  for  the 
1790's  were  20% ;  in  1830  it  was  about  70%. 


EARLY  AMERICAN   SNOBS.  I33 

to  him  and  set  a  precedent  as  an  alternative/^  Scorched  by- 
derision  all  these  politico-social  titles  withered  down  to 
simple  "honorable,"  which,  spread  over  the  entire  civil  list  of 
nation,  state,  county  and  city,  soon  became  cheap  enough  to 
reassure  the  most  squeamish  democrat. 

The  house  which  Washington  rented  was  loyally  referred 
to  as  the  palace,  to  the  disquietude  of  western  delegates. 
They  and  their  sympathizers  vehemently  disapproved  the 
semi-weekly  drawing-rooms  of  Mrs.  Washington,  somewhat 
formally  conducted,  as  tending  to  give  her  circle  "a  super- 
eminancy  and  introductory  to  the  paraphernalia  of  courts. "^^ 
Through  the  lenses  of  their  apprehension  a  reasonable  de- 
corum looked  like  royal  pomp;  but  really  Martha  Washing- 
ton quite  lacked  the  lustrous  manner  of  the  grand  dame  and 
her  dignified  reserve  could  oftentimes  be  explained  on  the 
ground  that  she  had  nothing  in  particular  to  say.  Europeans, 
accustomed  to  quite  different  standards,  declared  themselves 
astonished  at  the  simple,  forthright  fashion  of  government 
and  society  in  Philadelphia.  Thomas  Twining  was  im- 
pressed with  the  plainness  of  the  president's  house  and  noted 
that  a  hairdresser  lived  next  door;  Joseph  Priestly  was  de- 
lighted at  the  ease  with  which  one  gained  access  to  the  chief 
magistrate  himself,  and  wrote  an  English  friend,  "Everything 
is  the  reverse  of  what  it  is  with  you."^^ 

The  European  tradition  of  aristocracy  did  persist  in 
America,  but  not  dangerously.  It  was  challenged  in  1800 
and  deposed,  at  least  politically,  by  1830.     Hereditary  privi- 

I'William  Maclay,  Journal  (New  York,  1927),  1-2,  13-14,  21-28, 
30-37,  49,  50,  63;  R.  W.  Griswold,  The  Republican  Court,  366-368. 
John  Adams,  Works  (Boston,  1851-1856),  I,  618;  VI,  242.  "I  freely 
own  that  I  think  decent  and  moderate  titles,  or  distinctions  of  office 
are  not  only  harmless,  but  useful  in  society,"  VIII,  513. 

i^Henry  Wansey,  An  Excursion  to  the  United  States  (Salisbury, 
England,  1798),  112. 

i^Thomas  Twining,  Travels  in  America  One  Hundred  Years  Ago, 
1795-1796  (New  York,  1904)  ;  E.  F.  Smith,  Priestley  in  America 
(Philadelphia,  1920),  72. 


134  EARLY  AMERICAN    SNOBS. 

lege,  the  engrossment  of  opportunity,  implies  a  permanently 
unprivileged  class,  and  this  was  quite  impossible  in  a  country 
where  every  man  had  at  the  worst  a  possible  alternative  in 
the  shape  of  a  western  farm.  Conspicuous  leisure  was  rarely 
to  be  found  and  was  considered  a  little  shameful.  "What  are 
you  doing  now" — that  is,  how  are  you  earning  your  living — 
was  the  question  the  old  soldiers  most  often  asked  of  Lafay- 
ette when  he  revisited  America. ^°  An  observant  writer  in  1794 
knew  of  but  one  "professed  'gentleman',  i.  e.,  idle  unoccu- 
pied person  of  fortune,"  in  Philadelphia ;  their  time,  he  said, 
had  not  yet  come.^^  Generally  speaking,  no  one  long  sus- 
tained a  social  prominence  upon  official  income.  Indeed,  as 
the  old  constitution  of  Pennsylvania  clearly  stated,  Ameri- 
cans believed  that  whenever  an  office  through  increase  of 
fees  or  otherwise  became  so  profitable  as  to  occasion  many 
to  apply  for  it,  the  profits  ought  to  be  lessened  by  the  legis- 
lature.-- Rank  and  birth,  as  assets,  could  not  be  carried  to 
a  poorer  market  than  America.-^  Foreign  visitors  who  said 
that  money  alone  counted  in  this  country  spoke  with  some 
exaggeration,  but  money  did  mature  into  prestige  faster  here 
than  in  most  places. 

20Max  Farrand,  "Assimilation,"  New  Republic,  IX,  209  (December 
23,  1916). 

21T.  Cooper,  Some  Information,  60,  probably  referring  to  William 
Hamilton  of  Woodlands;  see  also  Tench  Coxe,  A  View  of  the 
U.  S.  A.,  chap.  XV.  It  is  true  that  60  heads  of  families  out  of  3,434 
were  reported  as  "gentlemen"  in  one  part  of  Philadelphia  in  the  1790 
census,  but  doubtless  they  did  not  meet  Dr.  Cooper's  definition.  Rev. 
Charles  Nisbet,  the  Scotch  president  of  Dickinson  College,  complained 
of  the  dead  level  of  status  in  American  society.  "Few  people  here 
know  any  difference  betwixt  one  man  and  another."  New  York  Pub- 
lic Library  Bulletin   (May,  1897),  117. 

22Article  36  of  the  Constitution  in  force  from  1776  to  1790.  Hamil- 
ton resigned  the  treasury  because  he  could  not  support  his  family  on 
the  secretary's  salary.  Despite  theory,  some  offices  did  become  profitable 
through  fees,  as  the  New  York  mayoralty,  for  example,  which  early 
in  the  nineteenth  century  was  worth  fifteen  thousand  dollars  annually. 

23William  Winterbotham,  Historical,  Geographical  .  .  .  View  of 
the  American  United  States  (London,  1795),  III,  298. 


EARLY  AMERICAN  SNOBS.  135 

The  snobbishness  of  the  fashionable  circle  was  doubtless  a 
little  cruel — though  it  pales  beside  the  real  thing  as  portrayed 
by  Thackeray — and  its  affectations,  in  our  retrospect,  may 
seem  a  little  absurd.  Unfortunately  at  a  dinner  party  at  the 
dazzling  Mrs.  William  Bingham's,  one  might  hear  oaths  and 
stories  of  a  more  or  less  delicate  naughtiness,  echoing  too 
faithfully  the  banter  of  modish  tables  in  Mayfair  or  in  the 
old  Faubourg  St.  Germain.  A  Bostonian  like  H.  G.  Otis,  or 
a  French  puritan  like  Brissot  might  be  startled  by  the  gen- 
erous revelation  of  the  female  form  at  the  routs  and  salons 
in  New  York  and  Philadelphia.-*  At  the  same  time,  these 
coteries  in  American  towns  did  a  valuable  service  by  con- 
serving the  arts  of  deportment  in  a  society  which  might 
easily  have  forgotten  them.  They  eagerly  imported  such 
arts  as  well;  they  and  their  imitators  provided  innumerable 
readers  of  Lord  Chesterfield.  That  distinguished  mentor's 
writings  had  been  reprinted  in  America  several  times  before 
1790  and  formed  the  central  canon  of  etiquette  for  over  half 
a  century  after.  For  example,  the  curious  reader  having 
marked  the  exhortations  to  simple  probity  throughout  the 
first  half  of  the  Young  Man's  Own  Book,  published  in  1842, 
suddenly  comes  upon  advice  to  flatter  clergymen,  to  be  very 
officious  in  picking  up  ladies'  gloves,  and  the  like ;  the  com- 
piler had  set  forth  once  again,  and  without  acknowledgment, 
the  familiar  Principles  of  Politeness.  The  polished  mean- 
ness of  the  noble  earl  was  plentifully  satirized,  but  it  was 
really  a  matter  of  personal  interest  to  many  of  our  fellow 
countrymen  to  read  that  eating    principally    with   a    knife 

2*S.  E.  Morison,  Harrison  Gray  Otis  (Boston,  191S),  I-.  I35.  I37; 
J.  P.  Brissot  de  Warville,  New  Travels  in  the  United  States  of 
America  (Boston,  1797),  94.  For  pictures  of  "The  Social  Back- 
ground," see  the  sparkling  chapter  so  entitled  in  C.  G.  Bowers'  Jeffer- 
son and  Hamilton  (Boston,  1925),  and  Edith  T.  Sale,  Old  Time  Belles 
and  Cavaliers  (Philadelphia,  1912),  99-i7i- 


136  EARLY  AMERICAN   SNOBS. 

while  using  a  fork  to  pick  one's  teeth  and  raking  the  mouth 
with  a  finger  were  to  be  deprecated.^' 

In  some  particulars  standards  of  polite  behavior  were 
different  from  those  in  England,  notably  in  the  use  of 
tobacco.  "No  gentleman  in  Europe  even  smokes  except  by 
way  of  a  frolic,"  we  are  told;  William  Pinkney,  sent  across 
in  1800  on  a  diplomatic  mission  had  to  puff  the  cigars  that 
he  had  taken  with  him  furtively  behind  the  closed  doors  of 
his  London  apartment  so  as  not  to  prejudice  his  reputation.^^ 
The  Spanish  cigar  which  had  been  introduced  into  the  United 
States  shortly  before  1790,  despite  warnings  from  some 
physicians,  gained  vogue  rapidly,  being  more  convenient  than 
the  pipe ;  about  fifteen  years  later  Americans  were  annually 
importing  a  hundred  and  forty  thousand  dollars'  worth.-' 
No  one  lost  caste,  even  in  the  cities,  by  the  public  chewing 
of  tobacco,  though  a  writer  on  Clerical  Manners  suggested 
to  clergymen  that  spitting  the  juice  on  parishioners'  carpets 
might  worry  the  fastidious,  and  particularly  questioned  the 
propriety  of  spitting  in  church.-*  With  cigars,  after  the 
ladies  had  left  the  dinner  table,  came  the  best  port,  madeira 
and  brandy  that  the  host  could  furnish ;  almost  no  American 

25E.  g.,  Lord  Chesterfield,  Letters  to  His  Son  (New  York,  1775)  ; 
Principles  of  Politeness  (New  Haven,  1789,  and  Boston,  1791)  ;  The 
American  Chesterfield  (Phila.,  1827)  ;  A.  Howard,  ed..  Beauties  of 
Chesterfield  (Boston,  1828)  ;  Anon.,  The  Young  Man's  Own  Book 
(Phila.,  1842)  ;  the  character  of  "Dimple"  in  Royall  Tyler,  The  Con- 
trast (New  York,  1787). 

^^TJie  American  Chesterfield,  202;  Rev.  William  Pinkney,  Life  of 
William  Pinkney  (New  York,  1853),  35. 

-"Medical  Repository,  XI,  329.  J.  T.  Scharf,  Chronicles  of  Balti- 
more (Baltimore,  1878),  267-268,  and  J.  F.  Watson,  Annals  of  Phila- 
delphia (Phila.,  1857),  are  wrong  in  believing  that  cigars  were  first 
smoked  in  American  streets  to  ward  off  yellow  fever.  Brissot  men- 
tions them  in  New  York  in  1787.  See  Benjamin  Waterhouse  Cautions 
to  Young  Persons  .  .  .  Shewing  the  Evil  Tendency  of  the  Use  of 
Tobacco  Upon  Young  Persons;  more  especially  the  Pernicious 
Effects  of  Smoking  Segars  .  .  .  (Cambridge,  Mass.,  1805). 

28Samuel  Miller,  Letters  on  Clerical  Manners  and  Habits  (New 
York,  1827),  83. 


EARLY  AMERICAN   SNOBS.  I37 

at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  scrupled  a  moderate 
quantum  of  good  liquor,  even  among  the  "middle  class. "^'^ 

The  gentleman  of  1790  could  still  evidence  his  status  by 
his  dress.  In  all  the  coastal  towns  he  followed  the  same 
fashions,^"  imported  like  his  manners.  Traveling  French- 
men recognized  the  Paris  modes  of  two  years  back  slightly 
modified  by  a  year's  sojourn  in  London.^^^  The  fashionable 
waited  for  each  ship  that  might  bring  new  styles  with  an 
avidity  like  that  of  the  half-famished  Jamestown  settlers 
some  two  centuries  before  looking  for  supplies.  Scarcely 
was  a  landing  made  before  they  hurried  to  the  tailor  and  the 
milliner.^-  For  design  they  found  mere  pictures  insufficient 
and  dressed  dolls  were  sent  across  as  carriers  of  the  precious 
late  conceits. ^^  "Many  hats,"  said  Professor  Adam  Seybert 
in  1809,  "are  annually  fabricated  in  the  United  States  and 
labelled  as  of  English  manufacture,  which  would  not  be  worn 
if  this  harmless  deception  were  not  practiced.^*  People 
bought  imported  clothes  partly  under  the  impression  that 
goods  worth  sending  three  thousand  miles  were  probably 
better  than  home  products,  and  partly  because  they  actually 
saw  superiorities  in  articles  fashioned  in  the  European 
tradition  of  highly  specialized  skill ;  but  to  a  large  degree, 
especially  with  respect  to  style,  their  purchases  reflected  mere 
colonialism.      Such  deference   had  the   boundless   scorn  of 

29Between  1790  and  1794  the  importation  of  wine  increased  from 
about  3^  million  gallons  to  5^  million,  whether  from  the  larger  pros- 
perity of  the  country  or  from  the  coming  of  French  merchant-im- 
porters.    Liancourt,  Travels,  II,  570. 

30Edward  Hooker,  "Diary,"  in  Am.  Hist.,  Assoc.  Report  for  1896,  I, 
856. 

3^Count  Volney,  A  View  of  the  Climate  .  .  .  (London,  1804),  223- 
224;  David  Ramsay,  History  of  South  Carolina  (Charleston,  1809), 
409. 

^-See  Tyler's  Contrast,  Act  I,  scene  i. 

33J.  D.  Schoepf,  Travels  in  the  Confederation. 

^*Oration  Before  the  Philadelphia  Mechanics  (Phila.,  1809),  14. 


138  EARLY  AMERICAN   SNOBS. 

nationalists  like  Noah  Webster,  who  wanted  to  complete  our 
independence.^^ 

Clothes  of  bright  hue  or  delicate  fabric,  says  a  philoso- 
pher,^® are  a  sign  of  leisure ;  they  are  not  "practical"  for 
work.  Though,  as  has  been  shown,  American  gentlemen  had 
far  less  exemption  from  labor  than  those  whose  styles  they 
imitated,  they  too  paraded  color  as  a  badge  of  class.  Scarlet 
coats  lined  the  aisles  of  the  Brattle  Street  church  in  puritan 
Boston  as  well  as  the  theater  boxes  in  cosmopolitan  New 
York.  It  was  a  day  when  gentlemen,  if  occasion  suited,  liked 
to  sit  astride  their  chairs  with  elbows  on  the  backs  so  that 
their  coats  might  hang  unwrinkled,  and  some,  at  least,  let 
themselves  into  their  white,  close-fitting  doe-skin  breeches  by 
stepping  from  a  little  platform  to  which  the  fragile  articles 
were  attached  by  hooks.^^  Swords  had  disappeared  from 
civil  dress,  but  sword-canes  were  popular  with  the  buckish,^^ 
a  transition  to  the  more  peaceful  walking  stick  that  still 
advertises  the  hand  without  employment.  Wigs  were  giving 
way,  except  among  the  clergy,  but  the  gentleman  wore  his 
hair  long,  even  if  not  powdered,  and  tied  it  in  a  queue.  Of 
the  fifty-six  members  of  the  New  York  legislature  in  1798, 
all  but  five  were  so  depicted. ^^  That  this  style  was  costly — 
a  hairdresser  in  Philadelphia  cost  twenty-two  shillings  a 
month*'' — made  those  cherish  it  the  longer  who  wished  to 
evidence  their  standing  in  society.     Actors  and  investment 

35^  Collection  of  Essays  and  Fugitive  Writings  (Boston,  1790),  9i- 

s^T.  Veblen,  Theory  of  a  Leisure  Class. 

s^'Alice  M.  Earle,  Two  Centuries  of  Costume  in  America  (New 
York,  1903),  II,  408-409. 

38V.  L.  Collins,  John  Witherspoon,  154.  Washington  at  his  own 
levees  wore  a  sword  in  a  white  scabbard  and  carried  his  cocked  hat; 
see  R.  W.  Griswold,  Republican  Court,  325-326. 

39See  illustrations  inserted  between  pages  1023  and  1024  in  New 
York  Docmncntary  History  (1849-1851),  IV. 

*oj.  P.  Brissot  de  Warville,  Nciv  Travels  in  the  United  States  of 
America,  133. 


EARLY  AMERICAN    SNOBS.  139 

agents,  using  their  appearance  as  a  means  to  credit,  added 
extra  touches  to  their  costume.*^ 

Suddenly  all  this  was  challenged.  Startled  into  fear  by 
the  rise  of  the  workers,  the  Paris  beau  monde  disguised  itself 
in  workmen's  pantaloons  by  way  of  protective  coloring;  the 
new  fashion  spread,  partly  by  the  authority  of  the  place  of 
its  origin  and  partly  because  it  symbolized  an  equalitarian 
tendency  which  was  to  be  widely  accepted,  with  acclaim  or 
with  resignation.  When  in  1804  the  government  lists  re- 
vealed that  two  patents  had  been  granted  for  galluses  to 
hold  up  trousers  another  step  in  the  history  of  democracy 
had  been  registered.*-  Irreconcilable  old  gentlemen  refused 
to  give  up  the  traditional  costume  even  in  the  thirties,  but 
James  Monroe  was  the  last  president  to  wear  small-clothes, 
silk  stockings,  silver  buckles  and  a  queue. *^ 

In  women's  clothes  there  was  a  like  reaction  toward  sim- 
plicity, a  reflection  of  the  romantic  movement.  The  moun- 
tainous head  dress  reared  on  wire  cage  and  cushions  and 
harnessed  together  with  streamers  was  now  cleared  away; 
girls  clipped  their  tresses  almost  to  the  scalp,  heavily  pomad- 
ing the  short  ends  about  the  face.  "At  the  assembly,"  wrote 
a  miss  of  1798,  "I  was  quite  ashamed  of  my  head,  for  nobody 
had  long  hair."**  Their  new  light  muslin  dresses,  cut  low 
and  sleeveless  and  draping  naturally  over  the  figure,  aroused 
no  little  criticism  as  being  ridiculous  imitations  unsuited  to 
our  winter  climate ;  the  omission  of  due  clothing  and  conse- 

•*! Arthur  Hornblow,  History  of  the  Theatre  in  Ai)ierica  (Phila., 
1919),  I,  195-196;  S.  Breck,  Recollections,  206. 

*-M.  D.  Leggett,  comp..  Subject  Matter  Index  of  Patents  for  In- 
ventions (Washington,  1874),  1503.  The  old  form  of  the  word 
was  "gallows." 

*3D.  C.  Oilman,  James  Monroe  (Boston,  1892),  182.  Noah  Webster 
was  one  such  incorrigible  conservative. 

4*Elizabeth  Southgate  (Bowne),  A  Girl's  Life  Eighty  Years  Ago 
(New  York,  1888),  p.  23.  On  the  older  headdress  see  Abbe  Robin, 
New  Travels  Through  North  America  (Phila.,  1783),  14.  The  tran- 
sition back  to  long  hair  was  eased  by  wigs  and  turbans. 


140  EARLY  AMERICAN    SNOBS. 

quent  exposure  to  the  night  air  was  certain  to  lead  to 
consumption.  "Think  of  their  poor  red  elbows  and  arms," 
when  inside  without  their  tippets  !*^  A  poet  admonished 
them  :*« 

Full  many  a  beauty  blasted  in  her  bloom 
This  stripping  mania  hurries  to  her  tomb. 
Also,   they   were   shrouded    from   head   to    foot   in   com- 
bustibles, a  disadvantage  in  those  days  of  open  hearths  and 
candles.**'     Something,   though   not    much,    was    said    about 
immodesty. 

The  new  dress  had,  too,  its  enthusiastic  advocates,  who 
were  glad  to  see  the  old  whalebones  and  heavy  petticoats 
give  place  to  simpler  garments,  whereby  the  muscles  had  free 
play  and  beauty  could  be  "ascertained  by  the  unequivocal 
testimony  of  symmetry  and  nature. "^^  But  if  there  is  one 
lesson  to  be  drawn  from  the  history  of  fashion  it  is  that 
nothing  survives  simply  because  it  is  hygienic,  cheap,  com- 
fortable or  graceful.  The  conservatives  who  had  sighed  for 
the  return  of  silks  and  stuffs  and  calimancoes  were  to  see 
them  all  again,  if  fortune  gave  them  but  a  few  more  years. 
By  the  middle  of  the  second  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century 
the  style  was  veering  back.  Curiously  enough,  the  author  of 
the  heroic  couplet  we  have  quoted,  when  he  came  to  publish 
it  in  1818,  found  that  the  "stripping  mania"  seemed  to  be 
nearly  over,  but  being  a  sagacious  man  he  let  it  stand,  ex- 
plaining that  the  cycle  would  doubtless  come  around  again  to 
give  it  point.*''  By  the  twenties  doctors  were  again  inveighing 
against  stays,  busks  and  stomach  boards, •^°  and  a  new  genera- 

*^Lit.  Mag.  mid  Am.  Reg.,  1(1803),  74-75,  IV  (1805),  95,  VI, 
(1806),  Doctors  urged  flannel  underclothes  upon  the  females,  but 
apparently  the  females  would  not  wear  them. 

*6T.  G.  Fessenden,  The  Lady's  Monitor  (Bellows  Falls,  1818),  65. 

*^Lit.  Mag.  IV,  95. 

*^Lit.  Mag.,  II,  183. 

*^T.  G.  Fessenden,  The  Lady's  Monitor,  viii. 

^° Boston  Medical  Intelligencer,  (July  5,  1825,  and  April  18,  1826). 


EARLY  AMERICAN   SNOBS.  I4I 

tion  of  conservatives  spoke  pensively  of  the  good  old  days 
of  muslin. 

Honest  good  will,  the  soul  of  courtesy,  may  be  found  in 
the  "natural  man,"  but  its  dramatization  in  the  amenities  of 
urbane  society  requires  study  and,  by  this  implication,  models. 
Suddenly  in  the  early  nineties  the  explosion  in  revolutionary 
Europe  threw  the  most  perfect  patterns  into  our  very  midst. 
If  in  times  past  refugees  had  fled  here  to  escape  the  exactions 
of  an  aristocracy,  now  came  aristocrats  escaping  from  the 
fury  of  the  mob.     The   ferocious   race  rebellion   in   Santo 
Domingo,  begun  in  179 1  by  Negroes  in  the  interest  of  liberty, 
fraternity  and  equality,  sent  thousands  of  French  colonists 
to  our  shores.    In  their  first  mad  rush  for  safety  the  planters 
found  a  ship  clearing  for  Norfolk;  following  this  vanguard 
others  came  to  that  Virginia  port  in  such  numbers  as  to  raise 
land  prices.     Charleston  was  nearer  and  received  more,  but 
probably   Baltimore   was   affected   most   by   the   coming   of 
fifteen  hundred  in  a  single  month,  notwithstanding  the  larger 
numbers  which  in  time  landed  at  New  York  and  Philadelphia. 
Organized  relief  which  had  had  its  tentative  beginnings  in 
Colonial   days,   notably   in   the   donations   to    Boston   when 
isolated  by  the  Port  Bill  of  1774,  and  which  was  constantly 
to  add  to  America's  good  reputation  throughout  the  coming 
decades,  met  its  first  important  challenge  in  caring  for  these 
fugitives.  Accustomed  to  luxury  and  refinement  they  arrived, 
many  of  them,  with  scarcely  more  than  the  clothes  they  wore 
and  a  meager  English  word  or  two  to  ask  for  shelter.    Con- 
gress, with  fine  disdain  of  constitutional  limitations,  voted 
fifteen  thousand  dollars,  and  states  followed  this  example; 
clothing,  furniture  and  tools  were  given,  whole  families  were 
taken  in  as  guests  in  American  homes  for  as  long  as  two 
years,  and  unnumbered  individuals  gave  aid  to  destitution 
where  they  saw  it.     Important  precedents   were  set  when 
public  subscription  built  up  funds  to  be  administered  by  com- 
mittees; a  grateful  exile  estimated  that  the  succor  from  this 


142  EARLY  AMERICAN    SNOBS. 

source  alone  amounted  to  near  a  quarter  of  a  million  dol- 
lars.^^  Hospitality  was  more  severely  tested  by  the  shiploads 
of  French  royalists  who  a  few  years  later  saved  their  lives 
but  not  their  property  by  emigrating  from  a  homeland  en- 
veloped in  the  Terror.  The  total  number  has  been  estimated 
all  the  way  from  ten  to  twenty-five  thousand. ^^ 

Among  them  were  many  of  great  distinction.  Swinging 
about  an  inquiring  spotlight,  one  sees  Louis  Philippe,  who 
later  would  be  king,  teaching  French  in  a  suburb  of  New 
York  or  entertaining  at  dinner  a  few  guests  seated  on  his 
straw  bed  over  a  Philadelphia  barroom ;  the  Due  de  Lian- 
court,  lately  the  liberal  leader  of  the  French  nobility  with 
over  half  a  million  francs  a  year,  now  boarding  with  a  barber, 
but  obliged  for  want  of  extra  pence  to  shave  himself ;  the 
Vicompte  de  Noailles,  who  had  been  richer  than  the  duke, 
now  beginning  another  fortune  in  two  furnished  rooms,  as 
he  casts  up  the  accounts  of  his  Pennsylvania  tract,  appropri- 
ately named  Asylum,  whereupon  are  "sundry  ci-divant  French 
Barons,  Counts  &  Marquises,  employed  in  the  labors  of 
Agriculture" ;  Count  Value,  who  had  owned  a  large  West 
India  plantation,  now  teaching  dancing  and  deportment  to 
the  youth  of  Hartford ;  a  French  admiral  now  journeyman 
to  a  Baltimore  potter ;  a  marquis  set  up  as  a  Philadelphia 
whitesmith.  There  were  others  a  little  better  furnished,  like 
Count  Talleyrand,  and  some  like  Chateaubriand,  Volney  and 
young  Jerome  Bonaparte,  who  can  hardly  be  classified  as 
refugees.  But  peace  and  security  were  long  delayed,  and 
others  came  evading  one  oppression  or  another ;  Du  Pont  de 
Nemours,  in  1799;  General  Moreau,  in  1804,  and  the  Napo- 
leonic exiles  after  1814.    King  Joseph,  Chaumont,  the  treas- 

siLiancourt,  III,  33-35;  Nezv  York  Daily  Advertiser,  July  14, 
August  7,  1793;  J.  T.  Scharf,  Chronicles  of  Baltimore,  266;  Richard- 
son and  Bennett,  Baltimore,  89;  Jane  Campbell,  "San  Domingo  Re- 
fugees in  Philadelphia,"  in  Am.  Cath.  Hist.  Soc.  of  Philadelphia, 
Records,  XXVIII,  118. 

52H.  M.  Jones,  America  and  French  Culture  (Chapel  Hill,  1927), 
134- 


EARLY  AMERICAN   SNOBS.  I43 

urer,  and  Marshal  Grouchy, — these  may  stand  as  examples. 
"Have  we  not  jostled  ex-kings  and  ex-empresses  and  ex- 
nobles  in  Broadway,"  asked  a  reminiscent  writer  in  1829, 
with  a  trace  of  extravagance,  "trod  on  the  toes  of  exotic 
naturalists,  Waterloo  marshals,  and  great  foreign  academi- 
cians ;  and  seen  more  heroes  and  generals  all  over  town  than 
would  fill  a  new  Iliad  ?"^^ 

Some,  as  has  been  noted,  gained  a  livelihood  by  the  formal 
teaching  of  their  culture  to  those  who  could  aflford  to  pay, 
instructing  in  the  arts  of  dancing,  music,  and  French  conver- 
sation. The  advertisements  in  such  a  paper  as  the  New  York 
Gazette  Frangaisc  show  a  surprising  number  of  such  teachers. 
But  much  of  French  influence  was  less  direct,  though  not 
less  eflfective.  An  English  traveler,  with  some  acerbity,  re- 
marked that  the  revolution  in  France  had  produced  a  revolu- 
tion in  the  walk  of  the  Philadelphia  young  ladies.  When  it 
"drove  so  many  of  the  Gallic  damsels  to  the  banks  of  the 
Delaware,  the  American  girls  blushed  at  their  own  awkward- 
ness ;  and  each  strove  to  copy  that  swimming  air,  that  non- 
chalance, that  ease  and  apparent  unconsciousness  of  being 
observed,  which  characterized  the  French  young  ladies  as 
they  passed  through  the  streets. "^^  The  nine  or  ten  French 
newspapers  maintained  for  the  emigres  at  one  time  or  another 
during  the  nineties  doubtless  found  some  native  readers  who 
desired  to  increase  acquaintance  with  the  language ;  certainly 
some  such  parents  sent  their  children  to  the  French  schools 


53"Francis  Herbert"  (William  Cullen  Bryant  and  Gulian  C.  Ver- 
planck),  The  Talisman,  or  Reminiscences  of  Netv  York  (New  York, 
1827-28,  3  vols.),  II,  317.  There  is  a  good  summary  of  the  situation 
of  the  emigres  in  Charles  Nisbet  to  Charles  Warren,  May  18,  1797, 
in  Nisbet  Mss.,  New  York  Public  Library.  See  also  S.  G.  Goodrich, 
Recollections,  II,  61-62;  J.  S.  Reeves,  The  Napoleonic  Exiles  in 
America  (J.  H.  U.,  Series,  XXIII,  Nos.  9-10,  Baltimore,  1905),  and 
H.  M.  Jones,  passim.    Louis  Philippe's  two  brothers  were  with  him. 

5*John  Davis,  Travels  .  .  .  in  the  United  States,  1798-1802  (Lon- 
don, 1803),  322-323. 


144  EARLY  AMERICAN   SNOBS. 

maintained  in  Philadelphia  and  New  York.*^^  French  books 
were  to  be  had  more  easily  at  such  establishments  as  that  set 
up  by  Moreau  de  Saint  Mery.^**  With  the  gentry  came  pro- 
fessionals whose  interests  were  identified  with  them.  French 
cooks  had  been  known  before,  but  never  a  great  artist  like 
Brillat-Savarin,  who  later  recorded  his  American  experiences 
in  his  Physiologic  du  Gout ;  vegetables  found  larger  place  on 
American  menus,  some  like  artichokes  and  okra,  appearing 
for  the  first  time,  and  under  like  auspices  came  yeast  to 
supplant  the  old  dough-leaven  previously  in  general  use. 
Confectioners  and  caterers  wrought  miracles  in  pastry,  ices 
and  blanc  mange.  By  the  early  thirties  a  competent  observer 
could  say  that  "American  cookery  has  somewhat  engrafted 
the  French  upon  the  English.""  The  word  restaurant  was 
naturalized  and  at  such  places  came  the  innovation  of  orches- 
tral music  as  an  accompaniment  to  eating.  Less  dubious 
boons  were  the  numerous  concerts  and  the  first  rendering  of 
opera  in  a  foreign  language. ^^  Certain  merchants,  like 
Stephen  Jumel,  who  had  come  as  emigres,  made  fortunes  in 
the  importation  of   French  merchandise,  mostly  articles  of 

55H.  M.  Jones,  America  and  French  Culture,  197-198;  J.  G.  Rosen- 
garten,  French  Colonists  and  Exiles  in  the  U.  S.  (Phila.,  1907),  87, 
177-178;  W.  H.  Bennet,  Catholic  Footsteps  in  Old  New  York  (New 
York,  1909),  447.  The  Coiirrier  des  Etats  Unis,  still  flourishing,  was 
founded  in  1828. 

56[S.  L.  Mims,  ed.]  M.  L.  E.  Moreau  de  Saint  Mery,  Voyages 
Aux  Etafs-Unis  ....   (New  Haven,  1913),  introduction. 

^Trancis  Lieber,  The  Stranger  in  America  (New  York,  1835),  I, 
226,  cited  in  Jones'  account  in  America  and  French  Culture,  300-309; 
"Francis  Herbert."  See  also  F.  Baldensperger,  "Le  sejour  de  Brillat- 
Savarin  aux  etats  unis,"  Revue  de  la  Litterature  Comparee,  II,  94-95. 

^^O.  G.  Sonneck,  Early  Concert  Life  in  America  (Leipzig,  1907), 
188,  227.  Julien,  in  Boston,  called  his  place  a  Restorator,  as  a  literal 
translation  of  restaurant  before  the  word  itself  was  adopted;  see 
S.  A.  Drake. 


EARLY  AMERICAN   SNOBS.  I45 

luxury,  such  as  wines,  fine  fabrics,  jewelry,  gold  watches  and 
gilt  frames  for  mirrors  and  pictures. ^^ 

The  influence  of  the  emigres  impressed  polite  society,  but 
it  was  not  universally  approved.  The  formalities  of  the  new 
cotillions  might  be  innocent  enough,  but  when,  later  in  the 
twenties,  Mme.  Brugiere  gave  the  first  masquerade  ball  in 
New  York  City,  she  realized  the  worst  fears  that  moralists 
had  worried  over  for  a  quarter  of  a  century.  Long  since, 
some  writers  had  complained  of  the  "irruption  of  the  per- 
nicious morals  of  the  French  refugees"  and  bewailed  that 
"luxury  had  made  a  serious  breach  in  the  deliberate  gravity 
of  Republican  America."*"^  They  may  have  been  correct  in 
saying  that  Americans  would  not  wisely  exchange  their  habits 
and  view  of  life  for  those  of  the  French,  if  such  a  thing  were 
possible,  but  no  such  dilemma  was  presented ;  rather,  a  small 
class  of  Americans  acquired  from  the  French,  now  and  later, 
certain  refinements  of  great  value  without  sacrificing  any 
essential  quality  of  the  American  character. 

The  French  Revolution  accounted,  too,  for  another  group 
of  gentry  immigrants,  who  though  small  in  number  were  not 
without  influence.  Irish  nationalist  leaders,  when  desperate 
in  discouragement,  had  emigrated  from  time  to  time  to  the 
French  West  Indies  or  to  France  itself.  But  French  soil 
was  none  too  safe  when  the  Terror  triumphed,  and  these 
"wild  geese"  now  took  their  flight  to  the  American  continent, 
especially  to  the  southern  towns;  the  failure  of  the  United 
Irishmen's  final  stroke  started  many  more,  one  ship  for 
example,  landing  at  Norfolk  in  1798  with  over  four  hundred 
such  passengers,  mostly  persons  of  property.  Some,  like  the 
leading  French  refugees,  returned  home  when  political  skies 

590n  French  importers  who  became  rich  see  J.  A.  Scoville  ("Waher 
Barrett"),  Old  Merchants  of  Nciv  York,  V,  351-353,  and  Abraham 
Ritter,  Philadelphia  Merchants  (Phila.,  i860),  23,  71,  108,  198;  also 
W.  H.  Shelton,  The  Jumel  Mansion  (Boston,  1916).  The  greatest  of 
them,  Stephen  Girard,  came  before  the  emigres. 

«0Li^.  Mag.,  II,  219,  340;  [J.  A.  Scoville]  "Walter  Barrett,"  Old 
Merchants  of  New  York  (New  York,  1885),  I,  368-377. 


146  EARLY  AMERICAN    SNOBS. 

grew  clearer,  but  others  stayed  to  win  high  places  in  their 
professions.''^  Like  the  French,  too,  as  a  whole  they  added 
prestige  to  the  Catholic  Church.  Unlike  them,  they  found  an 
important  function  as  interpreters  between  their  peasant  com- 
patriots, who  soon  began  to  come  in  great  numbers,  and  the 
older  Americans. 

European  emigres  and  travellers  were  surprised  to  see  how 
generally  respectable  in  America  was  ordinary  labor, — for 
example,  how  many  cultivated  women  did  their  own  work. 
Americans  themselves  made  it  a  matter  of  pride.  "No 
country  of  the  same  wealth,  intelligence  and  civilization," 
remarked  Tench  Coxe,  the  economist,  "has  so  few  menial 
servants  (strictly  speaking)  in  the  families  of  the  greatest 
property."  But  this  was  due,  at  least  in  part,  to  the  fact  that 
servants  were  so  difficult  to  get.  The  competition  in  this 
country  was  not  for  the  place,  but  for  the  service.^'  It  was 
to  meet  this  situation,  where  every  free  man  had  opportuni- 
ties to  work  for  himself,  that  the  early  settlers  had  introduced 
the  institution  of  Negro  slavery.  This,  of  course,  remained 
the  dominant  labor  system  of  the  South,  but  it  was  disappear- 
ing elsewhere.  Only  one  out  of  fourteen  slaves,  according 
to  the  first  census,  was  held  north  of  Maryland  and  Delaware. 
Vermont.  Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire  had  forbidden 
slavery  in  their  constitutions  and  one  by  one  the  other 
northern  states  followed  with  laws  for  gradual  emancipa- 

^^E.  g.,  Thomas  Addis  Emmett  and  Counsellor  William  Sampson, 
the  lawyers ;  William  J.  MacNevin,  the  physician ;  Robert  Adrian, 
professor  of  mathematics  a*  Columbia,  and  Bernard  MacMahon,  the 
Philadelphia  horticulturist.  Harmon  Blennerhassett's  island  mansion 
on  the  Ohio  was  the  scene  of  Burr's  scheme  for  empire.  Like  the 
Frenchmen  they  sometimes  taught  dancing ;  see  M.  M.  Bagg,  Pioneers 
of  Utica  (Utica,  1877),  137-142,  376-379.  Some  went  first  to  New- 
foundland where  they  unsuccessfully  tried  raising  a  rebellion.  For  a 
general  account  see  E.  O.  Condon,  "Irish  Immigration  to  the  United 
States  after  1790,"  American  Irish  Hist.  Soc.  Journal,  IV,  84-89. 

62Tench  Coxe,  A  View  of  the  U.  S.  A.  (Phila.,  1794).  chap.  XV; 
T.  Dwight,  Travels  in  Neiv  England  and  New  York  (New  Haven, 
1822),  IV,  349- 


EARLY  AMERICAN   SNOBS.  I47 

tion.^2  The  institution  had  been  strongest  in  New  York 
where  a  seventh  of  the  families  in  the  state  had  such  pro- 
vision for  household  service,  but  there,  as  well  as  elsewhere 
in  the  region,  the  movement  for  emancipation  aroused  no 
great  controversy  and  was  largely  carried  through  by  the 
slave-owners  themselves  or  those  connected  with  them.  John 
Jay  was  the  first  president  of  the  manumission  society,  and 
Alexander  Hamilton  was  the  second.  Most  of  the  blacks, 
especially  the  older  among  them,  remained  in  the  households 
of  their  former  masters,  following  the  family  to  church, 
celebrating  their  old  "Pinkster"  holiday,  after  the  final  date 
of  1827  just  as  before,  hardly  conscious  that  their  legal 
status  had  changed.  In  New  Jersey  the  process  was  likewise 
slow  and  peaceful,  a  few  remaining  in  bondage  until  after 
1860.^*  Pennsylvania  was  called  the  paradise  of  the  blacks;^® 
except  for  an  occasional  outbreak,  such  as  that  at  York  in 
1793,  the  relations  were  certainly  as  friendly  as  in  the  states 
to  the  east,  and  the  blacks  for  the  most  part  continued  in 
domestic  service."®  As  a  support  of  other  people's  leisure  the 
Negro  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  was  a  con- 
siderable, though  a  diminishing  reliance  in  the  North.     We 

63Pennsylvania  in  1780,  Rhode  Island  and  Connecticut  in  1784,  New 
York  in  1799  and  New  Jersey  in  1804.  See  Lorenzo  J.  Greene,  in 
Journal  of  Negro  History,  XIV,  No.  2,   (April,  1929). 

6*E.  V.  Morgan,  "Slavery  in  New  York,"  Am.  Hist.  Assoc.  Papers, 
V,  337-380;  F.  G.  Mather,  "Slavery  in  the  Colony  of  New  York," 
Mag.  of  Am.  Hist.,  IX,  408;  A.  J.  Northrup,  "Slavery  in  New  York," 
New  York  State  Library  Bull.,  Historv,  No.  4,  1900;  D.  R.  Fox, 
"The  Negro  Vote  in  Old  New  York,  "Pol.  Sci.  Quart..  XXXII,  252- 
275;  C.  F.  Hoffman,  The  Pioneers  of  New  York  (New  York,  1848), 
30-33;  H.  I.  Priestley,  The  Coming  of  the  White  Man  (A  History 
of  American  Life,  I).  There  were  21,000  slaves  in  New  York  and 
12,000  in  New  Jersey.  See  H.  S.  Cooley,  A  Study  of  Slavery  in  New 
Jersey  (J.  H.  U.  Series,  XIV,  Nos.  ix-x,  19,  26,  30,  31)  ;  A.  Q.  Keasby, 
"Slavery  in  New  Jersey,"  New  Jersey  Hist.  Soc.  Proceedings,  3rd 
series,  IV,  90-96,  V,  12-19,  79-85- 

^^S.  Breck,  Recollections,  107. 

•"'When  they  left  service  it  was  thought  their  character  deteriorated ; 
E.  P.  Turner,  The  Negro  in  Pennsylvania  (Washington,  1910),  129, 
135,  145,  152. 


148  EARLY  AMERICAN    SNOBS. 

may  say  in  passing  that  though  freedom  and  philanthropy 
were  helping  him  he  had  yet  a  long  fight  to  win  his  present 
status ;  he  was  still  at  the  base  of  society ;  the  comedian  in 
the  most  successful  American  play  of  the  twenties,  to  express 
contempt  for  one  course  of  action  or  another,  says  again  and 
again,  "I  wouldn't  sarve  a  Negro  so!"®^ 

Older  even  than  slavery  as  an  American  means  of  regi- 
menting labor  in  the  household,  as  well  as  elsewhere,  was 
the  system  of  indenturing  immigrants  f^  this,  too,  was  rapidly 
passing,  but  by  force  of  circumstances  rather  than  by  law. 
Immigration,  itself  had  been  cut  to  a  low  figure  during  the 
Revolutionary  War,  and  as  we  have  seen  recovered  no  im- 
pressive volume  till  after  1815.  The  revolutionary  philosophy, 
too,  had  done  its  work  and  made  the  unfree  white  man  seem 
an  anomaly.  The  system  lingered  longest  in  Pennsylvania,  but 
there  the  last  act  to  govern  such  contracts  was  passed  in  1818 
and  the  last  trace  of  their  existence  is  dated  in  1831 ;  they 
had  disappeared  in  Maryland  and  New  Jersey  a  little 
before.®^  Another  source  of  household  labor,  though  in  no 
great  quantity,  was  the  bound  apprentice,  whose  origins  date 
back  to  the  days  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  In  the  Southern  states, 
where  slavery  tended  to  suggest  protection  to  the  white,  it 
was  usually  provided  that  a  pauper  child  apprenticed  by  the 
authorities  to  a  master  had  to  be  taught  a  trade,  but  in  the 
North  a  provision  for  "other  useful  employment"  legally 
made  a  household  drudge  out  of  an  orphan  girl  throughout 

*^^Samuel  Woodworth,  The  Forest  Rose;  D.  R.  Fox,  "Negro  Vote," 
notes,  252-256,  on  philanthropy. 

"^See  A.  M.  Schlesinger  and  D.  R.  Fox,  ed.  A  History  of  Ameri- 
can Life,  II,  III,  IV,  index  under  "Indented  or  Indentured  Servants" 
and  "Labor." 

^^English  ships  had  been  forbidden  to  carry  indentured  servants  in 
1785,  but  the  act  was  ill  enforced.  C.  A.  Herrick,  White  Servitude  in 
Pennsylvania  (Phila.,  1926),  254,  266;  "Letters  of  Phineas  Bond," 
Am.  Hist.  Soc.  Report  for  1897,  455. 


EARLY  AMERICAN   SNOBS.  149 

most  of  the  nineteenth  century/"  Philanthropic  women, 
especially  in  New  England  organized  "female  asylums," 
where  orphans  dressed  in  neat  blue  uniforms  were  schooled 
up  to  the  age  of  ten,  after  which  they  were  bound  out  in  pious 
households  for  a  period  of  eight  years. "^  But  the  hospitality 
of  pretentious  houses  in  the  northern  towns,  depended,  for 
the  most  part,  on  free  service,  black  or,  more  generally, 
white. 

Human  service  seemed  a  major  necessity  to  those  of  that 
generation  who  lived  at  all  spaciously  for  the  household  was 
a  far  more  extensive  enterprise  than  it  is  today.  It  is  true 
that  well-to-do  towns-people  depended  upon  shops  much  more 
than  those  isolated  in  the  country,  but  even  in  town  houses 
there  was  likely  to  be  a  spinning-room,  and  soap,  candles, 
carpets  and  other  furnishings  were  largely  made  at  home. 
When  Mrs.  Adams  moved  into  the  new  President's  House 
in  Washington  she  found  thirty  servants  necessary.  The 
great  East  Room,  for  example,  called  for  a  hundred  and 
eighty  lights.  Each  candle  had  to  be  made  by  hand,  which 
was  a  considerable  operation ;  an  ordinary  recipe  for  candles 
required  forty  pounds  of  tallow.  ^-  Some  one  must  constantly 
stand  by  with  snuffers ;  some  one  must  clean  away  the  sputter- 

^^Elizabeth  L.  Otey,  Senate  Document  645,  61  st  Session.  Vol.  VI, 
The  Beginnings  of  Child  Labor  Legislation  in  Certain  States  (Wash- 
ington, 1910)  ;  A.  Nevins,  The  Emergence  of  Modern  America  (A 
History  of  American  Life,  VIII),  329. 

■'ijoseph  Eckley,  Discourse  delivered  before  the  viemhers  of  the 
Boston  Female  Asylum  (Boston,  1802),  2,  13-14;  Charter  and  Con- 
stitution of  the  Providence  Female  Asylum  (Providence,  1802)  ; 
Abiel  Abbot,  Sermon  before  the  Portsmouth  Female  Asylum  (Ports- 
mouth, 1807);  T.  Dwight,  Travels,  III,  464;  Moses  Stuart,  Sermon 
before  the  Female  Charitable  Society  (Andover,  1815),  18-19,  23,  25, 
etc. 

■^^The  whole  recipe  is  as  follows :  Dissolve  25  lbs.  of  beef  tallow 
and  15  lbs.  of  mutton  tallow  in  a  copper  or  brass  vessel,  adding  20  lbs. 
of  water.  With  this  mix  ij4  qts.  of  brandy,  5  oz.  of  cream  of  tartar, 
5  oz.  of  sal  ammoniac ;  5  oz.  of  salt  of  tartar,  2  oz.  of  dry,  clean  potash. 
Cake  and  then  cut  up  into  slivers  to  whiten  in  the  air.    Make  wicks  of 


150  EARLY  AMERICAN   SNOBS. 

wax.  Some  one  must  pump  the  water  by  hand  and  carry  it 
to  all  the  bedrooms.  Some  one  must  carry  all  the  oak  and 
hickory  to  feed  the  big  voracious  fire  places  on  which  de- 
pended the  achievement  of  a  tolerable  temperature;  some  one 
must  carry  out  the  ashes ;  some  one  must  be  ready  with  the 
dust  cloth  to  wipe  away  the  dust  that  flew  from  the  hearth 
about  the  room. 

The  hearth  presented  other  serious  service  problems  besides 
that  of  fuel  supply.  The  women  must  keep  the  space  between 
the  backlog  and  the  forestick  well  filled  with  burning  small- 
wood.  A  generation  accustomed  to  aluminum  utensils  would 
quake  before  the  challenge  of  brass  and  copper  pots  and 
heavy  iron  pans  and  kettles,  which  had  to  be  set  on  trivets 
or  lifted  to  the  sooty  pothooks  and  notched  trammels  hanging 
from  the  crane  or  the  less  accessible  crossbar  bridging  the 
chimney  above  the  fire.  There  were  spits  to  turn  and  in- 
numerable racks  and  grills  to  keep  serviceably  clean.  Build- 
ing a  fire  in  the  deep,  shaft-like  oven  at  the  side,  then  raking 
out  the  embers  when  it  had  heated  well  the  surrounding 
bricks,  then  shoving  in  the  bread  loaves  on  the  long  board,  all 
this  was  not  so  easy  as  telephoning  to  the  bakery.  It  was  not 
possible  then  for  a  young  hostess  resplendent  in  a  dinner 
dress  gaily  to  transfer  from  the  electric  range  to  a  decorated 
table  the  concoctions  she  had  poured  not  long  since  out  of 
tin  cans  and  paper  packages;  no  one  could  wear  a  dinner 
dress  unless  there  was  a  servant  in  the  kitchen. 

The  transition  to  the  box  stove,  especially  that  burning 
coal,  which  was  well  under  way  in  1830,  was  an  important 
step  in  the  emancipation  of  women,  and  not  alone  in  lighten- 
ing the  drudgery  of  cooking.  It  became  possible  to  heat 
rooms  and  not  merely  an  area  about  the  hearth,  even  to  heat 

the  best  cotton;  steep  these  in  wine  and  wax  them.  Then  pour  the 
heated  tallow  on  them  in  the  moulds.  From  J.  B.  Bordeley,  Essays 
and  Notes  in  Husbandry  and  Rural  Affairs  (Phila.,  1799),  469-470. 
See  Helen  Harcourt,  "Early  Days  of  the  White  House,"  Americana. 
March,  191 1,  313-314. 


EARLY  AMERICAN  SNOBS.  I5I 

considerable  portions  of  the  house,  a  development  to  be  com- 
pleted a  half-century  later  with  the  furnace ;  modern  plumb- 
ing became  practicable  under  a  steady  temperature  and  the 
labors  of  the  upstairs  servant  correspondingly  reduced/^ 
Few  phenomena  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century 
seem  more  impressive  to  the  modern  reader  than  the  immense 
effort  which  women  had  to  make  to  "keep  house"  in  those 
days.  There  was  little  leisure  for  self  cultivation  unless  one 
could  call  upon  a  servant. 

Large  establishments  maintained  a  rather  imposing  retinue. 
When  Washington  set  up  as  president  in  New  York  he  had 
eighteen  house  servants,  seven  of  them  slaves  and  the  others 
white.  Five  of  the  latter  had  monthly  stipends  of  seven 
dollars,  besides  their  liveries  which  cost  twenty-nine  dollars 
each;  three  women  were  content  with  five  dollars;  a  house- 
keeper with  eight,  a  valet  with  thirteen  and  a  half,  and  a 
steward  with  twenty-five.  Jefferson  living  more  simply  as 
secretary  of  state  in  Philadelphia,  had  six  servants. ^^  The 
president's  wage  scale  was  about  normal,  though  in  New 
England  where  spinster  aunts  and  daughters  played  their 
versatile  and  heavy  roles  in  more  modest  households  and  thus 
reduced  the  demand  for  servants,  a  dollar  a  week  was 
usually  considered  sufficient.'^    But  the  servant  was  coming 

''^Experienced  American  Housekeeper  (New  York,  1823)  for  re- 
cipes calling  for  the  stove ;  Medical  Repository,  ix  96-97 ;  Jeremiah 
Dwyer  in  Depew's  One  Hundred  Years  of  American  Commerce,  II, 
257;  Edward  Parrish,  in  Am.  Journ.  of  Pharmacy,  XLI,  107;  C.  R. 
Fish,  The  Rise  of  the  Common  Man  (A  History  of  American  Life, 
VI)  98-99.  The  first  American  flush  closet  was  patented  in  1833, 
though  patents  became  numerous  only  in  the  time  of  the  next  genera- 
tion; M.  D.  Leggett,  compiler,  Subject  Matter  Index  of  Patents  for 
Inventions  (Washington,  1874),  1665. 

