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HISTORY
YORK COUNTY
PENNSYLVANIA,
From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, Divided into General,
Special, Township and Borough Histories, with a
Biographical Department
Appended.
JOHN GIBSONS, ^1. ..'t-JsixVL EDITOR.
CHICAGO: F. A. BATTEY PUBLISHING CO.
Entered aecordinc to Act ol Congress in the year 1886, by
F, A. Eattky and F. W. Teeple,
In the oflBce of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, D. C.
CONTENTS.
PART I.
GENERAL HISTORY.
INTEODUCTOEY 1"
The Early Settlers i;
Settlements, First 1^
Settlement of Newberry and Ad- joining Townships li
The Aborigines 2C
Conestogoe Indians 26
Indian Title 33
( ompletion of Title Si
Maryland Intrusions 3c
European Title 41
Border Troubles 47
Arrest of Cressap 66
Chester County Plot, The 64
Invasion of the Three Hundred 59
Mission of Messrs. Hamilton and
Georges 54
Mission of Messrs. Jennings and
Dulaney 67
Mission of Messrs Preston and Kin-
sey 72
Revolt of the Germans 58
The Boundary Line 73
Digges' Choice 78
Final Agreement of 1760 82
Mason & Dixon's Line 83
Nicholas Perie, The case of. 82
Royal Order, The 73
Temporary Line, The 75
Springetsbury Manor 8S
Blunstone's Licenses 93
Jlanorof Ma°^» go
French and Indian War 99
Billeling of Soldiers 106
Conestogoe Massacre Ill
Indian Abductions 109
Pontiac's War Ill
Return of Officers 1758 108
The Revolution 112
Aid to Baltimore from York 128
Articles of Association 126
Associations for Defense 123-132
Associators of Pennsylvania, Ad- dress to the 121
Committees of Correspondence....ll5-127 Constitution of Pennsylvania, First 121
Council of Safety 123
Independent Government, Proceed-
ingsto form an...: 120
Inhabitants of York County to Committee of Salety, 1776, Let- ter of. 107
Organization of the Militia of the
County 124
Resolutions of Committee of York
County, 1776 ]97
York County Militia 128
Y'ork County Militia Battalions 132
York County Militia Companies 130
Continental Congress 135
Baron Steuben 140
British Account of Hancock's Speech 137 Correspondence of John Adams
from York 136
Gen. Gates and the Cabal 137
Monument to Philip Livingston 142
Occurrences and Proceedings at
„ .York 135, 142
Resigniition of President Hancock... 137
Resolutions of Congress, 1777-78 142
Session at Y'ork 135
Town Major 144
Wilkinson's Memoirs, Geo 139
Continental Troops 144
Additional Regiment 152
Armand's Legion 153
Artillery 153
British Prisoners 166
Continental Line Pennsylvania
Regiments 147, 151
David Grier's (Capt.) Company 150
Hartley, Col 151-1.52
Moses McCIean's (Capt.) Company... 160
New Eleventh 153
Orders of Gen. St. Clair 155
Pensioners, Revolutionary 159
Pulaski's Legion 153
Pennsylvania Battalion 149
Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment, The... 147 Revolt of the Pennsylvania Line.... 154
Riflemen 144
Subsequent Military History,
The ]62
Frontier Defense 162
Mexican War 166
Volunteers at Baltimore 164
War of 1812-14 163
Whisky Insurrection 162
War for the Union 166
Emergency Troop of 1863 202
Independent Battery 203
Independent Companies 200
Other Officers from York County.... 202
Regiment, Second 167, 179
Regiment, Sixteenth 168, 179
Regiment, Thirtieth 168, 181
Regiment, Forty-First 181
Regiment, Forty-Third 168, 181
Regiment, .Seventy-sixth 169, 183
Regiment, Eighlj-Seventh 169, 184
Regiment, Ninety-Second (See Ad- denda) 189
Regiment, One Hundred and Third
178, 189
Regiment, One Hundred and
Seventh 170, 190
Regiment, One Hundred and
Eighth 176, 190
Regiment, One Hundred and Thir- tieth 171, 191
Regiment, Une Hundred and Sixty-
■«<-*>• .172, 193
.176, 196 tind
Regiment, One Hundred
Eighty-Second
Regiment, One Hundred
Eighty-Seventh 176, 197
Regiment, Two Hundredth 177, 197
Regiment, Two Hundred and
Seventh 177, 199
Regiment, Two Hundred and Ninth
177, 199
Volunteers from York County 179
HilSliHAL-WORK.....^., 203
GenTstwSt'sD^oue Through
York County 212
Arrival of the Sixth Corps 215
Battle of Gettysburg 217
C'areer and Fate of some of the
Officers 215
Engagement at Hanover 212
Hanover Hospital and its Incidents,
Incident of the Invasion at Jefferson 21 7 Incidents of Stuart's Raid at Dover.. 218
List of Killed 215
List of Wounded 215
The Pennsylvania Germans 219
Assemblvmen 241
Berks County
Borough Officers . City of Reading..
Clerks of Courts
Congressmen
County Commissioners
County Officers
County Treasurers
Dauphin County
Dialect, The
Dialogue in The I'ul.iiu
Drovers and Mechanics National
Bank of York 2.59
Farmers', National Bank of York 258
First National Bank of York 258
Franklin County 254
Futirmari s Lied, Dm 238
Harbaugh, Leonard 230
Herbach,Yost 228
Judges and Associate Judges 242
Justices of the Peaop 243
Kreuzkrik WcBlliun S'/^m ,,.■/„, ;.■,;.,, imalte Weiwtr-,^iu,: n' , ,:,u
" Lancaster County .:'^l
Lawyers -i'i
Lebanon County J.".4
Lehigh Countv 254
Lenhart, William 231
Medical Doctors 245
Militia 248
Miller, Lewis 203
Nachtfof Chrischdaag, Die 264
National Legislators 240
Newspaper Extracts 277
Overseers of the Poor 242
■Percentage of Population 2.39
Postmasters 240
Prothonotaries 242
Registers of Wills 242
State Legislators 241
State Officers 241
State Senators '241
Teachers 247
United Slates Senators 240
War for the Union 249
Western National Bank of Y'ork 258
Y'ork County National Bank 257
Friends or Quakers 278
Emigration to America 278
Emigration to York County 279
Fawn Meeting 286
First Monthly Meeting in York
County 279
Marriages .• 285,286
Plans of Organiz Warrington Meeting...
Y'ork Meeting
The Scotch-Irish
SPECIAL HISTORY.
Preliminary History
Appearance of the County
Chief Ranger
Clerks to the Cou nty Comn
Clerks of Orphans' Courts, and
Court of Quarter Sessions 304
Commissioners 307
Coroners 312
Court House, First 303
Court House, Present 303
P.OE.
p
~
PAGE
County Almshouse
30G
Clover Seed
'352
Teachers' Journal, The
.... 381
County Auditors
Distilling as an Industry among
True Democrat, The
.... 380
County Jail, First
305
^ Farmers
350
Unions Freund, Der
.... 379
County Jail, Present
Domestic -inimals
350
Village Museum, The
.... 379
County Limits
300
Farming, Early Modes of
349
Volks Verichter, Der
.... 378
County Offices
Fertilizers
353
Wahre Republicaner, Der
.... 378
County Surveyors
Forests, The
347
Weekly Dispatch, The
York Advocate, The
.... 381
Erection of County
Fruit Trees, Cultivation of
3.52
.... 380
First Chapter of Chronicles
311
Grasses, Introduction of.
Y'oik County Farmer, The
.... 380
Great Election Contest
311
Grubenland
York Daily, The
Jury Commissioners
Hanover Agricultural Society
History of Agriculture in York
359
York Gazette, The
.... .379
Limits Contracted
301
York Gazette, Die
.... 378
Maintenance of the Poor
County
346
York Pennsylvania, The
Y'ork Recorder, The
Mercantile Appraisers _
309
Bolzschwamm
346
.'.'.'.'. 378
People, The
302
How our Ancestors Came and Wha
York Republican, The
.... 378
Prothonotaries
304
They Brought With Them
347
York Weekly, The
.... 381
Recorders
304
Incidents of Pioneer Life
348
Hanover Journalism
.... .382
Registers
304
Indian Farming
346
Citizen, The
Biotat Election of 1750
309
Marshes .^
346
Citizen and Democrat, The
'.'.'.'. 383
Sheriffs
309
Old Time Harvests
351
Democrat, The
.... 383
Statistical
301
Pleasure Carriages
351
English Citizen, The
.... 383
Treasurers
304
Price of Lands and Laying out of
Guardian, The
.... 382
Towns and Townships
301
Towns
352
Hanoverikn, The
.... 382
Civil List
312
Second House, The
352
Hanover Gazette
.... 382
Gubernatorial Elections
314
Selections of Lands by First Settlers 347
Herald, The
Justices of the Peace under Consti
Statistical
354
Intelligeneblatt, The
Monthly Friend, The
'.'.'.'. 383
tution of 1790
319
Thrashing Machines, Reapers, etc.
353
.... 383
List during the Revolution
312
Tobacco Culture
354
Pennsylvanische Wochinsehrift,
List of Later Date
313
■ A New Era :
355
Die.:
.... 382
Members of the Assembly
317
Cultivation
357
Planet and Weekly News, The
Members of the State Senate
316
Cutting the Crop
357
Regulator, The
National Representatives
316
Does it Impoverish the Soil ?
3.57
Spectator. The
'.'.'.'.' 3-3
Public Intkenal Improvements...
.321
New Tobacco, The
Religious Denominations
.... 384
Bachman Valley Railroad
341
Physical.Features
357
Baptists, The
384
Baltimore & Hanover Railroad
3il
Planting.
357
Church of God, The
Berlin Branch Railroad
342
Preparation of Ground for
356
Evangelical Association York County,
Berlin & Hanover Turnpike Co...
329
Product, The
Origin of
German Baptists
Methodism, Introduction of.
385
Bridges
Topping and Suckering
Varletils Cultivated in York
387
Codorus Navigation
335
Conewago Canal, The
County
336
United Brethren inChrist
'.'.'.'. 386,
Early River Navigation
331
Wagoning
Y'ork County Agricultural Society..
351
Historical Biographies
.... 391
Gov. Mitflin Present at the Open
Bacon, Rev. Samuel
.... 408
ing
Educational..... :...
359
Barnitz, Hon. Charles A
.... 415
Interesting Events at the Opening 332
Act of 1834
306
Barnitz, En,5ign Jacob
.... 401
Navigation to Columbia, and Tide
Books Used and Modes of Teaching
361
Barton, Rev. Thomas
.... 405
Water Opened
Plans to Extend Navigation anc
333
Borough Institute f.
36S
Brackenridge, Hon. HughH
402
Borough Superintendency
368
Butlers, The Revolutionary
404
Remove Obstacles
331
Children's Home, The
373
Campbell, Capt. Thomas
401
State Aid Received and Canal
Convention of 1834
362
Cathcart, Rev. Robert
.... 411
Constructed
332
Convention of 1835
Crawford, Hon. William
414
Conveyance of Mails and Passengers 326
Cottage Hill Seminarv
Deininger, Rev. Constantine J.. Dill, Matthew
410
Davis, Phineas
337
County Superinten,!.,.: ,
399
Elgar, John
County Teachers' \\,>'..
Dritt, Capt. Jacob
398
Ferries, Early
326
Denominational Scli.. i
Edgar, James
401
Hanover Branch Railroad Company 340
Directors
Ettinger, Rev. Adam
409
Hanover & Littlestown Railroad...
341
High School, The
Franklin, Gen. William B
417
Hanover 4 Marvland Line Turnpike
Lancastrian School
370
Franklin, Rear Admiral
427
Road :
328
Length of School Term
362
Gibson, Commander William....
427
Hanover & York Railroad
. 339
Other Schools in the County
. 375
Gibson, Gen. Horatio Gates
422
History of Railroads
Progress of the First Efforts
. 375
Glasgow, Hon. Hugh
414
Invention of Locomotives
336
School Buildings
Glossbrenner, Hon, Adam J
416
Invention of Railroads
Semi-centennial, The
. 376
Goering, Rev. Jacob
Haller, Col. Granville. 0
National Transit Lines
. 344
Some Early Schools and Teachers.
".'.'.'.'. 418
Northern Central Railway
State Laws
. 362
Hamilton, Hance
393
Oil Pipe Line
Postal Telegraph Company
Stewartstown English and CLissical
Hartley, Hon. Thomas
412
"344
Institutr^
n:3.
Hostetter. Hon. Jacob
414
Railroads in the United States
. 336
Sundav.-^e U
Jameson, David
391
Railroads in Pennsylvania, First...
. 337
Teachers
Jameson, Horatio Gates
392
331
Theologic%.l - iiM-
:::i
.Jordan, Archibald Steele
402
OSoads, Early.V
. 321
Y'ork Borou-l. -,i,...,;-
Kelley, Hon. James
413
Stewartstowji--feMlroad
. 343
York Collegiate lu^liuite
King, Hon. Adam
Kurtz, Hon. William H
415
Susquehanna & York Borough Turn
York County Academy
. 3GS
416
pike Company
. 327
Young Ladies' Seminary
Lewis, Judge Ellis
... . 404
Telegraph, The
Journalism in York County
377
Lischv, Rev. Jacob
4110
Telegraph at Hanover
343
Age, The
Mavef, Rev. Lewis
McClean, Archibald
409
Telegraph, Other Lines of.
.343
American Eagle, The
380
395
Telephone, The
344
Children's Guide, The
381
McLaughlin, Capt. William H...
.... 425
321
Commercial Monthly, The
382
McPherson, Col. Robert
394
CTuniipScs.
327
Delta Herald, The
383
McPherson, William
^ide-V5rate?ana Susquehanna Canal 333
Delta Times, The
383
Miller. Gen. Henrv
'.'.'.'.'. 396
Causes which led to its Origin....
333
Democratic Press, The
Mitchell, Hon. JaiuesS
.. .. 415
Cost of Construction and Repairs
334
Evangelical Zeitung, Die
Evening Dispatch, The
Nes, Hoi. Henrv
415
Description of Canal
.335
382
Prowell, Maj. Joseph
400
Its Benefits to York County
335
Evening Telegram, The
381
Raus, Rev. Lucas
405
Navigation
Expositor, The
379
Reed, Gen. William
.... 401
Opening of the Canal
Plans for, and Construction of.....
334
Fountain, The
German Reformed Ma-;i. in. . 1 l„.
Ross, Hon. James
402
333
Schriver, Gen. Edmund
.... 416
York AChanceford Turnpike
York & Cumberland Railroad
330
Hanover Gazette, Tli.;
Scott, Patrick
Harbinger, The
Small Gen M P
..... 424
York & Gettysburg Turnpike
York & Maryland line Railroad....
328
Lesson Quarterly
Pennsylvania Chronicle uud loik
,.M
Spangler, Gen. Jacob
.... 404
Y'ork & Maryland Line Turnpike..
329
Weekly Advertiser, The
37S
.... 403
York & Peach Bottom Railway
Pennsylvania Herald and Y'ork
Stevens, Hon. Thaddeus
Company
342
General Advertiser, The
378
Stewart, Hon. John
'.'.'.'. 413
AORICnLTORE
346
Pennsylvania Gazette, The
378
Stouch, Capt. George W. H
.... 426
Big Barn, The
352
Pennsylvania Republican, The
378
^S;Ssn!™^p.::;;;:;:;z
.... 401
Characteristics of the Emigran
Primary Leaf, The
.... 426
Farmer
347
Recorder (Dailyl, The
378
Worley, Francis
.... 399
Cigar Industry
358
Republieanische Herald, Per
378
Ziegler, Rev. Daniel
.... 409
CONTENTS.
The Bench and The Bae ■
Associate Judges '
Atlee, Hon. William Augustus ■
Barber, William, Esq •
Barnitz, Hon. George '
Black, Hon. Jeremiah S '
Bonham, Hon. Samuel Cose '
Campbell, Esq., John Gardner ■
Cnssat, Esq., David '
Ohapin, Esq., Edward ■
Clark, Gen. John ■
Cochran, Hon. Thomas E ■
Dare, Hon. George ■
District Attorneys '
Durkee. Hon. Daniel ■
Evans, Esq., John '
Fisher, Hon. Robert J ■
Franklin, Hon. Walter ■
Grier, Col. David ■
Hambly, Esq., Thomas C '
Hays, Hon. Mills .■ ■
Henrv, Hon. John Joseph '
Hinkie, Hon. John L '
Johnson, Esq., Samuel '
Justices of the Peace ■
Kirk, Hon. Jacob ■
KoUer, Hon. Isaac... '
List of Attorneys 435--
Mclntyre, Hon. Peter '
Mayer, Esq. John L '
Members of the Bar '
Moore, Hon. John '
Newcomer, Hon. David ^
President Judges ■
Eieman, Hon. John ■
Eudisill, Hon. Jacob •
Schlegel, Col. Henry ■
Smith, Hon. James •
Medical Histoey '
Geology ■
Analyses of Ores, Rocks, Minerals,
Belt of Upper Eozoic ■
Caiuozoic and Recent •
Eozoic Rocks.. '
Hellam Quartzite '
Hydro-Mica Schists ■
Iron Ores '
Mesozoic Rocks '
Palreozoic Rocks '
Peach Bottom Slates <
Pottsdam Sandstone '
Trap '.
York Limestone '
York Limestone with Argillites -
Meteorological '
Destruction in the County '
Drought of 1822 '
Flood of York .
Flood of 1817 '
Flood of 1822 -
Flood of 1884 '
Hail Storm in 1797 -
Hail Storm of 1821 -
Heroic Deeds and Narrow Escapes... '
Meteoric Shower of 1833 •
Miraculous Flood of Beaver Creek... .
Rainfall Table -
Ruin and Desolation .
Snow Storm of 1772 -
Wind Storm of 183U '.
Topography ■
Elevations above Sea Level ■
Table of Elevations -
Early Iron Industries. <
Cannon Balls for the Revolutionary
First Iron Works in Pennsylv Hellam Iron Works..
Manor Furnace
Margaretta Furnace.. Mary Ann Furnace. ..
, 484
and Forge., ^si.
i^oodstock Forge. [York Foundry Fi
(York Fiirnafp .^^ ^.,-i_^^^..
Census Reports and Postoffices,. 4S9
Government Census Reports 490
Money Order Offices 491
Postal Routes 490
Postoffices and Postmasters in 1832.. 491
Postoffices in 1885 491
Postoffices in York County 490
NoTr.s From Early Court Records,
1749 TO 1770 491
Constables Appointed at First Court 492
Servants amdRedemptioners £
Secret Societies i:
Free and Accepted Masons c
Improved Order of Red Men c
Knights of Pythias 6
Odd Fellows 6
Other Secret Orders 5
FiKE Insurance Companies £
Codorus and Manheim Mutual 5
Dover, Conewago, Newberry, East
and West Manchester Mutual... £ Farmers Insurance Company of
York 5
Farmers Mutual of Paradise 5
Southern Mutual o
Spring Garden Mutual 5
York County Mutual 6
Miscellaneous Matters £
Continental Money 5
Millerites, The £
Present Judges of York County... 5
Gibson, Hon. John £
Latimer.Hon. James W 5
Wickes, Hon. Pere L £
30R0UGH OF YOEIC. 513
Annexations^.r.'. 520
Anti-Jacobinism 557
Baer's Bank (Jacob H.) 559
Banks and Banking 557
Banking House ot Weiser, Son &
Carl 559
Benevolent, Association 572
Bethlehem Church of the Evangel- ical Association 545
Bottstown 520
Bottstown in 1783 521
Calvary Presbyterian Church 536
Church History 523
City Market 522
Conspiracy in 1803 548
Drovers and Mechanics National
Bank 559
Duke St.Methodist Episcopal Church 542
Farmers Market 521
Farmers National Bank 559
Fire Department, The 560
First Baptist Church 545
First Church of the United Brethren
in Christ 544
First Evangelical Lutheran Church 523 First Methodist Episcopal Church... 541
First National Bank ?. 558
First Presbyterian Church 535
First Reformed Church 530
Founding of York 514
Fourth of July, 1788 552
Fourth of July, 1819 563
Franklin Institute
Franklin Lyceum
Gas Co
Hand in Hand Fire Company..
Heidelberg Reformed Church..
Inhabitants in 1783
Laurel Fire Company
Manufacturing Interests
BUlmyer & Small Co
.... 571 .... 568 .... 560
, 564
564
Variety Iron Works, E. G. Smyser 565
Frey,Motter & Co 566
A. B. Farquhar 566
P. A. &S. Small 566-568
Markets 521
Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.... 546
Military 554
Military of Y'ork and Civic Celebra- tions 651
Moravian Church 536
Municipal History 519
Old Time Fairs 523
Old Time Inns and Taverns and
Later Day Hotels 549
Opera House 571
Postoffice, The 559
Prospect Hill Cemetery 569
Rescue Fire Company 563
St. Luke's I St. Mary's i St. Patrick's St. Paul's Church..
! United Breth-
ren in Christ....
Sun Fire Company •
Trinity Church of 111.. I • ,, . i;, ,i
Association
Union Evangelical i. Ml i. I ! I i, i '
Union Fire Company
United Library AssocKiiioii
"Vigilant Fire Company I
Visit of President Washington and
other Distinguished Men '
Visit of Lafayette ;;
Water Company
Western National l!:i!ii
Y'ork Club
York County Nation,. 1 1 i,:
York National Bank
Young Men's Christian Associauon : Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church., i
Zion Reformed Church ;
Borough of Hanover I
Baltimore Defenders ;
Biographical
Col. Richard McAIli-t-
Gen. Jacob Eyster
Churches
Emanuel's Reformed Church..
Fairs
Fire Department
First National Bank
Gas Company
Genealogical
Growth of this Town
Hanover Saving Fund Society..
Hotels
Incorporation
Kuntz-Welsh
Manufactures
Mennonite Church
Methodist Episcopal Church....
Military and Musical
Mount Olivet Cemetery
Noted Improvements
St. Matthew's Lutheran Church..
Schools
Taxable Inhabitants in 1783
Town of Hanover
Trinity Reformed Church
United Brethren in Christ
Visit of Gen. Washington
Water Company
Borough of Wrightsville
African Methodist Church
Business Interests
Churches
Evangelical Lutheran Church
Incorporation
Methodist Church
Postoffice
Presbyterian Church
Schools
Societies
Town Laid Out
Township of Hellam ,
Anderson's Ferry
Border Troubles
Churches of Hellam
Cresap, Col. Thomas
Druck Valley U. B. Church
Historical Notes
Historic Old House
Iron Ore Interests
Lutheran and Reformed Church.
Public Schools
Taxables in 1783
Village of Hella
Township of Spring Garden.
Church of the Evangelical A
•.-.^-if-^
Glades, The
Mount Zion Church
Pleasureville
Schools
Stony Brook '
Village of Freystown
Township of Manchester
Adoption of the Common School
System
Borough of Manchester
Business Places
Churches.
Church of the United Brethren
Christ
Conlederate Invasion
Eib's Landing
Emig's Grove Camp MeetingGrounds 620 Emigsvill
Floods- Founding of Manchester ,
Manchester Lutheran Church
Mennonite Meeting-House
Mount Wolf Village
Musical
New Holland Village
Old School House, An
Paper City, A
Physicians
Postmasters
Reformed and Lutheran Churc
(Hoover's)
Schools
Shad Fisheries
Taxables of 1783
The Gut
Union Church of Manchester
United Brethren Church
Township op West Manchester. .
,... 61-
621
Assessment of 1884 622
Formation of Township 621
Historic Mill Site 623
St. Paul's Lutheran and Reformed
Church 622
Shiloh Church 623
Topography 621
Township of Newberry 623
Ball Hills 637
Bethel Church 627-629
Borough of Lewisberry 632
Business Industry of York Haven
and other Facts 638
Cigar Industry 626
Goldsboro 627
Goldsboro Sandstone Quarry 629
Hay Run 6S0
Indian Relics 634
Justices of the Peace 635
Large Mill Burned 639
Last Indian, The 630
Lutheran and Reformed Church 636
Manufactures of Lewisberry 632
Methodist Church 629-635
Middletown Ferry 630
Military Organization 634
Newberry in 1783 624
Newberrvtown 625
Patriotic" Dead 631
Phvsicians 635
Plainfleld Bethel 630
Postofflce 626-634
Pottery, A 626
Prize Fight. A Notorious 629
PuhlicWell 626
Quaker Schoolhouse 637
River Meeting-House 629
St. Paul's Church 627
Schools of Goldsboro 629
Schools of Lewisberrv 636
Society of Social Friends 637
Stores of Lewisberry 632
Stores of Newberrytown 626
Sunday-schools 636
Terrible Tragedy 639
Township Formed 624
Union Meeting-House 626
Visit of Lorenzo Dow 636
Yocumtown 631
York County Rangers 626
York Haven 637
York Haven Laid Out 638
York Haven Paper Mills 639
York Haven Quarries 640
Township of Faieview 640
Boundary Difficulties 641
Churches 642
Emanuel's Church of the'Evangel- ical ■—-•— —
Fairview Mutual Insurance C
pany
Friends' Meeting-House
Historical Facts and Incidents.. Indians, The
Mount Olivet Church
Mount Zion Lutheran Church...
New Market Village
Pause, A
Pinetown
Public Schools
Salem Church
Simpson, Gen. Michael
Topography
Township .
Andersontown
Churches
Church of God
Fruit Culture
Landis Ore Bank
Lutheran and Reformed Church
Manufacturers i
Mount Pleasant Bethel i
Public Schools
Siddonsburg
Sunday-schools
Township OF Carroll '
Beavertown <
Business Interests of Dillsburg i
Churches i
Church of the United Brethren in
Christ I
Confederate Invasion i
Dills, The
Dillsburg Borough (
Dillsburg Bulletin i
Dillsburg Presbyterian Church i
Incorporation of Dillsburg I
Iron Ore Mines i
Methodist Episcopal Church i
Military (
Physicians (
I'ostofflce at Dillsburg I
Quay, Col. Matthew Stanley I
St. Paul's Lutheran Church i
Schools 658, I
Taxable Inhabitants I
TOWN.SHIP OF Franklin i
Borough Schools I
Business Industry (
Churches (
Evangelical Lutheran Church )
Franklintown (
Harmony Bethel f
Incorporation (
Military (
St. John's Reformed and Lutheran
Church (
South Mountain Union Church i
Topography (
Township Schools (
United Brethren Church I
Township of Warrington (
Alpine I
Blue Ridge Bethel I
Boundary Line i
Churches, Rossville i
Church of God I
Historical Facts and Incidents (
Houses of Worship (
Lutheran Church I
Maytown I
Methodist Episcopal Church I
Mount Airy Church I
Mount Top (
Mount Top Horse Company (
Mount Zion Church (
Quaker Meeting House (
Reformed Church (
Rossville (
Round Top (
Salem Church of the Evangelical
Association (
Topography (
Union Church (
Visit of Lorenzo Dow (
Warrington in 1783 (
Wellsville (
Township of Washington (
Bermudian Meeting House (
Emanuel's Church of the Evangeli- cal Association f
Hall Postoffice (
Houses of Worship i
Mulberry Postoffice f
PAGE.
Salem Lutheran and Refd Church.. 674
St. Paul's Lutheran and Reformed Church 673
Topography
Township of Dover
Borough of Dover
Davidsburg
Dover Church, The
Dover in 1783
Emig's Mills
Incorporation of Dover
Indian Relics
Lutheran Church
Mennonite Meeting House
Public Schools, Introduction of...
Religious Societies
Rohler's Union Church
Small Fruits
United Brethren Church
Weiglestown
Township of Conewago
Church History
Green Spring Church
Historical Notes
Indian Relics
Mount Pleasant Chapel
Publ
Quickel's Church
Strinestown
Zion Lutheran and Refoi-mi
Church
Township of Paradise
Altland's Meeting House
Baughmansville
Bigmount Village ,
Churches
Confederate Invasion, The
Holz-Schwamm Church
Mills
Paradise Brickyard
Paradise Catholic Church
Schools
Taxables of 1783
Township of Jackson.,
Brickyard
Churches of Spring Grove
Mt. Zion's Reformed Church
Reformed Lutheran Church
Schoolhouse
St. Paul's Lutheran Church
Spring Grove Borough
Spring Grove Paper Mills ,
Township of Manheim
Lutheran and Reformed Church...
Public Schools
Taxables in 1783
Township of Heidelberg
Historical Spot, An .'
Iron Ore Interests
Mennonite Meeting House
Schools
Township of Penn
Evangelical Church
Public Schools
Township of West Manheim
Churches ,
Lutheran and Reformed Church..
Mount Zion United Brethren Churc
Public Schools
St. Bartholomew's Church ,
Townships of Codorus and North CODOBUS
Borough Schools..'
Christ's Reformed Church
Churches
Churches of Jefferson
Church of the United Brethren i Christ
Glenville
Hanover Junction
Historical Notes
Incorporation of Jefferson
Iron Ore Interests
Jefferson Borough
Jefferson Station
New Salem
New Salem Church
Old Roads
Old-time Fairs
Public Schools
St. Jacob's Church
St. Peter's Church
Steltzes' Church
Stoverstown
Stoverstown Church
Taxables in 1783
Union Church
Villages
Ziegler's Church
680
/6^|-
PAGE.
_ Church 700
towNSHip OF Shrewsbury 704
Assessment Roll of 1783 704
Church History 709
Disasters 709
Eminent Citizens 708
Erection of Shrewsbury 707
Evangelical Association 706
First National Bank of Glen Eock... 713
Fissel's Church 712
German Reformed Church 706
Gerry, M. D., Hon. James 708
Glen Rock Borough 711
Incorporation of Glen Rock 712
Industries 707
Industries of Glen Hock 711
Journalism 708
Journalism of Glen Hock 712
Lutheran Churches 706, 710, 713
Methodist Episcopal Churches...707,
709, 713
Military •. 708, 713
New Freedom 714
Public School System- Railroad Borough
713
R'eformed Church 710, 713
St. John's Catholic Church 714
Schools of Glen Rock 712
Secret Societies 710, 713
Shrewsbury Borough 707
Shrewsbury Savings Institution 710
Soldiers of Shrewsbury 707
owHSHip OF Springfield 715
Churches 717
Friedensaals Kirche 717
German Baptist Meeting-house 718
Loganville 715
Loganville Church 718
Mining Interest 719
Mount Zion's Church 718
New Paradise 716
Paradise Church 718
Public Schools 719
Salem Lutheran and Refd Church.. 718
Seven Yalley 716
St. Peter's Reformed Church 717
Topography 715
CowNSHip of York 719
Beth»ny Church 722
Business Places in Dallastown 721
Churches 721
Church of the United Brethren in
Christ 721
Cornet Band 722
Dallastown 7'20
Foundation of Dallastown 720
Incorporation of Dallastown 721
Incorporation of Red Lion 722
Industries of Red Lion 722
Innersville Chapel 723
Longstown 723
Manufacturers 723
Mount Onion Chapel 723
Origin of Name of Dallastown 721
Originof Name of Red Lion... 722
Pine Grove Church 72.3
Public Schools 724
Red Lion Borough 722
Red Lion School Building 723
Residents in 1783 719
Schools 722
St. John's Lutheran and Reformed
Church 720
St. John's Reformed Church 722
St. Joseph's Catholic Church 721
St. Paul's Lutheran and Reformed
Church 721
rowNSHip OF Windsor 724
Bethlehem Church 726
Churches 726
Emanuel's Lutheran and Reformed
Church 726
Frysville 726
Historical and Industrial Notes 728
Iron Ore Interests 727
Locust Grove Church 727
Prison for British and Hessian
Soldiers 728
Public Schools 727
Taxables for 1783 724
Union Church 727
Windsorville 725
Windsor Bethel 727
Zion United Brethren Church 726
Township of Lower Windsor 729
Beard's Tannery 731
Cemetery 732
Churches 732
East Prospect Borough 731
~~Ml.
PAGE.
Ebenezer Church 732
Evangelical Church 731
Fire Insurance Company 732
Historical Notes 733
Iron Ore Interests 733
Lutheran and Reformed Church 730
Margaretta Church 732
New Salem Church 732
North Trinity Church 732
Schools 733
Yorkana 731
Zion's Church of the Evangelical
Association 732
Township of Chahceford 734
Agriculture v 735
Bethel Methodist Episcopal Church. 737
Boundaries 734
Churches 736
First Buildings 734
Guinston United Presbyterian
Church 736
Industries 735
Lockport 736
Lutheran and Reformed Church 737
Mount Pleasant Church 737
New Bridgeville 736
New Harmony Presbyterian Church 737
Public Schools V33
Settlement 734
St. James Church 737
Successful Men 735
The Chapel 737
Topography 734
Trinity Church of the Evangelical
Association 737
Trout, Hon. Valentine 738
Township of Lower Chanceford.. 738
Airville 745
Airville Circuit of the Methodist
Episcopal Church 743
Anecdotes of Rev. Cuthbertson 742
Centreville 745
Historical Personages 747
•- -^all's Ferry 744
Cendree Methodist Episcopal
Church 744
Military 746
Muddy Creek Forks Postoffice 746
Organization 739
Origin of Name 738
Pine Grove Presbyterian Church 743
Pleasant Hill Church 744
Presbyterian Church 741
Public Schools 747
Religious History 741
Remarkable Missionary 742
Salem Methodist Episcopal Church.. 744
Taxable List of 1783 739
Things of the Past.
Union Chapel
United Presbytei ' Woodbi
Ljork Furnace Brid
To^nami' ut IIUi'ETi Agriculture.. Church of the United Brethr
Christ, Winterstown
Cross Roads Postofflce
Historical Notes and Incidents..
Hopewell Centre
Hopewell i ' —
ntroduction Lebanon Lutheran and Reformed
Church ■:
Methodist Episcopal Church, Stew- Mount Olivet Church, Winterstown 1 Presbyterian Church, Stewartstown 5
Sadler's Church ;
Stewartstown Borough '
The "King of the Barrens" '
United Presbyterian Church \
Winterstown Borough '
Zion Methodist Episcopal Church,
Stewartstown '
Township of Fawn '
Centre Presbyterian Church ;
Fawn Grove Academy '
Fawn Grove Borough ;
Fawn Township in 1783 ■;
Friends' Meeting-house ;
Gatchellville ':
New Parke ■;
Prospect Methodist Episcopal
Church ■
Public Schools '
Whiteside Chapel :
Township oV Peach Bottom....
Bryansville
Oalvinistic Methodist Church..
Churches
Cold Cabins
Coulsontown
Historical Notes 769
Kersev, Jesse 770
Peach Bottom Baptist Church 766
Peach Bottom Village and Ferry. ... 764
Public Schools 767
Slate Ridge Presbyterian Church.... 762
Slateville Postofflce 770
Slatevlile Presbyterian Church 764
Slate Quarries 767
Temporary Line 767
Welsh, The 768
Welsh Congregationalist Church 768
West Bangor 768
conclusio.s- 771
Addenda 772
ILLUSTRATIONS— PORTRAITS.
