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REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
GEN
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01807 2816
GENEALOGY 974.8 H6293, 1884
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/historicalregist02egle
HISTORICAL REGISTER: ..
NOTES AND QUERIES,
HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL,
RELATING TO
INTERIOR PENNSYLVANIA,
FOR THE YEAR 1881.
VOLUME II.
HARRISBURG, PA .: LANE S. HART, PRINTER AND BINDER. 1834.
F 6968 03
6
X 693273 HISTORICAL REGISTER:
NOTES AND QUERIES. HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL.
Published Quarterly. Price $2 per Annum, in Advance.
[As copies of this number will be forwarded to all old subscribers, and others, those not desirous of continuing will return them. ]
Address, WM. H. EGLE, M. D., HARRISBURG, PA.
Vol. II. FEBRUARY, 1084. No. 1.
CONTENTS.
1. Wyoming- Connecticut-Pennsylvania, by STEUBEN JENKINS, OF of Wyoming, 1 2. Tithian's Journal, annotated by JOHN BLAIR LINN, of Bellefonte, 13
8. The Family of Alexander, by Rey. HORACE EDWIN HASDEN, of Wilkes-Barre, 19
1. John Lyon, 24
5. Extracts from the Letter Books of Major Isaac Craig, 27
6. Var Reed Family, by MORTOS L. MONTGOMERY, of Reading. 38 7. Pennsylvania Biography- Hon Calvin Blythe. 43 Capt. Andrew Forrest, 44
S. The Scotch-Irish Family of Brown, by WILLIAM HENRY EGLE,
of Harrisburg. 47
". Indian Depredations on Juniata, in 1756, 54
10. Correspondence of the Revolution,
11. Pennsylvania Necrology, 67-73
Jeremiah Cook, by Benj. M. Nead. Capt. George W. Ourel. by John Blah Lin. Henry Baldwin Etle. by John E. Parke. Jacob Fatzinger, Jr .. by Willin I. Egle.
Robert C. MeCrea!y. by Edward McPherson. Harry E. Packer, by William H. Egle. John William Wallace, by William D. Egle.
12. NOTES AND QUERIES; . 74-78 Madame Montour-Gen. A. Tannehill-Newspaper Historical Series- Events in Pittsburgh Ninety Years Ago-Folk-Lore- Witman Fam- ily.
1. Our Local Historical Societies-Officers for 1891, 78
15. Herout fhistorical Publications, 79
HISTORICAL REGISTER:
NOTES AND QUERIES,
BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL.
Published Quarterly. Price $2 per Annum, in Advance.
Address, WM. H. EGLE, M. D., HARRISBURG, PA.
.
Vol. II.
JUNE, 1884. No 2.
CONTENTS.
1. Fort Armstrong and the Manor of Kittanning, by Rev. A. A. LAMB- ING, A. M., of Pittsburgh, , 81
2. Deturk Family, by MORTON L. MONTGOMERY, of Reading, 92
3. Fithian's Journal, annotated by JOHN BLAIR LINN, of Bellefonte, 99
4. Letter Book of Major Isaac Craig, III, 1.90
5. Marriages in Goshenhoppen, 1731-1790, communicated by HENRY S. DOTTERER, of Philadelphifi, 137
6. The Family of Blaine, 145
7. Lawless Intruders from Connecticut, 151
8. First Settlers on the Manor of Maske, 153
9. Papers relating to Simon Girty, 155
10. NOTES AND QUERIES, 158
Hugh Brown -- Whitehill -- John Van Reed. jr .- Calvin Blythe-Carson Hamel-Local Histories in Preparation-Franklin County Historical Society.
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HISTORICAL REGISTER:
NOTES AND QUERIES,
BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL.
Published Quarterly, Price $2 per Annum, in Advance.
Address, WM. H. EGLE, M. D., HARRISBURG, PA.
Vol. II. SEPTEMBER, 1884. No. 8.
CONTENTS.
1. Letter Book of Major Idas Craig, IV, 161
2. Marriages in Goshenhoppen. 1731-1790, (II) communicated by HENRY'S. DOTTERER, 179
3. Daniel Boone, the Kentucky Pioneer, born in Berks county, Penn. sylvania, by MORTON L. MONTGOMERY, of Reading, 190
4. Fithian's Journal, 1775, annotated by JOHN BLAIR LINN, of Belle- fonte, 194
5. Facts in Arnistrong County History, by ISAAC CRAIG, of Alle- gheny City. 202
6. The Ewing Family of Lancaster and York, by Samuel Evans, of Columbia, 205
7. Col. James Burd, of Tinian, by. A. BOYD HAMILTON, of Harris-
burg, 214
8. Concerning the County of Luzerne: a characteristic letter of Col TIMOTHY PICKERING. 231
9. Interesting Correspondence ---
Letter of DEVEREUX SMITH, 1777, 235
Letter of JASPER YEATES, 1777, 236
10. NOTES AND QUERIES. 238
Cymbelines-The Markley Freundschaft-A Notable Publication-The Franklin County Centennial.