''^W.  E.  Woodward,  George  Washington,  the  Image  and  the  Man 
(New  York,  1926),  433;  Anne  H.  Wharton,  Salons,  Colonial  and  Re- 
publican (Phila.,  1900),  109. 

''^^A.  W.  Calhoun,  Social  History  of  the  American  Family  (Cleve- 
land, 1917-1919),  II,   147. 


152  EARLY  AMERICAN   SNOBS. 

to  demand  something  beside  money, — a  distinctly  higher 
social  status  than  servants  had  enjoyed  before. 

With  the  passing  of  the  indenture  the  social  chasm  nar- 
rowed. The  first  stage  in  the  history  of  domestic  service  had 
closed  and  the  second,  a  democratic  period,  was  ushered  in, 
to  be  followed  in  the  fifties  by  a  third,  when  with  new 
immigration  the  advent  of  large  numbers  of  servants  speak- 
ing English  with  difficulty  if  at  all,  somewhat  restored  the 
distance  familiar  in  the  eighteenth  century.  Throughout  the 
democratic  period  the  house-workers  resented  the  word 
"servant"  and  desired  to  be  known  as  "help,"  suggesting  a 
temporary  and  good-natured  cooperation.  The  "help"  was 
usually  of  the  same  nationality,  locality  and  religion  as  the 
rest  of  the  household  and  in  families  outside  the  aristocratic 
tradition,  it  seemed  natural  to  invite  the  waiting  woman  to 
the  common  table.  Likewise  there  were  "employers"  but 
few  masters.^"  "If  you  call  at  the  door  of  any  man,"  wrote 
the  Englishman  Richard  Parkinson  in  disgust,  "and  ask  the 
servant  if  his  master  is  at  home,  he  will  say  'Master !  I 
have  no  master ;  do  you  mean  Mr.  Such-an  one  ?'  that  is,  the 
man  he  serves."" 

There  was  a  similar  aversion  to  anything  like  a  uniform, 
the  prejudice  deepening  as  one  went  northward  into  New 
England.  William  Cobbett  said  that  in  America  a  servant 
would  not  wear  a  livery  any  more  than  he  would  wear  a 
halter  around  his  neck ;' ^  it  would  forfeit  the  status  of  quasi- 
equality ;  it  would  seem  that  the  wearer  belonged  to  a  perma- 
nent order.  Miss  Martineau  declares  she  saw  no  servants  in 
livery  throughout  her  American  travels ;  this  seems  hard  to 
credit,  though  possibly  they  were  fewer  in  the  thirties  than 

^^Lucy  M.  Salmon,  Domestic  Service  (New  York,  1897),  54-60. 

^^See  comment  in  Literary  Magazine,  V.  222;  also  The  Contrast, 
act  I,  scene  2. 

'^^A  Year's  Residence  in  the  United  States  (New  York,  1817),  201; 
see  also  T.  C.  Grattan,  Civilised  America,  I,  97. 


EARLY  AMERICAN   SNOBS,  153 

they  had  been  forty  years  before/^  However  scanty  the 
American  domestic's  knowledge  of  history  he  vaguely  felt 
that  here  was  a  survival  of  the  feudal  system,  a  system  of 
fixed  status  in  conflict  with  the  fluidity  of  American  life, — 
and  he  was  right.  If  Henry  VH  was  well-advised  that  the 
uniformed  retainers  of  a  lord  challenged  the  all-embracing 
sovereignty  of  the  king,  the  American  was  correct  in  think- 
ing them  a  challenge  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  common  man. 
The  phenomenon  of  the  contented  intelligent  servant  so  con- 
stantly encountered  in  the  old  country,  here  was  rare  indeed. 
English  servants  who  crossed  the  sea  were  then,  as  to  some 
extent  they  are  today,  confused  and  irritated  by  the  contempt 
of  people  whose  personal  cultivation  was  inferior  to  their 
own.^°  They  were  lonesome  for  like-minded  company;  few 
women  and  fewer  men  studied  to  perfect  themselves  in 
domestic  service  as  a  permanent  calling,  because,  in  contrast 
with  the  state  of  England,  there  were  openings  to  so  many 
other  callings  which  led  one  higher. 

The  difficulty  of  hiring  or  cajoling^^  women  into  this 
permanent  status  was  increased  about  1807  when  to  the 
opportunities  held  out  by  the  farming  bachelor  in  search  of 
a  partner  were  added  those  ofifered  by  the  manufacturer, 
especially  in  the  textile  mill.  But  machines  for  spinning  and 
weaving,  while  they  lured  away  the  servants,  at  the  same  time 
made  them  less  necessary  in  the  household.  There  was  no 
like  industrialization  of  cooking  as  yet.  By  1830,  it  is  true, 
Francois  Appert's  principles  of  sealing  under  heat,  discovered 
in  1795,  had  been  introduced  in  New  York  and  Boston  in  a 
small  way  and  in  1825  patents  had  been  granted  to  two  men 
who  had  been  so  preserving  salmon,  lobsters  and  oysters  in 

'^sHarriet  Martineau,  Society  in  America,  2  vols.  (New  York,  1837), 
II,  254;  Life  ...  of  Mmmsseh  Cutler,  I,  295-296. 

sojane  L.  Mesick,  British  Travelers   (New  York,  1922),  38. 

81  For  attempts  to  entice  servants  into  permanent  tenure,  see  the 
Constitution  of  the  Society  for  the  Encouragement  of  Faithful  Do- 
mestics (Phila.,  1829),  and  the  same  for  New  York  (1829). 


154  EARLY  AMERICAN   SNOBS. 

sealed  containers,  but  the  great  American  canning  industry, 
with  its  prepared  soups,  meats,  vegetables  and  fruits,  was  to 
come  many  years  later  under  the  necessities  of  the  Civil 
War.«2 

The  American  wife  finding  help  hard  to  get,  and  being 
unable  as  yet  to  bring  home  a  dinner  half -prepared  from  the 
shops,  more  and  more  succumbed  to  the  seductions  of  the 
boarding  house.  "Boarding-house  life,"  to  quote  a  contem- 
porary, "has  been  rendered  compulsory  by  the  scarcity  of 
labor — the  difficulty  of  obtaining  domestic  service "^^  It  is 
said  that  there  were  three  hundred  and  thirty  such  estabhsh- 
ments  in  New  York  in  1789.^*  The  boarding  house  developed 
into  the  residence  hotel,  though  in  the  course  of  time  there 
was  a  reaction,  wholesome  as  far  as  it  went,  to  the  small 
housekeeping  flat  where  maid-service  was  scarcely  needed  or, 
as  was  the  case  with  larger  apartments,  cut  to  a  minimum. ^^ 
It  may  be  hazarded  that  with  all  the  increase  in  wealth 
possibly  no  greater  proportion  of  American  families  today 

820n  Appert,  who  is  variously  cited  as  Frangois,  Nicolas  or  Charles, 
the  best  account  in  English  is  by  K.  G.  Bitting  in  Anon.,  ed.  A  Com- 
plete Course  in  Canning  (Baltimore,  1924),  9-22.  After  his  book 
(1810)  brought  him  a  12,000  franc  prize  his  methods  were  widely 
copied.  Ezra  Daggett  and  Thomas  Kensett,  the  patentees  mentioned 
above,  who  had  probably  picked  up  the  technique  in  England,  had 
started  canning  in  New  York  in  181 9.  William  Underwood  and 
Charles  Mitchell  started  in  Boston  in  1820,  the  Underwood  firm  still 
existing.  Corn  was  canned  for  market  in  1847.  See  G.  C.  Butz, 
Canning  of  Fruits  and  Vegetables.  Pennsylvania  Dept.  of  Agric. 
Bull.,  No.  91,  (Harrisburg,  1902),  11-12;  F.  R.  Corbett,  Canned  Foods 
(Teachers  College,  Columbia  University,  1915),  3;  A.  M.  Bitting 
and  K.  G.  Bitting,  Canning  and  How  to  Use  Canned  Foods  (Wash- 
ington, 1910)  ;  T.  Wilson,  Notes  on  Canned  Goods  (Washington, 
1870),  1-2. 

*3Martineau,  II,  245.  A.  W.  Calhoun,  American  Family,  II,  238, 
cites  the  testimony  of  fourteen  travelers  and  others  on  this  point. 

^*Hiram  Hitchcock  in  Depew's  One  Hundred  Years,  I,  150. 

^^ Allan  Nevins,  The  Emergence  of  Modern  America  (A  History 
of  American  Life,  VIII),  208. 


EARLY  AMERICAN   SNOBS.  I  55 

employ  such  service  than  did  in  1800;^"  this  element  in  caste 
distinction  has  not  developed. 

In  fact,  the  fears  that  impressed  the  nervous  at  the  end  of 
the  eighteenth  century  that  the  snobs  would  in  some  way 
prevent  the  extension  of  equal  opportunity  to  all  Americans 
seem  to  have  been  groundless.  The  snobs  continued  to 
exist  even  to  our  day, — and  as  we  have  tried  to  show,  some- 
what to  our  benefit. 

s^Prof.  B.  R.  Andrews  in  The  Golden  Book,  IX,  No.  49,  January, 
1929),  89,  says  today  approximately  5%  of  American  families  employ 
servants  in  the  household. 


THE    MARKET    STREET    BRIDGES*    AT 
WILKES-BARRE,  PA. 

A    LECTURE    DELIVERED    BEFORE    THE    WYOMING     HISTORICAL    AND    GEOLOGICAL 
SOCIETY,     OCT.     26,     1929. 

By  Constance  Reynolds 


"Of  the.  .  .landmarks  of  old  Wilkes-Barre.  none,  perhaps, 
furnishes  data  for  a  more  interesting  sketch  than  does  the 
bridge  spanning  the  Susquehanna  River  at  the  foot  of  West 
Market  street,"  Mr.  F.  C.  Johnson  has  said  in  his  Historical 
Record.  "Its  history  begins  with  the  beginning"  of  the 
nineteenth  century  "and  it  is  a  history  of  long  discourage- 
ment, earnest  struggle  and  final  triumph.  Wilkes-Barre  was 
but  a  small  borough  of  meagre  population  and  limited  re- 
sources."^ There  were  then  but  one  or  two  stores  and  a  group 
of  houses,  fewer  in  number  than  many  of  the  present  nearby 
country  villages.  Wilkes-Barre  was  much  more  a  series  of 
farms,  than  a  city  or  town.  The  fertile  green  valley,  with 
the  river  winding  through  the  middle  of  it,  stretched  as  far 
as  the  eye  could  reach,  unbroken  by  mine  shafts,  collieries, 
tall  buildings,  paved  streets,  noise  or  bustle.  Cows  grazed 
in  the  wooded  pasture  that  is  now  the  River  Common. 
Buggies  and  farm  wagons  would  sink  to  the  hub  in  the  mud 
of  River  street  when  the  spring  thaw  came.  It  was  a  three 
day  drive  to  Easton.  a  trip  taken  by  only  the  adventuresome 
when  absolutely  necessary.  The  morning  mail  was  unheard 
of.  It  took  seven  days  for  a  letter  to  reach  New  York,  and 
it  was  an  event  to  be  shared  with  the  neighbors  when  one 
did  receive  a  letter.  There  was  no  such  thing  as  a  news- 
paper, telephone  or  automobile ;  no  electricity,  tractors  or 
furnaces.  Wilkes-Barre  was  a  frontier  community.  But 
here  is  the  notable   fact.     Its  citizens  were  a  progressive, 

*  I  wish  to  express  my  thanks  and  appreciation  to  Miss  Frances 
Dorrance  for  assistance,  suggestions  and  criticism;  to  Miss  Ernestine 
Kaehlin  of  the  Wyoming  Valley  Historical  and  Geological  Society 
for  her  help;  and  to  Mr.  Obadiah  Hemstreet  for  his  enlightening  and 
lightening  anecdotes. 


m^ 

^^^^^^^^^.^.  ^^^^9 

^^M 

^ri^^lK^^^       W"^'     jfSeW— --- 

■^  ~^'i^ 
*^*^ 

View    of    Wilkts-R.-i 


From    approximately    present    North    Street.    looking 
I    showing    Market    Street    Bridge. 


THE   MARKET  STREET   BRIDGES.  I57 

courageous,  patriotic  group  of  men  and  women,  undaunted 
by  obstacles.  I  wonder  if  we  today,  were  we,  unaided  by 
modern  inventions,  faced  by  the  problems  that  they  met  and 
solved,  I  wonder  if  we  would  be  as  invincible  and  trium- 
phant a  body  as  they. 

"There  was  no  market  for  products  of  the  farming  region 
of  the  west  side  nearer  than  Easton"^  and  the  difficulty  of 
transportation  made  the  labor  of  marketing  indeed  arduous. 
I  wonder  if  we  would  send  our  produce  to  market  if 
we  had  to  drive  that  distance  in  springless  wagons.  When 
one  thinks  how  scarce  money  was,  and  how  difficult  ma- 
terials were  to  transport  and  handle,  let  alone  buy,  the  pro- 
jecting and  carrying  to  a  successful  completion  of  an  enter- 
prise of  such  proportion  as  a  bridge  was  no  small  achieve- 
ment. With  the  help  that  modern  industry  has  given  to  the 
construction  of  the  bridge  that  now  spans  the  river,  one 
finds  it  difficult  to  imagine  how  the  people  of  1816,  in  the 
face  of  such  gargantuan  odds,  could  have  completed  the 
task. 

It  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  Susquehanna  was  no  less 
turbulent  than  it  is  today.  In  fact  it  was  much  more  unruly 
one  hundred  and  twenty-three  years  ago  in  its  younger  days. 
Yet  it  still  masters  us.  There  were  the  same  wild  floods  in 
the  spring  that  we  have.  There  were  ice  jams.  There  was 
quicksand.  There  were  whirlpools.  And  yet  man  would 
cross  it.  Those  unaided  settlers  would  not  acknowledge  its 
supremacy. 

Today  when  the  crossing  of  our  river  by  any  number  of 
bridges  is  so  easy,  few  of  us  pause  to  wonder  what  means 
the  inhabitants  of  the  valley  of  1806  had  of  crossing  from 
one  bank  to  another.  Knowing  their  difficulties  one  can 
appreciate  more  fully,  I  think,  the  beautiful  bridge  that  now 
serves  us.  Before  the  first  bridge  was  erected,  the  only 
way  to  reach  the  west  side,  then  known  as  Kingston  Village, 
was  by  ferry.    This  plied  between  the  foot  of  Northampton 


158  THE  MARKET  STREET  BRIDGES. 

street  and  the  west  side.  There  was  another  ferry  that 
could  be  used  to  cross  the  river,  but  this  was  farther  up 
the  river  at  Forty  Fort.  The  trip  up  there  was  in  itself 
quite  a  journey  and  therefore  the  Forty  Fort  ferry  was 
rarely  used  by  Wilkes-Barreans.  Abel  Yarrington  was  one 
of  the  first  ferrymen  and  it  was  he  who  helped  many  women 
and  children  escape  from  the  Wyoming  Massacre  by  taking 
them  across  the  river  on  his  raft.  When  Wilkes-Barre  was 
incorporated  in  1806,  the  borough  authorities  were  granted 
the  exclusive  right  to  maintain  a  ferry  between  the  east  and 
west  side,  and  until  this  ferry  was  superseded  by  a  bridge, 
the  privilege  was  let  annually  to  parties  who  paid  certain 
rentals  to  the  borough.-  Rope  ferries  with  temporary  rafts 
were  the  most  popular,^  but  even  these  could  not  be  used  at 
all  times  because  of  the  danger  of  the  river  in  flood  season. 
Nowadays  we  feel  irked  if  w€  miss  a  trolley  that  is  going 
to  take  us  across  the  river,  or  if  our  automobile  is  unavail- 
able, but  think  what  it  must  have  meant  to  the  settlers  of  the 
valley  in  1806  when  days  would  go  by  when  it  was  impos- 
sible to  cross  the  river  while  produce  ready  for  market 
rotted  and  food  supplies  became  lower  and  lower.  How- 
ever, the  pioneers'  determination  to  harness  the  river  would 
not  admit  failure. 

Finally  in  1807,  matters  had  gone  far  enough  to  exert 
pressure  on  the  Pennsylvania  Legislature  and  an  act  was 
passed  on  April  9th  of  that  year,  supplemented  four  years 
later,  March  20,  181 1,  saying  that  "when  twenty-five  per- 
sons shall  have  subscribed  one  hundred  shares  of  the  stock 
of  said  company,  the  commissioner,  named  in  said  acts  to 
receive  subscriptions,  shall  certify  under  their  hands  and 
seals  the  names  of  the  subscribers  and  the  number  of  shares 
subscribed  by  each,  to  the  Governor,  and  thereupon  it  shall 
and  may  be  lawful  for  the  Governor.  .  .to  create  and  erect 
the  subscribers.  .  .to  the  number  of  six  hundred  shares,  into 
one  body  politic  and  corporate.  .  .by  the  name.  .  .of   'The 


THE   MARKET  STREET  BRIDGES.  1 59 

President,  Managers  and  Company  for  erecting  a  bridge 
over  the  river  Susquehanna  at  the  borough  of  Wilkes- 
Barre'  ".*  Although  by  this  act  the  bridge  was,  in  theory, 
started,  in  practice  nothing  definite  was  accomphshed  till 
1816,  five  years  later,  when  an  actual  bridge  company  was 
formed.  On  March  19th  of  that  year.  Gov.  Simon  Snyder 
chartered  the  company  of  which  Lord  Butler,  Henry  Buck- 
ingham, John  B.  Wallace  and  John  H.  Brinton,  being  a 
majority  of  the  commissioners,  were  named  to  receive  sub- 
scriptions and  to  certify  to  the  Governor  that  forty-eight 
men  had  bought  a  total  of  one  hundred  and  eighty-six 
shares. (^)  The  many  Wyoming  Valley  families  who 
today  can  trace  their  lineage  to  some  of  these  first  sub- 
scribers to  the  bridge  stock  may  well  be  proud  of  their 
ancestors'  active  patriotism.  These  stockholders  held  a 
meeting  at  the  Court  House  on  May  15,  1816,  at  which  the 
officers  of  the  bridge  company  were  chosen.  Matthias  Hol- 
lenback  was  elected  president,  with  Jacob  Cist,  treasurer, 
and  the  following  managers : 

Joseph    Sinton.  James   Barnes. 

Stephen    Tuttle.  Elias  Hoyt. 

George  Chahoon.  Henry  Buckingham. 

Three  days  later.  May  i8th,  Benjamin  Perry  was  elected 
secretary.*'    The  company  was  then  ready  to  begin  business. 

It  was  all  very  well  to  say  that  work  would  now  start, 
but  money  makes  the  mare  go  even  when  speaking  of 
bridges.  And  with  the  company's  efforts  to  start  the  erec- 
tion of  a  bridge  began  their  financial  troubles.  We  have 
seen  the  same  thing  happen  in  our  day.  There  had  been 
no  difficulty  in  getting  people  to  subscribe  for  the  stock, 
but  how  to  compel  them  to  pay  for  it  ? 

On  June  11,  1816,  the  Bridge  Company  decided  that 
funds  might  be  collected  by  calling  in  20%  of  the  stock,  to 
be  paid  on  or  before  July  first,  of  that  year.  Evidently  the 
desired  result  did  not  follow,   for  on  July   15th  there  was 


l60  THE   MARKET  STREET  BRIDGES. 

another  call  for  payment  in  full  of  all  stock  held  in  less  than 
three  shares  and  20%  of  that  held  in  three  or  more  shares, 
to  be  payable  on  September  the  first.  This,  it  was  hoped, 
would  guarantee  the  Bridge  Company  sufficient  ready  capi- 
tal to  start  work  on  the  bridge. 

On  June  14,  1816,  the  Company,  with  no  more  financial 
security  than  its  faith  in  its  stock  subscribers  to  fulfill  their 
promise  to  pay,  courageously  advertised  that  they  were  now 
ready  to  enter  into  contract  for  building  the  bridge  and 
that  proposals  were  asked  for.  This  contract  was  on  August 
27,  1816,  awarded  jointly  to  Lewis  Wernwag  of  Wilkes- 
Barre,  George  C.  Troutman  of  Philadelphia  county  and 
Joseph  Powell  of  Chester  county.  Wernwag  proposed  to 
build  a  bridge  of  four  arches  of  185  feet  each  (without 
roofing  or  siding)  and  the  company  was  to  fill  up  the  wing 
walls.  This  made  a  bridge  740  feet  long  and  thirty-four 
feet  wide.  The  1929  bridge  is  1,620  feet  long,  with  two 
sidewalks  each  17  feet  wide  and  road  width  of  54  feet.  The 
1816  bridge  was  to  be  completed  by  December  i,  181 7.  It 
is  interesting  to  read  Mr.  Wernwag's  contract : 

"A  bridge  of  four  arches,  100  and  85  each  three 
piers  and  two  abutments  will  make  740  feet  in 
length.  Thirty-four  feet  from  out  to  out  in 
breadth,  each  carriage  way  twelve  feet  in  the  clear 
between  the  ribs  and  a  footway  three  feet  wide  on 
the  outside  of  the  outer  rib. 

At  $5,000  per  100  feet  is  $37,000 

Additional    mason    work    over    and    above 
that  at   New  Hope    (') — 1,400  perches  @ 

$2.50    3.500 

"Roofing  toll  house-gates,  etc.  Scaffolding, 

and  other  unknown  expenses 6,650 


$47,150"' 
In  1816  this  was  a  huge  sum  of  money,  and  yet  it  seems 


/S^Y^^\ 


^.  1816.    A..- 


Seal  of  the  Bridge  Company. 


BiiclKf    built    i8ju,    bluwii    ilowii    in     1^24. 


THE  MARKET  STREET  BRIDGES.  l6l 

to  US  small  in  comparison  with  that  of  the  present  bridge. 
The  contract  for  the  erection  of  this  1929  bridge  was  signed 
with  the  Walter  E.  Rae  Construction  Company  of  Pitts- 
burgh by  the  county  commissioners  on  July  26,  1926,  and 
specified  that  all  work  must  be  completed  in  18  months. 
The  contract  price  was  $1,795,402.  This  did  not  include 
fees  for  architectural  work  of  about  $384,220  and  about 
$380,000  for  other  incidentals  and  extras,  making  a  total 
of  $2,559,622.^ 

According  to  Wern wag's  contract  the  base  of  the  bridge 
was  to  be  composed  of  two  abutments  and  three  piers,  with 
the  foundations  of  the  abutments  sunk  below  the  water 
mark,  "or  so  low  as  may  be  necessary  for  obtaining  a  good 
foundation". ^°  These  were  to  be  neatly  faced  and  laid 
through-out  with  good  and  substantial  stone,  well  bound 
and  secured  by  long,  flat  stone"."  They  were  to  be  held 
together  by  lime  and  sand  mortar — no  concrete  used.  Iron 
braces  were  to  run  from  the  piers  to  the  abutments.  In 
comparing  this  bridge  with  the  1929  one  I  do  not  mean  to 
minimize  that  of  1816.  Rather  does  this  comparison  make 
us,  while  appreciating  the  efforts  of  the  bridge  builders  one 
hundred  and  thirteen  years  ago,  value  more  fully  the  present 
magnificent  bridge.  I  have  said  that  Wernwag's  contract 
called  for  two  abutments  and  three  piers.  Rae's  contract 
stipulated  twelve  piers,  the  width  of  them  varying.  Of 
these,  five  are  in  the  river  and  two  are  abutment  piers,  one 
at  the  Wilkes-Barre  and  the  other  at  the  Kingston  end  of 
the  structure.  The  remaining  five  piers  are  in  Kingston  on 
the  land.  There  is  an  aggregate  width  between  the  piers, 
clear  of  their  width,  of  1,150  feet.  Compared  with  the  ma- 
terials used  for  the  bridge  of  1816,  those  used  to-day  seem 
staggering  in  amount.  For  the  present  bridge  52,900  cubic 
yards  of  concrete  were  used;  66,310  barrels  of  cement; 
38,800  tons  of  sand;  59,600  tons  of  gravel;  1,231  tons  of 
reinforced  steel;  198,000   linear    feet    of    foundation   piles; 


1 62  THE  MARKET  STREET  BRIDGES. 

26,900  cubic  feet  of  granite  masonry;  and  17,079  cubic  feet 
of  limestone  masonry,^^ 

Dififerent  as  are  these  elaborate  statistics,  from  the  simple 
ones  of  Wernwag's  bridge,  still  Rae  was  faced  by  many  of 
the  same  difficulties  that  lay  in  Wernwag's  path.  One  of 
the  construction  problems  was  the  quicksand  that  Wern- 
wag  discovered  where  the  first  pier  had  to  be  sunk.  Ac- 
cording to  Mr.  Obadiah  Hemstreet,  toll  collector,  this  han- 
dicap was  overcome  by  sinking  a  heavy  bed  of  hemlock 
boughs  and  then  building  upon  this  base.  Rae's  solution  did 
not  differ  very  widely  from  Wernwag's.  He  drove  hem- 
lock piles  below  this  quicksand  and  upon  the  piles  he  placed 
his  concrete  foundation. 

But  to  the  Bridge  Company  of  1816  even  more  severe 
than  the  construction  difficulties  were  the  financial  ones. 
Today  when  money  in  large  quantities  is  fairly  available, 
we  have  no  idea  of  its  severe  dearth  in  1816.  Since  the 
stock  subscribers  did  not  pay,  there  were  no  funds  to  meet 
the  contract.  Up  to  May  181 7  the  Bridge  Company  had 
received  only  $7,284  and  had  already  paid  out  $7,200,  leav- 
ing but  $84  on  hand.  The  original  186  shares  had  increased  to 
600  without  materially  adding  to  the  Company's  capital. 
The  decision  to  ask  for  state  aid  was  acted  upon  on  Novem- 
ber 29,  1817,  one  month  before  the  bridge  was  to  have  been 
completed.  The  expectation  that  the  Governor  would  sub- 
scribe to  and  pay  for  300  shares  proved  vain.  Jacob  Cist, 
the  treasurer  of  the  Company,  also  met  with  failure  in  set- 
ting forth  the  plight  of  the  Wilkes-Barre  Bridge  Company 
before  the  State  Legislature.  And  yet  how  comparatively 
simple  it  was  for  Contractor  Rae,  meeting  the  county  com- 
missioners. Harrison,  Conway  and  Rosser,  to  send  in  an 
estimate  of  an  extra  $2,233.75  as  the  cost  of  raising  the 
grade  of  the  bridge  approach  at  Market  and  River  streets, 
which  was  not  provided  or  covered  in  the  original  contract, 
and  be  told  to  go  ahead  with  the  work  for  the  commis- 
sioners would  pay  the  extra  amount. ^^ 


THE  MARKET  STREET  BRIDGES.  1 63 

While  the  Pennsylvania  Legislature  turned  a  deaf  ear  to 
their  plea  for  aid,  the  Bridge  Company  in  1817  issued 
script  to  the  sum  of  $30,000  in  notes  of  small  denomina- 
tions. The  value  of  these  fluctuated  with  the  prospects  of 
the  Company  issuing  them.  This,  instead  of  relieving,  only 
added  to  the  local  financial  troubles.^'* 

In  spite  of  these  discouragements.  Wilkes-Barre's  leading 
newspaper,  the  Gleaner,  on  June  6,  181 7,  seemed  to  see  a 
ray  of  hope,  for  it  optimistically  said,  "We  observe  with 
much  pleasure  the  progress  which  is  making  with  the 
bridge  at  this  place.  The  work  was  commenced  on  the 
opening  of  the  present  season  under  the  superintendence  of 
Mr.  Powell,  one  of  the  contractors.  The  two  abutments  are 
nearly  completed  and  the  piers  are  ready  to  be  sunk  as  soon 
as  the  present  swell  of  water  has  subsided.  Present  ap- 
pearances give  us  the  most  ample  assurance  that  the  con- 
tract will  be  completed  by  the  stipulated  time." 

These  sanguine  expectations  were  not  to  be  fulfilled  for 
the  winter  of  1817-1818,  an  unusually  severe  one,  saw 
teams  and  pedestrians  using  the  ice  bridge  erected  by  nature 
across  the  Susquehanna  from  late  December  till  the  ice 
broke.  The  contractors  made  use  of  the  ice  to  sink  the  third 
pier  of  the  bridge  through  an  opening  made  for  the  pur- 
pose late  in  February,  1818.^^ 

The  elements  had  further  hardships  in  store  for  the 
Bridge  Company.  These  we  read  of  in  the  Wilkes-Barre 
Gleaner  of  March  6,  1818.  'Tn  consequence  of  a  heavy  fall 
of  rain  our  ice-bridge  left  us  on  Monday.  The  river  imme- 
diately after  the  ice  started,  rose  to  an  unusual  height,  and 
as  the  ice  was  from  twelve  to  eighteen  inches  thick,  and  the 
river  high,  considerable  damage  was  sustained.  The  two 
piers  of  the  Bridge,  which  was  begun  last  season — one  of 
which  was  quite  and  the  other  almost  finished — were  de- 
stroyed. The  pier  which  was  sunk  by  cutting  a  hole  through 
the  ice  a  few  days  before  it  started,  we  believe  has  escaped 
uninjured." 


164  THE   MARKET  STREET  BRIDGES. 

However,  when  the  spring  freshet  had  subsided,  the  work 
of  repairing  the  damaged  piers  and  of  constructing  the  two 
additional  supports  in  the  shallower  water  of  the  Kingston 
side  preceded  so  rapidly  during  the  spring  and  summer  of 
1 818  that  it  was  possible  to  lay  four  wooden  spans  between 
the  five  piers  late  that  fall.  And,  although  the  sides  and 
roof  were  unfinished,  the  bridge  was  floored  and  open  to 
traffic  in  December  1818,  one  year  after  the  date  specified 
in  the  contract.  The  completion  of  the  1929  bridge  was 
also  delayed,  though  this  for  more  than  a  year  and  a  half 
after  the  contract  date.  They  had  been  forced  at  times  to 
admit  the  invincibleness  of  nature.  So  did  we.  In  our 
case  the  floods  of  1926-1927  and  1927-1928,  a  law  suit  and 
an  injunction  were  responsible  for  the  delay.  Like  the 
bridge  of  1818,  ours  was  open  for  traffic  about  six  months 
before  its  completion  and  dedication.  However,  the  elation 
of  the  Bridge  Company  in  181 8  must  have  been  far  greater 
than  our  sophisticated  calm.  Their  bridge  was  a  symbol  of 
the  greatest  community  efifort  that  had  been  attempted  by 
the  pioneers  up  to  that  time.  It  represented  the  progressive, 
dauntless  spirit  of  that  little  Wilkes-Barre  borough. 

They  by  1818  had  their  bridge.    But  how  to  pay  for  it? 

On  May  14,  1818,  the  Bridge  Company  was  again  com- 
pelled to  avail  itself,  by  the  issue  of  paper,  of  an  indirect 
loan  from  the  public  of  upwards  of  $30,000.  The  treasurer, 
George  Lane,  said  that  "as  however,  considerable  uneasiness 
exists  on  the  part  of  the  public  in  consequence  of  our  in- 
ability promptly  to  redeem  notes,  it  is  desirable  that  this 
indirect  loan  be  cancelled  by  calling  in  the  paper  of  the  com- 
pany as  rapidly  as  possible."^'' 

The  directors  of  the  Company  then  decided  to  appeal  to 
the  Philadelphia  Bank  for  aid.  because  as  Mr.  Johnson  says, 
"in  consequence  of  curtailments  of  discounts  at  branch 
banks,  many  of  the  stockholders  of  the  Bridge  Company 
were  unable  to  pay  for  their  stock. "^^     As  a  result  of  this 


THE  MARKET  STREET  BRIDGES.  l6$ 

the  Company  was  under  great  financial  embarrassment.  The 
Bridge  Company  felt  that  this  state  of  affairs  might  be 
remedied  since  the  Philadelphia  bank  permitted  directors  of 
branch  banks  to  loan  to  persons  indebted  to  bridge  companies 
on  good  security,  the  sum  of  $10,000.^^  On  August  8,  1818, 
the  Wilkes-Barre  Bridge  Company  petitioned  the  Phila- 
delphia bank  either  to  grant  them  a  loan,  or  bring  pressure  on 
the  directors  of  branch  banks  to  loan  them  funds.  On 
August  13,  their  request  was  refused. 

Then  trouble  arose  among  the  bridge  laborers  them_selves, 
and  on  October  30,  1818,  a  strike,  one  of  the  first,  if  not 
the  first  in  Wilkes-Barre  was  declared.  Though  the  contrac- 
tors had  been  given  $32,857.23,  they  had  neglected  to  pay 
the  hands  and  had  no  money  with  which  to  avert  the  strike. 
Notice  was  served  on  the  Company  by  the  stockholders  that 
this  must  be  remedied  immediately.  The  situation  was  eased 
by  the  Company  treasurer's  compelling  the  contractors  to 
pay  the  laborers  a  part  of  their  wages  with  the  promise  to 
pay  the  complete  sum. 

Work  continued  to  progress  slowly  on  the  bridge  until 
April  30,  18 1 9,  when  the  Wyoming  Herald  of  that  date  an- 
nounced a  Public  Calamity,  " — That  pier  of  the  Wilkes- 
Barre  bridge  which  stood  next  to  the  Wilkes-Barre  shore, 
and  which  for  some  days  preceding  wore  a  very  threatening 
aspect  (being  continually  settling  towards  the  Kingston 
shore)  suddenly  gave  way  at  the  top,  and  the  two  entire 
arches  of  the  bridge  resting  thereon  were,  with  a  tremendous 
crash,  precipitated  into  the  river.  The  shore  arch  remains  in 
the  water  where  it  fell ...  the  other  was  towed  to  shore  about 
half  a  mile  below,  where  it  remains .  .  .  the  timber  of  both 
being  very  much  shattered,  and  much  of  the  iron  work  in- 
jured..." Knowing  the  plight  of  this  Bridge  Company 
we  can  realize  how  lucky  in  spite  of  two  floods  our  bridge 
builders  have  been. 

After  this  "public  calamity"  John  J.  Ward  was  given  a 


l66  THE   MARKET  STREET  BRIDGES. 

contract  to  separate  the  two  broken  arches  and  bring  the 
timber  to  the  top  of  the  bank  and  the  iron  and  castings  to 
the  storehouse  of  Wernwag  and  Company. ^^ 

Mr.  Wernwag's  neglecting  to  build  ice  fenders  or  take 
precautions  against  the  spring  freshets  was  responsible  for 
this  accident.  The  ice,  plus  the  high  river,  plus  a  large  quan- 
tity of  timbers  being  lodged  against  the  pier  nearest  Wilkes- 
Barre  caused  the  damage.  It  seemed  that  indeed  ex- 
perience was  to  be  the  wisest  teacher  for  the  poor  Bridge 
Company.  Mr.  Matthias  Hollenback,  first  president  of  the 
Bridge  Company,  has  said  that  although  "The  Company 
were  very  much  embarrassed,  with  a  view  to  saving  the  re- 
maining arches  and  of  completing  the  bridge  in  the  style 
originally  intended,  they  entered  into  a  new  contract  with 
Messrs.  Thurston  and  Hill,  gentlemen  of  acknowledged 
abilities  and  experience  in  works  of  this  kind  to  rebuild  the 
fallen  pier  and  arches  and  to  erect  ice  fenders  for  the  sum 
of  $9,500."-"  In  entering  into  this  new  contract  the  Com- 
pany confidently  relied  upon  the  Pennsylvania  Legislature  to 
lend  them  the  aid  that  had  been  given  to  several  other  pro- 
jects of  municipal  and  state  improvement  by  authorizing  the 
Governor  to  subscribe  for  320  shares  of  stock.  But  again 
their  hopes  proved  vain.  The  State  refused  aid.  The 
Bridge  Company  admitted  that  it  was  now  beyond  their 
power  to  cover  and  complete  the  bridge.  They  were  forced 
to  try  other  sources  for  financial  assistance. 

These  other  sources  were  the  Easton  and  Wilkes-Barre 
Turnpike  Company  and  the  Philadelphia  bank.  A  letter 
dated  October  23,  1819,  from  Elias  Hoyt,  president  of  the 
Bridge  Company,  to  Matthias  Hollenback,  then  in  Phila- 
delphia, clearly  shows  the  dire  state  of  affairs. 
"Dear  Sir— 

"The  Board  of  Managers  have  requested  me  to 
write  to  you  in  Philadelphia  with  regard  to  money 
concerned.     The  contractors  here  say  they  will  be 


THE   MARKET  STREET  BRIDGES.  167 

compelled  to  abandon  work  soon  unless  they  can 
have  money.  Should  the  Company  fail  of  a  loan 
from  the  Easton  and  Wilkes-Barre  Turnpike  Com- 
pany which  fact  we  presume  you  have  by  this  time 
ascertained,  we  wish  you  to  take  the  trouble  to 
see  the  directors  of  the  Philadelphia  Bank  and 
know  from  them  whether  we  could  not  be  accom- 
modated with  a  loan  of  from  $i,ooo  to  $1,500,  on 
a  year's  credit,  provided  the  debt  should  be  well 
secured.  It  is  of  great  importance  that  we  have 
a  loan  from  some  quarter  and  hope  you  will  not 
fail  to  make  diligent  inquiry. 

"The  work  at  present  is  going  on  tolerably  well 
and  I  think  only  requiring  a  little  exertion  on  our 
part,  to  have  the  Bridge  passable  by  next 
Christmas, 

"I  remain.  Sir, 

"Your  Humble  Serv't. 

"Elias  Hoyt." 
Evidently  no  aid  was  forthcoming  for  with  the  bridge  as 
yet  incomplete  and  the  debts  not  paid,  the  Bridge  Company 
decided  to  use  the  tolls  to  meet  expenses. ^^ 

The  next  task  facing  the  Company  was  the  appointment 
of  a  toll-keeper  for  the  many  irregularities  that  were  occur- 
ring. Unappointed  persons  were  taking  tolls;  horses  were 
trotting  on  the  bridge ;  four  or  five  wagons  would  arrive  on 
the  same  arch  at  the  same  time  and  fires  were  being  kindled 
within  the  gate  near  the  frame  of  the  bridge.^-  Bids  were 
therefore  open  and  Zury  Smith's  proposal  was  accepted. 
Smith  undertook  to  keep  the  gate  one  year  for  $180,  payable 
quarterly,  provided  his  firewood  and  candles  were  furnished 
him."23 

Having  secured  the  services,  of  a  toll  keeper,  the  next 
problem  was  where  to  house  him.  A  toll  house  had  to  be 
built.  On  March  22,  18 19,  Job  Barton  was  awarded  the 
contract  to  erect  a  toll  house  7  x  10  at  a  cost  of  $16. 


l68  THE   MARKET  STREET  BRIDGES. 

And  Still  the  State  refused  aid.  On  January  4,  1820,  they 
were  again  petitioned.  And  again  refused.  Few  of  us 
realize,  I  think,  how  comparatively  little  trouble  we  had  to 
get  our  new  bridge.  One  cannot  but  admire  the  persever- 
ance of  the  1816  Bridge  Company  officials  when  they  once 
more  sought  the  help  of  the  Legislature  on  November  20, 
1820.  This  time  they  were  successful.  They  received  an 
appropriation  of  $10,000  secured,  for  which  the  State  re- 
ceived 260  shares  of  stock.-*  The  bridge  was  then  finished 
as  to  sides  and  roof.  It  must  have  been  indeed  a  relief  when 
the  Bridge  Company  had  their  structure  so  far  completed 
that  they  could  make  rules  regarding  it.  On  March  8,  1821, 
we  find  them  resolving  to  impose  a  find  of  five  dollars  for 
fast  driving  on  the  bridge.  And  fast  driving  was  then  the 
shocking  pace  of  a  horse's  trot.  The  Company  were  prob- 
ably devout  churchmen,  for  on  April  2,  1821,  they  decreed 
that  all  teams  laden  exclusively  with  lumber  for  a  Methodist 
meeting  house  to  be  built  in  Wilkes-Barre  the  ensuing  sea- 
son should  pass  the  bridge  toll  free.  Ministers  of  all  de- 
nominations were  to  be  allowed  to  pass  and  repass  to  attend 
religious  meetings  free  from  toll.  It  was  also  resolved  on 
May  25,  182 1,  that  the  president,  managers  and  treasurer 
be  given  the  privilege  of  passing  the  bridge  on  foot,  on 
horseback  or  in  carriage,  toll  free,  together  with  any  person 
or  persons  in  the  carriage  with  them.-^ 

After  the  actual  construction  of  the  bridge  was  com- 
pleted, it  was  up  to  the  Bridge  Company  to  keep  it  in  repair. 
In  Matthias  Hollenback's  account  book  we  find  a  record  of 
wages  that  were  paid  the  laborers. 

It  is  interesting  to  know  that  whiskey  for  the  workers  was 
always  figured  in  with  expenses.  On  August  27,  1821,  there 
is  an  entry  in  the  Bridge  account  book  reading: 

"3  qts.  whiskey  to  get  flat  into  river 37%" 

"Expense  getting  up   flat,   2  yoke  oxen 

4  hands  with  their  whiskey   2.12^2' 


Jiri.lgt-   rrplaciiiy   first 


llii<"l   of   Ki-liiuary    12,    1S61 


WcMlfii   toll    ua 


THE  MARKET  STREET  BRIDGES.  169 

A  few  years  later  (May  17,  1825)  we  read: 

"May   17  I  qt.  whiskey 10 

"     19  I  bbl.  whiskey — 33  gals,  (old)    .  .  .    10.23 
Aug.  9  Beer  for  hands  getting  posts  1.83" 

Impecunious  residents  of  the  valley  had  an  opportunity 
to  meet  tax  demands  by  working  on  the  bridge. 

Although  by  1824  the  bridge  was  five  years  old,  and  al- 
though no  dividends  had  as  yet  been  declared,  fate  again 
overtook  the  structure.  A  wind  storm  swept  the  bridge 
from  its  piers,  depositing  the  superstructure  on  the  ice  some 
distance  beyond  the  location.  Colonel  Charles  Dorrance, 
who  at  that  time  was  a  youth  of  nineteen  said  later  (1878) 
he  remembered  how  this  storm  had  shaken  the  Dorrance 
homestead.  An  eye  witness  of  the  bridge's  destruction  said 
in  the  Record  of  the  Times  on  January  6,  1858,  "...the 
gale  took  the  bridge  bodily  from  the  piers  and  it  fell  with  a 
tremendous  crash  on  the  thick  blue  ice  below  and  broke  into 
atoms.  The  ice  broke  up  next  day  towards  sundown  and 
carried  downstream  with  it  most  of  the  broken  timbers  & 
iron  (a  small  portion  having  been  removed  that  day)  which 
was  totally  lost  from  the  owners." 

After  the  destruction  of  the  bridge,  the  Hon.  Benjamin 
Dorrance,  then  a  member  of  the  State  Legislature,  had  the 
Act  of  March  30,  1824,  passed  through  the  State  Legisla- 
ture. According  to  this,  commissioners  were  created  to 
collect  $15,000  from  certificates,  liens  and  mortgages  on 
lands  of  the  township  of  Luzerne  county  for  the  bridge 
company  to  spend  as  it  saw  fit. 

By  this  act  the  Bridge  Company  was  put  on  its  feet  again. 
Calvin  Wadhams,  George  M.  Hollenback  and  Garrick  Mal- 
lery  were  named  commissioners  for  the  purpose  of  reorgan- 
izing the  company's  afifairs,  paying  their  debts  and  securing 
additional  funds  for  reconstructing  the  bridge  by  collecting 
the  money  due  the  Commonwealth  on  certificates,  liens  and 
mortgages.     Collections  thus  made  were  to  be  shown  in  the 


170  THE   MARKET  STREET  BRIDGES. 

form  of  shares  of  stock  in  the  Company  delivered  to  the 
Commonwealth.-*'  By  October,  1824,  the  managers  an- 
nounced that  they  were  ready  to  let  the  contract  for  replac- 
ing the  superstructure.  The  contract  was  awarded  that  fall 
to  Reuben  Field  although  work  was  not  started  on  the  bridge 
until  February  22,  1825.-'  Plans  of  the  Derrstown  bridge 
were  followed  and  the  rebuilt  structure  is  the  "Old  Covered 
Bridge"  that  was  used  till  replaced  by  the  iron  one  (1892), 
that  has  recently  given  way  to  the  present  concrete  bridge. 
By  these  dififerent  materials  used,  one  can  trace  the  in- 
creased prosperity  of  this  community.  This  second  bridge 
was  wooden  with  heavy  arched  timbers  spanning  the  piers. 
On  the  Wilkes-Barre  side  was  a  wooden  toll  house  with  an 
archway  through  the  centre  to  allow  passage  of  vehicles. 
Here  the  toll  keeper  resided.-'^ 

Toward  the  end  of  November,  1825,  the  bridge  was  again 
passable  and  December  sixth  was  the  day  set  aside  to  dedi- 
cate the  new  structure.     Though  Mr.  Lord  Butler  was  then 
president  of  the  Company  (i 821 -1826)  the  Honorable  Ben- 
jamin Dorrance,  because  of  his  invaluable  assistance  in  get- 
ting the  Act  of  March  30,   1824,  passed,  presided  over  the 
elaborate   dinner    with   which   the   ceremonies    ended.     The 
Susquehanna  Democrat  describes  the  occasion  as   follows : 
"The  day  was  ushered  in  by  the  discharge  of  a 
cannon.  .  .  The  citizens  awoke  with  joy.  .  .and gazed 
with  conspicuous  pride  upon  the  bridge ...  At  two 
o'clock,  the  workmen  and  a  numerous  assemblage 
of  our  farmers  and  citizens  sat  down  at  the  dis- 
charge of  a  signal  gun  to  an  excellent  dinner  pre- 
pared by  Mr.  O.  Helme." 
Even  as  we  in  1929,  so  they  in  1824  celebrated  the  com- 
pletion of  their  bridge  with  music,  speeches  and  a  banquet. 
During  the  year  1826  the  toll  house  and  the  sides  and  roof 
of  the  bridge  were  completed  and  the  "Old  Covered  Bridge" 
had  become  a  reality. 


THE   MARKET  STREET  BRIDGES.  17^ 

By  1829  the  stock  taken  by  the  Common weaUh  was  almost 
entirely  repurchased  by  individuals  and  was  ultimately  held 
by  the  projectors  of  the  enterprise.  On  January  lo,  1829, 
the  first   Bridge   Company   dividend   was   paid    (I1.25   per 

share). 

From  1829  to  1861  nothing  momentous  happened  to  the 
bridge  beyond  extensive  repairs  for  reflooring  and  reroofing 
in  1834;  and  several  new  by-laws  on  February  22,  1840. 
These  by-laws  said  that  no  person  or  persons  should  be  per- 
mitted to  smoke  any  cigar  or  pipe  or  any  other  substance 
containing  fire,  or  to  carry  any  instrument  or  thing  contain- 
ing fire,  on  the  bridge  without  incurring  for  every  such 
ofiFense  a  fine  of  s''-  On  March  11,  1844,  tolls  were  re- 
duced as  follows: 

"Four  horse  teams  from  70c  to  50c. 
"Two  horse  teams  from  40c  to  30c. 
"Tickets  for  two  horse  team  from  25c  to  20c. "^° 
On  January   i,   1858  gas  fixtures  were  installed  on  the 
bridge,  for  which  fittings  A.  C.  Laning  paid  Thomas  Lewis 
$140.    These  fixtures  were  equipped  with  natural  gas  piped 
from    nearby    pond-holes.      Mr.    William    A.    Wilcox,    of 
Scranton,  said : 

"J.  Bennett  Smith,  traveling  agent  for  Hazard 
Wire  Rope  Company  of  Wilkes-Barre,  first  got  the 
idea  that  the  gas  bubbling  up  in  the  gas  pots  on 
south  side  of  the  road  in  Kingston  could  be  utilized 
for  lighting  the  bridge.  He  succeeded  in  getting  a 
pipe  across  the  bridge  with  lights  at  intervals.  The 
difficulty  with  this  was  that  lights  generated  too 
much  heat.  They  had  a  great  deal  of  trouble  in 
getting  a  substance  that  would  stand  the  heat. 
Large  sheets  of  mica  solved  this  problem  and  lights 
were  a  success  for  some  time.  However,  the  use 
of  gas  was  stopped  a  little  while  before  the  Old 
Covered  Bridge  was  taken  down." 


172  THE   MARKET  STREET  BRIDGES. 

It  required  forty-two  years  for  the  bridge  of  1816  finally 
to  achieve  lights  but  the  1929  bridge  on  its  completion 
boasts  thirteen  light  standards  on  each  of  the  sidewalks. 
Each  standard  bears  two  electric  lights  of  400  candle  power 
each. 

In  1 86 1  there  was  serious  damage  done  to  the  bridge  in 
the  spring  break  up  of  ice,  part  of  the  structure  being  com- 
pletely demolished,  so  that  it  was  necessary  to  close  the 
bridge  to  traffic  for  several  weeks.  By  June  repairs  were 
far  enough  advanced  to  allow  traffic  although  not  until  sev- 
eral months  later  were  the  repairs  completed.  The  IVilkes- 
Barre  Record  of  December  25,  1861,  says: 

"The  Wilkes-Barre  bridge  has  been  thoroughly 
repaired  and  is  in  better  condition  than  ever  before. 
Under  the  charge  of  Capt.  Urquhart  the  damaged 
piers  were  taken  down  and  rebuilt  with  huge 
granite  blocks,  cemented  together  in  the  most  sub- 
stantial manner.  The  superstructure,  so  strong 
before  that  it  no  doubt  resisted  the  force  of  the 
ice,  and  kept  the  piers  from  being  washed  away, 
has  been  further  raised  and  strengthened  by  iron 
rods  and  bolts,  and  is  no  doubt  one  of  the  finest 
structures  of  the  kind  in  the  country."  The  Record 
was  saying  the  same  things  in  1861  as  they  do  to- 
day. "It  is  hardly  possible  that  the  ice  floods  of 
the  Susquehanna  will  in  many  years  equal  that  of 
last  winter  which  damaged  the  bridge  so  that  it 
may  be  considered  permanent."  The  cost  of  re- 
pairs was  between  $11,000  and  $12,000." 
In  spite  of  this  boast  the  flood  of  1865  did  injure  the 
bridge  so  that  several  repairs  and  replacements  were  neces- 
sary. 

In  1885  the  wooden  toll  house  on  the  Wilkes-Barre  side, 
being  unsafe,  was  torn  down  and  in  its  stead  a  brick  toll 
house  was  built. 


'■^^aaf'^r^-     —'--'-   ^'•^^^' 


M.llkU      Stud,     W  llkls   H.Mll,     .lllnlll       ISS:;.     I.„,kin'4     tlnm     Cll.l     ot      In 

Welles  Hollenl.ack,  on  the  lett      Old    Music   Hall. 


