This township dates back to December 28, 1768. The Susquehanna company at Hartford on that day, by resolution, formed the five townships of which this was one, each five miles square. It was eventually enlarged in 1790 to include what is now Plymouth and Jackson townships, and was one of the eleven townships of the county. By setting off Jackson in 1844 and a part of Hunlock in 1877 Plymouth was reduced to its present size, containing twenty-one square miles. In 1796, then including Jackson township, it had ninety-five taxables. Population, 1840, 1,765; in 1850, 1,473; 1870, 4,669; 1880, 7,323; 1890, 8,363.
In many respects this is one of the richest townships in the county, as both in agriculture and mining it has been a leader at all times.
In 1865 W. L. Lance drilled and sunk a shaft, No. 11, just outside the borough, and demonstrated that there were veins of coal in the valley equaling eighty feet of solid bed. Previous to that time it had been "drift" mining or simply taking coal from the top veins. There are heavy deposits of coal reaching back to the mountains and the valley and hill lands are capable of a high state of cultivation.
The settlement period, in the history of Plymouth, extends from 1768 till after the close of the Revolutionary war. The first attempt at a settlement was made in 1769. The Susquehanna company allotted lands in Plymouth township to forty settlers, most of whom came during this year and settled along the river where the borough of Plymouth now stands.
[p.635] By an enrollment of the resident inhabitants of the valley, made in 1773, in the handwriting of Col. Zebulon Butler, the following persons are known to have been settlers in Plymouth: Noah Allen, Peter Ayres, Capt. Prince Alden, John Baker, Isaac Bennett, Daniel Brown, Naniad Coleman, Aaron Dean, Stephen Fuller, Joseph Gaylord, Nathaniel Goss, Comfort Goss, Timothy Hopkins, William Leonard, Jesse Leonard, Samuel Marvin, Nicholas Manville, Joseph Morse, James Nesbitt, Abel Pierce, Timothy Pierce, Jabez Roberts, Samuel Sweet, John Shaw, David Whittlesey and Nathaniel Watson.
Immediately after this enrollment Caleb Atherton, James Bidlack, Henry Barny, Benjamin Harvey, Samuel Ransom, David Reynolds, Benedict Satterlee, Noah Wadhams, Silas Wadhams and Elijah Wadhams came into the township, if some of them were not there before. An old deed is mentioned by Hendrick B. Wright, in his Sketches of Plymouth as having been found in the valley archives, bearing date November 5, 1773, from "Samuel Love of Connecticut to Samuel Ransom, late of Norfolk, Connecticut, now living at Susquehanna." This is thought to have been for the Ransom homestead property. Another deed, bearing date September 29, 1773, from Henry Barney to Benedict Satterlee is to be seen among tke same collection.
Between this time and the year 1777, Mason F. Alden, Isaac Benjamin, Benjamin Clark, Gordun Church, Nathan Church, Price Cooper, Charles Gaylord, Ambrose Gaylord, Daniel Franklin, Asahel Nash, Ira Sawyer, John Swift, Aziba Williams, Thomas Williams, Jeremiah Coleman, Jesse Coleman, Benjamin Harvey and Seth Marvin came into the township.
