Elijah Phelps, Jr.

a Facebook phelps thread by andy phelps

Lots of interesting things about the Phelps Family and NE PA. The following is some that I've pieced together. Elijah Phelps, brothers, and families settled in and around the Wyoming Valley as a part of the Connecticut claim on the land. The English Crown granted two competing land patents, one north along the fertile Susquehanna River Valley from the Philadelphia region and a second due-west of Connecticut. The overlap in land claims start in the Wyoming Valley and go north with the river. (See Yankee-Pennamite War) Elijah and families owned land in what became Mehoopany (located on a very picturesque part of the river). Elijah Phelps first joined the Revolutionary Army and then switched sides and joined the Tory regiment 'Butler's Rangers.' He took part in the Massacre on the British-Tory-Indian side of the attack. Ichabod Phelps was taken prisoner in the Wyoming Battle and was taken to Canada. Elijah was a member of the group that took his brother Othniel Phelps captive. It is said that Othniel was given to the Indians and killed sometime later. Joel Phelps was a private in Captain Hardy's Company and was wounded by arrows on June 16, 1778 during the battle at Fort Jenkins. Part of the little town of Mehoopany is built on what had been Elijah's land. It had been given to the town. Elijah lost his land, house, and possessions by siding with the Tories and then losing in the war. All his brothers but Othniel survived the massacre. After the war, Elijah Phelps settled in Queenstown Ont., on the Niagra River. The English Crown had rewarded him with land for his service during the War. He had a large number of slaves, and it is said that he grew the first wheat raised in Upper Canada. During the Battle of Queenstown, 13 Oct. 1812, his house and buildings were destroyed by hot shot from the United States Troops. He relocated to Pelham Township, Ont., where he d. 16 Nov. 1853 at age 103. Elijah Phelps had no children and made his nephew, Joel, the son of Joel wounded during the Massacre, his heir. Joel Phelps' son, Joel, had been born in Rockaway NY on May 13, 1800 and moved to Canada in 1816 to live with his uncle Elijah Phelps in Pelham Township, Ont.