Subseries II: Susquehanna Purchase , 1772-1804

Sub-Series

Staff Only

Subseries II: Susquehanna Purchase, 1772-1804

Dates

1772-1804

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 II: Susquehanna Purchase, 1772-1804

Subseries II: Susquehanna Purchase, 1772-1804, is arranged chronologically and contains various letters, notices, meeting minutes, title certificates, testimony, and booklets 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.

These documents are created by various commissioners or people of rank from the Susquehanna Land Company. 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 the early building up of the Wyoming Valley with help from figures such as Zebulon Butler, Obadiah Gore and Nathan Dennison.

The committees at the time also took responsibility in building homes for people who were moving from Connecticut to the Wyoming Valley, managed the settlements along the Susquehanna River, and for a long time decided many legal affairs before a court was formally established. It is important to note that there is a significant amount of notices and letters written by Zebulon Butler included in this subseries, which were deliberately included due to the nature of these letters and notices highlighting his affairs in the Wyoming Valley as both a colonel and member of various civil offices. While these items are located physically within the General subseries from the Wilkes-Barre, Wyoming Valley, Luzerne County series, there are many other manuscripts written by Zebulon Butler and the company in series such as: Series IX: Map and Land Deeds, 1737-1966, 15.94 Item 39: Town charter for Berlin Township, 1773 November 19 (Removed to Legal Box #2) Subseries III: Butler Correspondence, 1770-1820, which contains correspondence from a pivotal military figure, Colonel Zebulon Butler. Subseries I: Presidents of the United States, 1777-1959 has two letters, 9.1. Item 1: Letter from George Washington to Zebulon Butler, 1777 June 12. (removed to Legal Box #1), and 9.2. Item 2: Letter from George Washington to Zebulon Butler, 1780 December 29. (removed to Legal Box #1).

Of the famed military figures referenced in this series, two prominent merchant and political names are Matthias Hollenback and Timothy Pickering. Most notably a letter from Matthias Hollenback to Timothy Pickering including a detailed story of Hollenback’s capturing of John Hyde, who had previously broken into Pickering home and captured him during the Yankee-Pennamite Wars. Various other letters and notes written by Matthias Hollenback and received by him, highlights his significance to the history of Luzerne County. From being one of the successful business men of his time, owning several stores along the Susquehanna River while also being a soldier fighting at the Battle of Wyoming, to his involvement in the French Asylum, and ending with his honorable career as a judge this series encompasses it all.