The predominant source for this note is the book “A History of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania,” by Oscar Jewell Harvey, published in 1909. Underground Railroad history from “Underground Railroad in Pennsylvania” by William J. Switala. Second Edition, 2008, and “The Place I Call Home: How Abolition and the Underground Railroad Shaped the Communities of Northeast Pennsylvania” by Sherman Wooden, 2009.
Wilkes-Barre, the county seat of Luzerne County, is located in the Wyoming Valley of northeastern Pennsylvania, 110 miles NNW of Philadelphia and 120 miles WNW of New York City, amidst the Appalachian Mountain range. Its story begins with the arrival of European explorers in the region. In 1616, Stephen Bruehle, a Dutch explorer, traveled the Susquehanna River and became one of the first Europeans to set foot in the area. It would take more than a century before permanent settlements were established.
The Wyoming Valley appears to have been sparsely populated for most of human history. Indian tribes such as the Delaware, Shawanese and Nanticoke got footholds in the area during the 18th century.
The first European settlers arrived in the mid-18th century. The region was claimed by both Connecticut and Pennsylvania, leading to the infamous Yankee-Pennamite War. Connecticut claimed the Wyoming Valley based on colonial land granted to the Susquehanna Company, while Pennsylvania asserted its control over the territory as part of William Penn’s grant covering the state of Pennsylvania. This conflict, marked by sporadic violence, lasted from 1769 to 1784, ending with the Pennamites routing the Yankee settlers and driving most of them from the town.
In the midst of the ongoing dispute, Yankee settlers from Connecticut under the leadership of Col. John Durkee, founded the township of Wilkes-Barre in July 1769. They named it after John Wilkes and Isaac Barre, two British Parliamentarians who sympathized with the American colonies during the Stamp Act controversy.
Wilkes-Barre became a borough in 1806. Its early years were marked by agricultural development and the growth of small-scale industries. However, the true transformation of the city began with the start of anthracite coal mining in the region during the the 1820s, some 50 years after the initial discovery of coal in the region. The coal boom brought an influx of settlers and led to the rapid industrialization of Wilkes-Barre. Mines were established, and the coal was transported via canals and later railroads to markets throughout the country.
The impact of the coal industry on Wilkes-Barre was profound. The city experienced a population explosion as immigrants from Europe and workers from other parts of the United States flocked to the area in search of employment in the mines. The economy boomed, and Wilkes-Barre became a vital center of the coal mining and distribution industry.
In addition to its industrial significance, Wilkes-Barre played a notable role in the Underground Railroad during the mid-19th century, particularly in the 1830s to 1860s. The city, situated relatively close to the Mason-Dixon Line, became a crucial stop for freedom seekers fleeing slavery in the South. Abolitionists in Wilkes-Barre, such as the Rev. William Gildersleeve, a local merchant, actively assisted fugitive slaves in their journey to freedom. They provided shelter, food, and guidance, often in secret hiding places within the city. This activity was not approved by all the populace: In one notable incident in 1839, a mob tarred and feathered Gildersleeve and paraded him around the city streets.
The Underground Railroad network in Wilkes-Barre was part of a larger effort to aid fugitive slaves in their quest for freedom. Conductors and station masters worked to transport escapees from slave states, thru cities such as Harrisburg and Stroudsburg, and to safe locations further north. The Underground Railroad in Wilkes-Barre operated clandestinely, with its participants risking legal repercussions and social backlash for their actions.
Some escapees went all the way to Canada, a country with a lesser culture of slavery, while a number of them settled in the cities along the way. One was a man named Samuel Wright, a slave from neighboring Maryland, who made his way to Wilkes-Barre in the 1820s, married a woman named Jane (last name lost to history), and fathered 6 children, one of whom was the future Justice Jonathan Jasper Wright.
*Note - an early draft of this paper was composed by ChatGPT and then extensively edited and updated.