HISTORICAL REGISTER:
NOTES AND QUERIES,
BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL.
Published Quarterly. Price $2 per Annum, in Advance.
Address, WM. H. EGLE, M. D., HARRISBURG, PA.
VOLUME 1 CAN BE SUPPLIED AT $3,00.
Vol. II. DECEMBER, 1884. No. 4.
CONTENTS.
1. Fithian's Journal, 1775, annotated by JOHN BLAIR LINN, of Belle- fonte, . 241
2. Noted Characters in our Early History, by ISAAC CRAIG, 24S
3. Robert Traill, of Northampton, 256
4. Letter Book of Major Isaac Craig, V, 261
5. The Whitehills of Lancaster, by SAMUEL EVAxs, of Columbia, 270
6. The Chambers-Reiger Duel, 1789, 270
7. Old Derty Church, Historical Address delivered at laying corner stone, by WILLIAM H, EGLE, M. D., of Harrisburg, 231
8. Indians of Pennsylvania, by MORTON L. MONTGOMERY, of Read- ing, 291
9. The Permanent Residence of Congress, 301
10. NOTES AND QUERIES, . 307
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HISTORICAL REGISTER:
4. 4
NOTES AND QUERIES,
HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL,
RELATING TO
Interior Pennsylvania.
Vol. II.
No. 1.
"Out of monuments. names, wordes, proverbs, traditions, private records, and evidences, fragments of stories, passages of bookes, and the lize, we doe save and recover somewhat from the deluge of time."
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HARRISBURG, PA. LANE S. HART, PUBLISHER. 1884.
HISTORICAL REGISTER: NOTES AND QUERIES,
BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL.
VOL. II.
JANUARY, 1884. No. 1.
WYOMING.
CONNECTICUT. PENNSYLVANIA.
BY STEUBEN JENKINS. ,
In 1620, Charles I, of England, granted to the Duke of Lenox, the Earl of Warwick, and others, under the name of "The Council of Plimouth," "all that part of America lving and being in breadth from forty degrees of north latitude to the forty-eighth, inclusive, and in breadth throughout the mainland from sea to sea." Robert. Earl of Warwick, in 1630, purchased from " The Council of Plimouth;" and, in the next year, 10th March, 1631, having obtained confirmation of his title, by royal patent from Charles I, conveyed to Lord Say and Seal, Lord Brook, and others, "all that part of New Eng- land, in America, between the fortieth and forty-third degrees of north latitude, from Narraganset river on the east, to the South Sea on the west, throughout the main lands." This grant was confirmed by royal patent from Charles II, on the 20th April, 1662, " from the Narraganset bay on the east to the South Sea on the west." The Pacific Ocean at that time was known as the South Sea.
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Although Charles II had confirmed the title of the grantees of the Plymouth Company in 1662, yet, in after years, hard pressed for money and harassed by his creditors for debts of
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Historical Register.
long standing, he overlooked or entirely forgot what he had done in the premises. Among the claims which gave him great anxiety, and for the payment of which urgent solicita- tion was being made, was one of £16,000, owing to Admiral Sir William Penn, renowned in English history for his martial valor as an officer of the British navy, consisting to a great extent of money advanced by him in the service, and of ar- rearages of his pay. The Admiral having died without receiv- ing his pay, his son, William, in 1680, petitioned the king to grant him in lieu of said sum of money "Letters Patent for a tract of land in America, lying north of Maryland, and on the east bounded on the Delaware river; on the west limited by Maryland, and to extend northward as far as plantable."
The king took the petition into favorable consideration, and, after sundry conferences and discussions concerning the bound- aries, etc., in which the "Committee of the Privy Council for the Affairs of Trade and Plantations" took an active part, the petition was granted, and on the 4th of March, 1681, the king affixed his signature to the deed of grant, naming the Province PENNSYLVANIA.
Care had been taken to consult the Duke of York and Lord Baltimore as to the proper boundaries of the grant, so far as they might be affected by them, but no notice was given to the Plymouth Company, at that time consisting of the colonies of Massachusetts and Connecticut, Lord Say and Seal, Lord Brook, the Earl of Warwick, etc. Overlooking or disregard- ing their rights in the premises, the grant to William Penn was made to cover a degree of latitude of the territory con- tained in and covered by their grant, and out of this conflict of boundaries in the several grants grew the controversy at Wyoming. about one phase of which I propose to give a brief explanation.
