USA > Pennsylvania > Bradford County > Athens > A history of old Tioga Point and early Athens, Pennsylvania > Part 57
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While these last observations do not pertain to Tioga Point his- tory, they seem of such general historical value that we cannot forbear inserting them as the observations of an intelligent man of that period. Watching the legislative proceedings closely, a month later, he wrote:
"There is yet a great deal said about the wild Yankees and a mighty fuss as usual at Lancaster. 'Tis said the Gov'r has ordered out 2000 militia who are to march in the spring, and put an end to this business-fudge-"
In spite of the emphatic "fudge," causes for disquietude at the Point are here easily apparent.
The applications of the inhabitants of Athens and Ulster were now under Cooper's observation. Among the Herrick papers was found a letter from Cooper to Obadiah Gore and Elijah Buck, from which extracts are given :
"Gentlemen, I have perused and considered depositions respecting the grants of Township of Ulster, and the documents accompanying them, and have compared them with the original (grant) obtained from Col. John Franklin. I am fully persuaded, not only from depositions, but from other circumstances, that you and the claimants of Ulster have suffered, and are likely to suffer from an adherence to the laws and jurisdictions of Pennsylvania. Indeed I regard applicants from this township peculiarly entitled to consideration, and recommend a petition to next session. * * * But I can not conceive myself authorized to establish the Grant of the Township of Ulster. Not the first, because it seems to have been abandoned voluntarily, however praiseworthy the
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OLD TIOGA POINT AND EARLY ATHENS
motive. Altho' it appears to have been settled within the Bounds of the loca- tion,22 agreeably to the Spirit and Equity, if not within the letter of the rules and regulations of the Susqu'a Co. Not the Second, or Third, because the lands herein granted, were granted and settled after the decree of Trenton. No pretence of mistake could exist after that time, nor can I bring these grants within act of 1799. I sincerely wish the circumstances would have authorized me to do so."23
It will be observed that Athens or Tioga Point is not mentioned, and it is evident that the inhabitants of Athens all applied under first grant of Ulster. But all the applications were rejected, as shown in the following extracts from Cooper's report to the Governor in October, 1802. The whole of this report is interesting as bearing on Athens history :
"The Townships of Bedford and Ulster were not able to make out a title to my satisfaction, under the Susque'a Company, and the law of 1799. I rejected therefore, every applicant within those Townships. The case of Ulster I was very sorry for, as the applicants deserve far more for their Submission to the terms of the Law of 1799 than in any other Township. Ulster is the very focus of opposition, and the applicants have had to encounter much rancour and ridicule from their opponents. * * In that Township, and there alone will op- position arise, if at all. *
I cannot be far wrong, when I state the utmost force of the wild Yankees, as they are called, at 200 men. These are for the most part poor and ignorant, but industrious Settlers, thinly scattered over a wild country, incited and misled by about a half dozen Leaders, living chiefly in the Township of Ulster, viz: Franklin, Satterlee, Spalding, Bingham, Flower, Kingsbury, John Jenkins of Exeter, and Ezekiel Hyde. In fact all of the active opposition is confined to 3 or 4 miles above and so much below Tioga Point, and about a dozen miles East and West of it. * * * I mention all this because I lived in the heart of the opposition. * Our success alarmed the Half Share men, they
held two meetings * * * It is my opinion if violent measures are adopted now force will be necessary, wait a twelve month, and it will not be so. The party is splitting and the breach will not close.
"Indeed I know of no way of making the County of Luzerne permanently useful to the State but by encouraging New England Settlers under the Penn- sylvania title. The Pennsylvanians will never settle such a country. The Philad'a Land holders who are infatuated as to the value of the Lands, may induce the Legislature to make the Country a desart & keep it so; but less time, less trouble, less Expence w'd make it a Garden. Yet if measures of con- ciliation do not produce the Effect within a 12 mo., better it were that the Country should be a Desart than a continual hot bed of lawless opposition and Insurrection." Pp. 487-492 Pa. Archives 2 series Vol. XVIII History of Ulster herewith submitted.24
22 The location here mentioned was entirely west of the river, as shown in Cooper's annexed History of Ulster, taken from Archives.
23 Cooper's requirements were, 1st, Application for township to committee authorized to grant townships; 2nd, Location; 3rd, List of applicants; 4th, List of settlers, and evidence on oath of their settlement in sufficient number; 5th, The survey of the township; 6th, The draught of the lots.
