USA > Pennsylvania > Columbia County > A history of Columbia County, Pennsylvania. From the earliest times. > Part 16
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Who was Madame Montour ? Lord Cornbury in a letter under date of August 20, 1708, published in Vol. V page 65 of the Col- onial History of New York, speaks of a French gentleman by the name of Montour, settled in Canada previous to 1668, who married an indian woman by whom he had three children, one son and two daughters; and that subsequently to the birth of the children they got among the Miami Indians in the neigh- borhood of Detroit. Some sort of intercourse was kept up with the east, and a woman calling herself Madame Montour is reported to have been with the Senecas at Albany, as an interpre- tess, in 1711. In 1744 Madame Montour was at Lancaster, Pa. at a treaty there held with the Six Nations, and in a conversation with Mr. Marsh, Secretary of the Maryland Commissioners, she told him that she was born in Canada, whereof her father, who was a French gentleman, had been Governor, under whose admin- istration the Five Nations of Indians had made war against the French and the Hurons in that Government, and that in the war she was taken by some of the Five Nations' warriors, being then about ten years of age, and by them was carried away into their country, where she was habited and brought up in the same man- ner as their children: That when she grew up to years of matu- rity she was married to a famous war captain of those nations, by whom she had several children, but about fif-
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY.
teen years ago he was killed in a battle with the Catawbas, since which she had not been married : That she had little or no re- membrance of the place of her birth, nor indeed of her parents, it being near fifty years since she was ravished from them by the Indians. Mr. Marsh also says, that "in her cabin were two of her daughters by the war captain, who were both married, and that one of them had a beautiful boy about five years old. At this time, 1744, therefore, Madame Montour must have been about sixty years old. James Le Tort, an Indian trader upon the Sus- quehanna, in a communication to the Governor in 1728, says, "That intending last fall to take a journey as far as the Miami Indians, or Twechtweys, to trade with them, he had consulted Mrs. Montour, a French woman, wife to Carondawana, about his journey thither, who having lived amongst and having a sister married to one of that nation," &c., seems thus to complete the identity of Madame Montour and the little French girl.
It seems agreed on all hands that her first husband was Roland Montour, a brave of the Senecas. And her second husband was Carondawana, a chief of the Oneidas. By her first husband she had four sons Andrew, Henry, Robert and Lewis, and two daugh- ters. One of them, named Margaret was already, in 1733, mar- ried to an Indian named Katarioniecha, and was living in the neighborhood of Shamokin. The name of the other daughter has not been ascertained.
Madame Montour makes her first appearance in our history at a council held at Philadelphia, on the 3rd of July, 1727, between the Hon. Patrick Gordon, Lieutenant Governor, and his council on one side, and divers chiefs of the Five Nations, the Conestogoes, Gangawese, and Susquehanna Indians, on the other. The coun- cil being met and seated : "The Governor told them by M. Mon- tour, a French woman who had lived long among these people, and is now interpretess, that he was glad to see them all well af- ter so long a journey, and was now ready with his council to re- ceive what they have to say." The meetings continued several days, Madame Montour making the interpretations between the parties. Again in 1728, in some instructions given by Governor Gordon to Henry Smith and John Petty, then about to visit the
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY.
Susquehanna Indians, the Governor says: "Give my kind love also to Carundowana and his wife, and speak to them to the same purpose. Let him know I expect of him, that as he is a great captain, he will take care that all the people about him shall show themselves good men and true hearted, as he is himself, and that I hope to see him at the Treaty." And again, in the same year, there is the following memorandum: "It was afterwards considered by the Board what present might be proper to be made to Mistress Montour and her husband, Carandawana and likewise to Shikellima, of the Five Nations, appointed to reside among the Shawnese, whose services had been and may yet be of great advantage to this Government : And it was agreed that five pounds in bills of credit should be given to Mistress Montour and her husband."
After the death of her second husband in 1729 she was no doubt a good deal in Philadelphia. Mr. Marsh, before referred to, calls her "a French lady," and "being a white woman was very much caressed by the gentlemen of that city," and that "the la- dies of that city always invited her to their houses, entertained her well and made her several presents." Accordingly in 1734 several of the Oneidas and others coming to town, "Mrs. Mon- tour, now in town but not a member of the delegation," was in- quired of as to their standing and importance, and they were en- tertained and rewarded with some reference to her information concerning them.
