USA > Pennsylvania > Annals of Buffalo Valley, Pennsylvania, 1755-1855 > Part 1
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السوق
.
LUDWIG DERR'S MILL-1772.
ANNALS
OF
BUFFALO VALLEY,
PENNSYLVANIA.
1755 -- 1855.
COLLATED BY
JOHN BLAIR LINN.
HARRISBURG, PA. LANE S. HART, PRINTER AND BINDER. 1877.
Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1877, by JOHN BLAIR LINN. in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
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INTRODUCTION.
INDIAN TRIBES-SHIKELLIMY-LOGAN-ABORIGINES OF THE VALLEY, THEIR VILLAGES AND PATHS-PURCHASE OF 1754-PENN'S CREEK MASSACRE- SOURCES OF EMIGRATION TO THE VALLEY-PURCHASE OF 1758.
N the year 1868, when I proposed to myself the labor of collating these Annals, I supposed their commencement would, in point of time, be with the date of the purchase made at Fort Stanwix, November 5, 1768. I thought, too, the first sounds breaking the stillness of the Valley were the cheer- ful ring of the surveyor's axe, and the merry shouts of advancing settlers, let loose upon the " New Purchase," by the land office adver- tisement of February 23, 1769. But when I came to trace the southern line of that purchase, I found it skirting the deserted clearings and blackened hearth-stones of earlier white settlers, of whose sad fate I had never heard.
These annals, therefore, would not be complete, without an account of the Penn's Creek massacre of 1755, although it makes the history of the early settlement of Buffalo Valley unpleasantly like that of nearly all others in America, in the injustice of the settlers toward the Indians, and the bloody retribution that followed ; and I have further concluded to add all the reliable information I could obtain of the Valley prior to its settlement by the whites.
The localities of the Indian tribes prior to William Penn's arrival, (October 24, 1682,) have been identified as follows: "The Five Nations," as they were then called, (after 1714, "The Six Nations,") occupied the territory north of the sources of the Susquehanna and Delaware rivers. After the partial settlement of the country, these
1
?
ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY.
confederate tribes, were known among themselves by the name Aquan- oschioni, united people; by the English they were called the Six Nations; by the French, the Northern Iroquois; settlers called them sometimes Mingoes and Maquais. This will explain the reason Shi- kellimy, the first noted inhabitant of Buffalo Valley, is called, in let- ters from Conrad Weiser and others, indifferently, an Iroquois chief, a Mingo chief, and a chief of the Six Nations.
South of the mouth of the Hudson lived the Delewares; otherwise called Lenni-Lenape, or original people. They occupied the coun- try to the Potomac, and were divided into three tribes : 1, the Turkeys; 2, the Turtles; 3, the Wolfs or Muncys. The Muncys occupied Pennsylvania, from the Kittatinny or Blue mountains to the source of the Susquehanna, and were the most active and warlike. At the time of Penn's arrival, the Five Nations had brought under their dominion the whole country of the Delawares. About the year 1700, the Shaw- anese, who came originally from Florida and Georgia, by permission of Penn's government, settled in Cumberland valley, having their council fire near Carlisle, and extending northerly into what is now the territory of Snyder county, and as far as Chillisquaque creek, sub- ject, of course, to the authority of the Five Nations.
In 1714, the Five Nations became the Six Nations, by adopt- ing the Tuscarora tribe which had been expelled from North Caro- lina and Virginia; and subsequently Shikellimy, who was a chief of the Oneida tribe, was sent down upon the Susquehanna as the gov- erning chief of the conquered Delawares and their allies, the Shawa- nese. In a letter of instruction to Smith and Pettys, written in 1728, Governor Patrick Gordon speaks of Shikellimy as being placed over the Shawanese ; adding "he is a good man, and I hope will give a good account of them." Shikellimy fixed his residence at the old Muncy town, in Buffalo Valley, and here he was visited by the first white man who, as far as we know, ever set foot within it.
(1737.) 27th February, 1737, Conrad Weiser records in his jour- nal : " Left home for Onondaga. Ist March, left Tolheo,1 which is the last place in the inhabited part of Pennsylvania. On the 4th we rear Led Shamokin2 but did not find a living soul at home who could assist us in crossing the Susquehanna river. On the 5th we lay still ;
At the gap In the Blue mountains, where the Big Swatara breaks through into Lebanon county. " Now Sunbury.