Juhii 


Sti-i-1   lirid.iic  erected    iS9;-y3, 


L-te  liridge    192S. 


nil,'  tluud  of   March   3, 


THE  MARKET  STREET  BRIDGES.  1 73 

In  the  meantime  another  bridge  was  being  built  across 
the  Susquehanna  River  at  North  street,  Wilkes-Barre,  and 
this,  promoted  by  Mr.  John  Reynolds,  though  bitterly  op- 
posed by  all  ardent  supporters  of  the  Market  Street  Bridge, 
was  nevertheless  completed  on  September  i,  1888.  The 
North  street  bridge  was  further  made  convenient  for  those 
crossing  the  river  when  a  trolley  line  was  run  from  Main 
street,  Wilkes-Barre,  to  Wyoming  avenue,  Kingston.  Di- 
rectors of  the  Market  Street  Bridge  and  their  families  would 
not  stoop  to  go  over  the  North  Street  Bridge  and  directors 
of  the  North  Street  Bridge  would  rather  swim  the  river 
than  cross  by  the  Market  Street  Bridge.  Tales  are  told  that 
in  1888  it  was  considered  rather  the  sporting  thing  to  do  to 
defy  parental  control  and  cross  the  forbidden  bridge,  which- 
ever one  it  was. 

With  the  increase  of  traffic,  the  Market  Street  Bridge 
was  found  to  be  not  only  inadequate  but  also  unsound. 
Therefore  on  January  i,  1892,  traffic  was  diverted  to  the 
North  Street  Bridge  while  the  timbers  of  the  historic  "Old 
Covered  Bridge"  gave  place  to  the  then  modern  steel  spans. 
As  a  mark  of  respect  to  the  last  president  of  the  Bridge 
Company,  Colonel  Charles  Dorrance,  the  destruction  of  the 
Old  Covered  Bridge  was  witheld  a  few  hours  in  order  that 
his  funeral  might  pass  over  it.  On  April  16,  1892,  the  new 
Market  Street  Bridge  was  opened  for  use.  It  continued  to 
be  a  toll  bridge  until  1908  when  it  was  sold  to  Luzerne 
County  for  $165,000  and  made  a  free  bridge  on  October  3rd 
of  that  same  year.  Mr.  Obadiah  Hemstreet,  who  had  been 
the  toll  keeper  of  the  "Old  Covered  Bridge"  since  1872, 
continued  to  fill  the  same  office  on  the  new  bridge  with 
Matthew  Siddel,  former  toll  collector  at  Towanda,  as  his 
assistant.  Mr.  Hemstreet  tells  many  anecdotes  of  his  ex- 
periences from  1872- 1909. 

In  those  days  truck  farms  between  Wilkes-Barre  and 
Kingston  flourished  upon  the  flats  and  the  melons  grown 
there  were  especially   famous.     Two   farmers,   Severn  and 


174  THE   MARKET  STREET  BRIDGES. 

Newitt,  had  stands  near  the  Kingston  side  of  the  bridge,  where 
they  sold  Rocky  Ford  melons  for  ten  cents  apiece.  When 
these  gardeners  and  others,  especially  Beechum  and  Pierce, 
brought  their  melons  to  the  Wilkes-Barre  market  they 
paused  at  the  toll  house  to  pay  toll  and  to  give  Mrs.  Hem- 
street  their  choicest  melons.  In  return  for  this  favor,  she 
saved  the  seeds  for  the  farmers  that  they  might  use  them 
for  the  next  season's  planting. 

Mr.  Hemstreet  says  that  runaways  were  frequent  and 
that  strangers  often  took  the  wrong  side  of  the  bridge, 
causing  traffic  congestion  until  the  horses  could  either  be 
backed  to  the  opening,  or  else  turned  around  inside  the 
bridge.  In  the  winter,  while  the  "Old  Covered  Bridge"  was 
still  in  use  (before  1892)  snow  was  hauled  inside  the  bridge 
so  that  sleighs  might  use  it.  Mr.  Hemstreet  says  that  in 
winter  there  was  not  much  sleep  for  the  toll-keeper  because 
of  the  numerous  sleighing  parties  that  crossed  the  bridge  at 
all  hours  of  the  night. 

Young  boys  on  ponies  caused  the  toll  keeper  considerable 
difficulty  for  they  almost  always  had  forgotten  their  toll 
money  and  felt  it  an  injustice  to  their  steeds  to  slow  them 
down  to  a  walk.  Mr.  Hemstreet  had  to  be  alert  when  deal- 
ing with  small  boys  going  fishing.  Many  were  the  arts  they 
practiced  to  avoid  the  toll-keeper.  One  of  the  most  popular 
means  of  escape  was  to  walk  beside  a  wagon  or  the  horse- 
drawn  trolleys,  that  later  plied  between  Wilkes-Barre  and 
Kingston,  on  the  side  away  from  the  toll  keeper.  Or  else 
they  might  hide  themselves  in  a  wagon  that  was  crossing 
the  bridge. 

But  the  most  difficult  customers  that  Mr.  Hemstreet  had 
to  deal  with  were  the  non-English-speaking  foreigners  and 
immigrants  that  crossed  the  bridge.  The  women  carrying 
trunks  on  their  bent  backs,  the  men  alert  and  erect  walking 
beside  them  to  supervise  their  efforts,  were  unable  to  under- 
stand the  toll  collector  and  often  required  time  and  patience 
before  they  finally  paid  the  fee.     Mr.  Hemstreet  found  his 


THE   MARKET  STREET  BRIDGES.  I75 

dog  an  invaluable  assistant,  for  those  who  refused  to  pay 
and  passed  the  collector  would  be  faced  by  a  snarling  dog 
who  meant  business.  Mr.  Hemstreet  says  that  few,  if  any, 
ever  tried  to  argue  with  this  canine  Horatius. 

When  the  Molly  McGuires  were  at  their  height  the  col- 
lector had  to  keep  his  wits  about  him.  Mr.  Hemstreet  re- 
members one  cold  night  about  ten  o'clock  when  four  impu- 
dent, lawless  fellows  refused  to  meet  his  request  for  toll. 
Instead  they  snatched  him  up,  ran  the  length  of  the  bridge 
with  him  and  were  leaning  over  the  railing  to  throw  him 
into  the  river  when  some  of  his  friends  happened  by  in  the 
nick  of  time  to  save  him. 

When  the  horse  cars  were  established — through  the  efforts 
of  Mr.  A.  H.  Coon — they  ran  between  the  Square  and  the 
Kingston  D.,  L.  and  W.  station.  The  fare  was  ten  cents, 
the  cars  ran  every  forty  minutes  and  paid  $120.00  a  month 
for  toll.  There  was  straw  on  the  floor  of  the  cars  in  win- 
ter so  that  the  passengers  might  try  to  keep  their  feet  warm. 
I  have  often  heard  of  the  bitterness,  literally  and  figuratively, 
that  might  be  felt  when  on  a  raw  winter  night,  after  running 
for  the  horse  car,  one  just  missed  it  and  knew  that  a  forty 
minute  wait  in  the  piercing  cold  lay  ahead  of  one.  Elec- 
trically propelled  cars  were  first  run  over  the  North  Street 
Bridge. 

Although  the  early  troubles  of  the  Bridge  Company  were 
a  thing  of  the  past,  and  the  bridge  completed,  the  weather 
continued  to  molest  the  peace  just  as  it  still  does.  On  the 
night  of  March  17,  1875,  the  river,  with  heavy  ice  floating 
on  top  was  running  high  and  rapidly  rising.  Mr.  Hem- 
street says  that  the  piers  of  the  bridge  were  shaking  so 
vigorously  that  he  could  hardly  stand.  The  water  was  al- 
most up  to  the  level  of  the  bridge.  The  ice  was  twenty-nine 
inches  thick.  One  unusually  large  piece  came  by  and  with- 
out bending  or  shattering  the  ice,  cut  in  half  a  row  of  tim- 
bers 12  X  12.  This  same  freshet  broke  two  wagon  bridges 
at  Pittston.     These  bridge  were  burned  at  Forty  Fort  so 


176  THE   MARKET  STREET  BRIDGES, 

that,  in  floating  down  the  river,  they  should  not  damage  the 
Wilkes-Barre  Bridge. 

The  need  for  a  larger  and  more  adequate  bridge  was  felt 
as  long  ago  as  1917.  The  Iron  Bridge,  the  third  one  to  be 
built  across  the  Susquehanna,  was  not  open  to  traffic  at  all 
times  and  was  unable  to  accommodate  the  trolleys,  automo- 
biles and  wagons  that  had  to  cross  it.  Therefore,  in  March, 
1919,  more  than  ten  years  ago,  authorization  for  the  con- 
struction of  the  present  bridge  was  given  by  the  Luzerne 
County  Court.  Litigation,  however,  held  up  the  preliminary 
arrangements  till  1926.  As  I  have  said  before,  the  contract 
for  the  erection  of  the  new  bridge  was  signed  with  the  Wal- 
ter E.  Rae  Construction  Company  of  Pittsburgh  on  July  26, 
1926.  It  is  a  tribute  to  modern  industry  that  within  ten 
days  the  materials  of  construction  were  on  the  place  of 
action  and  that  the  actual  work  of  erection  started.  Travel 
over  the  old  and  new  bridge  continued  almost  uninterruptedly 
during  the  building  and  on  September  25,  1929,  the  fourth 
bridge  was  dedicated — modern  and  complete  in  every  detail. 

It  is  a  bridge  to  which  one  and  all  may  point  with  pride 
not  view  with  alarm.  It  is  a  monument  in  which  narrow 
sectionalism  should  be  lost  while  realizing  the  useful  beauty 
of  this  structure  that  belongs  to  us  all.  May  it  be  a  monu- 
ment to  the  dauntless  courage  and  fortitude  of  that  pioneer 
bridge  company,  to  their  progressiveness,  service  and  pa- 
triotism. Let  us  never  forget  that  it  represents  an  historic 
old  landmark.  And  knowing  the  difficulties  that  have  been 
surmounted  in  building  these  four  bridges,  let  us  fully  ap- 
preciate this  fourth  one.  It  is  the  growth  of  our  Wyoming 
Valley  that  we  see  in  the  growth  of  our  bridges.  Since  the 
first  settlers  came  here,  man  has  fought  to  cross  that  turbu- 
lent river.  The  bridges  have  symbolized  man's  battle  for 
commerce,  growing  and  enlarging,  always  moving  forward. 
Those  other  bridges  told  of  the  flourishing  nature  of  the 
local  settlements.  This  new  bridge  points  to  a  new  era  of 
progressiveness  in  the  valley's  history. 


M       ^W^^-^^"""^'"- ■  ,  n  -,-  ^,.— rr- -r-       ■•!■  ~— T^T,, -^-  •    ^     -ns-^-ir- 


m Jl 


Iiiidyi-   Hnislu', 


111    Kivfi-   St  reel 


THE  MARKET  STREET  BRIDGES. 

NOTES  AND  FOOTNOTES 


177 


1.  Johnson — Vol.  IV.,  p.  85. 

2.  Wilkes-Barre  Record— g/ 10/26. 

3.  Bradsby — p.  264. 

4.  Johnson— Vol.  IV.,  p.  85. 

5.  Ibid. 

NOTE : — The  following  is  a  list  of  those  who  bought  shares  with 
the  names  of  some  present  descendants : 
Lord   Butler 
Matthias   Hollenback 
Benjamin   Dorrance 
Jacob  Cist 
Isaac   Bowman 
George    Chahoon 
David   Peckins 
David  Scott 
Samuel  Thomas 
Elijah    Shoemaker 
George  Lane 
Henry    Buckingham 
James  Barnes 
Joseph  Sinton 
Nathan  Palmer 
Jesse  Fell 
Stephen  Tuttle 
Calvin  Wadhams 
Jonathan  Hancock 
Elias  Hoyt 
Daniel  Hoyt 
Nathali   Hurlbert 
Darius  Landon 
M.  Thompson 
Joseph    Tuttle 
Geo.    M.    Hollenback 
William  Barnes 
Eliphalet  A.  Bulkele: 
David   Smith 
Isaac   Shoemaker 
Adam  Shafer  i  share 

David  Brace  2  shares 


4  shares 

(Butler,  Hillard,  Woodward) 

10  shares 

(Hollenback,  Welles) 

4  shares 

(Dorrance,    Reynolds)         Guthrie) 

5  shares 

(McClintock,     Rutter,    Thomas, 

2  shares 

(Bowman,  Ingham,  Mulligan) 

10  shares 

I  share 

6  shares 

(Scott) 

10  shares 

7  shares 

(Shoemaker,  Miner,  Norris,  Phelps) 

5  shares 

5  shares 

(Reynolds,   Dorrance,   Loveland, 

10  shares 

Vaughn,   Hoyt) 

10  shares 

I  share 

2  shares 

(Fell,  Carpenter) 

2  shares 

3  shares 

(Wadhams) 

5  shares 

2  shares 

(Hoyt,   Reynolds) 

4  shares 

(Hoyt,   Reynolds) 

2  shares 

(Loveland) 

I  share 

4  shares 

5  shares 

10  shares 

(Hollenback,  Welles) 

5  shares 

I  share 

2  shares 

2  shares 

(Shoemaker) 

78 


THE  MARKET  STREET  BRIDGES. 


Henry    Courtright 
Barnet  Ulp 
Collings  &  Bettle 
Elijah  Loveland 
Albert   Skeir 
Benjamin  Drake 
Joseph    Slocum 
Charles  Catlin 
Joshua    Pettebone 
Christian    G.    Ochwig 
John  Peckins 
Franklin  Jenkins 
James  Hughes 
John    W.    Ward 
Alexander  Jameison 
Henry  Kern 


4  shares 

1  share 

3  shares 

2  shares 

1  share 

5  shares 
5  shares 

4  shares 

5  shares 

2  shares 
I  share 

1  share 

2  shares 
2  shares 
4  shares 
2  shares 


(Loveland) 

(Drake,  Loomis) 
(Slocum,  Bennett, 
(Catlin) 
(Pettebone) 


Phelps,  Jones, 
Ayres,  Butler) 


(Schooley,  Wilcox,  Jenkins) 


Total  i86 

6.  Johnson — vol.  IV.,  p.  85. 

7.  The  bridge  at  Wilkes-Barre  was  to  be  made  vi^ith  the  bridge 


at  New  Hope  on  the  Delaware  River  above  Bristol,  Pa.,  as  a  model. 

This  bridge  is  still  standing   (March,   1929). 

8. 

Wernwag's  contract   in   the   Wyoming   Historical   and   Geo- 

logical  Society. 

9- 

Thnes-Leader — 9/25/29. 

10. 

Wernwag's  contract. 

II. 

Ibid. 

12. 

Times-Leader— 9/25/2g. 

13. 

Times-Leader — 4/25/29. 

14. 

Ibid. 

15- 

Ibid. 

16. 

Johnson — vol.  IV.,  p.  87. 

17. 

Ibid. 

18. 

Ibid. 

19. 

Ibid— p.  88. 

20. 

Mathias    Hollenback's    papers    in    Wyoming    Historical    and 

Geological  Society. 

21. 

Johnson — vol.  IV.,  p.  88. 

22. 

Ibid. 

23- 

Ibid. 

24. 

Ibid— p.  89. 

25- 

Ibid — p.  90. 

THE  MARKET  STREET  BRIDGES.  179 

26.  Times-Leader— 7/22/27. 

27.  Johnson — vol.  IV.,  p.  89. 

28.  Wilkes-Barre  Record— 9/10/26. 

29.  Johnson— vol.  IV.,  p.  90. 

30.  Ibid. 

31.  Times-Leader— 9/2S/2g. 

32.  The  presidents  of  the  Bridge  Company  were : 

1816  Matthias   Hollenback. 

1817  Joseph   Sinton. 
1819  Elias  Hoyt. 
1821  Lord   Butler. 

1826  George  Dennison. 

1827  Ebenezer  Bowman. 
1829  G.  M.  Hollenback. 
1866  Hon.  Ziba  Bennett. 
1878  Col    Charles  Dorrance. 


PHOTOGRAPHS  USED  AS  ILLUSTRATIONS 

The  Old  River  Ark. 

Matthias  Hollenback  (portrait). 

Matthias  HoUenback's  House. 

Market  St.  Bridge— 1820. 

Market  St.  Bridge,  by  B.  Brower— 1823. 

Market  St.  Bridge— 1824. 

Toll  House— 1826. 

Public  Square,  Wilkes-Barre— 1830. 

Old  Steamer  Wyoming.  « 

Wilkes-Barre— 1840. 

Wyoming  Valley— 1850. 

Ice  Flood— 1861. 

Ice  Flood— 1865. 

Wyoming  Valley  Hotel— 1866. 

Wilkes-Barre— 1870— I. 

Ice  Gorge — 1875. 

River  View,  opp.  Valley  Hotel  (*9)- 

Flood,  showing  flats— 1875- 

Market  St.,  Wilkes-Barre,  approx.  1875  (*ii7)- 

North  Main  St.,  Wilkes-Barre,  approx.  1875  (*75)- 

Luzerne  House  and  Public  Square,  approx.  1875  (*I2). 

Hollenback  Building. 

Wyoming  Valley,  Pa.— 1885. 

Market  St.  Bridge— 1892. 

Market  St.  Bridge  in  1902  flood. 

Market  St.  Bridge,  1929- 


l80  THE   MARKET  STREET  BRIDGES. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Bradsby,  H.  C,  editor,  History  of  Luzerne  County,  Pennsylvania. 
Chicago— 1893. 

History  of  Luzerne,  Lackawanna  and  Wyoming  Counties, 
Pennsylvania,  with  Illustrations  and  Biographical  Sketches.  New 
York— 1880. 

Johnson,  F.  C.  editor.  Historical  Record — Quarterly  Publication 
devoted  principally  to  Early  History  of  Wyoming  Valley.  Vol.  IV., 
1893.     Wilkes-Barre,  1893. 

Copies  of  Wilkes-Barre  Record,  Times-Leader,  Wilkes-Barre 
Gleaner,  Susquehanna  Democrat. 

Manuscripts  in  collections  of  Wyoming  Historical  and  Geological 
Society. 


JACOB    RICE    OF    TRUCKSVILLE :    COMMUNITY 

BUILDER. 

By  his  Great-Great-Grandson,  Kenneth  Dann  Magruder. 


The  origin  of  any  American  community  which  has  sur- 
vived at  least  a  century,  should  be  a  subject  of  interest  to 
one  who  appreciates  perspectives.  When  it  so  happens  that 
the  founder  was  a  man  of  real  character  and  wholesome 
influence  a  definite  inquiry  into  the  past  should  be  a  profit- 
able undertaking.  "People  will  not  look  forward  to  pos- 
terity, who  never  look  backward  to  their  ancestors." 

With  Trucksville  becoming  more  and  more  a  suburban 
center,  and  with  a  history  dating  back  considerably  more 
than  one  hundred  years,  a  review  of  its  beginnings  would 
seem  appropriate.  Never  heretofore  has  appeared  a  complete 
story  of  the  life  of  the  pioneer  builder,  Jacob  Rice,  "who 
became  one  of  the  foremost  and  wealthiest  citizens  of  his 
time"  in  Wyoming  Valley  and  progenitor  of  several  genera- 
tions of  reputable  families  residing  in  our  midst. 

"Dull  as  the  public  is  prone  to  regard  genealogical  data, 
the  faithful  biographer  is  bound  to  give  them."  Hence  we 
shall  begin  with  the  statement  that  Jacob  Rice  belonged  to 
the  first  generation  of  strictly  German  stock.  His  father, 
Johann  Christoph  Reuss,  when  nineteen  years  of  age,  was 
stolen  from  his  bed  in  Brunswick,  Germany,  and  was  im- 
pressed to  fight  as  a  Hessian  soldier  in  the  English  army. 

Thus  it  was,  that  Jacob's  father  came  to  America,  though 
a  grandson  of  the  Hessian,  Rev.  Charles  Lane  Rice, — 
quoted  by  his  son,  Charles  Wells  Rice — is  authority  for  the 
statement  that  the  sailing  vessel  "took  so  long  to  get  over 
that  the  war  had  closed  when  they  arrived." 

In  the  records  of  the  Moravian  Church  of  York,  Pennsyl- 
vania, is  the  entry : 

"Barb.  Schank,  born  a.  1757.  Mar.  5.  in  York  township, 
York  County.  Religion,  Brethren.  Married  in  Pensilv.  in 
Yorktown  to  Christoph  Reuss,  1779,  Nov.  25." 

The  third  of  the  nine  children  by  this  union  was  Jacob, 


l82  JACOB  RICE  OF  TRUCKSVILLE  : 

who  apparently  was  named  in  memory  of  his  maternal  uncle, 
Johann  Jacob  Schank,  who  had  died  in  1776.  Jacob  Rice, 
whose  name  was  Anglicized  in  later  years,  was  born  on  July 
27th,  1783,  in  York,  where  he  was  baptized  by  G.  Neisser. 

In  the  fall,  October  28th,  the  family  removed  to  the  little 
town  of  Hope,  New  Jersey — a  Moravian  settlement  finally 
evacuated  by  this  sect,  because  of  unscrupulous  neighbors 
who  took  advantage  of  the  higher  ideals.  There,  on  the  out- 
skirts, at  Rice's  Pond — now  dried  up — Jacob  was  reared  to 
manhood. 

At  the  county  seat,  Newton,  is  recorded  the  marriage  in 
Knowlton,  Sussex  County,  of  "J^cob  Rice  of  Knowlton" 
(Knowlton  township  at  that  time  including  a  part  of  Hope 
township  of  the  present  day)  and  "Sarah  Cook  of  Hard- 
wick",  September  24th,  1804.  Barnabas  Swayze,  justice  of 
the  peace,  tied  the  knot,  which  was  a  link  with  one  of  the 
oldest  families  in  America,  Sarah  being  descended  from 
Francis  Cooke  and  Stephen  Hopkins  of  the  Mayflower. 

This  period  of  young  Jacob's  life  also  marked  his  religious 
awakening.  Rev.  Elijah  Woolsey,  a  Methodist,  started  him 
in  attending  class-meetings,  a  practice  never  discontinued. 
But  the  rigid  requirement  of  evidence  of  sins  forgiven,  was 
not  met  until  two  years  after  Woolsey  first  stirred  the  sleep- 
ing fire  within.  This  manifestation  Jacob  received  at  the 
home  of  John  Albertson  in  Hardwick.  Because  of  the 
attitude  of  the  young  man's  parents  toward  Methodism,  Rev. 
George  Peck  of  Wyoming  Conference  stated,  Jacob  won 
much  opposition  from  them  and  faced  many  severe  trials, 
which  he  "endured  with  Christian  meekness  and  firmness." 
Of  such  was  the  suffering  in  the  "Americanization"  of  Jacob 
Rice.     Fortunately,  a  permanent  breach  did  not  result. 

Whether  this  lack  of  sympathy  was  the  cause  of  the  de- 
parture from  friends  and  relatives,  we  do  not  know.  The 
fact  remains  that  in  181 4  Jacob  Rice  with  his  growing  family 
abandoned  farming  in  New  Jersey,  returning  to  the  Keystone 
State.    He  was  undecided  how  far  west  in  the  mountains  to 


COMMUNITY   BUILDER.  1 83 

travel  in  search  of  a  permanent  home;  but  when  his  eyes 
viewed  for  the  first  time  the  magnificent  garden  spot  of 
Wyoming  Valley,  then  unmarred  by  mining,  he  felt  satisfied 
that  he  had  reached  his  destination. 

Truxville,  as  the  place  was  spelled  earlier,  was  settled  about 
1809  or  1 810  by  David  Trux,  who  bought  a  large  acreage 
and  built  the  first  house  in  that  locality.  In  1811,  Trux  sold 
his  mills  to  Joseph  Swetland,  who  soon  added  a  distillery  to 
the  grist  mill.  For  three  years,  this  property  was  undisturbed 
in  the  possession  of  Swetland.    Then  came  Jacob  Rice. 

A  deed  in  the  Court  House  (vol.  15,  p.  453)  shows  that 
the  newcomer  purchased  from  Swetland  on  September  27th, 
1814,  a  large  portion  of  farm  land  in  Kingston  township. 
Here  Jacob  Rice  immediately  started  the  development  of  the 
village  of  Trucksville. 

Though  of  German  blood  and  living  at  a  period  when 
intoxicating  liquor  was  accepted  generally,  the  distillery 
erected  by  Swetland  was  offensive  to  enterprising  Jacob.  It 
was  not  long  before  he  had  demolished  it.  By  nature,  how- 
ever, this  pioneer  was  a  builder — and  in  reality  was  not  the 
destruction  of  the  distillery  in  harmony  with  this  character? 
Was  his  act  not  an  aid  to  thrift  and  industry,  which  rapidly 
produced  a  community  of  great  energy  and  progress? 

Before  the  end  of  his  first  year  in  the  new  home,  Jacob 
Rice  had  erected  a  grist  mill. 

May  8th,  1816,  he  acquired  more  land  in  Kingston  town- 
ship from  Joseph  Swetland  (vol.  17,  p.  55,  Deeds).  March 
15th,  1822,  Rice  bought  from  Stephen  Robbins.  January  3d, 
1823,  he  further  expanded  by  purchasing  from  James  Luce. 
Six  hundred  acres  he  finally  had  in  his  possession  in  Kings- 
ton township. 

A  deed  dated  January  9th,  1819  (vol.  20,  p.  143),  shows 
that  Barbara  Rice,  the  mother  of  Jacob,  bought  land  in 
Kingston  township  from  James  Murphy  et  al.  Following 
her  husband's  death  in  Hope,  she  had  journeyed  to  Luzerne 
County  to  be  near  her  son.     Her  home  on  Rice's  Hill,  Ed- 


184  JACOB  RICE  OF  TRUCKSVILLE: 

warclsville,  meant  a  renewed  intimacy,  which  was  unbroken 
until  her  death  in  1852,  when  she  was  interred  in  the  Rice 
Cemetery  at  Dallas. 

A  journey  by  horse  and  wagon  over  dirt  roads  leading  to 
distant  points  across  mountains,  would  seem  to  us  a  laborious 
undertaking ;  yet  Jacob  Rice  did  not  hesitate  to  transport  the 
products  of  his  grist  mill  to  Easton  and  Carbondale.  He, 
himself,  drove  to  New  Jersey  and  New  York  City,  not  only 
once,  but  usually  twice  a  year. 

While  on  these  long  journeys,  he  sometimes  lodged  over 
night  at  the  home  of  a  woman  who  was  proud  of  her  shrewd- 
ness. She  was  accustomed  to  sell  each  dozen  of  eggs  for 
one  cent  less  than  she  had  paid  for  them,  on  the  theory  that 
she  was  profiting  by  attracting  the  most  business.  She  almost 
originated  the  principle  upon  which  the  Five  and  Ten  Cent 
Stores  are  based ! 

Jacob  Rice's  methods  were  more  effective  in  bringing  pros- 
perity, with  one  minor  exception.  He  installed  a  corn  roaster, 
planning  to  supply  the  South  with  the  prepared  diet  for 
Negro  slaves.  Since  roasted  corn  was  found  later  to  be 
injurious  food  for  the  black  folk,  this  particular  enterprise 
failed.  It  is,  however,  an  example  of  the  broad  outlook  of 
the  man,  who  was  always  ready  to  reach  out  to  larger  fields 
of  activity. 

Other  equipment  which  he  added  to  his  property,  included 
a  saw-mill,  a  short  distance  below  the  grist  mill,  a  fulling 
mill,  tannery,  and  blacksmith  shop,  all  of  which  proved  of 
value. 

When  the  old  covered  bridge  was  being  erected  in  1818 
across  the  Susquehanna  River  where  now  stands  the  new 
Market  Street  structure  connecting  Wilkes-Barre  and  Kings- 
ton, Jacob  Rice  supplied  the  shingles  and  was  employed  to 
put  on  the  roof. 

In  1 82 1,  he  was  engaged  as  tax  collector  for  Kingston 
township. 

Not  later  than  1823,  Rice  was  sufficiently  wealthy  to  have 


COMMUNITY   BUILDER.  185 

a  handsome  home  on  one  of  the  hills  above  the  grist  mill,  a 
home — as  described  by  William  Penn  Ryman — which  "was 
far  in  advance  of  any  other  house  in  that  country.  It  was 
painted  white  and  had  green  blinds  on  the  windows,  and 
when  new  was  generally  regarded  as  palatial  for  that  place. 
Joseph  Orr,  father  of  Albert  S.  Orr,  of  Wilkes-Barre,  was 
the  builder."  At  present,  it  serves  as  the  summer  home  of 
Joseph  G.  Schuler.  The  porches  have  been  added  in  recent 
years. 

The  first  school  house  in  Trucksville  was  built  in  1825. 
In  the  same  year,  according  to  the  article  on  "Truxville"  in 
the  "History  of  Luzerne  County",  published  in  1880  by 
W.  W.  Munsell  &  Co.,  "Mr.  Rice  built  the  pioneer  store;  it 
was  burned  and  he  built  on  the  same  site  the  present  one, 
now  occupied  by  J.  P.  Rice." 

The  "Democrat"  newspaper  for  December  ist,  1826,  names 
the  retailers  of  foreign  merchandise,  among  whom — as  should 
be  expected — was  Jacob  Rice.  Under  an  Act  of  March  4th, 
1824,  he  was  levied  ten  dollars,  because  of  this  business 
pursuit. 

Although  travel  seemed  so  easy  for  this  man  of  action, 
mail  service  to  the  front  door  was  then  unknown.  Further 
investigation  of  old  newspapers  shows  that  it  was  necessary 
even  to  advertise  when  mail  was  at  the  post  office.  Thus,  for 
example,  we  read  in  the  "Democrat"  for  April  i8th,  1828,  a 
"List  of  Letters,  Remaining  in  the  Post  Office  at  Kingston, 
April  ist,  1828",  from  which  we  learn  that  a  letter  was 
awaiting  Jacob  Rice. 

At  this  stage  of  local  history,  the  lately  discovered  utility 
of  the  "black  diamonds"  buried  in  the  soil  throughout  the 
region,  was  beginning  to  have  a  noticeable  effect  upon  the 
community.  There  arose  a  demand  for  a  banking  institution. 
Consequently,  common  stock  at  five  dollars  per  share  was 
offered  in  the  spring  of  1829  for  the  establishment  of  the 
Wyoming  Bank  at  Wilkes-Barre.  Among  the  few  "far- 
sighted,   influential   citizens   of   the   community"   who   sub- 


l86  JACOB  RICE  OF  TRUCKSVILLE  : 

scribed,  was  Jacob  Rice,  who  took  two  shares.  From  this 
modest  beginning  has  emerged  the  present  substantial  Wyo- 
ming National  Bank. 

Many  men  after  achieving  prosperity  following  a  long 
period  of  toil,  feel  that  they  have  earned  the  right  to  relax. 
Not  so  with  Jacob  Rice.  In  1830,  he  was  engaged  again  in 
building,  a  chop  and  plaster  mill  this  time.  His  eldest  sons 
were  now  young  men,  and  they  were  measuring  up  to  the 
same  high  standard  of  industry,  in  accordance  with  their 
father's  training.  Business  continued  to  increase.  A  result 
was  that  Jacob  Rice  was  able  to  contribute  liberally  to  worthy 
objects. 

That  a  man  of  his  practical  mind  should  be  equally  en- 
grossed in  religion,  may  seem  rather  remarkable.  The  two 
phases  of  his  character  were  inseparable. 

When  he  first  came  to  Wyoming  Valley,  he  was  a  licensed 
exhorter.  A  small  class,  of  which  he  was  appointed  leader, 
was  soon  organized.  The  influence  of  his  conversion  to 
Methodism  by  Rev.  Elijah  Woolsey  never  waned.  The  Rice 
home  ever  was  regarded  as  a  haven  for  itinerant  preachers, 
whom  he  invited  to  conduct  services  in  Trucksville. 

In  i860.  Rev.  George  Peck  in  his  "Early  Methodism" 
harked  back  to  an  event  of  1825  : 

"A  camp  meeting  was  held  in  September  near  Truxville, 
on  ground  owned  by  the  late  Jacob  Rice,  which  proved  a 
great  blessing  to  the  Church.  The  camp-meeting  at  Rice's 
is  still  spoken  of  as  'the  great  camp-meeting.'  We  now 
frequently  hear  in  love-feast,  'I  was  converted  at  the  camp- 
meeting  at  Jacob  Rice's.'  " 

In  1834,  Rice  was  licensed  to  preach;  and  in  1843,  he  was 
ordained  a  deacon.  Always  in  earnest  as  a  local  preacher,  he 
met  with  good  success  and  was  highly  respected.  He  was 
stable,  thorough,  and  trustworthy.  "He  visited  back  settle- 
ments ;  he  travelled  blind,  unfrequented  paths ;  he  sought  out 
the  poor  in  their  seclusion,"  and  pointed  out  to  them  his  con- 
ception of  the  eternal  life  and  of  a  glorious  home  in  Heaven. 


COMMUNITY   BUILDER.  iS/ 

He  was  a  life  member  of  the  Parent  Missionary  Society. 
The  Methodist  Church  received  much  support  from  him  both 
in  time  and  in  money.  In  fact,  the  church  in  Trucksville, 
built  in  1844,  was  made  possible  through  him,  Jacob  Rice 
contributing  the  lot  and  one  hundred  dollars  in  cash. 

The  present  edifice  is  not  the  original.  Several  times, 
descendants  have  donated  a  Jacob  Rice  memorial ;  but  each 
time  the  building  has  been  destroyed  by  fire. 

Though  deeply  serious,  Rice  is  remembered  by  grand- 
daughters still  living,  as  one  who  appreciated  any  humor  in 
situations  encountered.  One  day,  for  example,  while  he  was 
preaching,  a  man  under  the  influence  of  liquor  approached 
him  in  jovial  mood,  saying,  "I'm  a  man  you  converted." 
"You  look  like  my  work!"  was  the  instantaneous  reply. 

That  so  extraordinary  a  man  should  be  afflicted  in  later 
years  with  a  paralysis  which  gradually  impaired  his  physical 
and  mental  vigor  until  death  climaxed  all,  was  indeed  a  sad 
fate.  But  what  ending  could  have  been  more  fitting  than 
that  which  came  on  December  i8th,  1858?  The  customary 
family  service  of  prayer  was  being  held.  Being  unable  to 
kneel,  Jacob  Rice  stood  to  pray.  Before  he  could  finish,  he 
fell  upon  his  chair. 

His  son,  Rev.  Charles  Lane  Rice  of  the  Wyoming  Confer- 
ence, afterwards  wrote,  "His  children  will  always  remember 
with  the  deepest  gratitude  his  undeviating  attention  to  family 
prayer." 

Concerning  this  son,  A.  F.  Chaffee,  in  his  "History  of  the 
Wyoming  Conference",  has  commented : 

"His  father.  Rev.  Jacob  Rice,  was  one  of  the  old-time  local 
preachers,  who  was  well  known  throughout  the  Wyoming 
Valley.  The  Lane  in  his  name  was  in  honor  of  Rev.  George 
Lane,  at  one  time  one  of  the  Book  Concern  agents,  with 
whom  his  father  was  very  intimate." 

If  a  father  may  be  judged  by  the  character  of  his  sons,  the 
lustre  of  Jacob  Rice's  name  remains  untarnished.     With  his 


l88  JACOB  RICE  OF  trucksville: 

wife,  Sarah  Cooke,  must  be  shared  the  honors.  It  was  she, 
even  more  than  Jacob  Rice,  who  molded  the  Hves  of  the 
children  for  the  Christian  ministry.  In  a  newspaper  report 
of  the  celebration  of  Charles  L.  Rice's  silver  wedding  anni- 
versary and  birthday,  it  was  stated  that  he  "spoke  in  a  ten- 
derly pathetic  strain  of  his  sainted  mother,  tracing  his  foot- 
steps in  that  better  pathway  which  she  chose  for  him  and  in 
which  she  so  sedulously  guided  him."  It  was  not  accidental 
that  the  ministry  claimed  three  of  her  five  sons — John  Prutz- 
man,  Levi  Cooke  (named  in  memory  of  her  father),  and 
Charles  Lane.  It  was  the  hospitable  home  awaiting  itinerant 
preachers,  which  led  to  the  marriage  there  of  a  daughter, 
Margaret  Reed  Rice,  to  Rev.  Lyman  Mumford,  who  set  up 
housekeeping  with  his  wife  on  an  opposite  hill  in  a  home  now 
owned  by  the  Robinson  family.  And  the  other  daughters 
did  not  stray  from  the  pathway  too  far  when  one  married  a 
judge  and  the  other  the  late  Dr.  Joel  J.  Rogers,  humanitarian 
in  the  field  of  medicine. 

Jacob  Rice  and  Sarah  Cooke  lie  buried  in  the  original  Rice 
lot  adjoining  the  Trucksville  Methodist  Church.  The  ceme- 
tery of  which  this  lot  is  a  part,  was  included  in  the  land  which 
Jacob  Rice  gave  to  the  church. 

The  inscriptions  on  the  marble  gravestones  read : 

"Sarah,  wife  of  Rev.  Jacob  Rice, 

died  October  9,  1863 

Aged  78  years,  6  months  &  12  days. 

"In  my  father's  house  are  many  mansions." 

"Rev.  Jacob  Rice  died  December  18,  1858, 

Aged  75  years,  5  months  &  18  days. 

"And  they  that  be  wise  shall  shine  as 

the  brightness  of  the  firmament  and 

they  that  turn  many  to  righteousness, 

as  the  stars  forever  and  ever. 

Dan.  XI,  3." 


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Thomas  Mcrtdith^ 

Att'v  in  r.irf  fur  HAMX  MEHEDITH. 
Belmont,  Auc:u^t  i.  128 


PROPOSALS, 
AT  THE  OLEANKR  OFFICE, 

ARC  NOW    MADE,    TO    FfBMSH    THE     CSSAT9 

**  Fau"  THF  DrsK  of  Poor  Robert 

THE    8CRIBE." 

tOXTAlKiNG  LESSONS  IN 

^vj.v.vA'As,  mohjils,  &  domestic 

ECO.\^Mr. 

THE  work  will  contain  more  than 
one  hundred  paf;es«  it  mo,  and  shall 
he  printed  on  good  paper  and  a  tjpe 
entirt'ly  new. 

The  price  to  Suhscribcrs  will  be 
seventy-five  cents,  in  boarils. 

Those  who  ^nbscrihe  for  10  copies, 
h\h\\  be  entitled  to  a  copy  gratis. 

T!ie  work  will  be  put  to  press  ini- 
nc(ii:s!(ly.  and  finished  as  soon  as 
practicable. 

*p»  Those  who  hold  Subscription 
Papers  are  requested  to  rcttini  them 
bf  the  1st  of  October. 


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Brido'nvater  &  fFiikes* 
Barre  Turnpike. 

''OTICK  is  luTfbv  sri\'*ii.  that  a  special 
"ting;  f*** 

Proposal  to   Publish  the   Essays, 
from  The  Gleaner  for  August  6,   1813. 


FOREWORD. 


Bohun,  in  characterizing  the  lawyer  as  the  oracle  of  the 
community,  spoke  as  a  strict  legalist;  a  broader  point  of 
view  would  have  included,  mter  alia,  the  New  England  news- 
paper editors  of  the  late  eighteenth  and  early  nineteenth  cen- 
turies. As  the  theologians  of  that  region  declined  in  author- 
ity, newspaper  editors  tended  to  assume  the  oracular  func- 
tions of  their  community.  When  in  1796  James  Springer  of 
New  London  called  his  paper  The  Nezv  London  Weekly 
Oracle,  he  gave  expression  to  a  commonly  entertained  opinion 
of  the  function  of  newspaper  editors.^  Their  essays  pointed 
the  morals  to  all  of  the  accepted  standards  of  the  community. 
The  Greens,  the  Goddards,  the  Oswalds,  the  Croswells,  and 
others  of  their  profession  have  not  been  given  their  due  share 
of  credit  for  the  assistance  they  rendered  the  New  England 
clergy  in  keeping  the  community  in  touch  with  the  homely 
virtues  of  that  era  of  true  "rugged  individualism". 

It  is  worth  while  to  note  the  full  title  of  the  essays  of 
Charles  Miner :  Essays  from  the  Desk  of  Poor  Robert  the 
Scribe  Containing  Lessons  in  Manners,  Morals,  and  Domestic 
Economy.  The  emphasis  is  less  upon  "Essays"  than  upon 
"Lessons".  Thus,  aside  from  their  intrinsic  literary  merit, 
there  is  an  extrinsic  value  in  them  as  an  historical  document. 
They  do  not,  of  course,  tell  us  what  the  "Manners,  Morals, 
and  Domestic  Economy"  of  the  community  consisted  of: 
they  merely  tell  us  what  a  typical  New  England  editor  thought 
they  ought  to  consist  of.  And  even  that,  of  course,  is  of  value 
to  the  historian.  As  Randolph  G.  Adams  has  recently  ex- 
pressed it :  "What  mankind  thinks  to  be  the  fact  is  frequently 
more  potent  in  human  affairs  than  what  the  fact  actually 
is".^ ___^ 

1  There  were,  of  course,  other  "Oracles"  at  this  time,  such  as 
Negrin's  L'Oracle  mid  Daily  Advertiser,  New  York,  1808;  Pratt's 
Farmer's  Oracle,  Lansingburgh,  New  York,  1796;  Dunn  and  Russell's 
Indiana  Oracle,  Laurenceburg,  Indiana,  1819 ;  and  Allen  and  Wyeth's 
Oracle  of  Dauphin,  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  1792. 

2  Adams,  R.  G.,  Select  Essays  of  James  Wilson,  p.  14. 


190  FOREWORD. 

It  will  be  observed  that  Miner  has  been  classed  as  a  New 
England  editor,  despite  the  fact  that  his  whole  journalistic 
career  took  place  in  Pennsylvania.  Even  more  properly  than 
Franklin  or  Goddard,  who  journeyed  from  New  England  to 
set  up  newspapers  in  Pennsylvania,  Miner  is  deserving  of 
this  classification.  For,  like  them,  he  not  only  served  his 
apprenticeship  in  New  England,  but,  unlike  them,  he  found 
the  great  majority  of  his  clientele  in  Pennsylvania  to  be  pure 
Connecticut  stock.  When  in  1799,  at  the  age  of  nineteen, 
Charles  Miner  drove  his  sled  from  Connecticut  to  the  beech 
woods  of  Northeastern  Pennsylvania,  he  found  himself  on 
the  northern  fringe  of  two  settlements  of  Connecticut  people  : 
the  one  extending  almost  the  whole  length  of  the  north 
branch  of  the  Susquehanna,  the  other  being  along  the  upper 
reaches  of  the  Delaware,  with  a  sparsely-scattered  popula- 
tion of  the  same  racial  stock  settled  between  them.  Except 
for  the  frontier  environment,  he  was  in  the  midst  of  asso- 
ciations and  social  ties  as  familiar  as  those  he  had  known  in 
Connecticut ;  it  was  a  frontier  only  in  the  sense  that  the 
forests  had  never  been  cleared  from  the  land.  For  mission- 
aries kept  the  "New"  Connecticut  in  touch  with  the  predomi- 
nant religion  of  the  mother  community  f  free  schools  accord- 
ing to  the  long-established  custom  in  New  England  were  in 
operation  there,  long  before  a  similar  system  found  adoption 
in  the  remainder  of  Pennsylvania  ;*  and  the  long  contest  with 
Pennsylvania  over  the  title  to  the  lands  inhabited  by  the  New 
Englanders,  now  drawing  to  a  close,  had  provided  a  cohesive 
force  for  these  "intruders"  probably  far  in  excess  even  of 
their  own  social  institutions. 

Miner  had  served  his  apprenticeship  under  the  printers  of 

3  Turner,  F.  J.,  "The  Significance  of  the  Frontier  in  American  His- 
tory", Am.  Hist.  Assn.  Rept.,  1893,  pp.  225-26.  See  also  the  missionary 
journals  to  be  published  in  volume  XXII  of  the  Proceedings  and  Col- 
lections of  the  Wyoming  Historical  and  Geological  Society. 

*  Spencer,  P.  W.,  The  Contribution  of  Connecticut  to  the  Common 
School  System  of  Pennsylvania. 


FOREWORD.  191 

the  Connecticut  Gazette  and  Commercial  Intelligencer  at 
New  London,  Connecticut.  But  before  launching  upon  his 
journalistic  experience  in  Pennsylvania,  another  schooling 
awaited  him  at  the  end  of  a  journey  in  which  he  found  him- 
self "one  of  a  perfect  stream  of  emigrants  bound  for  differ- 
ent positions  on  the  Susquehanna  waters".'^  This  was  the 
schooling  in  what  he  referred  to  as  "Nature's  Beech-wood 
Academy" — a  euphemism  for  his  clearing  a  place  for  a  farm 
in  a  virtual  wilderness  where  "no  road  had  been  laid  out  east 
or  south  within  fifteen  miles  of  me,  nor  nearer  than  ten  miles 
on  the  west;  and  the  preceding  year,  1798.  not  an  inhabitant 
existed  within  a  circle  of  ten  miles.... "«  Two  years  of 
clearing  well-timbered  acres,  eating  bread  baked  from 
pounded  corn  mixed  with  stewed  pumpkin,  living  in  a  bark 
cabin,  and  making  maple  sugar,  preceded  his  journey  down 
the  river  to  Wilkes-Barre,  only  recently  a  frontier  settle- 
ment, where  he  joined  his  brother  Asher  Miner  in  publishing 
the  Luzerne  County  Federalist. 

But  Nature's  Beech-wood  Academy  was  merely  a  finishing 
school.  At  heart  Charles  Miner  was.  par  excellence,  a  New 
England  editor  and  Federalist  to  the  end,  and  never  a  fron- 
tiersman. Yet  the  close  contact  with  the  rough  forces  of 
nature  added  the  self-reliance  and  individualism  of  the  fron- 
tier to  his  New  England  disciplines.  If  the  frontier  theory 
of  American  literature  can  be  applied  to  two  such  remote 
individuals  as  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  and  Sinclair  Lewis, 
surely  it  can  find  proper  application  in  these  essays.^  For,  if 
they  carry  the  burden  of  Puritan  social-overlordship,  they 
also  bring  the  freshness  and  the  spontaneity  which  one  as- 
sociates with  the  clearing  of  virgin  forests.    

5  Richardson,  C.  F.,  Charles  Miner:  a  Pennsylvania  Pioneer; 
Miner's  fragmentary  autobiography,  in  manuscript  in  the  Wyoming 
Historical  and  Geological  Society,  contains  much  material  not  in 
Richardson's  study. 

8  Ibid.,  p.  18. 

7  Hazard,  Mrs.  L.  L.,  The  Frontier  in  American  Literature. 


192  FOREWORD. 

The  essays  of  Poor  Robert  were  published  in  Miner's 
Gleaner  and  Luzerne  Advertiser  in  the  years  1810-1813,  a 
majority  of  them  being  pubHshed  in  181 1.  Possibly  the  war 
of  1812  and  Miner's  increasing  duties  as  a  public  man  inter- 
fered with  any  further  productivity  of  the  desk  of  Poor 
Robert.  In  18 15  the  essays  were  issued  in  a  small  volume 
from  the  press  of  Asher  Miner  at  Doylestown,  Pennsylvania. 
Three  of  these  essays  were  published  in  the  Gleaner  but  not 
in  the  Doylestown  edition.*  Two  of  the  essays  and  the 
"Poetic  Effusion"  were  published  in  the  Doylestown  edition 
but  have  not  been  located  in  the  newspaper.^  The  Doyles- 
town edition  has  been  followed  in  reprinting  these  essays,  but 
any  important  differences  have  been  pointed  out  in  the  foot- 
notes. 

These  essays  emphasize  the  same  homely  virtues  that  Jona- 
than Edwards  would  have  extolled,  but  how  different  the 
manner !  One  must  not  drink  even  a  gill  of  brandy  a  day, 
for  in  a  year  that  much  brandy 

would  buy  a  cow,  and  keep  her — 
Two  suits  of  clothes,  a  score  of  sheep,  or 
Twenty  good  things  than  Brandy  cheaper. 

And  one  must  not  procrastinate  in  repairing  a  barn  door,  for 
the  cow  might  get  through  and  ruin  both  herself  and  the 
wheat.  Boys  must  not  steal  melons,  for  one  might  buy  a 
dozen  melons  with  the  cost  of  ruined  shoes  and  breeches,  or 
with  half  the  labor  involved.  A  young  lady  must  add  another 
petticoat,  not  for  modesty's  sake,  but  to  make  her  healthy. 
She  must  be  educated,  but  she  must  not  learn  music  till  she 
has  learned  to  spin,  nor  bake  cake  till  she  can  bake  bread,  nor 
— price  of  your  citizen's  blood! — own  a  silk  gown  till  she  can 
answer,  readily,  all  the  questions  in  geography.     She  is  an 

^  These  are :  "To  Poor  Robert  the  Scribe",  "Old  Robert  the  Scribe", 
and  "From  the  Drawer  of  Young  Robert",  appearing  in  the  Gleaner 
July  12,  181 1,  November  26,  1813,  and  December  3,  1813,  respectively. 

9  These  are:  "Govern  your  Passions"  and  "Essay  read  by  Mr.  Clay- 
ton". 


FOREWORD.  193 

ideal  wife  when  she  can  spin  fifty  knots  a  day.     As  for 
honesty,    all    those    persons    for    whom   these    essays    were 

written, 

The  blacksmith,  the  taj'lor, 

The  printer,  the  nailor 

The  hatter,  the  joiner, 

The  potter,  the  miner. 

The  farmer,  physician. 

Merchant,  politician, 

The  saddler,  and  sawyer, 

The  priest,  and  lawyer. 

The  painter,  and  glazier, 

The  Mason,  and  grazier. 
Will  find  that  my  maxim,   so  trite  and  so  old, 
To  those  who  adopt  it,  brings  honor  and  gold. 

Steady  industry  was  one  of  the  greatest  virtues.  Miner's 
model  citizen  was  Absolom  Active,  who  "rides  in  his  coach, 
on  which  are  painted  a  bee,  an  ant,  and  a  glass  upside  down, 
with  this  motto :  'Industry,  Frugality,  Temperance— by  these 
I  ride'  ".  As  for  quarrelling,  cleanliness,  neatness,  and  simi- 
lar topics,  they  were  "subjects  of  domestic  economy,  which 
the  writers  of  your  quarto  and  your  folio  volumes  think  be- 
low their  notice;  the  preacher  conceives  them  beneath  the 
dignity  of  the  sacred  desk,  and  they  must  be  untaught,  unless 
some  humble  plodding  wight,  like  Toor  Robert  the  Scribe' 
shall  take  them  into  his  special  consideration". 