The growth of the settlement was very slow from this time until about 1800, the settlers being greatly harassed by the Indians, the Pennamites and the British and tory forces during the Revolutionary war. In 1796 the following names appear in the list of taxables:
Samuel Allen, Stephen Allen, David Allen, Elias Allen, William Ayres, Daniel Ayres, John Anderson, Moses Anderson, Isaac Bennett, Benjamin Bennett, Joshua Bennett, Benjamin Barney, Daniel Barney, Henry Barney, Walter Brown, Jesse Brown, William Baker, Philemon Bidlack, Jared Baldwin, Jude Baldwin, Amos Baldwin, Jonah Bigsley, Peter Chambers, William Craig, Jeremiah Coleman, Thomas Davenport, Asahel Drake, Rufus Drake, Aaron Dean, Henry Decker, Joseph Dodson, Leonard Descans, Joseph Duncan, Jehiel Fuller, Peter Grubb, Charles E. Gaylord, Adolph Heath. John Heath, Samuel Hart, Elisha Harvey, Samuel Harvey, Josiah Ives, Josiah Ives, Jr., Crocker Jones, T. and J. Lamoreux, John Leonard, Joseph Lenaberger. Samuel Marvin, James Marvin, Timothy Meeker, Ira Manville, Ephraim McCoy, Phineas Nash, Abram Nesbitt, Simon Parks, Samuel Pringle, Michael Pace, David Pace, Nathan Parrish, Oliver Plumley, Jonah Rogers, Elisha Rogers, Edon Ruggles, Hezekiah Roberts, David Reynolds, Joseph Reynolds, George P. Ransom, Nathan Rumsey, Michael Scott, Lewis Sweet, Elam Spencer, William Stewart, Jesse Smith, Ichabod Shaw, Palmer Shaw, Benjamin Stookey, John Taylor, John Turner, Abraham Tilbury, Mathias Van Loon, Abraham Van Loon, Nicholas Van Loon. Calvin Wadhams, Noah Wadhams, Moses Wadhams, Ingersol Wadhams, Amariah Watson, Darius Williams, Rufus Williams and John Wallen.
None of these were living at the time of the publication of the Sketches of Plymouth, by H. B. Wright, in 1873.
About 1815 Joseph Keller, Peter Snyder, George Snyder, Stephen Devens, Leonard Devens, a Mr. Cooper, and one Howard, settled northeast of the village, around the location of the Boston mines. The settlement of that part of Plymouth lying between Jackson and Hunlock townships was not begun until 1827, when Henry Cease, George Sorber and Jacob Sorber moved into the woods and began clearing land. They all sold out and moved farther into the woods. The first schoolhouse in the lower end of the township was built by Jameson [p.636] Harvey, near the mouth of Harvey's creek, in 1834. Miss Anna Homer was the first teacher here. She had taught one summer, previous to the building of the schoolhouse, in a washhouse of Mr. Harvey's.
The people of Plymouth bore their full share of the hardships of early times. On the breaking out of the Revolution they erected a small fort on "Garrison hill," in the lower part of the present Plymouth borough. The only use to which this fort was put was defence against Indians.
On December 4, 1785, was fought the most serious of all the battles of the Pennamite war, known as Plunkett's battle. The rocks along the river just above the mouth of Harvey's creek were the battle field, and Plymouth furnished the majority of the fighting men under Col. Butler, who commanded the settlers.
It is not known how many were killed in this battle, but as the people of the town of Westmoreland voted (on December 29, 1785), to collect "the charity of the people for the Widow Baker, the Widow Franklin and the Widow Ensign," Baker and Franklin being known to have been Plymouth men, it is known that they were killed. August 24, 1776, "at a meeting legally warned and held, in Westmoreland, Wilkes-Barre district," it was voted to build forts for the defence of the people. In accordance with this resolution the people of Plymouth proceeded to erect a fort upon "Garrison hill," Capt. Samuel Ransom hauling the first log, and Benjamin Harvey planting the flag upon the turret. Samuel Ransom was appointed a captain by congress, August 26, 1776, with authority to raise a company to be "stationed in proper places for the defence of the inhabitants of said town." Relying upon the promise of congress that they should not be called away from home, the men of Plymouth and neighboring townships soon enrolled themselves to the number required, eighty-four, to make up the company.
