USA > Pennsylvania > Jefferson County > Brookville > A pioneer history of Jefferson county, Pennsylvania and my first recollections of Brookville, Pennsylvania, 1840-1843, when my feet were bare and my cheeks were brown > Part 6
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* Colonial Records, vol. xv. p. 167.
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
be mentioned will be the warrants issued in the names of Wilhelm Willink, Nicholas Van Staphorst, Christian Van Eeghan, Pieter Stadnitski, Hen- drick Vollenhoven, and Ruter Jan Schimmelpenninck. These gentle- men were merchants of the city of Amsterdam, Holland. In the land history of Pennsylvania they are known as the 'Holland Land Com- pany,' and through agents they invested a large amount of money in land in the purchase of 1784 The warrant registers show that in the three years, 1792-93-94, they paid for and received 1105 warrants of 900 acres each, aggregating 995,400 acres of land lying east of the Allegheny River. These warrants were divided among the deputy surveyors of the six districts. James Wilson was another large owner of warrants, the number held by him being 510, of 900 acres each, making 451,000 acres. Herman Le Roy and Jan Lincklean, A. Z., also of Amsterdam, 303
John Nicholson 300 warrants of 900 acres each, making 272, 700 acres.
warrants of 1000 acres each, making 300,000 acres. Thomas M. Willing, 31I warrants of 1000 acres each, making 311,000 acres. George Meade, 306 warrants of 1000 acres each, making 306,000 acres. Robert Gil- more, 200 warrants of 1000 acres each, making 200,000 acres. Samuel Wallis, 100 warrants of 1000 acres each, making 100,000 acres. William Bingham, 125 warrants of 1000 acres each, making 125,000 acres. Robert Morris, 185 warrants, 141 of 1000 acres each, and 44 of 500 acres each, making 163,000 acres. The magnitude of the purchases made by a few individuals is here clearly indicated. There were, however, other large purchasers, such as Robert Blackwell, John Olden, Charles Willing, Philip Nicklin and Robert Griffith, James Strawbridge, Jeremiah Parker, and others whose names we are obliged to omit. The surveys generally were carefully and correctly made, and, considering the extent of terri- tory covered by them, and the large interests involved, no great amount of litigation from conflicting locations afterwards grew out of defective or careless work by the surveyor, as was too often the case with surveys made in other sections of the State. In 1817 the price of the lands was again changed to 262/3 cents an acre, to correspond with the price in the older purchases. At the same time warrants were made descriptive, and have since been carried in the warrant registers by counties. The sur- veys made on the numbered warrants did not appropriate all the land within the limits to which they were restricted, and since then many warrants have been granted in all the counties erected from the territory that in 1785 was made to form a part of the county of Northumberland.
"LANDS NORTH AND EAST OF THE OHIO AND ALLEGHENY RIVERS AND CONEWANGO CREEK.
" After the surveys of the tracts to be sold for the redemption of depreciation certificates and the donation lots to be given to the soldiers of the Pennsylvania Line had been made, there remained in this part of
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
the purchase a large surplus of lands to be otherwise appropriated. The Legislature, on the 3d of April, 1792, passed an act for the sale of these lands, entitled 'An act for the sale of vacant lands within this Common- wealth.' This act differs from all previous laws for disposing of the public lands, by providing that they should only be offered for sale to such persons as would ' cultivate, improve, and settle the same, or cause the same to be cultivated, improved, and settled.' The price fixed was £7 ios. in Pennsylvania currency, for every hundred acres, or in other words, 20 cents an acre, and the warrants were limited to 400 acres each. The surveyor general was authorized to divide the territory offered for sale into proper and convenient districts and appoint deputy-surveyors, who were to give the customary bond for the faithful performance of their duties. They were to execute warrants according to their priority, but ' not to survey any tract actually settled and improved prior to the date of the entry of such warrant with the deputy, except to the owner of such settlement and improvement.' The territory was divided into eleven districts, and a deputy-surveyor appointed for each ; Thomas Reese for district No. 1, William Powers for No. 2, Benjamin Stokely for No. 3, Thomas Stokely for No. 4, John Moore for No. 5, Samuel Nicholson for No. 6, John McCool for No. 7, Stephen Gapen for No. 8, Jonathan and Daniel Leet for Nos. 9 and 10, John Hoge for No. II.