From hence we are authorized to conclude that Madame Mon- tour was always a friend of the proprietary Government; and that conclusion is strengthened by the fact that at least three of her sons received large grants of "donation lands" from the government. Henry's lay on the Chillisquaque, near its mouth, Andrew's on the Loyal Sock, near Montoursville, and Lewis' at Shade Gap, in Huntingdon county. In September 1742, Shikellimy, the great Cayuga chief was living at Shamokin and was there then visited by Conrad Weiser, Count Zinzendorf, Martin Mack and his wife, and several other persons. After spending some time at Shamo- kin, "the Count and part of his company forded the Susquehanna, and went to Ostonwachin on the West Branch. This place was then inhabited, not only by Indians of different tribes, but by
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Europeans, who had adopted the Indian manner of life. Among the latter was a French woman, Madame Montour, who had mar- ried an Indian warrior (Carondawanna alias Robert Hunter), but lost him in a war against the Catawbas. She kindly entertained the Count for two days. The Count soon after went to Wyoming. In his "History of Eight Counties," Mr. Rupp has the following remark: "When Count Zinzendorf visit- ed Ostonwachin (or Frenchtown) he was met (July 30, 1742) by an Indian who understood French and English." Conrad Weiser under date of March 1st 1755, to Governor Morris, speaking of some Shawanese Indians, who had lately come from the Ohio, says : "They jointly intend to make a town next spring on the West Branch of Susquehanna, commonly called Otzinachson, at a place called Otstuagy, or Frenchtown, about forty miles above Sha- mokin." And the Indians desired the Governor to send up some in- dustrious people to fence a cornfield for them. Under date of June 12, 1755, Mr. Weiser says he has just returned from Otstuacky, an Indian town about forty five miles above Shamokin, on the North West Branch of the Susquehanna river, "where I have been with ten hired men to fence in a cornfield for the Indians, accord- ing to your Honor's order." He says he left them a sack of flour, and that he left another at Canasoragy, about ten miles below Otstuacky. In the journal of Mack and Grube from Bethlehem to Quenischaschachki, they say: "In the afternoon of Sunday, Aug. 26, 1753 we launched our canoe and paddled up the river. Four miles above Shamokin we came to Logan's place On the 27tli we arrived at John Slikellimy's hunting lodge
After dinner we came to the mouth of Muncy creek, forty miles above Shamokin. As the Susquehanna was high, and current rapid, we left our canoe in care of an Indian acquaintance, shoul- dered our packs, and keeping along the banks of the river, arrived at Otstonwakin in the evening." The distances are not to be de- pended upon, for they were determined by the pace of the walker, or the arm of the rower; nor is the spelling of the Indian names of places any more certain, each man spelling it as it struck his ear. But it seems certain that a town at the mouth of Loyal Sock creek now called Montoursville, was, over one hundred years ago, known indifferently as Frenchtown, Ostouwackin, Otstonwakin, Otstuagy, and Otstuacky and was,in 1742,the residence of Madame Montour.
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY.
There is no evidence that she ever lived any farther up the West Branch, and she never was up the North Branch. In 1744 she was with the Indians at the Treaty at Lancaster, and in 1745 Spangenberg visited her at Shamokin, which was then her place of residence. On the general question of her age, in addition to her statement, we find James Logan as early as 1733 writing of her as "ancient," and in 1734 she is spoken of by a chief and messenger from the Six Nations, as "an old woman." But still further, her son Andrew, in 1756, on an examination as to distances, testified that he thought it sixty miles from Logstown to Weningo, that he had travelled the road three times, once when his mother was blind, and on horse back, and he led the horse on foot all the way. The date of the death of Madame Montour I have not been able to ascertain; but I have found no mention of her after 1745, though the death of Shekelli- mus at Shamokin in 1749 is mentioned.
No history nor authentic tradition connects Madame Montour with the shedding of any blood, white or Indian. The whole tenor of her life forbids it, and her constant friendship with the proprietary Government prevents the conclusion of her being at the massacre of Wyoming or of Fort Freeland. A woman, old in 1734, and blind before her death, as mentioned by her son An- drew, in March 1754, would not, at the age of almost one hundred years, imbue her hands for the first time in blood, and that the blood of those with whom she had all her life been on terms of friendship.
So much it seemed necessary to say, that the truth of history might be vindicated, and the confusion or error which the author- ities leave upon the mind might be dispelled-that the good repu- tation of Madame Montour might be as immovable as the rocks that underlie the beautiful ridge which perpetuates her name, and that her memory should be as green and grateful as the pines that clothe its sides, and waive over its summit.