But on December, 12, 1776, congress ordered Capt. Ransom to report to Gen. Washington with all possible expedition. The names of the following Plymouth men appear in the list of Capt. Ransom's company: Caleb Atherton, Mason F. Alden, Isaac Benjamin, Olmer Bennett, Benjamin Clark, Nathan Church, Pierce Cooper, Daniel Franklin, Charles Gaylord, Ambrose Gaylord, Timothy Hopkins, Benjamin Harvey, Asahel Nash, Ebenezer Roberts, George P. Ransom Samuel Sawyer, Asa Sawyer, John Swift, Thomas Williams, Aziba Williams, Jeremiah Coleman, Jesse Coleman, Nathaniel Evans, Samuel Tubbs and James Gould.
It is very probable that other Plymouth men enlisted in the companies of Capts. Wisner and Strong, which had been previously recruited in the valley. It is certainly known that Benjamin Bidlack served through the entire war, but his name appears in none of the lists. Many of the Plymouth men, leaving the army in June, 1778, arrived in time to take part in the bloody battle of Wyoming. Capt. Asaph Whittlesey, with forty-four men from Plymouth, was engaged in the battle. Of these forty-four the names of Samuel Ransom, Asaph Whittlesey, Aaron Gaylord, Amos Bullock, John Brown, Thomas Fuller, Stephen Fuller, Silas Harvey, James Hopkins, Nathaniel Howard, Nicholas Manville, Job Marshall, John Pierce, Silas Parke, Conrad Davenport, Elias Roberts, Timothy Ross, — Reynolds, James Shaw, Joseph Shaw, Abram Shaw, John Williams, Elihu Williams, Jr., Rufus Williams, Aziba Williams and William Woodring appear upon the Wyoming monument as having been slain in the battle.
The women and children of Plymouth fled down the river the night of the battle, making their way to Fort Augusta and Plymouth, then but little better than a wilderness. As soon as the enemy had retired from the country the people began to find their way back to their homes, and to build new houses where their former ones had stood. By the fall of this year all were comfortably housed in log buildings. Depredations were committed by the savages for some time after this. John Perkins was killed November 17, 1778, in the lower end of the township. Elihu Williams, Lieut. Buck and Stephen Pettebone were killed in March, 1779, and Capt. James Bidlack, Jr., was taken prisoner. He made his escape about a year afterward.
[p.637] The elder Mr. Harvey, Elisha Harvey, Miss Lucy Bulford, Miss Louisa Harvey and George P. Ransom were captured. The women were set at liberty upon the arrival of the Indians at the top of the Shawnee mountains. Mr. Harvey was tied to a tree and the young Indians cast their tomahawks at his head. As they failed to hit him, the chief set him at liberty, declaring him to have a charmed life. Elisha Harvey was released in an exchange of prisoners about two years afterward. George P. Ransom, after enduring cruelties and indignities withont number, succeeded in making his escape from an island in the St. Lawrence river, and with two others made his way through the forests to Vermont, and thence to Connecticut. No person was killed by the Indians in Plymouth after this date.
During the winter of 1782 and 1783 the men returned from the army of Washington, and they spent the following summer in preparing the ground for winter grains.
But they were not to reap the fruit of their labors. On March 13 and 14 occurred the greatest ice floods ever known in the Susquehanna river. There were eight or nine dwellings upon "Garrison hill," which were swept away, together with nearly all the other buildings in the place. Rev. Benjamin Bidlack was carried away with his honse. After being tossed about with huge cakes of ice during the whole night he effected a landing on the lower end of Shawnee flats. This time of trouble was seized upon by Alexander Patterson, the civil magistrate of Wilkes- Barre, as a fit opportunity to dispossess the Connecticut settlers of their lands. The suffering people were driven from their homes by soldiers, and not even allowed to pass over the road leading along the river, but compelled to take the road over the mountains toward Stroudsburg and the Delaware. May 15, 1784, witnessed the departure of the suffering settlers—old men, women and children, on foot and without provisions for the journey. The bridges were all gone, and the road torn up by the late flood. Several of the unhappy people died in the wilderness. A poor widow of a fallen soldier, with her family of children crying for the food which she could not give them, was among the rest. One of her children died on the journey.