24 In accordance with Thos. Cooper's suggestion, during the session of 1802-3 Rosewell Welles presented to the Legislature a petition of inhabitants of Ulster township, accompanied by documents, stating their desire of conforming to the law of 1799, that they had presented their claims, etc., which, for reasons stated by Mr. Cooper, had not been acknowledged; they therefore prayed to be admitted to the benefit of the Law. Referred to "Committee on Wyo- ming Controversy," who reported adversely, and petition and documents were withdrawn (see Journal H. R., 1802 and 1803, p. 63). One petition or application presented by residents in final grant of Ulster, called the people on Tioga Point "a hostile party, who had crowded them out," which referred to the third grant, asked for by Athens settlers.
413
DOCUMENTARY HISTORY OF ULSTER
History of the Township of Ulster
September 22, 1802 .- Before me, Thomas Cooper, Esqr., Commissioner under the Act of April 4, 1799, "for offering compensation to the Pennsylvania claimants of Lands within the seventeen Townships in the County of Luzerne, and for other purposes therein mentioned," personally appeared Obediah Gore, Esq., associate Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of the said county, and Elijah Buck, Esquire, of Tioga County, in the State of New York, who upon their oaths do severally depose and say, that on the 28th of August, 1775, on the ap- plication of persons (proprietors in what was called the Susquehanna Company ) whose names are mentioned in the Document A and B hereto annexed, a grant was regularly made according to the rules and regulations of the said Company for a Township containing 25 Square miles, called "Ulster," located on the west side of the north east branch of the River Susquehanna, a true copy whereof is hereto annexed in the Document C. That the war breaking out soon afterwards with the British and Indians, no effectual settlement was made in the said Township under the said Grant of 1775, the generality of the proprietors and settlers, claimants under the said Grant of 1775 being called to the common defence of Wyoming and the Neighborhood, or having joined the army of the United States.
That on the close of the war, and during the fall of 1784, and the Spring of 1785, these deponents, together with upwards of thirty persons settled and resided within the Township of "Ulster," as located in the said Grant of 1775, and being weary of the contest of Pennsylvania respecting the Susquehanna Company's claim, and desirous of living in peace and conformably to the Laws of the State in which they were placed by the decision at Trenton, they, with the generality of the proprietors and settlers aforesaid, were and have continued supporters of the jurisdiction of Pennsylvania.
That the sentiments of the undersigned Deponents and others, settlers in the old town of "Ulster," being commonly known, they were violently opposed on many occasions, and their Interests thwarted by many leading proprietors in the Susquehanna Company then and now resident in the County of Luzerne, and who were and have continued, universally hostile to the pretensions of Pennsylvania, in respect of the Susquehanna purchase, and opposers of every plan to compromise, hitherto held out under the authority of the State.
That being overpowered by the numbers of their opponents in the Susque- hanna purchase, and unwilling to embark in any further contention and dispute, the undersigned, with other settlers of the old town of "Ulster," acquiesced in the claims of an interfering Township, laid out by and under the patronage of their opponents of the description aforesaid, under the name of Athens, still existing and settled as a half share Township, and not recognized as one of the 17 Townships in the County of Luzerne under the Act of April 4, 1799, or the supplement thereto. In lieu, therefore, of the old town of "Ulster," which was entirely on the west side of the river (North East branch of the Susque- hanna), these deponents and other claimants in said township acquiesced and accepted a new Grant of a Township of "Ulster," the Northern bounds whereof commenced at the South part of Tioga Point, and extended on both sides of the River Susquehanna; a copy of this second Grant, so far as it remains perfect, is contained in the annexed document D.
Document E. is a list of the proprietors applying for the said Grant in conformity to the rules and regulations of the Susquehanna Company.
The boundaries of the Town of "Ulster," according to the location of the 2nd Grant, were not yet agreeable to the claimants and settlers of the town of Athens, who, having the guidance of the affairs of the Susquehanna Company entirely among themselves and their adherents, insisted that the town of "Ulster" should be placed still lower down the river, and this was again consented to by the undersigned deponents and other settlers in "Ulster," and a 3rd Grant was accepted in the year 1786, a copy whereof is contained in Document F.
Of the Old Town of "Ulster" no regular survey was ever made, owing to the circumstances of the War immediately succeeding the original Grant, nor was any survey completed under the second location, as the third was granted about 9 months only after the second.
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OLD TIOGA POINT AND EARLY ATHENS
A copy of the survey under the 3rd Grant is herewith presented, being Document G.25 If the old location of "Ulster," under the Grant of 1775 be estab- lished, it will include but few comparatively of the applicants under the law of April 4, 1799. The second will include all those who have applied under the said law. (Obediah Gore, Elijah Buck.)
