About the middle of November, M. de Noailles, who continued to reside in Philadelphia, visited the place which took the name of Asylum, or “Azilum,” as the French pronounced it. The plan of settlement was determined, and the town surveyed into lots.
The tract consists of 2400 acres and, in addition, the Asylum Company had secured title to a number of tracts of “wild land,” as it was termed, in the present Counties of Bradford, Sullivan, Lycoming and Luzerne, which were sold on liberal terms to actual settlers. The town, as laid out, contained, besides an open square and fine wide streets, 413 house lots of an acre each.
M. Boulogne bent every energy to get the houses ready for the colonists in the early spring, and was favored with mild weather until five days before Christmas, when the weather became stormy. The work, which was suspended December 20, was resumed in the spring. The emigrants then began to arrive. They traveled by land to Catawissa, thence in boats up the river.
The houses were built of hewn logs two stories high, roofed with pine shingles, and all houses had a good cellar. To the native Americans these houses looked like palaces.
The house built by M. Talon was the most pretentious, and is said to be the largest log house ever built in America. It was known as “La Grande Maison,” or the great house. This house stood until 1846, when it was torn down.
M. Talon, who was general manager, planned improvements on a large scale. He built a horsepower grist mill, several stores, a tavern, for which a license was granted in August, 1794, to Mr. Lefevre. A small Catholic chapel was erected, and later a theatre was built. They set up a bakery and built a brewery. A post was established with Philadelphia.
Most of the emigrants had been wealthy, and some of them members of the royal household, entirely ignorant of farming and unused to manual labor, found great difficulty in adapting themselves to their new conditions. Yet they endured their privations with great fortitude.
The continuance of the Asylum settlement was less than ten years, but the Frenchmen set their Pennsylvania neighbors the example of better houses and roads, better gardens and orchards and courteous manners.
Robespierre issued a decree commanding all emigrants to return to France under penalty of having their estates confiscated. When the strong hand of Napoleon assumed power, all Frenchmen were invited to return. This was joyous news at Asylum, and they returned to their beloved France as soon as they could dispose of their property, until only two remained.
In 1796 Asylum consisted of about fifty log houses occupied by about forty families. Among the most noted, besides those already mentioned, were M. De Blacons, a member of the French Constituent Assembly from Dauphine; M. Le Montule, a captain of a troop of horse; M. Beaulieu, a captain of infantry in the French service, who served in the Revolution in this country under Potosky; Dr. Buzzard a planter from San Domingo, and M. Dandelot, an officer in the French Infantry.