3
INTRODUCTION.
we had now made about eighty miles. 6th, we observed a smoke on the other side of the river, and an Indian trader came over and took us across. We again lay still to-day. On the 7th we started along one branch of the river, going to the north-west. An old Shawano, by name Jenoniawana, took us in his canoe across the creek at Zilly Squachne.1 On the 8th we reached the village where Shikelimo lives, who was appointed to be my companion and guide on the jour- ney. He was, however, far from home on a hunt. Weather became bad and the waters high, and no Indian could be induced to seek Shi- kelimo until the 12th, when two young Indians agreed to go out in search of him. On the 16th, they returned with word that Shikelimo would be back next day, which so happened. The Indians were out of provisions at this place. I saw a new blanket given for about one third of a bushel of Indian corn."
The site of this village is, beyond doubt, on the farm of Hon. George F. Miller, at the mouth of Sinking run, or Shikellimy's run, as it was called formerly, at the old ferry, one half mile below Milton, on the Union county side. It is a beautiful spot for a village ; pro. tected on the north by a range of hills, with the river much narrowed in front, giving easy access to the Northumberland side.
When the land office was open for " the new purchase," on the 3d of April, 1769, there were very many applications made for this loca- tion. In all of them it is called either old Muncy town, Shikellimy's town, or Shikellimy's old town. It is referred to as a locality in hun- dreds of applications for land in the Valley. I will only quote one : "Samuel Huling applies for three hundred acres on the West Branch of the Susquehanna, about one mile above Shikellimy's old town, in- cluding a small run that empties into the river opposite an island." The Huling location was secured by John Fisher, one of the oldest of our settlers, and West Milton is now built upon it. Shikellimy's town was on the " Joseph Hutchinson" and " Michael Weyland," warran- tee tracts, from whom the title can be readily traced to the present owner. Colonel James Moore, who lived there many years, told me that thousands of Indian darts were plowed up there, and once, when blasting at the quarry, they uncovered a grave hollowed in the solid rock, in which they found the skeleton of an Indian.
Shikellimy, sometime after Weiser's visit, removed to Shamokin,
1 Chillisquaque.
ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY.
now Sunbury, as a more convenient point for intercourse with the Proprietary Governors. On the 9th of October, 1747; Conrad Weiser says he was at Shamokin, and that " Shikellimy was very sick with fever. He was hardly able to stretch forth his hand. His wife, three sons, one daughter, and two or three grandchildren were all bad with the fever. There were three buried out of the family a few days before, one of whom was Cajadis, who had been married to his daugh- ter above fifteen years, and was reckoned the best hunter among all the Indians." He recovered, however, from this sickness, and, in March, 1748, we find him at Weiser's, in Tulpehocken, with his eldest son, Tagheneghdourus. He died in April 1749, at Sunbury, and the latter succeeded him as chief and representative of the Six Nations.1
Loskiel thus notices this celebrated inhabitant of our Valley : . Being the first magistrate and head chief of all the Iroquois living on the banks of the Susquehanna as far as Onondaga, [now Syracuse, New York, ] he thought it incumbent upon him to be very circumspect in his dealings with the white people. He mistrusted the brethren [Moravians] at first, but upon discovering their sincerity, became their firm and real friend. Being much engaged in political affairs, he had learned the art of concealing his sentiments; and, therefore, never contradicted those who endeavored to prejudice his mind against the missionaries, though he always suspected their motives. In the last years of his life he became less reserved, and received those brethren that came to Shamokin into his house. He assisted them in building and defended them against the insults of drunken Indians, being himself never addicted to drinking, because, as he expressed it, he never wished to make a fool of himself. He had built his house upon pillars for safety, in which he always shut himself up when any drunken frolic was going on in the village. In this house, Bishop Johannes Von Watteville, and his company, visited and preached the Gospel to him. It was then the Lord opened his heart. He listened with great attention, and at last, with tears, respected the doctrine of a crucified Jesus, and received it with faith. During his visit to Bethle- hem, a remarkable change took place in his heart, which he could not conceal. He found comfort, peace, and joy by faith in his Redeemer, and the brethren considered him a candidate for baptism. But hear- ing that he had been already baptized by a Roman Catholic priest
' As such, slyning the deed for the Indian purchase of 22d August, 1749.
