Subseries I: General, 1795 - 1977

Sub-Series

Staff Only

Dates

1795 - 1977

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, 1795-1977

Subseries I: General, 1795-1977, contains documents pertaining to financial purchases, including financial ledgers, receipts, and orders, as well as township budget plans, trade bulletins, photostat copies of mortgages and information of local railroad and coal companies. There are also several planning and budget reviews done in the mid-twentieth century. A few of the items pertain to the building of a bridge, including a number of government contracts where the petitioners are applying for a loan. The reviews were for Luzerne County, Lehigh Township, and the city of Wilkes-Barre by the Pennsylvania Economy League. In this subseries there are ledgers and receipts from eighteenth century businessmen, including Matthias Hollenback and Timothy Pickering.

Mathias Hollenbeck, 1752-1829, was a businessman from the Wyoming Valley who was a merchant and President of the Wilkes-Barre Bridge Company. In addition to serving this company role, Hollenback was considered a Revolutionary war hero for his role in the Battle of Wyoming, a battle on July 3rd, 1778 between the Iroquis and loyalists against Americans. Matthias Hollenback was also a merchant and owner of many distilleries throughout Northeast Pennsylvania.

Timothy Pickering was a politician and businessman, who served in both local government in the Wyoming Valley and in the Senate. He moved to the Wyoming Valley in 1783 and was heavily involved in both Pennsylvania’s relationship with Connecticut settlers and Iroquis people. He negotiated on behalf of the United States with the Iroquis on November 11, 1794. This is called the Treaty Canandaigua, but is also called the Pickering Treaty after the Colonel. This was one of the first treaties made between a Native American tribe and the United States. Later he was elected in 1791 by President George Washington as the Postmaster General. He served in this position until 1800 when he was dismissed from the Cabinet. Later in his life he became involved in the New England secession movement and was influential in the Hartford Convention. This was a series of meetings from 1814 to 1815 opposing hostility towards England. Col. Pickering’s involvement in the convention led to him being ostracized in politics. The back of this ledger is a short handwritten note summarizing the expenses listed.

There are also a number of figures pertaining to the establishment of French Azilum, which was an asylum settlement that consisted of French royalists, established in Bradford County during the fall of 1793 and the spring of 1794, when Pennsylvania residents sought a way to bolster the economy while aiding French refugees. The purpose of the settlement was to house and support those fleeing the French Revolution primarily, as well as the enslaved rebellions occurring within the French colony of Saint-Domingue, Haiti. Many influential men of the valley aided two Frenchmen in particular, Louis de Noailles and Antoine Omer Talon, in establishing the refugee settlement, including Matthias Hollenback, Stephen Girard, and Robert Morris. They proposed the settlement to house and support those fleeing the revolution. Though their efforts were positioned as an act of support and compassion due to the high French population in Philadelphia and alliance ties persisting for the American Revolution, there were also many who viewed the settlement as a lucrative investment for the country (French Azilum). Bartholomew LaPorte