These  essays  were  widely  copied  by  contemporary  news- 
papers. The  first  one,  indeed,  has  furnished  the  nation  with 
an  idiom  so  deeply  ingrained  in  the  language  that  even  writers 
of  the  mother  tongue,  such  as  Mr.  Chesterton,  have  adopted 
it.  The  essays  brought  Miner  considerable  notoriety  at  the 
time  of  their  publication.  "The  editor  of  the  Gleaner", 
wrote  a  contemporary,  "has  acquired  the  highest  reputation 
among  all  ranks  of  people.  ..  .His  productions  are  copied 
into  most  of  the  papers  from  Maine  to  Ohio,  and  some  of 
those  in  the  South.  Even  the  editor  of  the  National  In- 
telligencer cannot  withhold,  with  all  his  Democratic  austerity, 
from   republishing    some   pieces    which   have    no    acrimony 


^ 


194  FOREWORD. 

against  his  beloved  system  of  democracy.  Everyone  is 
charmed".^*^  And  Miner  himself  wrote  of  these  essays: 
"They  made  me  many  friends ;  among  the  rest  the  pioneer  of 
American  literature  complimented  me  by  a  friendly  note  and 
a  volume  of  his  POrt  Folio" }'^ 

Thus  in  the  period  between  the  Revolution  and  the  Civil 
War,  when  American  writing,  in  formal  literature  as  well  as 
in  the  writing  of  history  and  in  other  departments,  was  striv- 
ing to  set  up  American  standards  as  opposed  to  Continental 
dictates,^-  such  typical  editors  as  Charles  Miner  were  con- 
tributing their  share  to  the  task.  Long  before  Emerson's 
Declaration  of  Intellectual  Independence,  these  newspaper 
essayists  were  not  only  helping  to  make  the  American  news- 
paper distinctly  American,  but  they  were  also  contributing  to 
the  development  of  an  indigenous  literature.  These  essays 
may  not  have  back  of  them  the  literary  tradition  which  pro- 
duced the  Spectator  or  the  Essays  of  Elia,  but  they  have  in 
them  the  same  qualities  that  made  Poor  Richard's  Almanac 
so  famous.  These  are  the  homely  qualities  infused  by  close 
contact  with  the  soil  of  a  new  continent. 

Julian  P.  Boyd. 

10  Richardson,  op.  cit.,  p.  58. 

11  Ibid.,  p.  59 ;  Joseph  Dennie  was  the  author  referred  to. 

12  Jameson,  J.  F.,  History  of  Historical  Writing  in  America,  pp.  2-4. 


^iJkikf^ 


ESSAYS 


i 


FROM   THE  DESK   OF 


CONTAINING 

LESSOJyS 


IN 

MANNERS,  MORALS,  AND   DOMESTIC 
ECONOMY. 

ORIGINALLY   PUBLISHED    IN   THE   GLEANER. 


DOYLESrOWJf: 

PRINTED    BY   ASHER  HINEB. 
JULY— 181S. 


■■.liniaaiiMiMtMinlte—i  mmm. W^,ai.1„„ 

FACSIMILE  OF  VOLUME. 


ESSAYS 

FROM  THE  DESK  OF 


WHO'LL  TURN  GRINDSTONE?* 


WHEN  I  was  a  little  boy,  Messrs.  Printers,  I  remember 
one  cold  winter's  morning,  I  was  accosted  by  a  smiling  man, 
with  an  axe  on  his  shoulder — "My  pretty  boy,"  said  he, 
"has  your  father  a  Grindstone?"  "Yes  Sir,  said  L"  "You 
are  a  fine  little  fellow,"  said  he,  "will  you  let  me  grind  my 
axe  on  it?"  Pleased  with  his  compliment  of  "fine  little  fel- 
low"— "O  yes  sir" — I  answered,  "It  is  down  in  the  shop." 
"And  will  you,  my  man,"  said  he,  patting  me  on  the  head, 
"get  a  little  hot  water?" — How  could  I  refuse?  I  ran  and 
soon  brought  a  kettle  full.  "How  old  are  you,  and  what's 
your  name,"  continued  he,  without  waiting  for  a  reply — "I 
am  sure  you  are  one  of  the  finest  lads  that  I  have  ever  seen, 
will  you  just  turn  a  few  minutes  for  me?"  Tickled  with  the 
flattery,  like  a  little  fool,  I  went  to  work,  and  bitterly  did  I 
rue  the  day.  It  was  a  new  axe — and  I  toiled,  and  tugged, 
till  I  was  almost  tired  to  death.  The  school  bell  rung,  and  I 
could  not  get  away ; — my  hands  were  blistered,  and  it  was  not 
half  ground.  At  length,  however,  the  axe  was  sharpened, 
and  the  man  turned  to  me,  with  "Now  you  little  rascal, 
you've  played  the  truant — scud  to  school,  or  you'll  rue  it." 
Alas,  thought  I,  it  was  hard  enough  to  turn  grindstone,  this 
cold  day;  but  now  to  be  called  "little  rascal,"  was  too  much. 

♦Published  in  the  Luzerne  Federalist  for  Sept.  7,  1810.  It  is  headed 
merely  "for  the  Federalist,"  with  no  mention  of  the  desk  of  Poor 
Robert  the  Scribe. 


196  ESSAYS   FROM    THE  DESK   OF 

It  sunk  deep  in  my  mind,  and  often  have  I  thought  of  it 
since. 

When  I  see  a  merchant,  over  poHte  to  his  customers — 
begging  them  to  taste  a  Httle  brandy,  and  throwing  half  his 
goods  on  the  counter — thinks  I — That  man  has  an  axe  to 
grind. 

When  I  see  a  man  of  doubtful  character,  patting  a  girl  on 
the  cheek — praising  her  sparkling  eye  and  ruby  lip,  and 
giving  her  a  sly  squeeze — Beware  my  girl,  thinks  I,  or  you 
will  find  to  your  sorrow,  that  you  have  been  turning  grind- 
stone for  a  villain. 

When  I  see  a  man  flattering  the  people — making  great  pro- 
fessions of  attachment  to  liberty,  who  is  in  private  life  a  ty- 
rant— Methinks,  look  out,  good  people,  That  fellow  would 
set  you  to  turning  grindstone. 

When  I  see  a  man,  holding  a  fat  ofifice,  sounding  "the  horn 
on  the  borders",  to  call  the  people  to  support  the  man,  on 
whom  he  depends  for  his  office,  well  thinks  I,  no  wonder 
the  man  is  zealous  in  the  cause,  he  evidently  has  an  axe  to 
grind. 

When  I  see  a  Governor,  foisted  into  the  chair  of  state, 
without  a  single  qualification  to  render  him  either  respecta- 
ble or  useful, — Alas !  methinks,  deluded  people,  you  are 
doomed  for  a  season  to  turn  grindstone  for  a  booby. 

When  I  see  a  foreigner  expelled  from  his  own  country, 
and  turning  patriot  in  this — setting  up  a  Press,  and  mak- 
ing a  great  ado  about  our  liberties,  I  am  very  apt  to  think, 
— tho'  that  man's  ax  has  been  dulled  in  his  own  country,  he 
evidently  intends  to  sharpen  it  in  this.* 

*In  the  reissue  in  book  form  the  last  three  paragraphs  were  re- 
placed by  the  following: 

"When  I  see  a  man  hoisted  in  office  by  party  spirit — without  a  single 
qualification  to  render  him  either  respectable  or  useful — Alas !  me- 
thinks, deluded  people,  you  are  doomed  for  a  season  to  turn  grindstone 
for  a  booby." 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE.  197 

HEY  DAY!* 


A  HAWK  caught  a  parrot  in  his  claws,  and  away  he  soared 
with  his  prey.  DeHghted  with  the  ride  so  high  in  the  air, 
the  parrot  sung,  as  he  sailed  along — "Hey  day — hey  day," 
and  thought  none  so  happy  as  he. — At  length  the  hawk  be- 
gan to  gripe  the  parrot  still  closer  in  his  talons,  and  to  tear 
him  with  his  beak.  The  tune  of  the  parrot  was  instantly 
changed,  and  instead  of  singing  hey  day,  he  exclaimed — 
Od  sucks!  Od  sucks! 

When  I  see  a  man  tippling  at  the  tavern,  leaving  his  busi- 
ness, and  sinking  in  credit ;  Poor  fellow,  thinks  I,  though  it  is 
hey  day  with  you  now;  yet,  when  the  constable  comes — your 
money  gone  and  credit  lost,  depend  upon't,  your  tune  will  be 
changed,  to  Od  sucks! 

When  I  see  a  young  girl,  too  fond  of  a  forward  sweetheart 
— playing  the  hoyden,  and  suffering  improper  liberties :  Be 
cautious  my  pretty  parrot,  thinks  I,  keep  that  hawk  at  a 
greater  distance,  or  your  tune  will  be  sorrowfully  changed, 
and  the  od  sucks  of  lullaby  baby!  will  succeed  to  your  hey 
day  of  enjoyment. 

If  I  see  a  young  man,  dressing  in  the  very  pink  of  the 
mode — sporting  his  pretty  person  at  all  places  of  amusement 
— attending  to  no  regular  employment — no  matter  whether 
rich  or  poor,  I  would  write  on  the  frame  of  his  looking-glass, 
though  it  may  be  hey  day  with  you  now,  rely  on  it,  my  young 
friend,  when  you  grow  in  years,  and  the  talons  of  poverty 
and  contempt  begin  to  gripe  you,  in  the  anguish  of  your  heart, 
you  will  sing  a  sad  od  sucks  for  your  early  folly. 

*Published  in  The  Gleaner  and  Lucerne  Advertiser  for  Feb.  15, 
181 1.  First  one  to  have  heading  "For  the  Gleaner.  From  the  desk 
of  Poor  Robert  the  Scribe." 


198  ESSAYS   FROM    THE  DESK   OF 

"THAT'S  MUSIC."* 


"MUSIC  is  the  science  of  sounds,"  we  are  told  by  that 
crabbed  looking  old  fellow,  whose  conversation  was  music 
to  Boswell  and  Mrs.  Thrale;  but  what  sort  of  sounds  he 
does  not  tell  us.  It  is  no  matter — there  is  no  disputing  about 
tastes,  and  the  sound  that  would  be  music  to  one  ear,  per- 
haps to  another,  would  be  more  grating  than  the  creaking 
of  a  waggon  wheel. 

The  sportsman  thinks  no  music  equals  that  of  his  hounds, 
when  they  open  in  full  cry.  The  citizen  believes  that  no 
music  can  excell  the  harmony  of  the  band. — A  huntsman 
invited  a  city  friend  out  to  his  country  residence,  to  a  fox- 
hunt. The  morning  came,  and  the  friends  rode  out  to- 
gether.— As  they  ascended  a  little  hill,  the  voice  of  the  dogs 
broke  on  the  ear.  The  huntsman,  in  an  extacy  of  delight, 
exclaimed — "Hark !  my  dear  fellow,  do  you  hear  that  music  ?" 
The  citizen  listened — "Music,"  cried  he,  "no — I  don't  hear  a 
note  of  it,  the  cursed  dogs  raise  such  a  yell." 

In  return  for  the  visit,  the  countryman  waited  on  his  friend 
in  the  city,  who  took  him  to  the  theatre ; — the  curtain  had  not 
yet  risen,  and  the  band  from  the  orchestra  struck  up  "The 
battle  of  Prague,"  in  full  chorus.  Enraptured  at  the  sound — 
"Listen  my  friend"  said  the  cit,  "did  you  ever  hear  such 
heavenly  strains!"  "I  can't  hear  them  for  my  life,"  cried 
the  countryman,  "those  noisy  fellows  in  the  cellar  make  such 
a  horrid  racket." 

To  our  bucks,  the  violin  is  the  best  music.  To  our  mer- 
chants, it  is  music  to  hear  the  purse  chink  on  the  counter, — 
with  "I'll  take  a  couple  of  patterns,  if  you  please."  A  just 
cause  and  a  good  fee,  make  excellent  music  to  our  lawyers. — 

♦Published  in  the  Gleaner  and  Luzerne  Advertiser  for  Feb.  22,  181 1. 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE,  199 

"Will  you  take  a  sleigh-ride  to  Colt's,  Miss?"  is  music  to  our 
young  ladies;  but — 

"Will  you  marry  me,  my  pretty  maid?" 
when  the  question  comes  from  the  favorite  lad,  possesses  all 
the  charms  of  harmony  and  melody  combined.     And  to  the 
printer,  it  is  music  to  be  told,  "I  have  brought  you  a  half 
a  dozen  new  patrons." 

But,  to  old  Robert,  I  will  tell  you  what  is  music.  To  rise 
as  the  morning  "peers  through  the  golden  windows  of  the 
east,"  and  to  hear  the  hammer  of  industry  resounding  through 
the  village. — 

To  walk  up  the  bank,  to  the  cabin  of  the  old  blind  soldier, 
and  to  hear  him  say,  "I  fought  for  my  country  when  I  was 
young,  and  now,  though  I  am  old  and  blind,  I  am  comforta- 
ble, for  my  countrymen  are  not  ungrateful — they  remember 
me  this  cold  and  inclement  season" — that  would  be  music. 

Ye,  who  are  favored  with  plenty — Ye,  who  are  blest  in 
your  "basket  and  your  store,"  now,  while  the  cold  winds  of 
winter  blow  so  cheerlessly  around  us,  forget  not  the  Poor; 
but  by  your  charities,  light  up  the  smile  of  joy  and  gratitude 
in  the  houses  of  the  children  of  want.  Then  will  your  con- 
sciences tell  you  well  done — and  oh ! — that  will  be  delightful 
music. 


What  great  effects  from  little  causes  spring: 
What  wealth,  does  labor  well  directed,  bring. 


A  Single  stroke  of  an  axe  is  of  little  consequence;  yet,  by 
the  continual  application  of  that  small  power,  properly  di- 
rected, what  amazing  effects  are  produced !  The  sturdy  oak 
and  lofty  pine  do  not  singly  own  its  influence,  but  whole 
forests  fall  before  it,  and  the  wilderness  becomes  a  garden. 

♦Published  in  the  Gleaner  and  Luzerne  Advertiser  for  March  i, 
1811. 


200  ESSAYS   FROM   THE  DESK   OF 

Industry,  well  directed,  will  give  any  man  a  competency  in 
ten  years.    The  greatest  industry,  misapplied,  is  useless. 

My  neighbor,  Samuel  Steady,  is  not  only  an  indus- 
trious man,  but  his  industry  is  applied  directly  to  one  object. 
His  hammer  is  heard  at  the  cock's  crowing,  and  the  fire 
blazes  in  his  shop,  during  the  winter  evenings,  from  the 
twentieth  of  September  to  the  twentieth  of  March,  according 
to  the  old  Seabrook  platform.  Go  to  his  shop,  at  any  time 
of  the  day,  and  bespeak  a  plane-iron  or  a  plough-share — a 
grate  or  a  gridiron — you  are  sure  to  be  promptly  supplied. 
The  consequence  is,  his  old  purse  is  filled  with  dollars — and 
his  cellar  well  stored  with  beef,  pork  and  cider — "and  that's 
what  I  call  comfortable."  Although  suitably  liberal,  and 
enjoying  the  good  things  of  life  as  he  goes  on — ten  years  of 
health  will  enable  him  to  buy  the  best  plantation  in  the 
county. 

But  then  there's  my  young  friend,  Nathan  Notion- 
al ;  he  is  the  busiest  and  most  industrious  mortal  in  ex- 
istence ; — but  as  the  old  saying  is,  "he  has  too  many  irons  in 
the  fire,"  and  with  all  his  industry,  he  goes  behind-hand. 

He  has  a  fine  farm,  but  instead  of  pursuing  the  cultiva- 
tion of  it,  he  flies  off  and  seizes  on  every  new  project  that 
presents  itself.  Last  year,  after  having  sown  a  number  of 
fields  of  grain,  he  resolved  to  rent  his  farm — sell  the  grain 
on  the  ground — buy  a  team,  and  go  to  hauling,  for,  by  a  nice 
calculation,  he  had  proved  that  money  might  be  made  by  it. 
A  team  was  purchased ;  but  after  one  or  two  trips,  No- 
tional concluded  to  sell  his  waggon  and  horses — build  a 
saw-mill,  and  go  largely  into  the  lumber  trade.  The  dam 
was  completed,  the  irons  made,  and  three-fourths  of  the  ex- 
pence  incurred,  when  by  a  nice  calculation,  (for  no  one  makes 
nicer  calculations)  he  found  that  an  oil-mill  would  afford  the 
best  profit ;  and  to  work  he  went  with  great  industry  build- 
ing an  oil-mill.  I  happened  to  go  by  there,  a  week  or  two 
afterwards,    and   the   whole   organization    of    the   mill   was 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE.  201 

undergoing  an  alteration,  to  fit  it  up  for  a  cotton  and  woollen 
manufactory. 

A  quizzical  neighbor  of  mine,  intends  to-morrow,  to  pro- 
pose to  him  to  abandon  his  present  project,  and  to  enter 
largely  into  the  manufacture  of  flour ;  and  I  have  not  the  least 
doubt  but  Nathan  will  readily  accede  to  the  proposal. 

So  sirs,  with  all  his  industry  and  expence,  he  is  neither 
benefitting   himself   nor   the   public.      Such   a   course,   con- 
tinued ten  years,  would  sink  the  best  farm  in  the  county. 
If  you  would  kill  game,  it  is  true,  you  must  shoot ; 
But  then  you  must  aim,  and  hold  steady,  to  boot. 


'It  has  a  fine  gloss,  but  it  won't  wear  well. 


My  cousin  Jacob,  you  must  know,  keeps  up  the  good  old 
custom  of  his  ancestors,  of  making  new  years'  presents  to 
his  family.  So  on  the  first  day  of  January,  Anno  Domini 
1793,  according  to  immemorial  usage,  precisely  at  twelve 
o'clock,  "not  a  minute  earlier,  nor  a  minute  later,"  he  called 
his  family  around  him,  in  the  parlor — opened  his  budget, 
and  gave  to  each  one  the  present  he  had  provided.  The 
whole  family  were  in  a  right  good  humor.  Jacob  well  knew 
how  to  hit  the  fancy  of  every  one  of  his  family,  and  no  one 
was  dissatisfied.  But  it  was  admitted  on  all  hands,  that  Dolly's 
new  gown  was  the  neatest.  It  was  right  it  should  be,  for 
Dolly  was  to  be  married,  that  day  two  weeks.  My  Grand- 
mother, who  was  trying  her  new  spectacles,  which  had  been 
presented  to  her,  hearing  so  much  of  Dolly's  new  gown, 
begged  to  look  at  it.  She  is  a  pretty  shrewd  old  lady,  and  has 
a  manner  of  saying  shrewd  things,  which  makes  one  re- 
member them.    Looking  at  the  chintz — "It  has  a  fine  gloss/' 

♦Published  in  the  Gleaner  and  Luzerne  Advertiser  for  March  15, 
1811. 


202  ESSAYS  FROM   THE  DESK   OF 

said  she,  "but  it  won't  wear  well." — It  struck  me  very  forci- 
bly, and  I  have  often  thought  of  it  since. 

When  I  see  a  young  girl — finely  dressed,  but  very  indolent 
— who  curls  her  hair  and  cuts  a  pigeon-wing  in  the  newest 
style — yet,  who  could  not  dress  a  fowl,  nor  mend  her  hus- 
band's stockings — I  can't  help  thinking,  with  my  Grand- 
mother— "She  has  a  fine  gloss,  but  she  won't  wear  well." 

When  I  see  a  dashing  young  fellow,  spending  much  of  his 
time  in  dress  or  at  cards ;  talking  largely  of  what  he  is  going 
to  do,  and  yet  doing  nothing  profitable — whispering  fine 
things  in  the  ladies'  ears,  and  dancing  after  them  like  their 
shadows — neglecting  his  business,  and  pursuing  no  regular 
employment,  I  would  advise  the  girl  he  makes  love  to — to 
remember  the  saying  of  my  Grandmother — "Though  he  has 
a  fine  gloss,  depend  on  it  he  won't  zvear  well." 

Should  I  ever  live  to  see  a  set  of  politicians,  professing 
great  regard  for  the  people's  rights,  and  yet  neglecting  or 
trampling  on  them — declaring  their  attachment  to  economy, 
and  yet  squandering  the  public  money  on  foolish  favorites,  or 
useless  projects — taking  measures  avowedly  to  coerce  foreign 
states,  and  yet  every  measure  invariably  recoiling  on  our 
own  citizens — no  matter  what  party  it  should  be,  or  how  fair 
their  professions — I  should  be  very  apt  to  think  with  my 
Grandmother — "Though  they  have  a  fine  gloss,  it  is  very 
evident  they  don't  wear  well." 

But  should  I  see  politicians  professing  well,  and  practising 
what  they  profess — expending  the  public  money  liberally  on 
great  objects  of  national  improvement — maintaining  the  pub- 
lic rights,  with  a  spirit  and  dignity,  that  appals  and  checks 
the  first  approaches  of  insult  or  aggression — neither  flatter- 
ing the  prejudices  of  the  people,  nor  neglecting  their  inter- 
ests— such  politicians,  I  should  say,  had  a  fine  gloss — and 
their  fame  should  long  wear  in  the  plaudits  of  a  grateful  and 
happy  people. 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE.  203 

TEMPERANCE.* 


A  gill  a  day— the  thing  is  clear, 
Twenty-three  gallons  makes  a  year, 
Now  this  would  buy  a  cow,  and  keep  her— 
Two  suits  of  clothes,  a  score  of  sheep — or 
Twenty  good  things  than  Brandy  cheaper. 

Old  Robert. 

THERE  in  a  pleasant  little  village,  which  stands  on  the 
borders  of  a  small  lake,  in  the  western  part  of  Connecticut.  A 
tavern,  the  only  one  in  town,  kept  at  the  sign  of  the  Grey 
Goose,  entertained  the  passing  stranger;  and  in  the  winter 
evenings  was  the  resort  of  our  dancing  parties — for  "Old 
Robert"  used  to  dance  in  his  younger  days.  I  remember 
well  the  merry  evenings  I  have  enjoyed  there,  and  methinks 
I  could  still  "tire  down"  the  puny  striplings  of  the  present 
day. 

Among  the  companions  of  our  recreations,  were  two, 
whose  vivacity  and  wit  I  could  not  but  admire — and  whose 
good  nature  and  virtues,  I  could  not  but  love. — Absalom 
Active  was  the  eldest  of  my  friends :  His  father  was  poor, 
but  he  gave  Absalom  a  good  common  education,  and  then 
bound  him  apprentice  to  a  respectable  waggon-maker  of  the 
town.  When  last  I  saw  Absalom,  before  my  late  visit 
to  Applebury,  it  was  his  birth  and  wedding  night.  Just 
twenty-three  years  old — he  had  married  black  eyed  Susan, 
as  we  called  her— and  she  might  as  well  been  called  red 
lip'd  Susan,  for  I  never  saw  cherries  redder.  He  had 
taken  a  shop  for  himself,  and  having  got  a  journeyman  from 
New  York,  had  added  the  making  of  chaises  to  his  old 
business. 

Absalom      was      industrious — Absalom      was      frugal; 

above  all  Absalom  was  Temperate.    "Grog  and  I,"  he  used 

♦Published  in  the  Gleaner  and  Luzerne  Advertiser  for  Apr.  5,  1811. 


204  ESSAYS   FROM   THE  DESK   OF 

to  say,  "are  sworn  enemies." — Not  but,  now  and  then,  he 
would  take  a  glass  of  wine,  or  a  mug  of  flip,  with  a  friend; 
but  he  drank  sparingly.  They  do  say,  though,  that  one 
fourth  of  July  his  eyes  sparkled  a  little,  and  he  could  not 
say  Sheboleth  for  the  soul  of  him.  But  that  is  neither  here 
nor  there,  he  was  a  sober  man. 

And  what  do  you  think  was  the  consequence  ?  Why,  when 
I  went  to  Applebury  last  October,  who  should  I  hear  them 
talk  of,  but  the  good  'Squire  Active — and  Deacon  Active. 
Why  he  has  money  to  lend — he  owns  two  of  the  best 
farms  on  the  south  side  of  the  lake — the  poor  all  bless  him. 
He  now  rides  in  his  coach,  on  which  are  painted  a  Bee,  an 
Ant,  and  a  Glass  upside  down,  with  this  motto — "Indus- 
try— Frugality — Temperance.    By  these  I  ride." 

Edward  Easy,  my  other  friend  and  companion,  re- 
ceived from  his  father  a  fortune  of  five  thousand  pounds. 
At  the  age  of  nineteen  he  took  his  degree  at  Yale,  with  sin- 
gular honor.  The  profession  of  the  law,  suiting  best  his 
capacity  and  inclination,  he  studied  the  science  under  the 
most  approved  masters,  and  at  twenty-two  appeared  at  the 
bar.  I  never  shall  forget  the  day  when  he  made  his  first  plea. 
All  Applebury  went  down  to  hear  him — for  Edward  was 
a  favorite  of  the  people :  And  well  he  might  be,  for  there 
wasn't  a  single  one  in  all  the  village  but  could  tell  of  some 
good  and  kind  thing  he  had  done. 

The  cause  he  plead,  was  for  a  poor  widow  woman. 
You  may  remember  her :  it  was  old  Mrs.  Rogers,  who  sold 
ginger-bread  and  beer,  just  above  the  stocks  and  whipping 
post,  north  of  the  meeting  house.  She  had  an  only  daughter, 
a  sweet  little  rosebud,  just  seventeen,  who  was  the  solace  and 
delight  of  her  life.  An  unfeeling  landlord  demanded  the 
sacrifice  of  Mary,  or  threatened  her  ruin. 

Well,  the  court  was  opened — the  witnesses  examined — and 
it  came  Edward's  turn  to  speak.  He  rose — O !  he  was  a 
handsome   man,    but    now   his    cheek    looked    pale — his    lip 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE.  205 

trembled — and  his  white  hand  shook.  My  heart  trembled 
for  fear  he  would  not  go  on.  By-and-by  his  voice  rose — 
his  cheeks  resumed  their  color — he  raised  his  arm  most  grace- 
fully, and  his  eye  sparkled.  You  might  have  heard  a  pin  fall. 
He  one  moment  stirred  up  the  feelings  so  against  the  hard- 
hearted landlord  that  every  one  was  in  a  rage.  And  then  he 
painted  the  sufferings  of  the  widow  and  the  orphan — in  spite 
of  me,  I  cried  like  a  child.  I  never  loved  him  half  so  well 
in  my  life.  Our  parson,  I  remember  said,  that — "the  oil  of 
eloquence  was  on  his  tongue,  and  the  honey  of  persuasion  dis- 
tilled from  his  lips." 

I  left  him  just  on  the  eve  of  being  married  to  Eunice 
Heartfree.  She  was  worthy  of  him — she  danced  de- 
lightfully— sung  sweetly — could  spin  fifty  knots  a  day — and 
the  parson's  wife  was  heard  to  say,  that  "she  made  the  best 
puddings  of  any  one  in  the  village,  except  herself." 

Now  until  the  fourth  day  of  last  October,  I  had  not  been 
to  Applebury  for  eighteen  years.  Just  as  the  old  town  clock 
struck  four,  I  entered  the  village.  My  heart  fluttered.  I 
looked  anxiously  around  in  hopes  to  meet  the  welcome  of 
some  friend.  A  gloom  and  solemn  stillness  seemed  to  per- 
vade the  village.  Presently  the  bell  tolled — a  funeral  pro- 
cession approached.  I  alightened  at  the  inn  and  immediately 
enquired  who  was  dead.  "Alas  the  day!"  exclaimed  the  old 
tavern-keeper,  (who  did  not  know  me)  "there  goes  the  re- 
mains of  a  man,  who  eighteen  years  ago  was  the  most 
promising  youth  in  all  the  country.  Fortune — education — 
genius — all  united  to  render  him  every  thing.  But  the  morn- 
ing bitters — the  noon-day  dram,  and  the  evening  sling,  have 
withered  the  finest  flower  in  nature's  garden.  Poor  Easy! 
God  rest  him." 

******** 

Edward  had  been  intemperate. — Intemperance  be- 
gat idleness  and  neglect  of  business — poverty  and  wretched- 
ness followed — and  he,  who  might  have  reflected  honor  on 


206  ESSAYS   FROM   THE  DESK   OF 

his  country,  poisoned  by  Grog,  died  a  beggar.  But  "men  of 
genius,  tread  lightly  on  his  ashes,  for  he  was  your  kinsman," 
and  if  you  would  avoid  his  fate,  declare  with  my  friend 
Active  that  "you  and  Grog  are  sworn  enemies." 


"I  WILL  BY  AND  BY."* 


ZOUNDS !  sir,  you  may  as  well  swear  you'll  never  do 
it!  I'm  out  of  all  patience  with  these  "by  and  by"  folks.  One 
hour  of  the  present  tense  is  worth  a  week  in  the  future. 

Why,  I  know  a  bachelor,  as  well  calculated  for  matrimonial 
felicity,  as  every  virtue  and  every  accomplishment,  can  ren- 
der him ;  but  he  has  been  putting  off  the  happy  time,  from 
one  year  to  another,  always  resolving  that  he  would  marry 
"by  and  by" — and  "by  and  by" — till  the  best  ten  years  of 
manhood  are  gone,  and  he  is  still  "re-resolving,"  and  I  fear 
"will  die  the  same." 

He  that  would  gather  the  roses  of  matrimony,  should  wed 
in  the  May  of  life. — If  you  wish  only  the  withered  leaves 
and  the  thorns,  why,  Poor  Robert  says,  put  it  off  till  Septem- 
ber.— "Procrastination  is  the  thief  of  time." 

I  made  a  visit  last  winter,  to  see  my  old  friend  Jeremy 
Careless.  When  we  put  our  horses  in  the  stable,  he 
took  me  to  his  barn-floor  to  see  some  fine  white  wheat  he 
had  just  threshed.  I  observed  to  him  that  one  of  the  boards 
of  the  barn  was  near  falling,  and  he  had  better  nail  it.  "I 
will  by  and  by,"  said  he.  Things  about  the  farm  looked  a 
little  as  though  "by  and  by"  folks  lived  there.  Next  morn- 
ing the  boys  came  running  in,  with  sad  news.  An  unruly 
bull  had  torn  off  the  board : — All  the  cattle  had  supped  and 
breakfasted  on  the  white  wheat,  and  old  Brindle,  the  best 
cow  in  the  flock,  was  foundered  so  that  she  died.    Now  two 

♦Published  in  the  Gleaner  and  Luzerne  Advertiser  for  April  26,  1811. 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE.  20/ 

nails,  worth  a  penny — and  five  minutes  of  time,  would  have 
saved  the  life  of  old  Brindle,  and  the  white  wheat  into  the 
bargain.     "A  stitch  in  time  saves  nine." 

Passing  by  my  neighbor  Nodwell's,  the  other  day,  I 
saw  that  his  wife  had  made  a  fine  garden,  and  the  early  peas 
were  shooting  luxuriantly  above  the  ground.  "It  looks  well," 
said  I,  "neighbor — but  there  is  a  hole  in  your  fence,  which 
you  had  better  mend,  or  the  hogs  will  ruin  your  garden." 
"I  will  by  and  by,"  said  he.  Happening  to  go  by  there  two 
days  after,  I  was  half  deafened  with  the  cry  of — "Who-ee — 
who-ee — stu-boy — stu-boy."  A  drove  of  hogs  had  come 
along,  and  while  my  neighbor  was  taking  a  nap,  they  had 
crawled  through  the  broken  fence,  and  destroyed  the  labor 
of  a  week.  "Never  put  ofif  till  to-morrow,  what  you  can  do 
to-day" — poor  Robert  says. 


ONE*  afternoon,  in  the  month  of  October,  a  young  gentle- 
man from  Philadelphia,  who  had  visited  Luzerne  to  enjoy 
the  pleasures  of  the  chase,  was  standing  with  his  rifle,  on 
the  verge  of  one  of  those  high  precipices  which  bound  the 
river  Susquehanna,  watching  the  eagle  as  he  sailed  far 
below  him  along  the  breast  of  the  clifif,  when  he  was  sud- 
denly awakened  from  his  reverie  by  the  shriek  of  a  female 
voice.  Turning  suddenly  around,  he  saw  a  young  horse, 
which  being  frightened,  had  run  away  with  his  rider  and 
was  rushing  impetuously  towards  the  precipice.  He  was 
too  far  off  even  to  attempt  to  throw  himself  before  the 
affightened  animal : — One  expedient  only  presented  itself. 
With  unerring  aim  he  drew  up  his  rifle,  and  the  horse  fell 
on  the  very  brink  of  the  cliff. 

The  stranger  ran  to  the  assistance  of  the  unfortunate  fe- 
male. Though  pale  as  the  tenant  of  the  grave,  a  lovelier 
object  never  met  his  view.  Her  dark  hair  fell  loosely  on  her 
cold  bosom — she  was  lifeless.  He  raised  her  in  his  arms 
and  bore  her  to  the  hamlet  at  the  foot  of  the  hill. 

♦Published  in  the  Gleaner  and  Luzerne  Advertiser  for  May  3,  181 1. 


208  ESSAYS   FROM   THE  DESK   OF 

By  the  assistance  of  the  cottagers,  Mary  was  soon  suffi- 
ciently restored  to  be  removed  to  the  house  of  her  father, 
which  was  not  far  distant.  A  fever  ensued,  and  William, 
whose  extensive  studies  had  given  him  some  knowledge  in 
medicine,  attracted  by  a  charm  which  he  could  neither  re- 
sist nor  define,  resolved  to  remain  and  prescribe  for  Mary, 
until  her  fate  should  be  determined. 

Old  Captain  Freeman  was  a  soldier  in  the  revolution,  and 
at  the  side  of  Washington  and  Hamilton  gallantly  devoted 
his  early  days  to  the  service  of  his  country.  At  the  close  of 
the  war,  he  retired  with  a  soldier's  fortune,  his  honor  and 
his  scars,  to  a  little  farm  on  the  bank  of  the  Susquehannah, 
accompanied  by  his  beloved  Lucy,  the  wife  of  his  affections, 
and  Alfred,  his  old  and  faithful  servant. 

In  this  sylvan  retreat  he  had  long  lived,  respected  and 
beloved  by  every  one.  His  hospitable  mansion  was  always 
open  to  the  passing  stranger: — his  table  always  spread  for 
the  poor.  Sensible,  and  inflexibly  just,  the  whole  neighbor- 
hood referred  their  disputes  to  his  decision,  which  was  ever 
satisfactory  and  conclusive.  Cheerful  as  youth,  the  old  men 
mingled  in  the  innocent  amusements  of  the  cottagers :  Be- 
nevolent as  charity,  he  was  the  unfailing  attendant  at  the 
bed  of  sickness.  And  above  all,  a  piety  springing  from  the 
heart  and  flowing  in  supreme  love  to  his  Maker,  and  the  kind- 
liest affections  to  his  fellow  men,  ennobled  his  soul — exalted 
all  his  virtues— and  assimilated  his  character  to  that  of  the 
patriarchs  of  old. 

One  daughter  was  the  only  fruit  of  his  marriage,  and 
Mary,  whose  life  the  stranger  had  providentially  preserved, 
was  cherished  by  her  fond  parents  with  more  care  than  the 
apple  of  their  eye.  O !  she  was  a  sweet  blossom.  The  wild 
rose  of  the  hill  was  not  so  fragrant  as  her  coral  lips.  The 
dew  drop  sparkled  not  with  half  the  lustre  of  her  eye,  and 
her  bosom  had  stolen  the  whiteness  of  the  mountain  snow. 
I  have  seen  the  old  veteran's  eye  fill  with  tears  of  joy  and 
pride,  when  Mary,  light  as  a  vision,  and  bright  as  an  angel, 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE.  209 

came  tripping  through  the  room.  Her  goodness  was  wit- 
nessed by  the  poor  and  the  sick,  through  all  the  neighborhood. 
She  would  at  any  time  leave  the  dance  or  the  play,  to  visit 
the  couch  of  sickness,  or  the  habitation  of  distress.  The 
poor  used  to  call  her  their  guardian  spirit,  lent  them  from 
Heaven,  to  relieve  the  miseries  of  this  sorrowing  world. 
And  then  she  was  as  sensible  and  accomplished,  as  she  was 
beautiful  and  kind.  Indeed,  when  I  have  visited  my  old  friend, 
I  have  often  wished,  with  a  sigh,  that  I  was  but  young  enough 
and  good  enough  for  her : — But,  heigh  ho !  poor  Robert  is 
an  old  bachelor,  and  it  is  useless  to 

"Mind  me  of  departed  joys, 
•'Departed,  never  to  return." 

Mary  was  just  eighteen,  when  the  accident  happened  which 
introduced  the  accomplished  and  fascinating  stranger,  to  her 
knowledge.  By  his  kindness,  and  that  of  her  parents,  she 
slowly  recovered ;  but  the  lively  radiance  of  her  fine  blue 
eyes  was  changed  to  a  mild  and  pensive  sweetness,  less  daz- 
zling, but  oh!  to  the  heart  of  sensibility,  how  interesting — 
the  lilly  stole  the  rose's  blossom — the  throbbing  heart,  and 
expressive  flush,  that  rose  when  William  entered  the  room, 
too  plainly  told,  that  love,  obtrusive  urchin,  had  entered  the 
cottage  of  Mary  with  the  stranger. 

William  was  the  most  accomplished  man  Mary  had  ever 
seen.  Pleasing  in  his  manners — insinuating  in  his  address — 
sensible  and  handsome;  and  the  preserver  too,  of  her  life! 
What  female  heart  could  be  insensible  to  so  much  excellence ! 
The  affectionate  and  assiduous  attentions  of  William,  soon 
restored  Mary  in  some  degree,  to  her  former  health,  and  the 
chain  that  had  so  long  detained  him,  gathering  new  strength, 
he  found  it  impossible  to  break  a  connexion  that  was  already 
so  dear  to  him. 

All  Franksburg  talked  of  the  courtship,  and  when  I  saw 
William  and  Mary  lead  down  in  the  dance  together,  I  could 
not  help  thinking  they  were  formed  for  each  other. — 
********* 


210  ESSAYS   FROM   THE  DESK   OF 

I  went  up  to  Franksburg  last  fall  to  visit  my  old  friend, 
and  to  congratulate  him  on  the  proposed  connexion.  It  was 
one  of  those  pleasant,  moon-light  evenings,  in  the  month  of 
September,  when  I  arrived  at  the  gate,  such  as  had  always 
been  enlivened  by  the  song  and  the  dance,  under  the  old  elm 
by  the  door.  But  the  sound  of  joy  was  no  more  heard  on  the 
green.  William  was  gone — the  cheek  of  the  soldier  was  wet 
with  anguish — and  the  wife  of  his  bosom  seemed  fast  de- 
clining in  sorrow  to  the  grave. 

Pale  and  dejected,  Mary  sat  by  the  window,  her  head  re- 
clining on  her  hand. — Her  eye,  moistened  by  no  tear,  was 
fixed  on  vacancy,  or  wandered  heedlessly  from  object  to  ob- 
ject : — Seduced  by  the  man  who  had  saved  her  life,  she  was 
soon  to  become  a  mother ! 

The  old  man  took  my  hand — pressed  it  between  his : — 
"This  is  an  ungrateful  world,"  said  he.  His  heart  swelled — 
he  turned  away  to  conceal  his  emotion.  An  aged  missionary, 
whose  hair  was  silvered  over  with  the  frosts  of  seventy 
winters,  endeavored  to  turn  their  aflfections  to  another  world, 
and  to  lead  them  for  consolation  beyond  the  tomb. 

Ye  votaries  of  pleasure : — Ye  gay,  ye  wanton  seducers  of 
the  fair,  whom  you  should  protect : — O !  could  you  have 
seen  the  cottage  of  poor  Freeman,  your  infamous  trophies 
over  deluded  innocence  would  have  been  scorpions  to  your 
consciences. 

Such  ruin Hark  ! — the  watch  dog  announces  a  stranger ! 

The  door  opened,  and  in  a  moment  we  beheld  William  at  the 
feet  of  her  father.  Mary  shrieked  and  fainted.  *T  come,  I 
come,"  said  he  "for  forgiveness ;  I  come  to  ofifer  you  all  the 
reparation  in  my  power.  Not  a  moment  of  happiness  have  I 
known  since  I  left  you." 

O  noble  youth!  thou  hast  set  a  pattern  by  thy  return  to 
virtue,  most  worthy  to  be  followed ! 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE. 

NEATNESS.* 

Though  she  in  wit  and  fortune  shine : — 

In  form  and  beauty  be  divine ; 

A  SLUT  shall  ne'er  be  wife  of  mine. 


THERE  are  some  precepts,  very  proper  to  be  given  in  do- 
mestic economy,  which  the  writers  of  your  quarto  and  your 
folio  volumes,  think  below  their  notice;  the  preacher  con- 
ceives them  beneath  the  dignity  of  the  sacred  desk,  and  they 
must  be  untaught,  unless  some  humble,  plodding  wight,  like 
"Poor  Robert  the  Scribe,"  shall  take  them  into  his  special 
consideration :  And  among  these  one  on  Cleanliness  is  not 
the  least  important. 

Some  writer  has  observed,  (and  I  think  I  saw  the  observa- 
tion in  the  Gleaner)  that  "cleanliness  is  allied  to  godliness." 
Certain  it  is,  that  there  is  an  intimate  connexion  between  the 
purity  of  the  body  and  the  purity  of  the  mind.  No  woman 
can  be  lovely  who  is  not  neat.  The  fairest  she  that  ever 
trod  the  earth,  though  young  and  blooming  as  Hebe — though 
"grace  were  in  her  step — heaven  in  her  eye — and  all  her 
gestures  dignity  and  love,"  should  she  appear  abroad  with 
her  neck  soiled  or  her  wrists  greasy,  believe  me,  dear  girls, 
she  would  excite  only  disgust.  When  Paris  decided  that  the 
most  delicate  and  important  point,  on  the  southwestern  de- 
clivity of  Mount  Ida,  had  Venus  appeared  with  her  mouth 
greased,  like**  the  fat  landlady's  in  Courtland-street,  depend 
on  it  she  never  would  have  been  honored  with  the  apple. 

The  poets,  well  aware  of  the  prime  necessity  of  cleanliness, 
in  the  composition  of  a  lovely  woman,  have  in  most  instances 
placed  their  beauties  near  some  silver  stream  or  lucid  lake. 
The  queen  of  love  is  represented  as  emerging  from  the  sea. 
— Diana  as  bathing. — Mother  Eve  has  a  chrystal  lake  for  a 

♦Published  in  Gleaner  and  Luzerne  Advertiser  for  May  lo,   1811. 
No  title  in  newspaper. 
**Given  in  newspaper — an  alderman's  wife  at  a  turtle  feast. 


212  ESSAYS  FROM   THE  DESK   OF 

mirror.  Musidora,  though  she  seems  not  to  have  adopted  the 
coy  conduct  and  cold  maxims  of  Miss  Dian,  was  yet,  like  her 
goddess-ship,  caught  by  her  lover,  laving  her  lovely  limbs  in 
the  pure  stream. 

Harry  Hazvkeye,  of  the  city  of  New  York,  was  a  young 
gentleman  of  much  sprightliness  and  wit ;  genteel  in  his 
manners — of  graceful  person,  and  possessing  a  handsome 
fortune.  You  may  easily  guess  that  all  the  girls  set  their 
caps  for  him. — Harry,  though  not  too  fastidious,  was  yet 
desirous  of  getting  a  neat  wife.  "Beauty,"  said  he  "is  de- 
sirable— good  sense  and  good  nature  necessary — but  neat- 
ness," added  he,  "is  indispensable."  A  young  lady  with 
whom  he  became  acquainted,  added  to  a  fine  person,  regular 
features,  wit  and  good  nature,  and  a  fortune  of  ten  thousand 
dollars.  Dorothy  Harley,  for  that  was  her  name,  was  well 
pleased  with  the  attentions  of  Harry.  The  courtship  went 
on,  and  everybody  considered  it  an  excellent  match. 

One  afternoon,  Harry  went  up  to  her  father's,  which  was 
a  little  way  in  the  country,  to  spend  a  few  hours  with  his 
Dorothy,  and  to  partake  of  some  of  their  excellent  straw- 
berries, which  were  at  that  season  in  high  perfection.  Seated 
in  a  delightful  arbor  in  the  garden,  they  chatted  awhile,  as 
you  may  suppose,  of  love ;  and  then  she  ran  to  bring,  with 
her  own  hand,  some  strawberries  and  cream.  After  regaling 
themselves  with  the  delicious  treat,  Harry,  playing  with  his 
saucer,  chanced  to  turn  it  bottom  upwards  in  his  lap. — What 
was  his  mortification  and  astonishment,  when  he  beheld  the 
bottom  of  the  saucer  black  with  dirt !  It  would  have  posed 
a  man  of  less  sensibility  than  he  possessed.  He  seized  an 
opportunity,  and  wrote  on  the  grease  with  the  end  of  the 
spoon,  the  following  lines,  and  left  the  house,  which  he 
visited  no  more. 

Though  she  in  wit  and  fortune  shine : — 
In  form  and  beauty  be  divine ; 

A  SLUT  shall  ne'er  be  wife  of  mine. 

Harry. 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE.  213 

TAKE  TIME  BY  THE  FORETOP."* 


OLD  grandfather  time,  so  far  as  I  have  seen  him  pictured 
in  all  the  editions  of  the  New-England  primer,  is  as  bald  as 
a  cobler's  lap-stone.  The  text  therefore  cannot  be  taken  lit- 
erally. To  make  you  understand  it  aright — and  it  is  full  of 
wisdom — is  my  present  purpose.  Gentle  reader,  to  "take 
time  by  the  foretop,"  means  nothing  more  nor  less  than  to 
do  your  business  in  season. 

Are  you  a  mechanic — enter  on  your  day-book  every  thing 
you  let  go  on  credit,  at  the  moment  you  dispose  of  it ;  never 
put  it  off  till  another  time ;  the  memory  is  treacherous,  and 
you  may  forget  the  number  or  the  price.  Post  your  books 
every  Saturday. — Look  frequently  at  your  accounts.  He 
who  looks  at  his  books  often,  understands  them  well  and 
always  turns  to  them  with  pleasure :  while  the  man  who  posts 
his  books  but  once  in  a  year,  and  turns  to  them  but  seldom, 
always  does  it  with  reluctance ;  he  hates  to  settle  an  account, 
and  had  rather  lose  a  few  cents  than  draw  off  the  bill;  and 
thus  he  loses  the  worth  of  a  good  cow  in  the  year  by  his  in- 
dolence.— I  mentioned  cents.  They  are  little  things ;  but 
recollect  what  Old  Robert  says — "many  a  mickle  makes  a 
muckle."  Cents  make  dollars — grains  of  wheat,  though  little 
things,  make  up  thousands  of  bushels.  "Take  care  of  the 
cents  and  the  dollars  will  take  care  of  themselves."  Go  in 
debt  as  little  as  possible,  and  never  for  things  not  absolutely 
necessary.  Keep  debt  and  credit ;  you  can  then  tell  how  you 
stand  with  the  world.  Settle  your  account  as  often  as  once 
a  year  with  everybody;  if  you  cannot  get  the  balances  due 
you,  take  notes  on  interest.  Keep  this  number  of  Old 
Robert,  and  read  it  over  once  in  a  while.  Now  the  man  who 
will  pursue  this  advice,  will  not  only  do  his  business  with  ten 

♦Published  in  the  Gleaner  and  Lucerne  Advertiser  for  May  24,  181 1. 


214  ESSAYS   FROM   THE  DESK  OF 

times  more  ease  to  himself  and  customers,  but  he  will  save 
enough  to  clothe  his  children  and  send  them  to  school. 

Are  you  a  farmer?  It  is  particularly  necessary  that  you 
should  "take  time  by  the  foretop."  The  whole  profits  of  the 
husbandman  depend  on  his  business  being  done  in  season. 
If  a  week  gets  the  start  of  you  in  the  spring,  you  may  chase 
it  all  summer  without  overtaking  it. 

Now  there's  neighbor  Scrabble; — he  has  a  good  farm,  and 
is  a  hard-working,  frugal  man ;  nevertheless  he  is  always 
behind-hand.  He  plants  his  corn  when  all  the  neighbors  are 
weeding  their's.  It  gets  hoed  but  once,  because  harvest 
presses  upon  him — the  early  frost  generally  kills  half  that 
the  weeds  don't  choke;  and  the  consequence  is,  that  an  acre, 
which  ought  to  yield  him  fifty  bushels,  turns  out  but  fifteen 
or  twenty. — Come,  Mr.  Scrabble,  pull  up — overtake  time  for 
once — get  your  crops  in  well,  and  in  season,  and  your  labor 
will  be  easier  by  half  and  twice  as  profitable. 

When  I  was  last  at  Applebury,  I  went  to  see  my  old  ac- 
quaintance, Mrs.  Mobcap;  though  a  very  clever  woman,  she 
never  yet  learned  to  "take  time  by  the  foretop."  The  con- 
sequence was,  her  kitchen  looked  as  though  it  was  slut's  holy- 
day.  The  hearth  was  covered  with  pots — the  sink  full  of 
dishes — the  dog  was  running  away  with  the  dishcloth,  and 
madam,  in  full  pursuit  with  a  broomstick,  chanced  to  step 
on  a  mashed  potatoe — up  flew  her  heels — and  I  do  believe 
on  my  honor,  she  would  have  shown  her  garters,  but  she 
had  just  pulled  them  off  to  tie  the  broken  dasher  of  the 
churn.  When  her  ladyship  had  adjusted  her  dress,  she  made 
a  thousand  excuses  for  looking  all  at  sixes  and  sevens,  but 
really  she  had  got  a  little  behind  in  her  work: — To  make 
amends,  the  good  woman  seized  the  broom,  and  I  was  glad  to 
retreat  from  being  buried  in  the  dust. 

Ladies,  listen  to  Old  Robert.  Whatever  is  worth  doing 
at  all,  is  worth  doing  well.  Do  one  thing  at  a  time,  and 
finish  what  you  begin.    Keep  your  kitchens  as  neat  as  your 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE.  2l5 

parlors.  Be  regular  in  your  domestic  duties.  Always  wash 
on  Mondays,  and  for  the  credit  of  your  daughters,  if  you 
have  to  rise  by  day-light,  be  sure  to  have  your  clothes  hung 
out  before  noon,  and  your  baking  finished  before  dinner. 
Keep  your  children  neat,  and  when  they  grow  up  they  will 
keep  themselves  clean.  As  to  the  article  of  scolding,  I  know 
it  would  be  useless  to  prohibit  it  altogether;  but  I  pray  you 
forbear  as  much  as  possible,  for  there  is  nothing  so  illy  be- 
comes the  rosy  lip  of  a  pretty  woman,  as  a  scowl  or  an 
angry  expression. 


"He  loses  all,  who  grasps  too  much."* 

A  spider  one  night  toiled  with  great  industry  to  finish  his 
web,  and  early  in  the  morning  as  he  retired  to  his  hiding- 
place,  he  spoke  thus  to  himself : — "Now,  having  set  my  snare 
artful  and  strong,  I'll  have  a  fine  breakfast." 

It  was  not  long  before  a  promiscuous  swarm  of  flies,  gnats, 
and  bees,  attracted  by  the  beauty  of  the  morning,  came  buzz- 
ing around,  and  two  or  three  small  flies  got  entangled  in  the 
web,  but  with  a  little  struggle,  released  themselves  from  the 
snare. — The  dainty  spider,  in  the  meantime,  neglecting  to 
seize  on  the  little  flies  within  his  reach,  kept  back,  waiting 
for  a  daintier  bit.  A  honey-bee  that  was  buzzing  around, 
pretty  soon,  unconscious  of  his  danger,  flew  into  the  net, 
and  was  by  his  fluttering,  deeper  and  deeper  entangled  in 
the  toils.  Fat  and  plump,  and  swelling  with  honey,  the  de- 
lighted spider  ran  from  his  covert,  and  eagerly  seized  on  his 
victim. 

