Centennial history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, Part 1

Author: Stocker, Rhamanthus Menville, 1848-
Publication date: 1887
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : R. T. Peck
Number of Pages: 1318


USA > Pennsylvania > Susquehanna County > Centennial history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania > Part 1


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Gc 974.801 Su8s 1153997


M.L


GENEALOGY COLLECTION


ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 03149 4963


Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016


https://archive.org/details/centennialhistor00stoc 0


CENTENNIAL HISTORY


OF


SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY,


PENNSYLVANIA.


BY


RHAMANTHUS M. STOCKER.


ILLUSTRATED.


974.801 Su 85


PHILADELPHIA: R. T. PECK & CO. 1887.


LH 974.83 5


Copyright, 1887, BY R. T. PECK & CO. All Rights Reserved.


PRESS OF JAS. B. RODGERS PRINTING COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA.


1153997


PUBLISHERS' PREFACE.


AFTER more than a year, the history which we undertook to publish has been prepared by careful writers. The book is larger, by several hundred pages, than was advertised in the announcement.


The engraving and mechanical execution of the work have been in the hands of capable artists.


Early in the preparation of this volume, arrangements were made by the publishers with Miss Blackman, whereby any facts in her work could be used by the compilers of this history, by giving her due credit for the same. Miss Blackman's book has been particularly valuable in preparing pioneer history in the several localities, some of the matter having been obtained by her from persons now dead, facts that could not easily be duplicated. We cheerfully make this acknowledgment to the general value and accuracy of Miss Blackman's work.


The compilers are indebted for courteous treatment and assistance to the county, town- ship and borough officials, the clergy, the press, members of the bar, many school teachers, Hon. F. C. Bunnell and hundreds of others whose names are sometimes mentioned in con- nection with the information given by them. Especially are we indebted to the aged people of Susquehanna County (of whom there are many on her healthful hills) for the cheerful manner in which they have contributed of their knowledge of events happening in their childhood days; and some of the pleasantest reminiscences of the compilers will be the remembrance of the aged men and women who have contributed to these annals.


Among those who have thus assisted in this work, it may not be invidious to mention Rev. A. L. Benton, Rev. E. A. Warriner, Captain H. F. Beardsley, Superintendent B. E. James, Professor S. S. Thomas, Professor C. T. Thorpe, E. A. Weston, Esq., Deacon E. T. Tiffany, James T. Du Bois, Elder William C. Tilden, James C. Bushnell, Mrs. S. B. Chase and Mrs. H. D. Warner. Others who have contributed are mentioned in connection with the matter furnished. John L. Rockey, of Lebanon, Pa., wrote many of the townships and boroughs, and the whole work, in a comprehensive sense, has been under the editorial charge of Rhamanthus M. Stocker, Esq., of Honesdale, Pa.


THE PUBLISHERS.


262274


$40.00 Co.


Southern


EDITOR'S PREFACE.


SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY belongs to that northern tier of counties that was claimed by Connecti- cut; consequently the pioneer settlers were largely from Connecticut and other New England States. Settlements were begun in Susquehanna County one hundred and sixty-seven years after the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, and soon after the close of the Revolutionary War in 1787. In presenting this CENTENNIAL HISTORY of the county to the public, we have endeavored to trace the history of the aborigines who inhabited or roamed over this region; also the treaties between them and the whites, and the battles finally terminating with Sullivan's victory over the Six Nations, which forever destroyed the power of those confederated tribes over the territory embraced in this history. Although no part of Susquehanna County was engaged in the Pennamite War, yet it was a portion of the territory contended for, and the early settlement of this county was made largely by Revolutionary soldiers under the impulse of the Connecticut claimants, as represented by the Delaware and Susque- hanna Companies ; hence a brief history of the contentions between Connecticut and Pennsylvania for dominion, and lastly by individuals of those States for right of soil, have been given. While the dominion of Pennsylvania was established by the Trenton decree in 1782, the rights of individual owners to the soil which they had improved, was a subject of controversy for many years thereafter ; and individuals claiming under Connecticut title in Susquehanna County were prosecuted under the Pennsylvania Intrusion laws, and compelled to pay Pennsylvania owners for their lands.