" By Section 8 of the act, on application being made to the deputy- surveyor of the proper district by any person who had made an actual settlement and improvement, that officer, on being paid the legal fees, was required to survey the lines of the tract, not exceeding 400 acres, to which such person may have become entitled by virtue of his settlement. Many such surveys were returned to the land office and constituted pre- emptions to persons for whom they were made. Some of the tracts thus returned still remain unpaid, as a glance at the land lien docket of the land-office will show. By Section 9, no warrant or survey made in pur- suance of the act was to vest title to the lands unless the guarantee had, ' prior to the date of such warrant made, or caused to be made, or should within the space of two years next after the date of the same, make, or cause to be made, an actual settlement thereon, by clearing, fencing, and cultivating at least two acres for every hundred acres contained in one survey, erecting thereon a messuage for the habitation of man, and re- siding or causing a family to reside thereon, for the space of five years next following his first settling of the same, if he or she shall so long live.' In default of such actual settlement and residence the right was forfeited, and new warrants, reciting the original warrants and the lack of compli- ance with the requirements of the act, could be granted to other actual settlers. It was provided, however, 'that if any actual settler or any grantee in any such original or succeeding warrant, shall by force of arms of the enemies of the United States, be prevented from making
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
such actual settlement, or be driven therefrom and shall persist in his endeavors to make such actual settlement as aforesaid, then, in either case, he and his heirs shall be entitled to have and to hold the said lands in the same manner as if the actual settlement had been made and con- tinued.' Under the provisions of this act many surveys, as already stated, were returned for actual settlers, and many warrants were taken out immediately after its passage. The warrants were for 400 acres each, and immense numbers of them in fictitious names, in which great families of Inks, Pims, etc., appear, were taken out by a few individuals. For instance, the Holland Land Company, previously mentioned, again appears in the territory west of the Allegheny. That company alone took out 1162 warrants representing 464,800 acres of land, and making the entire purchases of the company from the State amount to more than 1,500,000 acres. John Nicholson was another purchaser who held a large number of these warrants. To the 'Pennsylvania Population Company' he assigned 100,000 acres lying principally in the present County of Erie, and proposed to assign 250,000 acres lying along Beaver Creek and the western line of the State to another of his land schemes called the 'North American Land Company.' The warrants all con- tained the actual settlement clause, but not any of the large owners of warrants made the slightest pretence of complying with it. Owing to the disturbed condition of the western border at the time it was impossi- ble to do so. A state of war existed with the western Indians. The United States forces had met with serious reverses in the defeat of Harmer and St. Clare in 1791, and it was not until after Wayne's treaty, in December, 1795, gave peace and safety to the borders that settlers with their families could enter upon those lands free from the fear and danger of Indian incursions.
" But with the settling of the Indian disorders and the return of peace, there soon came other troubles, with expensive and vexatious litigation, to annoy and harass settlers and warrantees by the uncertainty that was cast upon their titles. This uncertainty grew out of differences of opinion in relation to the construction the two years' clause of the law requiring actual settlement, after the termination of the Indian hostilities that had prevented such settlement from being made, should receive. The oppo- site views held by those interested in titles are clearly stated in Sergeant's ' Land Laws,' page 98 : ' On one side it was contended that the conditions of actual settlement and residence, required by the act, was dispensed with, on account of the prevention for two years after the date of the warrant * by Indian hostilities ; and that the warrant holder was not bound to do anything further, but was entitled to a patent. On the other side it was insisted that the right under the warrant was forfeited, at the expiration
* Nearly all of these warrants were granted in 1792-93.