As  he  rush'd  forth,  he  cri'd  with  exultation, 
"I've  got  the  finest  breakfast  in  the  nation." 

No  sooner  did  the  spider  seize  his  prey,  than  the  bee,  turn- 

♦Published  in  Gleaner  and  Luzerne  Advertiser  for  June  14,  181 1. 
No  title  in  newspaper. 


2l6  ESSAYS   FROM    THE  DESK   OF 

ing  to  defend  himself,  plunged  his  sting,  deep  into  the  foe. 
"Alas!"  groaned  the  spider,  (in  plain  prose,  for  his  spirit 
of  poetry  was  gone)  as  he  hobbled  back  in  agony  to  his  hole, 
"what  a  fool  was  I  to  let  go  so  many  opportunities  of  satis- 
fying a  reasonable  appetite,  for  the  sake  of  a  feast. — Had  I 
been  content  with  a  competence,*  I  might  still  have  lived; 
but  by  seeking  to  gorge  on  a  honey-bee,  I  have  got  nothing 
but  the  sting." 

Poor  spider !  if  it  be  true  that  misery  finds  relief  in  having 
company,  you  are  not  without  ample  sources  of  consolation. 

When  I  see  a  farmer  or  mechanic,  who  is  in  a  snug  way 
of  business  in  his  profession,  dashing  largely  into  specula- 
tion or  trade — be  cautious  my  friend,  thinks  I,  or  like  the 
spider  "instead  of  a  bee  you  will  meet  with  nothing  but  a 
sting." 

When  I  see  a  man  building  a  house,  larger  than  his  necessi- 
ties require,  or  his  means  will  justify,  and  running  in  debt 
to  finish  it — methinks,  my  friend,  though  you  may  flatter 
yourself  that  you  are  providing  a  feast  of  honey  or  a  fat  bee, 
be  cautious,  or  you  will  meet  with  the  sting  of  bitter  disap- 
pointment.— (O  Robert!  Robert!) 

When  I  see  a  young  man,  aiming  at  more  than  his  talents, 
his  education,  or  his  character  entitle  him  to  expect ;  proud — 
supercilious,  contemptuous  to  his  equals,  and  aspiring — I 
would  write  this  caution  on  his  looking-glass — My  friend, 
aim  at  filling  the  station  nature  intended  you  to  occupy,  and 
you  may  appear  respectable ;  but  by  seeking  too  much,  you 
will  only  meet  the  sting  of  contempt. 

Should  I  ever  see  a  nation,  instead  of  cherishing  the  re- 
sources within  its  power,  intent  on  plunging  the  country  into 
a  war,  useless  as  to  any  probable  result,  and  with  a  nation 
that  like  a  bee,  is  a  valuable  friend,  but  a  dangerous  enemy, 
could  I  get  an  introduction  at  court,  I  would  certainly 
whisper  in  the  ear  of  the  chief — "Reflect,  sir,  before  you 

♦Newspaper  version: — with  what  was  reasonably  sufficient. 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE.  21/ 

proceed,  for  there  is  a  great  chance,  that  Hke  the  poor  spider, 
you  may  instead  of  getting  a  feast,  come  groaning  back  smart- 
ing with  the  sting  of  disgrace  and  disappointment. 

There  was  a  young  man  at  Applebury,  whose  father  re- 
tired from  business,  leaving  him  his  store  and  his  trade. 
John  Dashwell,  (for  that  was  the  young  merchant's  name) 
was  able  the  first  year  to  meet  all  expences,  and  to  lay  up 
four  hundred  dollars  of  clear  gain,  besides  some  little  profits 
that  stood  out  in  debts;  and  his  business,  there  was  every 
reasonable  prospect,  would  gradually  increase.  But  John 
was  not  satisfied  with  the  competence  Providence  had  placed 
so  fairly  within  his  reach,  but  sighed  like  the  spider,  for  some 
great  feast  at  once.  So  he  sold  out  his  stock,*  removed  to 
New  York,  where  he  entered  largely  into  the  shipping  trade. 
Five  years  after  poor  Dashwell's  name  was  on  the  list  of 
insolvents.  Like  the  Spider  he  got  bitterly  stung  by  grasping 
at  more  than  necessity  required,  or  fortune  had  placed  within 
his  reach. 


[Translation  of  an  Old  Indian  Manuscript. 


ORONOCO  was  the  daughter  of  a  warrior— she  was  an 
only  child,  and  the  wild  rose  had  long  blossomed  on  the 
grave  of  her  mother.  Her  father  was  fearless  as  the  panther 
that  rushes  on  his  prey.  The  battle  gladdened  his  soul,  and 
terrible  was  his  arm  in  the  conflict.  The  groan  of  death  was 
sweet  to  his  ear.  The  conflagration  of  cornfields  and  villages 
was  pleasant  to  his  eye.  When  the  captive  warrior  was  led 
to  the  stake,  Karkaronka  was  foremost  to  torment  him,  and 
his  yell  was  heard  from  afar.— The  mild  accents  of  mercy 

♦Newspaper  version : — struck  his  tent  and  marched. 

♦♦Published  in  Gleaner  and  Luzerne  Advertiser  for  July  26  and 
Aug.  2,  181 1.  First  part  has  no  title  in  newspaper  and  second  part 
is  headed  Oronoco. 


2l8  ESSAYS   FROM   THE  DESK  OF 

found  no  sympathy  in  his  soul,  and  he  frowned  gloomily 
when  his  fellow  chieftains  spoke  of  peace. 

Oronoco,  straight  as  the  forest  pine,  rose  in  majesty  above 
her  companions : — nimble  as  the  fleeting  doe,  her  foot  was 
lightest  in  the  dance: — she  sung  in  wild  notes  the  perils  of 
the  brave.  The  hills  delighted  to  echo  back  her  voice,  and 
the  little  birds  hushed  their  songs  to  hear  the  melody  of  her 
strains.  Timid  as  the  hare  that  flies  from  every  danger, 
she  feared  for  the  safety  of  her  father :  she  loved  him,  for 
he  was  her  parent,  but  she  trembled  in  his  presence,  for  the 
darkness  of  his  savage  soul  cast  a  gloom  around  him,  and 
chilled  even  the  warrior  into  silence. — The  feast  and  the 
song  passed  him  unmoved.  He  delighted  only  in  the  battle 
and  the  sacrifice. 

On  the  delightful  plains  where  the  Tunkhannock  and  the 
Susquehannah  unite  their  waters,  dwelt  the  tribe  of  old 
Karkaronka.  Long  had  a  war,  bloody  and  revengeful,  raged 
between  his  tribe,  and  that  of  Outalissa,  who  dwelt  below, 
on  the  banks  of  the  swift-rolling  Lackawana. 

Outalissa,  though  in  war  not  less  brave  than  his  foe,  in 
peace  was  gentle  and  humane.  When  the  battle  raged,  fierce 
as  the  wolf  rends  the  timorous  fawn,  he  sacrificed  the  foe. 
He  gloried  in  noble  deeds,  and  loved  the  field  of  fame.  Like 
his  native  stream,  swollen  by  continual  rains,  roaring,  foam- 
ing, and  with  resistless  force,  sweeping  away  all  that  im- 
peded its  progress — so,  Outalissa,  in  war,  rose  terrible  and 
irresistible  on  his  foes.  But  as  when  the  storm  ceases  and 
the  flood  subsides,  smooth  is  the  bosom  of  the  stream,  re- 
flecting every  pleasant  object;  so  the  bosom  of  Outalissa, 
when  the  storm  of  war  had  ceased,  became  calm  and  un- 
ruffled and  was  the  seat  of  every  virtue. 

The  warrior  of  Lackawana  was  yet  in  the  spring  of  life, 
and  had  taken  no  partner  to  his  cabin.  His  father  had  fallen 
in  battle.  The  war  which  raged  between  his  tribe  and  that 
of  Karkaronka,  was  interrupted,  but  not  ended  by  the  winter ; 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE.  219 

and  on  the  approach  of  spring,  preparations,  on  both  sides, 
were  making  to  renew  it  with  vigor. 

The  spring  rains  had  fallen — the  waters  rose — the  ice 
gave  way  in  the  Susquehanna — the  torrent  foamed,  and  the 
ice  and  the  timber  crashed  together,  when  a  faint  cry  of  dis- 
tress reached  the  ear  of  Outalissa,  who  stood  on  the  bank  of 
the  river,  leaning  on  his  spear,  contemplating  the  scene. 

In  the  midst  of  the  flood,  hemmed  in  by  fields  of  ice,  and 
hurried  away  by  the  current,  in  a  small  canoe,  sat  a  female, 
who  raised  her  hand,  imploring  assistance.  The  voice  of 
distress  never  called  to  Outalissa  in  vain.  Braving  the  danger 
of  the  flood  he  launched  his  canoe — pushed  through  the 
fields  of  ice — stemmed  the  raging  torrent — rescued  the  sufr 
ferer,  and  brought  her,  though  far  below,  in  safety  to  the 
shore. 

Chilled  with  cold  and  overcome  with  exertion,  he  was 
scarcely  able  to  bear  the  stranger  to  his  cabin;  but  kindness 
nerved  his  arm,  and  he  placed  his  charge  in  the  care  of  his 
mother.  The  waters  had  risen  and  driven  the  tribe  of 
Karkaronka  from  their  low  lands  to  the  mountain,  when 
Oronoco,  attempting  to  return  in  her  canoe  to  the  cabin  for 
a  favorite  tomahawk  of  her  father's,  was  swept  away  by  the 
current,  apparently  to  inevitable  destruction. 

Outalissa  knew  Oronoco  was  the  only  child  of  his  in- 
veterate foe.  But  how  different  were  his  feelings  on  meeting 
the  tender  and  expressive  glance  of  the  child,  from  those 
excited  by  the  haughty,  revengeful  frown  of  the  sire.  The 
heart  of  Outalissa  was  not  insensible  to  love;  and  Oronoco 
felt  warmer  sensations  than  those  of  gratitude  to  her  de- 
liverer. The  other  chiefs  of  the  Lackawana  tribe,  when 
they  learned  that  the  daughter  of  the  gloomy  and  terrible 
Karkaronka  was  in  their  power,  determined  that  she  should 
be  kept  as  a  hostage  for  the  conduct  of  her  father.  But  the 
soul  of  Outalissa  was  fixed  in  its  purpose.  He  led  Oronoco 
to  the  brow  of  the  hill  that  overlooked  the  village  of  her  tribe, 


220  ESSAYS   FROM   THE  DESK   OF 

pointed  to  her  the  path  and  bade  her  speed  in  safety  to  her 
home;  not  even  proffering  her  his  love  while  she  was  in  his 
power,  lest  his  desire  should  wear  the  semblance  of  a  com- 
mand. 

But  when  she  had  returned  to  the  habitation  of  her  father, 
Outalissa,  by  a  trusty  chief  sent  her  a  token  of  his  regard; 
and  to  Karkaronka  he  proposed  terms  of  peace,  offering  his 
hand  to  Oronoco  as  a  pledge  of  his  sincerity.  The  old  chief 
would  listen  to  no  terms  of  peace,  and  he  heard  with  scorn 
the  solicitations  for  his  daughter.  "I  had  rather,"  said  he 
coldly,  "she  had  perished  in  the  stream."  Yet  Oronoco,  un- 
known to  her  father,  sent  back  a  remembrance  of  her  affec- 
tion ;  thus  according  to  the  custom  of  their  country,  were  they 
betrothed,  although  the  war  at  that  time,  and  the  revengeful 
spirit  of  her  father,  would  probably  forever  prevent  the  con- 
summation of  their  love. — But  love  like  the  mountain-stream 
swells  with  resistance. 

Again  the  war-whoop  echoed  along  the  mountain — the 
tomahawk  flew  from  every  covert — and  the  warrior  fell. 
Again  the  raven  croaked  around  the  carcases  of  the  slain, 
and  the  wolves  gorged  themselves  with  human  gore. — The 
war-song  and  the  groans  of  the  victim  at  the  stake,  broke  on 
the  stillness  of  the  night,  and  died  away  in  melancholy  mur- 
murs along  the  vale. 

The  cruelties  of  Karkaronka  increased  with  the  continu- 
ance of  the  war;  and  the  fellow  chiefs  of  Outalissa  grew 
every  day  more  and  more  dissatisfied,  that  Oronoco  had  been 
given  up  to  her  father.  "The  time  was,"  said  they  in  scorn, 
"when  Outalissa  sought  the  arm  of  Karkaronka  in  the  fight — 
now  he  shuns  him:  Is  it  fear — or  is  it  love,  that  hath  made 
a  woman  of  Outalissa f" — Stung  by  their  undeserved  re- 
proaches, the  brave  warrior  pressed  forward  into  every 
danger,  and  was  always  foremost  in  the  battle.  His  arm, 
like  the  lightning,  left  death  wherever  it  fell ;  his  voice  struck 
dismay  into  the  bosom  of  his  foes.    Karkaronka  saw  his  im- 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE.  221 

petuosity ;— his  soul  joyed  in  the  hope  of  a  distinguished 
victim;— he  laid  an  ambush  in  the  thicket— charged,  and 
then  retreated,  as  though  overcome  by  his  foe.  Outalissa 
rushed  forward ; — the  ambushed  warriors  rose  around  him : 
— Wounded  and  overcome  by  numbers,  Outalissa  fell  into 
the  hands  of  his  enemies. 

The  warriors  of  Tunkhannock  retired  with  their  prey  to 
the  village,  and  the  old  warriors  and  the  young,  gathered 
around  to  see  the  brave  chief  of  the  Lackawanas. — Outa- 
lissa s  proud  spirit  scorned  to  ask  for  mercy,  and  a  night  was 
fixed  on  when  he  was  to  be  led  to  the  stake,  to  be  sacrificed 
according  to  the  savage  custom  of  his  foes. 

Oronoco  saw  her  deliverer  and  her  friend  doomed  to 
perish.  The  force  of  love  overcame  the  terrors  of  her  stern 
father's  frown,  she  threw  herself  on  her  knees  before  him, 
and  implored  the  life  of  Outalissa.  The  gloomy  Karkaronka, 
indignant  at  her  request,  spurned  her  from  his  feet. 

Although  the  bosom  of  Oronoco  was  the  seat  of  all  the 
woman's  softness,  yet  was  the  germ  of  a  daring  spirit  im- 
planted there.  Spurned  from  the  feet  of  a  cruel  father — 
her  lover,  the  brave  and  generous  warrior,  who  had  risked 
his  life  to  preserve  her's,  and  had  nobly  restored  her  to  her 
parent,  was  condemned  to  the  stake,  and  her  entreaties  met 
only  by  contempt — the  sex's  softness  yielded  to  the  hero's 
rage.  She  had  learned  from  the  sports  of  the  warriors  to 
throw  the  tomahawk  and  to  bend  the  bow.  She  now  flew 
to  the  cabin  of  her  father,  dressed  herself  in  the  habiliments 
of  a  chieftain — took  a  bow  and  tomahawk,  from  the  spoils 
her  father  had  won  in  battle,  and  silently  and  swiftly  took 
her  course  along  the  path  by  which  she  returned  home  with 
Outalissa,  to  his  tribe  on  the  Lackawana. 

Gathering  there  a  band  of  warriors,  she  returned — placed 
them  in  a  covert  for  the  night,  after  having  given  the  signal 
for  the  attack.  The  hour  for  Outalissa  s  sacrifice  at  length 
arrived,  and  he  was  led  out,  undaunted  to  the  stake.    The  fire 


222  ESSAYS   FROM   THE  DESK  OF 

was  lighted — the  torments  were  prepared  : — Outalissa  shrunk 
not,  but  raised  high  the  song  of  defiance,  and  sung  the  noble 
deeds  of  his  sires. — Oronoco  suddenly  gave  the  signal — 
she  led  the  band — they  rushed  on  the  foe — the  mountains 
trembled  with  the  shout — Karkaronka  fell — and  rescued  by 
the  hand  of  Oronoco,  Outalissa  seized  his  arms  and  decided 
the  conflict.  The  morning  found  the  field  strewed  with  the 
warriors  of  both  the  tribes,  like  the  oak  and  pine  forest, 
stripped  and  torn  by  the  northern  tempest. 

The  death  of  Karkaronka  disposed  his  tribe  to  peace ;  and 
both  nations,  weakened  by  a  long  and  bloody  conflict,  readily 
listened  to  terms  of  accommodation. 

The  hatchet  was  buried — the  wampum  of  peace  was  ex- 
changed— the  remnants  of  the  warlike  tribes  united  under  the 
auspices  of  Outalissa  and  Oronoco.  Joy  and  festivity  at- 
tended the  celebration  of  the  nuptials — long  was  the  valley 
the  seat  of  peace — and  long  did  the  tawny  warrior  pursue  the 
game  in  safety  on  the  hills ;  or  fish  unmolested  in  the  clear 
waters  of  the  Susquehanna. 


'O  DEAR,  IT'S  A  SQUASH  !"* 


WHEN  I  was  a  boy,  I  confess  I  had  some  boyish  tricks 
about  me.  But  though  mischievous,  I  never  was  very  mali- 
cious in  my  sports.  It  did  so  happen,  though,  that  I  was  once 
over-persuaded  by  one  of  my  companions — to  go  down  to 
the  south  lots  in  Applebury,  to  rob  a  water-melon  patch.  It 
was  a  miserly  old  fellow's — who  never  gave  away  one,  or,  I 
believe,  I  should  not  have  gone.  Our  intention  was  to  take 
one  a-piece,  and  we  thought  they  never  would  be  missed. 

Well,  we  got  safe  into  the  garden — it  was  dark,  and  just 
as  Jack  whispered  to  me,  "I've  got  one,"  the  dog  barked, 

♦Published  in  Gleaner  and  Luzerne  Advertiser  for  Oct.  ii,  1811. 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE.  223 

and  away  we  flew  with  the  prize.  Over  fences — through 
meadows  and  briars,  we  wound  our  way,  to  avoid  detection. 
What  fools !  Jack  spoiled  his  very  best  breeches,  worth  all  the 
melons  in  the  garden ;  and  as  for  me,  I  lost  one  of  my  shoes 
in  the  flight,  and  broke  my  skin,  into  the  bargain.  I  heartily 
wished  the  melon-patch  fairly  at  Tophet. 

We  arrived  however  at  our  quarters  with  the  prize.  The 
peach  that  is  hardest  to  be  got  at,  has  always  the  highest 
flavor,  you  know ;  so  I  had  no  doubt  but  the  melon  that  had 
cost  us  so  much  trouble,  must  be  of  superior  excellence.  We 
got  a  candle :— dreadful  disappointment !  I  never  shall  for- 
get the  woeful  countenance  of  Jack,  as  he  looked  alternately 
at  his  breeches  and  his  fruit,  and  exclaimed  in  the  most 
piteous  accents — "0  dear,  it's  a  squash!!" 

I  never  was  more  fully  convinced  of  the  truth  of  the  old 
adage,  that  "Honesty  is  the  best  policy."  We  might  have 
bought  a  dozen  melons  at  half  the  expence  of  the  shoe  and 
breeches.  Or  with  half  the  labor  of  stealing  the  sqmsh,  we 
might  have  earned  as  many  melons  as  we  would  both  have 
eaten.    We  had  now  nothing  but, 

"Our  labors  for  our  pains 
And  our  losses  for  our  gains." 
But  this  was  not  the  worst  of  it.  Our  enterprise  leaked 
out,  and  as  ill  luck  would  have  it,  a  parcel  of  worthless 
rascals  had  gone  after  us,  stole  all  the  melons,  and  cut  up 
the  vines.  Our  having  been  to  the  garden  pilfering,  was 
found  out,  and  all  the  cunning  of  Ned  Coke,  the  lawyer, 
could  not  screen  us.  In  fine,  the  fellows  who  did  the  mis- 
chief, got  clear,  and  we  had  to  pay  the  damage. 

But  the  adventure  made  a  lasting  impression  on  my  mind. 
And  a  thousand  occurrences  in  life  bring  it  to  my  recollec- 
tion. 

When  I  see  mothers  bringing  up  their  daughters  to  look 
gay  and  dress  fine,  without  instilling  into  their  minds  the 
principles  of  virtue  ; — when  I  see  more  pains  taken  to  furnish 
the  outside  of  the  head  with  laces  and  combs,  than  the  inside 


224  ESSAYS   FROM   THE  DESK   OF 

with  ideas,  I  cannot  help  thinking  that  some  doting  lover, 
will  find  to  his  sorrow,  that  instead  of  a  melon  "He  has  got 
nothing  but  a  squash!" 

Parents,  listen  to  Old  Robert.  The  education  of  your 
daughters  is  of  the  very  first  importance,  not  only  as  it  re- 
gards their  own  happiness,  but  as  it  respects  the  character 
of  our  country.  Your  daughters  are  to  be  the  mothers  of  the 
next  generation.  Among  their  offspring  must  our  future 
Washingtons,  and  Clintons,  and  Jays,  and  Hamiltons  be 
found.  Can  a  race  of  heroes  and  statesmen  ;  men  of  vigorous 
minds  and  strong  constitutions,  be  produced  from  pale,  weak- 
ly, senseless  mothers? 

Such  were  not  the  mothers  of  the  Grecian  heroes;  of 
whom  our  parson  used  to  tell  us.  Make  your  girls  put  on 
another  petticoat — this  will  render  them  healthy.  Make 
them  rise  early — the  morning  air  will  give  them  a  rosy  cheek. 
Never  learn  them  music  till  they  have  learned  to  spin.  Never 
teach  them  to  make  cake,  till  they  can  make  bread.  Never 
learn  them  to  dance,  till  they  have  learned  grammar.  Never 
give  them  a  silk  gown  till  they  can  answer,  readily,  all  the 
questions  in  geography.  Direct  their  exercise  and  their 
studies  so  that  their  health  may  be  preserved,  and  intellectual 
improvement  keep  pace  with  exterior  accomplishment. 

One  thing  more  as  to  children.  Mothers  are  apt  to  be 
too  indulgent.  Children  are  apt  to  cry  for  cakes  and  sweet- 
meats, and  they  have  not  the  discretion  to  eat  only  what  is 
sufiicient.  Now,  depend  on  it,  that  stuffing  your  children 
with  luxuries,  injures  their  health  and  very  greatly  affects 
their  mental  perceptions.  Don't  starve  your  children,  but 
feed  them  sparingly  on  light  food,  if  you  wish  them  to  im- 
prove : — Give  them  their  breakfast  early,  and  make  them 
exercise.  A  boy  never  will  learn  his  lesson  with  a  full  belly. 
If  you  take  a  contrary  course,  depend  on  it,  at  eighteen  years, 
you  will  find  your  son,  instead  of  a  melon,  "nothing  hut  a 
squash." 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE.  225 

'It  is  better  to  go  to  the  house  of  mourning 
than  to  the  house  of  feasting."* 


"SO,  so — from  the  motto  I  see,"  saith  the  reader,  "Old 
Robert  is  mighty  serious."  Just  so,  I  assure  you,  pretty 
Miss :  and  you  would  have  been  serious  too,  had  you  been 
with  Old  Robert  the  other  evening. 

It  was  one  of  the  coldest  nights  of  the  season.  The  wind 
blew  with  remorseless  violence : — Aunt  Eunice  was  herself 
ill,  and  begged  I  would  step  up  and  see  how  the  poor  woman 
was.  I  entered  the  habitation.  It  was  a  poor  shelter.  The 
pale  moon-beams  played  on  the  floor  through  the  chinks,  and 
the  wind  whistled  through  the  broken  windows.  On  the 
bed,  pale  and  emaciated  with  a  fever,  lay  the  poor  woman. 
In  a  cradle  by  the  side  of  the  bed,  wrapped  in  a  single  rug, 
slept  an  infant,  and  in  the  corner,  over  a  small  fire,  sat  a 
little  boy  about  five  years  old.  There  was  no  other  being  in 
the  house :  No  friend  to  soothe  her  distress :  No  nurse  to 
moisten  her  burning  lips  with  a  drop  of  water.  Poverty  has 
few  allurements ;  sickness  has  none ;.  and  prudery  and  un- 
charitableness  readily  availed  themselves  of  the  frailties  of 
the  poor  sufTerer,  to  excuse  their  neglect. 

I  stepped  out  to  procure  a  loaf  of  bread  for  the  children : 
I  was  not  long  gone,  and  on  returning  to  the  door,  the  sound 
of  a  footstep  on  the  floor  told  me  somebody  was  within. 
O  it  was  a  pleasant  sight !  A  young  female  friend,  whose 
genius  is  not  unknown  to  her  literary  acquaintance — whose 
virtues  and  amiable  disposition,  combined  with  a  peculiar 
agreeableness  of  manners,  render  her  beloved  as  extensively 
as  she  is  known,  had  preferred  to  the  gay  scenes  of  mirth 
or  the  charms  of  a  novel,  a  lone  and  unostentatious  visit  to 
the  house  of  poverty  and  the  bed  of  sickness!     Like  an 

♦Published  in  the  Gleaner  and  Luzerne  Advertiser  for  Nov.  i,  1811. 


226  ESSAYS   FROM   THE  DESK   OF 

angel  of  mercy,  she  was  administering  to  the  comfort  of  the 
poor  woman  and  her  infant. 

I  have  seen  the  assemblies  of  the  great.  I  have  seen  woman 
glowing  with  beauty — arrayed  in  the  richest  attractions  of 
dress,  whose  charms  were  heightened  by  the  "pride  and 
pomp,  and  circumstance"  of  "elegant  conviviality".  A  lovely 
woman,  in  such  a  scene,  irresistibly  commands  our  admira- 
tion. But  alone — at  the  bed  of  poverty  and  sickness — she 
appears  more  than  human,  I  would  not  be  impious,  but  she 

seems  almost  divine.    What  hath  raised  the  lovely  M 

above  her  companions  ?  O  religion !  thou  hast  shed  thy  be- 
nign influence  over  her  mind. — Religion !  thou  soothest  our 
griefs ;  thou  pluckest  from  the  wounded  mind  the  rooted 
sorrow;  thou  exaltest  the  soul  in  love  to  God,  and  to  our 
fellow  creatures !  Would  to  Heaven  thy  influence  was  more 
prevalent  over  the  human  heart! 


'HONESTY  IS  THE  BEST  POLICY."* 


Be  honest,  and  'tis  clear  as  light 
You'll  make  by  far  most  money  by  't. 
The  profits  that  are  got  by  cheating. 
Are  very  few  and  very  fleeting. 
Experience  proves  the  adage  true ; 
Then  never  lose  it  from  your  view. 


WHEN  I  was  a  little  fellow,  just  old  enough  to  be  mis- 
chievous, I  was  beset  by  a  parcel  of  my  companions,  to  go 
and  pilfer  the  parson's  pears.  Down  by  the  side  of  the 
brook  that  flows  out  of  Applebury  pond,  back  of  the  parson's 
house,  was  a  beautiful  meadow,  in  the  midst  of  which  stood 
the  pear  tree.  It  was  large — hung  full,  and  they  were  of  a 
most  delicious  flavor. 

♦Published  in  the  Gleaner  and  Luzerne  Advertiser  Nov.  22,  181 1. 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE,  227 

Whether  I  was  afraid  of  a  flogging — whether  respect  for 
the  parson  (for  in  those  days  children  were  brought  up  to 
respect  the  pious)  prevented  me;  or  whether  I  was  deterred 
by  the  recollection  of  my  bad  luck  in  pilfering  melons — I 
can't  now  remember ;  but  I  told  them  decidedly  I  would 
have  nothing  to  do  with  the  matter,  and  did  all  in  my  power 
to  dissuade  them  from  the  enterprize. 

I  don't  know  how,  but  so  it  happened,  that  my  honesty 
came  to  the  parson's  ears,  and  one  Saturday  afternoon  I 
received  an  invitation  to  go  and  see  him.  Away  I  went, 
conscious  that  I  had  done  no  wrong ; — how  light  beats  the 
heart  of  innocence !  The  good  man  met  me  at  the  door : — 
"Robert,"  said  he,  taking  my  hand,  "I  have  heard  that  you 
refused  to  join  in  pilfering  my  pears. — Now  I  mean  to 
convince  you  that  "Honesty  is  the  best  policy."  Here," 
added  he,  placing  a  large  basket  of  the  finest  fruit  before  me, 
"eat  what  you  please,  and  take  as  many  with  you  as  you  can 
carry." — I  felt  at  that  moment  happier  than  Napoleon  with 
empires  at  his  feet.  And  the  circumstance  led  me  to  remark, 
early  in  life,  the  consequence  of  an  adherence  to  the  maxim. 

There  was  at  Applebury  a  merchant,  well  esteemed  for 
his  probity: — "Where  do  you  trade,  neighbor?" — said  one 
farmer  to  another.  "Why,  at  Mr.  Upright's,"  replied  the 
first.  "His  weights  and  measures  always  hold  out.  I  had 
as  lief  send  a  child  as  a  grown  person,  to  his  store,  for  the 
matter  of  his  being  treated  well.  I  don't  pretend  to  know 
the  value  of  some  sorts  of  goods,  myself,  but  he  has  but  one 
price,  and  never  takes  advantage  of  any  one's  ignorance." 
I  marked  the  consequence.  Upright  grew  rich  and  respected ; 
and  fully  experienced  the  truth  of  the  maxim,  that — Honesty 
is  the  Best  Policy. 

There  too  was  lawyer  Aimivell: — He  never  would  flatter 
you  about  your  cause,  for  the  sake  of  your  money — but  would 
tell  you  plainly  his  opinion,  even  though  he  lost  a  fee  by  it. 


228  ESSAYS   FROM   THE  DESK   OF 

Nor  would  he  ever  advocate  a  suit  that  he  knew  to  be  unjust. 
His  estabHshed  character  drew  business  from  every  quarter, 
and  he  realized,  in  a  fortune  of  five  thousand  pounds,  and 
the  esteem  of  his  fellow  men,  the  correctness  of  the  maxim 
that — Honesty  is  the  Best  Policy. 

But  there  was  rich  George  Ardenhurg,  who  had  a  large 
farm  given  him  by  his  father.  One  of  the  merchants  had 
advertised  for  tallow  to  send  oflf  for  New- York.  Rich  George 
had  killed  a  number  of  fat  cattle,  and  as  the  tallow  was  to 
be  sent  away  immediately,  he  thought  it  a  good  time  to  dis- 
pose of  it.  It  was  weighed : — Every  body  thought  it  was 
astonishingly  heavy.  Dick  Artly,  who  attended  the  store, 
being  somewhat  suspicious,  and  a  little  roguish  withal,  in 
removing  one  of  the  cakes,  as  though  by  accident,  let  it  fall 
plump  on  the  floor : — it  split  open — and  lo !  in  the  middle  was 
a  large  stone !  Poor  George  looked  like  a  sheep  stealer. — 
He  was  hooted  out  of  town.  His  match  was  broken  off  with 
the  amiable  Miss  Arabella  Bromley;  he  was  turned  out  of  the 
militia  office  he  held,  and  finally  was  compelled  to  sell  his 
farm  and  move  oflF  to  Canada. 

The  blacksmith  ;  the  taylor ; 

The  printer  ;  the  nailor  ; 

The  hatter;  the  joiner; 

The  potter ;  the  miner  ; 

The  farmer  ;  physician  ; 

Merchant ;  politician ; 

The  saddler,  and  sawyer; 

The  priest,  and  the  lawyer ; 

The  painter,  and  glazier  ! 

The  mason,  and  grazier, 
Will  find  that  my  maxim,  so  trite  and  so  old. 
To  those  who  adopt  it,  brings  honor  and  gold. 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE.  229 

"Though  now  so  cheap,  the  thing  I  fear,* 
"Will  prove  abominably  dear." 

THERE  is  a  wonderful  magic  in  the  word  Cheap.  The 
news  that  a  merchant  will  sell  some  articles  very  low,  sets 
the  whole  neighborhood  agog.  No  matter  whether  the  thing 
is  wanted,  or  not— it  must  be  bought.  And  the  worth  of 
many  a  good  plantation  is  squandered  in  the  purchase  of 
things,  useless  as  the  fifth  wheel  to  a  coach,  merely  because 
they  are  cheap. 

My  aunt  Eunice,  whose  wisdom  is  of  the  best  kind,  for  it 
is  the  wisdom  of  experience,  used  often  to  warn  us  of  the 
folly  of  buying  things,  because  they  were  cheap.— In  her 
younger  days  it  was  her  province  to  'tend  the  dairy,  and 
every  fifth  cheese  was  her  own  perquisite.  She  had  got 
an  hundred  weight,  and  as  John  Cartright  had  attended  her 
home  two  Sunday  nights  in  succession,  from  singing-school, 
and  absolutely  had  pressed  her  hand  a  little,  as  he  bid  her 
good  night,  she  had  no  doubt  but  John  intended  to  make  love 
to  her.  Not  knowing  when  he  might  pop  the  question,  she 
resolved  to  be  in  some  little  state  of  preparation.  So  to 
market  she  went  with  her  cheese,  intending  with  the  avails  to 
lay  in  some  little  necessary  articles  against  an  emergency. 

New-York  from  Applebury  lies  S.  S.W.  two  days'  journey 
when  the  roads  are  good.  Aunt  Eunice  had  never  been  to 
the  city  before,  but  had  often  heard  of  the  amazing  cheapness 
of  things  there.  Her  cheese  yielded  her  in  good  silver 
money,  two  pounds  ten  shillings,  to  a  farthing.  Who  so 
happy  as  she?  Methinks  I  see  her  now,  tripping  along 
Broadway— her  cheeks  ruddier  than  a  pearmain— her  hair 
dressed  in  the  fashion  of  those  days,  with  a  high  commode,  a 
little  one  side,  looking  so  jaunty.  Then  her  stays  were  laced 
unusually  tight,  showing  a  waist  slender  as  the  cream  churn. 
Her  stockings  were  of  her  own  knitting,  and  whiter  than 

♦Published  in  Gleaner  and  Luserne  Advertiser  for  Dec.  6,  1811. 


230  ESSAYS   FROM   THE  DESK   OF 

the  lily ;  and  her  high-heeled  shoes  gave  her  an  air  of  light- 
ness and  majesty.  As  memory  rolls  back  the  wheels  of  time, 
and  opens  to  my  ken  the  scenes  of  youth,  other  objects,  in 
mingled  light  and  shade,  rise  to  my  view.  I  see,  all  glowing 
with  health  and  beauty,  the  smile  of  one,  whose  smile  was 
life  and  love.  The  song  that  cheered  my  boyhood  reverber- 
ates on  memory's  ear.  But  the  form  of  beauty  is  lost  in 
darkness,  and  her  voice  is  hushed  in  the  tomb.  There  too, 
beloved  Aunt;  and  thou,  Old  Robert,  must  ere  long  mingle 
your  dust  with  her's — and  your  hearts  that  still  beat  so 
cheerly,  become  still  and  cold  as  the  clods  of  the  valley. 
Ye  who  have  loved  *  *  *  *  * — but  whither  do  I  wander  ? 

From  shop  to  shop  my  Aunt  roved. — A  new  thimble — 
bright  as  silver,  cost  but  six-pence,  and  she  bought  it.  Fans 
— ribbons — trinkets  and  gew-gaws,  which  her  judgment  did 
not  approve,  she  still  purchased  because  they  came  so  very 
low.  She  was  not  aware  how  fast  her  money  wasted.  When 
a  little  tired  of  running,  and  satiated  with  novelties,  she  re- 
turned to  her  lodgings,  and  sat  down  to  count  her  cash.  How 
great  was  her  disappointment,  to  find  more  than  three- 
fourths  of  it  squandered  on  things  of  no  value!  Poor  girl! 
she  could  not  purchase  half  the  articles  she  had  deemed  in- 
dispensable !  She  would  sometimes  tell  the  story  herself ; 
but  did  not  like  very  well  to  hear  others  tell  it. — Being  half 
in  love,  and  having  of  course  an  itch  for  scribbling  poetry, 
she  wrote  an  essay  on  the  subject  from  which  my  motto  is 
extracted. 

When  I  see  men  leaving  their  business,  and  running  to  a 
vendue,  where  there  is  not  a  single  article  to  be  sold,  which 
they  really  want ;  but  wasting  their  time,  drinking  and  bid- 
ding, because  things  go  cheap  : — 

When  I  see  a  young  woman  changing  her  tow-cloth  for  a 
parasol  instead  of  a  petticoat,  or  a  six-dollar  bonnet  instead  of 
a  bed-tick — I  would  give  a  pinch  of  my  best  rapee,  if  some 
kind  friend  would  whisper  her, 

Though  now  so  cheap,  the  things,  I  fear, 
Will  in  the  end  prove  monstrous  dear. 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE.  23 1 

But  of  all  cheap  things  that  in  the  end  prove  dear,  Razors 
and  Schoolmasters  are  the  most  abominable.  One  will 
mangle  your  face — the  other  will  mangle  the  education  and 
morals  of  your  children.  In  too  many  neighborhoods,  the 
price  and  not  the  qualifications,  of  a  master,  is  looked  at. 
For  the  difference  of  three  dollars  a  month,  a  man  of  sense 
and  learning  will  be  displaced  to  make  way  for  a  booby. 

Listen  to  Old  Robert.  The  future  usefulness  and  destiny 
of  your  children,  depend  in  a  great  measure,  on  their  educa- 
tion and  early  habits.  Their  education  and  their  morals  de- 
pend greatly  on  their  tutors.  If  the  schoolmaster  be  illiterate 
and  vicious,  how  can  he  impart  knowledge  and  virtue  to  your 
children !  A  man  of  learning  will  not — cannot  devote  his 
time  and  talents  for  little  or  nothing.  No  man  deserves  a 
liberal  support,  better  than  a  good  schoolmaster. — When 
therefore  a  man  offers  to  teach  your  children  cheap,  suspect 
him.  A  child  will  learn  more  in  one  quarter  at  a  good  than 
in  two  at  a  poor  school.  It  is  cheaper  therefore  in  the  end 
to  give  a  good  schoolmaster  twenty-five  dollars  a  month, 
than  a  poor  one  fifteen  dollars,  for  you  save  half  the  time. 


Pray  take  my  advice,  if  a  fortune  you'd  get. 

Pay  off  what  you  owe,  and  then  keep  out  of  debt.* 


THIS  may  be  bad  poetry,  but  depend  on  it,  it  is  excellent 
sense.  It  is  an  old  saying  that  "the  debtor  is  a  slave  to  the 
creditor."  If  so,  half  the  world  enter  into  voluntary  servitude. 
The  universal  rage  to  buy  on  credit,  is  a  serious  evil  in  our 
county.   Many  a  valuable  man  is  ruined  by  it. 

There  was  Titus  Thornbury,  who  was  an  industrious, 
honest  man.  He  had  as  good  a  farm  as  lay  in  the  north 
parish  of  Applebury.    But  unfortunately  he  gave  way  to  the 

♦Published  in  the  Gleaner  and  Luzerne  Advertiser  for  Dec.  27,  181 1. 


232  ESSAYS   FROM   THE  DESK   OF 

prevailing  fashion  of  getting  in  debt;  and  a  sad  life  he  led 
of  it.  At  the  age  of  thirty,  he  owed  two  hundred  pounds. 
His  farm  yielded  about  that  sum.  He  could  not  live  without 
purchasing  some  things,  and  as  all  the  money  he  could  raise, 
went  to  pay  principal  and  interest  on  his  debt,  he  had  every- 
thing to  buy  on  credit.  So,  at  the  year's  end,  with  interest — 
and  costs — and  less  of  time — and  extra  prices  charged  for 
things,  because  he  did  not  make  ready  pay,  he  was  just  as 
deeply  involved  as  the  year  before.  Thus  harassed — dunned 
and  tormented — was  poor  Thornbury  for  twenty  years. 

Not  so  was  it  with  his  cousin  Ned  Forest.  He  vowed  he'd 
owe  no  man.  The  produce  of  his  farm  was  about  the  same 
as  that  of  Thornbury' s ;  but  as  he  was  not  forced  by  duns,  or 
executions,  to  sell  it  out  of  season,  he  got  the  highest  price : — 
As  he  paid  for  things  when  he  bought  them,  he  got  his 
necessaries  twelve  per  cent,  cheaper : — As  he  paid  neither 
interests  nor  costs,  and  lost  no  time  in  running  to  borrow 
money  or  to  see  his  creditors — he  laid  up  ninety  pounds  a 
year — lived  quite  as  well  as  his  cousin,  and  infinitely  happier. 

When  poor  Thornbury  saw  a  man  riding  up  the  road,  his 
anxious  look  told  as  plain  as  a  look  could  tell — "plague  on 
that  fellow,  he  is  coming  to  dun  me."  When  a  sudden  rap  at 
the  door  announced  a  visiter,  no  matter  how  lively  he  had 
been,  he  turned  pale,  and  looked  sorrowfully  anxious  until 
the  visiter  was  known. 

Many  a  man  goes  into  the  store  for  a  single  article.  Look- 
ing around,  twenty  things  strike  his  fancy :  he  has  no  money, 
but  he  buys  on  credit.  Foolish  man!  Pay-day  must  come, 
and  ten  chances  to  one,  like  death,  it  finds  you  unprepared  to 
meet  it.  Tell  me,  ye  who  have  experienced  it,  did  the  pleasure 
of  possessing  the  articles,  bear  any  proportion  to  the  pain  of 
being  called  on  to  pay  for  them,  when  you  had  it  not  in  your 
power  ? 

Good  people,  hark  ye :  A  few  rules  well  observed,  will  con- 
tribute much  to  your  happiness  and  independence.  Never  buy 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE.  233 

what  you  do  not  really  want.  Never  purchase  on  credit  what 
you  can  possibly  do  without.  Take  pride  in  being  able  to 
say,  /  owe  no  man. — Wives  are  sometimes  thoughtless: — 
Daughters  now  and  then  extravagant.  Many  a  time,  when 
neither  the  wife  nor  daughter,  would  willingly  give  a  single 
pang  to  a  fond  father's  bosom,  they  urge  and  teaze  him  to 
get  articles,  pleasant  enough,  to  be  sure,  to  possess,  but  diffi- 
cult for  him  to  buy  : — He  purchases  on  credit — is  dunned — 
sued,  and  many  an  hour  made  wretched  by  their  folly  and 
imprudence.  Old  Robert  presents  his  compliments  to  the 
ladies,  and  begs  they  would  have  the  goodness  to  read  the 
last  ten  lines  once  a  month  till  they  get  them  by  heart,  and 
then  act  as  their  own  excellent  dispositions  shall  direct. 

Above  all  things,  good  people,  never  go  in  debt  at  the 
tavern.  To  grog — to  toddy — to  sling — to  bitters  !  Oh  horrid ! 
what  a  bill !  Never  owe  your  shoemaker — your  taylor — your 
printer — your  blacksmith,  or  laborer.  Besides  the  bad  policy 
of  being  in  debt,  it  is  downright  injustice  to  those  of  whose 
labor  you  have  received  the  benefit. 

How  happy's  the  farmer  who  owes  not  a  pound, 
But  lays  by  his  fifty  each  year  that  comes  round. 
He  fears  neither  constable,  sheriff  nor  dun ; 
To  bank  or  the  justice  has  never  to  run. 
His  cellar  well  fill'd  and  his  pantry  well  stor'd, 
He  lives  far  more  blest  than  a  prince  or  a  lord. 
Then  take  my  advice,  if  a  fortune  you'd  get, 
Pay  off  what  you  owe — and  then  keep  out  of  debt. 


'EASIER  COAXED  THAN  DRIVEN."* 


WHEN  I  made  my  last  visit  to  Applebury,  I  put  off  going 
to  see  my  old  friend,  Luke  Thornbury,  and  for  the  best 
reason  in  the  world.    Luke  and  his  wife  used  to  quarrel  the 

♦Published  in  the  Gleaner  and  Luzerne  Advertiser  for  Feb.  14,  1812. 


234  ESSAYS   FROM   THE  DESK   OF 

live-long  day,  and  it  isn't  very  pleasant,  you  know,  to  visit 
where  "I  won't,  my  dear,"  and  "I'll  see  the  devil  have  you 
first,  my  love,"  make  half  the  conversation.  But  Luke  and  I 
had  always  been  on  the  best  terms,  and  as  for  that  matter, 
Mrs.  Thornbury  and  I  were  never  at  variance. 

So  one  fine  afternoon;  it  was  I  think  the  twenty-fifth  day 
of  October,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  ten,  just  at 
half  past  three  o'clock,  that  I  rapped  at  the  front  door  of 
the  new  house.  And  now  while  they  are  coming  to  open 
the  door,  I  take  time  to  tell  you  that  every  thing  around  it 
wore  a  rather  guess  appearance  than  when  I  was  last  at  the 
farm.  The  garden  fences  were  painted  white — and  the 
side  walks  ornamented  with  a  row  of  handsome  poplars. 
In  the  little  yard,  in  front  of  the  house,  the  rose  and  the 
snowball  trees,  scattering  their  leafy  honors  to  the  frosts 
of  Autumn,  indicated,  from  the  neatness  with  which  they 
were  trimmed,  that  the  mind  of  the  mistress  was  enough 
at  ease  to  attend  to  such  interesting  trifles.  And  the  old 
house-dog  came  wagging  his  tail  around  me,  telling  me  as 
plain  as  a  dog  could  tell,  "you  are  welcome."  The  nice  ob- 
server need  not  be  told  that  such  things — "Walk  in."  My 
good  old  friend  that  moment  met  me.  Instead  of  that  lean — 
half -starved — hen-pecked  looking  fellow  he  seemed  ten  years 
ago — why  sir,  he  was  ruddy  and  as  fat  as  a  turtle-fed  alder- 
man. He  gave  me  that  sort  of  cordial  reception,  which  told, 
rather  by  the  eye  and  the  pressure  of  the  hand,  than  by 
words,  than  I  was  welcome.  And  Mrs.  Thornbury  too, 
seemed  delighted  to  see  me. 

What  an  alteration!  His  wife  was  as  happy  a  looking 
woman  as  I  had  seen  in  all  Applebury.  They  both,  I  could 
perceive,  remarked  my  surprise,  at  the  perfect  accordance  of 
opinion  and  harmony  of  action  in  the  house.  After  tea,  the 
'Squire  invited  me  to  walk  and  see  his  new  flock  of  Meri- 
noes. — While  together,  he  took  occasion  to  mention  the 
matter.    "You  seem,"  said  he  smiling,  "a  little  surprised  at  the 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE.  ^35 

harmony  which  prevails  between  myself  and  Mrs  Th^n- 
bury.  Family  affairs  I  do  not  often  make  a  subjeet  of  con- 
versation, but  as  you  were  one  of  my  earhest  fnends,  and 
Ts  d  to  sympathise  with  me  in  the  misery  of  havmg  a  cross 
partner  i'  is  due  to  you  to  tell  you  the  cause  of  the  altera- 
tion '  I  told  him  I  was  much  pleased  to  see  the  happy 
change,  and  could  not  but  be  interested  to  know  the  cause. 

"When  Jane  and  I  married,"  said  he,  "I  knew  she  pos- 
sessed, with  a  good  share  of  understanding,  a  high  sp.nt.    1 
w  fd  termined  to  be  master  at  home,  and  I  took  h,gh  ground, 
resolved  to  enforce  obedience  whenever  .t  should  be  refused, 
W^g  care  at  the  same  time  to  command  nothmgwhere.n 
Ihad  not  a  right  to  be  obeyed.     If  my  w,fe  -'erfered,  or 
hterposed  her  opinion,  my  pride  took  the  alarm  lest  she  should 
w  ar  the  breeches,  and  I  would  have  things  to  su.t  mysef. 
Jane  grew  cross  and  severe.     I  became  morose  and  testy. 
Fo    some  time  our  life  was  miserable-myaffatrs  began  to 
get  into  disorder  :-she  neglected  the  things  m  the  house,  and 
f  every  thing  out  of  doors.    Things  all  tended  to  an  open 
upture,  and  we  resolved  at  length  to  part.    To  part  l-t   was 
a  dreadful  thought.     She  was  the  mother  of  my  children, 
she  had  good  sense-knew  how  to  be  a  good  housew,  e- 
fnd  I  could  not  allege  any  greater  offense  agatnst  her^than 
she  would  not  submit  to  my  government.    Many  a  time  m 
our  quarrels  she  used  to  tell  me,  "easier  eoa.edtWn  ir^en^ 
The  thought  struck  me  that  before  we  finally  separated 
llouU  lier  »y  pUn  of  ,nanage,nenL    I  ieea^e  tkeje^ 
natured  and  politest  husband  in  the  Wrf.-What  a  meta- 
morphose.    Jenny,  said  he,  and  the  tear  stood  in  his     ye 
Jenny  became  the  best  natnred  and  most  complying  w  fe  in 
Clebury.    I  took  her  advice  in  every  matter-she  ahvays 
adv'  ed  just  as  I  wished.-If  I  got  a  nice  peach  from  home 
I  Xay    saved  it  for  her.    She  requited  my  attem.on  with 
ourfoW  kindness.    Was  she  ill,  I  was  unremitting  m  my 
attentions.    If  I  was  sick,  no  angel  could  be  kinder.    In  fine, 


236  ESSAYS   FROM   THE  DESK   OF 

said  my  friend,  I  became  in  truth  a  good  husband — and  that 
is  the  secret,  that  wrought  such  a  change  in  my  wife ;  and  I 
do  verily  beHeve  if  other  husbands  would  only  remember 
that  a  woman  is  "easier  coaxed  than  driven,"  there  would  be 
infinitely  more  happiness  in  the  married  state. 


FAMILY  GOVERNMENT.* 
If  your  children  you'd  command, 
Parents,  keep  a  steady  hand. 


OUR  parson  used  to  say,  "just  as  the  twig  is  bent  the  tree's 
inclined,"  and  therefore  every  little  fellow  of  us,  rag-tag 
and  bob-tail,  used  to  be  obliged  to  say  our  catechism  eveiy 
Saturday  afternoon.  And  methinks  I  can  trace  the  influence 
of  the  serious  lessons,  in  the  conduct  and  opinions  of  every 
man  who  was  brought  up  under  the  venerable  pastor.  The 
government  as  well  as  the  education  of  children,  is  a  matter 
of  the  most  momentous  concern.  Mrs.  Hasty  is  as  good  a 
dispositioned  woman  as  you  will  find  in  an  hundred,  but  she 
don't  "keep  a  steady  hand'  with  her  children.  Tommy, 
said  she,  let  that  clock-case  alone.  Tommy  turned  round, 
whistled  for  half  a  minute,  and  went  to  work  at  the  clock 
again.  Tommy,  said  she  angrily,  if  you  don't  let  that  clock 
alone  I  certainly  will  whip  you.  I  never  did  see  such  a  boy, 
said  the  mother,  he  don't  mind  a  word  I  say.  She  continued 
her  knitting,  while  Tom  continued  at  the  clock-case,  till  over 
it  tumbled  and  dashed  the  clock  and  case  to  pieces. — The 
mother  up  with  the  tongs  and  knocked  poor  Tom  sprawling 
among  the  ruins.  Tom  roared  like  a  Bedlamite,  and  the  kind 
woman  took  him  up  in  her  lap — was  sorry  she  had  hurt  him, 
but  then  he  should  learn  to  mind  his  mother ;  and  giving  him 

♦Published  in  Gleaner  and  Luzerne  Advertiser  for  March  6,  1812. 
No  title  in  newspaper. 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE.  237 

a  piece  of  cake  to  stop  his  crying,  picked  up  the  ruins  of  the 
clock.  What  was  the  consequence? — Why,  Tom,  who  with 
"a  steady  hand"  to  govern  him,  would  have  become  a  man  of 
worth — turned  out  a  hasty,  ill-natured  villain. 