Who was French Margaret ? It already appears that Madame Montour had two daughters, one of them named Margaret, and married, and the authorities show that French Margaret was the same person. She and Madame lived at Montoursville in 1742,
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY.
and the daughter remained there certainly as late as 1760. She had several children, three of whom were daughters, to wit Esther, Catharine and Mary. Concerning these three women, Gen. John S. Clark of Auburn, N. Y. writes as follows :
"Esther was the wife of Echgohund, king of the Monsey clan of the Susquehanna Delawares. In the spring of 1755 nearly all the Indians of the lower Susquehanna abandoned that part of the country and settled at Tioga Point and above on the Chemung river. The Monsey or Wolf clan settled at Achsinnissink, near the site of present Big Flats, on present Sing Sing creek, about nine miles by way of the river above Elmira. Here they remain- ed until the destruction of all the towns on the Chemung, in 1764 by parties sent out by Sir William Johnson, one of which was commanded by Andrew Montour. This clan then retired to the protection of the Senecas, and remained there until the peace, when they returned down the river and founded the town of She- shequin, on the west side of the Susquehanna, some six miles below Tioga Point. They remained here until 1772, when the christian party migrated west of the Alleghenies, under the leadership of Roth, and the pagan party removed up the River about six miles, and founded the new town, afterwards generally known as Queen Esther's Plantation. In the meantime, Echgohund having died, his wife Esther became generally known as Queen Esther, a rank to which she was fully entitled, as the widow of the Monsey King. His town was destroyed by Colonel Hartley in 1778, when they probably retired to Chemung, which was also destroyed by the army under General Sullivan in the succeeding year, when all retired to Niagara. After the close of the revolution she hov- ered around her former home for a few years, but finally settled at Long Point in Cayuga county, New York, about a mile south of Union Springs, where she was living with the noted Cayuga Chief, Steel Trap, and where she died and was buried on the cast shore of Cayuga Lake, at an advanced age, well known as Queen Esther, the fiend of Wyoming. Roswell Franklin, the first settler of that locality, who was well acquainted with her when liv- ing on the Susquehanna, also knew her well when living near him at his home, at present Aurora.
Catharine Montour married and removed up the Susquehanna
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY.
and founded the town of Ehlanemet, located nearly opposite pres- ent Wellsburg, some six miles below Elmira, where she lived for several years with her mother, and during the same time that Esther, her sister, was living at Achsinnissink, near Big Flats. This town was also destroyed in 1764, when they retired tempo- rarily up the Chemung, and after the peace returned and founded the new town on Sheoquaga creek, about three miles from the head of Seneca Lake, and where she and they remained until the town was destroyed by Sullivan in 1779, when they retreated with the others to Niagara. After the return of peace she returned to her old home, died there, and was buried on a natural mound near present Havana, in the immediate vicinity of her former home, known generally as Catharines-town. The belief is so general that she was buried at this place, that to deny it would be looked upon by the good people of Havana as evidence of the greatest ignorance of the facts of history.
Perhaps the most satisfactory contemporary evidence in regard to these characters is that of Mrs. Whittaker, who when quite young knew Queen Esther well, and also her sister Mary. Mrs. Whittaker was a daughter of Sebastian Strope, who settled at Wysox, Pennsylvania, in 1773. Queen Esther was a welcome and frequent visitor at his house, and it is to the recollection of Mrs. Whittaker that we are indebted for a description of her personal appearance, complexion, the color of her hair and her dress and peculiarities. Mrs. Whittaker tells us that on one occasion, Queen Esther on a visit at her father's, was accompanied by a half-breed woman called Catharine, who, as Queen Esther said, was her sis- ter. This Strope family was afterwards captured by the Indians, and during the captivity of the family were under many obliga- tions for the acts of kindness of their former friend. The daugh- ter, while a prisoner, rambled over the grounds of the Queen, and describes her palace particularly. Sometime after this, while en route to the West as a prisoner, Mrs. Whittaker stopped for a week at Catharine's town, and while there she again saw the same woman and recognized her as the same one that she had previous- ly seen in company with Queen Esther, and who had introduced her as her sister."
The history of the sister Mary is not as easily traced. In 1753
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY.
French Margaret told Mack, that, her son and son-in-law had been killed the previous winter while on a maraud against the Creeks." (Macks Journal, Memorials of the Moravian church, 330, note.)