5
INTRODUCTION.
in Canada, they only endeavored to impress his mind with a proper idea of the sacramental ordinance, upon which he destroyed a small idol which he wore about his neck. After his return to Shamokin, the grace of God bestowed upon him was truly manifest. In this state of mind, he was taken ill, was attended by brother David Zeis- berger, and in his presence fell asleep, happy in the Lord, in full assurance of obtaining eternal life through the merits of Jesus Christ."
The most celebrated of his sons was Logan, the Mingo chief. By the journal of Mack and Grube, Moravian missionaries, it appears he lived at the mouth of the Chillisquaque creek, August 26, 1753. In 1765 he lived in Raccoon valley, at the foot of the Tuscarora mountain. Loudon, in his " collections," says he could speak tol- erable English, was a remarkably tall man-over six feet high- and well proportioned ; of brave, open, and manly countenance, as straight as an arrow, and apparently afraid of no one. In 1768 and 1 769 he resided near Reedsville, in Mifflin county, and has given his name to the spring near that place, to Logan's branch of Spring creek, in Centre county, Logan's path, &c. See a notice of an interview with him in the memoir of Samuel Maclay, postea, year 18II. Heckewelder says he was introduced to Logan in 1772. "I thought him a man of superior talents. He then intended set- tling on the Ohio, below Big Beaver. In April, 1773, I called at his settlement, and was received with great civility." In 1774 oc- curred Lord Dunmore's expedition against the Shawanese towns, now Point Pleasant, West Virginia, which was the occasion of Logan's celebrated speech, commencing "I appeal to any white man to say if he ever entered Logan's cabin hungry, and he gave him not meat ;" which will go down to all time, whether properly or not, as a splen- did outburst of Indian eloquence.
Heckewelder says he afterwards became addicted to drinking, and was murdered, between Detroit and his own home, in October, 1781, and he was shown the place. "He was, at the time, sitting with his blanket over his head, before a camp-fire, his elbows resting on his knees, when an Indian, who had taken some offense, stole behind him, and buried his tomahawk in his brains." Howe's Ohio Col- lections, page 409, who quotes as his authority Good Hunter, an aged Mingo chief.
·
0
ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY.
Aborigines of the Valley.
Of the Indians who occupied Buffalo Valley, nothing can be posi- tively ascertained. except that they belonged to the Muncy-Minsi ( or Wolf ) tribe of the Lenni Lenape, or original people. The Valley was more a hunting ground than a residence. Some remains have been found at prominent points along the river, as, for instance, at Colonel Slifer's house, on the river. above the mouth of Buffalo creek. some skeletons, evidently of one family only, were uncovered. The large mounds were on the other side of the river, on Joseph Nesbit's place ; and the principal towns or villages, Chillisquaque, at the mouth of that creek, south side, and Shamokin, on the island and mainland, where Sunbury now stands.
In quite a number of applications of 1769 mention is, however, made of an old Indian town and fort, on the Dietrick Rees tract, just above New Columbia; an Indian improvement at Laird How- ard's spring. in Kelly; one on the Craig tract, on the river, near Winfield ; one below that yet, on the Andrew Culbertson, afterwards known as the Merrill place ; on the " Richard Edward's," now Stoltzfus' place, in Kelly, was an Indian field and plum orchard; and there was an improvement at Strohecker's landing, south of Lewisburg.
Indian Paths.
The great Indian path through the Valley left the river at the first ravine, a few rods below the Northumberland bridge, passed up it, following the main road, as it now is, for a few miles, then turning towards the river, it came down the hill upon the Merrill place ; thence followed the bank of the river, up through the old Mac- pherson place, to Lees, Winfield; thence passing up the present roa'l, it crossed directly through the fields from the Gundy road to Fourth street, Lewisburg; thence to Buffalo creek, where the iron bridge now is, a very old fording place ; thence it curved towards the river, passed up through Shikellimy's town, and along the river road, around the rocks, into White Deer Hole valley. A. H. Mc- Henry, the noted surveyor. told me it could be distinctly traced by the calls of surveys; but as all traces of it are now obliterated within the Valley, further identification is unnecessary.
7
INTRODUCTION.
The paths through the Valley westward are obliterated, historically and topographically, except the small portion of the one passing into Brush valley, which may still be traced in the woods west of Solomon Heberling's.
Early Notices of Names of Creeks, &c.