Bailey, W.D 654
Beidler, Baltzer 602
Black, Jere S 452
Campbell, John G 451
Cathcart, Robert 411
Cocklin, Jacob 646
Crider, David W 544
Deininger, C. J 410
Detwiler, D. W 732
Durkee, Daniel 439
Ebaugh, Adam 748
Ebert, Geo D 595
Ebert, Ellas 610
Eichelberger, A. W 339
Fisher, R. J : 441
Frazer, Isaac 628
Gable, L C 459
Gibson, John (Frontispiece)
Hays, M. M 626
Klugh, John 662
Lanius W. H 520
Lederman, Conrad 238
Lochman, A. H 529
Logan, Henry 650
Loucks, Z. K 557
McConkey, James 761
Mayer, John L 450
Miller, Lew
Peda
. M.
Porter, B. F., M. D
Ramsay, Wm. F
Sherwood, Geo. E
Small, Philip A
Small, Samuel
Smyser, E. G
Spangler, E. W
Stuck, Oliver
Weiser, Chas
Wiest, John, M. D
Young, Hiram
Frey, Enos
ILLUSTRATIONS-VIEWS.
Children's Home, York
Cones toga Team
Court House, etc
Exterior of an Old-time Church
Historic Old House
Interior of an Old-time Church
Market House, etc
Market Scene
Masonic Hall, York Borough
Old Court House, etc
Old Friends' Meeting House near Lew-
isberry
Spring Grove Paper Mills
To Church on Horseback
Warrington Meeting House
York Collegiate Institute
York County Academy
Geological Map
Springetsbury Manor
Temporary Boundary Line... Township Map
PART II.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Carroll Township 83
Chanceford Township 89
Codorus Township 93
Conewago Township 94
Dover Township 95
Fairvicw Township 96
Fawn Township 100
Franklin Township 104
Hanover Borough 59
Heidelberg Township 108
Hellam Township 73
Hopewell Township Ill
Jackson Township 117
Lower Chanceford Township 121
Lower Windsor Township 127
PAGE.
Manchester Township 131
Monaghan Township 146
Newberrv Township 150
North Codorus 159
Paradise Township 160
Peach Bottom Township 161
Penn Township 59
'Shrewshurv Township 169
Springfield Township 185
Spring Garden Township 1S7
Warrington Township 194
Washington Township 197
West Manchester Township 199
West Manheinj Township 200
Windsor Township 201
Wrightsville Borough 73
York Borough 3
York Township 203
ILLUSTRATIONS— PORTRAITS.
Eittenger, John W
Black, Chauncey F
Bollinger, O. J
Boyd, Stephen G i
Hammond, Hervey 1.".
Hammond, W. S 15
Heffener, H. W ■>
Kinard, J. W 12
Kocher, S. R 7
Lewis, C. E 3
Myers, E. B II
Noss, Herman ;i
Scott. F. T 4
Seacrist, H j
Seitz, N. Z IS
Spangler, Hamilton 4
Williams, D.G 5
ERRATA.
Springetsbury Manor, page 88, for line 35, and also European Title, page 43, for lines 7 and 8, second column, read "The father of Springet Penn was not the eldest son of the founder. His eldest son was Springet, who died unmarried. His second son, William, was the father of Springet, after whom the manor was named, and he was the youngest child of the founder by his first wife." — F. D. Stone, librarian. Historical Society of Penn- sylvania.
On page 78, first column, line 24, read "1874," instead of "1774." The survey by Thomas G. Cross, Esq., was made for contestants of^land within fifteen years past.
Springetsbury Manor, page 93, read "Blunstone's Licenses" instead "Blumstone's Licenses."
On page 106, line 20, first column read "dictator."
On page 113, second column, line 33, for "say- ing," read "saving."
The Revolution, page 117, second column, first line, read "at the Court House, York."
The Revolution, page 120, first line, second column, after the word "colonies" read "And whereas it appears absolutely irreconcilable to rea- son and good conscience for the people of these colonies, now," etc.
On page 138: "Aid to Baltimore;" on line 21 read "Harford County" instead of "Harvard County."
On page 128, the note citing "Purviance's Nar- rative" should be placed at the foot of the second . column after the letters which are taken from that book.
On page 147, second column, line 15, read "First, Second and Third Pennsylvania Regiments."
On page 147, second column, line 47, strike out thelelter "d" in Capt. McClellan's name; also strike out lines 49 and 50, they' refer to company of Capt. Joseph McClellan.
On page 153, line 36, second column, read "York County" mstead of "Yale County."
On page 155, "Major Denny's Journal," line 41, read "it was designed with that view."
On page 156, in line 45, strike out the word "of " and read "convention prisoners,"
In "Pennsylvania (3ermans," on page 331, sec- ond column, next to last line, read "its" for "is."
Page 334, first column, sixth line, read "Katzen- ellenbogen" for "Katzenellenbegen."
Page 338, second column, eighth line, read "above" for "below."
Page 240, second column, seventh line from bottom, read "Farmers'" for "farmers."
Page 345, second column, read "R. F." for "B." F. Strayer.
Page 356, first column, read "Schindel" for "Schinidel."
Page 367, second column, sixth line from bottom, read "assertions" for "aspirations."
Page 273, second column, lines 36 and 37 from top, read "as" for "an" and "in" for "is."
On page 377 the last word in line 38 should be "now."
On page 383 the word "topography" occurs in- stead of "typography," in thirteenth line from top, first column.
In "Biographies— Bench and Bar," page 448, add "Thomas C. Hambly died on Saturday, September 5, 1885."
On page 468, in foot note, read "Docteur ea-Sci- ences," instead of " Docieures-Sciencea."
On page 465, first line of second paragraph, read "Quaternary," instead of "Quatenary."
On page 467, eighth and ninth lines, from top, first column, read "they are frequently in close proximity to," instead of "they are very generally in close proximity with."
On page 467, thirty-fourth line from top, first column, read "abound on the slope" instead of "abounds," etc.
On page 469, first and second lines of last para- graph, first column, read "We are forced to look to other counties," instead of "AVe are forced to look to other parts of the county."
On page 471, second column, first and second lines, under head of "The Mesozoic Rocks," etc., read "None of the numerous measures of Mesozoic age." instead of "None of the numerous members of Mesozoic rocks."
In the foot note read "I have shown that, calcu- lating by the ordinary method the beds exposed in I Prof. li. D. Rogers' Yarleyville section, * "- * 1 their thickness would appear to be 51,500 feet," etc. ! On page 473, thirteenth line from top, second I column, read "may have been suggested," instead I of "seems to have been suggested," etc. On same j page, read "Detweiler," instead of "Detwieler." ! The foot note, second column, should be on page 474.
CHICAGO: JOHN MORRIS COMPANY, PRINTERS,
118 AND 120 MONROE STREET.
PART I.
GENERAL HISTORY.
BY j-OHiisr GiBSOisr.
THE EARLY SETTLERS— THE ABORIGINES— INDIAN TITLE— EUROPEAN TITLE— BORDER
TROUBLES-THE BOUNDARY LINE-SPRINGETSBURY MANOR-THE FRENCH
AND INDIAN WAR— THE REVOLUTION— CONGRESS— CONTINENTAL
TROOPS-SUBSEQUENT MILITARY HISTORY-WAR FOR
TilT.^ - - - -T'-np ETC., ETC.
THERE is no portion of the ;. i..;;...-. United States in which there is centered more of historic interest than that occupied by the county of York in the State of Pennsylva- nia. The town of York, in the words of LaFay- ette, was "the seat of the American Union in our most gloomy times." In its cemeter- ies lie buried the remains of two of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. But not only during, but before and after, that great event, the American Revolution, the incidents of our history are full of in- terest. The county was organized 136 years ago. Its earliest settlements were made some twenty years before. Throughout the whole period of time since then its progress has been steady and its development com- mensurate with the growth of the American nation. It is the purpose of this history to trace that progress and to study that devel- opment. As a portion of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, York County is largely identified with its early settlement and its social and political progress.
Many of our citizens have had interest enough in the subject to search out for them- selves from available sources, such as the Colonial Records and Pennsylvania Archives, and the collections of the Historical Society, the matters that pertain to our early history. The historians of Lancaster County have furnished some material, inasmuch as the original settlement of our territory was made while it was a part of that county. Such are
the «oiks of I. Daniel Rupp and Rev. D. Humbert — the former of whom also published a history of York County in connection with that of Lancaster. A complete history, how- ever, to its time, was written by Adam J. Glossbrenner, who was assisted in the com- pilation of the work by W. C. Carter, fifty years since — a work well known to the citi- zens of the borough of York, but copies of which are now scarce. The great amount of information contained in it, the accuracy of its details of facts, and the pleasing style of its composition, as well as the curious na- ture of its contents, have made it a noted literary production, and it is now, as the Italians say, rococo in its character. The editor of this book takes pleasure in saying that that history has been to a large extent embodied in this work, with its proper credit. This it well deserved. Wherever available the words of that history have been used, in- stead of taking the carefully compiled infor- mation therein afforded and molding it into other language. Every subsequent at- tempt to portray the early history of this county has been indebted largely to that book. Rupp's History and Day's Annals give it credit for material. The work, therefore, ought to be perpetuated for the benefit of our people. A history of the county was writ- ten, some years since, by M. O. Smith, editor of the Hanover Herald, and published by him in his newspaper by weekly installments. That history faithfully collates facts from all
HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY.
sources, and evidences a very patient investi- gation of the original records and ancient documents, while the simple style of the narrative makes the work attractive. The editor is indebted to that work foT'many points and data. He also takes occasion to say that he has embodied in this history, wherever available, his own historical sketch of the county, delivered on the 4th of July, 1876, and which was published at the time by O. Stuck & Son. — ^The first chapter of the present work shows what people came here to settle and under what auspices, and the form and character of government to which they were accus- tomed when the responsibilities of self- government fell upon them as upon the rest of the people of America. The dealings with the Indians are of interest to us as the de- scendants of those who purchased from them, or contended with them, for the possession of this domain. That remarkable race of men, their manners, their nature, their religion and polity, have so impressed the minds of our people, that societies for the perpetuation of their rites and ceremonies, accompanied with moral teachings derived from their customs, are prevalent in the land, somewhat after the order of speculative Masonry. They are indeed a part of our history.
As hunters and traders in skins, they are more particularly associated with the terri- tory of York County.
The great contest between the Penns and Lord Baltimore involved intricate questions, which diplomacy on a larger scale has hardly ever grappled with. It was a controversy which concerned our people almost exclu- sively, many of whose titles to their lands de- pended upon its determination, and the bor- der troubles arising from which were un- paralleled in history anywhere. It was a coarse age, that of the period of the settle- ment of this county — it was so in England and on the continent of Europe, as contem- porary history shows, and roughness of man- ners and disregard of the claims of others are not worse in their details here than in older countries. \ The efforts to establish a boundary line between the provinces of Penn- sylvania and Maryland, and to fix the status of the settlements on this side of the Susque- hanna River, the peculiar jurisdiction arising from the royal attempt to quiet the disturb- ances by the running of the temporary line with its salvos to the respective proprietors, created curious complications. This is the only locality to which at the time of its impe- tration the royal order of 1738 was applicable. It concerned our people alone of the inhabit-
ants of Pennsylvania, and the establishment of the final boundary line by the agreement of the proprietaries alone determined who were to be Pennsylvanians and who were to be Marylanders. This was the celebrated Mason and Dixon's line, famous once as the line of sectional division of North and South. But for us it constitutes the entire southern boundary of the county, and fixed the domi- cile of those persons who lived upon the border.
The manor of Springetsbury, which com- prises within its limits the city of York, in- volved in its surveys and settlement many interesting questions of title, passed upon by the highest tribunals of Pennsylvania and of the United States. The origin of this manor and its bounds was at one time a matter of great importance, for after the Eevolution, the right to the lands was contested by the Commonwealth itself. /
The part taken by our people in the great wars of the nation was common to the people of the United States, and the narrative shows that we were not behind any in devotion to our country. The period of the Revolution as its events centered around York, is rife with incidents of the deepest interest. For the greater part of those extracts from con- temporary memoirs and chronicles, which so enliven the scenes that were enacted here, the editor is indebted to Martin S. Eichelberger, Esq., of York, who has evinced great zeal in the collection and preservation of historical incidents and events connected with our local history.
j In the war for the maintenance of the Union, as in the war of the Revolution, the borough and county of York contributed to
1 all branches of the service their full comple- ment, while the events that took place here have made it a center of more than ordinary historic interest. To this branch of the general history, as well as to other portions of the same which claimed special notice, complementary and entertaining papers have been contributed by competent writers — as also biographies of those worthies who are inseparable from our history.
The fashion of late has been to compose
; what are called popular histories, that is, of the people, to tell what that once unknown factor has done toward the development of the national prosperity. This work is in- tended to be such, and its entire scope must therefore be taken together. The agricult- ural, mechanical and mercantile progress of our people, and all the pursuits of ordinary life, are combined to present a bright page
I in the general history of the nation.
THE EAELY SETTLERS.
^^ THE EARLY SETTLERS. rJ^HE English, who came over to this conti- rjL nent with William Perm, came from a spirit of adventure. Indeed, the conditions or concessions as to grants of land in the prov- ince were agreed upon between the proprie- tary and those who were styled " adventurers and purchasers." The immediate followers of William Penn came on a mission of good will to man, and to found a mighty empire, guided by that inner light, which is the foundation of all true liberty and govern- ment— a government not of forms made for the people, but by the people for themselves. The language of the jaroprietaries was : ' ' We lay a foundation for after ages to understand their liberty as Christians and as men, that they may not be brought into bondage but by their own consent; for we put the power in THE PEOPLE."* \ The belief in spiritual guid- ance and the religious fervor of the society of Friends, made not simply an enthusiast, but an apostle, of the great founder of this commonwealth. He sought out those who were oppressed for conscience' sake. A few years before he obtained his charter he had visited that portion of the continent of Eu- rope which to many of our people is most deaT and famous, the Palatinate upon the Rhine. He sympathized with the Swiss re- formers and others who had taken refuge there; and when that fertile country was made the scene of devastating wars, when their Elector, Frederick V, could not main- tain his principality, and the armies of Louis XIV, under Marshal Turenne, caused the people to experience the worst calamities of lire and sword, and were compelled to flee frona their homes, they found an asylum by his invitation on these shores. A number of Mennonites went to England in 1707 and made an agreement with William Penn, at London, for taking up lands.f Thus com- menced that great German emigration that made the English fear that their new land would be possessed by aliens ; but which added to the stability of the province and became the means of its agricultural wealth. The forests disappeared before that people, and, as has been said, like the lichens and mosses of nature, they fastened themselves to the fertile soil where they were planted, and the agricultural regions of this common- wealth where they settled are the boast of Pennsylvanians. They seem to have paid iittle attention at first to the political features
'Bancroft.
t ni Col. Rec. 374. Eupp's Hist. Lane. Co. p. 74.
I of their new home. They accepted the free- dom they enjoyed as a means of exercising their industry, and of practicing their thrift. They seemed to dwell apart from others, and formed, as it were, a separate population, and in many portions of the State, to this t day, they are distinguishable from their fel- I low citizens, maintaining a language pecul- iarly their own. For a long time, with conversation and books in German, they and their children were ignorant of the English tongue. They preserved their usages, "'and held among themselves the superstitions of the peasantry of the land from which they came.* The howl of the dog, the hoot of the owl, the croak of the raven were to them prognostics of evil. They believed in dreams, love spells and charms, and in incantations for the relief of aches and hemorrhages. Sorcery and witchcraft were as much matters of reality to them as to the New Euglander. The horse- shoe nailed to the door was fatal to the witch, and the tail or ear of the black cat or young dog would counteract the mach- inations of the sorcerer.f Some of these superstitions in a modified foriTi linger amongst their descendants in these days of education.
Yet, with all this, they were firm in their religious faith. Their preachers came with them, taught in the schools of the Reformers. Churches were established at once, and it re- quired no laws, like the Blue Laws, to com- pel their attendance on the services. They were Lutherans and German Reformed, and among them were Mennonites and Amish. The latter had come over in the first immi- gration and remained where they had settled in the territory now comprising the counties of Berks, Lancaster, and Lebanon. Those who subsequently crossed over into what is now York County, were generally orthodox followers of Luther and Zwingli. The im- press of their worship and theology has a per- manent hold here that cannot be displaced.
When licenses to settle opened the rich regions of Codorus and Kreutz Creeks to them, they at once occupied the choice places, extending their settlements toward the site of the jjresent borough of Hanover. The names of the beautiful cities of Mannheim and Heidelberg, capitals of the country from which they principally came, are remembered in the townships bearing these names. Man- heim is one of the original townships of the county. The Rhenish Palatinate, and places adjacent, have furnished the ancestors of many of those citizens of York County who now
HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY.
constitute its principal families in wealth and culture. If one visits that section of Europe, he will find those same idioms of speech which are the peculiar features of the celebrated Pennsylvania Dutch lan- guage, except so far as they may have been corrupted by Germanized Anglicisms or Americanisms.
On the 2d of January, 1738, Gov. Thomas, in a message to the General Assembly, said: "This province has been for some years the asylum of distressed Protestants of the Palatinate, and other parts of Ger- many, and I believe it may with truth be said, that the present flourishing condition of it is in a great measure owing to the in- dustry of those people; and should any dis- couragement divert their coming hither, it may well be apprehended that the value of your lands will fall, and your advances to wealth be much slower, for it is not alto- gether the goodness of the soil, but the num- ber and industry of the people that make a flourishing country." To which the Assembly replied: "We are of opinion with the Gov- ernor that the flourishing condition of this province is in part owing to the importation of Germans, and other foreigners; but we beg leave to say, that it is chiefly to be ascribed to the lenity of our government, and to the sobriety and industry of the first settlers of this country, and of the other British sub- jects inhabiting the same." *
The jealousy of foreigners expressed by the English settlers was soon diverted b}' another class of immigrants, whose antagon- ism to the views of the Friends was more to be apprehended than the aggregation of Germans. This was the Scotch-Irish, a people of peculiarly marked character. They were the descendants of the Scotch •and perhaps English, who had been settled a century before in the province of Ulster, in the north of Ireland. James I had parceled out that part of Ireland to Scot- tish and English settlers in the early part of the seventeenth century, which is known in history as the plantation of Ulster. And later, after the Restoration, when Charles II attempted to introduce Epis- copacy into Scotland, many of the Coven- anters took refuge in the north of Ireland. And still later, when the Union was formed between the kingdoms of England and Scot- land in 1707, in the reign of Queen Anne, f the dissatisfied seeeders took refuge in the same country. The province of Ulster be- came a flourishing and enlightened part of
1 the "Green Isle," where the Presbyterians obtained control. From thence the more ad- venturous sought a more secure asylum here. Of the counties of the province of Ulster, Monaghan is the only name which is fixed in the county of York, being one of the original i townships; while in that portion of the ' county which was afterward made the county I of Adams, are the names Menallen, Tyrone and Strabane. The Scotch-Irish were a hardy and brave race. They are described as hot- headed, excitable, invincible in prejudices, warmly attached to friends, and bitter antag- onists to enemies; the hand opened as impe- tuously to the one as it clenched against the other. They were Calvinistic in faith, and haters of prelacy, as they venerated Calvin and Knox. They lost none of these character- istics here. They did not respect the Quak- ers and they hated the Indians.*
Their ancestors had experienced persecu- I tion on the hills of Scotland, and the world : owes much to those barren heights and to the sturdy Covenanters who came from them, and passed through many trials for freedom and the rights of man. This people, in their set- tlements, did not locate on the rich limestone lands, which it was said were liable to frost and heavily wooded, but found their way to the barrens and red lands, to which they were accustomed, and which their sturdy in- 1 dustry has made fertile. They have been the progenitors of statesmen and of lawyers of { distinction and influence, who have been the peers of any in the world, and whose intel- lect and energy have molded the free institutions of America. Such men as James Smith, James Koss, Hugh H. Breckenridge, : James Buchanan and Jeremiah S. Black are • numbered among them.
i From these two peoples, the Germans and ' the Scotch-Irish, are descended the larger ' portion of the inhabitants of this county. At the time of its settlement, the population ' of Pennsylvania by immigration, principally from Germany and the north of Ireland, was increasing at the rate of 5,000 or 6,000 a year. That of the Scoth-Irish began about 1715, and the number annually increased to such an extent that the Provincial Secretary, in writing to the proprietaries, says : "It ' looks as if Ireland is to send all her inhabi- tants, for last week not less than six ships arrived, and every day two or three arrive I also. The common fear is that they crowd where they are not wanted." So the Scotch- Irish possibly thought of the Germans. By reason of feuds, in 1749, between the Germans and Irish in York County, the proprietaries
* Introductory Memoir-supra.
THE EAKLY SETTLERS.
instructed their agents, in order to prevent further difficulties and disturbances, not to selJ any more lands in York County to the Irish, but to hold out strong inducements by advantageous overtures to settle in the north, in the Kittaning Valley.*
We must not overlook the fact that the peculiar people to vfhom the colonization of Pennsylvania is due, had some settlers here. The hills of Newberry were found by the Friends, who came from Chester and planted themselves on that land known as Sir William Keith's Tract. There still linger among the inhabitants of that section and the surround- ing region of country some of their peculiar marks. One is that of affirmations in courts of justice instead of the oath on the Book.
These people were peacemakers and were opposed to war. Yet their descendants could not long maintain their peaceful attitude, for that section of country was subject in some degree to incursions of the Indian. That race, whom the followers of Penn had made friendly, appeared in tierce and deadly array as the allies of the French, and the Friends here upon the border imbibed to some extent the martial spirit of their fellow- citizens?? /But there will be occasion here- after to n&te, in passing, the embarrassments of the province on account of the anti -bel- ligerent principles of the Friends, as well as of large bodies of Germans, whose religious faitl^ contained the same doctrines regarding war.j
~ It seems strange to us, of the present day, that the religious peculiarities of the original settlers upon the soil of Pennsylvania should be so expressly noted. But the history of the seventeenth century, in which the colony of Pennsylvania was planted, was that of struggles for religious freedom. In England, dissenters of all kinds had boldly proclaimed their opinions and had been subjected to punishment for them, and the Covenanters of Scotland had been hunted in their recesses by the armies of the king. While the greater struggles around monarchical thrones were can-ied on by Catholic and Protestant, the quiet religionists like the Quakers and the Anabaptists were securely working their way among the peasantry. A sympathetic feeling extended itself from land to land, and hence, when the colonization of this great common- wealth began, immigration was opened to those peasants, to a country where they could worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences, and enabled them to become that power in political life known as the People. Religious toleration became at
*Egle's Hist. Penn., Cumb. Co., p. 615. Gordon's Prf. 241-2.
once in Pennsylvania a fundamental princi- ple, and that, rather than political freedom, had been the real object of its first settlement. The wars that devastated Europe so many years had been religious wars. They had ceased at the time when this history begins. There was the dawn of a new era. The pol- itical rights of the individual had begun to clamor for recognition. The opening of the eighteenth century had already changed the aspect of afl'airs. The treaty of Utrecht had ended the war of the Spanish succession, which placed Philip V on the throne of Spain. Louis XIV, the grand moiiarque, had calmly passed from earth, and from the State of which he had declared himself the impersonation. Charles XII of Sweden had fallen by the fatal cannon ball in Nor- way, soon after,
" On dread Pultowa's awful day, When fortune left the royal Swede." Peter the Great had founded his mighty empire, and hitherto barbarous Enssia had taken its place among the powers of Europe. The Scottish and English union had been formed, constituting the kingdom of Great Britain. The second king of the House of Hanover, George II, had ascended the throne. There was a period of peace on the continent of Europe, and democratic ideas had begun their advance — an advance which before the close of the century secured the independence of the American colonies and plunged a great nation on the continent of Europe into a state of anarchy — a nation, which, after suc- cessive periods of democratic and monarch- ical rule, has at length become an established republic. Even as a monarchy, France had helped our people to republican freedom.
/The government of Pennsylvania had been established on a purely democratic basis. It had been instituted by William Penn, with the advice of one of the noblest and wisest of men, Algernon Sidney. The right of popu- lar representation was enjoyed to some extent in all the other colonies, but the system of Penn was a holy experiment — the experiment of a commonwealth in which the whole power lay with the people, the trial of a pure democracy, to bear witness to the world that there is in human nature virtue sufficient for self government.* The gi'eat founder had died in 1718, some years before the first set- tlers crossed the Susquehanna River into our territory. They came on this side of the river with his principles of government tixed for them in theii-- new homes. An account of the organization of the govern- ment of the province will show how speedily
*Dixon's Life of Penn.
HISTORY or YOEK COUNTY.
the hold of the people on its administration was secured. On the 4th of March, 1681, Charles II had constituted William Penn proprietary of the land in America, which the monarch himself named Pennsylvania. In 1682 Penn visited the country, landing at Newcastle on the 27th of October. He called an assembly of the freemen, which met at Chester on the 4th day of December, and which though it continued in session but four days, passed Jaws for the government of the prov- ince. He then divided the territory into three counties, namely, Pliiladelphia, Bucks and Chester. Writs were issued for the election of members of the Council and Assembly provided by the charter — three from each county for the Council and nine for the Assembly. This Council and Assem- bly met for the first time on the 10th of March, 1683, and over the Council the pro- prietary himself jsresided, giving personal assent to its transactions. These represent- atives sooQ manifested jealousy of their rights. The Frame of Government under the charter had provided for a number not exceeding seventy-two for the Provincial Council and 200 for the Assembly. This included the three lower counties, as they were called, namely, Newcastle, Kent and Sussex, which had been annexed as Territories to the Prov- ince. It was supposed that the seventy-two chosen by the writs issued had the power of the whole freemen of the Province and Ter- ritories and so were capable of serving as a Provincial Council and General Assembly and thus hinder the people from the benefit of the charter. The Governor answered "that they might amend, alter or add for the public good, and that he was ready to settle such foundations as might be for their hap- piness and good of their posterities accord- ing to ye powers vested in him."* The number was to be increased by the governor, council and freemen, in Provincial Coun- cil and Assembly met. A new charter of privileges was granted by the proprietary in 1701, which was approved and agreed to by the Assembly and Council. This allows four members out of each county for the Assem- bly. The three lower counties did not accept the charter and separated themselves from the province, hence the representation was increased to eight members from each county. The Assembly had by the last charter been given the right to sit upon its own adjourn- ments, and could not be dissolved during the term for which it was elected. It passed bills of every character, took upon itself the reorganization of the judiciary, refused to
vote supplies or not, at its pleasure, and claimed the right generally to meddle ' with
the affairs of state, and assuming full leg- islative power, the government virtually fell under its control.* Settlers in all parts of the province were thus, from the start, accus- tomed to the right of suffrage, not alone for the purpose of representation, for the right had also been extended to the choice of sher- iff and coroners in each county, at least to name the persons from among whom these officers should be selected, a century and a half in advance of the mother country, which has not even yet attained to popular suffrage in representation. The great Reform Bill did partially relieve the jaeople of Great Britain from the oppressions of government, but the property qualifications still exist. There was no test here for holding office but a belief in Christianity. The Friends held, the wealth of the province and the control of the Assembly. The Episcopalians were the next in influence, though not numerous."}" In addition to the religious denominations of Germans already mentioned, the Moravi- ans claimed consideration, and there after- ward sprang up the sect of the Dunkers and the Menists.
The very first law passed by the General Assembly of the Province was "The Law concerning Liberty of Conscience,"" and though repealed by the Council, there was a similar law passed on the 14th of October, 1705. So when the first Roman Catholic Church was built on Walnut Street, Phila- deljjhia, in 1734, and Gov. Gordon objected that it was contrary to the laws of England, passed in the reign of William III, the Council doubted whether the act of 1705, passed in the fourth year of Queen Anne, was repealed. Besides, it was contended that there was warrant for the provincial law in the charter of privileges. The church there- fore remained.^ " This " says Hildi'eth, "was the only Catholic Church allowed in any Anglo-American colony prior to the Rev- olution." The act of William and Mary seems to have been in force in Maryland; though by a law of 1704. chapels were al- lowed in private houses, or where they were under ^a common roof.§
[It will thus be seen how religious and political freedom had been already established in the province, at the time of the commence- ment of our history. Before any authorized settlements were made on the west side of the Susquehanna, the county of Lancaster had
HiWreth's Historr, U. S. III. Col. Eec, pa'ge 563. Hist, of Bait. Sharff.
THE EARLY SETTLERS.
.befin organized in tbe year 1729. In the spring of that same year the first settlements were made, under the authority of the government, in what is now called York County. During the interval of time from 1729 to its organization in 1749, oar- people had their representation in the Assembly as citizens of Lancaster County. Among the Delegates during that period were John Wright and Samuel Blunston, who were Quakers, and who are so well known in the history of the province and of this county, as foremost men in Indian affairs and in re- sistance of Maryland encroachments. The history of that period of time on our soil is of the most intense interest, and forms a very considerable part of the trials of the early settlers. John Wright and Samuel Blunston were in the commission of the peace, and were by virtue of their oiSce Justices of the Courts of Quarter Sessions. In pursuance of an act of Assembly in 1739, providing for the division of Lancaster County into districts, the first district was constituted of Hempfield, Lancaster and Hellam Townships.* This last named appears to have been the fir.st township formed in the territory now York County, and was the seat of the fiercest border contests. In 1741 the town of York was laid off on the Codorus Creek, within Springetsbury Manor, and became a center of renown and enterprise. During this same interval of time, namely, between the time of the first settlement and the county organization, .there were born men who were destined to take conspicuous part in the affairs of the county and of our coun- try's history. James Ewing was born in Manor Township, Lancaster County, in 1736. Henry Miller was born in Lancaster City in 1741. Thomas Hartley was born near Reading in 1748. John Clark was born iu Lancaster in 1751, just two years after the formation of the county of York. The names of these patriots suggest reflections upon the spirit- stii'ring times in which they lived and acted. /'"York took a very prominent part in the frans- "actions of those day.?, as will be seen here- after. The Revolution occurred scarcely forty years after the settlement of the county, and the eloquence of that period does not alone belong to the Roundheads and Cavaliers of Massachusetts and Virginia. The Scotch- Irish of Pennsylvannia seconded with voice and pen the great struggle for freedom, and the rolls of honor contain numerously the names of their descendants, as also of those of Palatine ancestors.
*Rupp, 274. . .,' . > I. -■,,%!= -^
THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS.
/The following interesting account of the earTy settlers is copied from Glossbrenner's History of York County, 1834: >'' '{Kreidz CreeM-^The first settlements in this county were made on Kreutz Creek* and in the neighborhood where Hanover now stands. Before the erection of the county of Lancaster in 1729, a number of persons resided on tracts of land lying on the west side of the Susquehanna, within the bounds of what is now York County. These persons remained, however, but a short time on the lands they occupied — were not allowed to warm ia the nests on which they had squatted — and may not be looked upon as the progenitors of the present possessors of the soil of York County. They were known only as '^Maryland intruders?' and were removed in the latter end of the year 1728, by order of the Deputy-Governor and Coun- cil, at the request of the Indians, and in con- formity with their existing treaties. '*In the spring of 1729 John and James Hendricks, under the authority of Govern- ment, made the first authorized settlements in what is now called York County. They occupied the ground from which some fam- ilies of squatters had been removed, some- where about the bank of Kreutz Creek. They were soon followed by other families, who settled at a distance of about ten or twelve miles west and southwest of them.
"The earliest settlers were English; these were, ho^vever, succeeded by vast numbers of German emigrants. It is a remarkable fact, that, when the first settlements were made in this county, the greater portion of the lands in the eastern and southeastern part of it were destitute of large timber. In sections where now the finest forests of large timber stand, miles might then have been traversed without the discovery of any vegetable production of greater magnitude than scnrboak; and in many places even that diminutive representa- tive of the mighty monarch of the forest was not to be found. This nakedness of the country was generally, andwe have no doubt correctly, attributed to a citstom which pre- vailed among the aboriginal owners of the soil, of annually or biennially destroying by fire all vegetation in particular sections of
* Some persons say that the proper name of this creek is Kreis' Creek, from "an early settler near its mouth, whose name was George Kreis. But others with greater appearance of | triitli sav that the common name is the correct one. It is called Kreutz Oreek not from a man of the same name, as some assert, but on account of the union of two streams, and thereby the formation of wliat the Germans call a Kruetz li. e. a cross). In the return of a survey made in 1722, it is called the " White Oak Branch." It had, however, no certain name until about year 1736, when numerous German settlements were made or
18
HISTORY OF YOEK COUiSTTY.
the country for the purpose of increasing the i facilities of hunting.
"Most of the German emigrants settled in the neighborhood of Kreutz Creek, while the English located themselves in the neigh- borhood of the Pigeon Hills. In the whole of what was called the 'Kruetz Creek Settle- ment,' (if we except Wrightsville) there was but one English family, that of William Morgan.
"The early inhabitants of the Kreutz Creek region were clothed, for some years, alto- gether in tow cloth, as wool was an article not to be obtained. Their dress was simple, consisting of a shirt, trowsers and a frock. During the heat of summer, a shirt and trowsers of tow formed the only raiment of the inhabitants. In the fall the tow frock was superadded. "When the cold of winter was before the door, and Boreas came rush- ing from the north, the dress was adapted to the season by increasing the number of frocks, so that in the coldest part of the winter some of the sturdy settlers were wrapped in four, five or even more frocks, which were bound closely about their loins, usually with a string of the same material as the garments.
" But man ever progresses, and when sheep were introduced, a mixture of tow and wool was considered an article of luxury. But tow was shortly afterward succeeded by cot- ton, and then linsey-woolsey was a piece of the wildest extravagance. If these simple, plain and honest worthies could look down upon their descendants of the present day, they would wonder and weep at the change of men and things. If a party of them could be spectators at a ball of these times in the borough of York and see silks and crapes, and jewels, and gold, in lieu of tow frocks and linsey-woolsey finery, they would scarcely recognize their descendants in the costly and splendid dresses before them; but would, no doubt, be ready to imagine that the nobles and princes of the earth were assembled at a royal bridal. But these honest progenitors of ours have passed away, and left many of us, we fear, with nothing but the names they bore to mark us their descendants.
"But all of good did not die with them. If they would find cause of regret at the depart- ure from their simplicity and frugality, they would find much to admire in the improved aspect of the country, the rapid march of improvement in the soil of their adoption. Where they left unoccupied land, they would find valuable plantations, and thriving vil- lages, and temples dedicated to the worship of the God of the Christians. Where they left a
field covered with brushwood, they would find a flourishing and populous town. The Codorus, whose power was scantily used to propel a few inconsiderable mills, they would see with its banks lined with large and valuable grist- mills, saw-mills and fulling-mills; they would find the power of its water used in the man- ufacture of paper and wire, and they would find immense arks of lumber and coal floating on its bosom from the Susquehanna to the very doors of the citizens of a town whose existence commenced after their departure from toil and from the earth.