My  neighbor  Softly,  good  woman,  don't  whip  her  poor 
dear  little  children,  however  improperly  they  may  conduct; 
for  they  cry  so  loud  and  so  long  she  is  afraid  they  will  go 
into  fits.  Yet  she  keeps  a  rod  hanging  up  over  the  mantle- 
piece,  threatening  them  every  hour  in  the  day. 

Old  Captain  Testy  swore  his  children  should  be  well  gov- 
erned. So  he  laid  by  a  good  hickory,  and  for  every  trifling 
offence,  thrashed  his  children  till  they  were  beaten  into  hardi- 
hood and  shamelessness.  When  they  appeared  on  the  theatre 
of  life,  they  were  only  fit  for  robbery  and  the  whipping  post. 

How  different  was  the  government  of  my  old  friend 
Ainvwell  and  his  wife.  If  one  corrected  a  child — the  other 
never  interfered.  When  the  first  ray  of  knowledge  began  to 
dawn  in  their  infant  minds,  they  commenced  a  steady  course 
of  proceeding. 

They  never  directed  what  was  improper  to  be  done — if  a 
child  misunderstood,  they  pardoned  him — but  so  long  as  he 
resisted  through  temper  they  continued  to  punish  until  the 
temper  yielded.  A  second  whipping  was  rarely  necessary, 
A  steady  hand — a  mild  but  firm  manner  of  issuing  their 
commands,  were  always  sure  to  produce  obedience.  It  was 
an  invariable  rule  with  them,  when  they  were  in  a  passion, 
never  to  punish  their  children.  Never  to  promise  the  most 
minute  thing  to  them  without  performing.  And  yet  their 
children  loved  them  most  tenderly — wantoned  and  played 
their  little  gambols  around  them  with  the  utmost  freedom. 
But  at  any  time  a  look  would  awe  them  into  silence,  and  a 
word  was  sure  to  be  followed  by  the  strictest  obedience.  If 
it  was  convenient,  they  came  to  the  table ;  if  not — without  a 
murmur  they  waited.  They  grew  up  patterns  of  filial 
obedience  and  affection,  and  added  to  society  the  most  cor- 
rect, useful  and  respectable  members. 


238  ESSAYS   FROM   THE  DESK  OF 

Listen  to  Old  Robert :  Never  strike  a  child  while  you  are 
in  anger.  Never  interfere  with  your  husband  or  wife  in 
the  correction  of  a  child  in  its  presence.  The  parents  must 
be  united,  or  there  is  an  end  to  government.  Never  make 
light  promises  to  children,  of  rewards  or  punishments;  but 
scrupulously  fulfill  what  you  do  promise. — Begin  early  with 
your  children.  Break  their  temper  if  it  is  high,  while  young; 
it  may  cost  you  and  them  a  pang,  but  it  still  will  save  you 
both  fifty  afterwards ;  and  then  be  steady  in  your  govern- 
ment. Use  the  rod  sparingly — it  is  better  and  easier  to  com- 
mand from  their  love  and  respect,  than  their  fear.  Keep 
these  rules,  and  my  word  for  it.  your  children  will  be  a  hap- 
piness to  you  while  young,  and  an  honor  to  you  when  they 
grow  up. 


Be  sure  ne'er  promise  yea  or  no. 
Without  the  power  and  will  to  do : 
Then  always  make  that  promise  true.* 


EDWARD  EASY  had  a  cousin  Tow.— Those  who  re- 
moved from  the  neighborhood  of  the  Buries,  in  the  midst  of 
which  Applebury  lies,  must  all  have  known  Tom  Easy.  He 
was  one  of  the  most  accommodating  fellows  in  the  world.  He 
would  disoblige  himself  at  any  time  to  oblige  a  neighbor. — 
Many  a  time  have  I  known  him  to  lend  his  horse,  and  then 
trudge  to  training  two  miles  on  foot.  He  could  never  refuse 
any  thing  that  was  asked  of  him,  for  it  was  more  painful  to 
to  refuse  a  favor  than  to  give  up  a  convenience.  Though 
this  accommodating  disposition,  when  kept  within  due  bounds, 
is  commendable,  yet  when  carried  to  an  extreme  it  degener- 
ates into  a  vice.  Tom  carried  it  too  far.  He  became  too 
accommodating.  Ask  him  for  what  you  pleased,  he  could  never 
refuse  you.     And  at  length  by  promising  so  many  things 

♦Published  in  the  Gleaner  and  Luzerne  Advertiser  for  April  10, 1812. 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE.  239 

which  he  could  not  perform,  he  fell  into  the  disgraceful  habit 
of  disregarding  his  promises,  both  in  matters  of  business  as 
well  as  amusement. — Will  you  attend  the  ball  tonight,  Tom? 
O  yes,  I'll  be  sure  to  be  there ;  you  may  certainly  count  upon 
me.  And  yet,  ten  to  one,  some  friend  would  take  him  by  the 
sleeve  and  lead  him  ofif  to  play  checquers  all  the  evening. 
Tom,  will  you  attend  the  business  relating  to  the  Parsonage- 
lands  to-morrow  ?  O  yes,  precisely  at  ten.  And  yet  more  than 
probable  the  next  day  at  ten  would  find  him  writing  poetry, 
disputing  politics,  or  making  a  quail-trap.  He  would  promise 
money  with  the  same  good  will  to  pay,  and  yet  from  sheer 
carelessness  never  provide  the  means  of  meeting  his  engage- 
ments : — But  no  one  paid  his  debts  more  cheerfully  when  in 
his  power.  He  would  set  a  day  to  settle  with  a  neighbor,  but 
when  the  man  had  come  three  miles  with  his  books,  Tom, 
would  have  rode  out  on  a  party  of  pleasure. 

This  want  of  punctuality  in  fulfilling  promises  so  speciously 
made,  and  relied  on,  not  unfrequently  injured  him  in  the 
estimation  of  many,  whose  good  opinion  he  would  not 
willingly  have  forfeited;  and  produced  inconveniences  to 
those  whom  he  would  much  more  gladly  have  served.  The 
consequences  need  not  be  traced.  No  man  with  two  grains  of 
understanding,  and  one  of  experience,  but  will  perceive  at  a 
glance,  that  although  Tom  was  possessed  of  many  good 
qualities,  the  exercise  of  this  habitual  negligence  of  per- 
formance must  lead  to  ruin,  in  credit,  reputation  and  fortune. 
Tom  at  length  saw  it  too,  and  putting  his  foot  down,  just  on 
the  edge  of  the  precipice  whither  his  indiscretion  had  led  him, 
made  a  vow  of  reformation.  And  the  consequences  were 
almost  miraculous.  Though  still  obliging,  and  ready  to  say 
yes  on  all  proper  occasions — yet  he  never  would  promise 
without  the  will,  the  ability  and  the  firm  resolution  to  per- 
form. His  credit  was  restored  and  it  become  a  pleasure  to 
do  business  with  him.  His  punctuality  to  his  engagements 
now  raised  him  as  rapidly  in  public  estimation  as  the  contrary 
course  of  conduct  had  sunk  him. 


240  ESSAYS   FROM    THE  DESK   OF 

As  Tom's  fault  seems  to  be  very  prevalent  at  the  present 
time,  I  thought  the  consequences  produced  by  the  disease, 
and  the  cure  in  his  case,  might  peradventure  be  useful  to 
others. 

Take  the  advice  of  Old  Robert.  Never  promise  through  a 
foolish  good-natured  wish  to  please  for  the  moment — for  it 
is  falsehood.  Keep  your  promises  sacred,  even  in  the  minutest 
particular,  for  therein  is  honor.  No  man  can  maintain  an 
unsullied  reputation,  and  disregard  even  trifling  promises. 


SEDUCTION.* 


IT  was  one  of  those  pleasant  mornings  in  the  month  of 
May,  when  nature,  released  from  the  chains  of  winter,  seems 
animated  with  a  sense  of  returning  life  and  freedom.  The 
merry  blue-bird  carolled  her  liveliest  lay.  The  bee,  warmed 
to  activity  by  the  genial  ray,  left  the  hive ;  and  the  early 
daffodil  opened  its  yellow  bosom  to  her  welcome.  The 
meadows,  clad  in  green,  and  decorated  with  flowers,  seemed 
to  smile  with  joy;  and  the  little  brook  that  wandered  through 
the  valley,  murmured  sweet  music  to  the  shepherd's  ear.  It 
was  such  a  morning  when  I  last  visited  Franksburgh.  My 
heart  swelled  with  gratitude  to  God  and  love  to  my  fellow 
man.  Just  as  I  alighted  at  old  Capt.  Freeman's,  two  gentle- 
men in  a  chaise  drove  to  the  door  of  the  only  inn  of  the  vil- 
lage. They  seemed  strangers — easy  in  their  deportment, 
well-dressed,  but  very  different  in  their  manners  and  appear- 
ance. The  eldest  seemed  about  twenty-three ;  tall,  graceful 
and  prepossessing;  his  eye  was  uncommonly  ardent,  and  on 
his  brow  sat  something  like  care.  His  companion  seemed  a 
lad  of  about   fourteen,  handsome,   delicate,   and  apparently 

*Published  in  the  Gleaner  and  Luzerne  Advertiser  for  June  5  and 
June  13,  1812.    No  title  in  newspaper. 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE.  24I 

ill.  They  immediately  called  for  a  room,  in  which  they  re- 
mained until  their  arrival  was  known  to  every  man,  woman 
and  child  in  the  whole  village. 

There  are  few  places,  you  know,  at  once  so  pleasant,  and 
so  retired  as  Franksburgh.  Pleased  with  its  situation,  the 
strangers  concluded  to  make  it  the  place  of  their  residence, 
at  least  for  a  season,  as  they  hoped  it  would  prove  beneficial 
to  the  health  of  Edzdn. — The  strangers,  for  such  was  the 
appellation  by  which  they  were  designated  through  Franks- 
burgh, soon  became  the  theme  of  general  discourse.  Curi- 
osity was  on  tip-toe  to  know  who  they  were,  whence  they 
came,  and  what  was  their  business.  The  girls  all  thought  the 
eldest  the  handsomest  man  they  had  ever  seen.  The  lads, 
either  from  dislike,  arising  from  jealousy  of  William,  (for 
that  was  his  name)  because  he  was  the  favorite  of  their 
sweethearts,  or  because  there  was  indeed  a  winning  soft- 
ness— an  attractive  sweetness  in  Edivin,  all  preferred  the 
latter.  But  the  strangers,  although  courteous  to  all,  appeared 
to  shun,  rather  than  court  society;  and  a  lonely  walk  to  the 
deep  groves  by  the  mountain,  seemed  their  principal  delight. 
But  it  was  strange — nobody  had  ever  learned  the  second 
name  of  either  of  the  young  gentlemen. — And  the  washer- 
woman had  observed  that  their  clothes  were  marked  with 
other  letters  than  those  commencing  their  first  names. — 
William  often  walked  his  chamber  as  though  agitated. 
Edwin  was  frequently  seen  to  sigh  and  weep.  Every  body 
loved  him,  and  seemed  deeply  interested  in  the  recovery  of 
his  health;  but  he  grew  paler  and  paler  every  day,  and  his 
mild  blue  eye,  smiling  with  affected  serenity  through  an  ob- 
trusive tear,  excited  in  every  bosom  the  most  tender  sensi- 
bility. 

But  why  conceal  their  names? — Whence  the  agitation  of 
William? — What  caused  the  sighs  and  tears  of  Edwin? 
These  were  questions  in  the  mouths  of  every  one,  and  al- 
though the  distress  of  both  might  be  accounted  for  by  the 


242  ESSAYS   FROM    THE  DESK   OF 

illness  of  the  latter,  yet  sickness  could  be  no  reason  for  the 
studied  caution  in  the  concealment  of  their  names. 

Week  after  week  passed  away,  and  it  was  remarked  that 
Edivin's  illness  confined  him  more  and  more,  while  William, 
assuming  a  more  cheerful  air,  associated  more  with  the  vil- 
lagers, and  many  thought  from  his  frequent  visits  to  the 
Parson's,  that  the  blooming  Mir  a  had  made  some  impression 
on  his  heart.  Mira  was  the  youngest  daughter  of  the  worthy 
and  venerable  Clergyman.  With  a  mind  cultivated,  delicate 
and  refined — a  form  and  features  of  exquisite  harmony,  and 
a  heart  the  seat  of  every  virtue ;  she  had,  even  in  the  cities, 
few  equals,  and  no  superiors.  The  attentions  of  William 
became  every  day  more  particular,  and  it  was  remarked  that 
the  illness  of  his  unfortunate  companion  proportionably  in- 
creased. It  could  not  be  concealed,  that  to  Mira,  the  conver- 
sation of  William  was  agreeable.  His  manners  were  en- 
gaging— his  mind  well  stored  with  learning — the  most  ap- 
proved writers  were  familiar  to  his  recollection — he  quoted 
the  best  poets  with  grace  and  ease,  and  his  skill  in  music 
and  painting  gave  him  a  very  sensible  advantage  over  the 
young  men  with  whom  Mira  was  in  the  habit  of  associating 
in  Franksburgh.  What  female  heart,  so  situated,  could  with- 
stand such  attractions? — Yet  the  good  and  sensible  Mr. 
Pleasants,  while  he  saw  in  William  such  a  man,  as,  if  his 
character  should  prove  fair,  and  his  connexions  suitable,  he 
should  be  pleased  to  see  united  with  his  daughter ;  could  not 
but  remark  the  extreme  impropriety  of  her  forming  an  at- 
tachment for  a  man,  whose  situation  in  life,  and  even  whose 
real  name  she  did  not  know.  Mira  received  the  caution  of 
her  father  with  a  sigh  that  plainly  told  him  her  heart  was 
too  much  interested  in  behalf  of  the  stranger.  Indeed  Wil- 
liam himself  had  adverted  to  the  singularity  of  his  situation 
in  Franksburgh — intimated  that  his  views  were  honorable — 
that  he  could  explain  some  things  that  might  appear  mys- 
terious, and  hoped  that  hearts  made  to  be  happy  in  each 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE.  243 

other's  love,  might  not  be  separated  by  the  austerity  of  the 
old  and  unfeeling.  The  fire  of  William's  eye,  the  ardor  of 
his  manner,  the  doubtful  tendency  of  his  expressions,  and 
the  attempt  to  press  the  hand  of  Mira  to  his  bosom,  alarmed 
her  delicacy.  She  resented  his  forwardness  with  a  look  that 
awed  him  into  respect,  and  while  he  vowed  the  tenderest  af- 
fection, he  hoped  she  would  pardon  any  fault  that  his  too 
great  love  for  her  might  have  betrayed  him  into. 

What  portion  of  the  young  ladies  of  Franksburgh,  would 
have  chided,  and  forgiven  him  such  language,  I  pretend  not 
to  know.  Too  many  I  fear  would  have  been  at  least  silent, 
and  have  depended  on  their  own  discretion  to  repel  any 
further  illicit  advances.  Duty  clearly  suggested  a  different 
course. — Mira  had  no  mother.  Death  had  robbed  the  world 
of  its  fairest  ornament,  and  left  Mira  to  the  counsels  of  her 
father.  To  him  she  unfolded  her  whole  heart — she  con- 
fessed the  visits  of  William  had  been  pleasant,  but  she  also 
related  every  circumstance  of  their  last  interview.  Such 
was  the  course  prescribed  by  discretion  and  virtue.  While  a 
child  makes  a  confident  of  a  parent,  there  is  no  danger  of 
her  falling  a  prey  to  the  allurements  of  vice,  or  the  zmles  of 
villainy.  The  complexion  of  William's  views  was  now  ap- 
parent, and  Mr.  Pleasants  seated  himself  at  his  desk  to  write 
a  letter  to  him,  prohibiting  him  his  house,  when  a  little  boy 
brought  in  a  billet  to  Mira.  The  seal  was  wet.  The  boy  had 
gone  in  an  instant.  It  was  observed  that  he  had  entered  the 
room  with  little  ceremony — was  wrapped  up  closely  so  as 
not  to  be  distinguished,  and  had  departed  without  uttering  a 
syllable.  Mira  opened  the  letter  with  a  trembling  hand,  sup- 
posing it  from  William.  What  was  her  surprize  to  find  the 
following  lines — 

"The    serpent    charms    but    to    destroy, 
"Beware  the  fate  of  the  stranger  boy." 
From  whom  or  whence  it  came,  she  could  not  conjecture. 
She  handed  it  to  her  father,  whose  opinion  coincided  with 


244  ESSAYS  FROM  THE  DESK  OF 

her's,  that  the  "serpent"  alluded  to,  could  be  no  other  than 
William;  but  the  last  line  was  puzzling  and  unintelligible. 

A  sad  night  passed  away,  and  ushered  in  an  eventful  morn- 
ing. The  letter  from  Mr.  Pleasants  to  William  was  delivered 
at  an  early  hour.  William  had  seemed  fretful — unsettled, 
and  peevish  all  the  preceding  evening.  He  was  observed  to 
pace  his  room,  with  unusual  agitation ;  his  voice  was  occasion- 
ally raised  to  a  tone  harsh  and  severe,  and  it  was  thought 
that  the  sick  Edwin  was  heard  to  moan  and  sob.  This  harsh- 
ness, and  the  circumstance,  that  during  the  illness  of  the  in- 
teresting youth,  no  physician  had  been  consulted,  gave  rise 
to  opinions  very  unfavorable  to  the  humanity  of  the  elder; 
yet  he  had  never  appeared  either  mean  or  ungenerous.  His 
purse  was  always  open  to  relieve  the  poor  who  asked  his 
bounty,  and  he  paid  liberally  for  every  thing  he  purchased. 
Soon  after  the  delivery  of  the  letter  from  Mr.  Pleasants, 
William  descended  the  stairs  in  considerable  agitation — or- 
dered his  bill  and  trunk  in  great  haste — told  the  landlord  he 
should  be  absent  a  day  or  two — took  his  leave,  and  hastily 
drove  from  the  door.  As  the  carriage  wheels  rattled  over 
the  stones,  the  feet  of  Edimn  were  heard  to  step  slowly  to 
the  window;  he  gave  a  convulsive  scream,  and  fell  lifeless 
on  the  floor.  The  family  ran  immediately  to  his  room.  Mr. 
Pleasants,  who  was  near  at  hand,  ran  to  his  assistance.  He 
was  laid  on  the  bed — some  water  brought.  He  appeared 
Hfeless — and  surely  death  never  stole  so  sweet  a  victim.  They 
opened  his  vest  and  handkerchief  to  give  him  air,  when 
what  was  their  astonishment  to  behold  a  female  bosom,  white 
as  snow! — and  to  a  golden  chain  around  her  neck  was  sus- 
pended the  minature  of  the  very  William  who  had  at  that 
moment  so  hastily  departed. 

The  cause  of  her  illness  was  no  longer  a  secret.  She  re- 
vived but  to  faint  again,  and  again,  until  nature,  wearied 
with  the  torture  produced  by  the  agitation  of  her  spirits, 
sunk  into  sleep,  disturbed  and  interrupted  by  moans;  but 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE.  245 

yet  not  destitute  of  refreshing  influence.  The  best  medical 
aid  the  village  afforded,  was  brought  to  her  relief,  and  in  two 
days  more  she  was  removed,  by  the  invitation  of  the  good 
Clergyman,  to  his  house.  The  austere  censured  him  as  the 
encourager  of  vice.  The  lewd  and  unprincipled  hinted,  that 
perhaps  she  might  recover,  and  that  the  age  of  the  Parson 
had  not  yet  chilled  the  fever  of  his  blood.  Benevolent  him- 
self, he  neither  heeded  the  censures  of  the  one,  nor  the  sneers 
of  the  other.  His  income  was  small,  but  what  he  had  was 
never  withheld  from  the  indigent  and  afflicted.  He  prayed 
for  all — he  visited  the  sick — he  comforted  the  mourner — he 
relieved  the  distressed. 

Ellen,  for  that  was  the  real  name  of  the  poor  girl,  after  a 
week  of  severe  illness,  began  to  recover  her  strength;  but 
her  spirits  were  low — a  gloom  rested  on  her  countenance — 
she  never  smiled,  and  though  she  wept  little  when  any  one 
was  near,  yet  a  tear  often  stole  down  her  cheek;  but  when 
alone  she  gave  vent  to  her  sorrows  in  a  flood  of  tears.  The 
time  now  approached  at  which  she  expected  to  become  a 
mother ! — To  Mira  she  disclosed  all  that  she  intended  should 
be  known.  "She  did  not  expect,"  she  said,  to  survive  her 
expected  trial — she  had  no  wish  to  live ;  and  yet  for  the  sake 
of  William's  child,  she  could  not  wish  it  to  expire  with  her." 
Her  parents  were  wealthy,  and  were  considered  as  respect- 
able; but  where  they  resided,  or  what  their  name,  she  con- 
stantly declined  to  mention.  Her  fault  had  been  great,  but 
William's  perfidy  had  been  her  ruin.  She  was  innocent,  until 
under  the  guise  of  affection,  he  had  won  her  poor  heart,  and 
robbed  her  of  her  honor.  "I  would  not  complain,"  said  she, 
"of  my  parents.  They  loved  me  tenderly,  and  my  father 
would  avenge  my  wrongs  with  the  life  of  my  seducer.  I  hope 
he  may  never  know  my  fate.  But  both  he  and  my  mother 
were  inattentive  to  storing  my  mind  with  the  precepts  of 
religion:  they  took  me  to  church,  it  is  true,  but  rather  as  a 
ceremony  or  parade,   than   for  instruction;   and   when  the 


246  ESSAYS   FROM   THE  DESK   OF 

Sabbath  was  gone,  religion  was  not  again  remembered,  until 
another  Sabbath  brought  it  to  recollection."  But  her  re- 
pentance seemed  sincere.  The  fearful  hour  at  length  ar- 
rived. There  was  scarcely  a  person  in  the  village,  that  did 
not,  with  an  anxious,  enquiring  look,  express  a  solicitude  to 
know  the  issue.  The  morning  came,  and  the  church-bell  in 
solemn  tone  announced  what  poor  Ellen  had  predicted,  and 
what  all  had  feared.  The  day  of  the  funeral  was  fixed — the 
mother  and  the  infant  daughter  were  both  to  be  interred  in 
one  grave. 

It  was  the  fall  of  the  year — the  sun  looked  pale — the  sear 
leaf  fell  silently  around — and  the  sound  of  the  deep-toned 
bell  vibrated  with  unusual  sadness  on  the  ear.  The  funeral 
was  numerously  attended,  and  melancholy  marked  every 
countenance.  By  the  desire  of  Ellen,  she  was  interred  by 
the  side  of  the  rock  in  the  burying-ground,  beneath  the  sweet- 
briar  that  blossoms  there.  The  slow  and  sad  procession  had 
arrived  at  the  grave — the  coffin  was  gently  let  down  into  its 
recess — when  the  awful  stillness  was  suddenly  disturbed,  by 
a  stranger,  who  rushed  through  the  crowd!  His  eye  was 
wild  and  glaring — his  head  was  bare —  his  hair  flew  wildly 
to  the  breeze — he  stood  by  the  grave  with  a  look  of  unutter- 
able anguish.  After  a  minute's  pause,  the  people  began  to 
cover  the  grave.  Awakening  from  his  reverie,  and  throwing 
himself  upon  the  coffin,  he  exclaimed — "O !  Ellen — poor 
murdered  Ellen!"  With  great  exertion  he  was  forced  from 
the  spot,  and  the  last  sad  rites  were  paid  to  the  dead.  William 
returned,  raving  sometimes  incoherently — sometimes  writh- 
ing under  the  pangs  of  a  guilty  conscience,  he  attempted  to 
destroy  himself ;  again  he  wept  for  the  wrongs  and  murder 
of  poor  Ellen!  Nearly  a  year  passed  in  the  madness  of 
uncontrolled  delirium,  till  at  length  nature  gave  way,  and  a 
copious  issue  of  blood  from  his  lungs  marked  at  once  the 
force  of  his  malady,  and  the  certainty  of  his  approaching 
dissolution.     But  the   hemoptysis   reduced   him   to   reason. 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE.  247 

Weak  and  melancholy,  he  would  linger  at  the  grave  of  the 
poor  girl  he  had  seduced — call  on  her  spirit  to  forgive  him, 
or  weep  until  night-fall,  when  his  friends  (for  his  repentant 
and  miserable  situation  had  raised  him  friends)  forced  him 
from  the  spot.  He  raised  with  his  own  hands  a  smooth  stone 
for  her  monument,  and  caused  to  be  inscribed  upon  it — 

"When  lovely  woman  stoops  to  folly, 
And  finds  too  late  that  men  betray; 

What  art  can  soothe  her  melancholy, 
What  charm  can  wash  her  guilt  away? 

"The  only  way  her  guilt  to  cover. 

To  hide  her  grief  from  every  eye ; 
To  bring  repentance  to  her  lover, 

And  wring  his  bosom,  is — TO  DIE !" 

A  few  months  closed  the  scene,  and  at  his  decease  he  was 
buried  by  the  side  of  Ellen. 

The  miniatures  of  Ellen  and  William  may  yet  be  seen  at  the 
good  Clergyman's.  Framed  neatly,  and  hung  beneath  the 
pictures,  are  the  following  lines  in  the  handwriting  of  Wil- 
liam, and  found  among  his  papers, — 

"Ellen  was  young,  and  beautiful  and  innocent.  I  courted 
her,  and  she  requited  my  love  by  the  tenderest  affection.  I 
took  the  advantage  of  an  unguarded  hour,  and  robbed  her 
of  her  virtue.  From  that  moment  she  was  wretched,  and  I 
was  miserable. — In  pleasure,  in  business,  in  new  scenes  of 
wickedness,  I  strove  to  drown  the  voice  of  conscience.  Poor 
Ellen  died — I  shall  soon  die  too.  May  God  forgive  me. 
Young  men  and  maidens,  from  William  and  Ellen's  fate 
learn,  that  the  moment  you  abandon  the  ways  of  virtue,  you 
leave  the  high  road  of  happiness.  'The  paths  of  pleasure 
lead  but  to  the  grave.' 

WILLIAM  THORNTON." 


248  ESSAYS   FROM   THE  DESK   OF 

"HUZZA  FOR  A  NEW  PILOT  TO  THE  SHIP."* 


I  NEVER  could  tell  for  the  soul  of  me,  under  what  planet 
I  was  born;  but  I  was  always  fond  of  roving.  At  the  age 
of  eighteen,  that  delicate  and  dangerous  period  of  youth, 
when  the  girls  feel  queer,  and  the  lads  feel  restless,  I  took 
it  into  my  head  that  I  would  go  a  voyage  to  sea.  I  learnt 
that  a  vessel  was  fitting  out  at  New- York,  on  a  trading 
voyage  to  the  south  sea,  and  I  must  needs  get  a  birth  in  her. 
Our  company  was  made  up  of  five  old  ships'-captains,  who 
were  good  pilots,  and  chief  owners;  and  all  the  crew  had 
ventures  aboard.  So  it  was  agreed  that  every  three  months, 
the  crew  should  choose  who  should  be  master,  and  the  master 
should  appoint  all  the  inferior  officers. 

The  winds  blew  fair — the  ship  was  ready — we  kissed  our 
sweethearts,  and  the  gale  soon  wafted  us  so  far,  that  the 
high  hills  of  Applebury  were  entirely  lost,  and  the  distant 
land  sunk  to  a  little  cloud  in  the  horizon. 

For  many  a  league  old  ocean  looked  like  a  sheep-pasture: 
the  white  sails  were  so  thick,  and  bounded  so  merily  over  the 
waves.  For  you  must  know  we  sailed  in  the  good  old  times 
before  Embargoes,  and  Non-Intercourses — and  other  such 
terrible  goes  and  courses  had  come  in  fashion. 

Our  first  Captain  did  right  well,  but  not  caring  to  take 
charge  of  the  ship  longer,  we  chose  another.  The  first  one, 
God  rest  his  soul,  soon  died,  and  never  a  common  sailor  on 
board,  but  cried  like  a  baby.  The  second  was  tolerable,  but 
scolded  a  little  too  much,  and  was  rather  proud.  So,  when 
his  time  was  out  we  let  him  rest,  and  all  set  too,  and  made 
Tom  Longsplice  commander.  Out  upon't,  but  I  get  out  of 
temper  when  I  think  what  a  lubber  he  was.  He  talked  like 
the   sweetest   and   sensibilest   gentleman   in   the  world,   but 

♦Published  in  the  Gleaner  for  Aug.  21,  1812. 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE.  249 

nothing  he  undertook  prospered.  After  two  turns  at  com- 
manding he  resigned,  and  every  body  was  glad  of  it.  So  the 
next  one  we  put  in  was  Jemmy  Cringer,  clerk  to  old  Long- 
splice,  and  one  of  his  own  kidney. 

Well-a-day  for  the  poor  sailors.  He  run  us  into  shoals  and 
among  rocks — got  us  on  a  lee  shore — made  all  the  people  we 
were  trading  with,  mad  as  March-hares,  and  squandered  more 
of  the  ship's  funds  than  a  little.  We  didn't  like  it  much,  and 
at  the  time  of  choosing  a  new  commander,  we  determined  to 
oust  him. 

Now,  would  you  think  it,  he  had  the  impudence  to  ask  to 
be  chosen  again,  and  the  cabin-boy,  and  the  boatswain,  and 
the  steward,  and  all  the  officers  who  depended  on  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  captain,  urged  it  on  the  sailors  to  choose  him 
again.  We  thought  for  a  while,  the  officers  made  such  a 
racket,  that  to  be  sure  three-fourths  of  the  crew  were  for  it, 
but  pretty  soon  discovered,  that  though  loud,  the  voices  in  his 
favor  were  not  numerous.  Just  at  the  critical  moment,  up 
got  Jack  Clewline,  as  good  a  sailor  as  ever  took  a  quid,  and 
thus  addressed  the  crew — 

"Avast,  mess-mates — 

"D'ye  see  we're  in  difficulty.  Under  Captain  Cringer  the 
ship  has  been  running  upon  rocks  and  shoals  half  the  time — 
we  are  in  open  arms  with  the  natives  we  want  to  trade  with, 
and  all  the  voyage  seems  going  to  the  d — 1.  Now  our  Captain 
may  be  a  clever  fellow,  but  he  has  a  cursed  droll  way  of 
showing  it.  We've  as  good  seamen  as  ever  steered  a  trick. 
We  may  get  a  better — we  can't  get  a  worse.  My  notion 
is  we'd  better  change  masters ;  so  huzza  for  a  new  pilot  to 
the  ship — here's  a  health  to  the  gallant  Bowline,  says  I." 

The  crew,  all  but  the  steward,  and  the  cabin-boy,  and  all 
the  other  officers,  answered  with  three  hearty  cheers — "Huzza 
for  a  new  pilot  to  the  ship — here's  success  to  Captain  Bow- 
line." 


250  ESSAYS   FROM   THE  DESK   OF 

The  new  Captain  took  the  command,  and  d'ye  see  things 
went  rather  guess.  We  got  out  of  the  shoals  and  rocks — 
made  peace  with  the  natives,  and  the  rest  of  the  voyage  was 
as  smooth  and  prosperous  as  heart  could  wish.  We  got  safe 
home  again  to  New  York,  our  pockets  lined  with  the  rhino, 
and  our  hearts  bounding  like  sturgeons — and  every  sailor 
blessed  the  day  that  we  got  "a  new  pilot  to  the  ship,"  and 
gave  the  command  to  the  gallant  Bowline. 

When  I  see  a  farmer,  letting  his  land  to  a  tenant  who 
commits  waste  on  the  freehold — quarrels  with  the  neighbors 
— neglects  to  repair  the  fences,  and  takes  little  pains  to  save 
the  flocks  from  the  ravages  of  the  wolves,  "Thinks-I-to- 
myself,"  if  there's  another  tenant  to  be  had,  I'd  turn  out  the 
incumbent.  You  may  get  a  better.  Your  farm  can't  be 
managed  worse.  Huzza  for  a  "nezv  pilot  to  the  ship" — 
remember  the  gallant  Bowline. 

When  I  see  a  sick  man  following  the  prescriptions  of  a 
physician,  every  dose  of  whose  physic  makes  him  worse  and 
worse.  What  a  fool,  thinks  I,  when  there  are  so  many  phy- 
sicians to  be  had,  to  employ  the  one  who  has  brought  you  so 
near  to  the  grave.  You  may  recover  by  a  change — you  must 
die  by  persisting  in  your  course.  Huzza  for  "a  new  pilot  to 
the  ship" — remember  the  gallant  Bowline. 

When  I  see  the  affairs  of  a  great  nation  grossly  mis- 
managed ;  the  people  divided  and  unhappy — commerce  in 
ruins — taxes  increasing — large  debts  contracting,  and  quarrels 
with  every  nation ;  reflect,  good  people,  thinks  I,  your  rulers 
must  want  capacity  or  virtue.  Things  can't  be  managed 
worse.  Change  your  rulers,  and  they  may  be  managed  better. 
Though  the  stewards,  and  the  clerks,  and  the  cabin-boys,  who 
are  interested  in  keeping  in  your  present  men,  may  bawl 
loud  to  deceive  you — rouse  up,  join,  one  and  all,  and  huzza 
for  "a  new  pilot  to  the  ship" — remember  the  gallant  Bow- 
line. 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE.  25I 

MONITORY.* 


OF  all  the  stages  of  life,  that  of  youth,  that  blest  period 
when  the  passions  allure  to  pleasure— when  every  object  is 
painted  to  the  imagination  in  the  vivid  tints  of  joy,  before 
reason  has  so  far  assumed  her  empire  as  to  convince  us  that 
the  pleasures  which  court  our  pursuit  are  momentary  or  il- 
lusive, or  experience  has  stamped  the  mortifying  conviction 
that  a  thorn  lurks  with  its  poisonous  dart  beneath  each  flower 
— that  is  the  happy  period  designated  by  all  as  the  most  de- 
lightful of  life.  The  blood  flows  rapid  and  warm  through 
the  heart.  Every  lad,  to  the  softer  sex,  is  an  Adonis. — 
Every  pretty  girl  appears  to  the  youths,  a  Helen,  or  a  Venus. 
But  even  that  period  is  not  free  from  troubles.  Every 
cup  of  pleasure  is  dashed  with  a  portion  of  alloy.  Nannette 
sighs,  because  Amelia  has  a  blacker  eye  or  a  finer  dimple. 
Olivia,  although  her  shape  is  most  beautiful,  pines  in  secret 
because  the  face  of  Ardelia  is  thought  handsomer.  And  even 
the  sensible— the  amiable— the  accomplished  Charlotte,  can- 
not conceal  her  chagrin  because  Mary  has  a  smaller  foot, 
and  a  finer  turned  ancle.  "Ah!  what  a  piece  of  work  is" 
woman!  Still,  dear,  forward,  unaccountable  creatures,  /  like 
ye.  I  delight  in  all  your  joys— I  sympathise  in  all  your  sor- 
rows.—Permit  then,  an  old  fellow  to  tell  you  frankly,  that 
you  are  not  so  perfect  but  that  attention  to  a  little  good  ad- 
vice may  improve  you. 

Never  swear.— Profane  language  from  your  lovely  lips 
seems  thrice  impious.  I  am  sorry  that  posterity,  who  will  read 
my  writings  a  hundred  generations  hence,  should  know  the 
fact.    The  fault  is  not  mine. 

Never  read  a  book  in  private  which  you  would  blush  to 

have  your  father  find  you  perusing.     

♦Published  in  the  Gleaner  for  Nov.  20,  181 2. 


252  ESSAYS   FROM   THE  DESK  OF 

Check  the  first  approaches  of  Hcentious  conduct  or  dis- 
course ;  and  awe,  by  the  irresistible  influence  of  female  virtue, 
the  man  into  silence,  who  dares  profane  your  ear  with  a 
double  entendre,  or  an  indelicate  allusion. 

If  a  man  of  worth,  but  difiident,  be  in  company,  pay  not 
all  your  attention  to  the  forward  coxcomb,  although  he  may 
obtrude  himself  upon  you,  but  complacently  smile  and  en- 
courage the  confidence  of  the  modest  and  unassuming. 

Read  your  bibles,  girls — read  your  bibles.  If  at  first  as  a 
duty  it  will  soon  become  a  pleasure.  Men  of  sense  will  love 
you  better — and  even  the  immoral*  will  respect  you  the  more. 

If  a  young  man  visits  you,  evening  after  evening — plagu- 
ing and  pestering  you  with  his  company,  and  gives  you  no 
opportunity  to  tell  him  his  visits  are  not  acceptable — I'm  sure 
you  all  wonder  how  you  are  to  relieve  yourselves  from  so  un- 
pleasant a  dilemma.  I  confess,  girls,  I  hardly  know. — I  have 
it. — Ask  them  if  they  have  read  the  last  number  of  Old 
Robert ;  if  not,  hand  them  the  Gleaner,  and  ten  to  one  but 
they  will  take  the  hint. 

INN-KEEPING.** 


Keep  your  bedsteads  free  from  bugs  : 
Air  your  sheets  and  clean  your  rugs ; 
Let  your  cookery  be  neat: 
Set  the  table  quite  complete : 
Bid  the  boy  the  boots  to  clean. 
Then  the  stranger'll  call  again. 


ON  my  last  journey  to  Applebury  I  kept  a  memorandum 
of  whatever  happened  on  the  road  worthy  of  observation. 
Many  sage  and  notable  remarks  and  adventures,  I  leave  for 

♦Newspaper  version : — knave  and  fool. 

♦♦Published  in  The  Gleaner  for  Apr.  16,  1813.  No  title  in  news- 
paper. 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE.  253 

the  publisher  of  my  posthumous  works  to  arrange  and  give 
to  the  world.  I  now  labor,  not  for  fame  or  fortune,  but  for 
the  comfort  of  my  fellow-men,  who  are  obliged  to  travel. 
And  now,  all  ye  tavern-keepers,  who  live  between  Franks- 
burgh  and  Applebury,  whether  in  cities,  villages,  or  in  the 
country,  I  pray  you  read  this;  and  if  you  are  not  down- 
right numskulls,  you  cannot  fail  to  derive  some  advantage 
from  the  perusal. 

Well,  as  I  was  telling  you,  I  started  for  Applebury  on 
old  Dobbin.*  The  season  was  fine  and  the  way  pleasant. 
Just  at  dusk  on  the  third  day  of  my  journey,  half  dead  with 
hunger  and  fatigue,  I  stopt  at  a  large  and  good-looking 
tavern  in  Slopewell,  at  the  sign  of  the  Bear  and  Fiddler, 
ordered  my  horse  out  and  called  for  supper.  Alas,  poor 
Robert,  thought  I,  looking  around  the  large  and  dirty  bar- 
room—this promises  but  poor  accommodations.  I  would 
have  proceeded  further,  but  I  was  absolutely  too  much  jaded 
to  think  of  moving  a  step.  The  table  was  spread,  with  a 
dirty  cloth,  and  half  a  dozen  children,  bedaubed  from  ear  to 
ear  with  candy  and  dirt,  hung  around  it,  pulling  at  the  bread 
and  hauling  the  dishes  out  of  place.  The  good  hostess  (I 
never  shall  forget  her  ladyship)  presently  entered  with 
a  plate  of  sausages,  her  hair**  loose  and  flying,  occasionally 
swept  in  charming  negligence  through  the  gravy.  I  must 
however  do  her  the  justice  to  say  that  she  scolded  the  children 
in  a  voice  like  Van  Corlaer's  trumpet,  for  their  forwardness, 
I  could  easier  bear  the  misconduct  of  the  children  than 
the  din  of  the  mother,  and  in  kind  accents  "asked  the  sweet 

In  newspaper,  is  additional,  as  follows — 

*He  could  not  rack  and  amble  like  the  learned  ponies  of  the  present 
day;  but  a  right  old  fashioned  Narraganset  pacer;  a  sure  foot  and 
good  spirits,  together  with  great  gentleness,  rendered  thee  old  Dobbin, 
as  far  superior  to  them  as  our  fathers  were  superior  to  their  degener- 
ate sons. 

In  newspaper  ;— 

♦*Likc  the  quills  upon  the  fretful  Porcupine,  erect  and  loose. 


254  ESSAYS   FROM    THE  DESK   OF 

little  girls  to  come  and  speak  to  me."  Next  to  flattering  a 
woman's  self,  you  can't  please  her  better  than  to  flatter  her 
children.  The  tone  of  the  good  woman  instantly  changed. 
"Dolly  my  dear,"  cried  she,  "run  and  buss  the  man."  Dolly 
ran  to  give  me  the  buss.  It  would  have  posed  a  stronger 
stomach  than  mine.  I  had  not  time  to  consider,  so  taking  up 
the  young  one,  I  turned  away  from  the  mother,  and  scowled 
my  face  as  grimly  as  hunger,  fatigue  and  anger  could  help 
me  to  do;  the  young  one  started,  scratched,  scrabbled  and 
squealed  like  a  pig  in  a  gate,  and  by  this  lucky  expedient  I 
escaped  the  contact  of  its  chops. 

Supper  over,  I  retired  to  bed — but  not  to  rest.  The  most 
loathsome  and  detestable  of  all  plagues  to  the  weary  traveller, 
came  out  from  their  hiding-places,  like  swarms  of  hungry 
Visigoths  on  sleeping  Rome,  as  our  parson  would  say;  and 
as  many  hours  in  purgatory  would  not  have  been  more 
wretched.  Welcome  morning  at  length  dawned.  I  dragged 
on  my  dirty  boots — paid  my  bill — mounted  old  Dobbin,  and 
may  I  never  see  Applebury  again,  if  I  stop  a  second  time  at 
the  Bear  and  Fiddler. 

The  next  night  I  arrived  at  that  most  delightful  of  all  vil- 
lages. How  changed  the  scene!  My  landlady  was  as  neat 
as  a  baby's  drawer — the  coflFee  was  clear  as  amber — the 
butter  sweet  as  a  rose — the  table  things  as  neat  as  wax-work 
— the  knives  as  bright  as  silver — and  the  table-cloth  as  white 
as  a  lily.  It  would  have  done  your  heart  good  to  see  how 
snug  every  thing  looked.  Every  good  thing  was  in  plenty, 
and  yet  nothing  wasted.  Things  were  provided  in  that  happy 
mean,  between  closeness  and  profusion,  that  every  reason- 
able person  would  be  pleased  with. — And  then  the  beds,  why 
Mrs.  Hardcastle  would  no  more  think  of  putting  a  decent 
looking  stranger  into  sheets  that  had  been  before  slept  in, 
than  to  turn  them  out  of  doors.  O !  it  was  a  comfort  to  put 
up  with  them.     No  one  who  ever  had  tarried  with  them 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE,  255 

failed  to  call  again;  so  they  got  all  the  good  custom  and 
grew  rich  by  it. 

Now  tavern-keepers,  listen  to  old  Robert.  If  your  wives 
are  sluttish,  or  incorrigibly  bad  in  their  cookery,  throw  up 
your  licenses.  It  is  impossible  for  you  with  such  a  woman, 
to  keep  respectable  public  houses. 

Furnish  your  pantry  well.  In  winter  you  are  inexcusable 
if  you  have  not  fat  fowls  always  dressed  and  ready  to  be 
cooked  at  a  minute's  warning. 

Never  be  out  of  eggs. 

Keep  at  least  a  small  quantity  of  the  first  quality  of  liquors, 
A  traveller  who  is  a  judge  will  not  value  paying  you  well  for 
it,  and  it  will  bring  credit  to  your  house. 

*If  your  wife  does  not  know  how  to  make  a  good  cup  of 
coflfee,  and  there  is,  I  assure  you,  no  inconsiderable  knack 
in  it,  let  her  learn  of  some  one  who  does  understand  it. 

Keep  the  children  away  from  the  table. 

Broil  your  fowls  or  steaks,  and  boil  your  eggs  instead  of 
frying  them ;  unless  particular  directions  are  given.  It  is 
generally  best  to  enquire  of  the  traveller  what  mode  of 
cookery  he  would  prefer. 

Keep  your  bedsteads  free  from  vermin ;  it  is  inexcusable 
and  detestable  to  put  a  person  in  bed  to  be  devoured.  Be 
sure  that  the  sheets  are  clean  and  well  aired ;  if  six  cents  is 
not  enough  to  pay  for  lodging,  charge  twelve,  or  four  times 
that  sum.  No  gentleman  would  hesitate  to  pay  the  value  of 
a  clean  bed. 

Let  the  boots  or  shoes  of  the  traveller  always  be  cleaned. 

On  no  account  let  the  horse  be  neglected — when  first  put 
up,  let  clean  straw  be  thrown  around  him — rub  him  down, 

In  newspaper,  additional, — 
*Let  ybur  table  be  spread  neat. 


256  ESSAYS   FROM    THE  DESK   OF 

and  when  cool  give  him  water  and  afterwards  his  grain.  It 
is  a  practice  too  common  to  feed  travellers'  horses  where 
the  hogs  and  fowls  will  rob  them  of  half  that  is  given  them; 
this  is  both  mean  and  dishonest. 

If  your  lodger  is  disposed  to  converse,  talk  with  him.  If 
he  chooses  to  be  alone,  it  is  ill  manners  to  crowd  yourself 
into  his  company. 

Now  bid  your  eldest  son  to  copy  the  latter  part  of  this 
number,  and  paste  it  over  the  fire-place ;  obey  the  directions, 
and  my  word  for  it,  you  will  get  more  and  better  customers, 
and  have  the  pleasure  of  being  universally  commended. 


Kind  words  may  reconcile  a  foe,* 
But  cross  ones  never  will,  I  trow ; 
A  sarcasm  or  a  cutting  joke, 
Hath  many  a  bond  of  friendship  broke ; 
But  never  yet  a  friend  hath  made, 
Since  Eve  repos'd  in  Eden's  shade. 
Then  never  joke  a  man  or  quiz  him, 
For  ten  to  one  you'll  much  displease  him. 

ENSIGN  Oliver  Caustic,  was  a  man  noted  through  all  Ap- 
plebury,  for  his  jokes  and  sarcasms;  many  of  which  were 
much  more  remarkable  for  their  severity  than  their  wit.  He 
used  often  to  say — "Never  spoil  a  joke  for  relation's  sake" 
— and  indeed  he  let  no  opportunity  slip  to  say  what  he  con- 
sidered a  smart  thing,  or  to  tell  an  applicable  story.  One 
morning,  having  been  down  to  my  Uncle  Aaron's  to  get  his 
shoe  mended,  I  returned  up  street  with  him ;  and  long  shall 
I  remember  the  tartness  with  which  he  accosted  every  one 
he  saw.  Meeting  Edward  Easy,  who  had  been  down  to  the 
pond  for  ducks,  and  fortunately  had  got  a  fine  brace — "Well 

♦Published  in  the  Gleaner  for  June  4,  181 3. 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE.  257 

done,  Ned,"  said  he,  "quite  successful  this  morning — "A 
fool  for  luck,"  they  say.  "A  fool,"  muttered  Edward,  color- 
ing, and  passed  on. 

The  next  man  we  met  was  Captain  Hawthorn,  who  told  us 
on  enquiry,  that  he  had  been  up  to  ask  the  Squire's  advice 
about  buying  the  Oak-tree  lot ;  for  said  he,  neighbor  Caustic, 
"tivo  heads  are  better  than  one."  "Aye,  aye,"  cried  Caustic, 
"though  they  are  Sheep-heads."  "Sheep-heads,"  grumbled 
Hawthorn,  and  turned  away  abruptly. 

Coming  by  Major  Speedwell's,  a  fine  horse  that  had  just 
broke  his  leg,  lay  at  his  door.  Now  the  Major  was  a  pretty 
clever  fellow,  but  jockied  it  a  little  now  and  then;  but  that 
is  so  common  as  not  to  be  much  minded.  "Heigh!  Heigh!" 
said  Caustic,  "bad  luck,  ha !  Well,  ivhat  comes  over  the 
devil's  back  will  go  under  his  belly,  you  know.  "Devil's 
belly,"  said  Speedwell,  and  on  we  went. 

We  pretty  soon  came  to  where  Sergeant  Peter  Furrow 
was  planting  potatoes  in  hills.  "Why  don't  you  plant  them 
in  rows  ?"  asked  Ensign  Oliver,  they'll  yield  a  third  more  and 
be  vastly  easier  tended." — "Oh,"  says  Peter,  "I  know  how  to 
raise  potatoes."  "Aye,  aye,"  cried  Oliver,  "A  fool  is  wiser 
in  his  ozvn  conceit  than  seven  men  zvho  can  render  a  reason;" 
"Humph!"  cried  the  Sergeant,  and  we  marched  on. 

Passing  Mr.  Bakewell's,  who  should  come  to  the  door  but 
her  ladyship,  with  a  churn  as  white  as  milk.  "Good  morn- 
ing, Mrs.  Bakewell,"  said  the  Ensign,  "you've  been  churn- 
ing this  morning,  I  suppose. — "Yes  Sir,"  replied  she.  "Well," 
added  the  Ensign,  "every  body  praises  your  butter  as  the 
best  in  the  whole  town."  "I  am  glad  it  is  thought  well  of," 
said  she.  "I  could  not  help  thinking,"  added  the  Ensign, 
"of  the  old  saying — Scolds  and  sluts  make  the  best  butter! 
but  no  offence  I  hope." — Mrs.  Bakewell  reddened  with  morti- 
fication and  anger. — Indeed  there  wasn't  one  in  the  whole 


258  ESSAYS   FROM   THE  DESK   OF 

neighborhood   but   what    felt   somehow   uneasy   whilst    Mr. 
Caustic  was  in  company. 

It  was  not  long  after  that  I  was  down  town  in  very  muddy 
weather,  and  Ensign  Oliver,  in  driving  home  a  load  of  hay, 
upset  his  cart  in  a  mud-hole,  and  the  off  steer  choaked  to 
death  before  he  could  get  him  loose.  In  great  need  of  help, 
who  should  come  along  but  Edward  Easy.  "So,  so,"  said 
Ned,  tauntingly,  "A  fool  for  luck,  Ensign!"  and  on  he  went. 

By  and  by,  up  came  Captain  Hawthorn,  "Neighbor  Haiv- 
thorn,"  said  Caustic,  in  a  most  piteous  tone,  "I  beg  of  you  to 
help  me  contrive  to  get  out  of  this  terrible  mud-hole."  "So 
then.  Ensign,"  said  he  jeeringly,  "you  seem  to  think  two 
heads  are  better  than  one,  if  they  are  sheep-heads,"  and 
passed  on. 