Realizing that the pioneer settlement of this county constitutes its heroic age, the compiler has endeavored to obtain the names of all the pioneers possible, with such incidents connected with their settlement as are deemed worthy of preservation in a history of the people, within the limits under- taken by the publishers of this volume. In so doing we do not claim to give every incident of interest that has happened in the many families of Susquehanna County ; to do that would require many volumes the size of this, and the details would become too burdensome for the general reader; but it is our intention to give sufficient details of the privations, sufferings and hardships of the pioneers . and subsequent settlers, with biographical sketches of men, in many cases accompanied by portraits, and such chapters on general history as shall make a very full and complete history of the county. To that end one chapter is devoted to the Legal, another to the Medical Profession. The Press and Authors, Education, Customs and Manners of the Pioneers and Military matters are considered in .


separate chapters. These general chapters, together with the borough and township histories, are intended to be sufficiently comprehensive to include all that is desirable to preserve for the general reader of the history of Susquehanna County.


The New England States are justly proud of their history, and have preserved with religious care every incident obtainable in connection with the Pilgrim Fathers, but their pioneer history is that of foreign colonists settling their States. They were sturdy men and true, with a high conception of


V


vi


EDITOR'S PREFACE.


liberty for their age, but with some of the spirit of intolerance and persecution which they had learned from their adversaries characteristic of that time ; but Susquehanna County is a child of liberty, settled after freedom's battle had been fought, largely by heroes who helped gain our independence. In 1787 Susquehanna County was a vast wilderness, unbroken and untrodden by any one save the Indians, and perchance an occasional hunter or trapper of the white race. In that year commencements were made at Great Bend, Harmony, Oakland and Brooklyn, and from those rude pioneer beginnings the settle- ment of Susquehanna County has proceeded until it now contains a thriving population of forty thousand or more inhabitants. The Federal constitution was adopted in 1787, so that the county had its growth and development under the American form of government; and her citizens have ever been tolerant in religion, progressive in education and liberty loving. During the anti-slavery contest, Montrose was the home of the fugitive slave, and in the temperance reform Susquehanna County has ever taken an advanced position. Her farming population are among the most intelligent in the State, and she has produced a large number of teachers, lawyers and doctors, and her full share of authors, statesmen, judges and clergymen. In the late war Susquehanna, true to her Revolutionary ancestry, contributed at least three thousand of her sons to preserve the Union. Surely this county has reason to preserve her history, and teach it to her children ; and it is believed that the perusal of these pages will increase a love of home and native land, and a veneration for the pioneer fathers who wrested homes from the wilderness and planted the school-house and the church side by side, and established a healthful condition of society which should be perpetuated and improved as knowledge and light increase from generation to generation.


If any one thinks that his ancestors or his family have not received the notice they deserve, let him remember that


" One Cæsar lives, a thousand are forgot ;"


that there are no ten men in Susquehanna County or out of it that would agree as to the relative merit of the different individuals in it; that doubtless many facts of interest have escaped the closest scrutiny of the compiler and his assistants. It has not been our intention, however, to omit any person or fact that deserves notice in this work. Our thanks are due, and are most heartily extended, to all that large number of persons who have encouraged and assisted us in the preparation of this history.


R. M. STOCKER.


CONTENTS.


CHAPTER I.


PAGES


Aboriginal Inhabitants-Lenni Lenape-Six Nations-Extin- guishment of Indian Title- Historical Map of Northeastern Pennsylvania 1-5


CHAPTER II. Charles II. Charters-Connecticut, Susquehanna and Delaware Indian Purchases-Pennamite War-Westmoreland County, 5-11


CHAPTER III.


Battle of Wyoming-General Sullivan's March-General Clin- ton at Great Bend-Defeat of the Six Nations-An Indian Claim-Adventures of Hilborn 11-20


CHAPTER IV.


Connecticut Claimants-Trenton Decree-Second Pennamite


War-Erectiou of Luzerne County-Act of 1795-Drinker's


Letters-Bartlet Hinds Mobbed .


20-26


CHAPTER V.


Land Titles-Warrantee Map-Names of Warrantees


26-37


CHAPTER VI.


Topography-Geology, Forests, Zoology


38-43


CHAPTER VII.


Lines of Travel-Indian Trials-Pioneer Roads-Turnpikes-


Stage Routes-Railroads


43-61


CHAPTER VIII.


Erection of Susquehanna County -County Map-Erection of


Townships and Chartering of Boroughs-Census-Court-


House-Civil List


61-70


CHAPTER IX.