" But to return to the situation of these early settlers. For some time after these early set- tlements were made, there was neither a shoe- maker nor a tanner, in any part of what is now York County. A supply of shoes for family use was annually obtained from Phil • adelphia; itinerant cobblers, traveling from one farm-hoase to another, earned a liveli- hood by mending shoes. These cobblers car- ried with them such a quantity of leather as they thought would be wanted in the district of their temporary visit. The first settled and established shoe-maker in the county was Samuel Landys, who had his shop somewhere on Kreutz Creek. The first, and for a long time the only tailor, was Valentine Heyer, who made clothes for men and women. The first blacksmith was Peter Gardner. The first schoolmaster was known by no other name than that of ' Der Dicke Sohulmeister.' The first dwelling houses of the earliest set- tlers were of wood; and for some years no other material was used in the construction. But about the year 1735 John and Martin Shultz each built a stone dwelling house ou Kreutz Creek, and in a few years the example was numerously followed." Glossbrenner's History gives us the further information of the time it was written, in regard to the early settlements.
" Settlements of 'The Barrens.'— For sev- eral years after the settlements were made in the neighborhood of Pigeon Hills, and on Kreutz Creek, the inhabitants of those regions were the only whites in the county. But about the years 1734, 1735, 1736, a number of families from Ireland and Scotland settled in the southeastern part of the county, in what is now known as the ' York Bai-rens. ' These families consisted principally of the better order of peasantry — were a sober, industrious, moral, and intelligent people — and were for the most part rigid Presby- terians. Their manner partook of that sim- plicity, kindness and hospitality which is so characteristic of the class to which they belonged in their native countries.
THE EARLY SETTLERS.
19
"The descendants of these people still retain the lands which their respectable progenitors chose upon their arrival in York County. And we are happy to add, that the present inhabitants of the inappropriately named 'Barrens' inherited, with the lands of their forefathers, the sobriety, industry, intelligence, morality and hospitable kindness of their predecessors.
" The townships comprised in the ' Barrens ' are Chanceford, Fawn, Peach Bottom, Hope- ; well, and part of Windsor, and from the ] improvements which have of late years been I made in the agriculture of these townships, the soil is beginning to present an appear- | ance which is entirely at variance with the idea a stranger would be induced to form of a section of country bearing the unpromising j name of ' Barrens. '
" Before the commencement of the improve- I ments in farming recently introduced, the ' mode of tilling which generally prevailed was ruinous. Having abundance of wood- land, the practice was to clear a field every season. Wheat was uniformly the first crop, of which the yield was from eighteen to twenty bushels per acre. The second crop was rye, then corn, then oats. After going through this course, it was left for a year or two, and then the course began again; this was contin- ued until the soil would produce nothing. But most of the farmers have, as we have said, much ameliorated the condition of their lands, by the adoption of a better system of culture.
" Having introduced the first settlers of the 'Barrens,' we shall defer further remark upon this section of country, while we return to ' olden time,' and look after the early set- tlers of other parts of the county. We have now settled the eastern, southeastern and southwestern parts of the county, and leave the settlers 'hard at it,' while we take a view of the north and northwest.
r SETTLEMENT OF NEWBERRY AND THE ADJOINING TOWNSHIPS.
"About the same time that the 'Barrens' were settled by Irish and Scottish emigrants, Newberry Township and the circumjacent region was settled by a number of families from Chester County, who, under the auspi- cious influence of that spirit of peace and amity which had been spread abroad by the wise and excellent proprietary of Pennsylva- nia, sate themselves down here and there in a few rudely constructed cabins, surrounded on all sides by the still more rude wigwams of their aboriginal neighbors. Thomas Hall, John McFesson, Joseph Bennet, John Ran- kin and Ellis Lewis were the first persons to
visit this section of the county; and having selected the valley in which the borough of Lewisberry is situated, they gave it the name of the 'Red Lands,' from the color of the soil, and 'red rock,' on which it is based. By this name it was principally known to them and their eastern friends for many years. It was by a descendant of Ellis Lewis that Lewisberry was laid out — and it is from Joseph Bennet that the main stream which winds its devious way through the valley derives its name of ' Bennet's Run.'
"An anecdote is related of Bennet, Ran- kin and Lewis, connected with their first visit to the 'Red Lands.' Having arrived at the eastern bank of the Susquehanna River, and there being no other kind of craft than canoes to cross in, they fastened two together and. placing their horses with their hinder feet in one and their fore feet in the other, thus paddled to the shore, at the imminent peril of their lives.
"This section of the country, naturally productive, had suffered a material deterio- ration of quality, and was indeed almost ' worn out ' by a hard system of tillage, when the introduction of clover and plaster, in the year 1800, established a new era in the hus- bandry of the neighborhood, and gradually produced a considerable amelioration of the soil. At present the spirit of ' liming ' is gaining ground rapidly in Newberry and the adjoining townships, and promises very fairly to effect a material increase of productive- ness. There is also a great change of sys- tem in the husbandry of this section which is doing much for the land. Formerly the farmer depended mainly upon keeping a large stock, and enriching his land by the manure which he would be thus enabled to make, at the expense of all the hay and grass on the farm. At present he keeps a compar- atively small stock, except where there are extensive meadows, and depends more upon plowing down a clover lay and liming. It is to be remarked also that this quantity of manure is not lessened by this curtailment of the stock of his farm ; but with care may in fact thus be increased, and his land greatly benefited. For instead of putting all his hay and straw into them, he turns some under with the plow, leaves some to shade the ground, and saves a goodly portion to put under them.
' ' We have now fairly settled those parts of the county which were, the first to be in- habited by the whites. Those parts of which we have made no mention in noticing the early settlements were not in fact taken up by the immigrants to York County; but be-
20
HISTOEY OF YORK COUNTY.
came populated from the stock which we have introduced to our readers. In the course of time the Kreutz Greek settlement increased in population, and gave inhabitants to a large tract of country surrounding it, including parts of Hellam, Spring Garden, York and Shrewsbury Townships. The few early settlers of the region in which Han- over stands gave population to several town- ships in that quarter of the county. The number of families in the 'Red Lands' and thereabout was for some time annually aug- mented by fresh emigrants from Chester County, the small portion of territory at first chosen became too small for the increased population, and the whole northern division of the county, comprising Newberry, Fair- view, Monaghan, AVarrington, Franklin and Washington Townships, were partially set- tled as early as 1740-50."*
"Mills there were none for the first few years — the people being obliged to cross the Sus- quehanna for their flour and meal. Even from the Conowago settlement, Digges' choice (now Hanover) the long journey was made. Andrew Schriver, an early settler in that neighborhood, (whose first dwelling in this county, by the way, was a haystack), used to relate to wondering auditors, in his old age, how he tied his clothes on the top of his head, lighted his pipe and forded the Susquehanna. Roads being almost unknown, wagons and carriages were not much used, journeys be- ing made on horse-back. While the Indians were generally peaceable, great caution was used to avoid injmy from the drunken or vicious among the sons of the forest, while away from home on these journeys, "f
"It did not take long to build a house in those days. Logs were felled and hewed of the pi'oper length, and arranged with a friendly aid into the frame work of a one- roomed log-cabin. A roof of puncheons rudely shaped with the broad axe was placed upon it, and an outside chimney of stone and sticks, filled in with clay, adorned one end of the edifice. The interstices between the. logs were then plastered up with mud and moss, a door, and an aperture for a window added, and, if the building were a luxurious one, a puncheon floor, and the house was done. A block or two served for stools; a broad slab of timber for a table; a rude frame work for a couch. Here in one chamber would sleep all the family; here was their kitchen; here did they eat. In some more elegant e.stablishments, a double cabin or even a loft was to be found. A few wooden
bowls and trenchers, some spoons carved from a horn, a calabash and an iron pot, with two or three forks and knives, completed the sim- ple furniture, China or even ordinary delf ware was unknown in those times; a few pack horses in their annual journey were the only means of communication with the seaboard. For food, the chief reliance was upon the product of the chase, the corn, pumpkins and potatoes which were cultivated upon the little farm and the invariable dish of pork. No settler was without his drove of swine, and ' hog and hominy' is still a proverbial expression for Western fare. Their cows yielded them milk; and corn meal either ground by hand or pounded in a wooden mortar, furnished their only bread."*
' ' The most important feature of a new set- tlement, was, however, its fort. This was simply a place of resort for the people when the Indians were expected, and consisted of a range of contiguous log-cabins, protected by a stockade and perhaps a block-house or two. It was chiefly in the summer and fall that the approach of the savage was to be dreaded. Families would move into the-i fort. Panics would crowd the inland towns, "f /
THE ABORIGINES.
rvTTHEN William Penn visited the province <S/\ in 1682, the great treaty of amity and peace was made with the nations of the Lenni Lenape Indians, at Shakamaxon, under the historic elm, marked now by a monument within the limits of the city of Philadelphia. In the spring of 1683, he visited the interior of the province, going as far west as the Sus- quehanna, where he contemplated founding a great city. This conception was almost re- alized when Wright's Ferry was- nearly deter- mined upon as the site for the National Capital, and possibly it has been fully real- izeil in the opinion of the present inhabitants of the State Capital. During the period of his second visit to the province, he formed a treaty of amity and trade with the tribes on the Susquehanna, from whom he had already obtained grants of land, through Col. Don- gan, of New York. This treaty, which opened the way for settlements as far as the Susquehanna, was made by William Penn in person, at Philadelphia, on the 23d of April, 1701, with the Indians inhabiting upon and
*Introductory Memoir to Braddock's Expeditiou. ^"^
tibid.
THE ABORIGINES.
about that river, and an ambassador from the Five Nations. By this last mentioned treaty, the parties were to be hereafter " as one head and heart, and live in true friendship and amity as one laeople." The articles confirmed the friendship of the parties, and a firm and lasting peace between them, and bound each never to injure the other. The kings and chiefs were to be subject to the laws of the government of the province, and not to aid or abet its enemies; to give notice of all designs of hostile Indians, and not to admit strange Indians to settle in the prov- ince. William Penn, for himself and his successors, agreed not to permit any per- son to trade or converse with any of the Indians, except upon approval under his hand and seal. No skins or furs were to be sold out of the province, and the treaty oth- erwise regulated their trade. The Indians confirmed the sales, already made, of lands lying near and about the Susquehanna. In confirmation of these articles, the parties made mutual presents to each other of skins, on the part of the Indians, and of articles of merchandise, on the part of the English, " as a binding pledge of the promises never to be broken or violated."*
The treaty of Shakamaxon is altogether traditional, and though the theme of art and story, is, by many, deemed mythical, but this treaty with the Susquehanna tribes is in writ- ing, under hand and seal, and is lodged among the archives of the province. The record states that the kings and chiefs had arrived in town two days ago, with their great men and In- dian Harry as their interpreter, with some of their young people, women and children, to the number of about forty, and that after a treaty and several speeches, the articles were sol- emnly agreed on.-f At the time of the treaty of April 23, 1701, according to the minutes of/the Provincial Council, the representatives present of the several tribes are named as follows: Connodaghtoh, King of the Susque- hanna, Minguay or Conestogoe Indians; Wopaththa (alias Opessah),King of the Shaw- anese; Weewhinjough, chief of the Gan- awese, inhabiting at the head of the Patow- meck; also, Ahoakassough, brother to the Emperor or Great King of the Onondagoes of the Five Nations. The first named are further described in the articles of agreement " as Indians inhabiting upon and about the River Susquehanna. There was a tribe known to the early colonists as Susquehan- nas, who occupied the territory along that river to its source, for some hundreds of
years. They are said to have been a power- ful nation and considerably advanced in the arts of civilization and war, which is evi- denced by the mounds and fortifications existing where they inhabited.^ They had terrible wars with the Five Nations, and were not only conquered by the latter, but, according to the authorities, utterly exter- minatedi'T",: The lands along the river fell under the control of the Five Nations just about the time of the first visit of William Penn to his province. The Five Nations consisted of the Mohawks, the Oueidas, the Onondagoes, the Cayugas and the Senecas, and afterward became the Six Nations, by the addition of the Tuscaroroes. These nations were sometimes called Mengwes, otherwise spelled Minguays. Hence, as in the treaty, the name Miuguay-Susquehanna Indians. In documents of the period we also find those settled at Conestogoe styled Seneca-Susque- hanna Indians.^ At this same treaty of 1701, an ambassador of the Emperor of the Five Nations, a king of the Onondagos, was present. Therefore, the settlement at Cones- togoe was evidently planted by the Five Na- tions after their conquest of the Susquehan- nas. The names of all the tribes of that confederacy are mentioned, more or less, by contemporaries, as applying to the Indians settled there, but they were known in a body as the Conestogoe Indians.
The Shawanese mentioned in the treaty were some three or four score of families, who came from Carolina in 1698, and applied for leave of the Conestogoe Indians and of William Penn to settle in Pennsylvania, and leave was granted them. They promised to live in peace and friendship, and the Cones- togoes became sureties for their good behav- ior to the Government.§ Others of this people subsequently settled at Conestogoe and some about Wyoming. About 1738 they were estimated at 700 fighting braves, and turned out to be among the fiercest of those tribes whose savage treachery is so well known in the sad history of that valley. The Ganawese, as is mentioned in the treaty, in- haEHedTTn'and about the northern part of the river Potomac. They had come into the province by leave and were once known as Piscataway Indians. Having been reduced to a small number by sickness they applied for leave to settle at Conestogoe, with the proprietary's consent, and for them also the Conestogoes became guarantees in a treaty of friendship. 11 The tribe of Shawanese is
»History of WyomiDg.
tibid.
JDougaD's Deed, infra.
HISTOKY OF YORK COUXTY.
mentioned some years subsequently in a letter of Gov. Gordon, as consisting of a thousand fierce fellows, and had become a source of apprehension.* A tribe called the Conojs_had settled in the same vicinity, who "afterward removed to the Juniata, and whose name became a terror. There were also some of the Delaware Indians settled at Conesto- goe. All of these tribes, except the Cones- togoes, became in after years formidable enemies of the English, but during the period now treated they were all friendly and dis- posed to maintain a permanent jjeace.
"William Penn's great treaty at Shakamaxon was made with the Delaware Indians, who are named the Lenni Lenape, and the several tribes of Indians already mentioned, other than the Five Nations, were branches of that people. Lenni Lenapi means original people, but this race were not the original occupants of the country where they were found. Their own accounts brought them from the land of the setting sun. They were named Delawares by the colonists, from their settlements being in proximity to the river of that name. The name is not Indian, but was given to the bay and river in honor of Lord De la "War, who is said to have first entered it with a fleet. The Delawares were once a warlike people, and came in conflict with the Five Nations, who were also called the Iroquois. History relates that they were conquered and were compelled to put on petticoats and acknowl- edge themselves women.* They frequently admitted their feebleness. As late as 1742, in the presence of the Provincial Council at Philadelphia, a chief of the Six Nations, Cannasatego, turning to the Delawares, holding a belt of wampum in his hand, spoke to them after this fashion: ''Let this belt of wampum serve to chastise you; you ought to be taken by the hair of the head and shaken severely till you recover your senses and be- come sober; you don't know what ground you stand on. "We have seen with our eyes a deed signed by nine of your ancestors about fifty years ago for this very land, and release signed not many years since by some of your- selves and chiefs now living to the number of fifteen or upward. But how came you to take upon you to sell land at all ? "We con- quered you, we made women of you, you know you are women, and can no more sell land than women. We charge yoii to re- move instantly. 'We don't give you the lib- erty to think about it. This string of wam- pum serves to forbid you, your children and
grandchildren to the latest posterity, forever meddling in land affairs."*
An explanation is given by the Delawares for this sincjular subjugation. The women were the peacemakers among the Indians, as the warriors would not deign even to propose peace, and the prayers and appeals of the weaker sex led to the burj'ing of the toma- hawk. In order to effect reconciliation it was necessary that one of the powerful tribes should act the part of the peacemaker and assume the garb of the woman. Confiding in the sincerity of the Iroquois, in an unfor- tunate moment, the Delawares yielded and assumed the petticoat. They were disarmed, and the Iroquois took such absolute control over them, that, as in the instance just relat- ed, when European adventurers had fraudu- lently deprived them of their land, by cun- ning leagues made with the chiefs of their conquerors, they were obliged to relinquish their claims and were silenced by the com- mand not to speak, as they were women.f, But the Delawares did not rest under the ban imposed upon them. Though they were pre- vented for many years from recovering by force of arms and numbers their original su- periority, on account of the rapid settlements of the Europeans encroaching upon them, they did at length throw oft' the yoke, and at Tioga, in 1756, Tledyuscung extorted from the Iroquois chiefs an acknowledgment of their independeneaj The Delawares be- came the most formidable of the hostile In- dian tribes, and appeared in a terrible attitude in those dreadful incursions that made the settlements on our frontiers scenes of devasta- tion and massacre. At the period of the set- tlement of this county they had largely de- serted the eastern parts of Pennsylvania and moved westward with the fiercer tribes. The Indians who remained were peaceful and in complete harmony with the proprietary gov- ernment. It appears that it was difficult for those Indians who remained in this region to maintain themselves, even in the necessaries of life. They had periodical fits of hunting, but they were waylaid by traders and plied with rum, for which they parted with their valuable furs. The warlike ones had wan- dered to other parts, leaving the feeble behind thenrTf
It~Ts this mixture of feebleness- and feroc- ity, that has made the American Indian at once an object of pity and of dread; that has caused him to be despised and his nobler qualities overlooked. Unable to cope with
*IV Col. Hec. 579. , , /fDay's ABnals, p. 7. Heckenwelder. ' tDay, 7.
THE ABORIGINES.
the cunning of traders, and realizing the de- ception practiced upon him for gain, drawn backward by a power against which he is helpless to contend, he instinctively burns for revenge. His nature is such that he cannot embrace civilization. Though possessed by some intuitive promptings of nature of a species of libei-ality in gifts and a lofty idea of peace and its blessings, the firm sentiments of generosity, benevolence and goodness were wanting. This has been declared to be so by those most familiar with the Indian character. "William Penn and his followers came among the Delawares in a sjairit of peace and brotherly love, to which they seemed to respond, but they succeeded no bet- ter than the Puritans in changing their hab- its and character, nor could the missionaries, Catholic or Protestant, or Edwards or Brain- erd, or any other of the great teachers who went among them. They were morally in- flexible, and adhered to their hereditary cus- toms and manners. The Indian child soon discovers a propensity for the habits of his ancestors. This is displayed in their wild and fitful hunting, and indolence, and in their manner of warfare. Their war parties consisted of volunteers for special expedi- tions, surprising the enemy and taking their scalps. They would follow each other sin- gly and in silence. They would hide and dash upon the unwary.* It is this that made the frontiers tremble.
Much learning has been exhausted in ac- counting for their appearance on this conti- nent. "William Penn, in his letter to the Free Society of Traders of the Province at London, in 1683,f accepts without question the theory that they were the remnants of the lost tribes of Israeh He writes: "For their origin, I am ready to believe them of the Jewish race; I mean of the stock of the ten tribes; and that for the following reasons: first, they were to go to a 'land not planted, nor known;' which to be sure, Asia and Africa were, if not Europe; and He that in- tended that extraordinary judgment upon them might make the passage not uneasy to them, as it is not impossible in itself, from the easternmost parts of Asia, to the western- most of America. In the nest place I find them of the like countenance and their child- ren of so lively resemblance, that a man would think himself in Duke's place or Berry street, in London, when he seeth them. But this is not all: they agree in rites; they reck- on by moons; they offer their first fruits, they have a kind of feast of tabernacles; they
are said to lay their altar upon twelve stones; their mourning a year; their customs of women, with many other things that do not now occur." He also says about them, "their eyes, little and black not unlike a straio'ht looked Jew." "Their language is lofty yet
narrow; but like the Hebr
ew m signification
full; like shorthand writing, one word serv- eth in the place of three, and the rest are supplied by the understanding of the hearer; imperfect in their tenses, wanting in their moods, participles, adverbs, conjiinctions, interjections; I know not a language spoken in Europe, that hath words of more sweetness or greatness in accent and emphasis than theirs." From many other sources we learn that their language was as perfect in its way as taught by nature, and governed by rules and methods just as the bee builds its cells regularly without the recognition of the laws of geometry.
The religious ideas of the a'borigines have been a matter of much comment,- as well as how far they possessed a knowl- edge of a Supreme Being. "William Penn, in his letter, already quoted, writes thus: "They say there is a Great King that made them, who dwells in a glorious country to the southward of them, and that the souls of the good shall go thither where thev live again." ' 'Their worship, ' 'he says, "con- sists of two parts, sacrifice and cantico. Their sacrifice is their first fruits. The first and fatted buck they kill goeth to the fire, where he is all burnt with a mournful ditty of him, that performeth the ceremony, but with such marvelous fervency and labor of body, that he will even sweat to a foam. The other part is the cantico performed by round dances, sometimes words, sometimes songs, then shouts; two being in the middle that begin ; and by singing and di'umming on a board direct the chorus." "Their diet is maize, or Indian corn divers ways prepared; sometimes roasted in the ashes; sometimes beaten and boiled with water, which they call homine; they also make cakes, not unpleasant to eat. They have likewise several sorts of beans and pease, that are good nourishment; and the woods and rivers are their larder." "If any European comes to see them or calls for lodging at their house, or wigwam, they give him the best place and first cut. If they come to visit us, they salute us with an Itah : which is as much as to say, good be to you, and set them down; which, is mostly on the ground close to their heels; their legs up- right; it may be they speak not a word, but observe all passages. If you give them any- thing to eat or drink, well; for thev will not
24
HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY.
ask; and be it little or much, if it be witli kindness, they are well pleased, else they go away sullen but say nothing. "* " They are great concealers of their own resent- ment; brought to it by the revenge that hath been practiced among them. " "But in liberality they excel; nothing is too good for their friend. Give them a fine gun, coat or other thing, it may pass twenty hands before it sticks ; light of heart, strong affections, but soon spent. The most merry creatures that live, feast and dance perpetually. They never have much nor want much. Wealth circulateth like blood; all parts partake, and though none shall want what another hath; yet exact ob- servers of property. Some kings have sold, others presented me with several parcels of land: the pay or presents I made them were not hoarded by the particular owners; but the neighboring kings, and their clans being present, when the goods were brought out, the parties chiefly concerned, consulted on what, and to whom, they should give them. To every king, then, by the hands of a per- son for that work appointed is a proportion sent, so sorted and folded and with that gravity that is admirable. Then that king sabdivideth it in like manner; they hardly leaving themselves an equal share with one of their subjects." "' And be it on such oc- casions as festivals, or after their common meals, the kings distribute, and to them- selves last. They care for little because they want but little, and the reason is, a little contents them. In this they are sufficiently revenged on us; if they are ignorant of our pleasures, they are also free from our pains. They are not disquieted with bills of lading and exchange, nor perplexed with chancery suits, and exchequer reckonings. We sweat and toil to live: their pleasure feeds them; I mean their hunting, fishing and fowling, and their table is spread everywhere. They eat twice a day, morning and evening, their seats and table the ground."
"In the fall, when the corn cometh in, they begin to feast one another. There have been two great festivals already; to which all come that will. I was at one myself — their entertainment was a great seat by a spring under some shady trees, and twenty bucks, with hot cakes of new corn, both wheat and beans; which they make up in a square form, in the leaves of the stem, and bake them in the ashes; and after that they fall to a dance. But they that go must carry a small present, in their money; it may be sixpence, which is made of the bone of a fish; the black is with them as gold; the white silver; they
call it all wampum." He also says : "The justice they have is pecuniary; in case of any wrong or evil fact, be it murder itself, they atone by feasts, and presents of their wam- pum, which is proportioned to the quality of the offence or person injured." " It is rare that they fall out. if sober;- and if drunk, they forgive it, saying ' it was the drink and not the man that abused them.'" "Since the Europeans came into these parts, the}' have grown great lovers of strong liquors, rum especially; and for it exchange the rich- est of their skins and furs. If they are heated with liquors, they are restless till they have enough to sleep; that is their cry, 'some more, and I will go to sleep;' but when drunk one of the most wretched spec- tacles in the world." Well did William Penn say: " The worst is that they are the worse for the Christians; who have propa- gated their vices and yielded them tradition for ill and not for good things." .... " It were miserable indeed for us to fall under the just censure of the poor Indian conscience, while we make profession of things so far transcending."
He further says: " Their government was by kings, which they called sachems, and those by succession always of the mother's side. For instance, the children of him who is now king will not succeed him, but his brother by his mother, or the son of his sis- ter, and after them the children of her daughter, but no woman inherits. Every king had his council, consisting of all the old and wise men of his nation. War, peace, selling of land, or traffic, were only under- taken after advising with them, and also with the young men. The king sat in the middle of a half moon, and had his council of the old and wise men on each hand; be- hind them, or at a little distance, sat the younger fry in the same figure." "Having consulted and resolved their business, the king ordered one of them to speak to me; he stood up, came to me, and, in the name of the king, saluted me; then took me by the hand, and told me he was ordered by tbo king to speak to me, and that now it was not he, but the king, that spoke, because what he should say was the king's mind. He first prayed me. To excuse them, that they had not complied with me the last time: he feared there might be some fault in the interpreta- tion, being neither Indian nor English; be- sides it was the Indian custom to deliberate and take up much time in council, before , they resolve; and that if the young people and owners of the land, had been as ready as he, I had not met with so much delay.
THE ABOEIGINES.
Having thus introduced his matter, he fell to the bounds of the land they had agreed to dispose of, and the price, which now is little and dear; that which would have bought twenty miles not buying now two." "Dur- ing the time that this person spoke, not a man of them was observed to whisper or smile; the old, grave; the young, reverent in their deportment. They speak little, but fervently and with elegance. I have never seen more natural sagacity, considering them without the help (I was going to say the spoil) of tradition; aud he will deserve the name of wise, that outwits them in any treaty, about a thing they understand."
"When the purchase was agreed, great promises passed between us of kindness and good neighborhood, and that the Indians and English must live in love as long as the sun gave light; which done, another made a speech to the Indians, in the name of all the sachamakers or kings, just to tell them what was done, next to charge and command them ' to love the Christians, and particularly to live in peace with me, and the people under my government; that many governors had been in the river; but that no governor had come himself to live and stay here before; and having now such an one, that had treat- ed them well, they should never do him or his any wrong.' At every sentence of which they shouted and said Amen, in their way."
If their personal appearance and lan- guage indicated such resemblances as tend to prove an Eastern origin, there are, on the other hand, certain things, for which the Eastern races are proverbial, and of which the American Indians knew nothing. Of all races of mankind, they alone were ignorant of the pastoral state. They kept neither sheep nor kine. They knew nothing of the use of the milk of animals for food. They had no wax, nor oil, and no iron.* They had no idea of government or of trial and condemnation. Retaliation was the only law of punishment.* Everything, to their conception, was material in its character. They had some sort of a genius that was an object of veneration and fear, called the Manitou. This was represented by a bird, a buffalo, a bear, a feather, a skin; but, in no case, a man. Each Indian appears to have had his Manitou, and any evil that happened to him was attributed to its anger. They buried with the warrior his Manitou, his pipe, his tomahawk, his quiver and bow, and his apparel — placed by his side his bowl of maize and his vension f or . his long journey to the country of his ancestors.* "With many
manly qualities and an evident respect for each other as warriors, and admiration for powers of endurance in the midst of tortures, and delight in the eclat of success, there was no reverence for man as such, no matter what an individual's fame might be. The apothe- osis of the Aryan race had no place among them, or the Semitic reverential awe of the prophet. His fellow man was not adored, nor was homage paid to the dead.* Long before William Penn landed on the shore of this continent. Christians had been at work among the Indians, and it is difiScult to say what ideas by that time had been implanted among them of a Great Spirit, or any spirit of poetic fancy, that inhabited the woods, the water, the stars or the sea.
The Indians have been described as being well formed, straight, and having no deform- ity among them. Their color, reddish brown or copper color, as distinguished from olive, with dark, straight hair and no beards; their cheek bones prominent, with projecting jaws, and an expression of indolent insensibility, and with no flexibility of feature, so that when the Indian depicted his passions, it was by strong contortions and a kindling of the eye, that seemed ready to burst from its socket. Their clothing was made of the skins of the bear, fox, and beaver, and mocca- sins of deer skin, without a sole, ornamented on the upper side. * Their wigwams were made with long poles fixed in the ground, covered with bark, having no door but a loose skin, and having an opening in the roof for a chimney, and were aboat the height of a man. In one of them the whole clan huddle together, men, women, and children, with weeds or grass on the ground for a floor. In traveling they would lie around great fires. *
The pipe of peace was reverenced by them. The person of him who traveled with it was sacred. Each village had its calumet, which was adorned by the chief with eagle feathers and which was consecrated by the nation. This, together with the ceremonies attend- ing its acceptance, has served to throw a charm around the savage nature, and is remembered by its figurative use in our language. "The envoys from those desiring peace or an alliance, would come within a short distance of the town, and uttering a cry, throw themselves on the ground." The great chief, bearing the peace pipe of his tribe, with its mouth pointing to the skies, goes forth to meet them, accompanied by a long procession of his clansmen, chanting the hymn of peace. The stranger rises to receive them, singing also a song to put away
26
HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY.
all wars and bury all revenge. As they meet, each pariy smokes the pipe of the other, and peace is ratified."* "With all this commend- able decorum, worthy of imitation in our own public councils, the imposing scene was accompanied by features that may be consid- ered inimitable. "Some had the nose tipped with blue, the eyebrows, eyes and cheeks tinged with black, and the rest of the face red; others had black, red and blue stripes drawn from the ears to the mouth: others had a broad, black band, like a ribbon, drawn from ear to ear across the eyes, with smaller bands on the cheeks. When they made visits, and when they assembled in council, they painted themselves gloriously, delighting especially in vermilion."*
Their frequent councils with the English were attended with the same ceremonies and gi f ts to which they had been accustomed among themselves. "Their delight was in assem- bling together and listening to messengers from abroad. Seated in a semi -circle on the ground, in double or triple rows, with the knees almost meeting the face; the painted and tattooed chiefs, adorned with skins and plumes, with the beaks of the red-bird and claws of the bear; each listener, perhaps, with a pipe in his mouth, and preserving deep silence, they would give solemn attention to the speaker, who, with great action and en- ergy of language, delivered and brought the message; and if his eloquence pleased, they esteemed him as a god. Decorum was never broken, there were never two speakers strug- gling to anticipate each other; they did not express their spleen by blows ;they restrained passionate invective; the debate was never disturbed by an uproar; questions of order were unknown. "*
"The art of public speaking was in high esteem among the Indians, and much studied. They were extremely fond of method, and displeased with an irregular harangue, be- cause it is difficult to be remembered. Their speeches were short, and the sense conveyed by strong metaphors; in conversation, they were sprightly,but solemn and serious in their messages relating to public affairs. Their speakers delivered themselves with surprising force and great propriety of gesture. The fierceness of their countenances, the flowing blanket, elevated tone, naked arm, and erect stature, with a half circle of auditors seated on the ground, cannot but impress on the mind a lively idea of the ancient orators of Greece and Kome."t
Wampum is described to be belts of cloth
*Bancroft.
t.Smith's History of New York. Proud.
of some kind on which are fastened beads made of pieces of shell, cut and polished, some white and some of purple color, the latter being the more valuable. Each belt was called a fathom. At every treaty belts of wampum were presented, and in this way their annals were kept. During these trea- ties, at every clause of speech ratifying or creating a covenant, a belt was given. These belts were about four inches wide and thirty in length, and were treasured and kept as records of the nation, and were had recourse to on subsequent occasions, which ceremony being omitted, all they said passed for nothing.* Belts of wampum were also used as money. The use of these beads or pieces of bone, in the nature of coin, was, probably, derived from intercourse with the Europeans, and existed among the Delawares in the locality where the scenes were enacted which Willim Penn describes.
THE CONESTOGOE INDIANS.
T'Between the town of Lancaster and the Susquehanna River, there was a very large town and settlement of Indians called Coq- estogoe, which appears to have been a chief place of councils, and gave the name to such Indians as inhabited there and in that vicin- ity. The Conestogoe Indians were a friendly and peaceable people, long settled among the whites.
The resident Indians complained of set- tlers and traders interfering with their hunt- ing, and it was to accommodate them that Springetsbury Manor, as will hereafter be related, was laid out, though on the part of Pennsylvania, it was designed to prevent Maryland encroachments. These Indians are therefore intimately associated with the events surrounding our early settlements. Our territory was on their way to their hunt- ing grounds, and they desired that it should be free to them. The only Indian town men- tioned, on the west side of the river was a place called Conedoughela,f further south than Conestogoe. Frequent visits were made by Indians to the government at Philadelphia, and frequent councils were also held at Con- estogoe, where the governors of the province attended, and belts of wampum were given, and gifts of personal goods and skins were exchanged in testimony of confirmed friend- ship. The minutes of the provincial coun- cil will show the nature of these interviews, and the condition of the Indians and their re- lations to the whites, just previous to the time of the settlements west of the Susquehanna.
THE ABORIGINES.
