Item 63: Copied Reports, [aft. 1784, by John Franklin], to the Pennsylvania Assembly’s Committee on Wyoming Land Claims,1784 September 7; Reverse, A Partial Letter by [John Franklin] to “Sir," (Removed to Legal Box #1) , 1790 March 2
Item — Box: 12, Folder: 103
Dates
- Created: 1790 March 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:
Fair. Paper shows signs of age.
Measurements:
12 ⅝ in. x 7 ⅝ in.
Description:
The following item depicts a report being written by John Franklin, a lieutenant colonel of Connecticut during the American Revolutionary War to the Committee concerning land matters in the Wyoming valley, instructed by the Pennsylvania Assembly. The report is dated September 7, 1790, with an unfinished account on the reverse, dated March 2, 1790. It appears that these reports may be copies of the originals in Franklin’s hand. The report sent by an unknown individual to an unknown recipient allows the widowed families of Revolutionary soldiers at Wyoming to maintain lands in Pennsylvania. The report specifically notes that this is focused towards those in Northumberland County who were previously forced off their land, attempting to rectify this action which was against “equity or humanity.”
Though the letter never explicitly states what the trial is concerning, we can infer from language within and the date of the letter that it is regarding the recently removed Connecituct settlers regaining some of their lands from Pennsylvania settlers. This is most likely referencing the various petitions by Connecticut settlers to the Pennsylvania assembly following the Decree of Trenton’s decision of jurisdiction and following abuse under Alexander Patterson. The Decree of Trenton granted the rights of jurisdiction to Pennsylvania following a three part war called the Yankee Pennamite Wars. These conflicts waged between Connecticut and Pennsylvania were an attempt to resolve a dispute over the land in the upper regions of what is now Pennsylvania after King Charles II granted the land twice, once to Connecticut in 1662, and again to William Penn as he founded Pennsylvania in 1681. While the Decree of Trenton gave Pennsylvania the right to soil, it did not 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.
Following the conclusion of this war, there were many peitions brought forth by Pennsylvania attempting to broker a compromise while those of Connecticut sought reinstation to their lands. Many of the widows and children were granted an additional year on the early compromise offers, some of those being opportunities for Connecticut settlers to lease back their own lands from the Pennsylvania claimants who assumed their titles after they were removed.
The creator has been ascertained as John Frankin by way of a handwriting comparison in other collections. 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 journal has an indepth history of the early compromise acts and proposals, particularly concerning the language of widowhood within.
Transcription:
~ The report of the committee and Sept[ember] 7 on the subject of
reinstating those tennants (sic) [tenants] in Northumberland County who were
forcibly dispossessed— and to bring in a bill was read the second time.
~ Wherefore Resolved the President and the Supreme Executive
Council be requested to appoint and instruct commissioners
to obtain the most exact knowledge they can get of the names
of the Widows and children of such persons as were lately setled (sic) [settled]
at or near Wyoming and who have fallen fighting against the
Savages and also of all such others & did actually reside on
the lands at or near Wyoming when the late decree ^was given at Trenton
and of the Widows and children of such of them as have since died
of the Quantity of land possessed by each of the persons before
Described at the time of his death or of the said decree
respectively and of the improvements on each of the said parcels
of land— of the nature of the claim on which the possession of
each parcel as aforesaid was founded and of the evidences in
support of such claim and what parts of such lands are Claimed
under pennsylvania and by whom and to make report of their
proceedings with all convenient dispatch so that this state upon
the fullest Information that can possibly be procured may be
enabled to make a proper destinction between those persons
whose cases are recommended by any considerations of equity or
humanity and others in different circumstances and thereon
to take such measures as become the dignity of the Commonwealth.
Sept[ember] 7th 1784 page 319
{back} Philadelphia 2d March 1790 Dear Sir In excuse for my not writing oftner (sic) [more often] to you I have only to add that
Upside down; reverse:
it is said to be necessary to make enquiry of the nature of the P[ennsylvania] Claimants to the 110,000 acres of lands in the County of Luzerne. Whether held only by old Dollar Locations or Otherwise. to enquire what evidence was Exhibited in support of those Claims to the Commissioners, who were appointed to make the Estimate and to know the foundation of their report
Reports &c [etcetera] of Committees manifesting the design of the Penn[sylvani]a Assemblies to grant Lands to the Wyoming Settlers.
{back} Philadelphia 2d March 1790 Dear Sir In excuse for my not writing oftner (sic) [more often] to you I have only to add that
Upside down; reverse:
it is said to be necessary to make enquiry of the nature of the P[ennsylvania] Claimants to the 110,000 acres of lands in the County of Luzerne. Whether held only by old Dollar Locations or Otherwise. to enquire what evidence was Exhibited in support of those Claims to the Commissioners, who were appointed to make the Estimate and to know the foundation of their report
Reports &c [etcetera] of Committees manifesting the design of the Penn[sylvani]a Assemblies to grant Lands to the Wyoming Settlers.
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