Bench and Bar-Personal Sketches


.


70-101


CHAPTER X.


The Press-Editors


101-116


CHAPTER XI.


Authors, Productions of


116-130


CHAPTER XII.


Medical History and Dentistry-Early Reminiscences-Medical


Society-Personal Skotches


130-179


CHAPTER XIII.


Manners and Customs of tho Pioneer Fathers and Mothers . . 179-184


CHAPTER XIV.


Temperance-Early Societies-Woman's Christian Temperance


Union .


184-189


CHAPTER XV.


PAGES


General Education-Pioneer Schools-Public Schools-Acad-


emies-County Institutes-Superintendents and Teachers . 189-196


CHAPTER XVI.


196-210


Agriculture-Granges-Stock Breeding


CHAPTER XVII.


Revolutionary Soldiers-Militia-Soldiers of 1812 .


210-213


CHAPTER XVIII.


War of the Rebellion-Companies and Rosters of Soldiers-


Sanitary Work


213-264


CHAPTER XIX.


Grand Army Republic Posts-Women's Relief Corps-Monu-


ment Association-Sketches of Officers-Sons of Veterans-


Colored Volunteers.


264-264p


CHAPTER XX.


Borough of Montrose


265-321


CHAPTER XXI.


Bridgewater Township


321-352


CHAPTER XXII.


Jessup Township


352-366


CHAPTER XXIII.


Dimock Township


366-388


CHAPTER XXIV.


Springville Township .


388-417


CHAPTER XXV.


Auburn Township


417-436


CHAPTER XXVI.


Rush Township


436-453


CHAPTER XXVII.


Middletown Township


453-463


CHAPTER XXVIII.


Apolacon Township


463-470


CHAPTER XXIX.


Choconut Township


470-479


CHAPTER XXX.


Forest Lake Township


479-496


CHAPTER XXXI.


Friendsville Borough


496-499


CHIAPTER XXXII.


Silver Lake Township


499-507


vii


viii


CONTENTS.


CHAPTER XXXIII.


PAGES


CHAPTER XLIV.


PAGES


Liberty Township


Lathrop Township


676-687


CHAPTER XXXIV.


CHAPTER XLV.


Franklin Township


514-528


Hopbottom Borough


687-696


CHAPTER XXXV.


CHAPTER XLVI.


Great Bend Township


528-538


Lenox Township


696-712


CHAPTER XXXVI.


CHAPTER XLVII.


Great Bend Borough


538-546


Harford Township


712-745


CHAPTER XXXVII.


CHAPTER XLVIII.


Hallstead Borough


546-554


Gibson Township


745-768


CHAPTER XXXVIII.


CHAPTER XLIX.


Oakland Township


554-569


Jackson Township


769-787


CHAPTER XXXIX.


CHAPTER L.


Harmony Township and Lanesboro' .


569-688


Clifford Township


787-806


CHAPTER XL.


CHAPTER LI.


Susquehanna Borough


588-612


Dundaff Borough


806-813


CHAPTER XLI.


CHAPTER LII.


New Milford Township


612-630


Herrick Township and Uniondale Borough


713-823


CHAPTER LIII.


New Milford Borough


630-648


Ararat Township


823-837


CHAPTER XLIII.


CHAPTER LIV.


Brooklyn Township


648-676


Thomson Township and Borough


837-846


CHAPTER XLII.


507-514


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.


PAGE


PAGE


Adams, A. J . . 735


Corse, Lieutenant A. D 781


Adams, James W . 669


Court-House 65


Ainey, Dr. D. C .. 160


Curtis, C. J .. 339


Avery, S. C . . 825


Curtis, Gaylord . 596


Bailey, Amos 653


Dayton, Frederick, 366


Bailey, Obadiah


654


Dimock, Elder Davis 306


Bailey, Frederick


655


Dixon, C. B. . 534


Bailey, Henry L. .


656


Doctor, Olden Time 130


115


Easterbrook, W. W .


783


Barnes, S. H .


582


Estabrook, S. H. . 567


Beardsley, Albert .


404


Ellis, Hon. C. H. . 820


Beardsley, Captain H. F


264g


Falkenbury, Hon. Samuel


594


Beebe, Bradley .


560


Fargo, Frederick 372


89


Bell, Elisha 689


Fordhanı, D. C .


291


Bell, Truman 690


Blackman, Miss E. . C . 122


French, Myron .