The last grant was regularly surveyed and allotted, and the lots distributed among the proprietors of the township.
As Ulster was included in the purchase of 1784, we find no Pennsylvania surveys prior to that date. The title however, was vested in Charles Carroll, and in Pickering, Hodgdon and Company, whose agent, Thomas Overton, sold to the settlers after it was decided by the Commissioners that Ulster could not be embraced in the Compromise law.
In 1802 and 1803, according to David Paine's letters, a strange epidemic, called the "Sheshequin fever," swept over the territory from the State line to Wysox and "baffled the art of our great Physician Dr. H." November, 1801, Dr. Hopkins having raised an abundance of produce, concluded to dispose of the surplus by tavernkeeping, and took out a license: "'Tis very still times among us, no dancing, no
25 Document A .- A list of the proprietors of the Township of Mr. Asael Buck, Agent, August 28, 1775.
Catharine Draper, 1/2 share, 1 right certified by receipts.
Elijah Phelps,
2
Jonathan Buck,
66 1 by certificate
Lockwood Smith, 66 66 1 do.
Thomas Millard, 66 do. 1 do. by receipt
Aholiab Buck, 66
do. 1 do. by certificate
Jos. Easton,
Elijah Buck,
do. 1 do.
Daniel Kellogg, 1 do. 2 do.
Abraham Brockaw, 1/2 do. 1 do. by receipt.
N. B .- On another List Exhibited (evidently B), the following names appear to have been added:
Stephen Shepard, 1/2 share, 1 Joseph Spalding, do. 1
William Buck, 212 do. 5
Obadiah Gore, 1/2 do. 1
M. Hollenback, 1/2 do. 1
J. Jenkins requests the favour of being admitted.
Asael Buck, 1 do. 2
Thomas McClure, 1 do. 2.
Document E .- List of proprietors for Ulster, July 21, 1786:
Capt. Simon Spalding, Capt. Thomas Baldwin, Obadiah Gore, William Buck, Elijah Buck, Henry Baldwin, Joseph Kinney, Joseph Kinney Jr., Capt. Joseph Spalding, John Spald- ing, Reuben Fuller, Widow Hannah Gore, Samuel Gore, Abraham Brockaw, Avery Gore, Capt. Joseph Eaton, Capt. Joshua Dunlap, Lockwood Smith, Heirs of Aholiab Buck, John Shepard, Stephen Shepard, Col. Nathan Denison, Joshua Jewel, Hugh Forsman, Isaac Bald- win, Chester Bingham, Adriel Simons, Nehemiah DeFries, Abner Kelly, Benjamin Clark, Maj. William Judd, Capt. Timothy Hosmer, Silas Gore's heirs, Asa Gore's heirs, Zerah Beach, Lebbeus Hammond, Benjamin Bailey, Laurence & Sarah Myers.
Documents C and D, evidently surveys, have not been found. The following list of proprietors of Ulster is evidently of second grant, to wit: Elisha Satterlee, Stephen Hopkins, Uriah Stephens, Oliver Bigalow, Lockwood Smith, William Buck, Elijah Buck, John Frank- lin, Benjamin Allen, Thomas McClure, Elisha Matthewson, John Patrick, Matthias Hollenback, Abel Yarrington, John Jenkins, Christopher Hurlbut, William Jones, Benjamin Smith, Nathan Carey, - Hageman, John McKinstrey, Ishmael Bennett, Asahel Buck, Thomas Duane.
Document F .- Pursuant to a vote of the Susquehanna company, appointing a com- mittee to grant townships to such proprietors as appear authorized to take up the same, I have, with the leave and approbation of said committee, located and surveyed a town on the North branch of the Susquehanna River, beginning on the West side of the Susquehanna River, opposite the head of an island, about three-fourths of a mile below the Junction of the Tioga and Susquehanna, thence West two (2) miles to a corner, thence South five (5) miles, thence East five (5) miles, thence North five (5) miles, thence West three (3) miles to the place of beginning, which survey is made at the request of Capt. Simon Spalding, Lieut. William Buck, and others, a list of whom is herewith delivered to the committee aforesaid.
(Signed) OBADIAH GORE, Agent.
The above survey of a township called and known by the name of Ulster is accepted and approved by us, the subscribers, to be and belong to the said Simon Spalding etc. etc. and others-their associates, as part of their general rights in the Susquehanna com- pany's purchase and the same is hereby granted and confirmed to them, their heirs and assigns, agreeable to the votes of the Susquehanna Company. In testimony whereof, we have signed these presents this 21st day of July A. D. 1786 .- ZEBULON BUTLER- JOHN FRANKLIN (Committee).
do. 1 do.