This cruel act aroused the sympathies of the people of Pennsylvania in favor of the settlers, and the authorities of the State directed the sheriff of Northumberland county to place them in possession of their lands. Messengers were sent to the Delaware, inviting them to return, and giving assurance of protection. Nothing daunted, they set out on their return, but on their arrival at the top of the Wilkes- Barre mountains, they halted and sent forward a committee to see how matters stood. These men were seized by Patterson, and cruelly beaten with iron ramrods. Proceeding cautiously to their homes, the settlers began to make preparations to gather their crops planted in the spring. While engaged in this work they were attacked by a body of Patterson's men, on the western slope of Ross hill. A skirmish ensued, in which Elisha Garrett and Chester Pierce were killed on the side of the settlers. Now fully aroused, the settlers placed themselves under the command of John Franklin and, marching through the Shawnee country, effectually cleared the place of the tory element. This was the last serious trouble of the Plymouth settlers.
The lands of Plymouth were surveyed by the Susquehanna company into lots twenty-two rods in width, and extending back over the mountains a distance of about five miles. Thus each settler had both river flat and mountain lands. The Shawnee flats being found free from trees, all farming was done there. Each settler had his strip of land extending across the flats.
After the great flood of 1784 no fences were built on the flats, except one fence enclosing the whole tract to protect the crops from cattle. One road was used by all the farmers owning lands on the flats, and where this road left the main road a gate was erected, known as the swing gate. This was kept locked, and was opened in the early morning when the men and boys wended their way to their labors, carrying their dinners that they might spend the entire day in the labors of the [p.638] field. A large square enclosure around an area of about 1,000 square feet was erected as a pound. In this enclosure, which stood on the lands of the late Col. Ransom, at the junction of the flat road with the principal street, were placed all cattle found running at large during the day. The owners were obliged to pay a fine of about 25 cents per head to obtain their release. This was paid to the "key keeper," of whom Thomas Heath was the first, having been appointed at a meeting of the people of the town of Westmoreland, March, 2, 1774.
It was the duty of the "key keeper" to carry the keys of the church, fort, schoolhouse, pound and swing gate.
Farming was conducted in the most primitive style, no machinery being known. The winters were passed in threshing the grain and hauling it to Easton, the only market within reach of the early settlers. Benjamin Harvey, who lived in the lower end of the township, near the mouth of Harvey's creek, used the surface of a large flat rock as a threshing floor. This rock, which was one of the defences used by the settlers at "Plunkett's" battle, has been broken up and caried away. Each farmer had his plot of flax, and the cloth for the clothes of the men and boys was made at home.
The first mills were built about 1780, Robert Faulkner having erected a log gristmill on Shupp's creek; while Benjamin Harvey in the same year built a log gristmill and residence on Harvey's creek. The Harvey mill was occupied by Abram Tilbury, the son-in-law of Mr. Harvey. The first sawmill was also built in that year, by Hezekiah Roberts, on Ransom's creek, and in 1795 Samuel Marvin built a sawmill on Whittlesey's creek. Philip Shupp built a gristmill on Shupp's creek, below the site of the old Faulkner mill, that Col. Wright thinks must have been built as early as 1800, and in the time of his boyhood was the principal flouring-mill in the town. The only mill now in operation in the township is the gristmill on Harvey's creek at West Nanticoke. This was built by Henry Yingst, a German from Dauphin county, for Joshua Pugh, about 1833. Mr. Yingst was the first Miller employed in this mill. The mill has passed through the hands of several persons.
