Subseries I: General, 1758 - 1841

Sub-Series

Staff Only

Dates

1758 - 1841

Disclaimer for Name and Subject Authorities

Some of the name and subject authority tags have been assigned by educated guessing and estimation of persons and subjects by region, age, profession, and familial relationships. They have been thoroughly researched by using primary and secondary sources available digitally, and named in each description, or in some cases linked directly to the person tag.

Access:

All series and subseries within this collection are open for research, with the exception of a few files within the Academia series that are restricted. The Academia series contains financial and sensitive institutional records from Wilkes College, and financial report records from Princeton University that will remain restricted for 80 years upon creation.

Extent

From the Collection: 17 Cubic Feet

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Additional Description

Subseries I: General, 1770-1841

Subseries I: General, 1770-1841, is arranged chronologically and contains various letters, receipts, notes, testimony, and notices by various historical figures who made significant contributions to the establishment of, not only the Wyoming Valley, during their lives, but Luzerne County, Pennsylvania as a whole.

As many of the subjects across the three subseries are similar, they have been delineated specifically in three conversations. Subseries I: General, contains various items that pertain to the day to day lives of those in the valley. These include receipts for different orders, the creation of a refugee settlement, French Azilum, personal correspondence and professional business. Subseries II: Susquehanna Purchase, contains manuscriptsconcerning the early settlements of the Wyoming Valley, specifically the lands being sold and laid out under the Susquehanna Company’s Purchase along the Susquehanna River. The Susquehanna Company was a group of Connecticut settlers and land speculators, organized in the mid-18th century, after receiving a royal charter to the lands in 1662. They sought to claim and settle the lands in what is now northeastern Pennsylvania for future expansion of Connecticut. The company purchased land from the Iroquois, though the legitimacy of this transaction was later contested during the Decree of Trenton, and began sending settlers to establish communities in the Wyoming Valley. This effort sparked a series of violent conflicts with Pennsylvania settlers, known as the Yankee Pennamite Wars, 1769–1784. These items include share or land right certificates, meeting minutes of the Susquehanna Company commissioners, including the creation of roads and appointment of committees, and itemized lists of the people who have lots of lands in the purchase and their improvements. Subseries III, Susquehanna Controversy includes a number of items that pertain to the three part conflict sparked in the valley between Pennsylvania and Connecticut settlers, as well as other conflicts, including the Battle of Wyoming and the American Revolution.

Themes that appear in this collection are interests and conflicts relating to land, the Yankee Pennamite Wars, 1769-1807, titles, land, town meetings, local government, the establishment of townships, petitions for the construction of vital infrastructure, military and battle strategy, itemization of ammunition and personal and professional correspondence.

Historical figures included in this first general subseries are John Durkee, John Sullivan, Ezekiel Pierce, Nathan Dennison, Zebulon Butler, Obadiah Gore, Johnathan Trumbull, Benjamin Stoddert, Matthias Hollenback, Timothy Pickering, Samuel Kirkland, Thomas Mifflin, Clement Biddle, Louis Marie De Noailles, Antoine Omer Talon, Isaac Dewitt, Le Ray De Chaumont, and Archibald McCall.