-
415
·
COMPROMISE WITH PENN'A LANDHOLDERS
social parties, Prentice gone to court, Ross in the dumps, Henry Welles the only cheerful lad about the streets." Nevertheless, Stephen Tuttle reported a horse race in November, 1802. Shortly after this, David consoled himself by marrying Miss Phoebe Lindsley, and straightway became intensely domestic and devoted to horticulture. He sold his half of their house to Clement, and purchased the property now owned by C. S. Maurice, which he laid out in lawns and gardens. He built a "neat cottage," which stood until 1875. In January he wrote of con- tinued sickness and death "in consequence of our uncommon fever ; that the 'Doctor's Hotel' was very popular, that a number of families were moving over the State line to obtain good titles, that the land business was uncertain, and he calculated to establish a nail factory." In April he reported :
"Fifteen Yankees condemned in last Court for a riot; to 3 months imprison- ment, fine & costs, a heavy amount. (These must have been 'Wild Yankees.') Brother Hopkins dashes away in his Tavern. Neighbor Pratt has purchased patent rights, a new invented mode of distilling, and is gone a speculating."
Again, on December 6, 1802, the Pennsylvania Landholders are addressed by Franklin and Avery, who stated they had been appointed by the President and Board of Directors to meet a committee for com- promise. After submitting the letter to the Governor, the Landholders declined to meet them.
"February 14, 1803, some delegates of the settlers of Luzerne convened at Wyalusing for the sake of peace." Franklin was at this time in the Legislature, where much pressure (called "imprudent" by Cooper) was brought to bear upon him. Doubtless this meeting, knoten to us first from Mr. Craft's notes,26 was due to a conference or conversation with Cooper as per appended letter,27 published in Luzerne Federalist April 4. The committee appointed at this meet- ing once more addressed a letter, proposing compromise :
"Ulster, Feb. 23, 1803 .- To the Penna. Land Claimants-Gentlemen : The undersigned transmit you by the hand of James Ralston Esq. the propositions of the settlers in the county of Luzerne, claiming land under title derived from the State of Connecticut, for a settlement of the dispute which has so long un-
26 A full account of this meeting may be found in Mss., Vol. II, Connecticut Claims, pp. 4-9, in the library of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, where also may be found the letters to and from Dr. Rose herinafter quoted.
27 Letter from Cooper to a friend in Wilkes-Barré:
Lancaster, March 20, 1803 .- Dear Sir: In a conversation with Col. Franklin at which Mr. (Rosewell?) Welles was present, I stated to him that Mr. Catlin and others had re- quested I would lend assistance in promoting the proposals many times mentioned to me on behalf of the settlers, of purchasing of the Penna. land-holders their lands on a valuation to be fixed by arbitrators mutually appointed, who shd. decide sum to be pd. quantity to be purchased, and periods of instalment. Or, if the landholders rather choose to pay for the improvements made by the actual settlers, that the arbitrators shd. fix their value, and, on payment made by Penna. landholders, the settlers shd. go off peaceably. Whether such pro- posals wd. be acceded to by the Pa. land-owners I know not; but for the peace of the country they ought to be made without delay by the settlers, they ought to be drawn up & signed in every twp. by such half-share holders as approve them, and then published with the signatures in the public newspaper. All I can do to give time to this before a force is sent up I shall do. I most sincerely deprecate the employment of the military while there is a prospect of amicable settlement .- But the half-share holders must not deceive themselves. Unless the pro- posals made by them are such as carry fairness on the face, and go at once to a settlement of the whole contest, this summer will not pass over without their having to contend with a body of men now contemplated at 2000. For my own part I shall advise peace till our twp. business is settled, and to give some time for the people to reflect on their own situation,- but there is no time to be lost. Nothing short of this will be effectual. Make use of this advice & information in the best way you can for the common good of the country. The House of Representatives are growing quite weary of this business, and the settlers will be mistaken, if they think they can dally on as heretofore. Yours, THOMAS COOPER.
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OLD TIOGA POINT AND EARLY ATHENS
happily been in agitation. The settlers wish you to lay them before the land- claimants at large, and hope their answer will be such as will terminate the dispute. We deem them sufficiently explicit; but if you think they require a more particular explanation, you will be pleased to direct your communications to the subscribers, to be left at the P. O. in Sheshequin, and due attention shall be paid thereto.
