Item 47: A Copy by [John Franklin], [Pos. aft. 1784], of a Report by [Philip Shcrawder] to a [Pennsylvania Wyoming Council], 1783 September 2
Item — Box: 12, Folder: 87
Dates
- Created: 1783 September 2
Creator
- Franklin, John, 1749-1831 (Person)
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
1 items
Language of Materials
From the Collection: English
Type of Material:
Report
Condition Note:
Okay.
Measurements:
7 ⅝ in. x 7 ½ in.
Description:
The following item depicts a copy by John Franklin, a lieutenant colonel of Connecticut during the American Revolutionary War, of an original report written by Philip Schrawder, a captain of the Northampton Pennsylvania regiment. In the original report, Schrawder is writing to a committee assembled to hear the complaints and conflicts of the valley occuring between Pennsylvania and Connecticut settlers. Schrawder’s letter states that the Pennsylvania powers have done everything in their power to act with “laudzble zeal” to broker peace and compromise, but their efforts have been stopped by the contempt and disagreement of the state of Connecicut and its Susquehanna Land Company. Shcrawder continues on by asking them to approve the recent division of the county into three distinct voting districts and to consider the amendments to the process of trespass suits and cases of ejectment. In the final lines of this report, Shcrawder appoints three men to become a committee regarding this report.
The creator has been ascertained as John Frankin by way of a handwriting comparison in other collections. This copy by Franklin is estimated to have been written post 1784, after the end of the Third Yankee Pennamite war. This is from a comparison with an item in the Lackawanna Historical Society’s collection, the John Jenkins Papers, item 46/1, which includes a Journal by John Franklin, 1782 December 30-1784 August, [Pos. aft. 1784]. The journal is a compilation of the Connecticut settlers' experience shortly prior to, during, and after the Third Yankee Pennamite War. This appears to be an earlier copy, or perhaps a piece that Franklin decided to recopy for his later journal, as some of the names are incorrect compared with his final compiled piece.
These conflicts are taking place during the Yankee Pennamite Wars, particularly the Third Yankee Pennamite War in 1784. The Yankee Pennamite Wars were a three part war between Connecticut and Pennsylvania, as they attempted to resolve a dispute over the land in the upper regions of what is now Pennsylvania. King Charles II granted the land twice, once to Connecticut in 1662, and again to William Penn as he founded Pennsylvania in 1681. The Third Yankee Pennamite War was a military conflict following the Decree of Trenton decision to grant Pennsylvania ownership to the lands after decades of conflict between Connecticut and Pennsylvania. While the Decree of Trenton gave Pennsylvania the right to soil, it did not however give them the right to title. Yet, under the command of the Pennsylvania Assembly and Patterson, Pennsylvania would forcibly removed “one-hundred and fifty” Connecticut families from their homes. They forced the families to “find their way through the wilderness of the Lackawaxen to the Delaware Valley, a distance of about eighty miles,” without supplies or clothing to sustain them (Gnichtel, The Trenton Decree of 1782). The violence and brutality levied by Patterson’s troops was so severe that it drew attention from neighboring states, and condemnation on the governing bodies of Pennsylvania. That critique ultimately led the Pennsylvania Assembly to remove Patterson from his position within the valley around July 1784, replacing him with colonel John Armstrong.
This appears to be an earlier copy, or perhaps a piece that Franklin decided to recopy for his later journal, as some of the names are incorrect compared with his final compiled piece.
The text, History of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, and a Genealogical and Biographical Record of Its Families,edited by Charles Rhoads Roberts et al., provides an overview of the Schrawder/Schroeder line in the valley.
Transcription:
The report of the Committee appointed Aug[us]t. 25 last was read
yesterday was read the Second time and adopted as follows /viz/
The Committee to whom was refered (sic) [referred] Capt[ain] Shrauders (sic) letter
and the report of the Commissioners sent to Wyoming to affect
a Compromise with the Settler at that place and the owners of
the Wyoming lands beg leave to report
That they have examined the several papers Committed
to them with care and attention and are fully satisfied of the
laudable Zeal and Industry used by your Commissioners to
affect the purposes of their mission— and likewise with the
Generous offers made by the pennsylvania landholders to
the settlers at Wyoming. Your Committee are however sorry to
send that the endeavors of your Commissions and the offers
the proprietors of lands at Wyoming have been rendered abortive
by the Interferance (sic) [Interference] of the State of Connecticut and the
Susquehannah (sic) [Susquehanna] Company so that our hopes of a friendly compromise
seem now vanished.
Your committee therefore submit the following resolution
to the honourable (sic) house.
Resolved that a Committee be appointed to propose and
bring in a bill for repealing the law of the this state entitled
an act to prevent and stay suits from being brought against
the Inhabitants of Wyoming during the time therein mentioned
passed March 13th last and for Confirming the Division of the Township
of Wyoming into three distinct Townships as laid out and
Divided by your commissioners on the 22d day of April last past
~ Resolved that as well to Discover the moderation and
equitable disposition of the house as in Consideration of the sufferings
of the settlers at Wyoming from the Common enemy a
reasonable compensation in land, within ^the boundaries of this state upon easy
Terms be made to the families of those who have fallen fighting
against the savages and to such others as did reside on the lands
at Wyoming when the late decree was Given at Trenton.
Provided that no such settler be entitled to the
benefits of this resolution unless upon demand made by Gives
up possession to the Claimant or Claimants under pennsylvania
or upon any suit of Trespass and ejectment being commenced
by such Claimant or Claimants he shall become Defendant in
such suit and confess Judgement to the plaintiff or plaintiffs
in such ejectment.
Order that Mr. Whitehill Mr. Latimer and
Mr. Macloy be a Committee to bring in a bill agreeable to the
first of the foregoing resolutions
Sept[ember] 2nd 1783 page 914
Sept[ember] 2nd 1783 page 914
Creator
- Franklin, John, 1749-1831 (Person)
Repository Details
Part of the Wilkes University Archives Repository
Contact:
84 W South St.
Wilkes-Barre PA 18701 US
570-408-2000
570-408-7823 (Fax)
ask.archives@wilkes.edu
84 W South St.
Wilkes-Barre PA 18701 US
570-408-2000
570-408-7823 (Fax)
ask.archives@wilkes.edu