.264k


Blakeslee, Dr. E. L. 97


Follet, Elkanah T


732


Blakslee, B. F. 393


Gardner, L.


342


Gardner, J. F .


344


Gardner, Dr. P. H. .


143


Booth, William 490


Boyd, William H . 289


Gillet, J. L .


750


Boyle, Judge John 634


Gray, A. W


447


Griffis, Byron .


356


Grimes, J. K .


563


Breed, R. F .


661


Grow, Hon. G. A


702


Brewster, Horace


333


Guile, S. B .


724


Brush, Calvin


564


Hall, Major Martin 771


794


Halsey, Dr. C. C


148


Handrick, H. F .


484


Bunnell, William


388


Harding, William


625


Burdick, Philip


791


Hartley, M. J . 697


Harvey, W. S. 489


Head-Dress (Lady, 1776). 181


Hinds, Major D. D 324


Hine, Dr. E. P 158


445


Montrose Baptist ..


305


James, B. E. .


195


Montrose Episcopal ..


316


Great Bend Methodist Episcopal . 544


Harford Congregational


737


Jewett, Rodney 660


Susquehanna Catholic . 605


Johnson, John .


684


Coach, Old-Time Stage


50


Jones, H. M


723


Cook, Judge J. H . .


592


Jones, William HI


208


IX


Brush, B. L


384


Brush, Samuel . 558


Bunnell, Kirby . 352


Bush, M. K. . 348


Callender, J. M


798


Cargill, James


774


Chase, Hon. S. B. 188


Churches, Montrose Presbyterian 309


Hillis, J. S


Jeffers, Watson . 728


Jessup, Hon. William 77


Bloxham, J. B.


831


Gerritson, A. J .


108


Bradshaw, John .. 486


Brandt, H. W . 584


Du Bois, J. T. .


Baker, I. P . 387 Barnes, Amos 580


Beebe, Charles . 561


Fitch, Hon. L. F.


France, J. M .


428


Blakslee, L . 394


Hallstead, John


x


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.


Kent, H. J .


346 Smith, Dr. L. A. . 140


Kent, A. W . 571


Smith, Dr. E. N . 139


Kent, David . 658


Smith, R. W. .. 518


Kistler, Stephen .


542


Streeter, Dr. J. B . 136


Lake, J. L .


384


Strickland, Ezra 398


Strickland, P . . 400


Lamb, C. W. . 565


Larrabee, Hon. M. J 95


Lathrop, Dr. I. B ..


154


Stone, O. W . 360


Lathrop, Benjamin .


Stephens, Benjamin 411


Lathrop, Azur 284


734


Squier, Albert


412


Little, Ralph B.


85


Sweet, Captain A. T . 264d


Sweet, Lorenzo . 682


Loomis, G. O . 705


Tarbell, J. S . 294


Lowry, J. W . 795


Taylor, James P


105


Lyons, B. R


281


Taylor, Jacob 575


Lyons, S. A . .


579


Taylor, David


576


Lyons, David ..


577


Tewksbury, Samuel 425


McCollum, Hon. J. B .


81


Tewksbury, John . 426


Maps Northeastern Pennsylvania


5


Tewksbury, Franklin


652


Warrantee


33


Thorpe, C. T.


603


County .


63


Tiffany, E. T . 715


Marsh, Kirby . 510


Merriman, J. L .


520


Tiffany, M. L . 693


Messenger, E. K


843


Tilden, Elder W. C 494


Tingley, Norman . 626


Tingley, Deacon F 720


Oakley, Millbourn 725


Oakley, D. K . . 727


Turrell, Hon. W. J


87


Old Log School .House


784


Turrell, Abel .


282


Peck, Levi R .


730


Turrell, H. F . 292


Penn's Tea Service


180


Vail, Dr. J. D. . 163


642


Pickering, John D


768


Very, Zerah


721


Post, Isaac .


269


Walker, George .


376


Post, David . .


270


Walker, Sarah M


264


Post, William M


91


Warrantee Map .


33


Pratt, Ezra A .


638


Washburn, Oscar 747


Watrous, Spencer 350


Richardson, Rev. Lyman


741


Watrous, D. S. . 667


Richardson, Dr. W. L . 146


Riley, Rev. Henry A. . 310


Riley, Minot . 407


Rogers, Dr. William 159


Sartell, Rev. N. P. 836


685


Whitney, F. M . 776


Whitney, M. T. 840


Williams, Hon. W. W 748


Williams, Dyer . 680


Williams, John .