Between the time of the grant by Charles II, made 20th April, 1662, to the grantees of the Council of Plymouth and the grant by him to William Penn, 4th March, 1681, he, by his letters patent on the 12th March, 1664, granted to his royal brother, James, Duke of York, who became subse- quently James II of England, "Hudson's river and all the
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Wyoming.
lands from the west side of Connecticut river to the east side of Delaware bay, together with all the lands, soils, islands, rivers, bays, seas, etc., and all his estate, right, title, interest, benefit, advantages, claim and demand of, in, or to the said lands and premises, or any part or parcel thereof. etc." This country had but recently been conquered from the Dutch, and the name, New Amsterdam, changed to New York.
It will be noticed that for a portion of the territory embraced in these several grants there is a three-fold complication of title, all made by the same King Charles II, to wit:
1st. To the New England grantees, 20th April, 1662.
2d. To James, Duke of York, 12th March, 1664.
3d. To William Penn, 4th March, 1681.
A controversy-subsequently arose as to which of these three grants was the most legal and proper one in reference to those portions of them covering the same territory. The rule of law in all civilized nations is that priority of title carries with it priority of right, and this rule is restricted only by bad faith and fraud. Nothing of this latter character is contended in this case.
Another condition which adds to the efficacy of prior title is prior settlement. This condition in this case ran with the pri- ority of title, for on the 26th of September, 1633, William Holmes, and others, under authority of the grant to the pur- chasers of the Plymouth Company, of 19th March, 1631, went up the Connecticut river and landed at Windsor. They took with them materials for a house, and at once erected it, and commenced a settlement, which remains to this day. Weath- ersfield and other towns were soon after settled, and in a few years . Connecticut became a flourishing colony. The recon- firmation of the New England grant made in 1662, was made for the sole purpose of obviating any difficulty that might arise- about the former grants, by reason of the regal interregnum under Oliver Cromwell and his son Richard, and was a mere measure of precaution, and not one of necessity. The dupli- cating of these royal grants was not infrequent. A new grant. was made by Charles II to James, Duke of York, on the 9th
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Historical Register.
of July, 1674. for the same territory embraced in the former grant of 12th March, 1664.
As to that portion of these several grants which covered the same territory, and about which a conflict subsequently arose, which resulted in a long and bitter controversy and much blood-shed, I propose to give the history of its rise, progress, and manner of settlement, not alone because of the facts them- selves, but because of the peculiar manner in which they were treated during the continuance of the controversy, and of the peculiar manner in which they were finally settled. This his- tory exhibits the most singular treatment of legal questions of .anything to be found in the jurisprudence of this country.
In consequence of its remote position, and its being a wilder- ness inhabited by savages and prowled over by wild beasts, that part of the territory contained in both the grant of the New England people and that to Penn remained until a somewhat late period before its settlement. The first movement for its settlement was made by New England people as early as March, 1753,-when about 100 of these people petitioned the Legisla- tive Assembly of Connecticut for permission to go on and set- tle the lands west of the Province of New York, within the bounds of the grant made by Charles II. in 1662. The Colony not claiming to own the lands as they were not within her pur- chase from the granters nor her organized bounds, made no re- sponse to this petition in the Assembly, yet outside, the mem- bers not only gave the petitioners encouragement to go on, but personally engaged in the enterprise.
The next year there assembled at Albany, N. Y., on the 19th June, the memorable Congress of Commissioners from every colony north of the Potomac. The Virginia government, too, was represented by the presiding officer, Delancy, the Lieu- tenant Governor of New York. They met to concert measures of defense, and united action among the colonies, and to treat with the Six Nations of Indians and the tribes in their alliance. America had never seen an assembly so venerable for the States that were represented, or for the great and able men who com- posed it. There at that treaty the representatives of Pennsyl- vania made a purchase of lands of the Indians ; and the mem-
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Wyoming.
bers of the Connecticut-Susquehanna Company, chiefly from Connecticut and Rhode Island. who had effected an organiza- tion, and purchased from the owners a portion of the territory lying west of New York, bought of these same Indians a de- gree of latitude in width and one hundred and twenty miles in length, from ten miles east of the Susquehanna river, on the 11th of July, 1754, and obtained a deed for the same of that date. The number of purchasers at that time was about nine hundred, all of whose names are found in the deed.