At a meeting of the Provincial Council held at Philadelphia, June 6, 1706, James Logan, Secretary, gave an account of his visit, with othel's of the council, to the In- dians at Conestogoe the preceding October, when he told them, "That he was come from the Governor of Pennsylvania, who had al- ways been a friend to all the Indians within the bounds of it. That Gov. William Penii. since first he came into this country, with all those under him, had always inviola- bly maintained a perfect friendship with all the natives of this country that he found possessed of it at his first arrival. . That when he was last in the country he visited those at that place, and his son upon his arrival did the same, in order to cultivate the ancient friendship between them, that he and his posterity might, after bis father's example, maintain peace and good understanding with them and theirs. That they should take great care in giving ear to malicious reports spread and carried by ill men, for that we heard they had been alarmed at the Chris- tians putting themselves in arms in all these parts and mustering; the reason of this was the war with the French, and was designed rather to help them than to hurt them, but as they and we are brethren, each must be assistant to the other, and therefore tho English took up arms to defend themselves, and the Indians also, against both their enemies." The Secretary further added, that "among the Shawanois, with whom their chief abode was, he had also held a treaty to the same purpose with that at Conestogoe..' ' "That he had made a journey among the Ganawese, settled some miles above Cones- togoe, at a place called Connejaghera, above the fort, and had conferences with them, which seemed wholly to compose all their apprehensions, and that he had reason to believe he left all these three nations in a perfect good understanding with us.'"* There were present at this conference chiefs of the Conestogoe, Shawanese, and Ganawese Indi- ans upon Susquehanna, being come to town, in order to confer with the Government, about public affairs relating to them, and were all seated in the council chamber. An- daggyjuuquagh, the chief of those of Con- estogoe, (whose name appears in the deeds for the lands upon the Susquehanna,) laid before the Governor a very large wampum belt of twenty-one rows, with three hands wrought in it in black, the rest white, which belt he said was a pledge of peace, formerly delivered by the Onondagoe Indians, one of the Five Nations, to the Nantikokes, when
» 11 Col. Reo. 244.
they made them tributaries; that the Nanti- kokes, being lately under some apprehensions of danger from the Five Nations, some of them had this spring come up, and brought this belt with them, and that they had another of the same also at Conestogoe to show to those of the Five Nations that were expected shortly to come down to receive the Nantikokes' tribute." This belt had been taken to Philadelphia, that it might be shown to those of the Five Nations who might come down that way, as evidence that there was peace with them and that the English were at peace with the neighboring Indians. The Shawanese also owned themselves under some apprehensions from the Five Nations. The Nantikokes were a Maryland tribe or nation. Gov. Evans, with several persons, visited the Indians, and among others met the Nan- tikokes, and while among them, one of them took into his hands a belt of wampum fi-om a line whereon there hung nineteen others, and several strings of beads, and said, ' ' they had been given to under.stand the Queen had sent orders that the Indians should live in
' peace with one another, and that they were sent to give some of these belts in behalf of the Governor of Maryland, and themselves, to the Five Nations. Governor. — How long have you been at peace with these nations? Nantikoke, — Twenty-seven years. Governor. What is the reason then of so many belts of wampum and strings of beads ? Nantikoke. —
j We send them as tribute."
j /At a meeting of the Council, June 16, 1706, tlle^Indians were informed that a law had been enacted that no person should trade with them, but such as should first have a license from the Governor. They desired that only two persons should be allowed to trade with them; but it was answered that
, they would be the more subject to be imposed
; on, the fewer should trade with them. They further desired that none might be suffered to go up into the country beyond their towns to meet the Indians returning from hunting, for they sustain great damage by that prac- tice, by being made drunk at their return before they got home to their wives, and so
j were imposed on and cheated by the traders of the fruits of all their labors. Upon this they were desired to take care among them- selves that none of their people should sell anything to the traders till they came home to their own towns. And in licenses that
j should be given for the future, the Governor would take care to oblige them not to go any
I higher into the country than the noted Indian towns, and to trade nowhere else.* On the
1 «II Col. Eec 248.
28
/23d of July, 1712, several Indians being '' arrived from Conestogoe on business of im- portance, met the Council. Tagodrancj' or Civility, a war captain and chief with Tan- yahtickahungh, the old speaker, Knawonhunt and Soachkoat, two brothers, and some others being sate, they first presented a bundle of deerskins, and by Indian Harry, their inter- preter, said: "That the Proprietor, Gov. Penn, had, at his first coming amongst them, made an agreement with them that they should always live as friends and brothers, and be as one body, one heart, one mind, and as one eye and ear, and that what one saw the other should see, and what the one heard, the other should hear, and that there should be nothing but love and friendship between them and us forever." They presented a small' bundle of furs and said, that on their part they had always kept up to this agree- ment, and should constantly observe it in all respects; that if anything came to their knowledge relating to us they would always, ; like brothers and friends, acquaint us with it, and if, at any time, any foreigner's or ; strangers came among them they would give notice of it immediately at Philadelphia, and in all things would acquit themselves accord- ing to what they had promised and engaged. They presented two bundles of skins together, and said that on our part we had promised them to regulate the trade that was carried on with them at Conestogoe and had spoken of licenses to be given to the traders, by which means all abuses were to be rectified. But that since licenses were granted they found themselves worse dealt by than ever; they received less for the goods they sold the traders ; were worse treated and suffered more ; injuries, which they desired the Council to inquire into and know why it was so and cause it to be redressed. They presented a fifth bundle, and said that the cattle the traders kept, hurt and destroyed their corn. The Council having taken into consideration the complaints of the Indians, ordered that the traders whose cattle had done damage should be forthwith obliged to make compen- sation, and that they should remove to a ; greater distance and not be allowed on any terms to keep any cattle or horses than what are for their immediate service, unless they should live on purchased land.* '
Sir William Keith, whose name is associ- | ated with the first surveys made in the terri- tory now comprising the county of York, arrived from England, on the 31st of May, 1717. with a commission from the Proprietor and the Royal Approbation, to be Lieutenant- I
«II Col. Rec. 553. ■ I
HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY.
Governor of the province. On the 15th of July* he informed the Provincial Council I that he intended to set out for Conestogoe the next morning, and goods to the value of £20 were provided as presents for the Indians. A number of the members of the Council accompanied him, and on the 8th of July the chiefs and others of the Conestogoe or Min- goe Indians, the Delawares, the Shawanese and the Ganawese, all inhabitants upon or near the banks of the Susquehanna, met them. The Governor told the Indians that he had lately been sent over by their great and good friend and brother, William Penn, to act in his place and stead in affairs of government, while he himself was absent near the great King and Emperor of the Eng- lish. iThat the Governor and his Council had come to inquire what new matter had befallen them, and to give them all necessary assis- tance. /The Mingoes, or Indians of Conesto- goe, answered that they wanted to know what Christians had settled back in the woods behind Virginia and Carolina. The Governor answered that the settlements of Maryland, Virginia and Carolina, to the southward, were subject to the same great King of England and had nations of Indians under their protection. ) It was then related that, the son of a chie.' of the Delawares had been killed by a large company made up of Chris tians and Indians, while hunting, i During the same conference complaint came from Virginia of the killing of some Catawba Indians by the Senecas. ) It was then said to them that to hui't or molest the Indians who were in friendship with any English govern- ment was a breach of the league of friendship. And thereupon a treaty was made.
First, for their strict observance of all form er contracts of friendship made between them and the government of Pennsylvania. See ondly, That they must never molest or dis- turb any of the English governments, nor make war upon any Indians whatsoever, who are in friendship with and under the pro- tection of the English. Thirdly, That in all cases of suspicion or danger they must ad- vise and consult with this government, before they undertook or determined anything. Fourthly, That if through accident any mis- chief of any sort should happen to be done by the Indians to the English, or by the English to them, then both parties should meet with hearty intention of good will to obtain an ack- nowledgment of the mistake, as well as to give or receive reasonable satisfaction. Fifthly, That upon these terms and condi- tions the Governor did, in the name of their
*II Col. Rec. 19.
THE ABORIGINES.
great and good friend William Penn, take them and their people under the same pro- tection and in the same friendship with this Government, as William Penn himself had formerly done and would do now if he were present. To which the several chiefs and their great men assented, it being agreed that in testimony thereof they should rise up and take the Governor by the hand, which ac- cordingly they did with all possible marks of friendship on their countenance and behav- ior.*!
7 ^tithe war with the southern Indians the ' Conestogoes had lost their king, and at the meeting of the Council, June 16, 1718, they presented a new one, by the name of One- shanayan, "who had an English heart and great love for the Chriatians."y
At this conference, Tagotalessa or Civility chief or captain of the Conestogoe Indians, with other chiefs of the same nation, a chief of the Shawanese above Conestogoe, George,an Indian sent to represent the Gawanese, and a chief of the Delawares, formerly on Brandy- wine, all then inhabitants on the Susquehanna, came from their respective habitations to pay a visitto the government, andjwaited on the Gov- ernor and Council, and John Cartlidge and James Hendricks, being interpreters, both skilled in the Delaware tonguey After stating that they came only on a friendly visit, and to renew the old league of friendship and pre- senting a bundle of skins, Civility, among other things, said "that he with some of the young men had this last spring some incli- nation to go out to war toward the south ward, but being put in mind that it would not be agreeable to this government, and af- terward receiving the Governor's letter for- bidding them to proceed, they desisted; that they intend to go out this next winter a-hunting that way, and think it proper to acquaint this government therewith, for that they bear such a respect to the government, and know that we have always been so ready to protect and assist them, that they are agreed not to do anything which will be dis- agreeable to us; that they look upon them- selves but like children, rather to be directed by this government, than tit to offer anything more on this head. But they mast crave leave to add one thing further, viz. ; that they have reason to think that the authority of this | government is not duly observed, for that notwithstanding all our former agreements, that ram should not be brought among them, it is still carried in great quantities. They have been doubtful with themselves whether
they should mention this, because if they were supplied with none from hence, they would be from Maryland, which would be a means of carrying ofl' their peltry thither, but there have been such quantities of that liquor car- ried of late amongst them by loose persons who have no fixed settlements, that they are apprehensive mischief may arise from it; that though they are perfectly well inclined when sober, yet they cannot answer for their peo- ple when drunk, and lest any inconveniences may ensue from thence to this government, whom they so much respect, as well as their own people, they desire this may be taken into consideration in order to be prevented and redressed by all proper measures." The Delaware chief, who was present, added that "the young men about Paxtan had been lately so generally debauched with rum, carried amongst them by strangers, that they now want all manner of clothing and necessaries to go a hunting, wherefore they wish it would be so ordered that no rum should be brought amongst them, by any except the traders who furnish them with all other nec- essaries, and who have been used to trust them, and encourage them in their hunting." The Governor on the next day replied, that "he could not take in good part their motions towards going to war last spring, consider- ing they had engaged themselves to the con- trary in their last treaty with him at Cones- togoe, that they might draw i^owerf ul enemies upon them and engage their friends into their quarrels." That they had "too just cause to complain of loose idle fellows bringing quan- tities of rum amongst them to their great in- jury, and that this had not for some time past been sufficiently looked after, but he would speedily take care to have it in a great meas- ure prevented. That they of their parts must endeavor to prevent their women and young people from coming to Philadelphia to purchase and carry up rum from hence, which too many were ready to deliver them private- ly for their skins, and that when they meet with any brought amongst them, they should stave it, as they had formerly been ordered and undertook to do."
,' rh reference to the surveys of land, he s&id, "they cannot but be sensible of the care that has been taken of them; they had ex- pressed a willingness to retire from Cones- togoe, yet the government here had persuaded them to continue near us; we had run a line aroand them that none might come near them, and had fenced their cornfields by John Cartlidge's care, who alone being placed within those lines may be more capable of looking after the tract, and the bounds of it. It
HISTORY OF YOEK COUNTY.
is also further thought fit that lines should be run around the other Indian towns, as soon as conveniently may be to secure them the more effectually from encroachments. But while such care is taken of them, it is expected they shall in all cases on their parts show a due regard to this government, that they be aiding to all its officers in what may lie in their power, that they suffer no idle persons to spread rumors amongst them, or if they hew- any such that they give no credit to them, that if they can discover any evil minded persons to have ill designs against this gov- ernment, or any part of it, they must without delay disclose it to the Governor, or some per- son in authority under him." There were then provided for the Indians a few garments, ■with some powder and shot to kill venison, some tobacco and pipes, some bread, and a dram was provided for them when they went. *
After the death of William Penn, which occurred on the 30th July, 1718, Col. French, on behalf of the government, at Conestogoe in 1719, met the. following rep- resentatives of tribes: Canatowba, Queen of the Mingoes; Sevana, King of the Shaw- anese; "Wightomina, King of the Delawares; Wininchach, King of the Conowagoes. (This is the first mention of the tribe of the Gone- wagoes.) Captain Civility of Conestogoe was also present, being interpreter of the several nations represented. This Captain Civility was for many years the spokesman on behalf of the Indians at Conestogoe, whose name will be frequently met with, acting as interpreter, and corresponding with the government, and figuring much in coun- cils. His influence was evidently very great with both sides. His Indian name has already been given as Tagotalessa, Tagodrancy, and others less pronouncable, and he is described as a "descendant of the ancient Susquehanna Indians, the old settlers of these parts, but also reputed of Iroquois descent."
Mutual complaints were made by the In- dians of the respective provinces of Virginia and Pennsylvania to the government. The Indian chiefs at Conestogoe complained that their Indian hunters had been attacked near the head of the Potomac Kiver by a consid- erable body of Southern Indians, come out to war against the Five Nations, and the settle- ments on the Susquehanna, and ten Mingoes had been killed. But at the same time there came ofiicial complaints from the Governgr of Virginia. The Shawanese said that two of their men had been killed. James Logan asked if they had been abroad hunting. He
was answered, No. They had gone out to war. He then demanded the reason why they should offer to go to war after their solemn promise to our Government to the contrary. The chief of the Shawanese replied that a dis- pute arising among some of their young men, who was the best man, to end it they resolved' to make the trial by going out to war, that they could not be restrained, and went out with some of the Five Nations.* ,-' A treaty made on the 6th of July, 1721, f by Gov. Keith, was published in the Philadelphia Gazette at the time, as "The Particulars of an Indian Treaty, at Cones- togoe, between his Excellency, Sir William Keith, Bart., Governor of Pennsylvania, and the deputies of the Five Nations, and where- by appears the method of managing those people at that time." There had occiirred a disagreement betweeh the Pennsylvania and Virginia Indians, the same against whom the J war feeling had existed, which demanded the attention of the government. The Gov ernor visited Virginia that year. On the 5th of July he arrived at Conestogoe about noon, and in the evening went to Captain Civility's cabin, where four deputies of the Five Nations and a few more of their people came to see him. This was said to be the first time that the Five Nations had sent any of their chiefs to visit the Governor of Penn- sylvania. The first branch of the treaty was with the Conestogoe Indians on account of the troubles with those of Virginia. The Governor said: "I am but just now returned from Virginia, where I wearied myself in a long journey, both by land and water, only to make peace for you, my children, that you may safely hunt in the woods without danger from Virginia and any Indian nations that are at peace with that government. But the Governor of Virginia expects that you will not hunt within the great mountains on the other side of the Potomac River, being it is a small tract of land which he keeps for the Virginia Indians to hunt in. And he promises that his Indians shall not any more come on this side of the Potomac, or behind the great mountain, this way to disturb your hunting, and this is the condition I have made for you, which I expect you will firmly keep, and not break it on any consideration what- soever." The second branch of the treaty was with the Five Nations. As that cele- brated confederacy owned the lands pur- chased for our people, their doings are of interest to us. In the course of the speech of Ghesaont on behalf of the Five Nations,
^*inCoI. Eeo.92.
tin Col. Kec. 123— Proud 132.
THE ABORIGINES.
he said " though they cannot write, yet the}' retain everything said in their councils witii all the nations they treat with, and pre- serve it carefully in their memories, as if it was committed in our method to writing. They complain that our traders carrying goods and liquors up Susquehanna River, sometimes meet with their young people go- ing out to war, and treat them unkindly, not only refusing to give them a dram of liquor, but use them with ill language and call them dogs, etc. They take this unkindly because dogs have no sense or understanding, where- as they are men, and think that their brothers should not compare them to such creatures. That some of our traders calling their young men by these names, the young men an- swered If they were dogs, they might act as such, whereupon they seized a keg of liquor and ran away with it." N. B. This seems to be told in their artful way, to excuse some small robberies that had been committed by their young people. — Gazette.
"Then, laying down a belt of wampum upon the table, he proceeded and said that all their disorders arose from the use of rum and strong spirits, which took away their sense and memory; that they had no such liquors among themselves, but were hurt with what we furnished them, and therefore desired that no more of that sort might be sent amongst them." This speech of Ghesaont is a line specimen of Indian eloquence, and now ex- hibits their force in the use of metaphor. "He presented a bundle of dressed skins, and said that the Five Nations faithfully remembered all their ancient treaties, and now desire that the chain of friendship between them and us may be made so strong as that none of the links can ever be broken. Presents another bundle of skins and ob- serves that a chain may contract rust with lying and become weaker; wherefore he desires it may now be so well cleaned as to remain brighter and stronger than ever it was before. Presents another parcel of skins and says that as in the firmament, all clouds and darkness are removed from the face of the sun, so they desire that all mis- understandings may be fully done away. So that then when they who are now here shall, be dead and gone, their whole people, with their children and posterity, may enjoy the clear sunshine of friendship with us forever, without anything to interpose and obscure it. Presents another bimdle of skins and says that looking upon the Governor as if William Penn was present, they desire that in case any disorders should hereafter happen be- tween their young people and ours, we should
not be too hasty in resenting any such acci- dent, until their council and ours should have some opportunity to treat amicably upon it, and so to adjust all matters as that the friend- ship between us may still be inviolably pre- served. Presents a small bundle of dressed skins, and desires that we may now be together as one people, treating one another's children kindly and affectionately on all occasions. He proceeds and says that they consider themselves in this treaty as the full plenipotentiaries and representatives of the Five Nations, and they look upon the Gov- ei-nor as the great King of England' s Repre- sentative, and therefore they expect that everything now stipulated will be made ab- solutely firm and good on both sides. Among other things, presenting a bundle of bear skins, he said that having now made a firm league with us, as becomes our brothers, they complain that they get too little for their skins and furs, so as they cannot live by their hunting; they desire us therefore to take compassion on them and contrive some way to help them in that particular."
On the 8th of July, the Governor and his Council, at the house of John Cartlidge, Esq., iving advised upon and proper present, in return for that of the Indians, which consisted of a quantity of stroud match coats, gunpowder, lead, bis- cuit, pipes and tobacco, the Governor made his speech in reply to that of the Five Nations from which the following extract is made:* "As to what you have said of trade, I suppose the great distance at which you live from us prevented all commerce between us and your people; we believe those who go into the woods and spend all their time upon it endeavor to make the best bargains they can for themselves; so on your part you must take care to make the best bargain you can with them, but we hope our traders do not exact, for we think that a stroud coat or a pound of powder is now sold for no more buck-skins than formerly, f
The skins they delivered in the morning liaving been numbered and weighed as ordered, they were
found to be, 38 summer Deer Skins in the hair, many of them ordinary, wt. 681. at 18d., £5. 2. 0
10 small Drest Deer Skins, wt. 181. at 3-6d, 3. 2. 0 1 Good Winter Buck in the hair, 6. 0
3 Bear Skins a 8 ps. 16. 0
£8. 6. 0 What is prepared & was now Delivered them, are 8 Stroud Water Coats of the best sort, a
17-6d. ~ £7. 0. 0
10 lb. of Powder, a 20d. 16. 8
20 lb. Lead, a 3d, 5. 0
718.
HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY.
6 pr. Stockings, pt. Blew & pt. Red, a 3-9d. 16. 6
1 Dozn. Tobacco Boxes, a 7. 0
1 Dozn. Tobacco Tongs, a 4. 6
13 lb. Tobacco, a4d., 4. 0
3 Dozn Pipes. 1- 0
1 Red Stroud to the Queen, 17. 6
£10. 12. 3 These being Delivered the Governour Gave them an Entertainment, and the Secretary was Ordered to provide for them as from the fflrat, all necessarys During their stay & for their Journey on their return home.
'•Beaver is not of late much used in Europe, and therefore does not give so good a price, and we deal but very little in that commodity. Bat deer skins sell veiy well amongst us, and I shall always take care that the Indians be not wronged, but except other measures be taken to regulate the Indian trade everywhere the common methods used in trade will still be followed, and every man must take care of himself, for thus I must do myself, when I buy anything from our own people; if I do Aot give them their price, they will keep it, for we are a free people. I am sensible rum is very hurtful to the Indians; we have made laws that none should be carried amongst them, or if any were, that it should be staved and thrown upon the ground, and the Indians have been ordered to destroy all the rum that comes in their way. But they will not do it; they will have rum, and when we refuse it they will travel to the neighboring provinces and fetch it. Their own women go to pur- chase it, and then sell it amongst their own people, at excessive rates. I would gladly make any laws to prevent this that could be effectual, but the country is so wide, the woods are so dark and private, and so far out of my sight, that if the Indians them- selves do not prohibit it, their own people, there is no other way to prevent it. For my part I shall readily join in any meas- ures that can be proposed for so good a purpose. "
/These interviews between the provincial Grovernors and the Indians will serve to rep- resent in some sort to our minds the political relations of each to the other, the manner of their social intercourse, and of the unhappy condition of the Indians, in this section of Pennsylvania, who, when free from liquo^. were inoffensive, faithful and hospitable. 4' The Quakers treated them in an honorable manner. TVith the frontier settlers, the case was otherwise, when traders came among them, cheating them. Some of thes^ were of a vile class, as will be seen by an act of Assembly of 1754. All sorts of people found their way into the province, and the Indians
were subjected to the distresses^fso feelingly described in the journal of the great inter- preter, Conrad Weiser.
These treaties serve an important histori- cal purpose in showing the names of the tribes or nations who inhabited the country anywhere in this vicinity. There were no other tribes than those mentioned, else they would necessarily have been obliged, for their own protection, to join with the others in treaties.7 Even from a distance, from Maryland and' New York, there appear the Nantikokes and the Six Nations, and there is mention of Vir- ginia Indians. At one conference, there was present the King of the Couewagoes. As there is the stream of that name, we may guess either that the tribe took its name from that creek, or gave their name to it, and presum- ably they were resident near it. A letter from Thomas Cookson to Richard Peters, April 23, 17-i6, writing concerning a tract of land about three miles from York, says: "The land was settled by Adam Dickenson, who, it is said, has an entry on your books, by the proprietor's order, for settling the same on his obtaining license, from the Indians who lived there about."
Yet it was the Indians at Conestogoe who complained of the settlement of John Grist, * and of whatever tribes were those who inhab- ited here, they were represented before the Provincial Council by the Conestogoes. It appears, however, from all we can ascertain, that the Indians did not inhabit to any large extent the territory now comprising the county of York. It was, as it appears from the Indian complaints, preceding its settle- ment, a hunting ground, or in the way to hunting grounds, nearly all woods, and claimed by the Indians to have been expressly reserved for them by William Penn. The original settlers here found immense tracts of land entirely denuded of timber by the annual fires kindled by the Indians, for the purpose of improving their hunting grounds. Yet there is room for the exercise of the skill of the arohfeologist, from rude and scanty remains of the aborigines, such as weapons of stone found near the river in many local- ities, especially near the mouth of Cone- daghly Creek and Cabin Creek, in Windsor Township. About the Devil's Cave in that locality tradition fixes one of their haunts. Eelics have been found about Wrightsville. t
tSome Indian relics were found here in 1.S35. "A brass medal has been left at this office " — says the editor of the Colum- bia Spy— "which, together with several other articles, and a human skull, was dug up a few days since, in Wrightsville, York Co., Penn. It bears on one side a head, with the inscription,
" George, King of Gre - . - -.
with his bow and arroi to have been worn as ;
INDIAN TITLE.
The Indians and the English moved along ioTiarmony, subject only to those occasional disorders and crimes incident to any commu- nity, especially in the intercourse between opposite races, or induced by a free supply of rum. The Indians at Conestogoe contin- ued there until the settlement was abandoned in 1763, when the race in that section was virtually exterminated.
INDIAN TITLE.
'^jnHE first deed that appears iu the chain -L of Indian title is dated J anuary 3, 1696, in the eighth year of the reign of William I III. " Thomas Dongan, late Governor of New York, and now of London, Esq., to 'William Penn, Governor of the province of Pennsyl- \ vania in America; for and in consideration of the sum of one hundred pounds, for all that tract of land, lying upon both sides of the river, commonly called or known by the name of the Susquehanna, and the lakes ad- jacent, in or near the province of Pennsyl- vania in America, beginning at the moun- tains or head of the said river, and running as far as and into the bay of Chesapeake, which the said Thomas Dongan lately pur- chased of or had given him by the Seneca- Susquehanna Indians: With warranty from the Seneca- Susquehanna Indians." This sale was effected by deeds of lease and re- lease, on succeeding days, according to the approved English forms of conveyancing under the statute of uses. The Indian deed to Col. Dongan is not known now to exist, nor is there any trace of it in the public offices. It is known, however, that he was the agenl of William Penn to make the purchaseiS/ The time of the purchase of Col. Dongan is fixed by the relation of it, given in the treaty of July, 1721, at the council at Conestogoe, j already referred to, with Sir William Keith, from which the following extract is made: "The discourse being continued they were told that it was now very near, viz. : within one moon of thirty -seven years since a great man of England, Governor of Virginia, called the Lord Effingham, together with Col. Don- gan, Governor of New York, held a great
were fouDd also two others of similar description — a brass ket- tle, a string of white heads one yard and a half in length, some red paint, and twenty-live rings, one of which was dated ni6."—Riipps Hist, of York County, page 72i *II Smith's Laws HI n.
treaty with them at Albany, of which we have the writings to this day. Ghesaont an- swered, they knew it well, and the subject of that treaty; it was, he baid, about settling of lands. Being furthered told that in that treaty tlie Five Nations had given up all their right to all the lands of Susquehanna to the Duke of York, then brother to the King of England, he acknowledged this to be so and that William Penn since had the right to these lands. To which Civility, a descendant of the ancient Susquehanna Indians, the old settlers of these parts, but now reputed as of an Iroquois descent, added that he had been informed by their old men that they were troubled when they heard that their lands had been given up to a place so far distant as New York, and that they were overjoyed when they understood William Penn had brought them back again, and that they had confirmed all their right to him."* This would make the date of the Dongan deed in July, 1684. It was confirmed in 1700 by the following deed:
We, Widaagh, alias Orytyagh, and Andaggy- junkquagh, Kings or Sachems of the Susquehan- nagh Indians, and of the river under that name, and lands lying on both sides thereof, doe declare that for and in consideration of a parcel of English Goods unto us given, by our friend and brother, William Penn, Proprietary and Governour of Pen- silvania, and also in Consideration of the former much greater costs and Charges, the said William Penn hath been at intreating about and purchasing the Same ; We doe hereby Give, Grant and Con- firm unto the said William Penn, all of the said River Susquehannagh, and all the Islands therin and all the Lands, Situate, lying and being upon both sides of the said River, and adjoyning to ye same, extending to the utmost confines of the Lands which are, or formerly were, the Right of the People or Nation called the Susquehannagh Indians, or by what name soever they were called or known thereof, and also all Lakes, Rivers, Riv- ulets, Fountains, Streams, Trees, Woods, Under- woods, Mines, Royalties, and other Mines, Min- erals, Quarries, Hawkings, Huntings, fishings, fowlings, and other Royalties, Privileges and Pow- ers, whatsoever to them or any of them belonging, or by them enjoyed, as fully and amply in all re- spects as we or any of our Ancestors have, could, might or ought to have had, held, or enjoyed ; And also all the Right, Title, Interest, Possession, Claim and Demand, which we or any of us, or the said Nation or any, in Right of the same, have, or here- after can or may claim, to have in the same ; And we do hereby ratifie and confirm unto ihe said William Penn, ye bargain and sale of the Said Lauds, made unto Coll. Thomas Dongan. now Earl of Limerick, and formerly Govern'r of New York, whose Deed of sale to the sd. Govern'r Penn we have seen, To have and to hold the sd Rivers, Lands and Pr'misses, hereby granted and confirmed with their and every of their Rights, Members & Appurtenances unto ye sd Will. Penn, his heirs and assigns, to the only proper Use and behoof of the said Will. Penn, his Heirs and Assignees for- ever.
«III Col. Rec. 129.
IIISTOKY OF YORK COUNTY.
In Witness we' of. we have, for our Selves & \ Nation, hereunto set our Hands & Seals, the _thir teenth day of September, 17007'^'' higi WIDAAGH X als ORYTYAGH. mark, his ANDAGGY X JUNK-QUAH. mark. Sealed and delivered in presence of Ed. Antitt, Hen. Tregeny, Esq., Edward Singleton, David Pow- , ell^James Logan.*
"'The ConestogoG Indians complained of this- deed at the treaty with Sir William Keith in 1722, alleging that William Penn, forty years before, got some person at New ^ York to purchase the lands on Susquehanna I from the Five Nations, who pretended a right to them, having conquered the people formerly settled there; and when the Cones- . togoes understood it. they were sorry ; and that William Penn took the parchment, and j laid it upon the ground, saying to them: "It should be common amongst them, viz. : the English and Indians." The Governor an- swered: "I am very glad to find that you remember so perfectly the wise and kind ex- pressions of the great and good William Penn toward you; and I know that the purchase wiich be made of the lands, on both sides of Susquehanna, is exactly true as you tell it, only I have heard further, that when he was so good to tell your people, that notwith- standing that purchase, the lands should still be in common between his people and them, you answered, that a very little land would serve you; and thereupon you fully confirmed his right, by your own consent and good will."t -,, ' ^- '' •; 1 ■'
" It is remarkable that the Indian deed to Col. Dongan was not produced, and it seemed to have been conceded that his pur- chase was from the Five Nations, who pre- tended right to the lands by conquest. The words "'adjoining to ye same, extending to the utmost confines of the lands which are, or formerly were the Right of the People or Nation, called the Susquehannagh Indians by what name soever they were called or known thereof," were intended to embrace and confirm the title however derived, but did not include any extent of land and is left in- definite. The object of William Penn was to secure the river through the whole extent of the province, and although it was not de- signed for immediate settlement it was to secure the whole of the Susquehanna from the claims of adjoining colonies, as the char-
■-*rol. Thomas Dougan was appointed Governor of New York by the Huke of York, September, 1682, and arrived in the prov- ince August 26, 1683. He returned to Ireland in 1689, and suc- ceeded to the Earldom of UmeTici-.— Smith's Bist. of Ntw York, published 1756.
til Smith's Laws, 112 note, el sea.
ter bounds were not distinctly known. ' ' Ac- cordingly by the articles of agreement of the 23d of April, 1701, already mentioned, be- tween William Penn and Connodagtah, King of the Indians inhabiting upon and about , the river Susquehanna, and .chiefs of the (■ same, and kings and chiefs of the Shawanese '■ and Ganawese Indians, and an erubassador ; of the Five Nations, the deed of the 13th of | September, 1700, above set forth, was rati- I fied in the following clause: -'Item, the In- j dians of Conestogoe, and upon and about the Eiver Susquehannah, and more especially 1 the said Connodaghtah their king, doth fully 1 agree to. And by these presents absolutely ! Ratifie the Bargain and Sale of Lands lying ! near and about the said Eiver formerly made , to the said William Penn his heirs & Sucr ' cessors, and since by Orytyagh & Andaggy- junquah, parties to these presents confirmed to the sd William Penn. his heirs & Suc- cessors by a Deed, bearing Date the 13th day ■ of September, last, under the hands & Seals j duly executed, and the said Connodaghtah \ doth for himself and his nation covenant and agree, that he will at all times be ready fur- ther to confirm and make good the said Sale, according to the tenure of the same."* I Some years afterward, in 1720, at a con- ! ference held with the Indians at Conestogoe, by James Logan, Secretary of the Provincial Council, Civility informed him'that some of the Five Nations, especially the Cayugas, had I at divers times expressed a dissatisfaction at j the large settlements made by the English on the Susquehanna, and that they seemed I to claim a property or right to those lands. The Secretary answered that he, Civility, and [ all the Indians were sensible of the contrary, ; and that the Five Nations had long since made over all their right to/ Susquehanna to the government of New York, and that Gov. Penn had purchased that right, with which they had been fully acquainted. Civ- ility acknowledged the truth of this, but proceeded to say, " he thought it his duty to inform us of it, that we might the better ■prevent all misunderstanding." The Gov- ernor, when the Secretary had made his report, said that there was ground to appre- hend that the Five Nations, and especially the Cayugas, did entertain some secret grudges against the advancing of our settle- ments upon the Susquehanna River, and he suspected they were spirited up by French agents from Canada or Mississippi to make those new and groundless claims, f After this report of Secretary Logan, Gov. Keith
INDIAN TITLE.
on the 19th of July, 1720, wrote to the President of New York that some of the nation called Cayugas asserted that all the lands upon the Susquehanna River belonged to them, and that the English had no right to settle there, and intended to come down with their people in order to demand possession of those lands. He then writes: " When Gov. Penn first settled this country, he made it his chief care to cultivate a strict alliance and/ friendship with all the Indians, and condescended so far as to purchase his lands from them, but when he came to treat with the Indiana on the Susquehanna, find- ing they accounted themselves a branch of the Mingoes or Five Nations, he prevailed with Col. Dongan, then Governor of New York, to treat with those nations in his be half, and to purchase from them all their claims of right to the lands on both sides of the Susquehanna, which Col. Dongan did accordingly, and for a valuable consideration paid in sterling money, Col. Dongan by good deeds transferred or conveyed his said right purchased from the Five Nations to Gov. Penn and his heirs in due form of law. Upon Gov. Penn' 8 last arrival here, about twenty years ago, he held a treaty with the Mingoes or Conestogoe Indians settled on. Susquehanna, and their chiefs did not then only acknowledge the sale of, those lands made to Col. Dongan as above, but as . much as in them lay, did also renew and confirm the same to William Penn. Lastly, about nine or ten years ago, a considerable "number of the Five Nations, not less than fifty, came to Conestogoe, and meeting there with Col. Gookin, late governor of this province, attended by several members of his council. Col. Dongan's purchase was men- tioned to them, and they not only appeared to be fully satisfied therewith, but proceeded in a formal manner, without any hesitation, to confirm a]l of our treaties of friendship
with them.'
/ . MAETLAND INTRUSIONS.
During the administration of Sir William Keith, who was Lieutenant-Governor of the province from 1717 to 1726, those settlements began on the west side of the Susquehanna River that occasioned the complaints of the Indians, and those Maryland intrusions that led to authorized settlements on the part of Pennsylvania.
John Gristf had, in 1721, with other per-
Tilll Col. Eec. 101. ,,^tThe following note is from Rupp's History : " The stream (Kfeutz Creek) has its name from George Kreiss, an early settler on that creek, near the Susquehanna. Others calling to aid the union of the two streams, lorming a cross, or Kreutz, in
sons settled himself and family and taken up lands on the west side of the river, without any warrant from the commissioners of prop- erty or any other leg;J right, and continued in the possession of them in contempt and de- fiance of the repeated orders of the Secretary of the Province. Complaint was made by the Indians at Conestogoe to the Governor, in July, of abuses they had received from him. The Governor, with the advice of the Commissioners, judged it necessary, for the quiet of the Indians, and to prevent suCh audacious behavior for the time to come, by a warrant under his hand and seal directed to John Cartlidge, Esq,, one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace, residing at Conestogoe, to warn and admonish John Grist and his accomplices forthwith to relinquish the lands whereof they had taken possession. In case of their refusal the warrant required the Justice to raise the posse comitatus and to burn and destroy their dwelling houses and habita- tions. Notice was given, and they refused to remove themselves from off the lands, where- upon the Indians destroyed some of their cattle. John Grist came to complain to the Governor at Philadelphia, where, behaving himself in a very insolent and seditious man- ner, he was committed to gaol. The Council in compassion for his poor family, ordered that leave be given him to carry off his corn then in the ground. On the 21st of August, 1721, he entered into a recognizance in the sum of 200£ to be of good behavior for twelve months, and to remove himself and family from his late settlement within the space of one month, and being Beverly reprehended by the Governor for his past contumacy and admonished to behave civilly for the future, he was discharged upon paying his fees.*
In April, 1722, Gov. Keith informed the Council that the Indians were like to be disturbed by secret and underhand practices of persons, both from Maryland and Philadel- phia, who, under the pretense of finding a copper mine, were about to survey and take up lands on the other side of the river, con- trary to a former order of the government. He had gone to the upper parts of Chester County, himself, in order to locate a small quantity of land, to which he had purchased an original proprietary right. He under- stood upon the road that some persons were
German ; hence Kreutz Creek, by which i has been known since 1739. The Glossbrenner. May thes
the settlement •s of Carter aud
.__^ , not have derived its name from
John Grist, who with drrers other persons, settled himself and family, and hadHaken up land, as early as 1718, on the west side of the Susquehanna, as shown before? In a report ot 17J9, touching the location of a road from Wright's Ferry toward the
HISTORY OP YORK COUNTY.
