Colonel Jacob Stroud, Stroudsburg, Monroe County

I'm delighted to report, as my Facebook followers have seen, that I've been invited to a historical event up in Luzerne County later this month! A gentleman named Michael Korb very kindly reached out to let me know that they're going to be installing a plaque in Wilkes-Barre to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the founding of the American Institute of Mining Engineers. It's not one of my markers (they already have one of those, so you can guess what I'll be doing while I'm there), but he thought it would be of interest to me and my readers. If the name of the organization sounds vaguely familiar, that may be because I've mentioned it before in this blog - David Thomas, the Welsh ironmaster considered the father of my hometown, was its first president. The ceremony is to take place at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 16th, in the Public Square of Wilkes-Barre, and you can read the details here. So if you're in the vicinity, grab your face mask and come enjoy a socially distanced historic event. (And look for me.)

As for this week's quest, it's my first post from Monroe County! I'm hitting all kinds of new places lately, between the restrictions easing up and the contributions from guest photographers, and I'm very pleased about it. Today's quest is from a few weeks ago, when my best friend Andrea and I took a little road trip to Stroudsburg. For some reason, despite being only about thirty miles away, Stroudsburg has always seemed like it's incredibly far off; I guess it's because it's considered a gateway to the Poconos. (Then again, as I think I've mentioned in another post or two, my sense of distance is inexplicably skewed.) What I found was a charming, quiet community with a rich history of which they are justifiably very proud.

Stroudsburg dates its origins back to colonial times, and has a Moravian connection which I'll be discussing in more detail in a future post. They actually have two different markers for the man who gave his name to the community, so we're going to hit them both.

The marker is at the intersection of Seventh
and Sarah Streets, in front of the firehouse

Records show that Jacob Stroud was born in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, on January 13, 1735. His parents, Barnard and Keziah (Harker) Stroud, had at least four other children. The family relocated to Smithfield Township in what was then Northampton County when Jacob was a child, and the boy was placed under the care of the man with whom his father had once apprenticed. Nicholas DePuy was the first European to settle in the Smithfield area; he owned a large swath of land in Shawnee-on-Delaware, and there he taught Jacob to be a farmer. He actually has his own marker in Shawnee, so we'll be learning more about him later.

At 21, Jacob finished his apprenticeship, so he signed on with the English Colonial Army to help fight in the French and Indian War - a nine-year campaign between France and England as they battled to control the valuable lands and waterways of the New World. His older brothers John, James, and Bernard were already fighting, and according to Jacob's own recollections, he and his brothers made a pact that they would meet every night after the fighting was over so that they could be sure they were all safe. One night, after a particularly "severe engagement," his brother John never arrived at the meeting place, so the other three searched the battlefield until they found him among the dead. As a sibling, I can't imagine what that must have done to them. Jacob would later name his oldest son John in memory of his fallen brother.

Jacob mustered out of the army in 1761, two years before the end of the war. There are no confirmed portraits of him, only a description that he was of "medium height and weight, with marked features, clear blue eyes and light reddish hair." However, it's been suggested that he may be one of the figures present in The Death of General Wolfe, a painting by Benjamin West depicting the final moments of Jacob's commanding officer and friend, General James Wolfe. Jacob himself claimed to have been at the general's side at the time of his death, so it's entirely possible that he really does appear in the painting, but there's no way to know for sure.

Anyway, almost immediately after coming home from the war, Jacob married Elizabeth McDowell. She was eighteen and a granddaughter of his old master Nicholas DePuy, so they had probably known each other for a long time. Jacob worked for a merchant named Able James, who hired him to use his wagon and horses - the only things that he owned - to transport goods through the wilderness to Pike County. With money loaned to him by his employer, Jacob bought 300 acres of land three miles from what is now Stroudsburg, and there he built a homestead, barn, and grist mill. By all accounts, he was an extremely successful farmer and businessman, able to repay the loan in very short order and buying more and more land; by the time of his death, he owned 4,000 acres. Meanwhile, he and Elizabeth had a large family together, being the parents of twelve children.