Previous to 1774 the settlers of Plymouth depended entirely on getting their supplies of such articles as were absolutely necessary from Wilkes-Barre or Sunbury. In this year Benjamin Harvey, Jr., established a small retail store in the log house of his father, near the site of the present "Christian" church building. "Here, for a couple of years, he dealt in a small way in articles of absolute necessity—salt, leather, ironware, a few groceries, etc. At that time, and for many subsequent years, all articles of merchandise were transported upon the river in 'Durham boats.' Ten or twelve miles up the stream was considered a fair day's work." Until the completion of the Easton & Wilkes-Barre turnpike, in 1807, no other means of transportation was known. "After the enlistment of Mr. Harvey in the United States army his father took charge of his small stock of goods and sold them out, but the store was never replenished." From this time to 1808, a period of thirty-two years, there was no store kept in Plymouth. Joseph Wright, father of Col. Hendrick B. Wright, of Wilkes-Barre, and author of Sketches of Plyinouth, came into Union township with his father, Caleb Wright, from New Jersey, in 1795. He married and settled in Plymouth, where he started a small retail store in the east room of the Wright homestead, now standing just below the limits of the present borough of Plymouth. The first sale made in this store was of a Jew's harp to Jameson Harvey, who paid a sixpence in cash. The first entry upon the books of Mr. Wright, now in the possession of his son, Col. H. B. Wright, is dated February 26, 1808, and reads: "Abraham Tilbury, Dr., to one qt. of rum, at 7-6 per gallon, £0 1s. 10½d." As only the necessaries of life were then kept, rum must have been considered essential. Mr. Harvey, who bought the Jew's harp when a boy, is now living, at the advanced age of eighty-two years, and is undoubtedly the only person now living who traded at this store during the first year of its existence. The "Conestoga wagon" had been added to the means of transportation, and goods were now brought overland [p.639] from Easton as well as by water from Sunbury. All goods were brought into the valley by one or the other of these means of carriage until the opening of the canal in 1830. Rev. George Lane bought the store of Joseph Wright in 1812, and kept it nearly a year, when he entered into a partnership with Benjamin Harvey, son of Elisha Harvey. The new firm did business in a small frame building on the site of Smith's Opera House until 1816, when Mr. Lane went to Wilkes-Barre, and Mr. Harvey to Huntington. Immediately after the sale of his store to Mr. Lane, Joseph Wright entered into a partnership with Benjamin Reynolds and Joel Rogers. They opened a store in a small frame building on the east side of the road, opposite the present (1873) residence of Henderson Gaylord." This firm dissolved in October, 1814, and the business was continued by Joel Rogers & Co. up to 1816, then by Reynolds, Gaylord & Co. to December, 1818, then by Mr. Gaylord to the fall of 1824, when he entered into a ten years' partnership with the late William C. Reynolds. Gaylord & Reynolds established a branch at Kingston. From 1836 Mr. Gaylord and Draper Smith formed a partnership to 1839. From 1816 to 1827 the business stand was on the premises now occupied as a hotel by John Deane. In 1827 Mr. Gaylord built a store across the street, in which he and Mr. Smith traded till they dissolved, and Mr. Gaylord to 1856, when he retired.
About 1828 John Turner opened a store where Turner Bros. now are. Soon after that he sold his stock to Gaylord & Reynolds. Asa Cook commenced business in the Turner store, and was soon followed by John Turner, and the establishment has been continued down to the present time either in his name or the name of his sons. Samuel Davenport and Elijah Reynolds opened a store in 1834. This firm was dissolved in 1835, and the business continued by Samnel Davenport to 1840, then by him and John B. Smith until 1850, and, for several years succeeding, by Mr. Smith. Ira Davenport opened his store in 1845. Jameson Harvey opened a store at West Nanticoke about 1843.
As the sawmill of Marvin was built in 1795, it is altogether probable that frame houses were constructed soon after, and that several were built about the same time. Of these first houses there are now standing the old red house, or Ransom homestead, the Davenport homestead, the Widow Heath house and the Joseph Wright house. The first stone house was built by Mr. Coleman in 1806, and is now known as the "Hodge house." In digging the cellar of this house the bones of Indians were exhumed. The first coal ever burned in Plymouth for domestic purposes was burned in this house by Abijah Smith, who boarded there while working his mine. Freeman Thomas built the stone house that is now occupied by M. Garrihan in 1830. The first brick building was built by Matthias Nesbitt in 1847. This was a story-and- a-half dwelling, and was afterward burned. Samnel Davenport built a brick dwelling in 1848, and the J. B. Smith homestead was erected in 1849.