766


Searle, R. S. 201 Wilson, Mason S . 279


Sherer, Samuel . 374


Woodward, George


764


Sherman, H.K .


395


Wright, Dr. Samuel .


174


Wright, Myron B.


593


Sherwood, W. H


443


Smiley, John . 758


Weston, E. A . . 650


Wheaton, N. P . 522


White, William 427


Saunders, Lyman


Schlager, Jacob


586


School Building, Susquehanna


601


Searle, Daniel . 51


Searle, D. W . 93


PAGE


PAGE


Lamb, Dr. F. D . .


156


Strickland, Ira A . 401


Stoddard, Chester 845


Stephens, J. B. . 801


Leslie, John .


Loomis, Samuel


532


Tiffany, E. M . 692


Newton, J. M. .


666


O'Reilly, Very Rev. J. V . 606


Titus, Leonard . 718


Pickering, Jotham


778


Van Cott, Jamies


Wells, E. C .. 327


Westfall, Levi 557


Prichard, Orrin . . 207


329


HISTORY


OF


SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.


CHAPTER I.


ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS.


Lenni Lenape-Six Nations-Extinguishment of Indian Title.


WHEN the territory now comprised in the county of Susquehanna was first known to the white man it contained no Indian settlement, but was a wilderness waste, occupicd temporarily by the hunting parties of the Six Nations or Iroquois, who held dominion to the northward, and the Lenni Lenape, who lived on the south. The Lenni Lenape, or original people, as they called theniselves, were one of the noblest tribes of Indiaus in North America. When Henry Hudson rode at anchor on the majestic river which bears his name, just above the Highlands, in the ship "Half Moon," September 15, 1609, he was inet by the Lenni Lenape. "Full of simple sublimity and lofty poetry was the con- ception these savages first formed of the strange, white-faced men, in dress, bearing and speech different from their own, who came in the winged canoe to their shorcs." They welcomed them as superior beings sent to them as messen- gers of peace from the abode of the Great Spirit, and honored them with sacrificial feasts and with gifts.


Hudson recorded that above the Highlands


"they found a very loving people, and very old men and were well used." The Lenni Le- nape claimed that they had existed from the be- ginning; that they were the original people. "The Miamis, Wyandots, Shawanese and many others admitted their antiquity and called them grandfathers." They have a legend that centu- ries before the white man came to their shores their ancestors, who lived beyond the "Father of Waters"-the Mamaesi Sipu or Mississippi -- near the wide sea where the sun sank cvery night, traveled eastward in search of a fairer land, of which their prophets had told them. That near the Mississippi they met the Mengwe or Iroquois. They journeyed castward together, neither in warfare nor friendship, until it be- came necessary for them to unite their forces against the Allegwi, whom they finally defeated and nearly exterminated, "sweeping them for- ward as the wind does the dry leaves of the forest." Both tribes wandered eastward until the Mengwe struck the Hudson and the Lenni Lenape the Delaware or Lenape Willittuck (the river or stream of the Lenape). Here, in the beautiful Minisink Valley, they established their council-fire, and made it the central seat of their power, being satisfied that this was the fair land of which their prophets had told them. Con- sidering their faith in these traditions, which made this the loved home of the Lenni Lenape,


2


HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.


can we wonder at the resentment which these simple and peaceable Indians felt, when they saw the pale. faces, whom they had befriended, defraud them out of this very home by the un- fair construction which they put upon the Walking Purchase.


The Lenape were divided into three tribes- the Turtle or Unamis, the Turkey or Unalachtgo, who inhabited the coast from the Hudson to the Potomac, settling in towns, on the streams and river flats, which their women sometimes culti- vated, under chiefs who were subordinate to the great council of the nation. The Minsi or Wolf division of the Lenape, called by the English "Monseys," were the most warlike of these tribes. "1They dwelt in the interior, forming a barrier between their nation and the Mengwe. They extended themselves from the Minisink on the Delaware, where they held their council- seat, to the Hudson on the east, the Susquelian- na on the southwest, the head waters of the Del- aware and Susquehanna Rivers on the north, and to that range of hills now known in New Jersey by the name of the Muskenecum, and by those of Lehigh and Conewago in Pennsyl- vania." Many tribes proceeded from these and obtained local names. Such, probably, were the Shawanese, Nanticokes and Susquehannas. The Six Nations occupied the country extending from the Upper Hudson to the St. Lawrence and the great lakes. They consisted of the Mohawks, Senecas, Cayugas, Onondagas and Oneidas, and the Tuscaroras from the Carolinas, who came north and joined the Five Nations about 1712. In process of time, according to the tradition of the Lenni Lenape, there were wars between them and the Mengwe, in which the former were generally successful. As Susquehanna, Wayne and Bradford Counties were on the bor- der line between these powerful tribes, it is not unreasonable to suppose that there may have been many a savage conflict within the borders of what is now Susquehanna County.