In the next year after the purchase, to wit: 1755, a party of the purchasers went to the Valley of Wyoming, within the bounds of the purchase, and proceeded to locate and survey. the Susquehanna river, taking the latitude, etc., but in conse- quence of the hostile character of the Indians, on account of the French and Indian War, then just assuming form, the settlement of that locality was suspended until it should be deemed safe for that purpose.
In the latter part of August, 1762, one hundred and nine- teen of the proprietors went on to Wyoming and took pos- session of the lands in behalf of themselves and the company of which they were a part. They took with them the neces- sary equipments, cut grass and made hay, sowed some grain, and then returned to Connecticut and Rhode Island, to remain for the winter. On their arrival at Wyoming they found no white inhabitants, and only a few Indian families there, with Teedyuscung as their chief, who received and treated them in the most friendly manner.
Early in the month of May, 1763, the party that had been on the preceding year, with a large number of others, went on and renewed their possessions. The improvements were ex- tended, grain was planted and sowed, houses built, hay cut, and everything was moving forward in a prosperous manner, when, without warning, on the 15th of October, the settlers were attacked while in the fields at work, and about twenty of them slain. The others abandoned the settlement and fled back to their homes. Who the perpetrators or instigators of this massacre were has never been fully made known.
The settlement was not renewed again by them until 1769,
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Historical Register.
and when the party arrived in the Valley in the last of January in . that year, they found Amos Ogden, a trader from New Jersey, in possession of a log hut, and a few persons in pos- session of the lands at the mouth of Mill Creek, where the massacre had taken place on the 15th of October, 1763. And now commenced a bitter civil war, which lasted, with alternate success of the New England and Pennsylvania parties, for upwards of six years. The Pennsylvania Proprietaries com- meneed the work by sending Sheriff Jennings, of Northamp- ton county, to arrest the New Englanders and lodge them in Easton jail, where they were soon liberated on bail. When the Court sat, an indictment was sent up against them for riot, which the grand jury promptly ignored, under instructions from the Court. They next attempted force to expel the in- truders, as they chose to call the New England settlers. With varying success and defeat to both parties, the struggle became more fierce, at times resulting in bloodshed, until the Revolu- tionary War, when there was for a time a forced neutrality, which was interrupted by an incursion of British. Tories, and Indians, who, on the 3d of July, 1778, massacred three hun- dred of the settlers, and drove the rest from the Valley. after burning their buildings and devastating the whole region. The story of the bloody tragedy sent a thrill of horror through the whole country, and called forth the execrations of the hu- mane of England against its savage perpetrators. On the 4th of August following, the few surviving settlers returned to the Valley, and were joined soon after by a re-inforcement of fresh and vigorous men, who took up the struggle just where their neighbors had been forced to lay it down, and continued in possession until the close of the Revolutionary War, under · various vicissitudes, without any real struggle between the contesting parties.
In the meantime, however, the State Government of Penn- sylvania jumped the claim of the Penn Proprietaries, passing, on the 27th November, 1779, "An act for vesting the estates of the late Proprietaries of Pennsylvania in this Common- wealth." The title of the Proprietaries, by this act of force,- robbery, it might be called,-passed to the Commonwealth of
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Wyoming.
Pennsylvania, that stood ready to take more lands on the same or similar terms at any time they might come within her grasp-and soon that opportunity was offered, and she hastened to avail herself of all its benefits and advantages, as will pres- ently appear.
The New England settlers on their arrival in the Valley in 1769, organized a government of their own for deciding con- troversies and the general management of their affairs --- in fact, founded a colony, as the fashion then was. They established a form of government, and in their public assemblies, held quarterly, they made their laws, chose their judges and officers to administer them, and saw that they were executed. They were governed in this manner until January, 1774, when, in consequence of the war made upon them by the Pennamites, they solicited the State of Connecticut to extend her protect- ing care over them, which she did, and thereupon erected the whole region into a town called Westmoreland, and attached it to Litchfield county. It was in this manner that the State of Connecticut became interested in the affairs of the settlers of Wyoming. Soon after passing the act taking Wyoming under her jurisdiction, she sent out her officers to assess the property of the settlers, and at the same time accorded them representation in her legislative assemblies.
In this situation of affairs, almost immediately after the sur- render of Cornwallis at Yorktown, the contest with Great Britain being regarded as virtually at an end, to wit. on the 3d of November, 1781, fifteen days after that event, a petition was presented to Congress " from the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, stating the existence of a matter in dispute between the said State and the State of Connecticut, respecting sundry lands lying on the east branch of the river Susquehanna, and praying a hearing in the premises, agreeably to the ninth article of the Confederation."