I
actually come with a Maryland right to sur- vey lands tifteen miles above Conestogoe, and he arrived in time to prevent the execution of their design. The Surveyor-General was along with him, and part of his right was located and surveyed, namely, 500 acres upon that spot on the other side of the Susquehanna, which was like to prove a bone of contention and breed so much mischief. This survey was made April 14, 1722, and became known as Sir William Keith's tract of Newberry. On his way back the Governor learned that the young men of Conestogoe had made a famous war dance the night before, and that they were all going out to war immediately, and thereupon he appointed a council to be held with the Indians, the next morning in Civility's cabin. On the 15th of June, 1722, the Governor spoke as follows: " L'asttimel was with you at Cones- togoe you showed me a parchment, which you had received from William Penn, con- taining many articles of friendship between him and you and between his children and your children. You then told me he desired you to remember it well for three genera- tions, but I hope you and your children will never forget it. That parchment fully declared your consent to William Penn's purchase and right to the lands on both sides of the Susquehanna. But I find both you and we are likely to be disturbed by idle people from Maryland, and also by others who have presumed to survey lands on the banks of the Susquehanna, without any powers from William Penn, or his children, to whom they belong, and without so much as asking your consent." There had been certain stipulations between the governors and councils of Maryland and Pennsylvania, that no surveys or settlements should be made by any private persons whatever on the west sidenf the Susquehanna by rights from either province, and a commission was then issued to make diligent inquiry, and search after any person, who, under the pretense of land rights from either Maryland or Penn- sylvania, should presume to survey or settle any lands within ten miles distauce of Sus- quehanna to the westward and not only to forbid all persons to survey as aforesaid, but by force to restrain them.*
Commissioners of property had been ap- pointed by William Penn from amongst his intimate friends here to superintend his landed concerns, who had authority to pur- chase lands and grant them for such sums and quit rents as to them, or any three of them, should seem just and reasonable, or as
*I1I Col. Eec. 161. '
should be respectively agreed for. And whatever usages grew up in later times, in respect to acquiring lands by settlement, it would seem that no title was at first per- mitted without an otBce right.* It seems, however, that the manager of the land of- fice had orders from the proprietary agents or commissioners of property to make a sur- vey beyond the Susquehanna. This, the Governor complained of as contempt of his authority, and that it might be of unhappy consequences with the Indians, as being con- trary to what the Governor in his treaty two or three days before had stipulated with them. But being an affair of property, the council took no cognizance of the matter.f
On the 2Sth of May, 1722, Philip Syng, a silversmith, was committed to prison for surveying, under a Maryland warrant, on the west side of the Susquehanna. He said that the tract of land surveyed by William Keith, Governor, belonged to him, Philip Syng & Co , by a Maryland title, and was surveyed by his order and for his use by a surveyor from Maryland. He was charged with en- deavoring to defraud the proprietor of Penn- sylvania of his just rights, and to create a misunderstanding between the government and its good neighbors of Maryland, and to disturb the'lndians settled upon the Susque- hanna River, under this government, at that juncture, when it was requisite to give them all possible satisfaction. The Sheriff being ordered to attend with his prisoner, he was called in, and being examined upon the matters alleged against him, he; made answer to the several interrogatories put to him as follows:
" Have you surveyed any lands by virtue of a Maryland right upon the west bank of the Susquehanna, viz. : That place known by the name of the Mine? "
" I have."
"How much land did you then survey? "
" Two hundred aci-es."
"By what surveyor?"
"John Dussey, a surveyor of Maryland."
"How came you to think that place was in Maryland? "
"I was informed so."
" When the Governor met you on the 4th of April, at Pattison's, had you then made this survey?"
: "No."
"Did not the Governor then acquaint yon that that place was not within the limits of Maryland, and that if you presumed to make any survey, then he would commit you?"
*Sergeant'8 Land Laws, p. 35. ! till Col. Rec. 161 .
INDIAN TITLE.
37
"I do remember that the Govei'nor said if he had found us there it would have amounted to a severe fine, but as for the rest I have forgot."
He was committed for prosecution.* foil the 18th of July, 1722, Gov. Keith in- formed the council by letter from Conestogoe, that the Indians were very much alarmed with the noise of an intended survey from Maryland upon the banks of the Susque- hanna, and proposed to them to, cause a large tract of land to be surveyed on the other side of the river for the proprietors, to begin from the upper line of his new settlement, six miles back and extending downward upon the river as far as over against the mouth of the Conestogoe Creek. The Indians were ex- ceedingly pleased with the proposition, and the Governor having heard that the Mary- landers were to set out that day, proposed to begin the survey the next morning. He also directed a company of militia from Newcastle to march out and wait his orders, fully de- termined to run the old Octoraroe line as far west as the branches of the Potomac. The Governor considered this survey as the only effective method of preserving the peace. The Council, however, replied to the Governor on the 20th of June, 1722, that undoubtedly it would be of service to keep the nations of Indians right in relation to any encroach- ments made or intended by Maryland, but that it did not lie before them as a council of state to concern themselves with surveys of the proprietaries' lands. As to running a line line from the mouth of the Octoraroe westward to the Potomac, as it was a matter concern- ing the peace of the public, they must say, that could it be done by consent between the governors of both provinces, and fixed as a boundary by consent, not to be passed until such time as the division line would be set- tled by either side, it would contribute to the tranquility of the whole, but if that could not be done they apprehended the attempt would occasion further disturbances. But if that government should forcibly proceed to make such surveys, they ought to be diverted from it by all the methods justifiable among subjects to the same sovereign, but not oth- er, f Three nations of Indians entered into this plan, the Conestogoes, the Shawanese, and the Ganawese. They were unwilling, however, to discourse particularly on the bus- iness of land, lest the Five Nations might
during 170'
\\'^=
repi'oach or blame them, and though the Five Nations had no right to these lands, they said and four do not pretend to any, yet the fifth, the Cayugas, were always claiming some right, and they suggested to the Governor to go to Albany and settle with the Cayugas. But they requested Ihe Governor to cause the surveyor to come and lay out the land for Mr. Penn's grandson, to secure them.* Thus originated the warrant for the survey of the manor of Springetsbury.f Col. French, to whom the warrant of survey was directed, in which the true reasons and motives for such a procedure were amply and satisfactorily set forth, expressed " the opinion that the Gov- ernor had acted with great prudence and cau- tion in pressing the only effectual measTire which the present situation of affairs would allow, for quieting the minds of the Indians and preserving the public jaeace. And since the Honorable Springet Penn was, in his opinion, the late proprietor's heir at law, whatsoever turn the affairs of that family might take in order to resettle the property and dominion of this province, he did not see or comprehend how the Governor's hav- ing caused the lands to be surveyed, after the manner which is here returned, could be in- terjjreted or deemed to the prejudice of a family for whose service it was so plainly meant and intended. "J
In the meanwhile, according to reports, the proprietor of Maryland was not idle on his part in making surveys of manors. In a letter from Gov. Keith to the Governor of Maryland, dated Newberry, on Susque- hanna, June 23, 1722, he wrote that he had been informed that a warrant was issued for surveying a manor to my Lord Baltimore ujjon the banks of the Susquehanna above Conestogoe, including the settlement from whence he then wrote, and that an order had been issued by the Governor of Maryland to press men and horses for their service, and that they were to set out from Baltimore on Monday, viz. : next day, under the command of Capt. Dorsey. He says: "Knowing the weakness and former attempts of some of your people, of whom I have formerly com- plained to yourself, who justly bear the character of land pyrates, I was resolved to put it out of their power, upon this occasion, to embroil us by their ridiculous projects, and returning immediately to Conestogoe, where I indeed h ad left the Indians but two days before, much alarmed with general reports that the Marylanders were coming to smwey the lands,
*III Col.Rec.lS3. tSee chap. VII. tin Col. Eeo. 184.
HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY.
I
which no reasonable man could then believe, I \ now did at the earnest request of the Indians, order a survey to be forthwith made upon the banks of Susquehanna, right against our Indian towns. And you will find the reasons I had for it more fully set forth in a copy of the Warrant of the Survey here enclosed. As I found this absolutely necessary to be done for quieting the Indians, as well as to prevent the mischief which might happen upon any of your people's presuming to en- croach upon what these Heathens call their own property; so likewise it appeared to me the only method I could take at this juncture for preventing our own people from taking up or settling lands on this side,* to disturla or hamper the Indians, unto whom this Province is bound by old treaties to give them a full scope and liberty in their settlements from the Christian inhabitants." He further said that the survey is twelve miles north of Phil- adelphia, and within the limits of this province without dispute.f
On the 29th of July, 1723, Charles Calvert, Governor of Maryland, wrote that he had received instructions from Kight Honorable Charles, Lord Baltimore, absolute lord and proprietary of the Province of Maiyland, forthwith to return to him the true limits and boundaries of the said province, in pursuance of a letter from the Right Honorable the Lord Commissioner for trade and plantations. That he, in obedience to his lordship's com- mands, intended on the 10th, 11th and 12th days of September next, on the west side of the SuBquehanna, to take the fortieth degree of northerly latitude from the equinoctial, the better toward enabling him to answer the ends of His Majesty's service expressed in his lordship's letter. And that the Lord Baltimore had thought proper thus to make known the same to the Governor of Pennsyl- vania, lest he or some of the Pennsylvanians, our neighbors, might take umbrage or miscon- strue their transactions. Gov. Keith in reply said, among other things, that if, under the pretense of executing any orders from my Lord Baltimore, or from the Lord Commis- sioners of Trade and Plantations, which have not been communicated to the Proprietor and Governor of this province, for the time being, it is in tended or designed to take any obser- vation or run out any line whereby the pro- prietor of Pennsylvania may be hereafter excluded from, or in the least prejudiced in what will on a fair inquiry appear to be his just right, or if under any pretense whatso- ever it be proposed that the officers of Mary-
land by themselves, and without the concur- rence of the proprietor of this province, or of such as are lawfully empowered by him, shall take upon them to extend by any obser- vation or survey the northern boundary of Maryland beyond the Octoraroe line estab- lished (as he was ready to prove by incontest- able evidence) above forty years ago by Charles, then Lord Baltimore, and second proprietor of that Province, who certainly was well acquainted with the measuring and construction of his own patent or grant from the crown, that in either of these cases his duty indispensably obliged him strenuously to oppose all observations or surveys made with any such inequitable and partial intent. That in the year 1719 he had received a letter from the Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations, which is believed to be much the same as that received of the part of Mary- land, and that there was nothing there to direct or countenance them to discover the bounds of Maryland by astronomical rules and uncertain observations. "But if Mr. Secretary Lloyd, whom I know to be a very ingenious and inquisitive gentleman, must needs improve his skill in observations of that nature, he will do it to better purpose and more safely by consulting my Lord Bal- timore's original patent or grant, which coniines the province of Maryland on this side, in these words: To that part of Dela- ware Bay which lieth under the fortieth degree of northerly latitude," than by running up into the woods on the west side of Susque- hanna River, without a sufficient authority and proper direction for that purpose."
To this Gov. Calvert responded: "That Gov. Keith's letter had been laid be- fore the Council, and they were of opin- ion that he should strictly observe his lordship's instructions to take an observation on the west side of the Susquehanna, on the 10th, 11th, and 12th of September next, so that it is not a project or concert of Mr. Secretary Lloyd's."* He then gave notice by postscript that he intended to be upon the plantation of Robert West, called Maiden's Mount, in Baltimore County, but commonly known by the name of Bald Fryar, on Mon- day, the 9th day of September, in order there to iDegiu to take observations. Gov. Keith then acquainted the Council at a meet- ing held on the 4th of September, 1723, that he proposed on the morrow to go to Conesto- goe, whereupon they requested him to meet I Col. Calvert upon Susquehanna, if he could conveniently. In the meantime, how- ever, an agreement had been made in En-
INDIAiq^ TITLE.
gland between Lord Baltimore and the widow of William Penn, and others interested, to the eifect that until a boundary line was agreed upon, no land should be surveyed, taken up or granted near the boundaries claimed on either side. This had been made on the 17th of February, 1723.* And for the time the dispute was ended.
COMPLETION OF THE TITLE.
Delegations from the Five Nations fre- quently visited Conestogoe and Philadelphia, and in council had renewed and strengthened the leagues of friendship with the English by gifts of wampum and skins and receipt of merchandise in exchange. Gov. Keith visited Albany officially, in 1722, with some of the Provincial Council, taking with him presents of clothing, powder and lead, "to encourage their hunting, that they may grow rich and strong." The Governor re- ceived at his chamber ten chiefs of the Five Nations, being two from each, together with two others, said to be of the Tuscaroroes. In their language, the word for pen was "onas," hence that was the name by which they called William Penn, and they were accustomed to address each of the Governors of this province as such. On this occasion they spoke as follows: "Brother Onas: We here now freely surrender to you all those lands about Conestogoe, which the Five Nations have claimed, and it is our desire that the same may be settled with the Chris- tians. In token whereof we give this string of wampum." To which Gov. Keith re- sponded: "Brethren: You know very well that the lands about Conestogoe, upon the river Susquehanna, belong to your old friend and kind brother, William Penn; neverthe- less, I do here, in his name, kindly accept , of the offer and surrender which you have made to me, because it will put an end to all other claims and disputes, if any should be made hereafter, "f
Still later, on the 4th of July, 1727 Gov. Gordon was obliged to reiterate to the Indians, chiefly Cayugas, that Gov. Penn, that is Onas, took away none of their lands without purchasing them and paying for them, and that they had the deeds for all the lands on Susquehanna ; that the Five Nations never since claimed these lands, though they had many visits from them hither for brightening the chain of friend- ship. "And live years since, when Sir Will- iam Keith and four gentlemen of the Council were at Albany, at a general meeting of all
the Five Nations, the chiefs of confirmed the former grant and absolutely released all pretentions to those lands. Our records show this, and those people who are now here cannot but be sensible of it."*
At a council held at Philadelphia, in the Great Meeting house, June 5, 1728, Mr. Logan spoke to the Indians to this effect: That their great friend, William Penn, had made it his constant rule never to suffer any lands to be settled by any of his people until they were first duly purchased from the In- dians, and his commissioners, who acted for him during his absence, had as carefully used the same method, they never agreed to the settlement of any lands till the Indians were duly satisfied for them. That it was stipu- lated at the first settlement of this province, between the proprietor, William Penn, and the Indians that they should sell no lands to private persons or to any besides himself, or his commissioners, and afterward a law was enacted to the same purpose, that all of the purchases made of the Indians by any other than the proprietor or his agents should be entirely void, which law, he said, is still in force. That the commissioners had been strictly careful to avoid granting any lands that had not been first duly purchased of the Indians, and the Indians were not put offbut suffered voluntarily to remove, f
In 1730 Capt. Civility wrote to Gov. Gor- don, from Conestogoe, that at Lancaster he heard much talk that both Dutch and English were going to settle on the other side of the Susquehanna. That Mr. Wright and Mr. Blunston had surveyed a great deal of land and designed to dispose of it. That it was in their road to hunting and their young men might break the chain of friendship. That Mr. Wright had often said, when he first came to those parts, that no person should settle on that side of the river without the Indians' consent; that the Governor had de- sired, when with them at Conestogoe, that they should not hurt any of his people, which they carefully observed, and likewise that Edward Parnell, who was settled there, should go off, which he did. That they heard that one of William Penn's family was coming to this country and they would be glad to see any of his family. That they were then going out to hunt, and desired the Governor to suppress his people from settling there until they returned from their hunting, and then some of their chiefs would come down to him and have some further treaty about the matter. J Thomas Penn, one of the
«III Col. Eec. 273. till Col. Eec. 320. XI Arch 271.
40
HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY.
}
proprietaries, arrived on the 11th of August, and took control of the province.
At a meeting of the Provincial Council at Philadelphia, in 1735, representatives of the Conestogoes, Shawanese and Ganawese being present. Thomas Penn read over to the In- dians the former treaties, reciting the deed of agreement of 1701, and the Indians pres- ent fully ratified and confirmed all the same between the government and the several na- tions in whose name and behalf they had come. At this council Civility said: "That when William Penn first came into this coun- try, he called many of the Indians together and told them that the great king of England had given unto him a large tract of land, on which several nations of Indians were set- tled; that it was his desire to live in peace and good friendship with all those Indians, and therefore he would make purchases from them of those lands, before they should be possessed by the white people. That William Penn and the Indians agreed on other arti- cles, of all which two papers were written; one of them their brother William Penn had, and the other they have brought with them to show that thoy preserve all these things carefully. That William Penn told the In- dians this agreement was to continue for three generations."*
On the 11th of October, 1736, in the tenth year of the reign of King George the Sec- ond, a deed was executed by the Sachems or Chiefs of the nations of the Onondagoes, Sen- ecas, Cayugas, Oneidas and the Tusearoroes, to John, Thomas and Richard Penn, after reciting in the preamble as follows:
Whereas, the late Proprietary of the Province of Pennsylvania, AVm. Penn, Esqr., soon after his first arrival in his said province, took measures to have the River Susquehanna, with all the Lands ly- ing on both sides of the same, purchased for him and his heirs of those Indians of the fflve Nations, * * * and accordingly did purchase them of Coll. Thomas Dongan. & pay for the same. Notwith- standing which the Indians of the five Nations aforesaid, have continued to claim a Right in & to the said River and Land; nor have these claims been hitherto adjusted; whereupon the Sachems of Chiefs having with all the others of the said Nations met the last Summer at their great Council, held in ye Country of the said Onondagoes, did Resolve & Conclude that afinal Period and Conclusion should be put to all disputes that might possibly arise on that Occasion."
And having appointed the aforesaid sa- chems or chiefs as plenipotentiaries of all those nations to repair to Philadelphia, in order to confirm the several treaties of peace which have hitherto been concluded between
*III Col. Rec. 598-9.
them and the said province, and also to settle and adjust all demands and claims that have been heretofore made touching or concerning the aforesaid Susquehanna and the lands ly- ing on both sides thereof: In consideration of the premises and " 500 lbs. powder, 600 lbs. lead, 45 guns, 60 strouds water match coats, 100 blankets, 100 duffle match coats, 200 yds. of half thick, 100 shirts, 40 hats, 40 prs. of shoes and buckles, 40 prs. stock- ings, 100 hatchets, 500 knives, 100 houghs (hoes), 60 kettles, 100 tobacco tongs, 100 scis- sors, 500 awl blades, 120 combs, 2,000 need- les, 1,000 flints, 24 looking-glasses, 2 lbs. Ver- million, 100 tin pots, 200 lbs. tobacco, 25 glls. rum, 1,000 pipes, 24 dozen of gartering."
Conveyed to the said proprietaries, " all the said river Susquehanna, with the lands lying on both sides thereof, to extend eastwardly as far as the head of the branches or springs which run into the said Susquehanna, and all the lands lying on the west side of the said river to the setting of the sun, and to extend from the mouth of the said river northward, up the same to the hills or moun- tains called in the language of the said na- tions, the Tyannuntasacta, or endless hills, and by the Delaware Indians, the Kekkachta- nanin Hills."*
On the 25th of October, 1736, a release was executed by the several chiefs on behalf of the same nations, and also of the Mo- hawks, of the lands conveyed by the preced- ing deed, described more particularly as fol- lows: Lands on both sides of the river Sus- quehanna, from the mottth thereof as far northward or up the said river as the ridge of hills called the Tyoninhasachta, or Endless Mountains, westward to the setting' sun, and eastward to the furthest springs of the waters running into the said river. Releasing all right, claim and pretensions to all the lands lying within the bounds and limits of the government of Pennsylvania, beginning eastward on the river Delaware, as far north- ward as the said ridge or chain of endless mountains as they cross the country of Penn- sylvania from, eastward to the west. That neither they nor any in authority in their na- tions, would sell to any jDerson, white men or Indians, other than the children of William Penn, or persons authorized by them, any lands within the limits of Pennsylvania. On this deed of release there is an endorsement of ratification, dated the 9th oO July, 1754, signed by nine Indians. f
EUKOPEAN TITLE.
EUROPEAN TITLE.
''T^HE European nations claimed the right X by discovery to own and possess all countries inhabited by savages. It was a right they assumed to be inherent in them as Christians, for the conversion of the heathen, and between themselves the right was deter- mined by prior discovery. A newly discovered country belonged to the nation whose people first discovered it. The grants by the Popes to'the Spaniards were never doubted, and no other Christian prince intruded into the countries made theirs by discovery and con- quest. The English acquired the title of lirst discoverers through Cabot's voyage along our coast in 1498. Yet, as the Delaware River was discovered by Henry Hudson, the right to the land upon it was claimed by the Dutch, because, at the time of discovery, he was in their service and under their Hag. Cape May was named after a merchant of Amsterdam, Capt. Cornelius Jacobson May. The English, however, maintained their right, on the ground that Hudson was an Englishman by birth, and because Lord De La War entered the bay in 1610, giving his name to it; but the discovery made by Hudson was in 1609. There was enmity existing between the gov- ernments of New England and New Nether- lands. Oliver Cromwell had been applied to by the NewEnglanders for aid, and after his death, Charles II, restored to the throne, de- termined to drive the Hollanders away. He granted to his brother, the Duke of York, in 1664. the territory possessed by the Dutch, namely, New York and New Jersey, and the land now comprised in the State of Delaware. War vessels were sent over and Newcastle re- duced by an armed force. The whole prov- ince of New Netherlands was surrendered, and thus an English title was acquired by actual conquest. The Swedes, who had set- tled upon the Delaware, had come over under a charter from Gustavus Adolphus, but they came only as colonists, about the year 1626.
Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore, obtained his grant to Maryland from Charles I, in 16^32, and the tirst settlement under it was at. St. Mary's in 1634. He claimed, under his grant, the lands on the west side of the Delaware River included in the whole of the fortieth degree of latitude. This grant to Cecil Cal- vert was of land promised to his father, George Calvert, Secretary of State, and which had been named by the king, Mary- land, in honor of his queen, Henrietta Maria. It was to the unoccupied part of Virginia,
from the Potomac River northward, including lands both on the east and west side of Ches- apeake Bay. Charles, the son of Cecil, pro- cured a confirmation of the patent in 1661. The words of the grant are: "All that part of a Peninsula lying between the ocean on the east and the bay of Chesapeake on the west, and divided from the other part by a right line, drawn from the Cape, called Wat- kins Point, situated in the aforesaid bay near the river Wigbee on the west, unto the main ocean on the east, and between that bound on the south unto that part of Delaware Bay on the north, which lieth under the fortieth de- gree of north latitude from the equinoctial, and all that tract of land, from the aforesaid bay of Delaware, in a right line by the de- gree aforesaid, to the true meridian of the first fountain of the river Potomack, and from thence tending toward the south, to the fur- ther bank of the aforesaid river, and follow- ing the west and south side of it, to a certain place called Cinquach, situated near the mouth of said river, where it falls into the bay of Chesapeake, and from thence by a straight line to the aforesaid cape, called Watkins Point."
The extent of land contained in the fortieth degree of latitude, thus mentioned as the northern boundary of Maryland, was claimed by the proprietors of both provinces as lying entirely within their respective grants. That part of the peninsula bordering on Delaware Bay had been settled and was occupied by the Dutch and Swedes, over whom the Duke of York claimed sovereignty. The grant to Lord Baltimore was only of such lands as were "unplanted by any civilized nation", and hence the settled part would be excluded from his charter. The grant to the Duke of York was of all lands occupied by the Dutch from the west side of Connecticut River to the east side of Delaware Bay. Before the grant to the Duke of York, Lord Baltimore had claimed all the lands between the 38th and 40th degrees of latitude from sea to sea. The charters of both Virginia and New En- gland had no certain boundaries, and the geographical position of the degrees of lati- tude mentioned were equally uncertain. Therefore, when William Penn conceived the\ idea of securing a tract of land in America] for his purposes, he made his application for] land lying north of Maryland on the east bounded by Delaware River, on the west limited as Maryland, and northward to extend as far as plantable.* To this application ob- jections were made by the Duke of York and Lord Baltimore. William Penn, in his own
*Proud. Anderson's History of Commerce.
43
HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY.
account of the application, says he petitioned the king for five degrees, when it was urged that Lord Baltimore had but two degrees. "Upon which the Lord Baltimore, turning his head to me, at whose chair I stood, said, 'Mr. Penn, will not three degrees serve your turn ?' I answered, 'I submit both the when and how to the honorable waMen".
The charter of Charles II to William Penn, Proprietary and Governor of the province of Pennsylvania, is dated at Westminster, the fourth day of March, 1681, in the thirty- third year of that monarch. The land granted to him is described as follows: "All that tract or parcel of land in America, with the islands therein contained, as the same is bounded on the east by the Delawai'e River from twelve miles distance northward of Newcastletown. unto the three and fortieth degree of north- ern latitude, if the said river doth extend so far northward, but if the said river shall not extend so far northward, then by the said river, so far as it doth extend, and from the head of the said river, the eastern bounds are to be determined by a meridian line, to be drawn from the head of said river, unto the said forty-third degree. The said land to extend westward five degi'ees in longitude, to be computed from the said eastern bounds and the said lands to be bounded on the north by the beginning of the three and for- tieth degree of northern latitude, and on the south by a circle, drawn at twelve miles distance from Newcastle, northward and west- ward, unto the beginning of the fortieth degree of northern latitude and then by a straight line westward to the limits of the longitude above mentioned."*
Newcastle was a town that had been set- tled by the Dutch, and called Nueue Amstel, and changed to Newcastle by- the Duke of York, being the place now of that name, and situate within the fortieth degree of latitude. The land bordering on the Delaware Piiver and Bay, settled by the Dutch and granted to the Duke of York, comprises what is now the State of Delaware. This land William Penn obtained of the Duke of York, by deed of re- lease, dated the '21st day of August, 16S2. And by deeds of feoffment, dated the 24th of the same month, he procured from the Duke all his right, title and interest in the land, after known as the three lower counties on the Delaware, extending from the south boundary of the province of Pennsylvania, and situate oo the western side of Delaware River and Bay, to Cape Henlopen. The first deed was for the town of Newcastle and a district of twelve miles around it as far as the
Delaware River. In the second was compre- hended that tract of land from twelve miles | south of Newcastle to Cape Henlopen.*
Proud, in his history of Pennsylvaniai ; says: "By the first section of the charter, the extent and boundary of the province are expressed in such plain terms that it might reasonably be supposed they could not well or; easily be misunderstood; three degrees of lafc-; itude included and bounded between the be- ginning of the fortieth and the beginning of forty-third degree of north latitude, equal to about two hundred and eight English statute miles, north and south, with five degrees of longitude westward from Delaware River,! which, in the parallel of forty-one degrees, I are equal to nearly two hundred and sixty-five; miles east and west, are as clearly and mani- ; festly expressed to be granted to the proprie- ' tary of Pennsylvania as words can do it; and we are otherwise suiBciently certified that the same space or quantity of land was intended' by the king to be included in the said grant, , yet the dispute between the proprietaries of i Maryland and Pennsylvania, on this point, i was afterwards remarkable and of many' years' continuance, occasioned by each of the respective proprietaries claiming to himself the whole space or extent of land contained in the fortieth degree of latitude, which was , the north boundary of Maryland by patent of that province, and which though prior to i that of Pennsylvania, sjDecifics or assigns no ' particular part of the said degree for the boundary as the Pennsylvania grant doth, which space or degree, containing nearly seventy English miles in breadth, north and - south, and in length westward, so far as Ma ryland extends, was no small matter to occa- sion a dispute. But notwithstanding the clearness of the terms by which the boundary between the said provinces is expressed in' their respective charters, as above mentioned, yet this dispute was at length, in the year 1732, finally settled chiefly in favor of Mary-' land by fixing the said boundary between the' two provinces only fifteen miles due south. of the most southerly part of Philadelphia, or in the parallel of thirty-nine degrees, for- ty-four minutes, nearly, instead of 39 degrees, or at the beginning of the fortieth degree, as mentioned and intended by charter, which renders the real extent of Pennsylvania north and Bcnth only about 155 miles, instead of 208, and makes the square miles in the province about 41,000, and the num- ber of acres 26,288,000, or near twenty-six millions." When William Penn visited the province, in 1682, he had an interview with
EUKOPEAX TITLE.
Lord Baltimore in regard to the matter, in which he presented a letter from the king, that Lord Baltimore should measure his de- grees at sixty miles to a degree, his lordship said that the king was mistaken, and that the letter could not avoid his patent. William Perm says that the proprietor of Maryland treated him with great civility, but in all of | their interviews he could never get him to ar- range definitely their respective bound- aries. *
James, Duke of York, succeeded to the throne on the death of his brother, Charles, in 168-i. A petition of Lord Baltimore to the late king had been referred to the Committee of Trade and Plantations, and the Committee after many hearings on behalf of both parties, made their report to King James II, and he, in November, 1685, by advice of the council, ordered a division of the land between the Delaware and Chesapeake Bays, from the lat- itude of Cape Henlopen to the south bound- ary of Pennsylvania, into two equal parts, the Delaware side to be the king's, and the Chesapeake side to be Lord Baltimore's, on the ground that the lands granted by the pat- ent of Lord Baltimore were inhabited only by savages, and the part in dispute was in- habited and planted by Christians before the date of the patent. This dividing line termi- nated on the north at a parallel of about fif- teen miles due south of Philadelphia, touch- ing the arc of a circle drawn at twelve miles distant from Newcastle to the river Delaware. James II, by the revolution of 1688, lost his throne and William and Mary succeeded. During this period of revolution, William Penn was under a cloud of suspicion, having been charged with being a Jesuit in disguise. It resulted in bis being deprived of the gov- ernment of his province, b}' William and Mary, which was placed under the control of Benjamin Fletcher, Governor of New York. The affairs of the province went on much as usual, William Markham, the first agent of William Penn, having been appointed dep- uty. In 1693 the government was restored to him. The same fate overtook the rival pro- prietary. Cecil Calvert died in 1675, when Charles became proprietor, and in 1691 the king took the government in his own hands until 1715, when the province was restored to the heir, then a Protestant. f
It was at the time of William Penn's sec- ond visit to the provintTe, and after his resto- ration to the government of it in 1693, that the purchase through Gov. Dougan, of New York, was effected from the Indians.
•Hildreth.
tHist. of Maryland.
This was done in 1696. After the proprieta- ry's return home, the treachery of a trusted friend of his own sect threw him into finan- cial embarrassments, occasioned his impris- onment and the rest of his life was a series of trials and sufferings, mental and physical, until his death, in 1718. His eldest sou, by his first wife, died a year or two aftei' his father, leaving a son, Springet Penn. This grandson was the heir at law. The grand- father, however, had made a will by which the government of the province was devised in trust to dispose of to the crown or other- wise. The soil, rents or other profits of Pennsylvania he bequeathed to trustees, to lay out 40,000 acres for Guli Springe t's descendants (his first wife's family), and to sell as much land as would pay of the whole of his debts, and then divide the re- mainder among the children of his second wife, with a pension to his widow out of the profits, making his wife sole executrix. The rights of the devisees were disputed and a tedious suit in the Exchequer Court resulted. He had made his will six years before his death, and after it was made, he had agreed to sell the province to the crown and had re- ceived a part of the money. Before the making of his will' he had mortgaged the province to secure some borrowed money, with power to sell. This mortgage was un- satisfied at the time of his death.
It will be remembered that, at this time. (1723) the intention of Gov. Calvert, communi- cated to Gov. Keith, was to take an observation on the west side of the Susquehanna to as- certain the fortieth degree of northerly lati- tude from the equinoctial. Thus commenced the troubles regarding the boundary line under the claim of Lord Baltimore to the lands west of the Susquehanna, and which, if sustained, to the fortieth cfegree of lati- tude, would have placed the territory we now occupy in the State of Maryland. It will be remembered, too, that Gov. Keith, in his letter to Gov. Calvert, objects to the ex- tension of the northern boundary of Mary- land beyond the Octararoe line, established above forty years before. With regard to this, Gov. Gordon made subsequently the following statement; "King Charles the First, granted to Lord Baltimore the province of Maryland, extending northward to the fortieth degree of northern latitude, in the manner expressed in his patent, at a time when the true latitude of, those parts was not well understood, bl^t it can be incontest- ably made to appear that the grantee him- self claimed by hie grant no higher than the head of Chesapeake Bay. In the year 1680,
44
HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY
Charles II granted to Mr. Penn, the province of Pensylvania. bounded southwai-d by a cir- cle of twelve miles round Newcastle and to the westward of that circle by the same fortieth degree. Mr. Penn, coming over in 1682 with great numbers of people to settle this province, the then Lord Baltimore, eon to the first grantee, being at the same time in Maryland, and willing to fix his northern boundary, came up not long after, in person, to the mouth of the Oetoraroe Creek, on Susquehanna, causing Col. Talbot to begin there and run a line from thence east- ward to Delaware; after this was done he, in 1083, sent the same gentleman, Col. Talbot, ^ at two different times, with two several com- missioners to this government, to demand the possession of all the lands lying on tlie west side of the Delaware to the southward of that line, leaving both times authentic copies of his commissions, and no further settlement being then made, from that time the mouth of Oetoraroe was reputed by the inhabitants of those parts on both sides to give the northern limits of the one and the southern limits of the other province."* The Maryland encroachments, as they were called by the Pennsylvanians, were founded upon this claim of Lord Baltimore to the ter- ritory wherein he authorized settlements to be made. It does not appear that there were any difficulties between the two provinces, from the city of Philadelphia to the Susque- hanna River. But west of the Susquehanna River Lord Baltimore issued his warrants under his claims to the fortieth parallel of latitude, even pending the litigation between him and the Penns, evidently suimising that the right to it under his grant might be ulti- ' mately acknowledged.