Buffalo creek is mentioned by its name in the Indian deed of Octo- ber 23, 1758. Penn's is called John Penn's creek in the same deed. In the deed of July 6, 1754, it is called Kaarondinhah. It was called by the settlers, between 1754 and 1769, and marked on Scull's map of 1759, Big Mahany, and is so recited in deeds as late as 1772. Thus the "Henry Christ " warrantee, (now in Monroe township, Snyder county,) afterwards Herbster's place, is described as in " Buffalo township, formerly of the name of Shamokin, and bounded by Big Mahany creek, lands of George Gabriel, Abraham Herr, and others."-Deed of Herbster to George Haines, 26th May, 1772. In a deed from John Turner to John Harris, June, 1755, for an im- provement, (now in Hartley township, owned by R. V. B. Lincoln, Esquire, ) the creek is called " Mahanoy."
Turtle creek was so called before 1769, and in the latter year I found the stream below it, traversing Dry valley, called Lee's run, after John Lee, the first settler of the site of Winfield.
Switzer run had an alias in 1769-Lick run, probably after Peter Lick, who was carried off by the Indians in 1755; but the interest felt in the mournful tragedy hereafter related substituted the name of Switzer for the name given it by the surveyors in 1769.
White Deer creek is marked on Scull's map of 1759 with the Indian name of Opaghtanoten, or White Flint creek. The run entering the river on the late Samuel Henderson's place, in White Deer town- ship, was called by William Blythe, the first settler there, Red-Bank run ; and the bottom above, between it and White Deer creek, had, before 1769, the name Turkey bottom, from the immense num- ber of wild turkeys haunting it.
Dog run came in by the old Indian fort, which stood near New Columbia. Beaver run, in Buffalo township, had that name before I 769, from a large beaver dam near its mouth. Wilson's run, enter- ing at Lewisburg, had the name of Limestone run. White Springs
MANN.ILS OF BUFFALO VALLEY.
(at Barler's, in Limestone township) is so called in the return of a survey made by Colonel John Armstrong, in 1755. Laurel run had that name prior to 1773 ; and Spruce run is so called on Colonel Kelly's application for land upon it, dated 11th June, 1769.
The hills bounding the Valley on the south were called Shamokin, from the earliest times I find them mentioned ; of late years they have had the name of Chestnut Ridge. Nittany mountain had its name as early as 1768. Buffalo and White Deer mountains took their names from the respective creeks. Jack's mountain, extending from Centreville, Snyder county, to Scottsville, Huntingdon county, was so called from Jack Armstrong, an Indian,trader, who was mur- dered in the narrows, in 1744, near Mt. Union. Pennsylvania Archives, second volume, 136.
(1755.) The Mahany or Fenn's Creek Massacre.
Cumberland county was erected out of Lancaster, on the 27th of January, 1750, and was to embrace all the lands within the Province of Pennsylvania westward of the Susquehanna and north and west- ward of York county. The country was then purchased from the Indians as far north as the present southern line of Perry county. Nevertheless, settlers pushed on north of the boundary-the Kitta- tinny or Blue mountains. As early as 1753, at a council held at Carlisle, the Indians protested against the occupation of the country north of the line by the white settlers, and " wished the people called back from the ‘ Juniata ' lands until matters were settled between them and the French, lest damage should be done, and then the English would think ill of them." Then came the treaty of the 6th of July, 1754, at Albany, between the chiefs of the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagos, Cayugas, Senecas, and Tuscaroras, known as the Six Nations, and Thomas and Richard Penn, conveying that part of the Province west and south of a line commencing at the " Kittochtinny " or Blue hills, on the Susquehanna river, (a little south of where the southern line of Perry county now strikes the river ; ) thence, by said river, to a point one mile above the mouth of a certain creek, called Kaarondinhah ; thence north-west and by west as far as the Province of Pennsylvania extends, to its western line or boundary, &c. On an old map I have, printed in 1771, this
9
INTRODUCTION.
line is marked running from a mile above Penn's creek, N. 45° W., crossing the river a little above the mouth of Sinnemahoning, and striking Lake Erie a few miles north of Presqu'Isle, (now Erie.) Within the Valley, it crossed Penn's creek, near New Berlin, the turnpike, near Ray's church, thence over Buffalo creek and mountain.
The Indians alleged afterwards (see Weiser's journal of the con- ference at Aughwick, September, 1754) that they did not under- stand the points of the compass, and that if the line was so run as to include the West Branch of the Susquehanna, they would never agree to it.