Presently  Maj.  Speedwell  came  prancing  by  on  his  fine 
pacing  filly.  Brunette.  "Well  neighbor  Oliver,"  said  he,  as 
he  spattered  by,  "your  saying  I  see  is  verified — what  comes 
over  the  devil's  hack  goes  under  his  belly."  The  Ensign  bit 
his  lips. 

As  luck  wuld  have  it,  the  next  that  came  by  was  Peter 
Furrow.  "How  is  this  Ensign,"  said  he,  "why  didn't  you  go 
round  by  the  parson's,  it  isn't  half  so  muddy  and  only  twenty 
rods  further."  "I  thought,"  replied  Oliver.  "You  know  what 
thought  did,"  interrupted  Furrow — "A  fool  is  wiser  in  his 
own  conceit  than  seven  men  who  can  render  a  reason."  And 
on  he  passed. 

These  men  never  forgot,  even  if  they  forgave,  poor 
Caustic,  to  the  day  of  their  death. 

How  different  was  it  with  Squire  Aimwell.  He  never 
made  use  of  an  expression  that  could  mortify  any  one.  He 
would  not  wound  the  feelings  of  a  child.  Every  body  liked 
to  see  him  come,  for  he  had  the  true  art  of  pleasing,  by 
making  every  body  pleased  with  themselves.     Was  any  one 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE.  259 

in  trouble,  he  had  a  kind  expression  of  sympathy  to  soothe 
him — was  any  one    fortunate,   he   made   him   doubly   so  by 
seeming  to  participate  in  his  joy.     Mild  be  his  slumbers  as 
the  dews  of  summer — Blithe  be  his  mornings  as  the  carols 
of    the    grove.      His    were    the    manners,    bland,    amiable 
and  endearing,  which  smooth  the  rugged  road  of  life,  and 
bind  man  in  love  to  his  fellow  man.     While  such  men  as 
Caustic,  like  the  young  foxes  of  Sampson  in  the  corn  of  the 
Philistines,  scatter  fire-brands,  anger  and  discontent. 
Ye  gentle,  ye  simple,  ye  wise  and  ye  witty. 
Who  dwell  in  the  country  or  live  in  the  city ; 
For  once,  let  me  pray  you,  take  Robert's  advice, 
And  ne'er  wound  his  feelings  whose  friendship  you  prize — 
For  sarcasms,  jesting,  and  quizzing,  deiJend, 
Have  made  many  foes — but  ne'er  yet  made  a  friend. 


THE  PARSON  OF  APPLEBURY.* 


I  NEVER  experienced  a  more  uncomfortable  night.  It  was 
the  dead  of  winter,  and  a  north-east  storm  of  sleet  and 
snow  swept  the  plains  with  unusual  violence. — Happening 
to  be  at  the  Parson's,  he  insisted  that  I  should  tarry  all 
night,  and  I  had  not  much  objection,  as  I  was  only  a  visitor 
in  Applebury.  The  little  ones  before  they  retired  to  rest, 
ran  to  receive  their  father's  blessing.  Owing  to  the  severity 
of  the  storm  (as  we  concluded)  the  sexton  did  not  ring  the 
bell ;  and  at  half  past  nine,  the  good  man  called  his  family 
together,  to  offer  up  the  evening  prayers  to  his  Maker.  The 
eldest  daughter  read  a  passage  from  the  scriptures,  and 
Mr.  Clayton  addressed  the  Throne  of  Grace,  in  a  manner 
so  solemn — so  earnest,  and  so  affecting — that  the  heart  of 

♦Published  in  the  Gleaner  for  June  i8,  1813. 


260  ESSAYS   FROM   THE  DESK   OF 

an  infidel  would  have  softened  into  hope,  and  he  would  have 
mourned  the  day  that  he  doubted. 

We  were  just  about  to  separate  for  the  night,  when  a 
loud  rap  arrested  our  attention.  "There  is  somebody  in  dis- 
tress," said  the  Parson,  and  hastened  to  see  who  was  there. 
— "I  do  not  know  who  she  is,"  said  the  sexton,  as  he  entered 
the  room  with  the  Parson,  "but  she  was  lying  on  the  door- 
steps of  the  meeting-house,  as  I  went  to  ring  the  bell ;  so 
I  raised  her  up  and  took  her  inside  the  door.  I  believe  she 
is  dead ;  but  the  child  cried,  so  I  left  her  there  and  posted 
away  to  you,  for  though  she  may  be  a  poor  hussey  from 
another  parish,  I  knew  you  wouldn't  like  it,  if  you  were  not 
told  she  was  in  distress."  "Come,  come,"  said  the  Parson, 
"let  us  make  haste,  she  may  perish  while  we  stand  here  talk- 
ing." "George,  harness  the  sleigh  and  come  after  us  as  quick 
as  possible."  So  taking  a  bottle  of  wine  in  his  hand  and 
giving  me  a  blanket  and  some  dry  clothes,  we  followed  the 
Sexton  by  his  lanthorn,  to  the  meeting-house. — Such  a 
sight  I  never  witnessed.  A  female,  of  a  fine  form,  and  of 
features,  though  pale,  yet  lovely,  and  clad  in  raiment  that 
had  once  been  neat,  lay,  apparently  lifeless  on  the  floor; 
while  an  infant  of  a  few  days  old,  lay  sleeping  on  her  white 
bosom.  The  child  we  immediately  wrapped  in  dry  flannel, 
and,  after  chaffing  the  temples  of  its  mother,  and  forcing 
a  glass  of  wine  into  her  mouth,  she  showed  signs  of  re- 
turning life.  We  placed  her  in  the  sleigh. — "Shall  we  drive 
her  to  the  poor-house?"  asked  the  Sexton.  "Drive  home, 
George,"  said  Mr.  Clayton.  The  sufferers  were  taken  to 
the  Parson's.  The  baby  was  fed,  and  every  thing  adminis- 
tered that  kindness  and  skill  could  suggest  to  restore  the 
mother  to  life.  It  was  an  hour,  before  she  could  speak. 
I  entered  the  room  where  she  lay — the  Parson  stood  by  her 
bed-side — his  hands  clasped  together.  Her  eyes  which  rolled 
wildly  on  us,  were  large  and  blue,  but  though  once  evidently 
full    of    sweetness    and    expression — they    now    flashed    the 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE.  261 

appalling  glance  of  the  maniac.  She  waved  her  hand  to  us 
to  be  gone.  "Leave  me,  leave  me,"  cried  she,  "you  are  men 
and  must  be  cruel."  And  then  in  accents  so  shrill — so  feeble, 
and  so  plaintive,  she  wildly  sung — 

"Hush  my  baby — Gerard  may  be 
Near  enough  to  hear  you  cry; 
Once  he  swore  he'd  never  leave  me, 
Wa'n't  it  cruel  to  deceive  me 
And  of  virtue  to  bereave  me?" 

— There  he  is  ! — stay,  Gerard — stay. 
Gerard's  eyes  were  black  as  jet. 
Frown  not — hasten  not  thus  away : 
Do  not — do  not  leave  me  yet; 
— Hush  my  baby — do  not  cry — 
Oh !  let  wretched  Mary  die." 

The  composing  draughts  administered  to  the  poor  girl,  at 
length  quieted  her  to  rest,  and  we  left  her;  with  the  hope 
that  sleep,  "restorer  of  nature  and  kind  nurse  of  men,"  might 
have  a  propitious  influence  on  her  health. — We  had  not  been 
from  her  room  more  than  an  hour  before  Mr.  Clayton's 
daughter  softly  opened  the  door  to  see  whether  her  charge 
was  comfortable,  when  she  discovered  the  window  open  and 
the  poor  maniac  gone.  All  search  for  her  was  vain — but  we 
afterwards  learned  from  a  distance  that  a  young  woman, 
answering  the  description  of  ivretched  Mary,  was  seen  wan- 
dering around,  singing  as  she  went. 

"Should  you  some  coast  be  laid  on, 
Where  gold  and  diamonds  grow; 

You  may  find  some  richer  maiden. 
But  none  that  loves  you  so." 

And  then  she'd  ask,  with  a  melancholy  smile, — "Wasn't  it 
wicked  to  drown  my  baby — It  was  a  pretty  baby,  but  they 
drowned  it." 

.  The  manuscript  left,  and  a  gold  chain  that  was  on  the 
neck  of  the  infant,  disclosed  the  mother's  story,  and  if  Mr. 


262  ESSAYS   FROM   THE  DESK   OF 

Clayton  will  permit  me,  shall  be  copied  for  the  Gleaner,  when 
the  story  is  told  of  the  life  of  the  little  orphan. 

But  such  was  the  conduct  of  the  parson  to  the  poor  wan- 
derer.   He  never  shunned  the  bed  of  sickness,  but 

"More  bent  to  raise  the  wretched  than  to  rise." 
The  house  of  mourning  was  to  him  the  place  of  constant 
resort. 

Christmas  soon  came,  and  I  was  invited  to  the  wedding  of 
John  Welhvorth  to  Famiy  Aimzvell,  the  daughter  of  the 
'Squire. — You  know  'Squire  Aimwell,  he  always  set  the 
psalm  at  meeting.  Mr,  Clayton,  of  course,  married  them; 
aye,  and  published  the  banns  too,  in  the  good  old-fashioned 
way,  before-hand.  Half  the  young  folks  in  Applebury  were 
there.  The  ceremony  was  performed  with  due  solemnity. 
But  do  you  think  that  Mr.  Clayton  put  on  a  long  face  and 
set  in  one  corner,  checking  our  mirth  by  his  severity.  I 
tell  you  what,  you  know  nothing  about  the  man  if  you  think, 
because  he  was  good,  that  he  looked  sour  and  could  not 
smile.  Not  he.  There  wasn't  a  more  blithe  and  merry  man 
in  the  circle.  I  know  he  kissed  the  bride,  for  the  girls'  all 
said  though  she  blushed  and  held  down  her  head,  that  they 
heard  the  smack.  He  took  a  glass  of  wine,  and  I  remember 
showed  his  good  humor  by  laughing  merrily  at  the  sports  of 
the  young  folks.* 

O,  the  good  old  times  of  our  younger  days !  There's  no 
such  happiness  now. — All  the  young  men  were  so  neat.  No 
one  thought  of  smoking  till  he  was  forty — and  the  girls 
were  so  tidy,  and  in  homespun  too.  Blest  days !  are  ye  gone 
for  ever  ? 

♦Newspaper  version:  Ned  Easy  bet  a  four  pence  half  penny  with 
George  Ardenburgh  that  he  could  press  the  piece  of  money  on  his 
forehead,  so  fast,  that  he  could  not  frown  or  shake  it  ofif.  So  wetting 
George's  forehead,  he  pressed  the  money  on  as  hard  as  possible  but 
slyly  slipt  it  off  as  he  took  away  his  hand.  Feeling  the  impression, 
and  supposing  the  money  left  there,  George,  who  was  not  naturally 
well  featured  scowled  and  frowned  and  shook  his  head  to  get  it  off, 
till  all  the  circle  was  in  a  roar  of  merriment  at  his  expense. 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE.  263 

When  the  Parson  went  away,  and  he  left  us  early,  it  would 
have  done  your  heart  good  to  see  the  young  folks  crowd 
around  him,  to  bid 'him  good  night.  Why  there  wasn't  one 
in  the  village  but  what  loved  him  as  a  parent. 

It  was  not  at  the  habitation  of  wretchedness,  or  in  the 
social  circle  alone,  that  he  disclosed  his  excellence.  I  have 
often  heard  him  in  the  pulpit,  for  then  every  body  loved  to 
go  to  meeting.  Why  every  pew  and  seat  was  full,  and  they 
didn't  run  around  with  a  little  black  bag  on  a  pole  every 
sabbath,  as  they  do  now-a-days,  for  a  penny. 

In  the  pulpit  he  was  solemn  and  impressive.  He  seemed 
as  a  shepherd  in  our  Saviour's  fold,  to  feel,  that  in  being 
called  to  superintend  the  flock  of  his  master,  he  was  in  an 
exalted  and  awfully  responsible  station. — Venerable  man! 
Methinks  I  see  him  in  the  desk — persuasion,  sweet  as  the 
dews  of  Hybla,  distilling  from  his  lips,  while  the  invitations 
of  the  gospel  flow  to  lost  and  perishing  sinners.  Or  his  eye, 
beaming  with  the  consciousness  of  his  duty,  appalling  with 
the  tremendous  denunciations  of  the  law,  the  obdurately  im- 
penitent. No  one  slept  while  he  spake.  Hope  and  joy — 
terror  and  despair,  alternately  swelled  the  bosom  with  de- 
lightful emotions,  or  chilled  it  with  dismay.  /  never  heard 
him  but  I  rose  up  with  a  firin  resolution  to  mend  my  life  in 
respect  to  my  Maker  and  my  fellow  man. 

Such  was  Mr.  Clayton,  the  pastor  of  the  parish  of  Apple- 
bury.  I  have  often  mentioned  him,  and  thought  you  would 
like  to  know  his  character.  Preachers  of  the  Gospel,  if  ye 
deign  to  read  the  humble  essays  of  Poor  Robert,  listen  to 
him. — A  great  sculptor,  you  know,  once  condescended  to  take 
the  advice  of  a  poor  cobler.  The  high  may  sometimes  learn 
something  from  the  low. — If  there  is  ought  in  the  character 
of  Mr.  Clayton  worthy  of  imitation,  read  that  part  again 
and  imitate  his  virtues.  If  there  is  ought  amiss,  forgive  his 
errors  and  avoid  his  failings. 


■264  ESSAYS   FROM   THE  DESK  OF 

INTEMPERANCE.* 


VISITING  Franksburgh  the  other  day,  I  stopt  at  my  old 
friend  captain  Freeman's.  "Come  Bob,"  said  he — for  al- 
though my  looks  are  somewhat  reverend,  the  old  captain  when 
he  feels  in  spirits,  always  addresses  me  thus  familiarly. 
"Come  Bob,"  said  he,  "go  with  me — I  have  found  out  a  great 
curiosity,  I'm  sure  you'll  be  wonderfully  pleased."  "I  never 
was  more  astonished  in  my  life,"  continued  he,  "aye,  and  a 
little  frightened  too — though  by  the  by,  I  was  at  the  battle  of 
Trenton,  and  fought  in  the  thickest  of  it,  and  when  Hamil- 
ton— O !  he  was  a  brave  fellow — methinks  I  see  him  storm- 
ing the  enemy's  batteries  at  Yorktown — the  army  all  loved 
him."  "Dear  father,"  interrupted  Mary,  with  great  gentle- 
ness, "perhaps  Uncle  Robert  is  tired,  and  has  not  had  his 
dinner  yet."  "Right,"  said  the  captain,  "give  him  his  dinner, 
child ;  and  bring  a  bottle  of  currant  wine,  and  he  shall  see." 
"And  what  is  it,  captain,"  said  I,  "that  is  so  wonderful." 
"You  shall  see  it — you  shall  see  it,"  cried  he.  "Get  your 
dinner  and  we'll  off." 

I  soon  finished  my  repast  and  away  we  went.  What  I  saw 
was  truly  extraordinary  and  shall  be  told  hereafter — but 
other  objects  employ  my  pen  at  present.  On  the  way  we 
were  met  by  a  tidy  looking  woman  all  in  tears.  "And  what 
is  the  matter,  Susan  f"  said  the  captain.  "Dear — oh  dear," 
sobbed  she,  "I'm  in  trouble.  My  good  man  you  know,  since 
he  was  in  the  service  will  take  a  drop — well  I've  worked — 
and  worked — and  paid  his  debts,  till  getting  sick,  every 
thing  was  sold,  even  the  bed  under  me ;  and  Pat  was  taken  to 
prison — And  only  think,  your  honor,  I  worked  out  till  I 
bought  a  cow  and  a  spinning-wheel,  on  which  I  have  toiled 

*Published  in  the  Gleaner  for  July  16,  1813. 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE.  26$ 

and  fed  the  darlings  till  to-day — when  the  constable  came 
and  took  them  both.  Now  your  honor,  I  want  to  know  if  I 
bought  them  with  my  own  labor,  ar'n't  they  my  own?" 

Capt.  Freeman  could  give  the  poor  woman  no  hope.  How- 
ever industriously  she  had  toiled,  it  must  all  go  for  Pat's 
liquor. — Thinks  I,  that's  hard — can't  the  law  mend  it?  It 
was  late  when  we  returned.  I  threw  myself  on  the  settle 
by  the  kitchen  fire,  for  it  was  somewhat  chilly,  still  musing 
on  the  fate  of  poor  Susan  O'Flannagan,  and  on  the  drunken- 
ness of  Pat,  when  I  dreamed  the  following  dream : 

Methought  I  had  turned  into  a  fly,  and  was  by  some 
strange  hap,  corked  in  a  bottle  of  strong  beer,  where  I  lay 
torpid  till  the  year  1818.  The  bottle,  which  had  been  mis- 
laid, being  found,  was  opened — out  I  popped,  and  assumed 
my  proper  form,  just  as  the  Post  came  along  with  the 
Gleaner. — Eager  for  the  news,  I  took  it  up  and  read  as 
follows : 

August  17th,  1 818. 

"The  regulation  of  the  Legislature,  that  a  cow,  a  spinning- 
wheel  and  a  bed,  shall  be  exempt  from  execution,  has  been 
found,  of  great  use  to  the  poor.  Many  families  that  would 
otherwise  be  wretched,  are  now  by  the  industry  of  the  wife, 
rendered  very  comfortable." 

Wilkesbarre,  November  7,  1818. 
The  Hospital  erected  in  this  County  for  drunken  persons, 
is  producing  the  most  salutary  effects.  Every  man  found  in 
a  state  of  intoxication  is  taken  there  and  confined. — Those 
who  have  been  long  in  the  habit  of  drinking,  are  allowed  a 
little  every  day,  but  the  quantity  is  gradually  diminished,  and 
plenty  of  milk  and  beer  substituted  for  it — and  it  is  very 
pleasant  to  see  the  change  in  the  health  of  the  patients.  Many 
have  been  discharged  perfectly  cured,  who  bless  the  day 
that  the  institution  was  ever  established. 


266  ESSAYS   FROM   THE  DESK  OF 

Extract  of  a  letter  from  Lancaster,  dated  June  7. 

The  Farmers  in  this  County,  have  agreed,  one  and  all, 
not  to  permit  a  drop  of  liquor  to  be  taken  into  their  fields, 
this  season,  but  to  take  out  a  luncheon  in  the  middle  of  the 
forenoon  and  afternoon,  and  to  supply  the  workmen  with 
plenty  of  strong  beer  and  milk. 

Harrisburg,  April  9,  1818. 

The  roads  being  settled,  and  the  time  for  ploughing  come, 
the  legislature  of  course  adjourned  last  week.  Many  good 
things — many  bad  things,  and  some  comical  things,  were  as 
usual  said,  done  and  proposed. — But  one  law  that  has  passed 
meets  the  general  approbation  of  all  thinking  people.  It 
provides  that  every  person,  getting  intoxicated  and  squand- 
ering his  property,  shall  have  an  overseer  appointed  by  the 
court,  without  whose  consent  he  shall  not  be  competent  to 
buy  or  sell.  The  effect,  it  is  presumed  will  be,  that  many 
valuable  families  will  still  be  able  to  live  decently,  who  other- 
wise would  be  precipitated,  by  the  intemperance  of  the  father, 
into  wretchedness. 

How  much  more  I  might  have  dreamed  I  know  not ;  but 
just  at  that  moment  the  old  Captain  struck  up  his  favorite 
song— 

"Bold  Robin  had  ranged  the  forest  all  round, 
'Twas  on  one  summer's  day." 

And  I  awoke. — 

SELF  RESPECT.* 


A  PROPER  degree  of  self  respect  is  indispensable  to  our 
good  conduct  and  usefulness  in  life.  The  man  who  does  not 
respect  himself,  will  be  sure  to  be  regarded  by  nobody;  and 
the  sphere  of  that  man's  usefulness  must  be  exceedingly 
limited,  who  is  an  object  of  contempt.  There  is  as  wide  a 
difference  between  the  self  respect  which  I  would  approve, 

♦Published  in  the  Gleaner  for  July  30,  1813.    No  title  in  newspaper. 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE.  26/ 

and  vanity  or  pride,  as  there  is  between  prudence  and  avarice ; 
the  former  of  which  is  a  respectable  virtue — the  latter  a  de- 
testable vice. 

David  Davenport  was  the  son  of  poor,  but  honest  parents, 
in  Applebury.  His  education,  like  that  of  almost  every  other 
young  man  in  that  township,  was  plain  and  decent.  At  the 
age  of  fifteen,  he  was  put  out  to  a  farmer,  with  whom  he 
lived  until  he  was  twenty-one ;  at  which  time  he  married  his 
master's  daughter,  rented  a  small  farm,  and  by  his  industry 
has  supported  himself  in  a  plain  manner.  Now  Mr.  Daven- 
port is  no  way  remarkable  either  for  his  genius  or  his  learning. 
He  has  no  wealth  to  give  importance  to  his  character;  and 
none  of  those  fortuitous  events  have  happened  to  him,  which 
sometimes  give  a  moderate  man  a  great  name.  And  yet  no 
man  in  Applebury  commands  more  respect  than  Mr.  Daven- 
port. There  are  some  men  in  the  town  who  venture  to  joke 
and  even*  to  talk  obscenely  before  the  'Squire,  who  are 
nevertheless  awed  into  perfectly  good  manners  in  the  pres- 
ence of  Mr.  Davenport. 

There  lives  a  neighbor  of  Mr.  D.  about  the  same  age,  who 
to  a  large  estate,  unites  an  excellent  education,  acute  mind 
and  much  good  nature.  Such  possessions  you  know,  are 
calculated  to  make  their  possessor  shine,  in  the  city  as  well 
as  in  the  country.  But  it  unfortunately  happens  that  Mr. 
Atwit  is  destitute  of  that  important  ingredient  in  a  perfect 
character — self  respect.  He  condescends  to  low  and  lascivi- 
ous conversation  with  any  one  who  chooses  to  chat  with  him. 
He  never  lets  an  opportunity  slip  of  cracking  what  he  calls  a 
good  joke — it  matters  not  where,  nor  on  whom.  Instead  of 
taking  that  station,  for  which  his  abilities  qualify  him,  he 
shrinks  from  respectable  observation,  and  avoids  those  places 
of  public  trust  which  seem  to  offer  themselves  to  his  accept- 
ance. 

♦Newspaper  version: — to  joke  with  the  parson  and  who  do  not  hesi- 
tate to  talk  obscenely,  etc. 


268  ESSAYS   FROM   THE  DESK   OF 

The  boys  already  hail  him  as  he  goes  by,  with  the  familiar 
call  of  "well  Jack:"  and  with  all  his  wealth — his  strong 
natural  abilities,  and  good  education — and  without  a  single 
habitual  vice — he  is  neither  respected  nor  useful.  Though 
neither  addicted  to  gaming  nor  drinking,  yet  the  habits  of  the 
company  he  frequents  must  gradually  grow  on  him,  and  the 
event  it  is  but  too  easy  to  prophecy.  What  an  amazing  revo- 
lution would  a  little  self  respect,  infused  into  his  bosom,  pro- 
duce in  him. 

My  female  readers,  while  they  are  warned  to  guard  against 
too  much  vanity,  are  earnestly  requested  to  respect  them- 
selves.— It  is  one  of  the  most  powerful  outworks  that  pro- 
tect the  citadel  of  virtue.  The  boldest  libertine  will  feel  him- 
self repelled  into  silence,  in  the  presence  of  the  woman  who 
is  possessed  of  self  respect.  It  chills  the  first  advances — the 
insidious,  poisonous  advances  of  seduction.  And  girls.  Old 
Robert,  though  a  bachelor,  loves  you  too  sincerely  not  to  wish 
that  you  may  continue  "chaste  as  the  icicles  which  hang  on 
the  temple  of  Diana." 


"Let  every  lad  and  lady  know. 

That  handsome  are,  who  handsome  do."* 


THIS  couplet  is  older  than  the  fashion  of  commodes  and 
hoop-petticoats  ;  and  will  be  long  remembered  after  the  straw- 
bonnets  and  laced  shoes  of  the  present  day,  shall  be  for- 
gotten. 

There  lately  removed  to  Philadelphia  a  widow  lady,  having 
two  daughters — the  eldest  distinguished  for  her  beauty — the 
youngest  remarkably  plain  in  her  features.  The  charm  of 
Margaretta  soon  became  the  theme  of  conversation,  in  the 
circle  to  which  they  were  introduced;  while  Lucy,  her  neg- 

♦Published  in  the  Gleaner  for  Sept.  lo,  1813. 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE.  269 

lected  sister,  was  scarcely  spoken  of,  except  as  a  contrast  to 
Margaretta. 

The  eldest,  of  course,  received  every  attention  from  the 
flattering  and  fashionable  world — was  the  first  invited  to 
every  party,  and  the  foremost  to  lead  off  the  dance  at  every 
assembly.  Beauty  rendered  her  vain. — Accustomed  to  adula- 
tion, she  could  ill  bear  the  friendly  admonitions  of  her  mother, 
and  often  has  her  parent's  cheek  been  wet  with  tears  drawn 
forth  by  the  angry  expressions  of  her  child.  Flattered,  though 
not  loved — caressed,  though  not  esteemed — Margaretta  be- 
came lost  to  everything  but  herself ;  the  poor — the  sick — her 
mother,  and  even  her  God,  were  all  forgotten,  in  her  devo- 
tion to  her  beauty  and  her  pleasure. 

While  Margaretta  was  thus  blooming  like  the  Sunflower, 
gazed  at  and  admired  by  all  around  her  ;  Lucy,  like  the  humble 
and  delicate  violet,  was  scarcely  noticed  as  existing,  when  the 

illness  of  her  mother  brought  Doctor  R ,  a  late  eminent 

physician,  to  an  acquaintance  with  the  family.  The  Doctor 
was  an  acute  observer,  and  could  not  fail  to  remark,  while 
Margaretta  was  often  absent,  with  what  unremitting  and 
tender  solicitude  Lucy  watched  over  her  sick  parent. — Pleased 
with  her  aflFection — the  simplicity  of  her  manners,  and  the 

correctness  of  her  deportment.  Doctor  R engaged  in 

conversation  with  her,  and  found,  united  to  most  unaffected 
goodness  and  piety,  a  correctness  of  taste,  an  extent  of  read- 
ing, and  elevation  of  sentiment  that  charmed  him.  And  from 
his  intercourse  with  the  poor  he  soon  learned  that  Lucy  was 
their  most  kind  benefactress  in  want,  and  their  most  tender 
nurse  in  sickness. 

A  few  weeks  after  Doctor  R was  enquired  of,  what 

he  thought  of  the  handsome  Miss.  Margaretta  Anandale,  as 
he  had  lately  an  opportunity  to  become  acquainted  with  the 
family.  "You  err,"  said  the  Doctor,  "it  is  Lucy  that  is 
handsomest". — "Pardon  me,  Sir,"  said  the  other,  "but  you 


270  ESSAYS   FROM    THE  DESK   OF 

have  certainly  mistaken  their  names,  Margaretta  is  the 
beauty."  "I  am  right,  I  am  right,"  rejoined  the  Doctor.  "It 
is  my  motto — Handsome  are  that  handsome  do."  And  he 
thus  took  occasion  to  speak  of  the  virtues  and  accomplish- 
ments of  Lucy. 

A  month  did  not  pass  away  before  a  complete  revolution 
was  eflfected  in  the  public  taste.  Margaretta  was  neglected, 
while  Lticy  was  even  troubled  by  the  attentions  lavished  upon 
her.  Still  she  maintained  her  modest  and  reserved  manner, 
shrinking  into  retreat,  rather  than  courting  applause;  and 
every  body  agreed,  that  though  her  features  were  not  so 
regular,  yet  that  there  was  an  indescribable  something  of 
sweetness  and  grace,  that  was  more  attractive  than  beauty, 
in  her  appearance.  The  last  accounts  from  the  family  mention 
that  Lucy  was  soon  to  be  married  to  Mr.  Worthington,  a 
young  clergyman  of  established  worth  and  merit,  from  Dela- 
ware; and  if  the  prayers  of  the  poor  and  the  sick  could  avail 
her,  she  could  not  fail  to  be  happy. 

Certain  is  the  conclusion  as  that  light  accompanies  the 
sun — a  sparkling  eye.  a  rosy  lip,  regular  features  and  an 
elegant  form,  are  not  half  so  attractive — so  lovely — as  duty 
to  parents — piety — kindness  to  the  sick — and  gentleness  of 
disposition.  Beauty  is  the  frail  flower  that  perishes  with  the 
season. — Virtue  is  the  oak  that  defies  the  storm  of  years. 


"GO  TO  THE  ANT  THOU  SLUGGARD."* 


A  LITTLE  back  of  Mr.  Clayton's  house  there  rises  a  high 
hill,  from  the  summit  of  which  the  whole  country  is  spread 
out  to  view.  'Tis  a  pleasant  prospect ;  and  there  are  three 
steeples  and  seven  school-houses,  all  in  sight.    It  is  there,  that 


♦Published  in  the  Gleaner  for  Oct.  22,  1813. 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE.  2^1 

on  thanksgiving  nights,  the  boys  make  their  "bon-fires"— and 
there  the  cannon  is  planted  every  Fourth  of  July.  I  used 
to  delight  to  ramble  thither  with  the  Parson.  He  knew 
every  family  within  reach  of  the  eye,  and  their  history  from 
the  earliest  settlement  of  the  town,  and  that  was  "long  and 
many  a  day  ago ;"  for  some  of  the  grave-stones  are  all  moss- 
grown,  and  the  inscriptions  illegible. 

One  summer's  day,  as  Mr.  Clayton  and  I  were  climbing  up 
the  hill  together,  he  stopped  to  view  an  ant-hill.  The  little 
people  were  right  industrious.  "I  love  to  watch  their  mo- 
tions," said  he,  "they  are  wise,  and  put  man,  with  all  his 
boasted  learning  and  sense,  to  shame."  'Go  to  the  Ant  thou 
sluggard/  was  a  wise  precept." 

As  we  seated  ourselves  on  the  rock  that  aiifords  the  best 
prospect  of  the  surrounding  country. — "Observe,"  said  Mr. 
Clayton,  "that  old  mansion,  far  beyond  the  village  surrounded 
by  those  old  elms— twenty  years  ago  it  belonged  to  Mr. 
Goodrich,  whose  father  first  settled  there.  The  large  mill 
below  was  his,  and  the  choicest  farm  in  the  valley.  The  old 
folks  say  it  was  a  most  hospitable  mansion.  Every  thanks- 
giving, the  poor  knew  where  to  look  for  a  fat  goose  or  a 
chicken-pie.  Every  body  that  came  to  Applebury  used  to 
ride  out  to  visit  there.  Old  Captain  Goodrich  built  it — his 
son  and  heir  lived  and  died  there,  and  then  it  descended  to 
John  Goodrich;  who  was  as  indolent  and  profuse,  as  his 
ancestors  were  industrious  and  frugal.  I  thought  he  would 
not  prosper,  for  when,  one  stormy  night,  a  poor  man  came 
to  his  house,  he  was  too  lazy  to  get  up  and  let  him  in."  I 
perceived  that  the  text,  "Go  to  the  Ant,"  was  still  in  Mr. 
Clayton's  mind.  "And  what  became  of  him?"  asked  I. 
"Every  thing,"  replied  he,  "went  to  waste.  The  fences  fell 
down.  The  briers  over-run  his  meadow;  and,  at  last  the 
Sherifif  sold  the  whole  estate;  and  now  the  footsteps  of 
strangers  are  alone  heard  in  the  halls  of  his  fathers. 


2^2.  ESSAYS   FROM    THE  DESK  OF 

"And  who  owns  the  property  now?"  said  I.  "One  who 
had  learnt  wisdom  at  the  Ant-hill,"  replied  he.  "About  fifty 
years  ago  a  smart  little  lad  came  to  Applebury  to  seek  his 
fortune.  His  hair  was  brown — his  eye  blue  and  lively — 
his  tongue  tripped  a  little  with  the  brogue,  for  he  came  from 
the  "Sweetest  Isle  of  the  Ocean." — He  spoke  pleasantly  to 
every  one — was  as  industrious  as  an  ant — and  old  lady 
Godwin,  at  whose  house  he  lived,  seemed  to  delight  to  tell 
about  their  little  Irish  lad.  "If  he  saw  one  of  the  girls  going 
for  a  pail  of  water,"  said  she,  "he  ran  in  a  minute  and 
brought  it — if  a  stick  of  wood  was  wanted — he  never  waited 
to  be  told  to  fetch  it — always  shut  the  door  after  him,  and 
every  Sunday  brushed  up  his  shoes  and  went  regularly  to 
meeting;  and  I  do  believe,"  she  used  to  add,  "that  Deacon 
Godwin  loved  him  as  well  as  either  of  the  children."  This 
good  conduct  soon  brought  William  into  high  repute.  He 
grew  up — was  a  pattern  of  industry,  integrity  and  frugality 
— married  Nancy  Godwin — became  wealthy,  without  being 
proud — bought  the  Goodrich  farm,  and  a  dozen  other  plan- 
tations— was  sent  deputy  from  Applebury  many  a  year,  and 
is  now  enjoying  the  reward  for  following  the  lessons  he 
learnt  at  the  ant-hill. 

Girls — girls — do  you  want  advice — Cover  up  your  necks — 
the  weather  is  getting  cold.  Make  long  sleeves  to  your 
gowns — see  there,  your  shoulders  are  all  goose-flesh.  Put 
on  another  petticoat — for  shame.  Thin  morocco  shoes  are 
not  fit  for  winter.  One  pair  of  good  woollen  stockings  are 
worth  more  to  your  health  than  three  pair  of  cotton.  Now 
turn  about — Aye,  dear  little  saucy  creatures,  now  I  like  ye. 
Go  now  and  cut  up  the  old  flannel  petticoat  of  last  winter — 
that  is,  if  you  can  spare  it — and  make  the  poor  little  girl  that 
goes  shivering  along  half  naked,  a  comfortable  suit. 

Then  tell  me  if  you  ever  felt  happier  in  your  lives. 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE.  273 

ADDITIONAL  ESSAYS* 
Furnished  by  Mr.  Clayton,  Pastor  of  Applehury. 

GOVERN  YOUR  PASSIONS. 

PASSING  along  the  west  end  of  Applebury,  one  pleasant 
afternoon  in  April,  Mrs.  Capcrton  observed  to  me,  that  it 
was  a  good  while  since  we  had  drunk  tea  with  Mr.  Neville 
and  his  good  lady,  and  proposed  that  we  should  call.  I  had 
not  the  least  objection,  and  we  were  received  with  a  cordial 
welcome  both  by  Sir  and  Madam.  Mr.  Neville  about 
twenty-three  years  before,  had  married  a  fine,  spirited  girl — 
they  had  thirteen  lovely  children,  and  it  was  whispered,  Mrs. 
Caperton  told  me,  that  the  nose  of  the  youngest  was  nigh 
broken.  Their  fortune  was  easy — plenty  always  smiled  upon 
their  board ;  and  they  had  no  cause  of  disquietude,  but  what 
arose  from  a  foolish  spirit  of  contradiction  about  trifles ;  for 
in  every  important  matter  they  agreed  perfectly. — But  this 
was  a  source  of  endless  difficulty,  and  the  bane  of  all  their 
happiness. 

While  we  were  sitting  by  the  window  after  tea,  we  ob- 
served at  a  distance  a  fire  rising  upon  the  side  of  the  hill. 
Some  persons  were  in  the  habit  of  kindling  these  fires  to  make 
the  grass  grow  better,  as  the  mountain  was  an  outlet  for  their 
cattle. — Every  thing  till  this  moment  had  gone  on  right 
pleasantly.  Mr.  Neville  remarked  that  the  sight  brought  the 
old  distich  to  his  mind — 

"Fire  on  the  mountain, 

"Run  boys — run  boys." 
"I  believe  you  are  a  little  wrong,"  said  Mrs.  Neville,  "in 
the  termination.    It  is 

"Fire  on  the  mountain, 

"Run  boys,  run." 

♦Publication  in  newspaper  not  located. 


2/4  ESSAYS   FROM    THE  DESK   OF 

"It  is  no  great  matter,  my  love,"  said  he  pettishly,  "but  I 
am  sure  I  am  not  mistaken,  whoever  else  may  be." 

"Some  folks  always  think  themselves  right,"  cried  Mrs. 
Neville,  "and  ignorance  and  confidence  generally  go  together." 

"Bray  a  fool  in  a  mortar,"  exclaimed  Mr.Neville,  "you 
know  the  rest,  Madam." 

"Yes,"  cried  she,  "and  answer  not  a  fool  according  to  his 
folly  too,  or  I  could  say  something  that  some  folks  could 
not  very  well  swallow,  Sir." 

Will  you  walk,  Mrs.  Caperton,  said  I.  She  rose,  took  her 
bonnet  and  shawl.  "I  am  sorry  we  have  driven  you  away, 
friends,"  said  Mrs.  Neville,  mildly  "but  Mr.  Neville  is  so  un- 
kind as  not  to  bear  the  least  with  me,"  added  she,  casting  a 
side  look  at  him. 

"Indeed  Eunice,"  said  he,  "my  temper  is  so  hasty;  come 
love,  don't  let  our  friends  leave  us  in  a  pet." 

We  exchanged  "good  night" — "good  night" — and  left 
them  with  the  remark  that  will  apply  to  more  families  than 
neighbor  Neville's — that  the  happiness  of  the  domestic  circle 
is  oftener  disturbed  about  trifles,  for  want  of  a  rein  upon 
our  passions,  than  by  any  causes  affording  serious  ground  of 
complaint. 

The  hint  it  is  hoped  will  be  taken,  and  this  truth  remem- 
bered— that  where  there  is  not  domestic  happiness,  felicity 
does  not  exist — religion  is  most  likely  a  stranger,  and  mor- 
ality will  be  very  soon  an  exile. 

And  what  is  the  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter  ? 
Govern  Your  Passions. 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE.  275 

An  Essay  read  by  Mr.  Clayton  one  evening  to  a  number  of 
his  Parishioners,  with  the  intention,  in  a  good-humored 
zmy,  to  laugh  them  out  of  those  high  party  notions  which 
began  to  prevail,  and  divide  old  Applebury* 


— "RUINED,  ruined,"  cried  my  grandfather,  as  he  raised 
his  spectacles  from  his  nose  to  his  forehead — "we  are  an  un- 
done people."  "What  in  the  world  is  the  matter  now,  father?" 
asked  my  aunt  Hannah,  earnestly.  "Matter!"  cried  the  old 
gentleman,  "matter  enough!  was  there  ever  a  nation  going 
so  fast  to  destruction  ?  A  Virginia  nabob  for  President !  A 
most  unnatural  war !  Heaven  knows  it  could  never  prosper  I 
Take  Canada — take  a  fiddle-stick's  end.  And  then  our  taxes 
are  doubled — commerce  all  destroyed — religion  and  liberty 
kicked  out  of  doors — and  every  good  man  turned  out  of 
office.  I'll  tell  you,  (exclaimed  he  vehemently)  we  are  a 
ruined  people.  Democracy  is  the  bane  of  freedom — I 
wouldn't  trust  a  democrat  with  a  field  of  mill-stones  un- 
counted." "Poh,  Poh!"  said  my  aunt  Hannah,  "you  are  in 
a  passion,  father — if  a  democratic  neighbor  wanted  anything 
you  would  let  him  have  it."  "Have  it,"  cried  the  old  gentle- 
man, "yes,  I'd  let  him  have  it,  if  it  was  a  halter." 

"Grandfather,"  said  my  brother  Israel,  coming  in  at  that 
moment,  "will  you  lend  Mr.  Willard  your  horse  to  go  to 
mill?" — "Why  child,"  said  my  grandfather,  softening  his 
voice,  "I  was  going  to  town — but  he  would  not  ask  for  him 
if  he  didn't  want  him;  yes,  he  may  take  him."  "I  thought," 
said  my  aunt  Hannah,  "you  wouldn't  trust  a  democrat,  and 
yet  Mr.  Willard  is  the  hottest  in  the  neighborhood."  "Well, 
well,"  said  the  old  gentleman,  "he's  wrong  in  his  politics — 
plaguy  wrong ;  but  he's  a  good  neighbor,  and  I  believe  honest 
in  his  error ;  he's  welcome  to  him." 

♦Publication  in  newspaper  not  located. 


276  ESSAYS   FROM    THE  DESK   OF 

I  could  not  help  smiling  at  my  grandfather's  political  pas- 
sion, contrasted  with  his  social  conduct  to  his  opponents.  I 
turned  and  went  to  the  Post-Office. 

"Traitors  ! — Tories  !"  cried  a  lean,  dark-complexioned  man. 
"They  may  call  themselves  Federalists,  but  I  say  they  are  all 
a  set  of  tories,  and  traitors  to  the  country.  Every  man  that 
don't  support  government  is  a  traitor ;  the  war  must  be  sup- 
ported; opposition  must  be  put  down;  "if  fair  words  won't 
do,  we  must  try  what  virtue  there  is  in  stones."  The  country 
is  ruined  by  division ;  we  must  be  united ;  he  that  is  not  for 
us  is  against  us — the  election  is  coming  on,  and  we'll  see  who 
votes  for  tories  and  who  votes  for  their  country."  "Stop, 
stop,"  said  a  little  round  faced  man  who  stood  near  him, 
"you  are  in  a  passion ;  the  Federalists  are  not  tories ;  I  know 
many  of  them  who  fought  last  war."  "Zounds !  sir,"  inter- 
rupted the  lean  man,  "yes,  they  fought,  but  against  us.  Sir, 
they  are  a  set  of  rascals,  villains,  cheats,  liars ;  there  isn't  an 

honest  man  in  the  party — they're Here  his  breath  failed 

him,  and  he  fell  down  in  a  fit,  produced  by  excess  of  pas- 
sion.— Medical  aid  was  afforded,  and  with  difficulty  could  he 
be  brought  to  respire.  "I  must  die,  (cried  he  as  he  opened 
his  eyes)  I  wish  Mr.  Heartzvell  would  act  as  guardian  to  my 
little  ones,  and  settle  my  estate."  "But,"  said  the  little  round- 
faced  man,  "he  is  a  Federalist."  ''That's  the  reason  I  chose 
him,"  said  the  man,  who  thought  he  was  breathing  his  last. 

Think — says — I,  men  talk  much  at  random.  Political  dis- 
cussion and  declamation  is  full  of  sound  and  fury — signi- 
fying nothing. — There  is  more  friendship,  and  humanity  and 
good  will  at  bottom,  after  all,  among  the  great  body  of  the 
people,  than  would  be  imagined,  if  we  judged  from  the 
acrimony  of  political  disquisitions. 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE.  2"]^ 

A  POETICAL  EFFUSION 

of 
POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE* 


WHY  sits  disdain  upon  thy  brow 


Why  pouts  that  ruddy  Hp  so  now  ? 
Though,  pretty  maid,  thine  eye  is  bright 
As  evening  star  on  winter's  night. 

Although  thy  cheek  so  sweetly  glows, 
Like  brightest  blush  of  damask  rose : 
Thou  know's't— IT  IS  DECREED— that  eye 
Low  in  the  grave  must  sightless  lie, 
That  cheek  that  wears  so  bright  a  bloom, 
Shall  fade  and  perish  in  the  tomb. 

Doat  not  then  maiden,  on  thy  charms, 
But  wake  thy  soul  to  death's  alarms : 
Nor  pride,  nor  beauty,  from  the  grave. 
That  form,  that  cheek,  that  eye  can  save. 

But  oh !  there  dwells  within  that  breast, 
A  spirit — an  immortal  guest. 
In  beauty  more  resplendent  far 
Than  damask  rose  or  evening  star, 
Which,  envious  death,  survives  the  hour. 
When  mortals  own  thy  withering  power. 

Haste  then,  improve  that  noble  part, 
Worth  all  thy  care,  worth  all  thy  art : 
That  must  be  noble  zvhich  to  GOD'S  allied, 
And  zvorth  all  care  for  which  a  SAVIOR  died. 
'Publication  in  newspaper  not  located. 


278  ESSAYS   FROM    THE  DESK   OF 

TO  POOR  ROBERT,  THE  SCRIBE.* 


I  Find  you  and  I,  having  lived  in  the  world  till  a  good 
many  precious  years  have  rolled  over  our  heads ;  and  viewed 
the  gradual  innovations  upon  the  manners  and  customs  in 
which  we  were  brought  up,  begin  to  look  upon  the  change 
with  regret.  Whether  it  arises  from  the  affinity  of  our  ages 
or  the  congeniality  of  our  dispositions,  I  don't  know;  but 
from  some  cause  or  other,  I  begin  to  like  you  very  well, 
though  I  suppose  I  never  saw  you  in  my  life.  There  is  one 
subject  I  have  a  long  time  wanted  to  open  my  mind  to  you 
upon,  i.  e.  the  present  situation  of  Newspapers  in  our  coun- 
try. Newspapers  were  originally  intended  to  convey  po- 
litical news,  but  they  have  increased  to  such  amazing  num- 
bers and  bulk  that  it  were  in  vain  to  attempt  to  fill  them  en- 
tirely with  political  matter  either  pleasing  or  instructive.  It 
becomes  necessary,  therefore,  to  supply  the  deficiency  from 
some  other  sources ;  and  the  abundance  of  matter  of  every 
description  with  which  the  world  is  continually  teeming, 
renders  this  an  easy  task.  History,  philosophy,  agriculture, 
religion,  biography,  criticism,  literature,  romance,  poetry, 
every  thing  in  short  which  can  interest  the  mind  of  busy 
man,  finds  a  place  in  a  modern  newspaper.  They  have  be- 
come the  general  miscellany  of  the  age.  By  the  old  and 
young,  male  and  female,  learned  and  unlearned,  they  are 
anticipated  with  impatience,  received  with  anxiety  and  read 
with  avidity. 

The  insatiable  desire  for  something  new  which  seems  to 
be  implanted  in  our  dispositions,  makes  us  anxious  for  the 
arrival  of  the  newspaper.  It  is  there,  if  any  where,  we  ex- 
pect to  be  gratified.  And  what  is  thus  universally  read  must 
have  an  overwhelming  influence  on  the  minds  of  a  people. 

♦Published  in  the  Gleaner  and  Luzerne  Advertiser  for  July  12,  181 1. 
Not  in  volume  of  Essays. 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE.  2/9 

Newspapers  have  been  known  to  control  the  most  inveterate 
ministry  of  England;  they  gave  independence  to  the  United 
States;  they  have  since  stirred  up  party  animosity  amongst 
us  and  have  divided  a  free  people  into  great  political  fac- 
tions. Newspapers  awaked  the  French  nation  from  a  "sleep 
of  despotism,"  agitated  and  invigorated  the  whole  empire, 
and  overturned  the  throne  of  the  imperial  Bourbon,  upheld 
by  the  veneration  of  fourteen  centuries.  But  their  power  to 
do  hurt  is  as  great  as  their  power  to  do  good,  and  it  be- 
comes a  matter  of  the  highest  concern  to  every  thinking  man 
that  they  should  be  conducted  properly.  In  the  Country, 
more  especially  than  in  populous  towns,  it  is  necessary  that 
they  be  conducted  with  strict  adherence  to  truth,  to  candour, 
and  to  matter  substantially  useful.  In  cities  the  sources  of 
amusement  are  many  and  excellent;  the  newspaper  of 
course  excites  less  interest  and  attention  except  for  matters 
of  pecuniary  benefit.  But  country  places  are  usually  with- 
out any  regular  amusements,  without  circulating  libraries, 
without  periodical  publications,  without  theatres,  without 
museums,  without  shows;  and  without  regular  compact  so- 
cieties which  afiford  opportunity  for  a  mutual  interchange 
of  ideas,  and  the  newspaper  becomes  the  only  vehicle  of  in- 
struction and  amusement.  It  is  constantly  consulted  for 
information  in  matters  most  nearly  allied  to  our  interest  viz. 
to  know  the  laws  of  the  country,  the  transactions  of  Gov- 
ernment, who  are  the  candidates  at  the  elections,  in  short 
every  thing  that  folks  are  about  abroad  and  every  thing  that 
can  be  beneficial  to  us  at  home.  In  the  consideration,  there- 
fore, that  newspapers  go  into  the  hands  of  all  classes  of 
citizens,  that  they  are  perused  by  every  eye,  that  they  in- 
fluence in  a  great  degree  the  opinion  of  every  individual  in 
society  and  that  our  actions  are  dictated  by  our  opinions ; 
I  regret  that  many  of  them  are  prostituted  to  the  basest  of 
matter.  Conducted,  many  of  them,  by  simpletons  who  are 
ignorant  of  the  mischiefs  they  may  cause,  many  of  them  by 


28o  ESSAYS  FROM  THE  DESK  OF 

designing  knaves,  who  are  sensible  of  the  confidence  with 
which  the  grossest  untruths  will  be  received,  many  of  them 
by  apostates  abandoned  to  the  most  unqualified  infidelity; 
this  great  source  of  national  instruction  is  become  corrupt. 
By  a  continual  alluvian  of  party  animosity  and  an  equal 
dereliction  from  truth,  this  great  river  has  insensibly  shifted 
its  channel,  its  waters  have  become  impure,  and  should  be 
drank  with  caution. 

I  speak  with  freedom,  though  I  am  sensible  the  printers 
have  the  stafif  in  their  own  hands.  Thank  fortune,  as  I 
grow  old  I  have  the  less  to  fear  from  them.  They  are  the 
most  powerful  class  of  citizens  in  our  country ;  for  though 
few  in  themselves,  they  control  a  multitude  and  keep  the 
Government  in  awe.  Government  with  us,  is  the  result  of 
the  opinion  of  the  people.  He  who  can  exercise  the  dic- 
tatorial power  and  control  this  opinion  rises  at  once  above 
the  Government,  rides  over  the  laws  of  the  land,  corrects, 
amends,  and  controls  it,  and  subjects  it  to  the  loose  and 
fluctuating  dictates  of  his  own  mind.  But  it  were  vain  at 
this  late  day  to  attempt  to  restrain  printers  from  an  undue 
influence  in  politicks,  and  indeed  I  only  wish  that  they  would 
in  general  pay  a  more  strict  regard  to  truth.  But  what  I 
principally  regret  is  that  I  can  hardly  take  up  any  paper  but 
the  one  in  which  you  appear  now  a-days  without  being 
shocked  with  some  outrageous  abuse  of  private  characters. 
This  is  the  most  villainous  practice  a  printer  can  be  guilty  of. 
Without  conferring  one  cent's  advantage  on  the  publick,  it 
frequently  ruins  the  peace  and  tranquility  of  families  and 
infixes  an  arrow  in  the  side  of  an  innocent  man  that  can  never 
be  extricated.  I  am  glad  to  see  the  paper  in  which  you  ap- 
pear so  far  free  of  this  practise.  I  hope  as  soon  as  it  ceases 
to  be  so  you  will  cease  to  give  it  your  sanction;  but  as  my 
piece  is  long  I  will  break  ofif  here.  You  perhaps  may  hear 
from  me  again  on  this  subject,  until  which  time  I  remain 

your  sincere  admirer.  _^  ^ 

■^  Uncle  Toby. 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE,  281 

FROM  THE  DESK  OF  POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE 
(POSTHUMOUS.)* 


O  Applebury!  "Loveliest  village  of  the  plain!"  To  thee 
how  strongly  are  my  affections  bound!  Though  cruel  fate 
hath  separated  us,  perhaps  forever,  yet  every  hill  and  valley 
— every  rock  and  tree,  from  the  utmost  precincts  of  the  par- 
sonage— to  the  furthest  limits  of  the  lake,  is  associated  with 
dear  and  tender  recollections.  Tho'  thou  art  "Far  beyond 
the  mountain  that  looks  so  distant  here,"  yet  imagination 
paints  thee,  mellowed  by  distance  but  all  lovely  as  thou  wert, 
to  my  delighted  mind.  Methinks  I  see  thy  high  and  well 
formed  spire,  rising  from  the  meeting  house  on  the  plain  and 
the  old  inn,  "across  the  way"  where  erst  my  friends  and  I, 
"in  merry  mood,"  gay  and  innocent,  led  forth  our  partners  in 
the  social  dance. 