George P. Smith kept a tavern in the old red house, as did the Widow Heath in the old house now standing by the old elm tree, which was probably the first tavern in the township. Oliver Davenport kept tavern where the Hon. J. J. Shonk lives, as early as 1822. A hotel was built by Mr. Deittrich where the Eley house now stands, and was kept by several persons. This was afterward burned. Daniel Carey built a hotel about 1832, where the Harvey's Creek hotel now stands. He afterward built a large house where the canal barn now stands, which was moved in 1839, by Joseph Edwards and George Mack, to where it now stands. It is the Harvey's Creek hotel, James J. Ruch, proprietor.
Civil Government.—Plymouth, being one of the districts of the town of Westmoreland, was governed by the digest of rules and regulations prepared by the Susquehanna company, under which the principal authority as to township government was vested in a board, "to be composed of three able and judicious men among such settlers." These were elected on the first Monday of December of each year, and were "to take upon them the direction of the settlement of each town, under the company, and the well ordering and the governing of the same," These [p.640] directors were required to meet on the first Monday of each month, with their peace officers, and to take into consideration the good of the people, as well as to hear and decide such disputes as might be brought before them. They were empowered to inflict punishment upon offenders, either by reproof and fine or fine and corporal punishment. The directors of all the towns were required to meet quarterly to take into consideration the good of the whole people or of any particular town; to bear the appeal of any who might think themselves aggrieved by the award of the directors of their own town, and to come to such resolutions as they might think for the general good. No appeal lay "from the doings of such quarterly meeting, or their decrees, to the Susquehanna company, save in disputes as to land."
Phineas Nash, Capt. David Marvin and J. Gaylord, elected in December, 1774; it was voted that "Plymouth, with all ye land west of Susquehanna river, south and west to the town line, be one district, by the name of Plymouth district." Samuel Ransom was appointed selectman; Asaph Whittlesey, collector of rates; Elisha Swift, Samuel Ransom and Benjamin Harvey, surveyors of highways; John Baker and Charles Gaylord, viewers of fences; Elisha Swift and Gideon Baldwin as listers, to make enrollments; Phineas Nash and Thomas Heath, as grand jurors; Timothy Hopkins, tithing man, and Thomas Heath, key keeper. It was "voted at this meeting that for ye present ye tree that stands northerly from Capt. Butler's house shall be ye town sign-post." March 24, 1786, it was voted "That all such houses as are within the limits of this common-field, and occupied with families, be removed out of said field by the tenth of April next, the committee to give speedy warning to any such residents and see it is put in execution, the house now occupied by the Widow Heath excepted, provided that said Widow Heath shall run a fence so as to leave her house without said field." The best authorities locate the "common-field" on the brow of Ant hill, as the old frame house still standing and occupied by William Jenkins was the property of Widow Heath. The schoolhouse, which stood on the opposite side of the road and a little below the old elm tree, was most probably the place in which all public meetings were held, and the old elm tree the sign and whipping-post of old Plymouth.