Settlers, nevertheless, pushed their way up along Penn's creek. George Gabriel had a house where Selinsgrove now stands as early as 1754, and Godfrey Fryer, John Young, George Linn, George Schnable, and others were in his immediate neighborhood. The Proprietaries, with their understanding of the line, made surveys along Penn's creek, in Buffalo Valley, as early as the 13th of February, 1755; and William Doran had an improvement where Jacob Shively now lives before that date. I have a copy of a survey General John Armstrong, then deputy under Nicholas Scull, made for Henry Nufer, adjoining Doran's, dated 13th February, 1755.
The inhabitants along the creek in the Valley proper numbered twenty-five. Their names and their places of residence, for the most part, were obliterated with them. One John Turner had improved Esquire Lincoln's place. It appears by John Harris' ledger, pub- lished among "The Dauphin County Historical Contributions," that Turner sold his improvement to Harris, June 17, 1755. There was a settlement near Kaufman's grist-mill. A man by the name of Andrew Smith lived at White springs. Jacob LeRoy, or King, as he was called by the settlers, lived at the spring on the late Hon. Isaac Slenker's place, in Limestone township. There was a settlement on the New Berlin road, called for many years afterwards Breylinger's improvement, after the German killed there. The late Philip Pon- tius told me his grandfather had made an improvement at Cedar spring, his late residence, in 1755.
(1755.) Braddock's defeat (July 9) emboldened the Indians, and they determined to clear out all these settlements; and they did it so effectually, that although, by the treaty of 1758, the western part
ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY.
of the Valley became the Proprietaries, no settlers ventured upon the bloody ground until after the surveys of 1768.
In October, 1755, the Indians came down upon the settlers. Two men were murdered within five miles of George Gabriel's, and four women carried off. The following cotemporary record tells the whole story. It is a petition, addressed to Robert Hunter Morris, then Governor under the Proprietaries:
" We, the subscribers, living near the mouth of Penn's creek, on the west side of the Susquehanna, humbly show that, on or about the 16th October, the enemy came down upon said creek, killed, scalped, and carried away all the men, women, and children, amount- ing to twenty-five in number, and wounded one man, who, fortu- nately, made his escape, and brought us the news. Whereupon the subscribers went out and buried the dead. We found thirteen, who were men and elderly women, and one child, two weeks old; the rest being young women and children, we suppose to be carried away. The house (where we suppose they finished their murder, ) we found burned up, the man of it, named Jacob King. a Swisser, lying just by it. He lay on his back, barbarously burned, and two toma- hawks sticking in his forehead ; one of them newly marked W. D. We have sent them to your Honor. The terror of which has drove away all the inhabitants except us. We are willing to stay, and defend the land, but need arms, ammunition, and assistance. With- out them, we must flee, and leave the country to the mercy of the enemy.
George Glidwell,
Jacob Simmons,
George Auchmudy,
Conrad Craymer,
John Mc Cahan,
George Fry,
Abraham Sowerkill,
George Schnable,
Edmund Matthews,
George Aberhart,
Mark Curry,
Daniel Braugh,
William Doran,
George Linn,
Dennis Mucklehenny, John Young,
Godfrey Fryer.
Jacob King, alias John Jacob LeRoy, was killed at the spring on the late Mr. Slenker's farm. He came over, in the ship Phoenix, from Rotterdam, arriving at Philadelphia, November 22, 1752, in the same vessel which brought over John Thomas Beck, grand-
II
INTRODUCTION.
father of Doctor S. L. Beck, of Lewisburg. Rupp's Collection, page 225.
In the third volume of the Pennsylvania Archives, on page 633, will be found the " Examination of Barbara Liningaree and Mary Roy, 1759. They say they were both inhabitants of this Province, and lived on John Penn's creek, near George Gabriel's; that on the 16th October, 1755, a party of fourteen Indians fell upon the inhabitants at that creek by surprise, and killed fifteen, and took and carried off prisoners examinants and eight more, viz ; Jacob Roy, brother of Mary Roy ; Rachel Liningaree, sister of Barbara ; Marian Wheeler ; Hannah, wife of Jacob Breylinger, and two of her child- ren, (one of which died at Kittanin' of hunger;) Peter Lick and two of his sons, named John and William.
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