In April, 1782, the two States of Pennsylvania and Connect- icut commenced the work of preparation for a hearing before the said Court, and on the 12th of November, 1782, the Court met for the hearing of the parties, i. e., the two States between whom the issue was formed, and the only parties that could be
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Historical Register
heard under the provisions of the article recited, which gave jurisdiction to the Court only for settling difficulties or contests between sovereign States. The settlers at Wyoming, however, appeared before the Court and claimed that they were the own- ers of the soil at Wyoming, and as owners they desired to enter an appearance and be heard in their defense. The Court took a strict view of the said ninth article, and decided that they pos- sessed no right to hear the settlers, as there was no jurisdiction conferred upon them to that end. The settlers were hence de- nied a hearing and the case was tried on the title of the two States to the land in controversy. The State of Connecticut had no title to the land, and hence she must necessarily be beaten in the controversy.
The Court having decided that the question before them was one solely of jurisdiction, and that the right of soil did not come before them, there could be no other conclusion to the matter than the one they pronounced on the 30th December, 1782, to wit :
" We are unanimously of the opinion, That Connecticut has no right to the lands in controversy.
" We are also unanimously of the opinion, That the jurisdic- tion and preemption of all the territory lying within the char- ter of Pennsylvania, and now claimed by the State of Con- necticut, do of right belong to Pennsylvania."
Miner says: "Clear, comprehensive, and explicit, Pennsyl- vania was satisfied, and Connecticut submitted without breath- ing a sigh for the loss of so noble a domain, the right to which she had so strenuously maintained, or a murmur at a decision which seemed to the surrounding world so extraordinary."
One is led naturally to inquire how this peculiar state of af- fairs, under all the circumstances, should have been brought about. It hould be borne in mind that Connecticut never had, and never claimed to have, the right of soil at Wyoming. That right was in the assignees of the original grantees of the terri- tory, which, in its extension from the east to the west, as far as the South Sea covered the territory, organized into the State of Connecticut, as also the outlying territory which included Wyoming, North-western Pennsylvania, Northern Ohio, and so
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Wyoming.
on through to the Pacific Ocean. The State of Connecticut assumed jurisdiction at Wyoming by request of the settlers there. Those settlers never purchased or claimed to hold land under title from Connecticut. That State never gave title to any settler there for any lands whatever; nor did she possess, in her own right, jurisdiction, either within the grant to Penn, or to any territory west of that grant. The right and jurisdic- tion possessed by her over any of this territory were simply those entrusted to her by the settlers at Wyoming for their protection, but which she used for her own benefit and to their injury. She came in as the friend and protector of the settlers and ended by becoming their betrayer. She assented to a packed court and a false issue, and went through the ceremony of a mock trial at Trenton that her treachery might appear to be the result of a legal necessity.
That the settlers must submit, and that there might be no resistance to the decree, although their case was not heard in or decided by the court, it was arranged to be made and carried into effect when the whole body of the effective men on their side were absent in the service of their country, and the valley was packed with the minions of the Pennsylvania claimants of the lands of the settlers.
That Connecticut acted treacherously and sold out the set- tlers for her own benefit and advantage will readily be seen by the proceedings of her Assembly, soon after the decree of Tren- ton was promulgated and was being carried into effect by Pennsylvania, to wit :
"At a General Assembly at New Haven, 8th January, 1784, 'an act empowering the Delegates of Connecticut to make a cession of unlocated lands in the western part of the States to the United States, for their common benefit,' was passed, ex- cepting and reserving to this State, for the use of this State, and to satisfy the officers and privates of the Connecticut Line , of the Continental army, the lands to which they are entitled by the resolves of Congress, all the territory and lands sit- uate and lying between the aforementioned western boundary of Pennsylvania and said described line to be drawn at one hundred and twenty miles' distance therefrom-said tract of
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Historical Register.
land. so reserved, hereafter to be formed into a government by itself. or with such other territory thereunto annexed as shall be judged most expedient and beneficial under a free Consti- tution similar to that of the other United States."
The territory thus reserved by the State of Connecticut was and is known as the " Western Reserve." This act was in- tended to carry into offeet the trade between Connecticut and Pennsylvania in reference to the land at Wyoming, which was to have been legalized by the decree of Trenton, and this it was that inspired the atrocities committed by the Pennamites in 1784, at Wyoming. that the parties in interest in that trade might enter into full possession of their ill-devised and acquired plunder, but which, by the firm adherence of the settlers there to their homes and rights. prevented the high contracting par- ties from fully carrying into effect until after 1795-at which time Judge Patterson's opinion in the case of Van Horn vs. Dorrance, left no excuse for withholding from Connecticut the reward of her betrayal of her children at Wyoming. Judge Patterson in that case (2 Dallas, p. 304) instructed the jury as follows :
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