"From, Gentlemen, your most obedient & Humble Servts.,
"SAMUEL AVERY JOSEPH KINGSBERY JOHN SPALDING "Agents for the Settlers."
"We, the delegates of the settlers in the county of Luzerne settled under a title as derived from the state of Connecticut, in a meeting convened at the house of Daniel Sterling in Wyalusing, on Monday the 14th of February 1803, for the sake of peace, and to promote an amicable settlement of the long & un- happy dispute subsisting between us the Connecticut claimants aforesaid, & the Penna. land-claimants, do agree the matter may be settled in or by either of the following propositions :
"FIRST, Provided no advantage will be taken in any after mode of trial, if anything we offer should not be accepted, we will agree to pay the Pa. land claimants who have had patents from the State that cover our lands, the pur- chase money for all the lands we claim under title as derived from the State of Ct., i. e., the state price, & also the interest from the time the interest was paid or became due to the State, with an addition of 4% on the principal, together with reasonable expenses for surveying fees, & refund back to the Penna. land- claimants aforesaid, all the taxes they have pd. on sd. lands. The payments to be made in 5 equal annual instalments, the first in not less than 2 years from the time the agreement may be entered into between the parties.
"SECOND : We will agree to refer the controversy to a court of disinterested commissioners, not less than 7 to be appointed by mutual consent of the parties : or otherwise for each party to nominate 7, the judges of the Supreme Court of the U. S. to nominate 7; each party to strike off one, until the whole number is reduced to 7; who shall compose the Court, and shall have power to hear and determine the controversy, taking into consideration the various circumstances, & to decide what ought to be done; such decision to be final and conclusive; or-
"THIRD: We will agree to unite with the Penna. land-claimants in an application to the Congress of the U. S. for a law authorizing the Judges of the Supreme Court of the U. S. to change the venire in the trials of causes between citizens of the same state, claiming lands under grants of a different state, into some other than those in which the land in controversy is claimed. Or other- wise, that the Pa. land-claimants unite with us in an application to the Legis- lature of this state for their aid and interposition in obtaining of the Legislature of the U. S. for the purpose aforesaid, that a trial may be had before a disinter- ested jury.
"RESOLVED, that the foregoing proposals be sent to the Pa. land-claim- ants for their consideration and answer on the subject, & that Messrs. Samuel Avery, Joseph Kingsbery & John Spalding be & they are hereby appointed agents to do & transact all the business relative to the propositions aforesaid, in way and manner as they may deem most expedient.
"Signed : DANIEL KINNEY, Chairman' JOSEPH KINGSBERY, Clerk.
"Wyalusing, Feb. 15, 1803."
This letter seems to have been sent about the same time.
28 Gentlemen, Anxious to promote the prosperity of the Country in which we live, and of the Commonwealth to which we belong, we have recently addressed the Connecticut Settlers out of the Seventeen Townships, and have endeavoured to impress on their minds the ex- pediency and necessity of terminating the existing Dispute by purchasing their Lands of the Pennsylvania Claimants. In that address we pledged ourselves to use all our influence and exertions in assisting the Settlers to obtain their Lands on the most reasonable terms. In conformity to that assurance we now solicit your attention for a few moments, and hope that the reasons above suggested will operate as an apology for our troubling you on this occasion, and save us from the imputation of officious interference. We particular request that the Interference may not be considered as evidential of a disposition to encourage any opposition
417
SETTLERS' COMPROMISE SCORNED
Their proposals were declined with scorn in a private letter, ending :
"We cannot in any way expressedly or impliedly agree to any propositions respecting a title supposed to be derived directly or indirectly from the State of Connecticut."
In response to both of these a public letter was printed in the Luzerne Federalist for March 21, for all the world to read, as follows :
"Phila, March 8, 1803-Gentlemen : We rec'd your favor of 26 Feb. enclosing yr. address to the Penn'a landholders from a number of gentlemen in the county of Luzerne & within the old townships.
"We by no means impute to the signers of that address any officious inter- ference ; on the contrary we cannot but be gratified by your frank and unqualified declaration 'that whenever an opposition to the laws of the commonwealth shall exist, you will feel it your duty as citizens of the state, and as friends to order, to meet it with united and strenuous disapprobation.'
"Be assured gentlemen that the Pennsylvania claimants are disposed to sell lands on reasonable terms, that they are not inclined to reap the fruit of any man's labor, and feel a disposition to contract with those, who from whatever motive are seated on their lands. (So said) in letter of May 18, 1801 to E. Bow- man which has been made public.
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