It is probable, in the light of what we know about the other girls, that the son-in-law was the husband of Mary. She is known as Molly, and Mrs. Whittaker knew her well. Her existence and relationship to Catharine, and consequently to Queen Esther, are settled by the following reference to her in Pennsylvania Colonial Records Vol. VIII, page 499.
"September 17th, 1760; the following letter, received from Mr. Holland, the Indian Agent at Shamokin, was ordered to be entered :
Shamokin, 9 Mo., 17th, 1760.
Permit me to acquaint the Governor:
That John Hatson arrived here on the 15th, in 8 days, from Margaret Town, and deliver'd me the inclosed string of Wampum, and the following speech, which he said was sent to the Governor by Catharine, the Daughter of French Margaret.
That she desired, by this String of Wampum, to acquaint the Governor of the receipt of his by Papunohoal, and that she was sorry the Indisposition of her Family had so long prevented her from complying with the Governor's request to bring down the prisoners, but that she would be down this Fall with the two that belonged to her, and desired that she may not be blamed for her sisters carrying the woman she has to the Allegany, as it was not in her power to prevail with her to take her to Philadelphia; in confirmation of which she sent the Governor the inclosed String of Wampum.
John informed me that Molley was to set off for the Allegany with the white woman after he left the town, and that he expect- ed Cate here in ten days, and that he should go with her to Phil- adelphia and deliver them to the Governor.
from thy friend, NATHANIEL HOLLAND."
It is entirely possible that Mary never returned from the west, but may have remained among the members of the Montour fam- ily in Ohio. The history of the Montours has yet to be written.
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY.
This chapter has been only an attempt to disentangle the person- ality of the five women who have given to them a name and place in history.
Of the sons of Madame Montour, mentioned in the course of this article, Andrew was the most prominent, and held a Captain's commission, and was for a considerable time engaged as interpre- ter between the Government and the different tribes. It is a somewhat remarkable fact that the family generally were natural linguists. One Mary, whom I take to be our "Molly," is spoken of as a regular polyglot, speaking English, French, and nearly all the western Indian dialects. It is greatly to be regretted that so little attention was paid to the personal history of those Indians who showed themselves to be men and women of character and ability. Where there was one Marsh or Logan who inquired and wrote down what was learned, a hundred persons with equal or greater opportunities, made no inquiry, or no memorandum. I see that Dr. Egle, of Harrisburg, is about to issue at that place, a quarterly periodical, of "Notes and Queries, Historical and Ge- nealogical, relating to Interior Pennsylvania," and in that we may look for something elucidating still further the history of the Montours.
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY.
CHAPTER XXIV.
POST OFFICES.
I T is very often a matter of great convenience to know at what point of a county or township a post office may happen to be located. You may know nearly the residence of your correspond- ent, but his nearest post office is required in order to reach him promptly. I have therefore, in a general way indicated the local- ity of each one in the township, and in cases where they are on or near the line of adjoining townships also stated that fact ; as in the case of Iola, Sereno, Derr's, &c. Bear Gap is on the line be- tween Columbia and Northumberland counties ; and as is known, New Columbus, Cambra, Fairmount Springs and Red Rock, are in the county of Luzerne, but lying so near the line of Columbia, as to accommodate people on the east side of Fishingcreek, Benton and Sugarloaf townships. And just as Berwick in Columbia county, on the very edge of Luzerne, is the nearest office to many persons of the lower end of that county.
NAME OF OFFICE.
TOWNSHIP. LOCATION.
Bear Gap
Locust
West side
Beaver Valley
Beaver
Centre
Benton
Benton
West side
Bloomsburg
Bloomsburg
Buckhorn
Hemlock
South east
Canby
Mt. Pleasant
Centre
Catawissa
Catawissa
West side
Central
Sugarloaf
North
Centralia
Conyngham
South centre
Colescreek
Sugarloaf
South
Derr's
Greenwood East-edge of Jackson
HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY.
207
NAME OF OFFICE
TOWNSHIP.
LOCATION.
