Joshua BEEBE, along with Mary SECORD's brothers Peter, John and James settled on the East Branch of the Upper Susquehanna River near the point where the river valley widens to become the Wyoming Valley. This widening of the valley occurs a few kilometres upstream of Tunkhannock in Wyoming County, Pennsylvania.
John Secord BEEBE’s letter of 1 Apr 1871 describes the location of Joshua BEEBE homestead on the Susquehanna River:
“… the Secords with your grandfather Beebe moved to the Susquehanna some fiew years before the revolution. they had located themselfes on the river just where the river after winding throug the mountains came into a flat country called Wyoming leading down to the Chesapeak Bay. they wher[e?] amongst the first that settled on the [illegible word] lands amongst the mountains, one of there farms was the first as they came to the mout[h?] that is to say the country was flat or more level from that toward the Chesapeak each one of the four of them had taken as heads of family one of those [illegible word] flats being A A[repeated word at end of the written line] large flat on one side and mountains on the other, opposite your grandfathers farm in the river was an islan[d] by some Called long Island whilst others called it Peach Island owing to A quantity of Peach trees growing on it.”
While Alex Newman in her article "In Search of Mary Beebe" (The Beaver, July 2005) believes that the "Peach Island" mentioned in the John Secord BEEBE letter is Peach Bottom Island (on the Susquehanna near York), “Peach Island” would more likely have been one of the numerous long islands on the East Branch of the Upper Susquehanna. It is important to remember that these river channel islands are highly susceptible to geomorphological processes. After 230 years “Peach Island” as Joshua BEEBE saw it may no longer exist.
A number of published histories also place the SECORDs in this area. Mary SECORD’s brother John is mentioned frequently. John SECORD had been arrested as a British spy in 1776 but successfully petitioned the Connecticut government for his release. Afterwards, John SECORD moved his family upriver to Tioga Point where he served as a sutler to Butler’s Rangers. Tioga Point is located just south of Athens in Bradford County, Pennsylvania at the confluence of the Chemung and Susquehanna Rivers.
Here are a few of the online references. Most deal with the events leading up to the Battle of Wyoming on 3 Jul 1778:
“In the month of May [1778], scouting parties began to be met by those of the enemy, who hovered around the settlements at a distance of 20 miles, seeming intent to prevent all communication with the upper country, and it is presumed to cut off all chance of learning the preparations making for the descent, rather than to do mischief. No families were attack-no houses burned. Shots were exchanged rarely, as the enemy rather kept aloof than courted battle; but one of the Wyoming men, William Crooks, coming out of a house near Tunkhannock, abandoned by John Secord, who had gone to the enemy, was shot dead at the door. This was the first life taken at Westmoreland by the Indians.”
Charles Miner, History of Wyoming County, 1845
http://www.rootsweb.com/~srgp/books/wyomlt17.htm“Capt. Franklin, with 26 men, pursued, the next morning, crossing the Susquehanna at Secord’s, three miles above Tunkhannock; but the enemy were so far in advance, as to render further pursuit hopeless; and taking the canoes they had descended the river with and abandoned, Capt. Franklin return to the Fort.”
Charles Miner, History of Wyoming County, 1845
http://www.rootsweb.com/~srgp/books/wyomlt20.htm“Among the first settlers was one John Secord, who located on the flat about two miles above Tunkhannock, on the opposite side of the river, in 1773. This flat was then called Catchakamy Plains. It was at his house that the first white man was killed in Westmoreland during the Revolutionary war.”
http://www.csonline.net/prissy68/Wyoming03.htm“A scouting party was near Tunkhannock when a man named William Crooks approached the door of a house that had been occupied by John Secord, a tory, when he was shot dead by Indians within.”
H. C. Bradsby, History of Luzerne County, 1893
http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/pa/luzerne/1893hist/ch4.htm“During the month of June [1778] some acts of hostility by the Indians and tories occurred. On the 12th William Crooks was shot and scalped about two miles above Tunkhannock at the abandoned house of the tory John Secord; and on the 17th a reconnoitring party of six were fired on about six miles below Tunkhannock, and one of the party, named Miner Robbins, killed, and another, named Joel Phelps, wounded.”
W. W. Munsell , History of Luzerne, Lackawanna and Wyoming Counties, 1880
http://www.lowerluzernecounty.com/articles/history-of-luzlackwyom/chapter6.htmFinally, Joshua BEEBE appears along with John and Peter SECORD on the “Up the River” tax list of August 1776, transcribed by the Wyoming Historical and Genealogical Society and reprinted online at:
http://www.teachout.org/du/nan/uptheriver.htmlWhile the general location of Joshua BEEBE’s homestead is known it may not be possible to determine the precise location. Apparently many of those who settled "Up the River" were never granted title to their land either by the Susquehanna Company of Connecticut or by Pennsylvania and were essentially squatters.
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