It is known that they had paths or Indian trails through the county. At Great Bend there was an old 2 Tuscarora town, and Indian trails


led from this town to the Lackawanna and Wy- oming Valleys, another led more easterly to Easton and Philadelphia, and one led east through Mt. Pleasant, Wayne County, to the Delaware River. At the time when the whites first knew of the territory embraced in the pre- sent county of Susquehanna, it was a hunting- ground, but was not occupied by any tribe. The Delawares were under subjection to the Six Na- tions and were not permitted to travel on these trails without their consent, for the Iroquois had finally triumphed over their old enemies, the Delawares, by shrewdly inducing them to culti- vate peace and abandon war, until they became like women, as the Delawares allege. Whether the Delawares' account of the matter is correct or not, it is certain that the Iroquois, who have been called the Romans of North America, had gained control over them, and parties of the Iroquois occasionally occupied the Lenape coun- try and wandered over it at their will. Brant, the Mohawk chief, was occasionally in Susque- hanna County. There have been some eviden- ces of former Indian occupancy discovered. Among these were the Painted Rocks,-" 3About two miles above the village of Great Bend the Susquehanna River is quite narrow, with high rocks on each side of the stream. This roman- tic locality was known to the early settlers as the Painted Rock's, from the fact, that, high upon the face of one of these cliffs, and far above the reach of man, was the painted figure of an Indian chief. The outlines of this figure were plainly visible to the earliest white visitors of the place, but long after the outlines had faded, the red which predominated still re- mained, which led the inhabitants to call the place ' Red Rock,' and by that name it is known to this day."


There was once an island a short distance above Great Bend, which has been washed away by the floods until it has become a mere sand- bar. The Indians used to meet at this island and race around it in their canoes, the victor be- coming temporary chieftain, whom all the hunt- ing, or picnic party, as it might be termed, had to obey. There are further traces of the In-


1 Egle's " History of Pennsylvania."


2 John Luken's " Report of Surveys."


3 J. Du Bois.


3


ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS.


dians in a number of the townships, especially along the rivers, where they undoubtedly fished for the speckled trout which once abounded in these mountain streams, and where they hunted the decr and bear. "1 In the vicinity of Apala- con and Tuscarora Creeks numerous arrow- heads have been found ; and, in other localities, other implements of the Indians." Two of the most noted salt springs in the county were worked by the Indians. A legend has been preserved in relation to the one near Silver Creek by a writer in the Volunteer.


It is not within the scope of this work to give a detailed account of the conflicts which led to the expulsion of the Indians from North- eastern Pennsylvania, but a brief account of the " Walking Purchase," and the dissatisfaction of the Indians which followed, will be traced, un- til the final overthrow of the Six Nations. The first release of title by the Indians in the Pro- vince of Pennsylvania was made in 1782, be- fore Penn's arrival, by his Deputy-Governor, William Markham. It embraced all the terri- tory between the Neshaminy and the Delaware, as far up as Wrightstown and Upper Wakefield -about the centre of the present county of Bucks. In 1683 and 1684 Penn himself made other purchases. On the 17th of September, 1718, the Lenni Lenape made another treaty, confirming their sales heretofore made, and ex- tending them from the Delaware to the Susque- hanna. This last-named sale was confirmed 11th October, 1736, by twenty-three chiefs of the Six Nations, who presumptuously laid claim to this land also. They pretended to sell all the lands on both sides of the Susquehanna, eastward to the heads of the branches or springs flowing into the river, northward to the Kit- tochtinny Hills, and westward to the setting sun. This indefinite western boundary really extended to the Susquehanna River, and the northern boundary was the Conewago Hills, South Mountain and Lehigh River.




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