The records of the township officers of Plymouth under the Pennsylvania jurisdiction extend no further back than 1828, and even these are but poorly kept. It is known however, that Joseph Wright and Henderson Gaylord, both men of signal ability, kept an eye on the business of the township and straightened many a tangled account for the township officers between the years 1807 and 1828. But the records of their work, if any were made, have all been lost. The following have been the principal township officers of Plymouth as far as can be ascertained:
Supervisors: William Hunt, 1828; John Smith, 1828; Isaac Fuller, 1829; James Nesbitt, 1829; Samuel Ransom, 1830, 1841; Joseph Keller, 1831, 1834-5, 1837; James Hayward, 1831; Benjamin Reynolds, 1830; Hiram Drake, 1832; Joseph L. Worthington, 1832-3, 1841, 1847-9; Jared L. Baldwin, 1833; Freeman Thomas, 1834-6, 1840; Jonathan McDonald, 1836-8; Samuel Van Loon, 1838; William Ransom, 1839; Oliver Davenport, (second), 1839; John Elston, 1840; James Van Loon, 1842; Truman Atherton, 1842; Henry Sears, 1843; Samuel Coons, 1845, 1863-4; John Moyer, 1845; Caleb Atherton, 1846; Samuel Davenport, 1847; William Nesbitt, 1848; J. F. Reynolds, 1849; Ira Davenport, 1850, 1854; Benjamin Duran, 1850; Joel Gabriel, 1851; Oliver Davenport, 1852-3, 1855; Hiram Davenport, 1852-3; Benjamin Devens, 1854; Clark Davenport, 1855-61, 1861-6; George Davenport, 1856-8,1860-2; George Hoover, 1858; Gardner Nesbitt, 1862; John Jessup, 1865-7; Thomas Harris, 1867; Joseph Jaquish, 1868-71; Samuel Harrison, 1869-70; J. R. Linn, 1872; Henry L. Hughes, 1872; Owen Doyle, 1873-4; Owen McDonald, 1874; Daniel Frace, 1875; William Charles, 1875; Patrick Cowell, 1876; Martin Collins, 1876; Joseph Linn, 1877; Hiram Labar, 1877; Patrick Roan, 1878; Abram Deets, 1878; William P. Evans, 1879; H. Smith, 1879.
Justices appointed: James Sutton, July 4, 1808; David Perkins, September 30, [p.641] 1808; William Trux, March 30, 1809, Moses Scovel, July 12, 1809; Stephen Hollister, June 30, 1810; Charles Chapman, January 18, 1813; Samuel Thomas, March 20, 1816; Jacob I. Bogardus, January 9, 1817, Dr. John Smith, August 2, 1819, Benjamin Reynolds, August 17, 1820; Alva C. Phillips, November 15, 1852; John Bennett, November 1, 1825; Thomas Irwin, December 11, 1826; Reuben Holgate, November 24, 1829, James Nesbitt, December 16, 1831; Simeon F. Rogers, December 16, 1831; Fisher Gay, December 4, 1832; J. R. Baldwin, May 27, 1833; Watson Baldwin, December 20, 1833. Sharp D. Lewis, April 18, 1835; J. I. Bogardus, July 15, 1836; Caleb Atherton, September 30, 1837; John P. Rice, September 30, 1837; Peter Allen, October 25, 1838; Henderson Gaylord, October 29, 1838; Addison C. Church, May 10, 1839. Elected for terms of five years: Samuel Wadhams, 1840; Ebenezer Chamberlin, 1840, 1845, 1856, 1861; Hiram Drake, 1841. John Ingham, 1845; George Brown, 1845; Samuel Davenport, 1851; Caleb Atherton, 1851; Elijah G. Wadhams, 1855. 1860, 1865; E. L. Prince, 1855; John B. Smith, 1861; Joseph Ives, 1867, 1872; John C. Jaquish, 1868; Harrison Nesbitt, 1873; James Stookey, 1875; William L. Pritchard, 1878.
West Nanticoke is a colliery town just opposite Nanticoke and connected by a bridge. It is at the mouth of Harvey creek and at the terminus of the canal. A coal breaker and large mining industry constitutes the village. A railroad depot, hotel, store and toll-gate and a large number of miners' cottages are the surroundings.
Grand Tunnel (Avondale) is about one mile sonth of the south line of Plymouth borough, a noted mining village. It is known throughout the civilized world because of the "Avondale disaster," a full account of which appears in another chapter. It is a station on the D. L. & W railroad.
Larksville P. O. (formerly Blind Town) is near the northeast line of the township; is a flourishing mining village; has one general store and several small trading places.