In 1775, forty-year-old Jacob signed on with the Continental Army to fight in the American Revolution, enlisting as a captain due to his prior service and making his way through the ranks to colonel. He held considerable authority, being effectively in command of his portion of Northampton County. Under orders from his superiors, he stockaded his home in 1776, which was on what is today Main Street in Stroudsburg, and it became Fort Penn. The fort no longer stands (in fact, no one knows exactly where it was), but it has its own marker, so it'll be the subject of its own post later.

Jacob's military service was interesting, to put it mildly. He was court-martialed on two different occasions, but the crux of both incidents seems to be that he prioritized the safety of his neighbors over following orders, and he was charged with insubordination. His good character induced the court to let him off with a warning the first time; the second time, an increase in war activity and a threat against Philadelphia interrupted the entire thing and the trial was never formally concluded. They just let him go home, where his neighbors were happy to have him back - he was an extremely popular fellow - and elected him to the Pennsylvania Assembly as a mark of their esteem.

Side view of the Stroud Mansion, 900 Main Street

The war ended, and Jacob resumed his farming and business ventures; among other things, he used his considerable wealth to build beautiful homes for each of his children as they grew up and married, enabling his family to remain close. For his eldest son John, he constructed a twelve-room mansion (seen at left) in the hopes of enticing John to remain in what was becoming known as Stroudsburg, and join his father in business. John, however, was partial to the life of a farmer, and moved a mile outside of Stroudsburg to a farm called Glen Brook. Today it's known as the Glen Brook Golf Course, and the stone farmhouse built for John, which still stands today, serves as the course's clubhouse.

Instead it was Daniel, Jacob's second son, who left his law practice in Philadelphia to move back home and take up residence in the big mansion. He worked alongside Jacob for the last years of his father's life, running the family businesses and selling off pieces of the family's land in order to bring more settlers to the region. In 1799, Jacob officially laid out the plans for the community of Stroudsburg. Streets were detailed, and land was donated for churches and schools.

Jacob died on July 14, 1806. He is buried in Stroudsburg, in the Dansbury Cemetery, which was once part of a Moravian settlement - the cemetery also has its own marker, so that will be covered down the road. The original historical marker for him, a brass plaque pictured at right, stands on a pillar at the cemetery gate, informing visitors of the important figure buried within; it has less to do with him than with the Dansbury Mission, however. Exactly where Jacob is buried, I have no idea. I wasn't entirely comfortable with searching the small grounds, as there are no paths and I dislike stepping on actual graves. Instead, what may have once been his original tombstone has been affixed to the wall just next to the cemetery gate, bearing a small plaque in his honor dedicated by the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Four years after Jacob's death, the borough of Stroudsburg was formally incorporated and given his name. Daniel raised his seven children in the mansion, but as time went on it became more of a public facility than a family home; a tavern on the ground floor was leased by a series of different keepers through the years. In 1922 it was incorporated as the Stroud Community House, and it has served as a meeting place for the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Today the mansion is home to the Monroe County Historical Association, which acquired it in 1994, and it's operated as a museum and library. It was unfortunately closed on the day of my visit, but I'm hoping that will change the next time I'm in town.

The community which Jacob helped to create continues to thrive, being the seat of Monroe County; it's the commercial hub of the area and home to four different locations on the National Register of Historic Places - one of these being the Stroud mansion. Like I said, Jacob Stroud was extremely well regarded by his neighbors, and he still is more than two centuries later.

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Sources and Further Reading:

Official website of the Monroe County Historical Association

Leiser, Amy. "Jacob Stroud: His Likeness in Famous Painting?" The Pocono Record, June 6, 2012. Reproduced by the Monroe County Historical Association.

Summa, Marie and Frank. Images of America: The Stroudsburgs in the Poconos. Arcadia Publishing, 1998.

Stroud Mansion profile at HouseHistree.com

Jacob Stroud at FindAGrave.com

Jacob Stroud and Colonel Jacob Stroud at the Historical Marker Database

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Except where indicated, all writing and photography on this blog is the intellectual property of Laura Klotz. This blog is written with permission of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. I am not employed by the PHMC. All rights reserved.