Beyond,  on  the  brow  of  the  hill  gently  declining  to  the 
south,  breaking  through  the  thick  foliage  of  the  trees,  the 
habitation  of  the  parson  rises  to  the  view,  the  garden  filled 
with  finest  fruit  and  blooming  with  the  lilly,  the  holly,  and 
the  rose — and  producing  for  the  poor  and  the  sick,  the  rose- 
mary, the  rue,  the  camomile  and  the  thyme. 

In  the  large  white  house,  that  is  seen  near  the  lake,  lives 
deacon  Active,  and  in  the  numerous  snug  and  comfortable 
cottages  that  rise  around  in  "regular  confusion,"  and  consti- 
tute the  village,  reside  a  hardy,  honest,  hospitable,  industrious 
yeomanry.  Nor  will  "busy  meddling  memory"  give  up  the 
view  without  leading  me  to  that  awful  spot  "where  the  rude 
fathers  of  the  hamlet  sleep."  Many  a  friend,  dear  to  my 
heart  rests  there,  and  among  them  in  yon  green  grave,  thy 
beauteous  form  O  Mary!  the  habitation  of  the  purest  soul. — 
Forgive  me  ! — Oh  Memory  !  why  didst  thou  lead  me  hither  ? 

♦Published  in  the  Gleaner  for  Feb.  25,  1814.  Not  in  the  volume  of 
Essays. 


282  ESSAYS   FROM    THE  DESK   OF 

— My  poor  heart  bursts  with  anguish,  though  many  and  long 
have  been  the  days  since  I  saw  her — but  she  sleeps  there  and 
I  must  soon  follow  her, — 

'Soft  sigh  the  winds  of  Heav'n  o'er  her  grave.' 

Hark !  hear  ye  the  clatter  of  yon  mill  at  the  outlet  of  the 
lake.  The  ancient  miller  never  did  harm  to  his  fellow  mortal. 
Steady  as  his  mill — his  mind  pure  as  the  water  that  turns  it, 
he  reads  a  chapter  in  the  bible  every  morning — examines  the 
almanack  to  ascertain  the  weather — takes  a  nap  on  a  bag 
after  dinner,  and  lives  happier  than  the  proudest  prince  in 
Christendom. 

In  the  yellow  house,  shaded  by  those  high  elms,  resides 
our  physician.  A  short  time  ago  I  made  you  acquainted  with 
Mr.  Clayton,  our  parson :  permit  me  to  introduce  to  you  Mr. 
Wei  ford.  I  know  him  well.  His  deportment  was  generally 
grave,  yet  among  his  friends  he  would  sometimes  relax  into 
the  most  unreserved  playfulness,  gaiety  and  humour.  The 
morning  hours  he  devoted  to  study.  Always  attentive,  he 
never,  to  indulge  his  pleasure  or  amusements  permitted  a 
patient  to  wonder  "why  the  doctor  did  not  come." — His  medi- 
cine was  generally  of  the  mildest  sort ;  and  yet,  when  occasion 
required,  he  did  not  fail  to  exhibit  a  most  decided  and  efficient 
course  of  practice.  His  charges  were  never  oppressive  and 
to  the  poor  always  moderate. 

I  was  sitting  at  his  window  one  summer  evening,  when  he 
came  in.  The  candle  was  removed  into  an  adjoining  room 
on  account  of  the  swarm  of  flies  that  gathered  around  it,  and 
he  did  not  know  that  any  one  but  the  family  was  there.  "You 
have  been  detained  late,  my  dear,"  said  Mrs.  Welford,  af- 
fectionately. "And  have  come  home  very  unhappy,"  an- 
swered he.  "I  have  been,"  continued  he  "to  visit  the  family 
of  poor  Artless,  where  two  of  the  children  are  ill  with  the 
prevailing  fever,  and  they  are  destitute  of  every  comfort : 
Have  you  anything  to  send  them?" — "Poor  creatures,"  said 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE.  283 

she  "they  must  not  suffer."  The  boy  was  immediately  sent 
off  with  a  basket  containing  some  candles — a  little  tea — a  loaf 
of  bread,  and  some  preserves  for  the  sick  children  to  take 
their  medicine  in;  with  orders  to  send  up  for  anything  else 
that  was  wanted.  Mr.  Welford  immediately  became  social 
and  happy.  Indeed  he  possessed  the  disposition  to  be  made 
happy  by  rendering  others  happy  around  him.  To  see  him 
pull  a  tooth  for  a  trembling  and  heartless  girl — so  jocose  and 
merrily  would  he  cheat  her  of  the  pain,  that  you  would  vow 
he  was  a  rare  lively  man.  But  could  you  see  him  at  the  bed 
of  departing  life,  pouring  the  balsam  of  hope,  in  the  sacred 
name  of  his  divine  master,  into  the  afflicted  bosom,  you  would 
be  persuaded  it  was  Mr.  Clayton's  self  was  there.  And,  in- 
deed, in  learning  as  well  as  piety,  he  did  not  fall  far  short  of 
the  parson,  and  was  always  called  upon  in  his  absence  to 
render  into  english  the  little  scraps  of  latin  that  appeared  in 
the  almanack  or  news-paper. 

His  library,  though  not  very  extensive,  was  yet  respectable ; 
and  was  open  to  every  one  who  would  use  the  books  care- 
fully. Of  novels  he  had  few.  The  Vicar  of  Wakefield, 
however  was  on  his  shelf.  The  Spectator,  more  particularly 
the  last  volume,  was  much  read.  Swift  he  liked  not;  ad- 
mitting his  genius,  but  absolutely  denying  his  piety.  Watts' 
Lyric  Poems.  The  life  of  Col.  Gardner;  Paradise  Lost; 
Josephus;  Pilgrim's  Progress;  Don  Quixote;  Bishop  Bur- 
net's History  of  his  own  times ;  Robinson  Crusoe ;  and 
Young's  Night  Thoughts,  seemed  to  have  been  most  used, 
next  to  the  Bible  and  his  Medical  works,  but  which  was  his 
favourite  I  do  not  know.  Such  was  the  physician  of  Ap- 
plebury. 


284  ESSAYS   FROM   THE  DESK  OF 

"OLD  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE."* 


By  the  last  mail  we  received  the  following  melancholy  in- 
telligence ;  we  give  it  as  it  came,  for  we  are  too  much  affected 
to  indulge  in  any  remarks. 

Applehury,  Nov.  i,  18 13. 

"IT  is  with  extreme  pain  I  inform  you  that  our  mutual 
friend  Poor  Robert  the  Scribe  departed  this  Hfe 
on  the  28th  day  of  last  month.  He  came  to  Applebury  about 
the  20th  and  appeared  remarkably  melancholy.  I  pressed 
him  with  all  the  ardour  of  friendship  to  disclose  the  cause  of 
his  sorrows,  for  I  suspected  he  was  in  love  again ;  at  length 
he  told  me. — "That  he  had  been  persuaded  to  consent  to  have 
his  essays  collected  and  published  in  a  little  volume :  That  his 
friends  had  assured  him  they  were  so  popular  that  there  was 
no  doubt  but  three  hundred  subscribers  could  be  obtained, 
which  would  enable  him  to  pay  off  the  mortgage  upon  the  old 
homestead  in  Applebury,  and  leave  him  pretty  independent. — 
That  he  had,  he  could  not  tell  how,  a  strange  feeling  about  his 
heart,  a  little  mixture,  he  thought  of  honest  pride,  and  par- 
donable vanity,  arising  from  the  thought  of  being  an  author. 
That  subscription  papers  were  issued  from  your  office  for 
his  work,  to  be  returned  on  the  first  of  October. — That  he 
visited  you  on  the  12th  and  found  to  his  most  poignant  mor- 
tification that  you  had  got  but  about  fifty  subscribers. — He 
never  had  felt  well  since,  and  now  he  assured  me  he  was 
certain  that  his  dissolution  was  approaching." 

I  strove  to  cheer  him;  and  told  him  to  recollect  that  the 
first  literary  essay  of  Hume  fell  'dead-born  from  the  press.' 
— "He  was  an  infidel"  said  Robert,  "and  if  it  had  pleased  God, 
I  would  have  been  content  that  all  his  philosophical  works 
had  fallen  like  the  first."    "My  essays"  continued  he  "I  hope 

♦Published  in  the  Gleaner  for  Nov.  26,  1813.  Not  included  in  vol- 
ume of  Essays. 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE,  285 

are  not  destitute  of  some  useful  hints  for  religious — moral 
and  domestic  improvement."  I  told  him  I  thought  the  gen- 
eral scope  of  his  work  was  good,  but  I  must  candidly  say  I 
thought  he  had  treated  Mrs.  Mobcap  rather  rudely.  He 
expressed  his  regret  and  hoped  to  be  forgiven. 

Still  I  could  not  cheer  him.  Every  day  he  grew  paler  and 
paler.  There  appeared  little  pain  or  fever — but  a  prostra- 
tion of  strength  and  gradual  wasting  of  his  frame.  On  the 
24th  he  took  entirely  to  his  bed — said  little — and  never 
smiled.  On  the  25th  your  letter  arrived  mentioning  that  a 
number  of  subscription  papers  had  been  returned  full  of 
names,  and  among  the  rest  one  from  Hartford,  with  sub- 
scriptions for  an  hundred  and  fifty  copies. 

His  countenance  instantly  brightened  up — Giving  me  the 
key  of  his  portmanteau,  he  bid  me  take  out  a  roll  of  papers, 
which  he  had  before  ordered  to  be  burnt,  and  gave  directions 
that  they  should  be  sent  to  you.  I  thought  for  a  while  he 
would  have  recovered — but  he  was  too  far  gone.  On  the 
26th  he  sunk  into  a  lethargic  state,  and  early  on  the  morning 
of  the  28th  breathed  his  last,  aged  47  years.  I  shall  write  to 
you  again  soon.  In  the  meantime  I  am  with  all  charitable- 
ness of  feeling  your  friend. 

(Signed)  Joseph  Clayton. 

(The  roll  of  papers  which  may  appear  hereafter,  con- 
tained a  few  numbers  from  the  pen  of  our  old  friend.  His 
friends  will  not  be  displeased  to  learn  that  the  essays  of  Poor 
Robert  will  be  put  to  press  in  about  ten  days.) 


286  ESSAYS   FROM    THE  DESK   OF 

(The  following  essay  was  sent  us  by  a  friend  for  whom 
we  have  the  highest  regard. — His  communications  are  always 
welcome:  but  with  deference  we  suggest  that  he  should  con- 
dense a  little  more.)* 

For  the  GLEANER. 
From  the  DRAWER  of  YOUNG  ROBERT. 

MR.  PRINTER, 

My  father  and  myself  took  a  journey,  not  long  since,  up 
to  Cooperstown,  and  the  next  morning  after  our  return, 
father  came  into  my  house,  which  is  only  just  across  the 
road,  and  said  to  me,  "Robert,  the  letter  which  we  have  so 
long  expected  from  Applebury  has  been  received,  and  I  must 
set  out  tomorrow  morning  for  that  place. — I  had  intended 
to  have  sent  our  friend  the  Printer,  some  account  of  our 
late  journey;  but  this  circumstance  will  now  prevent,  and  I 
wish  you  would  do  it  in  my  absence.  If  you  ever  expect  to 
write  anything  for  the  Print,  it  is  time  you  began :  for  I 
wrote  several  pieces  that  were  printed  before  I  was  as  old 
as  you.  I  shall  see  our  paper  in  Applebury  and  should  like 
to  see  in  it  something  from  home."  Not  long  after  this  he 
went  out — and  I  said  to  my  wife, — 'well  Mary,  is  it  best  for 
me  to  try  to  write  something  for  the  paper.'  'You  must  do 
as  you  please,'  said  she  'you  know  it  would  please  father  if 
you  could.' — So  Mr.  Printer,  after  some  deliberation  I  con- 
cluded to  take  the  old  gentleman's  hint,  and  send  you  some 
account  of  our  journey — 

As  we  were  coming  home,  down  along  the  Susquehanna, 
we  called  to  see  an  old  friend  of  fathers,  who  formerly  lived 
only  about  20  miles  from  Applebury :  one  Deacon  Meanwell, 
a  worthy  old  gentleman  as  I  ever  became  acquainted  with. 
It  happened  to  be  Saturday,  and  as  my  father  never  made  a 

♦Published  in  the  Gleaner  for  Dec.  3,  1813.  Not  included  in  volume 
of  Essays. 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE.  287 

practice  of  travelling  on  Sunday,  we  accepted  of  Deacon 
Mean  well's  invitation  to  stay  and  spend  the  Sabbath  with 
him. — We  accordingly  attended  meeting  with  him  on  Sun- 
day :  where,  although  the  country  was  new,  and  the  meeting 
was  in  a  log  house,  I  saw  as  modest  and  worthy  looking  a 
congregation  as  I  ever  saw.  They  had  no  settled  Minister, 
but  the  Deacons  read  sermons,  and  they  sung  and  conversed 
in  a  plain  christian  like  manner.  After  we  had  returned  to 
Deacon  Meanwell's,  he  and  my  father  spent  the  remainder 
of  the  Sabbath  principally  in  conversation  upon  the  present 
and  former  customs  of  the  church  and  the  manners  of  the 
people.  After  some  time,  father  observed  to  Deacon  Mean- 
well,  "It  appears  to  me,  Deacon,  that  you  have  one  custom 
here  which  might  be  remedied."  "What  is  that?"  'Why,' 
said  my  father,  'you  have  got  considerably  advanced  in  years, 
you  cannot  so  well  bear  fatigue  as  you  formerly  did :  but  I 
observed  to-day  notwithstanding  that  you  stood  up  and  read 
the  whole  of  the  sermon  yourself,  when  there  were  several 
younger  men  in  meeting,  who  were  better  able  to  undergo 
the  fatigue  than  yourself.  I  can  remember  in  Applebury 
before  we  had  a  settled  Minister  there,  we  used  to  apply 
to  the  younger  men  to  read  the  sermon  and  psalm,  and  I 
think  there  are  many  reasons  which  make  it  proper ;  one  is, 
it  is  too  fatiguing  for  old  people :  another  is,  every  few  years 
produce  some  changes  in  the  manner  of  pronunciation, 
cadence,  &c.  And  we  ought,  undoubtedly,  to  bring  up  our 
children  in  the  modes  and  forms  which  are  customary  in 
their  days,  and  not  teach  them  the  old  rules  that  we  were 
taught  in  that  respect,  for  after  some  time  they  would  not 
understand  the  rest  of  the  world,  every  age  producing  some 
change,  and  as  our  young  people  and  children  attend  meet- 
ings, and  are  taught  to  revere  and  respect  every  thing  they 
see  done  there.  We  ought  in  meeting  to  set  before  them 
the  same  examples  which  they  have  at  school.  Besides  that 
kind  of  deference  paid  to  their  learning  makes  them  am- 


288  ESSAYS   FROM    THE  DESK   OF 

bitious  to  learn  well,  and  to  qualify  themselves  for  the  honour 
of  reading  in  meeting,  and  other  public  assemblies.  It  like- 
wise forms  another  motive  for  them  to  attend  meeting  regu- 
larly. And  as  parents  are  generally  pleased  to  see  their  chil- 
dren taken  notice  of,  it  induces  them  to  encourage  schools 
and  to  attend  meeting  themselves.  It  likewise  has  a  tend- 
ency to  give  young  people  confidence  and  to  make  them 
anxious  to  be  useful  in  society.'  'Well,  upon  my  word,'  said 
Deacon  Meanwell.  'I  never  have  thought  so  much  upon  this 
subject  before.  I  will  deliberate  more  upon  this  subject,  and 
I  think  I  shall  adopt  the  measures  you  seem  to  recommend." 
Now,  Mr.  Printer,  I  know  the  reasons  which  father  gave, 
have  some  weight.  Why  I  can  remember  at  a  meeting  once 
in  Applebury,  before  parson  Speakwell  was  settled  there,  our 
family  all  attended  as  usual,  and  as  the  sermon  was  about  to 
begin.  Deacon  Goodman  said  to  me,  'Robert  will  you  read 
the  sermon  to-day?'  At  that  time  you  must  know,  Mr. 
Printer,  I  was  quite  a  boy,  and  had  not  done  going  to  school, 
and  this  question  made  me  feel  strangely :  I  looked  at  father, 
but  he  did  not  shake  his  head,  and  as  I  wanted  to  very  much, 
although  I  felt  a  little  afraid,  I  rose  and  told  the  Deacon  I 
would  try :  so  he  handed  me  the  book,  and  I  began.  I  was 
a  little  choaked  at  first,  but  it  soon  wore  off,  and  I  read  it, 
I  thought,  very  well.  We  had  hardly  got  home  before  my 
mother  called  me  to  her  and  said,  'Robert,  you  have  done 
nicely  to-day,  my  son ;  I  was  much  pleased  to  see  you  read 
so  well,  and  as  a  reward,  here  is  my  new  psalm  book,  which 
I  will  give  you."  I  observed  a  tear  stood  in  her  eye,  as  she 
gave  it  to  me,  and  I  could  hardly  speak  loud  enough  to  thank 
her  for  it.  In  the  evening,  after  tea,  father  came  from  his 
study  into  the  sitting-room,  with  two  books  in  his  hand,  and 
he  said  to  me  "Bob.  here  is  an  excellent  work,  it  is  "Echard's 
Ecclesiastical  History,"  which  I  purchased  some  time  ago, 
intending  it  as  a  present  for  you  when  some  particular  cir- 
cumstance should  render  you  deserving  of  it.     You  have 


POOR  ROBERT  THE  SCRIBE.  289 

read  the  sermon  so  well  to-day,  that  I  think  it  now  a  proper 
time  to  give  it  to  you.  After  reading  it  a  few  times  you  will 
know  how  to  prize  it." 

The  eflPect  of  these  circumstances  has  never  yet  wore  oflf, 
and  I  trust  they  never  will,  Mr.  Printer. — So  that  when 
father  was  talking  to  Deacon  Meanwell  I  felt  pretty  power- 
fully the  force  of  the  remarks. 

As  it  happened,  on  the  next  morning  after  our  attendance 
at  the  meeting  with  Deacon  Meanwell,  the  District  School 
was  to  be  opened,  by  a  new  teacher,  and  as  some  parade  was 
to  be  made  on  the  occasion,  we  concluded  to  stay  until  after 
dinner,  before  we  proceeded  on  our  return,  and  in  the  mean- 
time to  attend  the  opening  of  the  school  with  the  Deacon. 
The  new  master  appeared  to  be  a  young  man  of  a  good  edu- 
cation, and  a  very  proper  teacher  for  such  a  school ;  besides 
his  recommendations  were  of  the  very  first  kind.  The  Dea- 
con made  a  prayer  for  the  future  prosperity  of  the  school, 
&c.  And  after  the  scholars  had  commenced  their  course  of 
reading,  I  observed  that  several  of  the  pupils  pronounced 
very  unfashionably,  and  their  cadence,  punctuation,  &c.  was 
not  at  all  in  the  modern  mode.  The  Teacher  stopp'd  them ; 
taught  them  in  what  manner  the  accent  and  cadence  should 
be  laid,  and  enquired  where  they  contracted  the  habit  which 
they  practiced. — One  of  the  oldest  boys  answered  that  their 
former  master  read  so,  and  that  was  the  way  the  Deacons 
read  the  Sermon  in  the  meeting. — 'Well'  said  the  Teacher, 
'that  is  the  way  people  used  to  read,  but  they  have  now 
adopted  the  way  which  I  tell  you,  which  is  thought  to  be 
best.' — Deacon  Meanwell  turned  to  father,  and  in  a  low 
voice  I  heard  him  say,  'I  now  see  the  propriety  of  your  re- 
marks in  full.' 


INDEX. 


Abington,  Pa.,  i8. 
Ackerman,  William  G.,  63. 
Adams, 

Daniel,  22. 

Elizabeth,  11. 
Aldermarsh,  The,  30. 
Allison, 

Henry,  28. 

\Villiam,  (Col.),  Regiment,  8,  16. 
Andreas, 

Anna  Elizabeth,  61. 

Anna  Marie,  61. 

Barbara  (Balliett),  61. 

Catherine  Miller,  61. 

Daniel,  61. 

Elizabfith,  62. 

Gertrude  (Guldner),  61. 

Jacob,  59,  61. 

John,  61,  62. 

John  George,  61. 

John  Jacob,  61,  62. 

John  Peter,  61. 

John  William,  61. 

Magdalena,  61. 

Margaret  (Barager),  61. 

Nancy  Miller,  61. 

Peter,  60,  61. 

Sarah,  61. 

Sarah  (Washburn),  60,  61. 

Stephen,  62. 

Susanna  (Barager),  61. 

Thankful  Washburn,  60,  61, 

William,  62. 
Anthracomya,  98-99,  100. 
Attleboro,  Mass.,  38. 
Axe  to  grind,  I94-9S' 


Baker, 

Ebenezer,  38,  39. 

Joseph,  39,  43- 

Susannah,  38. 

Welthy  (Harding),  39,  43. 
Balliett,  Barbara,  61. 
Bantry,  Mass.,  5. 
Barager, 

Margaret,  61. 

Susanna,  61. 
Bartlett, 

Deborah  (Harding),  13. 

Ebenezer,  28. 

Moses,  13. 
Bates,  Caleb,  18. 

Beaumont,  Andre  Alden,  Jr.,  107. 
Beaver  Co.,  Pa.,  9. 
Becker,  J.  J.,  Ixii. 
Bedford,  Jacob,  32. 
"Beech  Woods,"  29. 
Benedict,  James,  35. 
Bennett, 

Mrs.  Ellen  W.  (Nelson),  Ixii. 

Marcus  W.,  41. 

Mary  Miranda  (Harding),  41. 
Bethany,  Wayne  Co.,  Pa.,  36. 


"Betsey's  brook,"  30. 
Blacksmith,  John,  see  Red  Jacket. 
Blin, 

Catherine,  60,  61. 

Jacob,  61. 

Rebecca  (Washburn),  60,  61. 
Blooming  Grove,  Ohio,  9,  36,  38,  40,  41, 

42,   44,  45.  46. 
Boston,  4,  5,  6. 
Boyce, 

Phoebe  Ann  (Harding),  40. 

William,  40. 
Bourne, 

Lydia,  47,  S^. 

Thomas,  47,  S2. 
Boyd,   Julian   P.,   Foreword  to  Essays  of 

Poor  Richard,    189-94- 
Braintree,  Mass.,  s,  6,  11,  12. 
Brodhead,  Mrs.  Fanny  (Loveland),  Ixii. 
Brown, 

Enos,  24. 

James,  18. 
Buttolph,  Thomas,  4. 
By-Laws,  Ixxviii-lxxxii. 


Callendar, 
J.  M.,33. 
Nathan,  32,  33,  37. 
Camp  meeting.  Great,  186. 
Canute,     the      Dane,      Harding     descent 

from,  2. 
Carbonicola,  98-99.  100. 
Carboniferous    rocks,    Non-Marine    shells 

of   upper,   98-106. 
Carr,  Henry  James,  Ixii. 
Cary,  Elemuel,  28. 
Catlin, 

Clara  B.  (Gregory),  70. 
George,  63-97. 
Ancestry,  82. 
Art,  79- 

Bibliography,  81,  83-97. 
Indians  at  Windsor  (Tastle,  76. 
Interview  with  Louis  Philippe,  77. 
Return  to  Europe,  78. 
Visit   to    Central    and    South    Amer- 
ica,   78. 
Visit  to  London,  74-76. 
Visit  to  Paris,  77-78. 
Mrs.  George,  Death  of,  77. 
Polly  (Sutton),  60. 
Putnam,  68. 
Catlin  Powder  Horn,  63-67. 
Catlinite,  74. 

Chamberlain,  Mrs.  Andrew,  30. 
Chemung  Township,  19. 
Churchman, 
Ann,  47.  55- 
Hugh,  56. 
Clifford,  Susque.  Co.,  Pa.,  17.  26,  29,  30, 
32,  33.  34,  35,  36,  37,  38,  39,  40,  41. 
Clift,  Charles  E.,  Ixii. 
Coal  measures,  98,  99,  100. 


292 


CoUer, 

Daniel,  28. 

Jesse,  28. 

Reuben,  28. 
Congdon,  Frances,  13. 
Conyngham, 

David  H.,  29. 

Redmond,  29,  31,  32. 
Cook,  Sarah,  8a. 
Cooke, 

Francis,  47,  49,  50,  51,  182. 

Hester,  50. 

Mester  (Mahieu),  51- 

Jacob,  so,  51. 

Jane,  47,  49,  50,  51. 

John,  so,  SI- 

Mary,  so,  51. 
Corsica,  Ohia,  9,  44. 
Crane,  Samuel,  58. 
Crawford, 

Joshua,  42. 

Mary  Ann,  9,  41. 

Sophia  (Mrs.  Joshua),  42. 
Cuddeback,  Henry,  33. 
Cunningham,  Rev.,  45. 
Curtis,  Bridget,  20. 

D 

Dando,  Walter  B.,  Ixiii. 

Davies,    John    H.,     Non-Marine    Shells, 

98-106. 
Deerpark,  15,  16,  18. 

DeWitt,  Amy   (Harding),  Harding  gene- 
alogy by,  6. 
DeWolf, 

Charles,  14- 

Sabra  (Harding),  14. 
Dickerson, 

Charity  Malvina   (VanKirk),  42,  43. 

E.  E.,  46. 

Phebe  Elizabeth,  9,  42,  43. 

Sarah  Eleanor  (Harding),  42. 
Dickover,  George  T.,  Ixiii. 
Dimmock,  A.,  34. 
Dolson,  Anna,  9,  14. 
Doud,  Isaac,  28. 
Dundaff,  Pa.,  30,  33. 
Dungan, 

Frances  (Latham),  13. 

William,  13. 
Dunham,  Elvira,  39. 
Durkee,  Robert,  Wyoming  Company,  19. 


Early  American  Snobs,  128-55. 

Elkdale,  Pa.,  39. 

Ellsworth, 

James,  18. 

Phebe,  H.,  18. 
Essays  of  Poor  Richard,  189-289. 
Estance, 

Bridget,  12. 

Thomas,  12. 
Estheria,  100 
Evans,    Annette,    Indian    loving    Catlin, 

68-82. 
Exeter,  Pa.,  5,  14,  19,  21. 


Farmersville,  29. 
Felten,  Henry,  28. 
Field, 

Mahala  (Harding),  40. 

Richard  L.,  40. 
Finch,  Isaac,  22. 
Finn, 

James,  32,  33- 

Polly  (Mrs.  James),  32. 
Fox,  Dixon  Ryan,  128. 
Frear,  Eleanor,  26,  35. 
French,  Harry  Livingston,  Ixiii. 
Funds,  Special  and  Endowment,  Iv-lix. 


Gallon,  Ohio,  9,  38,  42,  44,  45,  46. 
Gardner, 

Amy,  13,  26. 

Frances  (Congdon),  13. 

Stephen,  13. 
Gifts, 

1927,  xv-xvi. 

1928,  xxvii-xxxi. 

1929,  xliii-xlv. 
Gilchrist,  Isabel  M.,  Ixiii. 
Gillott,  Pedro  Ramon,  Ixiii. 
Godcharles,  Frederick  A.,  Sketch  of  Capt. 

Stephen  Harding,  7. 
Gorges, 

Ferdinand  (Sir),  5. 

Fernando,  (Sir),  6,  11. 

Mary  (Harding),  5,  6,  11. 

Robert  (Capt.),  5,  6,  11. 
Gorges  family,  10. 
Goshen,  20. 
Grahamville,  15. 
Greene,  Emery  G.,  32. 
Greenville,  3  i,  32. 
Greenville  township,  15. 
Greenzweig,  Elizabeth,  61. 
Gregory,  Clara  B.,  70. 
Grindstone,  Who'll  turn,  194-95. 
Guldner,  Gertrude,  61. 

H 

Halifax,  Nova  Scotia,  14. 
Hallsted, 

Isaiah,  28. 

Joseph,  28. 

Samuel,  28. 
Halstead, 

Isaiah,  22. 
Harden, 

Abrahma,  15. 

Richard,  5. 
Hardin,  John,  13. 
Harding, 

A.  J.  (Major),  25. 

Abigail  Victoria,  43. 

Abraham,  4,  5,  6,  8,  9,  13,  14,  15,  16, 
21,  22,  23  24,  26,  28,  30,  36. 

Abraham,  Jr.,  20,  25. 

Amos,  9,  17,  22,  23,  26,  27,  28,  29, 
30,  31.  J2,  33,  34,  35,  36,  37,  39i 
40,  41,  42,  43,   44,  45,   46. 

Amy  ((Gardner),  5,  13,  44. 


Anna  (Mrs.  Salmon  E.),  44. 


INDEX. 


293 


Anna  (Dolson),  9,  14,  15,  17.  20- 

Anna  (Jackson),  39. 
Anna  (Roberts),  36,  40. 
Anna  (Wheat),  38. 
Benjamin,  5,  23. 
Benjamin  Franklin,  39. 
Bridget  (Estance),  12. 
Catherine,  42. 
Charity  M.,  43- 
Charles,  14- 

Charles  Alexander,  9,  41,  42,  43,  45. 
Chauncey  C,  39. 
Chester,  4. 
Daniel,  14. 

Deborah  (Mrs.  Abraham),  9,  13. 
Ebenezer  Slocum,  34,  39. 
Eleanor  P.,  43. 
Eliza,  14. 

Eliza  (Lathrop),  38. 
Elizabeth,  5,  42. 
Elizabeth  (Mrs.  Abraham),  4. 
Elizabeth  (Adams),  11. 
Elizabeth  (Madison),  9,  40,  41. 
Ella  (Roberts),  40. 
Elvira  (Dunham),  39. 
Florence  (Kling),  43. 
Ge6rge,  4. 

George  Tyron,  9,  38,  40,  41,  42,  43,  45. 
Hannah,  14. 
Harris,  14. 
Henry,  24,  25. 
Hester  (Wyllis),4- 
Hilah,  30. 

Huldah,  30,  36,  39,  40. 
Huldah  (Tryon),8,  9,  26. 
Isabenda  (McGowan),  41. 
Israel,  13,  14. 
James,  14. 
Jane,  4. 

Jemima,  36,  39. 

John,   4,   5,   9,    10,    II,   12,    13,    17,    18, 
26,  27,  39. 

Joseph  4,  s,  6,   10,   II,  23,  26,  36,  39. 

L.  O.,  46. 

Lemuel,  18,  19,  21. 

Lucy,    14- 

Luke,  44. 

Lydia,  s,  12.  30,  36,  38,  44- 

Lydia  (Tripp),  17,  18. 

Lydia  Frances,  42. 

M.  R.,  32. 

Mahala,   40. 

Margaret  Caroline,  42. 

Martha  (Steele),  38. 

Mary,  s,  6,  10,  11. 

Mary  (Otis),  38. 

Mary  (Richards),  13. 

Mary  (Webster),  39. 

Mary  Ann  (Crawford),  9,  41. 

Mary  Clarissa,  43. 

Mary  Matilda,  42. 

Mary  Miranda,  41. 

Mercy  (Vibber),  15. 

Minerva  (Martindale),  38. 

Mordecai,  40,  43. 

Mordecai  Rice,  38. 

Mordica,  34. 

Nancy,  14. 


Naomi  (Wilson),  39. 

Oliver,  19. 

Phebe,  18. 

Phebe   (Tripp),   9,   26,   30,   33,   34,   36, 

37,  39,  40.  43- 
Phebe  Elizabeth  (Dickerson),  9,  42,  43. 
Philip,  4. 

Phoebe  Ann,  40,  42. 
Phoebe  Caroline,  43. 
Rachel  (Story),  39. 
Rhoda  King,  17. 
Richard,  4,  s,  6,  9,  10,  11,  20. 
Rice,   9. 

Robert  (Capt.),  4. 
Ruami,   38. 
Sabra,    14. 

Salmon,  E.,  33,  34,  35,  38,  43.  45- 
Sarah  (Harris),  14. 
Sarah  Eleanor,  42. 
Solomon  E.,  38,  45. 
Stephen,    4,    5,    6,    9,    11,    12,    13,    14, 

25,  26. 
Stukeley,  s,  23. 
Susan  (Mason),  38. 
Susanna  (Mrs.  Philip),  4. 
Susannah  (Mrs.  Mordecai),  43. 
Susannah  (Baker-Newton),  38. 
Thomas,  4,  13,  14,  26. 
Tyron,  32,  33,  36,  43. 
Warren    Gamaliel,    7,    8,    9,     11,    41, 

43.   44- 
Welthy,  39,  43. 
Wilbur  J.,  6,  10,  II,  21,  27. 
William,  4,  5,  6,  10,  11,  44. 
William  Oliver  Perry,  41. 
William  Tripp,  38. 
Harding, 

Coats  of  Arms,  3. 
Derivation  of  Name,  2-3. 
Participation    in    the    Battle    of    Wyo- 
ming,  7. 
Variation  of  Name,  3. 
Hardin. 
Hardine. 
Hardineus. 

Hardineus  filius  Elnodi. 
Hardingus. 

Hardingus  filius  Alnodi. 
Hardinus. 
Harding    genealogy,     Campaign    interest 
in,    I. 
By  Amy  (Harding),  DeWitt,  5. 
By  O.  J.  Harvey,  5- 
By  W.  G.  Harding,  8. 
By  W.  J.  Harding,  10. 
In  N.  Y.  Sun,  7. 
In  N.  Y.  Tribune,  ?■ 
"Hardings  in  America,"  by  W.  J.  Hard< 

ing,   10. 
Hardy,  Philip,  4. 
Harnden, 
Edward,  4. 
Richard,  4. 
Harris,  Sarah,  14. 
Harrison  Co.,  Mo.,  40. 
Harvey,    Oscar    J.,    Harding    genealogy 

by,   5- 
Hatherly,  Timothy,  52. 


294 

Hawkins, 

Lovina,  22. 

Sophia,  42. 
Hempstead,  Joshua,  15. 
Herbert,  Thomas  M.,  Ixiii. 
Hobbs,  Harly,  33. 
Hoit,  Jacob,  28. 
Hooker,  Mary,  40. 
Hopkins, 

Francis,  18. 

Stephen,  182. 
Howe, 

Marcus,  58. 

Olive,  58. 
Hunt,  Mrs.  Grace  (Lea),  Ixiv. 
Huron  Co.,  Ohio,  39. 

I 
Indian-loving  Catlin,  68-97. 
Indians, 

At  Windsor,  76. 
In  Paris,  77- 

J 
Jackson,  Anna,  39. 
Jenkin's  Fort,  19,  22,  33. 
Jervis,  Port  Jervis  named  for,   15. 


Kennedy,  Eugene,  33. 
Keystone,  Iowa,  6. 
Kidder,  Benjamin,  28. 
King,  Rhoda,  17. 
Kleinduff, 

Ludwig,  61. 

Sarah  (Washburn),  61 
Kling,  Florence,  43. 


Lamellibranchs,    Collection    in    Washing- 

ton,  D.  C,  100-104. 
Lane,  Rev.  George,  187. 
Lapham, 

Elizabeth,  52. 

Joseph,  52. 

Lydia,  52. 

Mary,  52. 

Rebecca,  47.  5i.  52- 

Thomas,  47.  52. 
LaPorte  Co.,  Ind.,  27,  39. 
Latham,  Frances,  13. 
Lathrop,  Eliza,  38. 
Lectures, 

1927,  xii-xiii. 

1928,  xxv-xxvi. 

1929,  xxxvii-xxxix. 
Lewis, 

Abigail  (Harding),  10. 

Ralph  T.,  10. 
Logan, 

Abraham,  40. 

Huldah  (Harding),  40. 
Lott,  Mary,  57. 

Louis  Philippe,  Visit  to  Wilkes-Barre,  78. 
Luzerne  Co.^.  Pa.,  9,  25.  26,  27.  29,  4,4. 
Luzerne  Co.,  Pa.,  Agitation  for  erection, 
24. 


M 
McGowan,  Isabenda,  41. 
MacKay,    Alex.,    Purchase    of    Harding 
lot,   24. 

Mackey,  ,  33. 

McLean,  William  Swan,  Ixiv. 
Madison, 

Elizabeth,  4,  40. 

John,  40. 

Joseph,  40. 

Mary  (Hooker),  40. 

Thomas,  40. 

William,  40. 
Magruder,  Kenneth  Dann,  181. 
Mahieu, 

Jennie,  49. 

Hester,  47,  49. 
Mamakating,  15,  18. 

Manuscripts,   Report  on  location  in  Sus- 
quehanna  Valley,  xlvi-1. 
Marblehead,  Mass.,  4. 
Marion,  Ohio,  9,  43- 
Marion  County,  Ohio,  39. 
Market    Street   bridges   at   Wilkes-Barre, 

Pa.,  156-80. 
Marshman, 

Daniel,  42. 

Margaret  Caroline  (Harding),  42. 
Martindale,  Minerva,  38. 
Mason,  Susan,  38. 
Mass.  Bay  Colony,  20. 
Matlack,  Granville  T.,  Ixiv. 
Membership,  Roll  of,  Ixviii-lxxvii. 
Miller, 

Adam,  30,  31,  32,  33,  34,  37. 

Catherine,  61. 

Clara  (Gardner),  Preface. 

Daniel  V.,  42. 

Eleanor  (Nicholson),  37. 

Nancy,  61. 

Sophia  (Harding-Numbers),  42. 

William,  25. 
Miner,  Charles,  Poor  Robert,   189-289. 
Miner,   William   Harvey,   Catlin   Bibliog- 
raphy, 83-97- 
Minisink,  15,  18,  25. 
Mitchell, 

Edward,  49. 

Elizabeth,  47,  48,  49- 

Experience,  47,  48,  49. 

Hannah,  49. 

Jacob,  49. 

Jane  Cooke,  48. 

John,  49. 

Mary,  49 

Phoebe  A.  (Harding),  42. 

Sarah,  49. 

Thomas,  42,  49. 
Montgomery  Co.,  N.  Y.,  19. 
Moore, 

Ellen  Taylor,  48- 

Margerie,  47,  48. 

Martin  E.,  Ixiv. 

Robert,  47,  48. 
Morris,  Mulford,  Ixiv. 
Morse,    Rev.    Abner,    Genealogical    regis- 
ter by,  2. 


295 


Mott, 

Adam,  47. 

Eleazer,  57. 

Elizabeth,  47,  56,  57. 

Gershon,  57. 

Jacob,  57. 

John,  57. 

Jonathan,  57. 

Sarah,  47,  57. 
Mt.  Hope,  18. 
Murgasi  Rev.  Joseph,  Ixiv. 

N 
Naiadites,  98,-99    100,  loi. 
Necrology,  Ixi-lxvii. 
Nesbitt,  John  Maxwell,  29,  30,  31. 
New  Haven,  Conn.,  4. 
New  York  State,  Hardings  in,  16. 
Newton,  Susannah  (Baker),  38. 
Nicholson,  Eleanor,  37. 
Nicholson,  Pa.,  28,  29,  34. 
Nicholson    Township,    Petition    for    erec- 
tion, 27-28. 
Non-Marine  Shells  of  Upper  Carbonifer- 
ous rocks  of  N.  A.,   98-106. 
Norris,  Robert  VanArsdale,  Ixv. 
North  Bloomfield,  Ohio,  44. 
Numbers, 

Simon  Ayres,  42. 

Sophia  (Harding),  42. 
O 
Officers  for  1930,  Ix. 
Ontario  Co.,  N.  Y.,  26. 
Oram,  George,  33. 
Orange  Co.,   N.    Y.,    14,    iS.    16,    17,    18, 

20,  21,  24,  25,  26. 
Orr, 

Albert  S.,  185. 

Joseph,  185. 
Otis,  Mary,  38. 
Otisville,  18. 

P 
Paine,  Mary,  26,  34. 
Parker,  Arthur  C,  63. 
Parrish,  Mrs.  Ellen  (Reets),  Ixv. 

Peck,  ,  married  daughter  of  Israel 

Harding,    14. 
Phillips, 

John,  18. 

Lydia  (Tripp-Harding),  18. 
Pittston,  Pa.,   18,   19,  21,  22,  24,  26,  27, 

29,  40. 
Pittston  Fort,  18,  22,  23. 
Pittstown,  see  Pittston. 
Pocono  Mt.,  26. 

Poor  Robert  the  Scribe,  Essays,  189-289. 
Port  Jervis,  N.  Y.,  8,  9,  15. 
Pratt,  Silvanus,  58. 
President's  Report, 

1927,  vii-xvii. 

1928,  xx-xxxi. 
1939,  xxxiv-xlv. 

Providence,  R.  I.,  4,  7,  9,  11,  13,  13,  35. 

Q 
Quin,  Robert  A.,  Ixv. 
R 
Raeber, 
John,  61. 
Sarah  (Andreas),  61. 


Red  Jacket,  63,  64,  67. 
Redstone,  Pa.,  13. 
Rehoboth,  Mass.,  12. 
Rein,  Jane  (Harding),  4. 
Reuss, 

Jacob,  II. 

Johann  Christoph,  181. 

See  also  Rice. 
Reynolds,  Constance,  156. 
Rhodes,  John,  61. 
Rice, 

Barbara,  183. 

Barbara  (Schank),  181. 

Charles  Lane,  i8i,  187. 

Charles  Wells,  181. 

Hannah,  34. 

Jacob,  181-88. 
Epitaph,  188. 

Sarah  (Cooke),  182. 
Epitaph,  188. 

See  also  Reuss. 
Rice  cemetery,  184. 
Rice's  Hill,  Edwardsville,  183. 
Richards,  Mary,  13. 
Richland  Co.,  Ohio,  9,  33,  38,  39,  40. 
Richmond, 

Abigail,  54. 

Ebenezer,  54. 

Edward,  H7,  54,  56,  58. 

Elizabeth,  56. 

Enice,  56. 

George,  53. 

Henry,  47,  S3- 

John,  47,  53,  54. 

Joseph,  54,  56. 

Josiah,  56. 

Mary,  47,  54,  56. 

Mercj,  47>  56. 

Nathaniel,  56. 

Phebe,  56. 

Priscilla,  56. 

Rebecca  (Thurston),  58. 

Richard,  56. 

Samuel,  S4- 

Sarah,  47,  52,  54,  56,  58. 

Seth,  56. 

Susanna,  54. 

Thomas,  54. 
Rider,  Joseph,  38. 
Roberts, 

Annaj  36,  40. 

Ella,  40. 
Robinson, 

John,  28,  37. 

Victor  S.,  Ixv. 

William  E.,  31,  32,  33,  37. 
Rockland  Co.,  N.  Y.,  15. 
Rogers, 

AbigaiK  47,  54,  56. 

Ann  (Churchman),  56. 

Anna,  56. 

Elizabeth,  56. 

Grace,  47,  SS- 

James,  55. 

John,  47,  S4.  55,  S6. 

Jog«Bh,  55- 


296 


Thomas,  47,  55. 
Ancestors  of,  55. 

William,  55. 
Ross,  Daniel,  22. 
Roth. 

Elizabeth  (Washburn),  62 

Henry,  62. 

S 
Sager,  John,  28. 
St.  Christopher's,  4. 

Sandford,  ,   25. 

Saxon^ 

John,  26. 

Harding  (Mrs.  John),  26. 
Sayengueraughta,  Chief,  63. 
Schank, 

Barbara,  18:. 

Johann  Jacob,  182. 
Schmidt, 

Isaac,  61. 

Lydia  (Washburn),  61. 
Securities,  liii-liv. 
Seegers,    L.    Walter,    Report    on    location 

of  manuscripts,  xlvi-1. 
"Shades  of  Death,"  23. 
Shells,   Non-Marine, 

Bibliography,  106. 

Specimens  in  collection  of   Wyo.   Hist. 
&  Geol.  Society,  104-5. 
Shoemaker,  Harold  Mercer,  Ixv. 
Slocum, 

Anthony,  26. 

Frances,  26. 

Giles,  26. 

Joseph,  26. 

Sarah,  26. 
Somersetshire,  England,  6. 
Spalding,  Capt.,  Independent  Co.,  19. 
Spirobis,  100. 
Stark,  Frederic  W.,  Ixvi. 
Starns,  see  Stearnes. 
Stauffer,  William  Tilden,  62. 
Stearnes, 

Abigail  (Harding),  35,  38,  44. 

James,  32,  33,  35,  38^  44. 

Joseph,  38. 

Rhoda  (Tingley),  38. 
Steele,  Martha,  38. 
Stephens, 

Ebenezer,  28. 

Eliphalet,  Jr.,  28. 
Stern,  Harry  Franklin,  Ixvi. 
Stevens, 

Benn,  46. 

Martha,  47. 
Stoeckel,  Louise  M.,  Ixvi. 
Story,  Rachel,  39. 
Stroudsburg,  Pa.,  24. 
(The)  Student  at  Paris  in  the  Thirteenth 

Century,    107-127. 
Susquehanna  Company,  18. 
Susquehanna  Co.,  Pa.,  9,  37,  29,  40,  44. 
Sutton,  Polly,  69. 
Swanzey,  Mass.,  12. 
Swetland,  Joseph,  183. 


Taylor, 

Ellen,  47- 

Lewis  H.,  Ixvi. 
Thomas,  Isaac  M.,  Ixvi. 
Thornbottom,  28. 
Thurston, 

Abigail,  58. 

Amy,  58. 

Content,  57,  58. 

Daniel,  57. 

Edward,  47,  56,  57,  58. 

Eleanor,  58. 

Elizabeth,  57,  58. 

Elizabeth  (Mott),  56,  57. 

Ellen,  57. 

Hope,  58. 

Teremiah,  58. 

Job,  58. 

John,  57,  58. 

Jonathan,  47,  57,  58. 

Joseph,  58. 

Mary,  57,  58. 

Patience,  58. 

Peleg,  58. 

Rebecca,  47,  56,  57,  58. 

Samuel,  57. 

Sarah,  47,  57,  58. 

Susanna,  58. 

Thomas,  57. 
Tilden, 

Joseph,  52. 

Judith,  52. 

Lydia,  52. 

Lydia  (Bourne),  52. 

Mary,  47,  52,  56. 

Nathaniel,  47. 

Sarah,  52. 

Stephen,  52. 

Thomas,  52. 
Tilson,  Mercy,  47.  52,  53- 
Tingley, 

R.  M.,  38. 

Rhoda,  38. 
Treasurer's  Report,  1927,  xviii-xix; 

1928,  xxxii-xxxiii ; 

1929,  li-liii. 
Tripp, 

Eleanor   (Frear),  26,  35. 

Hannah  (Rice),  34. 

Isaac,  26,  34,  35. 

Job,  18,  26,  34. 

John,  26,  34. 

Lydia,  17. 

Mary  (Paine),  26,  34. 

Peleg,  26. 

Phebe,  9,  26,  34,  37. 

Sarah  (Slocum),  36. 

William,  26. 
Trucksville,  Pa.,  181,  183,  185- 
Trucksville, 

First  school  house,  185. 

First  store,  185. 
Trux,  David,  183. 
Truxville,  Pa.,  183. 


297 


Tryon, 

Abel,  30. 

Bridget  (Curtis),  20. 

James,  20. 

Joseph,  20.  „.  .... 

Tucker,  Mrs.  Martha  (Sharpe),  Ixvii. 
Tunkhannock  creek,  28. 

U 
Ulster  Co.,  N.  Y.,  i5,  18. 
Uncasville,  Conn.,  13. 


Van  Kirk, 

Charity  Malvina,  42,  43- 
Deborah  (Walters),  43- 
Joseph,  42. 
William,  43. 
Vibber,  Mercy,  15- 

W 
Wallkill  river,  16. 
Warwick,  R.  I.,  9,  U,  M- 
Washburn, 

Abigail,  52. 

Barbara,  (— ),  62. 

Benjamin,  49- 

Caleb,  60,  62. 

Catherine,  ( — ),  61. 

Daniel,  48,  60,  61,  63. 

Elisha,  58. 

Elizabeth,  49.  61. 

Elizabeth  (Greenzweig),  61. 

Elizabeth  (Mitchell),  49,  Si- 

James,  49- 

Jane,  49- 

Jemima,  53. 

Jesse,  48,  58,  59.  60,  61. 

Joanna,  53- 

John,  47.  48,  49.  5i.  S3- 

Jonathan,  49. 

Joseph,  49,  S3,  53- 

Josiah,  47.  53.  53.  S8. 

Lydia,  S3,  61. 

Martha  (Stevens)  ,  48. 

Mary,  48,  49.  53.  S8,  61. 

Mercy,  S3- 

Nancy,  61. 

Nathan,  53.  58. 


Philip,  48. 

Rebecca,  52,  S3.  61. 

Rebecca  (Lapham),  52. 

Rosina,  61. 

Samuel,  49.  S2. 

Sarah,  49,  61. 

Sarah  (Richmond),  58. 

Silence,  47.  53,  S8,  59,  61. 
American  ancestry  of,  48-63. 

Susan,  61. 

Thomas,  49,  52. 

Thankful,  60,  61. 

William,  52. 
Washburn  family  diagram,  47. 
Washington  Co.,  Pa.,  42,  43- 
Waterford,  Conn.,  7,  20. 
Watters,  Deborah,  43. 
Wawayanda,  16. 
Webster, 

Amos  G.,  39- 

Hilah  (Harding),  39. 

Mary,  39. 
Wells, 

Hiram,  39-  _  .      . 

Welthy  (Harding-Baker),  39- 

Westmoreland,  19,  3i. 

Weymouth,  Mass.,  S,  6. 

Wheat,  Anna,  38. 

Wilkes-Barre,  18.  ,      ,      .     „^.,. 

Wilkes-Barre,  Visited  by  Louis  Philippe, 

78. 
Williams,  Anthony  L.,  Ixvii. 
Wilson,  Naomi,  39- 
Woodring,  Mrs.  William,  60. 

Woodruff,  Samuel,  28. 

Wyant,  Lydia  Frances  (Harding),  43- 
Wyllis, 

George  (GJov.),  4- 

Hester,  4. 
Wyoming,  18,  19,  24,  26. 

Harding  participation  in  Battle  ot,  7. 
Wyoming  National  Bank.   Establishment. 

185. 
Wyoming  Valley,  6,  7,  8,  18,  21,  26,  29,34. 

Y 

Youngblood,  Mrs.  Sarah  (Nixon),  Ixvii.