On the 17th day of February, 1724, there was an agreement made between the right honor- able Charles, Lord Baltimore, proprietor of Maryland, and Hannah Penn, widow and exec- utrix of William Penn, Esq., late proprietor of Pennsylvania, and Joshua Gee and Henry Gouldney, of London, in behalf of them- selves and the rest of the mortgagees of the province of Pennsylvania, as follows: "Whereas there are disputes depending be- tween the respective proprietors of the pro- vinces of Maryland and Pennsylvania touch- ing the limits or boundaries of the said pro- vinces where they are contiguous to each other. And whereas both parties are at this time sincerely inclined to enter into a treaty in order te take such methods as may be ad visable for the final determining of the said controversy, by agreeing upon such lines or {
other marks of distinction to be settled as may remain for a perpetual boundary be- tween the two provinces; it is therefore mu- tually agreed .... That, avoiding all man- ner of contentions or differences between the inhabitants of the said provinces, no person or persons shall be disturbed or molested in their possessions on either side, nor any lands be surveyed, taken up or granted in either of the said provinces near the boun- daries which have been claimed or pretended to on either side. This agreement to con- tinue for the space of eighteen months from the date hereof, in which time it is hoped the boundaries will be determined and set- tled. And it is mutually agreed on by the said parties, that proclamations be issued out in the said provinces signifying this agree- ment, for the better quieting of the people."* There was litigation as to the proprietorship, and after some years a compromise was effected in the family, and the government of i the province fell to John, Thomas and Rich- j ard Penn, the surviving sons of the second " wife." By a letter of August 17, 1727. from John and Thomas Penn to the trustees, ,i it was announced that the long depending : dispute was at last determined with respect ' to the propriety of the province. The court | established the will, but in relation to the i powers of government the Barons would not [ take upon them to decide anything until the j Attorney -General should have orders to answer i whether his Majesty would be pleased to in- i sist upon the performance of the contract made with the late queen, or quit it; but j this they had not yet, by all the solicitation i they could make, been able to obtain, but hoped to get it against the next term. How- I ever, they were now authorized to execute ( the trust, j In 1732, after the mortgage debt, and all other claims had been settled, Thomas Penn arrived in this country, and for himself and brothers took possession of the province. In that same year, on r,he 10th of May, ar- ticles of agreement were made between Charles, Lord Baltimore, proprietary of Maryland, and John, Thomas and Richard Penn, proprietaries of Pennsylvania. Among other things it provided, "that in two calendar months from that date, each party should appoint Commissioners, not more than seven, whereof three or more of each side may act, or mark out the boundaries afore- said, to begin, at the furthest, sometime in October, 1732, and to be completed on or be- fore December 25, 1733, and when so done a plan thereof shall be signed, sealed and
EUEOPEAN TITLE.
45
delivered by the Commissioners and their principals, and shall be entered in all the public offices in the several provinces and counties, and to recommend to the respective Legislatures to pass an act for perambulating these boundaries, at least once in three years. The party defaulting, to pay the other party on demand 6,000 pounds sterling."
On the 12th of May, John, Thomas and Richard Penn signed a commission directed to Patrick Gordon, Isaac Norris, Samuel Preston, James Logan and Andrew Hamilton, esquires and to James Steel and Robert Charles, gentlemen, appointing them or any three or more of them Commissioners with full power, on the part of the said proprie- taries, for the actual running, marking and laying out the boundary lines, between both the province and territories of Pennsylvania and Maryland, according to the articles of agreement. And an instrument of the same tenor and date was executed by Lord Balti- i more, directed to Samuel Ogle, Charles Calvert, Philemon Lloyd, Michael Howard, Richard Bennet, Benjamin Tasker, and Matthew Tilghman Ward, Esquires, appoint- ing them, or any sis, five, four or three of j them. Commissioners, for the same purposes on the part of the said Charles, Lord Balti- [ more. At a meeting of the Provincial Coun- 'cil on the 31st of September, 1732, Thomas I Penn, proprietary, being present. Gov. Gordon acquainted the Board that the differ- [ ences between our honorable proprietary I family and the Lord Baltimore, touching the I disputed boundaries of their respective gov- ernments, being now happily accommodated, an agreement had been concluded between them, which, by the direction of the pro- prietor, he was now to lay before the Board. That it had been as yet only communicated ; to the Commissioners, and those gentlemen were in a few days to set out to meet Mr. Ogle, Governor of Maryland, and those named i on the part of that government. The mem- I bers of the Council expressed their satis- j faction and pleasure .that the differences and 1 uneasinesses, which had formerly so much [disquieted the government, were in so fair I a way of being settled, and as execution of the agreement was entrusted to persons of such good abilities it was to be hoped the ! same would be speedily brought to a happy ! issue;* and on the 3d of October, 1732, the Governor notified them that pursuant to an appointment made between the Lieutenant- Governor of Maryland and himself for the I meeting of the Commissioners, he was to set out to-morrow for Newtown in Maryland.
*1II Col. Kec. 464.
The Commissioners respectively appeared at the time and place fixed, but upon some differences of opinion, the boundaries were not made in the time limited. The failure was on the side of Lord Baltimore, who alleged, in respect of the agreement, that he had been deceived in fixing Cape Henlopen twenty-five miles southwesterly of the western cape of Delaware Bay, whereas Cape Hen- lopen is the western cape itself. The Penns affirmed that the western cape is Cape Cor- nelius, and Cape Henlopen some miles south- wardly of it, according to the Dutch maps and descriptions published, about the time when Lord Baltimore obtained his grant. The chart by which the boundaries were given named the cape opposite to Cape May, at the mouth of Delaware Bay, Cape Cornelius, and the point at Fenwick's Island, Cape Henlopen. The charts now transpose that order. Lord Baltimore endeavored to avoid this agreement to settle the boundaries, and the time having expired for completing the articles, Charles, Lord Baltimore, petitioned the King in Coun- cil for relief on the 9th of August, 1734, which was opposed by a counter petition by John, Thomas and Richard Penn on the 9th of December, 1734, and upon references and report thereon, the King on the 16th of May, 1735, ordered the consideration of the report to be adjourned, that the Messrs. Penn might proceed in equity. On the 21st of June, 1735, they exhibited their bill in the court of Chancery of Great Britain against Lord Baltimore, praying that the said articles may be deemed to subsist and be carried into exe- cution, and that any doubts arisen may be cleared by the decree. After tedious delays they obtained a decree on the 15th of May, 1750, for the specific performance of the agreement.*
The opinion of Lord Hardwicke, the great- est of the British Chancellors, puts the '■ merits of the controversy in a clear light. ; "Lord Chancellor. — I directed this cause to ': stand over for judgment, not so much from any doubt of what was the justice of the case, as by reason of the nature of it, the great consequence and importance, and the great labor and ability of the argument on both sides; it being for the determination of the right and boundaries of two great prov- incial governments and three counties; of a nature worthy the judicature of a Roman Senate rather than of a single judge — and my consolation is, that if I should err in my judgment, there is a judicature equal in ' dignity to a Roman Senate that will correct j it. . . . The settling and fixing these
I *Penns vs. Lord Baltimore, I Vesey's Reports, 44i.
46
HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY.
boundaries in peace, to prevent the dis- order and mischief which in remote countries, distant from the seat of government, are most likely to happen, and most mischiev- ous. . . . This has subsisted above seventy years. . . . Though nothing valuable is given on the face of articles as a consideration, the settling boundaries, and peace, and quiet, is a mutual consideration on each side, and in all cases make a con- sideration to support a suit ia this court for performance of the agreement for settling the boundaries. ... It appears that the agreement was originally proposed by the defendant himself ; he himself produced the plan or map afterward annexed to the articles; he himself reduced the heads of it into writing, and was very well assisted in making it; and farther that there was a great length of time taken for consideration and reducing it to form. . . . The defendant and his ancestors were conversant in this dispute about fifty years before this agree- ment was entered into. . . . It is insisted the whole fortieth degree of north latitude is included; and if so that it is not to be lim- ited by any recital in the preamble. There is great foundation to say, the comiDutations of latitude at the time of the grant vary miich from what they are at present, and that they were set much lower anciently than what they are now. ... In these countries it has been always taken that that European country which has just set up marks of pos- session, has gained the right though not formed into a regular colony. . . . Next consider the dispute on Penn's charter, which grants to him all that tract of land in America from twelve miles distant from New- castle to the 43rd degree of north latitude. .... Upon the charter it is clear by the proof that the true situation of Cape Hen- lopen is as it is marked in the plan, and not where Cape Cornelius is, as the defendant insists; which would leave out a great part of what was intended to be included in the grant, and there is a strong evidence of seiz- ure and possession by Penn, of that spot of Cape Henlopen, and all acts of ownership. But the result of all the evidence, taking it in the most favorable light for the defendant, amounts to make the boundaries of these countries and rights of the parties doubtful. Senex, who was a good geographer, says that the degi'ees of latitude cannot be computed with the exactness of two or three miles, and another geographer says that with the best instrument it is impossible to fix the degrees of latitude without the uncertainty of seven- teen miles, which is near the whole extent
the capes The objection of
uncertainty arises principally on the question concerning the circle of twelve miles to be drawn about Newcastle. It was insisted on in the answer and greatly relied on in Ame- rica, but is the clearest part of the cause. As to the centre it is said that Newcastle is a long town, and therefore it not being fixed by the articles, it is impossible that the court can decree it; but there is no difficulty in it; the centre of a circle must be a mathe- matical point (otherwise it is indefinite) and no town can be so. I take all these sorts of , expressions and such agreements to imply a negative ; to be a circle at such a dis- i tance from Newcastle, and in no part to be ' further. Then it must be no further dis- j tant from any part of Newcastle. Thus, to fix a center, the middle of New- castle, as near as can be computed can ■ be found; and a circle described around | that town, which is the fairest way. for otherwise it might be fourteen miles in some parts of it, if it is a long town. Then what must be the extent of the circle ? It is given up at the bar, though not in the answer. It cannot be twelve miles distant from Newcastle, unless it has a semi-diame- ter of twelve miles; but there is one argu- ment decisive without entering into nice mathematical questions: the line to be the dividing line, and to be drawn north from Henlopen, was either to be a tangent or inter- secting from that circle, and if the radius was to be of two miles only, it would neither touch nor intersect it, but go wide. There is no difference as to the place or running of the line from south to north, though there is at the cape from which it is to commence. In America the defendant's com- missioners behaved with great chicane in the ' point they insisted on, as the want of a i center of a circle, and the extent of that circle, viz. : whether a diameter of two or twelve miles; the endeavoring to take advan- tage of one of plaintiffs' commissioners com- ing too late to make the plaintiffs incur the penalty. The defendant has been misled by his commissioners and agents in America, to make their objections his defense." It was ordered "that before the end of three calen- ■ dar months from May 15th, two several proper ' instruments for appointing commissioners, not more than seven on a side, may run and mark the boundaries, to begin some time in November next, and to be completed on or before the last day of May, 1752."
BOEDER TROUBLES.
47
BORDER TROUBLES.
of
THE history of York County, by the disputed proprietary ciaims, was in- augurated by disturbances which involved its first settlers in serious diificulties. They had settled themselves in one of those unfortunate sections of country known to all history as border land. The persons who came west of the Susquehanna in quest of new homes, as citizens of the province of Pennsylvania, soon found that there were other claimants of the soil upon which they had planted themselves, coming here under the authority of the gov- ernment of the province of Maryland. The broils and riots which followed in the wake of those who had fu-st cleared the forests and sowed their crops on this side of the river, tilled the annals of that period with protests and remonstrances, criminations and recriminations, affidavits and counter affida- vits, unparalleled in the archives of any other government. While it is -our duty, as Pennsylvanians, to maintain the rights of the founder of this commonwealth, it is equally our duty to examine fairly the grounds upon which his rival proprietor on the south disputed these rights, and made claims of his own. The people who are em- broiled in differences of the character exhib- ited in the documents and traditions of that period, are not, as a general rule, to blame, especially in an age when the sentiment of loyalty to rulers made them regardless of the rights of others, in behalf of those who were;,- ready and willing to protect them in their outrages. The blame must rest with those in authority, who could have no cause for encouraging unlawful claims, much less for the assertion of them by violent measures. In all frontier settlements there are fierce and reckless men who are eager to carry out, . by any means, what they conceive to be the will of those in power, of whom they ai'e the partisans. It is a remarkable feature in the details of those early disturbances, in which the interests of the rival proprietaries clashed, that the Governors of each province for the time being apparently believed and relied on the ex parte statements of their partisans on the one side or the other. It is not the Cressaps, and the Higgenbothams, whom we are accustomed to consider as fmarauders and disturbers of the peace, or the 'Wrights or Blunstons, whom, on the other hand, we consider the conservators of the peace, but those to whom was committed the government of the respective colonies, and
the welfare of his Majesty's subjects therein, who are properly to be made the subject of animadversion, if they failed to use all the means in their power to restrain the evils existing, or from a spirit of partisanship closed their eyes to the real causes of those evils. The details of these disturbances and the mutual grounds of contention between the proprietaries are too tedious to relate. But a narrative of such incidents as led the respective provincial governments into the bitter controversy, may not be without inter- est to our people, especially to those who dwell in the locality where the occurrences took place. J The first complaint as to in- trusions on the west side of the Susquehanna, after the agreement of 1724, appears in a letter from Gov. Gordon to Gov. Calvert, on the 14th of September, 1731:
Oov. Gordon: — I am further creditably informed that some persons of Mar3'land, having obtained grants of land from your offices, have pretended to lay them out over the river Susquehanna, where our Commissioners would never allow any survey to be made, not only on account of ouv agreement with the Indians, but also of that made with Maryland. Yet some of your people have pretended to large tracts thereof, which some, 'tis affirmed, lie many miles further north than this city of Philadelphia, and have further had assurance even to offer them to sale to some of our inhabitants, without making, on their parts, any scruple of the situation. 'Tis now some months since I heard the rumor of this, but very lately I have had a much fuller confirma- tion of it.
To which complaint there was the follow- ing reply fi'om the Governor of Marylan:
Oov. Calvert—" As, to what you mention of our people taking up lands high up the river Susque- hanna, I shall endeavor to enquire into it as soon as possible, till when I must beg leave to defer anj' further answer on that head."*
It would appear from this that whatever settlers there were over the river at that period in the teiTitory, now the counfy of York, were ostensibly there without the knowl- edge or consent of either government. The sequel will not bear this out. The complaint came first from the Indians to the government of Pennsylvania. A letter from Samuel Blunston, "of the 3d of October, 1731, con- tains a message from Capt. Civility to Gov. Gordon, that "the Conestogoe Indians had always lived in good friendship with the Christian inhabitants of Pennsylvania, and have behaved themselves agreeable to their treaties with them. That Williamjr'enn had promised them they should not be dis- turbed by any settlers on the west side of the Susquehanna, but now, contrary thereto, sev- eral Marylanders are settled- by the river on that side, at Conejohela. And one Crissop, particularly, is very abusive to them when
*I Archives, 294.
HISTORY or YORK COUNTY,
they pass that way. And had beat and wounded one of their women, who went to get apples from their own trees. And took away her apples. And further said, that as they shall always take care their people do us no hurt, so they also expect we shall pro- tect them.''* This incident, trivial as it may seem, introduces and exposes the char- acter of the principal participant, on the side of Maryland, in our border troubles. In thissameletter it issaid, in a postscript, "that James Logan had said he should be glad if Crissop could be taken," and Mr. Blunston writes, " we have now just cause to appre- hend him for a breach of the law in enter- taining and protecting a bound servant, be- longing to one of our people, and threaten- ing to shoot any person who shall offer to take away said servant. If you think it will be of any service to the government to have him taken, he believed it may be done." According to an affidavit of Thomas Cressap, made by him on the 29th of Janu- ary, 1732, he had lived on the west side of the Susquehanna River since the 10th of March, as tenant of Lord Baltimore, by vir- tue of his Lordship's grant and patent. He was the owner of a ferry opposite a point on the river called Blue Rock. The incident which occasioned his affidavit requires men- tion, because it first drew the governors of the rival provinces into angry controversy. He made oath that one day, about the last of October, he heard the report of three guns at the Blue Rock, the signal usually made by people who want to come over the river. That he and Samuel Chance, who was a laborer with him, went over the river, and that he saw two men and a negro whom he took into his boat. He then details an as- sault upon him, that after a struggle they threw him into the river, out of his depth, and went away with his boat and his ser- vant, and that he was rescued from an island after night by an Indian. He complained to a magistrate in Pennsylvania, Mi-. Cornish, against the men, and when he demanded a warrant the magistrate enquired where he lived. He said he was an inhabitant of Maryland, a tenant of Lord Baltimore, iipon which the magistrate told him he knew no reason he had to expect any justice there since he was a liver in Maryland. It appears, however, that the magistrate granted Cres- sap his warrant, and that the men were ap- prehended and bound over to court, and were indicted, convicted and fined for the assault. This deposition was sent to the Governor of Maryland, and a full account of the matter
was also sent to Lord Baltimore. Gov. Ogle sent a coj)y of the deposition to Gov. Gordon, and complained in his letter of the saying by Mr, Cornish, that he knew no reason why Cressap had to expect justice there, since he was a liver in Maryland, And that Cressap was in great fear of other inju- ries from the behavior of the magistrate and other circumstances, and that some Indians said they were offered a good reward by one Cartlidge, of Conestogoe, to drive Cressap and his family off his land and burn his house. The affadavit of Cressap also stated that a great number of horses and mares, which were claimed by James Patterson and others, inhabitants of Pennsylvania, had been very injurious and troublesome to him and his neighbors, in throwing down their fences and destroying their corn. This mat- ter of the horses becomes important, because of another incident arising out of the killing of the horses, which led to the arrest and in- carceration of iDersons on both sides, and my Lord Baltimore became a participant in the scenes that were enacted on this border land of ours. To the letter of Gov. Ogle, Gov. Gordon replied, among other things, that " Cressap, believing himself ag- grieved, applied to one of our magistrates, telling him that he was an inhabitant of Maryland. In which application it must be owned that he had a large share of assur- ance, for Justice Cornish lives more northerly than Philadelphia, andCressap's dwelling, by his own description of the Blue Rock, cannot be less than five miles northward. That jus- tice had been administered in Pennsj-lvanta, and that as to the fray, the government was in no way concerned in it, unless justice was denied, which was not the case. "For 'tis plain the whole amounts to no more than that a quarrel happened between Cressap and some others in Pennsylvania, which he thinks tit to call Maryland." It appears from this and throughout the whole controversy, that the Pennsylvanians continually resented the intrusions of the Marylanders into their ter- ritory, above a designated line, while on the other hand the Marylanders, with the con nivance of their government, refused to recog nise that line and collisions occurred necessa rily incident to settlements under such con fiicting claims. The lands about the Codo- rus and Conewago were attractive, as Gov Gordon wrote in the course of the corres- pondence, "and some Maryland gentlemen cast their eyes on those lands made valuable by the neighborhood of our inhabitants, and it suited their purposes to settle such persons there as would intimidate Pennsylvanians,
BOEDER TROUBLES.
and give some coTintenance to their claims."* Indeed Marjiand surveys had been made and returned many years before, as in the in- stances related in the chapter on Indian titles, among which was a warrant issued for the survey of a manor to the Lord Baltimore, upon the banks of the Susquehanna, includ- ing Newberry, which led to the survey of Springetsbury Manor in 1722, and earlier, that made by Phillip Syng, by a Maryland title that same year. ? In the year 1729,' Charles Carroll, as appears by a petition of his, about the time of the commencement of our border troubles, located a warrant of 10,000 acres on the vacant lands lying on Pipe Creek, and Codorus and Conewago Creeks, and lands contiguous, according to the accustomed method used within his Lord- ship's province. This location was in pos- session of the surveyor of Baltimore County and was renewed from time to time.
Charles Carroll states in his petition that, apprehending some cultivation made during the former location, which the said warrant could not effect, he had obtained a special warrant to take up the same on express terms. About the l-4th of June, 1732, he and John Ross went to view the lands, the better to inform themselves how to finish a survey of the same, and on the 21st of that month they came to the house of John Hen- dricks, on the Susquehanna River. The com- plaint of Carroll was that while they were at Hendrick's house several persons came there with a warrant from Justice Wright to arrest John Tradane, of the province of Maryland, resident at Monochasie, and which they were told was intended to try whether they would interfere, by objecting to the power of Pennsylvania. But they took no notice of the proceedings. Carroll com- plained that John Wright, Jr., a son of the Justice, had said " that in case the hominy gentry hindered their executing the warrant, they themselves should be put in prison, and that the best of their hominy gentry in Mary- land should not get them out, and that if the Governor were there they would serve him in the same manner; that they would teach them to come to take their lands, and that neither they nor their Marylanders should come there to make a hominy country of their lands." He complained also, he said, of other reflecting and abusive language to that purport. The complaint of Carroll also set out that one James Pattison, who came over, said that all the lands thereabout belonged to Mr. Penn. That Mr. James Logan advised the people of Pennsylvania
to stand up manfully against the Maryland- ers, and that Pattison said, for his own part, he wotild tight to his knees in blood before he should lose his plantations on either side of the river. Carroll asked him if ever he had a patent under Mr. Penn for his planta- tion or the lands he claimed, or had a war- rant for taking it up, to which Pattison an- swered that he had neither warrant nor pat- ent, and Carroll then said that Mr. Logan's advice was dangerotis. This memorial of Charles Carroll was presented for the purpose of praying protection from the Maryland government in executing his warrant, and settling the lands, as they, the petition said, would have to repel force by force. *
James Patterson, or Pattison as above called, had been settled, according to Gov. Gordon, on Springetsbury Manor about fifteen years, but because it was a manor he had no patent, f
The titles within this manor are elsewhere explained. Patterson had a plantation on this side of the river, but resided on the east side. He had, it appears, a number of horses necessary for carrying goods and skins in his trade with the Indians. Some of the family of John Lowe killed his horses, whereupon he came in the night time with a warrant, and the sheriff's posse, to arrest two of Lowe's sons, Daniel and William Lowe. But they also seized John Lowe, the father, . and he, being brought before Justices Blun- ston and Wright, and nothing appearing against him, was discharged. Affidavits made by John Lowe and Thomas Cressap were sent to Gov. Ogle, representing the ar- rest to have been made with great violence. In Cressap' s affidavit it is represented that Patterson had said he would let them know that they were prisoners of Pennsylvania. Cressap said that if Lord Baltimore would not protect them in their rights and land, they, the inhabitants of the west side of the river, must appeal to the King. To which Patterson answered "that they had no busi- ness with the King, or the King with them, for Penn was their King." Such were the representations sent for the grave considera tion of the proprietary and authorities of Maryland. John Lowe, in his affidavit, rep- resented that the party came in the dead of night and arrested him in bed, and violently dragged him on the ground and over the river on the ice and kept him in custody the re- maining part of the night. The consequent struggle arising from the resistance to the arrest was made the ground of complaint for
«I Archives, 333. fl Archives, 338.
50
HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY.
riot in Maryland. The affair was communi- cated to the Lord Baltimore, and' a letter was received from him by Gov. Gordon. As this letter came from a person of such dig- nity, and aa it contains his own opinion of liis- rights, and his claim to obedience in this particular, it is given in full:
Annapolis, Deer, ye lotb, 1733.
Sir: — Bv the enclosed precept, founded upon In- formation given upon Oath to a Magistrate here, you will see that a most outrageous Riot hath lately lieen committed in my Province, by a great number of People calling themselves Pennsylvanians. It appears by the same Information that some of your Magistrates, instead of preventing or discouraging these violences. Countenance and abet the Authors of them ; whether with or without the approbation of your Government, you best know. For my own part, I think myself in Honor and Justice obliged, and I am determined, to protect such of his Maj- esty's subjects who are ray own Tenants, in all their Rights, and therefore, to the End the Persons com- plained of may be punished, if upon a fair tryal they shall be found guilty. I desire that they-or such of them as can be found in your Province, may be sent without loss of time into this, as the Onlj' and proper place, where the fact with which they are charged is cognizable, and where my Officers will be ready to receive them, particularly the Sher- ifEs and Justices of my Counties of Baltimore and Cecil. I also desire that such of your Magistrates as shall appear to have Encouraged the commission of these or any other violences in my Province by the people of Pennsylvania, may be punished for their abuse of Authority, and that you'll favor me with a Categorical answer to these my just demands by this bearer.
Your Humble Servant, Baltimore.
Addressed thus: To his Excellency Patrick Gor- don. Esq., at Philadelphia.*
The letter enclosed a precept for the arrest of the persons concerned in the alleged riot. Lord Baltimore was then at Annapolis, and was of course acquainted with the location of the scene of this affair. In a subsequent let- ter, he speaks of it as having taken place in the province of Maryland.
At a meeting of the Provincial Council held at Philadelpia on the 9th of January, 1733. the Governor acquainted the Board with the letter of Lord Baltimore, together with a report of the atfair from Messrs. Wright and Blunston. The btatements of this report are material to the consideration of the qttestion regarding the claims of the respective prov- inces, to allow settlements within the ter- ritory west of the river Susquehanna, and north of Philadelphia, The substance of it is as follows :
In the year 1729, when the county of Lan- caster was formed, the southern boundary was, by the order, to be Octoraroe Creek and the province of Maryland, and including the in- habitants, to lie open to the westward. But as the line between the provinces was never
ruU; nor the exact boundaries known, no ati- thority was claimed over those few families settled to the northward of Octoraroe, by or under pretense of Maryland rights. They" remained undisturbed, thotigh many inhabit- ants of Pennsylvania lived some miles to the soutjiward of them. At. that time there were no English inhabitants on the west side of the Suscpehanna River, in those parts, for, about two years before, Edward Parnell and several other families who were settled on the west side of the river near the same, at a place called by the Indians Gonejohela, were at the request of the Conestogoe Indians re- moved by the Governor — the Indians insist ing upon the same to be vacant for them. But about two years since, Thomas Cressap and some other people of loose morals and turbu- lent spirits came and disturbed the. Indians who were jaeaceably settled on those lands from whence Parnell and the others had been removed — burnt their cabins, and destroyed their goods and drove them away. The for- mer settlers were good citizens of Pennsyl- vania, and before Cressap and his company none had settled by a Maryland claim, so far to the northward by nearly thirty miles. These men would fly to our laws for redress against their own party, and they who had fled from their creditors into this province, when creditors would pursue them hither, would cry Maryland. They disturbed the peace of the government, carried people out of the province by violence, took away guns from friendly Indians, tied and made them , prisoners without any offense given, and threatened all who should oppose them. They killed the horses of such of our people whose trade with the Indians made it necessary to keep them on that side of the river for carry- ing their goods and skins, and assaulted and threatened to look after them. That this usage obliged James Patterson to apply' to them for a warrant to apprehend and bind to the peace the two young men who had been most active, Daniel and "William Lowe, and they were dismissed on security for their good behavior and appearance at court. They then say, that if they had sapposed the issuing of their warrants would have given the least of- fense to Lord Baltimore, or that he would have looked upon those persons as his sub- jects and under his protection, they would have represented the case to the Governor and waited his direction.* "With this re- port they sent affidavits which were read • before the Board. The affidavits showed that Patterson was informed that his horses were killed near Lowe's plantation and that his
*III Col. Eec, 470 et. seq.
BORDER TROUBLES.
sons said they would kill all the horses that came upon that land, and would tie and whip all he should send over thither. The consta- ble, Charles Jones, to whom the precept was directed, having formerly met with resistance from these people and fearing new insults, i for Thomas Cressap and his associates had threatened to shoot any officer who should come into those parts to do his duty, though he only took his staif himself, yet he thought it necessary to have a suitable strength, took in all nine men with him. Amongst them were only three guns, and these not loaded, serving only as an appearance of defense. They went quietly to the house of Lowe, the ! father, and the door being opened appre hended Daniel and William Lowe, his two sons. They made no disturbance but what was occasioned by the resistance of the pris- oners, and those who came to their relief. That Lowe's house, where his sons were taken, is several miles more northerly than Philadel- phia (which appears by a well known line that had been ran about forty years since on a due west course from the city to the Susque- hanna, in order to a more certain discovery ' of the country) and that there are about 400 people living more southerly than Lowe's house who pay taxes in the county of Lancaster, and have always acknowledged themselves inhabitants of Pennsylvania. The Council having fully considered the said let- ters and affidavits and remarking on the style !ind manner of Lord Baltimore's letter, which they conceived too peremptory, were inclinable to think that his lordship had left , room for no other answer than barely to ac- quaint him that the supposed riot was com- mitted within the reputed and known bounds i of Pennsylvania; and consequently not cogniz- ' able by him. Lord Baltimore, in a letter of the 15th of February, 1733, says " that it is the first instance in His Majesty's plantations, when rioters and people levying war against any of his subjects, have been denied to be delivered up to the government in which the offense was committed, on proper application, and such I make no doubt mine will appear to have been indue time." These facts appear upon the records of the Provincial Council, and are of no importance ' historically, except so far as they bear upon the conduct of the government in relation to them. The excited state of the parties im- mediately concerned in these quarrels is man- ifested by their violence of language. Con- sequently we find the depositions on either side laying stress on words used. Several > witnesses deposed that they heard Cressap say, that if the sheriff of Pennsylvania or
any other officer from thence, came to take any person on the west side of the Susque- hanna Eiver he would shoot them, for they had pistols and guns and would use them in their own defense. And with regard to a higher person in authority it was deposed, that Cressap said he had been at Annapolis, and in council Lord Baltimore assured him that as hehad received money for the land on which Cressap lived, he would defend him from the proprietor of Pennsylvania, although Lord Baltimore did believe that when the di- vision line between the provinces was run, Cressap's lands would fall in Pennsylvania. But until that line was run, he would protect him, and thereuj)on gave him a commission of the peace, as a magistrate for the county of Baltimore, and with it gave him a strict charge to apprehend any person coming out of Pennsylvania, bearing arms, or commit- ting the least offense whatsoever, and be sure to take no security of them but such as were freeholders in Maryland. *
On another occasion Cressap said he had been at Annapolis since the arrival of Lord Baltimore, had been very kindly received by his Lordship, and had got his com- mission to be a Justice of the Peace, and added that his Lordship would never execute the agreement made between him and the proprietors of Pennsylvania, be- cause they had cheated his Lordship by im- posing a false map of the country upon him, and that his Lordship would rather choose to pay the £5,000 forfeiture, mentioned in the agreement, than comply with the terms of it. And that he, Cressap, had heard this at Annapolis from gentlemen of note there. f
At a meeting of the Provincial Council, held at Philadelphia on the 14th of Febru- ary, 1733, the Governor informed the Board that he had received a letter from the Lieu- tenant-Governor of Maryland, enclosing one from Lord Baltimore, by which it appeared that his Lordship, notwithstanding what had been written to him, continued to insist on the demands made in his former letter, of delivering up those persons concerned in the execution of the warrant issued against the sons of John Lowe. In this commmiioation Gov. Ogle says : " His Lordship cannot but be surprised to find your magistrates are jus- itfied in issuing warrants for the apprehen- sion of persons in his Lordship's province, before the lines are run and bounds settled, which are stipulated by the articles to lie done, and that probably such may fall with- in the government of Maryland, when the
53
HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY.
lines are run. If this is the case, his Lord- ship thinks it should not be so useful and necessary to name commissioners or to run the line intended by the articles, since every magistrate may, on the one hand, take upon them, though no lines are run, to distinguish the bounds and each government protect them."*
The Council expressing their surprise that Lord Baltimore should, without taking the least notice of what the Governor had writ- ten to him, have thought tit to insist on the former demands in so peremptory a manner, came to the unanimous resolution that for the reasons contained in the said letter, his Lordship's demand is by no means to be com- plied with, and that the same should be sig- ^ nified to his Lordship in very plain terms. | And they directed, among other things, the Governor to say, in his letter to Lord Balti- more, that the offense was only cognizable in Pennsylvania, the place where it was done, and that his Lordship may be assured that this government shall have such a strict regard to do impartial justice between all its inhabitants, that John Lowe, if the case be as he represents it, on a proper application, may depend on being redressed in due course of law. That the demand of his Lordship was not a sufficient reason for delivering up a freeman of Pennsylvania to be tried in Maryland. That those persons were as inde- pendent of Maryland as were his of Pennsyl- vania, and though his principles and those of the greatest part of the inhabitants of Penn- sylvania, allowed of no force, except that of the civil magistrates, yet, being protected by his Majesty's wisdom and justice, we appre- hend no danger from the different principles and superior strength of Mary land. f '"" We have now come to a tragic incident, in these unfortunate disturbances, which had the effect of prolonging the unpleasant atti- tude of the rulers of the rival provinces to- ward each other, and after a continued voluminous and acrimonious correspondence, and further distui-bances, resulted in the arrest of Cressap and his being held for trial. According to a letter from Mr. Blunston to Thomas Penn, proprietary, on the 30th of January, 1734, on information that Cressap and several hands were to be at John Hend- ricks' to square logs for a house and build a float for the ferry, John Wright, with Sheriff Emei'son and others, went over the river with intent to proceed against Cressap and his party for forcible entry. The workmen were arrested and committed to jail. An attempt
was made to arrest Cressap at his house, and one of the Sheriff's men was shot in the leg, from the effects of which wound he died. The unfortunate man who was shot was Knowles Daunt, and it appeared from the affidavits that he was killed by Cressap. Mr. Blunston wrote that they were extremely con- cerned at this rash and indiscreet procedure, and not knowing what use might be made of it, for they heard that Cressap had set out for Maryland, and would doubtless give a relation far beyond the truth, and that it was possible the government of Maryland might write to our government about it. "Pray don't fail to let us hear from thee at our court, for we seem to be much at loss ^ how to proceed against them we have taken, j as well as what to say oE the madness of the other." * A letter came from the government of Maryland, as was expected, and some extracts may not be uninteresting from the ensuing correspondence, bearing on the con- troversy. Governor Ogle, February 2-1, 1734: "It has always been my constant aim and view to prevent all disturbances as much as possible, having always hopes that the quiet and peaceable behaviour of our people, would, at least, induce those under your government to follow their example, and for this reason, notwithstanding the repeated violences committed against his Lordship's tenants on the borders, I have given them frequent orders not to offer the least injury to any person whatsoever, but when defending themselves against any unjust attack, which I may be made upon them. What gives me I the greatest concern is that these people were headed when they came over the river by two persons acting as magistrates under your commission, Mr. Wright and Mr. Smout. For now that things are come to that pass that magistrates, at the head of a parcel of desperate fellows, come out of one jsrovince and attack in the night time a magistrate in another, where blood is shed. Nobody can tell what dismal consequences may follow it, if not prevented in time. Therefore, I hoj^e you will show that discountenance to your magistrates which may effectually discourage others from committing the like offenses. I do assure you I have ordered Mr. Cressap, (by whose hand the death of the person is supposed to have happened) into the custody of the Sheriff of Baltimoi-e County, that he may be forthcoming at the next assizes to be held for that county, on the 1st Tuesday of next April, in order for his trial, and I hope ,for the satisfaction of justice you will give ofiScial orders to compel any witnesses under
*I Archives, 410.
BORDER TROUBLES.