Espy Evansville Eyers Grove
Scott
South West side
Briarcreek
Greenwood
West side
Fishingcreek Forks
Fishingcreek
South east
Fishingcreek
South
Glen city
Beaver
Greenwood
Greenwood
North east Centre
Guava
Sugarloaf Above Colescreek
Iola
Greenwood West-edge of Pine
Jerseytown
Madison
Centre
Lightstreet
Scott
North
Lime Ridge
Centre
South west
Mainville
Main
Centre
Mifflin X Roads
Beaver
North west
Mifflinville
Mifflin
North side
Millgrove
Roaringcreek
South west
Millville
Greenwood
West
Mordansville
Mt. Pleasant
North west
Numidia
Locust
Centre
Orangeville
Orange
Centre
Pensyl
Franklin
South west
Pine Summit Polkville
Pine
South west
Jackson
Centre
Ravencreek
Benton
East
Roaringcreek
Locust
Rohrsburg
Greenwood
Rupert
Montour
North east East North east
-
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY.
NAME OF OFFICE.
TOWNSHIP.
LOCATION.
Sereno Still Water
Greenwood
West-edge of Pine
Fishingcreek
North west
Van Camp
Fishingcreek North
Waller
Jackson
Centre
Wellivers
Mount Pleasant
North east
Whitmire
Centre
North east
Willow Springs
Centre
Southeast
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY.
CHAPTER XXV. LEGISLATIVE REPRESENTATION.
UNITED STATES SENATE.
Although not the first in order, yet as the first in dignity, it is proper to begin this chapter with the representation which Col- umbia county has furnished, in the Senate of the United States, in the person of a distinguished citizen, a native of this county.
Charles R. Buckalew was born in Fishingcreek township, Col- umbia county, Pennsylvania, December 28, 1821. After receiv- ing an academic education, he studied law with M. E. Jackson, Esquire, of Berwick, Pa, and was admitted to the Bar of the same county at August term 1843. He was appointed Prosecuting Attorney of Columbia county in April 1845, and resigned in 1847. In 1850 he was clected to the State Senate for the District com- posed of the counties of Luzerne, Columbia and Montour, and re- elected in 1853. In 1854 he was appointed special commissioner to exchange the ratifications of a treaty with Para- guay, and made a journey to South America by way of Eng- land.
In 1856 he was chosen a Senatorial Presidential Elector for Pennsylvania. In 1857 he was chairman of the Democratic State Committee, and in the same year was re-elected to the State Sen- ate for the district composed of the counties of Columbia, Mon- tour, Northumberland and Snyder. In the following winter he was nominated by the Governor, and confirmed by the Senate to be one of the commissioners to revise the criminal code of the State. This post, and the office of Senator he resigned in the summer of 1858, and was appointed Minister Resident of the United States at Quito, in the Republic of Ecuador, where he re- mained three years.
On the 14th of January 1863, he was elected a Senator of the United States for six years from the 4th of March following. In
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY.
1869 he was re-elected a State Senator for the district composed of the counties of Northumberland, Montour, Columbia and Sulli- van. In 1872 he was the nominee of the Democratic party for the office of Governor of the state, but was not elected.
At the same election, Col. Freeze was chosen a member of the convention to reform the Constitution of the State, and upon the defeat of Mr. Buckalew for Governor, promptly tendered to him the seat to which he had been chosen, in the Convention. Ac- cordingly, on the third day of the sitting of the Convention, Col. Freeze offered his resignation to that body, and on the next day November the 15th, Mr. Buckalew was selected to fill the vacancy and served during the sittings.
In the same fall of 1872, Mr. Buckalew published a work on "Proportional Representation," which was edited by Col. Freeze, and issued by John Campbell & Son, Philadelphia.
In March 1876, at the Democratic Convention, at Lancaster, Mr. Buckalew was, by acclamation, nominated to lead the Dem- ocratic Electoral Ticket of the State at the ensuing Presidential election.
During his term in the Senate of the United States, Mr. Buck- alew in addition to his ordinary legislative duties, on the 1st of March 1864, submitted to the Senate a "Minority Report on the Repeal of the Fugitive Slave Acts," Mr. Sumner submitting the report of the majority. On the 20th of February 1865, he sub- mitted an elaborate report on the subject of lighting, heating and ventilating the Halls of Congress. On the 21st of February 1866 he delivered his celebrated speech on "Representation in Congress." On the 15th of January 1867, he addressed the Senate "On the Executive power to make removals from office"-on July 11th "On Reconstruction" -- and on the same day on "Cumulative Vot- ing"-on January 29, 1868, on the subject of "Reconstruction" __ on the 26th of March, on "The McArdle Case-Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court"-on the 3d of March 1869, he submitted a "Re- port on Representative Reform"-and on the close of the proceed- ings, an "opinion on the Impeachment of Andrew Johnson."
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