53
your protection to be at the assizes for the discovery of truth. . . I am afraid we should but ill answer His Majesty's gracious appro- bation of us, if we neglect to take the most proper steps in laying before His .Majesty the unsettled condition of our confines — making application to our proprietors on this head, and pressing them to procure His Majesty's directions herein." *
Gov. Gordon, March 8, 1734 : "It is with a very deep concern that I observe complaints arising and multiplying, and that you seem to charge this province with a prevailing
humor to rioting John Hendricks
had for several years past, and I think for some years before any settlement was attempted in these parts by any parties from Maryland, been seated on the west side of the Susquehanna,^ about four or five miles higher up the river above those since made by Cressap and his associates, and had ob- tained a grant and survey for the land on which he now dwells, and where he has lived peaceably until Cressap took it into his head, with divers others, to enter upon the posses- sion of Hendricks, and when they were desired to leave the place, and desist from their unlawful attempts, the owner of the lands was insulted and menaced by Cressap, and such as he thought fit from time to time to encourage in their proceedings. This oc- casioned complaint to our magistrates, who took care to have the best council and advice how to proceed. . . . Accordingly, the magistrates went over, and when they came to Hendricks' land, they found eight men at work, whom I am sorry you call his Lord- ship's tenants, felling and squaring his tim- ber, and building a house within 100 yards of Hendricks' door. ... I am really troubled to find you saying in your letter that I know that Cressap is one of your magistrates. I assure you, sir, that I did not. I know that he has generally been said to be. From our knowledge of him we have no reason to con- sider him other than an incendiary or public disturber of the peace of both governments, and the main cause and prompter of all late contentions that have happened between us, and indeed the first placing of him there has always appeared to us not easy to be ac- counted for. I cannot comprehend in what sense their (the magistrates) going out of one province into another is to be understood, for I never yet heard it alleged that Susque- hanna Kiver was a boundary between Mary- land and Pennsylvania. Nothing can be more certain than that their boundary on the north of the one and south of the other,
must be a due east and west line, and there- fore the opposite parts of the shore of that river must necessarily be both in the same province.
"To my great trouble I am to observe that I received a melancholy letter from John Hendricks and Joshua Minshall, dated from the gaol at Annapolis, with copies signed by your Sheriff of their commitment by yourself and some members of your Council, dated the second day of last month, that is three daj's before the date of your letter, and in this commitment I find the true allegations against them are for having disparaged his Lordship's title, that is, in other terms, as may well be supposed, that they assertet their right to their own settlement under Pennsylvania, about ten miles by our compu- tation more northerly than Philadelphia, where neither his Lordship nor any for him then made, unless it be now done, any claim whatsoever. We have also heard of the manner of taking them, viz. : that the Sheriff o£ Baltimore County, with above twenty men, armed with guns, pistols, swords and cutlasses, traveled up thither to apprehend two men, who were quietly following their business on their plantations. 'Tis said also, that this is done by way of reprisal, and to intimidate, that is because our magistrates, in a most peaceable and legal manner, re- moved a forced and most unjust entry, you must make a prisoner of the man lapon whom that force was committed, and over whom you can claim no manner of right. . . . There must be some certain known limits for the exercise of powers of governmeat, without which his Majesty's subjects cannot possibly be secured in their persons or estates, such known limits as we always had till now with- in these two years, for the proprietors had by mutual agreement concluded an absolute determination of all disputes and differences on these heads, without any regard to which one Cressap has been authorized, or at least countenanced, with a pocket dial, as divers persons of credit have affirmed, to scatter and plant pieces of Maryland and his Lord- ship's tenants, as they are called, where he and they please, and the removal of these abuses, in a legal wa}^ is called rioting. His Majesty's peaceable subjects are hurried off their rightful settlements into distant pris- ons to the danger of their health and lives, and now in the springtime, to the irreparable injury of their families, who depend for their bread on their labor and care. This fur- ther shows the absolute necessity of applying to his Majesty, without any delay. ... In the first place calling for a reparation of this
HISTOEY OF YORK COUKTY.
last injury to Hendricks and Minshall, and that Cressap may be delivered to receive his trial in this province, in which he perpe- trated the murder. I must earnestly beseech you that we may concert some certain, just and equitable measures for preserving peace between his Majesty's subjects in both gov- ernments."*
MISSION or MESSES. HAMILTON AND OEOEGES.
Thomas Penu, proprietary, on the 14th of May, 1734, informed the Council that the business then to be considered by them re- lated to some very unneighborly proceedings of the province of Maryland, in not only harrassing some of the inhabitants of this province who live on the border, but likewise extending their claims much fiu-ther than had heretofore been pretended to be Mary- land, and carrying off several persons and imprisoning them. That some time since they carried off John Hendricks and Joshua Minshall from their settlements on Susque- hanna, and still detain them in the goal at Annapolis. The proprietor said he in- tended to make use of the opportu- nity of Mr. Hamilton's going to Annapo- lis, (Andrew Hamilton, Esq., who was to appear for the prisoners), to press the Lieu- tenant-Governor of Maryland to enter into such measures as should be most advisable for preventing such irregular proceedings for the future, and as he designed that his secre-. tary, Mr. John Georges, should accompany Mr. Hamilton, he had drawn up instructions for them. Whereupon the Council desired that credentials be granted for the purpose mentioned, f
Messrs. Hamilton and Georges made their visit to Maryland, and on their return made a full report to the proprietor.]: Mr. Hamil- ton attended the Council, and made a narra- tive verbally of the proceedings had in the Provincial Coui-t of Maryland against those who were carried off j^risoners from this gov- ernment, and the arguments he had advanced for obtaining their discharge. Messrs. Ham- ilton and Georges reported that they arrived at Annapolis on the 20th of May about sun- set. Soon after coming to their lodgings they went to speak with John Hendricks and Joshua Minshall in prison, but were not suf- fered to see them until the next morning, when, going again, they were after some time admitted to the speech of the prisoners, who gave an account of their uneasiness in a most unwholesome prison; as likewise the best ac-
*r Archives, 417. tin Col. Bee, 542. tin Col. Eeo., 547.
i count they could of the several charges al- leged against them. They waited upon Gov. Ogle, and delivered him a letter from the Lieutenant-Governor of Pennsylvania, and acquainted him that they were sent to
* concert proper measures for the peace and good neighborhood between the two govern- ments, and to desire a discharge of four of
! our inhabitants who were imprisoned at An-
, napolis. To which he was pleased to answer that he was mighty ready to cultivate any measures with the government of Pennsyl- vania which would answer that purpose; and at the same time took occasion to say that our
i inhabitants were imprisoned for much greater
I offenses than probably they were aware of. To which they answered that they had' no
I other way of coming at the knowledge of the
^ cause of their imprisonment but by their sev- eral commitments, and by those, as they con- ceived, there seemed scarce a color for such
I proceedings as had been taken against them.
; They added, further, that supposing the of- fenses were really committed, and as great as his Excellency was pleased to allege, yet the place where they were committed, as well as the place where the men were taken, was clearly beyond all the former claims of Mary- land, and therefore it was their opinion the men were very hardly dealt by. Gov. Ogle began to enumerate the many abuses the in- habitants of Maryland had suffered from
; those of Pennsylvania, and that since his ac- cession to the government of Maryland, he had taken all possible care to be entirely on the defensive side, and was resolved to con- tinue 80, but at the same time he could not suf-
j fer Lord Baltimore's right to be so violently encroached upon, and his character so pub- licly affronted within his Lordship's own gov- ernment. "For," added he, "we claim no bounds but what are given to his Lordship by the express words of his charter." However, he expressed his willingness to enter into any reasonable measures for preserving the imaoe; and to show his readiness, proposed
' their meeting him in council, the next day, about ten of the clock, at his own house, to which they readily agreed. And then he was pleased to invite them to dine with him, which they did accordingly. They reduced to writing the heads of what they were to propose, and on the day appointed they met Gov. Ogle, and he said to them that he was glad to find our government seemed at last
I to agree to what he had long ago proposed in his letters to the Governor of Pennsylvania, to lay their unhappy misunderstandings be- fore his Majesty, and in the meantime for- bear making any encroachments upon one
BORDER TROUBLES.
another, which he thought was the most like- ; ly way for preserving peace among the peo- i pie; yet he fixed upon nothing certain by which the jurisdiction of the respective gov- ernments could be known. The Governor proposed that tbey ought to join without de- lay in representing to the King the unsettled ! state of the two provinces, and the necessity j of his Majesty's interposition. !
They finding this method of treaty was not likely to produce any certain conclusion, de- ' livered to his Excellency a written represen- tation, which set out the complaints on the part of Pennsylvania : That under the agree- ment of 1724: and that made in 1732, most careful provision was made for the ease and quiet of all his Majesty's subjects, whose es- tates or possessions should be affected by the same, and that the description of the south- ern boundaries of Pennsylvania might be very nearly discovered without new actual surveys, notwithstanding which two of his Majesty's subjects, to wit, John Hendricks and Joshua Minshall, inhabitants of Lancas- ter County, settled upon lands legally sur- veyed and patented to them under the pro- prietors of Pennsylvania, on the west side of the river Susquehanna, had been taken at their homes, which were at least eight miles to the northward of Philadelphia, and about twenty-three miles to the northward of the line agreed upon by the aforesaid articles to be the northern bounds of Maryland, which line runs near the mouth of Octoraroe Creek, to the northward of which Maryland has never exercised any jurisdiction, except over thir- teen families, that is known to Pennsylvania, till within two or three years, about the time when an absolute boundary was agreed upon by the proprietors, though Pennsylvania has maintained its government as far southward as the mouth of the said creek for above these thirty years.
In the afternoon they endeavored to speak privately with Hendricks and Min- shall and the two Rothwells, who were in prison. The jail was so noisome they could not go near it, but taking with them gentlemen of Maryland, they prevailed with the Sheriff to speak with them at his own house. They inquired particularly into the manner and cause of their commitment. They all gave the greatest assurances that they had never spoken any time of Lord Baltimore or his government that they could remember ; that they never had any conver- sation with any one about Lord Baltimore or his government but upon their own planta- tions, and Hendricks and Minshall insisted that no person could swear any such thing
against them, unless Cressap should be so wicked, who had threatened to ruin tbem. They applied themselves how they should get Hendricks and Minshall into court, who had been committed by the government and Coun- cil. They attempted to get a habeas corpus and consulted on the law Mr. Calder, who gave his opinion of the difficulties he appre- hended they might meet with in the defense of the prisoners, which led them into thoughts of employing some other eminent gentleman of the law, who by his credit with the people and acquaintance with the practice of the court might be able to do the prisoners some service. But to their great disappointment they found them all engaged on the side of Lord Baltimore. At least there was none could be prevailed on against him. When their paper was presented, Gov. Ogle went on to enumerate all the differences that had happened upon the' borders of the two govern- ments since his coming to Maryland. He alluded to the affair of Patterson 'and Lowe, and the great abuses he said had been com- mitted in manifest contempt of Lord Balti- more'-s government upon Crejssap. All these he aggravated in such manner as if he had been speaking to men who had never heard of them before. They thought it necessary to show that they were no strangers to these facts, and were not to be imposed upon by such a representation, and answered him as had been represented by Gov. Gordon.
Gov. Ogle declared that Hendricks and Minshall were under prosecution in the Pro vincial Court, which was then sitting, and that he would not interpose but let the law take its course. So they parted that day, after which time Gov. Ogle troubled himself no more about the formality of a Council. The Governor delivered to them an answer in writing to their representations, in which he desired them immediately to join with him in an application to his most gracious Majesty. In considering this paper they were not satisfied that it was proper for them to agree to join in such representa- tion, but rather that the proprietors them- selves or their lieutenant-governor should do so, and they concluded upon a paper which they delivered Gov. Ogle at his own ho'ise on the 24th of May. The Governor received them without any form and with civility, as if nothing had passed the day be fore, and promised them an answer by the next morning. In this paper they said they were now ready to agree upon any bounds that should be judged reasonable for limiting the present jurisdiction of the two govern- without prejudice to the rights of the
HISTORY OF tore: COUNTT.
proprietor thereof, and that proclamation should be issued to forbid all persons within the respective governments from making any new settlements near the borders under the severest penalties. And that they were ready further to agree to remove any new settle- ments that had been made upon such bounds as should be agreed upon, lest the same may disturb the quiet of their governments, until the boundaries be actually settled be- tween the proprietors themselves or until his Majesty's pleasure be known therein. And as they were well assured that a representa- tion to his Majesty would be most agreeable to their government, they did not in the least doabt but that their proprietors, or their Lieutenant-Governor, would readily join with the Eight Honorable, the Lord Propri- etor of Maryland, or himself, in such a one as may best conduce to put an end to the misunderstandings which have arisen between the governments by reason of the present uncertainty of the respective boundaries. To this Gov. Ogle answered that he had believed that they were invested with a sufficient power to agree to any reasonable proposals for the accommodating the present disputes, and preventing any of a like kind for the future, and upon that hope had offered the particular methods mentioned in his letter of the 23d inst. as very reasonable and the most proper for those desirable ends. But since he perceived by their paper that they thought themselves not sufficiently authorized to join with him in his just and reasonable proposi- tions, he hoped that on their return they would receive more ample powers for their agreement with him.
Messrs. Hamilton and Georges then say, in their report, that they saw from their first waiting on Gov. Ogle, they had no reason to expect any success in the business they were sent to prosecute, and that they saw plainly by his last paper that Gov. Ogle was resolved to avoid doing everything that might pre- vent any further differences upon the bound- aries, and observing the ill use that he made of their saying that their proprietors or lieutenant-governor would readily join in a representation to his Majesty, and that he had construed those words into their thinking themselves not sufficiently qualified to join with him in what he calls his just and reasonable propositions ; in order to re- move that objection, they drew up a paper and delivered the same to him on the 27th of May, which would have been delivered sooner but they were obliged to give their attendance at court when the case of the prisoners was under consideration. That
paper said they were ready on the part of
I Pennsylvania, at the same time that they agree upon some reasonable boundaries for
I limiting the jurisdiction of the two govern- ments, to join with his Excellency in a just representation to his Majesty of the uncer tainty of the present boundaries between the two governments, occasioned by not execut- ing ihe articles of agreement solemnly entered into and concluded between the Right Honorable, the Lord Proprietor of Maryland and the Honorable the Proprietor of Penn- sylvania, in May, 1732, and to pray his Majesty that he would be graciously pleased to interpose and enjoin the execution of the said agreement according to the true intent and meaning thereof, in such manner as his
! Majesty should please to direct. After this they heard no more from Gov. Ogle, though they stayed till the 30th of the month. In the meantime they made the most press- ing instances to the Provincial Court to have our people discharged. i5ut that could not be granted lest it should be understood as giving up bis Lordship's right to the lands in question, as appears by the minutes of these men's case taken at the hearing. Though being denied any relief for the pris- oners by the Provincial Court, and Gov. Ogle having taken no notice of what they said or proposed in their paper of the 27th, they thought a longer stay could be of no purpose and thereupon they resolved to represent to Gov. Ogle a just reason our government had to comjjlain of the unreasonable proceedings of JNtaryland, and the absolute necessity they were under to take proper measures for the protection of his Majesty's subjects under the government of Pennsylvania, and accord- ingly on the 30th of the month they drew up a memorial. But the Governor, Ogle, being said to be indisposed that day, they waited on him the next morning and delivered it to him, which he received, and. without reading it, desired his compliments might be made to Mr. Gordon and to those that he knew at Philadelphia, and wished them a safe return.
j In this memorial they enumerated the refusal of the court to discharge the prisoners and that they had used all means in their power to be in some measure relieved from those injuries and violences done to the inhab- itants of Pennsylvania, and to procure the concurrence of the government of Maryland in measures to preserve the peace. It was therefos'e hoped that none who entertain any just notions of the rights of mankind will blame the government of Pennsylvania, if they take proper measures for protecting his Majesty's subjects under their jurisdiction,
BOKDEE TROUBLES.
from tue outrajres frequently committed upon them by the people of Maryland, and by du- tiful representation of their great patience under those public abuses imploring his Majesty's most gracious interposition, and for the meantime should the government of Pennsylvania, whose principles are well known to be against all force, and who next to his Majesty's protection have no means to defend themselves but the authority of the several magistrates, to be laid under a neces- sity for their own safety to avoid what may be deemed unneighborly or to give trouble or uneasiness to his Majesty's subjects, pretend- ing themselves to be under the government of Maryland. "We do declare that it will be entirely to your Excellency's not joining with us in some reasonable and equitable measures for preserving the peace amongst his Majesty's subjects inhabiting near the boundaries of the two governments, and the unreasonable confinement and prosecution of our inhabitants who were without all question taken by your officers within our government of Pennsylvania, and for that reason had they really been guilty of any offense ought to have been discharged."
Gov. Ogle, May 30, 1734 : " It is to be wished there had never been a distinction made in your province between the power you have as Governor in other respects, and that in affairs relating to your land office. For the managers of that office not being restrained by the Governor, they themselves had liberty to make what encroachments they pleased, from which alone, I will venture to say, all the riots and disturbances have arisen amongst the borderers of the two provinces. I had the most sensible pleasure when I re- ceived your letter of the 14th of this month, wherein you require me to receive Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Georges, as duly authorized on behalf of your government to concert with us such measures as might effectually- secure peace till such time as the division lines shall be run, and oar boundaries indis- putably fixed, the ultimate and only certain means of putting an end to all these most disagreeable contentions, or at least till such a time as his Majesty's pleasure is known therein, but to my great surprise I found these two gentlemen so far from agreeing to any ' settlement whatever for preserving peace upon the border till such time as the division ' lines be run and his Majesty's pleasui-e known therein, nothing would content them but the actual running of them directly contrary to the very purport of your letter, and to our duty as Governors, which obliges us to join heartily and sincerely in preserving peace in the
meantime that the dispute as to oar lines is laid before his Majesty, from whose known wisdom and justice we have all the reason in the world to expect a just and equitable de- termination. As to that humble and dutiful application, I proposed to be made jointly to His Majesty to bring all our disputes to a speedy hearing, their behaviour was so ex- traordinary, that I shall not take it upon me to set it forth in any words of my own but refer you to their own papers for information.*
On the 17th of August, 1734, the House of Representatives made a representa- tion to Gov. Gordon that they had been cruelly disappointed in reasonable hopes that all disputes about the bounds of the provinces of Pennsylvania and Maryland were at an end. They hoped that people who had settled and improved lands under the grants of the proprietor of Pennsylvania and within the constant reputed bounds of this province, and who have never owned any other authority but the government of Penn- sylvania, ought to be protected in the pos- session of their freeholds until it shall appear by some legal decision or determination by some other authority, and as this province knows no other force but the lawful power of the civil magistrate, they requested that the Governor would be pleased to give direc- tions to the Magistrates and other officers of the government that will exert themselves in the protection of the people of this province by a diligent execution of the laws against riots and tumults and for the preservation of the peace within their respective jurisdic- tions. This was accordingly done by the Governor, f
During the year 1735 there were many outrages perpetrated under the lead of Cressap, who had been commissioned a Jus- tice of the Peace for Baltimore County, and made a captain of the Maryland militia. On the 1st of July, 1735, he, with men, women and boys, advanced, and with drums beating invaded the premises of John Wright, one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace, and although Cressap declared his intention to be to fight Pennsylvanians who had come over the river, Wright as a Justice com- manded them to keep the peace at their peril, and that he would proceed upon his lawful business unless prevented by force, and by his firmness deterred them from proceeding to hostilities. The deposition of Mr. Wright to the foregoing facts was~ taken in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, on the 24th
HISTOKT OF YORK COUNTY.
of September, 1735, Daniel Dulaney, Esq., Attorney- General o£ Maryland, being present. Mr. Dulaney asked whether Thomas Cressap and his people did not assist Mr. Wright in carrying off his grain, to which he answered that Gressap, with those who were armed, being gone out of the field, the persons to whom the wagons belonged offered readily to assist in carrying it to the side of the river, since they said they were disappointed in carrying it where it was first intended.* On the same occasion there was taken before the Supreme Court, a deposition to the following facts : That on the 23d of September, a party of Marylanders had set upon Eobert Buchanan, Sheriff of Lancaster County, and rescued some debtors under arrest, beat him and took him prisoner. This was brought before the council, who expressed their resent- ment, and a demand was made on the Gov- ernor of MarylancV to set him at liberty, a reward was offered and a warrant issued for the arrest of the rioters, f
Another aggression was an attempt to sur- vey lands, bv one Franklin, along the river side, on the" 6th of May, 1736. He took a course up the river with an instrument, and there were men carrying a chain. Cressap accompanied them with twenty men armed. Robert Barber, a Quaker, who was at the house of John Wright, demanded by what authority the land was surveyed, and was answered by that of Lord Baltimore. Mr. Barber said that the land had long ago been surveyed and returned to the land oflSce at Philadelphia. Cressap said he had orders from Gov. Ogle in person to raise the militia and guard the surveyor from Pennsylvanians. Franklin said, "My business is to follow the orders of the Governor of Maryland, to sur- vey all the lands from the Susquehanna to the Codorus."^; The affidavits of several Ger- mans show the wrongs to which they were subjected by reason of these surveys. Balt- zer Springier, in the beginning of the year 1733, by virtue of a grant from the proprie- taries of Pennsylvania, built a house on a tract of land lying on Codorus Creek about twelve miles westward from John Hendricks. He refused to have his land surveyed by Cressap, who yiretended to have an order from the Governor of Maryland. But Cres- sap surveyed it to one John Keller, who came and settled thereon. Afterward the Governor of Marj-land and the surveyor of Baltimore County told Springier, in the hearing of many people, that Cressap had no
»I Archives, 465-70. fill Col. Eec, 612-14. JI Archives, 489.
authority to survey lands, yet he was de- prived of his land and improvements. Fred erick Ebert removed from the east side of the river, and took up a tract of land near Codo- rus Creek, cleared and improved it and sowed a field of wheat with intent to build a house and settle thereon. In May, ]736. the sur- veyor Franklin, with Cressap and others, came and surveyed the land to one Ffelty Shultz, and threw down the fence and de- stroyed the corn, and deprived Ebert of his settlement. Michael Tanner, by virtue of a proprietary grant, dated September 17, 173-t, settled on a tract of 200 acres of land, six miles southwesterly from John Hendricks, and built and improved upon the satue. Thomas Cressap, pretending to have an order from the Governor of Maryland, came into the neighborhood and surveyed upward of forty tracts of land for Germans living in those parts. Tanner refused to have his laud surveyed by Cressap, who thereupon conveyed the land, with buildings and improvements, to Daniel Lowe, who, with his family, came and dwelt in the house, although about the month of September, ] 735, the Governor of Maryland and the Surveyor-General told Tanner that Cressap had no authority to sur- vey lands.* Many Germans, however, were induced to accept of the Maryland warrants and surveys, bttt not finding things as agree- able as they anticipated under the new pro prietary, they revolted and acknowledged allegiance to Pennsylvania.
THE REVOLT OF THE GERMANS.
At a meeting of the Provincial Council held at Philadelphia, August 24, 1736, the President, James Logan, acquainted the Board that he had been informed by Samuel Blunston that the Dutch people, or Germaos, who, with others had gone over from this side of the Susquehanna River to the west of it, had been prevailed on by some agents from Maryland to acknowledge the authority of that province, and had through a consciousness' of their mistake, voluntarily and unanimously' signified to him and other magistrates of that county, their fixed resolution of returning tc; their obedience to this government, and acknowledging its just jurisdiction in thosf parts where they are settled, for that they were - become truly sensible they of right belonged to Pennsylvania. Mr. Blunston related that immediately after the County Court at Lan caster, which was held the first week of th( month, some of the most principal note amongst those Germans came over to hiii
•I Archives, 622-5.
BORDER TROUBLES.
and told him that the whole body of the peo- ple, except Cressap, and his relations, who were but three or four men, wei-e come to an unanimous resolution of acknowledging their obedience to this governaient, and returning to their true proprietors. He advised them to act openly and above board, and that if they wei-e thus resolved, they should directly and in plain terms make it known to the gov ernment of Maryland with their reasons for their proceedings; that thereupon a letter was prepared for that purpose, which was signed by about sixty hands and dispatched to an officer in Baltimore County to be for- warded to the Governor of Maryland. At the desire of those Germans, the magistrates of Lancaster had two constables amongst them for the better preservation of the peace. The four men who adhered to Cressap I seized Charles Joues, one of the constables, , and were hurrying him away with an inten- tion to carry him off, but, being warmly pur- j sued, they ded and left him. It was given I out that the Sheriff of Baltimore County was i to be up with a number of men on Mou- [ day (the '23d), and that the Sheriff of Lancas- j ter had apprised him of some other motions I on the west of the Susquehanna, and was I taking horse to meet him to concert proper j measures on the occasion. The Council 1 were of the opinion that those people becom- I ing sensible of their past mistake, in being i induced to own the authority of Maryland ' over those pai-ts which lie so very far, viz. : about twenty miles to the northward of the 1 limits of this province, ought to be taken notice of, and on their making proper sub- I missions should be again received. On Sep- tember 7. 1736, a letter was laid before the I Board from the Lieutenant-Governor of Mary- ( land in regard to this revolt.*
Gov. Ogle: "This trouble is occasioned by the inclosed, the original whereof came to my hands a few days ago, subscribed with the names of fifty or sixty per- sons, who some years since importuned me for the grant of lands under the author- ; ity and government of the lord propri- etary of Maryland. They were so successful in their applications that I directed and ! empowered them to settle and improve the ' lands under the government of this province, : and which they have from that time held and enjoyed subject to his Lordship's dominion and authority. But now they seem to think fit i and resolve, by a most extraordinary kind of illegal combination or association, to disown [ their obedience to the government from whom I they received their possessions, and to trans-
fer it to the government of Pennsylvania. Whatever reasons I may have to be assured of this proceeding taking its rise and accom- plishment from the encourageu-ient and pre- valency of some magistrates of your govern- ment, and others pretending to act under the countenance and authority thereof, yet I must own my unwillingness to believe those who have the honor of the administration of the government of Pennsylvania, would permit or support a behaviour so contrary to all good order and rule of the English Constitution, as must necessarily involve the subjects of his Majesty in struggles and contentions, incon- sistent with that peace and happiness his Majesty so gloriously endeavors to maintain and preserve amongst others, as well as his subjects."*
The paper transmitted with this letter is as follows: " Sir: The oppression and ill usage we have met with from the government of Maryland, or at least from such persons who have been impowered thereby and their pro- ceedings connived at, has been a treatment (as we are well informed) very different from that which the tenants of your government have generally met with, which, with many other cogent reasons, give us good cause to conclude the Governor and magistrates of that province do not themselves believe us to be settled within the real bounds of his Lordship's dominions, but we have been se- duced and made use of, first by fair promises and afterward by threats and punishments, to answer purposes which are at present un- justifiable and will, if pursued, tend to our utter ruin. We, therefore, the subscribers, with many others, our neighbors, being be- come at last truly sensible of the wrong we have done the proin-ietors of Pennsylvania in settling on their lands without paying obedi- ence to their government, do resolve to re- turn to our duty, and live under the laws and government of Pennsylvania, in which province we believe ourselves seated. To this we unanimously resolve to adhere, till the contrary shall be determined by a legal decision of the disputed bounds, and our honest and just intentions we desire may be communicated to the Governor of Maryland, or whom else it may concern. Signed with our hands this eleventh day of August, Anno Domini, 1736."t
THE INV.iSION OF THE THREE HUNDRED.
There was read at the meeting of the Coun- cil on the 7th of September, the examination of Francis Kipps of Maryland, master of a
*IV Col. Eec, 60. tibid, 62.
CO
HISTORY or YORK COUNTY
sloop then lying in Susquehanna River, taken September 4, 1736. That on Thursday last, the 2d instant, in the evening, being in Baltimore County, he saw Col. Hall, a gentleman of that county; at the head of a considerable number of men on horseback armed with guns, marching toward the upper part of the said county, that passing near to Col. Hall, he asked him familiarly if he was going to fight, to which Mr. Hall answered he was going on peaceable terms. That crossing Susquehanna, near the Northeast Iron Works, he came the same evening into Cecil County, where he understood by com- mon report that the march of these men, un- der Col. Hall, was to give possession to one Cressap of a plantation of one Wright; that if the same could not be done peaceably they were to use force. That he heard the militia of Cecil County were summoned to meet to- gether. On the 8th of September, the Gov- ernor laid before the Board a letter, written by the direction of Mr. Blunstoa, giving the Jollowing account:
That after the Sheriff of Lancaster, and some people with him, who were gathered together on the report that an armed force from Maryland was coming up into those parts, bad waited some time and were dis- persed, the Sheriff of Baltimore County, with upward of 200 men, under the com- mand of several military officers, arrived on Saturday night last, the -tth of this month, at Thomas Cressap" s, and on Sunday, about noon, came in arms on horseback, with beat of drum and sound of trumpet, to the planta- tion of John Hendricks. The Sheriff of Bal- timore, and several of those officers went that afternoon to the house of John Wright, Jr., where about thirty inhabitants of Lancaster were assembled and demanded the Dutch, of whom some were then in that house. The Sheriff' of Lancaster had sent a written mes- sage desiring to know the reason of their coming in that hostile manner to threaten the peace of the province, to which they had returned answer that they were not come to disturb the peace of the province of Penn- sylvania but to suppress riots, and keep the peace of Baltimore County. Justice Guest, one of the number from Maryland, appointed 10 o'clock next day to speak with some of our people, but about b o'clock on Sunday evening, the multitude from Maryland left Hendricks with great precipitation, and returned to Cressap' s. On Monday the Sheriff of Lancaster sent another message in writing, requiring them to peaceably depart, j and off'ering. if any of them would meet the magistrates of the county with some other 1
' persons, who were on this occasion assembled with him, and endeavor amicably to settle the unhappy differences at present subsisting, that they should be received civilly. To this message the Sheriff' of Lancaster had returned to him a threateniog and insolent answer. Soon after this one John Wilkins, an inhab- itant of Lancaster County, who had gone down toward Cressap's, was taken prisoner on pretense of his having been in a former riot, and sent under a guard to Maryland. The magistrates of Lancaster sent a letter to reclaim him, but they refused to receive the letter. It was reported that the Governor of Maryland was waiting in Baltimore County, and was expected up in those parts, on Sus- quehanna, with considerable more force. The Sheriff" of Lancaster had got about , 150 people together at John Wright's. Jr., where they had continued since Sunday evening. No hostilities had been yet committed, except in taking Wilkins; but , the Marylanders had sent word to our i, people to take care of their buff's. The •] inhabitants, though unprovided with arms ■ and ammunition, yet endeavored to defend I themselves and such of his Majesty's peace , able subjects as fled from their houses to J them for refuge.* j
Benjamin Chambersf deposed that some- j time in the month of September, 1736, prep- i arations were making by training and ; mustering the militia of Baltimore County, Md,, in order for their marching into Lan- ; caster County to disposses of their settlements ■ sundry families. He was employed by the ' magistrates to go into Baltimore County to . discover what was intended by the extraor- dinary motion of their troops. When he came to the borders of Maryland, he was informed that the place of their muster was near the plantation of Col, Nathaniel Rigby, at the upper part of Baltimore County, and repaired thither. He was taken into custody and kept during the time of the muster, and held twelve hours, in which he observed a general discontent among the common sol- diers. Col. Rigby called for the muster roll, and upbraided the men with want of duty to the Governor's orders, and thereupon picked off" a number of them out of his company, and commanded them, on the penalty of £"iO, to meet at the same place next Friday with arms and twenty charges of powder and balls each man, to march up Susquehanna
*IV Col. Eec, 63.
tBenjainin Chambers was the founder of Chambershurg, then being twenty-three years of age. These depositions were taken under the authority of the Provincial Council, and were jfansmitted to the agent of the province in London, in support to the petition to his Majesty.
BORDER TROUBLES.
Eiver to a place called Conejohela. Col. Rigby said it was very strange that a Quaker government should offer to resist or oppose Lord Baltimore, for that his Lordship's province of Maryland extended six miles higher or more northward than the plantation of John Hendricks, which lies on the west side of the said river, where on the Sunday following he saw the several troops or com- panies which came up from Maryland, with drums beating and trumpets sounding, were mustering or exercising in the held of the same plantation, from whence, upon the appearance of some men in flats coming ()ver the river from the other side, the troops re- turned to Thomas Cressap's.*
Robert Barber, one of the people called Quakers, affii-med on the 11th of September, that on Sunday last several of the inhabitants of the Province of Maryland, to the number of about 30U. .all armed in a hostile manner, under the command of several officers of the militia of Maryland, with beat of drum and sound of ti'umpet, marched up to the house of John Hendricks. Some of the magistrates of the county of Lancaster, being at the house of John Wright, Jr., a small distance from the said Hendrick's house, demanded of Col. Edward Hall, who was said to be the commanding officer, the reason of his and the said company's coming up there in so hostile a manner. Col. Hall told the magistrates that they had no orders to treat with any of the magistrates of Lancaster County; that it was by the Governor of Maiyland's order they came up there, and that thirteen com- panies of the militia of Maryland were mus- tered, and that twenty men with officers were talien out of each company, and he refused to give any further account. That several of the inhabitants came to the magistrates very much terrified and complained that some of the aforesaid company of armed men had forcibly broken into their houses and threat- ened to bm-n them, and took from them several pieces of linen.
John Ross deposed that he was dispatched with a written message to the Sherifl' of Bal- timore County, who was said to have come up with the militia, to know the meaning of this extraordinary procedure of the people of Maryland, and setting forward, with James Pattison for his guide, he met, within a mile and a half of Wright's house, a body of men on horseback to the number of about 300, armed with guns, cutlasses, and some with pistols, marching with beat of drum and sound of trumpet. He saw several per- sons, who were called officers of this militia,
or commanders, whose names he afterward learned were Edward Hall and Nathaniel Rigby, called Colonels, and Peca and Guest, called Captains. William Hammond, Sheriff of Baltimore County, was with them. He delivered his message to Col. Rigby, who ap- peared to be the. principal person ; Rigby told him thej^ were marching forward to the house of John Wright. Thomas Cressap, who was with the militia, seized Pattison. telling the Sheriff of Baltimore that he was a £50 chap, and bid the sheriff look in the proclamation and he would find Pattison' s name there. The militia, marching on with beat of drum and sound of trumpet in a war- like manner, came to the plantation of John Hendricks, and sent a message in writing to the Sheriff of Lancaster. Some of the mili- tia officers came to Wright's house and de- sired to speak with some Dutch men, Michael Tanner and Peter Gardner. But these people, declaring their apprehensions that the Mary- lauders were come to carry them away, be- cause they would not acknowledge the juris- diction of Maryland in those parts where they were settled, the officers were told they could not see them. But the Dutch sent a message to them in ■writing. Ross went to the house of Hendricks after the militia was come there, and saw several of them with their swords drawn at the door of the house. Toward evening a considerable number of people, of Lancaster County, came over the river in three fiats, whereupon the militia of Maryland beat their drum, and, as he believed, intended to stand to their arms, for they marched toward the river in a body, but after firing a blunderbuss, they thought fit to retreat to the house of Thomas Cressap. The Sheriff and Col. Rigby refused to meet the magistrates of Lancaster in conference. Ross saw several of the militia cutting bars of lead and making bullets, and, enqoiring what use they intended for them, he was told they were to shoot Pennsylvanians. The militia of Maryland marched about noon to the houses of .Joshua Minshall, Mark Evans, and Bernard Weymont. One John Hendricks, who was with the militia, found means to decoy one John Wilkins, an inhabitant of Lancaster County, who was seized and car- ried to Cressap's, from whence they sent him, bound, under a guard, to Maryland. It was pretended Wilkins was one of those for ■ whom a reward was offered by proclamation. The people of Lancaster County, who were met at Wright's house, being gi-own numer- ous, and resolving to stand upon their de- fense, the militia of Maryland did not think fit to attack them, but separated in two bod-
HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY.
iea, one of which went with the sheriff to the houses of some Dutch men, where they took some linen and pewter on pretense of public dues owing to the government of Maryland. The other body went toward Maryland.* Daniel Southerland deposed tbat he was at the house of Thomas Cressap, when the 300 men who came up from Mary- land were there. That the men who were called the soldiers blamed Cressap very much for the disturbances that had happened in those parts, and they did not think they were obliged to go fight with the people of Penn- sylvania in Oressap's behalf. To which Cressap swore, and said that they were only afraid of their mothers' calf skins, and that it was Lord Baltimore's right he was main- taining, and he disregarded all of them, for he had the Governor of Maryland's orders for what he did. Cressap called Col. Hall, vho commanded the 300 militia from Mary- land, a coward for not suffering him to tire with a blunderbuss upon the people of Penn- sylvania, who were coming over the river in a flat toward the Marylanders, who were in arms. He affirmed that Lord Baltimore would soon be over in Maryland, and then he would drive all the Pennsylvanians to the devil, and the court in Philadelphia would be called in Lord Baltimore's name.
The invasion of the 300 of the Maryland militia is a remarkable incident of the bor- der troubles. It was made after consider- able preparation. vWilliam Hammond, the Sheriff of Baltimore County, declared " that the people of Baltimore County are not come to disturb the peace of the inhabitants of Pennsylvania, but to assist and support me in preserving his Lordship's peace, and our fel- low tenants, his Majesty's subjects, in their possessions. " Yet, before leaving, they des- poiled the houses of the Germans on pretense of public dues. They also threatened to burn them. Michael Tanner talked with them, and they promised, if the Germans would return, a remission of their taxes till they were grown better able to pay, and that they should be better used for the future. Tanner was to give an answer for his country- men in two weeks, " but, at the end thereof, it was threatened, if they did not comply, the Governor would come up with a greater num- ber of armed men, turn them out of doors, and bring up others with him, such as would be true to him, whom he would put into their possessions, "f
In the course of the proceedings there was an answer of the Germans to the Governor of
Maryland, in which, among other things, it is said: "that being greatly opjwessed in their native country, principally on account of their religion, they resolved, as many others had done before, to fly from it. That, hearing much of the justice and mildness of the government of Pennsylvania, they em- barked in Holland for Philadelphia, where, on their arrival, they swore allegiance to King George, and fidelity to the proprietors of Pennsylvania, and their government. That, repairing to the great body of their countrymen settled in the county of Lancas- ter, on the east side of the Susquehanna, they found the lands there generally taken up and possessed, and therefore some of them, by licenses from the proprietors of Pennsylvania, went over that river, and settled there under their authority, and others, according to a common practice then obtaining, sate down with a resolution to comply as others should with the terms of the government when called on, but they had not been long there till some pretending au- thority from the government of Maryland, insisted on it, that that country was in that province, and partly by threats of actual force, and partly by very large promises, they had been led to submit to the commands of that government. That first one Morris Roberts, pretending to be a deputy surveyor under Maryland, came and run out lands for them, after which Cressap told them those surveys were not valid, but that he had au- thority to lay them out. Then one Franklin (who took pay of them, but it proved all a sham, for he understood nothing of the sur- veyor's art.) Yet, notwithstanding all these impositions, they had neither grant nor war- rant, nor would any of those surveyors, real or pretended, give them one line of a certifi- cate, plot or draught, nor had they anything whatever from Maryland more than the bare possession to claim by, and as any of those who came to survey were obliged or other wise they, at their own will and pleasure, turned the possessors off and put others in their place." . . . "Now, this being our case, that on the one hand we are pei-- suaded in our consciences we are clearly with- in the Province of Pennsylvania, and there- fore cannot but expect to lose our possessions and improvements, if we now pretend to hold them under the Lord Baltimore, and, on the other hand, from the military force lately sent against us from Maryland, we are threatened to be treated by that government like rebels and enemies to our Gracious Sovereign, King George, to whom we have sworn allegiance, if we do not, against those
BORDER TROUBLES.
manifest convictions ot our consciences dis- own the right of the proprietors of Pennsyl- vania to what we truly believe belongs to them, and resist the authority of that govern- ment, which, were we resolved to do, yet we should not be able. We offer it to the Gov- ernor's consideration whether the treating of a parcel of conscientious, industrious, and peaceable people, like rebels, for no other reason than because we cannot own a jurisdic- tion within the limits of which we very well know we cannot, where we now are, possibly be seated, and because we are convinced of the mistakes we had been fully led into by the false assertions of persons of no credit." * A petition, signed by forty-eight Germans, was transmitted to the President and Council at Philadelphia, asking that their errors in settling under the government of Maryland be imputed to want of better information, and praying to be received under the pro- tection of our laws and government, where- upon the Board unanimously declared that those Dutch people be received under the proiectiou of this government, and encour- aged in their fidelity to it by all proper and prudent measures. And on the 17th of September, 1736, they issued a proclama- tion setting forth the late invasion from Maryland, in violation of his Majesty's peace, and just rights of the proprietors and people of this province, to the great terror of the inhabitants, and directing the sheriffs of the respective counties of the province, and particularly of Lancaster, where these late commotions had happened, to hold them- selves in readiness with the posse of their respective counties for the preservation of his Majesty's peace and the defense of the just rights and possessions of his subjects within the same.f
The following paper was also presented: Whereas, we. the subscribers, are informed if has been asserted that the late resolutions of the Dutch inhabitants on the west side of Susquehanna Biver, to put themselves under the protection of the government of Pennsylvania and submit to the laws thereof, was occasioned by the prevalency and influ- ence of the magistrates of Lancaster County, Do voluntarily & solemnly declare that we were chos- en & appointed by the afs'd Dutch inhabitants on the west side of Susquehanna River, Opposite to Hempfield, to apply in our own and their Behalf to the magistrates of the said county, that we might be received as subjects of this Government, as we Be- lieved in our Consciences it was our Duty; and we do further Solemnly declare & Afiirm that this Asso- ciation & Return was made of theirs and Our Own meer motion and free will, without any previous persuasion, threatening or compulsion from the Magistrates of the said County, or any other per- son in their Behalf, so far as we know; and that the
letter signed by tiie bihal)itants afs'd to be Cotninu- nicated to the Governor of Maryland, was wrote at their own Request & according to the instructions Given. Subscribed the Henry Hendrichs,*
13th day of Sept. 1736. Michael Tanner. In the letter from President Logan, writ- ten by direction of the Council, September 18, 1736, to Gov. Ogle, it is said: "And lirst we must observe you are pleased to say, these people importuned you for the grant of lands, under the authority and govern- ment of the Lord Proprietor of Maryland, but the sttccess you mention they were fa- vored with consisted, not, it seems, from your words, in any grant of lands, but iu your directions only that they should settle and improve the lands under the government of that province, so that all they obtained by this was that they should acknowledge the jurisdiction of Maryland over lands on which we find divers of them had entered by authority of the Land OfBce of Pennsyl- vania, and as subject to its government, paid their levies to the county of Lancaster, wherein they had been seated, and to which it is impossible Lord Baltimore either can or ever could justly pretend any manner of right. The real merit, therefore, of this it seems, consists in putting them on transfer- ring their obedience from their rightful landlord to another, to whom they stood in no relation. That we might be the bettej' able to answer yottr letter we have waited not only till we could hear of the event of the military expedition of your forces of about 300 men in arms, sent up, 'tis said, against those people, and for some other unjustifiable purposes, but also that we might with more certainty be informeii from whence these settlers were, and how and when their settlements had been made. On the last of which we find that they are generally of those Palatines, who a very few years since transported themselves from Hol- land to Philadelphia, and made themselves subjects to his Majesty, King George II, under this government; and 'tis atKrmed, they were so far from importuning you for any grant of lands that they were, by very iudirect practices of some emissaries or agents, pretending authority from Maryland, sedu<!ed from their duty, and imposed on to believe they were situated within the limits of the Lord Baltimore's jurisdiction, but what applications such persons might make in their names we know not. . . Your proceed- ing, in sending up such -an armed force on this occasion and their invading the posses- sion of others, where you never had the least
64
HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY.
pretense of claim, either in law or equity, must indeed prove astonishing to every man who hears of it, and has any just notion of the English laws, and the privileges of an English subject; but as we shall not here enter into any expostulation on that head (tho' we might properly ask where five or six men going without any manner of arms, or so much as a stick, in their hands, into Mary- land, to try their challengers' prowess at boxing,' was twice in a certain letter called levying war, what terms you wovild think fit to bestow on this march of such numbers so aecoutered?) We think it incumbent on us to acquaint you, that as we are assured the government of Pennsylvania is vested with equal or like powers with that of Mary- land, though it has hitherto with great pa- tience waited for the decision of the grand dispute in Britain, which it is manifest your Lord Proprietor endeavors to delay, yet now, on so flagrant an insult as this last step of yours, we cannot but think ourselves obliged to put his Majesty's subjects under our care, on measures to prevent the like invasions for the future. For this province, especially those parts, are filled with people of more spirit than to brook such treatment, and if any mischief ensue on their opposition to your attacks, you cannot but well know who must be accountable for it. But further, while all these contentions are owing solely to your own projections to carry your Lord Proprietor's pretentions into lands that not only never had been in possession, but can- not possibly fall within Maryland, and for which, for ending all disputes, he had in the most solemn manner renounced all claim to, and to set these pretensions first on foot at a time when the execution of the agreement was in agitation, and to continue them while the whole aflair is under the cognizance of that high court, the Chancery of Great Britain, these we say, carry with them such accumulated aggravations and are so far from admitting the possibility of a justification by colour or varnish of words whatever, that none but your enemies can be pleased with such conduct."*
THE CHESTEK COUNTY PLOT.
At a meeting of the Provincial Council, held at Philadelphia, on the 23d of Novem- ber, 1736, "the President acquainted the Board, that a discovery had lately been made of an association or engagement entered into by several persons living in or about New Garden, in the county of Chester, who, having
* IV Col. Eec, 78.
received some encouragement from the Gov- ernor of Maryland, and others in authority there, had undertaken to oust by force of arms those Dutch families settled on the west side of the Susquehanna within this province, against whom the late hostile prep- arations of Maryland were intended, and_to possess themselves of their plantations, which they proposed to draw lots for, and, acknowledging to hold them in right of the proprietary of Maryland, they were to defend those possessions against this government. For this end arms and ammunition were pro- vided and lodged at the house of one Kigby, in Baltimore County, and everything was in readiness for carrying their design in- to execution. On making this discovery, a warrant was issued, by one of the provin- cial Judges, for apprehending several persons concerned in this unlawful association, par- ticularly Henry Munday, who from the information given, appeared to be one of the principal persons in conducting it, and such care and diligence had been used in execut- ing the said warrant, that Munday was taken at his house that very day, when he expected a rendezvous of the party, and had sundry papers relating to conspiracy lying before him, and several letters to persons in Mary- land on this subject, just finished and readv to be forwarded, all of which were, with him- self, secured." Edward Leet, another of the persons embarked with him in this design, was likewise apprehended, but Charles Higginbotham, a principal person in it, had escaped. Among the papers found with Munday, was an application signed by thirty-one persons, stating that "being informed that there is some vacant land and plantations near Susquehanna River, that were settled by some Dutch families, and that the said land were by them located by warrants issuing from the Land Ofiice in the Province of Maryland, as of the right and property of the Lord Baltimore; and that since the said Dutch families hath disclaimed the right and property of the said Lord Baltimore, and hath taken umbrage under the proprietary s Penns; that we are informed that the absolute fee and right to the said land is within the limits and bounds of the Lord Baltirnore's patent or charter; that the lord's chief agent hath and doth give encouragement for the resettling the said vacant plantations and land. We there- fore pray and request, that you will in our behalf and stead intercede with the Governor and agent to settle us in such vacant land or plantations, and we shall all be willing to pay such fee or rent charge as His Lordship
BORDER TROUBLES.
usually demands, and we shall with our lives and fortunes defend the same, and be sub- ject to the laws of his province, and defend his right, for which service. Sir, we shall be all your very much obliged. ' '
There was a list of names of several per- sons ranged in three columns, with the fol- lowing certificate signed by Gov. Ogle: "Whereas application hath been made me by Henry Munday, Edward Leet and Charles Higgenbotham, and forty-nine persons by them mentioned, I have given instructions to Thomas White, Deputy Surveyor, to lay out, and in the names of the said persons, 200 acres for each person. "
There was a paper signed by Munday addressed to Messrs Betties in these words : " November ye 14th, 1736. If instructions can be sent to Capt. Crissop to return so many of the names of the vacant plantations, reserving eleven of the best, which is the number of the third column, then every per- son that appears to draw hath his equal chance. "
" Capt. Crissop send to the parties to come to draw their lotts by next Saturday. "*
Henry Munday voluntarily offered to a member of the Council, to make a full decla- ration under his hand of all that he knew of the affair. His statement was, that in Sep- tember, 1736, Rev. Jacob Henderson and Squire Tasker, of Maryland, lodged at the house of William Miller, where he met with Thomas Thompson, brother-in-law of Hen- derson. Thompson applied to Henderson for advice in settling a plantation. Parson Hen- derson referred to Tasker, who wrote to some one in Maryland to show some plantations near the Susquehanna, and John Starr and William Downard joined with Thompson and received the land. John Starr went back to Annapolis and procured from the Governor of Maryland an order to settle for himself, and the others concerned. That he was informed the plantations of the Dutch on the Susquehanna had become vacant by their disowning the government of Maryland. John Starr had made a visit there and to the Governor of Maryland, and was shown by Cressap a very large tract of good land, which was enough to supply several families, and that the Governor would order 200 acres to be surveyed for each person at four shil- lings quit rent, and costs of survey and pat- ent. That he would maintain them in pos- session and give them a lawful right, and assured them the land was within the limits of Lord Baltimore's charter. Munday went to Annapolis to see the Governor, where he
met Edward Leet, and Charles Higgiii botham, and joined in procuring an order to the surveyor of Baltimore County to survey 200 acres for them and forty-nine other per- sons named. Munday said he never propo.sed to settle upon any tract of land settled l)y the Dutch, but to seat some uncultivated land. The Council were not satisfied with the statement of Henry Munday, and examined Edward Leet, who related thut Munday came to him with a petition signed by several ]ier- sons for land which Leet declined to sign; that a few days after Charles Higginbotham came to him and acquainting him that there were to be some lands laid out in Maryland, asked him to go with him to Annapolis, to which be agreed, wanting to take up some land for himself and others. Thej' with others set out for Maryland. They went up the east side of the Susquehanna to the ferry, late John Emmerson's, over against Thomas Cres- sap's house on the west, and, crossing the river, went to his house. In the morning they took a view of the lands in the neigh- borhood of Cressap's, and five of them, with one Lowe, went to view the lands where the Dutch people were settled who were said to have revolted from Maryland. They came to Annapolis on Saturday, the 30th of Octo- ber, and went to Gov. Ogle with Cressap. The Governor said he intended to dispossess the Dutch who were settled there, and for that end he was sending up arms, and would very soon give the necessary orders to the Sheriff. H'e would give 200 acres to each and defend them therein. He gave the names of Blunston and Wright, for the apprehen- sion of whom the Governor offered a reward of £100 for one and £50 for the other. Hig- ginbotham said ho knew one of them, and made no doubt he could apprehend him. Cressap received on board a sloop a consid- erable quantity of fire-arms, powder, and ball, which were to be carried to Baltimore Coianty to be used in dispossessing the Dutch, who had revolted from Maryland. Three drums and two trumpets were sent by land by certaiD Dutch men who were with them. When Munday came he appeared to be dis- satisfied with Higginbotham for being there beforehand. The Governor said, in a month's time, he would cause possession to be given. Leet, apprehending difficulty, laid aside, he said, all thoughts about the matter.*
In this matter, John Coats deposed that Henry Munday invited him to go OTOr the Susquehanna about seven miles to settle on 800 acres of land taken up by Maryland, on which eight Dutch families were settled.
HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY.
whom the Blarylandet's would dispossess if they did not sell their interest and be gone. And that Maryland would give arms to all such members of the Church of England as would settle the said land to defend them- selves against the inhabitants of Pennsylva- nia. That the land would cost the survey only, and Munday was to have a gratuity. JereQiiah Starr deposed that Thomas Thomp- son told him that Jacob Henderson, Commis sary of Maryland, had by letter recommend- ed him to Thomas Cressap, to be shown land on the west side of the Susquehanna, and Thomas Thompson, John Starr and William Downer went and were shown the land which was settled by Dutch people, and Thompson chose for himself a certain piece whereon was a settlement and a corn-mill, and that John Starr told him that he went with Cressap to the G-overnor of Maryland, who granted him and his friends the laud, and if they would be true subjects to Lord Baltimore, he would defend them, and patent the land at four shillings an acre, they paying only survey fees. Henry Munday proposed a way of gaining the lands, and it was resolved that the militia of the government should be ready about the end of the month to take and give the possession to Munday and his friends. William Miller deposed that Jacob Hender- son and Benjamin Tasker were at his house and advised him where persons should settle on land west of the Susquehanna which was settled by the Dutch, and invited persons in Chester County to come and live in Mary- land.*
On the 29th of November, 1736, a letter was addressed to the magistrates of Chester County, in behalf of tlie Council:
'' The seasonable discovery of the late wicked design, which from the encourage- ment of our unkind neighbors of Maryland was sot on foot and upon the point of being carried into execution, for ousting by force of arms those Dutch families settled on the west side of Susquehanna within the un- questionable bounds of this province, and the apprehending of some of the persons who were principally concerned in promoting within your county the association for this purpose, having for the present, we hope, de- feated the evil intentions of those who by such practices would have introduced the ut- most confusion and disorder among his Maj- esty's subjects of this government, we have had it under consideration in what manner those disturbers of the public peace ought to be proceeded against." Thereupon the mag- istrates of Chester County were directed by
the Council to call before them as many of the associators as they could, and to take their examinations apart, and such as were disposed to live for the future in due obedi- ence to this government, might, on submis- sion, and on being bound by recognizance, be discharged without prosecution.*
THE ARREST OF CRESSAP.
On the 25th of September, 1736, the Jus- tices of the Supreme Court issued their warrant to the Sheriff of the county of Lan- caster for the apprehension of Thomas Cres- sap, for the murder of Knowles Daunt, and divers other high crimes and misdemeanors, and under safe conduct convey the said Thomas before them, to be dealt with accord- ing to law.f
At a meeting of the Council, held on the 27th of November, 1736, the President laid before the Board a letter from Lancaster County, brought by messengers, who gave an account, that in pursuance of the warrant issued by the provincial Judges for appre- hending Thomas Cressap, he had been taken with four others who abetted him in resisting the Sheriff. One of them was committed to the gaol of Lancaster County for a crime charged against him there, and Ci-essap and the three others were brought to Philadel- phia. The letter stated that the magistrates, upon considering the danger wherewith those parts of that county lying on the west of Susquehanna near to Thomas Cressap's set- tlement were threatened, if he should be joined by those who had lately entered into a combination for dispossessing the Dutch settled there, and having likewise understood that he had applied to Col. Eigby, a Justice of Maryland, for more arms and ammiinition, they judged it absolutely necessary to appre hend Cressap. The Sheriff of Ijancaster had called to his assistance twenty-four persons, and had gone over the river on Tuesday night, the '23d of November, in order to have Cressap taken by surprise early the next morning. But Cressap, with six men, secured himself in his house, and stood on his de- fense. He fired on the Sheriff and his com- pany. The Sheriff set tire to his house, and Cressap, still refusing to surrender, at length rushed out, and after some firing, in which one of his own men was killed, he was appre- hended. The magistrates reported "thatnoth- ing but absolute necessity and the preserva- tion of so many innocent families, whose ruin seemed to be determined on, could have obliged the jaeople to proceed to such extrem-
BORDER TROUBLES.
ities in taking this wicked man; that his be- havior has since showed that be will stick at nothing to gratify his resentments, and there- fore, unless strict care is taken, it may justly be apprehended that he will atteiapt either firing the prison or any other desperate action, that he can find means to compass." *
[Note. George Aston, of the county of Ches- ter, in the province of Pennsylvania, saddler, aged about fifty years, being one of the people called Quakers, upon his solemn affirmation, according to law, did declare and affirm that, upon some conver- sation happening between Thomas Cressap, Robert Buchanan, and this affirmant on the road, in sight of the city of Philadelphia, upon bringing the said Cressap down from the county of Lancaster, the said Cressap said, " Damn it, Aston, this is one of llie prettiest towns in Maryland. I have been a troublesome fellow, but by this last job I have made a present of the two provinces to the King, and that if they found themselves in a better condition by the change, they might thank Cressap for it," or words to that effect. f
Philadelphta, December 3, 1736, taken before me. Clem Plurasted, Ma3'or.
On the representations of the magistrates the Council ordered that Cressap should be put in irons and closely confined in the most sectire place, but supplied with what was necessary. J It was left to the Judges to pro- ceed against him and the others taken with him agreeably to law. On the 8th of Decem- ber, 1736, a message was brought from the Assembly, that finding that the government of Maryland had not shown any real dispo- sition on their part to enter into amicable measirres for preventing further differences between the two governments, the House had come to a resolution, that an humble address should be prepared and transmitted to the King, praying his royal interposition for put- ting a stop to these disorders. The petition of the President and Council, and of the General Assembly of the province of Penn- sylvania, together with sundry affidavits about the apprehending of Cressap and the Asso- ciation for dispossessing the Dutch on Sus- quehanna, were transmitted to the King, after the meeting of the Council on the 11th of December, 1736. §
MISSION OF MESSRS. JENNINGS AND DULANEY.
At a meeting of the Council held at Phil- adelphia on the 6th of December, 1736, Mr. Bordley, a gentleman of Maryland, attending without with a message for the President and Council, was called on and acquainted the President that he was sent by Mr. Jen- nings and Mr. Dulaney, who were just come to town from Annapolis with their compli-
"IV Col. Bee, 109. tl Archives, 510. :ibi.l, 111. bibid, 125.
to the President and Council, and to acquaint them, that, having received some commands from the Governor of Maryland. they desired to know when they might have an opportunity of waiting on the President and Council.* Messrs. Jennings and Dulaney, on the next day, attending, deliv- ered an open letter from the Governor of Maryland. This mission was occasioned by the burning of Cressap's house, and his arrest with other parties, on the "^ith of November, as the letter of Gov. Ogle alleged, in Balti- more County. Mr. Jennings was the Secre- tary and Mr. Dulaney was the Commissary and Attorney- General of JIaryland. The letter represented the transaction as cruel and barbarous, and requested the assistance of the government of Pennsylvania to bring the actors to punishment. A paper was drawn up by them and delivered to the Council to the same effect, and demanding that Cressap should be released. The answer to Messrs. Jennings and Dulaney stated that the government of Pennsylvania never acknowledged the place of Cressap's settle ment to be in Maryland, and recited the attempts to oust the Germans; that Cressap was arrested on a charge of murder, and that unless the government of Maryland thought tit to enter into some effectual specific measures with them, it be re2:)resented to his Majesty to interpose his royal authority. To this Messrs. Jennings and Dulaney replied that the right and title of Mr. Cressap was founded on a grant from Lord Baltimore many years before the agreement; that the agreement was never carried into execution and the validity of it was under the consideration of tne High Court of Chancery. They discuss the act of the Germans in disowning the jurisdiction of the Lord Baltimore, and alleged that Cressap acted in self-defense, and that to two gentlemen sent from hence offers were made which were rejected.
In consideration of the paper of Messrs. Jennings and Dulaney, which referred to former pacific overtures on the jiartof Mary- land, the Council recurred to the transactions at Annapolis with Messrs. Hamilton and Georges in May. 1734, by which it appeared that, though the Governor of Mai-y- land often used the expression of pacific measures, what was proposed was dilatory and impracticable, and the proposal of this gov- ernment of agreeing on some limits, to which. for the preservation of peace, jurisdiction should extend with a salvo to the right of either proprietor, till the dispute between them should be fuUv ended, was evaded and
HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY.
declined. The answer to the deputies was based on this view, December 14, 1736: "If your Governor will agree upon some certain boundaries to limit the jurisdiction to the respective provinces, without prejudice to the right of either proprietor, until the whole dispute shall be ended, or upon any other reasonable measures by which his Majesty's subjects may enjoy peace and no longer be harassed in their persons and possessions, I we shall cheerfully come into any methods that can be proposed, consistent with the laws and common justice." It was also said ! " that the Germans, who yearly arrive here in great numbers, wholly ignorant of the English language and constitution, were obliged, on account of our too near northern neighbors, the French, whose language many of them understand, not only to swear allegi- ance to our Sovereign but as a further tie upon' them promised fidelity to our proprie- tors and this government, a practice only used with them and no others." There resulted a very voluminous correspondence, but there is in it merely a recapitulation of mutual claims and complaints. Messrs. Jen- nings and Dulaney informed the President, on the 16th of December, that they were just setting out on their return and delivered a paper to him, in which, in reference to the preceding claims, they say: " You are pleased to mention that this government obliged the Germans only to enter into an engagement of fidelity to yom- proprietors; we apprehend the allegiance they swear to our Sovereign cannot need the force of an engagement to your ])roprietors to prevent their desertion to the French, and therefore we are at a loss to comprehend why the Germans are distin- guished from all other nations by the remark- able distrust your government has of their fidelity." The Maryland Commissioners had also charged, President Logan with having promised that Cressap's accomplices should be bailed, and then not performing it. The Council, in considering the last paper deliv- ered to the President by Messrs. Jennings and Dulaney, were some of them of the opinion that the unmannerly and malicious reflections in it should receive a proper answer, but the nest day, December 21, they concluded that what ought to be said should be represented to the Governor of Maryland. In regard to the question of bail, it appeared that it had been referred to the Judges, who held them not bailable.* The reply of the Council to the letter of Gov. Ogle, crediting the mission of Messrs. Jennings and Dulaney, after referring to the papers, proposed a
joinder in effectual measures to preserve the peace until the royal pleasure could be known. In the meantime, on December 11, 1736, by the concurring action of the Assem- bly, a petition was drawn in the name of the President and Council and the General Assembly to the King.
On the 1st of March, 1787, there came a letter from the Governor of Maryland, dated 24th of December, 1736, requesting the Gov- ernor of Pennsylvania to state precisely what were the concessions they were willing to come into. This letter was not received for ten weeks after its date. The Postmaster, on being examined, said "that the letter had been received last night, and that three mails had come from Annapolis since Christmas." The Council were of the opinion that what ever reason the Governor had for antedating his letter or keeping it back, as he declined making any proposals, it was proper on this call from Maryland to. make proposals of peace.* A letter was, therefore, written to Gov. Ogle on the 5th of March, 1737, in which reference is made to the committing of hostilities since the date of his letter, and since continued by his new Captain, Higgenbo- tham, and his crew, reciting the injuries, and proposing that all those in arms should im- mediately retire as a preliminary.! The fix- ing of certain limits was proposed for the purposes of jurisdiction, and no new settle- ments were to be suffered, save by the same families that wej'e then in possession on the lands they held or claimed before, and no person whatever in or near those parts should on either side be molested on any cause or pretense arising frohi their disputes or the proprietary claims. On the 11th of March, 1737, Gov. Ogle wrote that "the point is. which of the two governments is in the wrong by refusing to come into reasonable measures, to prevent disorders on the border. That the proposal to Hamilton and Georges was, that the application be made to the King to fix the boundaries and new settlements be prevented. You seem willing not to oppose; •but that all those who first took up their lands under this province may be allowed to acknowledge this government, only those coming into your province to inhabit it, and going over Susquehanna to seek for settle- ments, were either forced or decoyed by Thomas Cressap, or others, to submit to this government, ought certainly to be left to those to which they first belonged ' . . . . I am persuaded you did not intend to include within that exception the Germans, who set-
BORDER TROUBLES.
09
tied under this government on Susquehanna, and who, by a most extraordinary method, pretended to become Pennsylvanians."* He proposed to meet Mr. Logan anywhere half way between Annapolis and Philadelphia. In reply to thia a letter was written to Gov. Ogle, March 22, 1737, by President Logan, under the advice of the Council, showing the impracticability of his proposal. Those in- habitants who at first entered on their pos- sessions undfir Maryland, should, till the boundaries were settled, be allowed to ac- knowledge that government. And all saoh as entered on their possessions under this government, should, in the same manner, be allowed to acknowledge it. And all the inhab- itants subject to the late dispute, should be exempt from taxes. Taxes to be assessed and acf!ount kept of them, and no further set- tlements be made in those parts.f To this letter, Gov. Ogle responded on the 29th of March, 1737: "You say you will now, in full terms, express your meaning, which is, that those inhabitants who at first entered on their possessions under the government of Maryland, should, till such time as the boundaries should be settled, or till we shall receive orders and directions from a superior authority for establishing peace, be allowed to acknowledge this government; and all such others as entered on their possessions nnder your government, should, in the same manner, be allowed to acknowledge it. In answer to which I can truly say, that I al- ways thought this JQst and reasonable, that all my endeavors and proposals tended to nothing else but to get your government to come into this very agreement, which, if you had done, I am covinced it would effectually have prevented all the mischief that has hap- pened since that ineffectual conference we had with Messrs. Hamilton and Georges .... But, besides that, such an agreement as this for the public good can never be too plainly and clearly expressed, or disputes about it too carefully avoided; let us consid- er the persons you propose to be excepted, and the reason for so doing.
" The persons are those who have been the subject of the late contentions and disputes begun some time in August last, and the only reason that I can conceive for- it must be that these same persons, not liking our 40% poll and other taxes, took it into their heads to renounce all obedience to this government in a formal mannor by a paper under their hands. If they had not made this revolt, as they themselves call it, I presume their being
excepted more than others would not have been mentioned; so that this being the (mly reason, the best way for you to judge of the goodness of it v?ill be to turn the tables, and suppose the same case should happen to youi'selves. Suppose a number of your in- habitants, touched with a tender regard for the Church of England and the support of its ministers, should all of a sudden re- nounce your government in the same formal manner that these people did ours for con- trary reasons, pray what would your govern- ment do in such a case? Would you think such a renunciation of any validity, or would you proceed against them according to the laws of your province? Whatever you would think reasonable for yourselves to do in that case, we only desire you to grant us the same indulgence. To do as one would be done by is a maxim so very just and reasonable that it is to be presumed that nobody can dispute it. And this is all we desire of you in the case before us."*
Reference was made in the letter ot Pres- ident Logan to the committing of hostilities by Higginbotham and his crew, pending the negotiations and correspondence between the provinces, but to these Gov. Ogle made no response. The letters of Samuel Blunston to the Provincial Council contain a full state- ment of these transactions, and, therefore, must be cited in order to obtain a full un- derstanding of the trials of the German set- tlers here.
Charles Higginbotham, one of the ring- leaders in the ejectment plot above related, having escaped, became more formidable than his predecessor, Cressap, in acts of violence. He was appointed by Gov. Ogle, a .Justice of the Peace and a Captain of Militia. At the head of about twenty men he came up to the settlements of the Germans, and it appears by the letters of Samuel Blunston in Decem- ber and January, 1737, "being daily strengthened by runaway servants and others of desperate circumstances, they threatened to attack some of the Dutch people seated
there," and many outrages were comm
itted
and forcible arrests made, and they plainly intended to oust every person who refused to acknowledge the authority of Maryland. They broke open the Germans' doors with axes and carried persons off. On account of these outrages the wives and children of the Germans taken and several other families. went over the Susqirehanna for refuge, and according to Mr. Blunston, all the settle- ments on°the west side would be speedily de- serted unlessji^&uffioien^Jorcejvou^^
« IV Col. Kec, I.?6.
HISTOEY OF YORK COUNTY.
on foot to protect them and to apprehend Higginbotham and his party. So grievous were the complaints of injury that he asked the advice of the Council on the 9th of Jan- uary, 1737, whether it would be more eligible to order the removal of all those who were seated under Pennsylvania on the west side of the Susquehanna, than to use further en- deavors for their defense, since it was ap- parent these could not be effectual without coming to blows, and bloodshed in all prob- ability would ensue. The Council, consider- ing the distresses and hardships to which the Germans, by the cruelty of the Governor of Maryland, were at that severe season ex- posed, were of opinion that it was not con- sistent either with the honor or safety of this province to remove those of its inhabitants who were seated within its unquestionable bounds, since such an act might be construed a cession of those parts to Maryland, who would not fail thereupon to take possession of them; and in all probability, from such an encouragement, would endeavor at further encroachments in pursuance to their late ex- orbitant claims. On the contrarj', it became the government, in support of its authority and in the just defense of his Majesty's peaceable subjects in it, to raise and support a force sufficient to oppose those violators of the peace and of his people's rights, and to seize and secure them that they may be brought to justice, the conducting of which force ought to be in the sheriff of the county and his officers. And on the 20th of Janu- ary it was ordered thai the Sheriff of Lan- caster be called upon to raise a sufficient num- ber of men of his county lo be disposed in such places on the west side of the Susque- hanna, under proper officers to be by him deputed, as may prevent further disorders, and that the Sheriff with his officers and as- sistants exert their utmost endeavors for pre- serving the peace, protecting the inhabitants, and use all legal means in their power for apprehending Higginbotham and his asso- ciates, and all others who have been or here- after shall be guilty of committing any acts of violence within the said county." * It was repeatedly pressed in advices from Lan- caster " that some gentlemen of credit and authority should be sent up into that coun- ty, by whose encouragement and counte- nance a greater furtherance might be given to such measures as should be found necessary to be concerted for the preservation of his Majesty's peace and the protection of the inhabitants from those outrages to which they have of late been exposed." On the
* IV Col. Eec, 150-1.
25th of January, 1737, two members of the Council, Messrs. Laurence and Assheton, were prevailed upon to take that trouble. It was recommended to them " to use their best endeavors and give such orders as they should judge most conducive for carrying those measures into execution."
Mr. Laurence and Mr. Assheton, on their return from Lancaster, on the Sth of Febru- ary, reported that they met the Justices and Sheriff of that county, and that fifteen men had been got together to observe the motions of Higginbotham and his party, and to pre- vent their further attempts on the inhabit- ants. That he had gone toward Annapolis with his prisoners, and the others kept them- selves shut up in their guard house or for- ^ tress. That their whole force