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
of two years, without a settlement, and that actual settlers might then enter on such tracts and hold them by making a settlement. On this and other constructions, numbers of persons entered on the lands of warrantees and claimed to hold under the act, as settlers, after a forfeiture.' The authorities of the State at the time-1796 to 1800-held to the first opinion, and by the advice of Attorney-General Ingersoll, the Board of Property devised what was called a 'prevention certificate,' which set forth the fact of the inability of the warrantee or settler to make the re- quired settlement. This certificate was to be signed by two justices, and on its presentation, properly signed, the land officers freely granted a patent for the land described. Under prevention certificates of this kind many patents were granted. The Holland Land Company received more than one thousand, and John Field, William Crammond, and James Gib- son, in trust for the use of the Pennsylvania Population Company, more than eight hundred. These patents all contained a recital of the preven- tion certificate, as follows : ' And also in consideration of it having been made to appear to the Board of Property that the said (name of warrantee) was by force of arms of the enemies of the United States prevented from making settlement as is required by the ninth section (act of April 3, 1792), and the assignees of the said (warrantee) had persisted in their endeavors to make such settlement,' etc. With a change of administra- tion in October, 1799, there followed a change of policy. The new authorities did not regard the policy and proceedings of the former Board of Property binding, and the further issuing of patents on prevention certificates was refused. In the mean time, the contentions between the owners of warrants and settlers were carried into the courts, where a like difference of opinion in regard to the rights of the contending parties under the act of 1792 soon manifested itself, the judges disagreeing as widely in their construction of the ninth section as the parties in interest. It was only after years of exciting and troublesome litigation, and the enactment of a number of laws by the Legislature of the State to facilitate an adjustment of the contentions, that titles became settled and owners felt secure in their possessions. It may be said that while the judges of the courts often differed in their opinions on the points at issue, the liti- gation ended generally in favor of the holders of the warrants. The Hol- land Land Company, being composed of foreigners, could appeal to the courts of the United States. In one case carried to the Supreme Court, the company was actually absolved from making the settlement prescribed by the ninth section. Chief Justice Marshall, holding that a warrant for a tract of land under the Act of 1792 ' to a person who, by force of arms of the enemies of the United States, was prevented from settling and in- proving the said land, and from residing thereon from the date of the warrant until the Ist of January, 1796, but who, during the said period, persisted in his endeavors to make such settlement and residence, vests in
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
such grantee a fee-simple in said land.'* That the uncertainty in re- gard to land titles during these years did much to retard the growth and prosperity of this northwestern section of the State cannot be doubted ; but, under the influence of better conditions, brought about by the adjust- ment of land rights and the allaying of local strife, it afterwards made marvellous strides forward in the march of progress and improvement.
" The dispositions made of the unsold depreciation and the undrawn donation lots in this part of the purchase were fully treated of in former papers, and, therefore, need no further notice. It may not, however, be amiss to say a word in relation to the purchase of the Erie triangle, an acquisition that was of vast importance to Pennsylvania by reason of the outlet of Lake Erie. The triangle was claimed by the States of New York and Massachusetts, but was ceded by both States, in the years 1781 and 1785, to the United States. The Pennsylvania authorities, antici- pating its possession, had, through a treaty made at Fort McIntosh by General St. Clair, Colonel Harmer, and others, secured a deed from the Indians by which their claim of title was extinguished. This deed, signed by the chiefs of the Six Nations, is dated January 9, 1789, and the consideration paid was $2000. It was then, by a deed dated March 3, I'792, ceded by the United States to Pennsylvania. This deed is signed by George Washington, President, and Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State. In 1790, Andrew Ellicott made a survey of the triangle and found it to contain 202,287 acres, and the purchase money paid to the United States, at the rate of 75 cents an acre, amounted to $151,640.25. This purchase having been completed before the passage of the act of April 3, 1792, the lands within it, except the reservations, were sold under the provisions of that act. Before the completion of the purchase, John Nicholson had made application for the entire tract, and probably held a larger number of warrants for lands within its boundaries than any other individual.
" THE RESERVATIONS NORTH AND WEST OF THE OHIO AND ALLE- GHENY RIVERS AND CONEWANGO CREEK.
" In the act of March 12, 1783, setting apart the depreciation lands, two reservations for the use of the State were made,-one of ' three thou- sand acres, in an oblong of not less than one mile in depth from the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers, and extending up and down the said rivers, from opposite Fort Pitt, so far as may be necessary to include the same ;' and the other ' three thousand acres on the Ohio, and on both sides of Beaver Creek, including Fort Mackintosh.' There was also reserved on Lake Erie for the use of the State the peninsula of Presque Isle, a tract extending eight miles along the shores of the lake and three miles
* Smith's Laws, vol. ii. p. 228.
5
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
in breadth, and another tract of 2000 acres on the lake at the mouth of Harbor Creek ; and also tracts at the mouth of French Creek, at Fort Le Bœuf, and at the mouth of Conewango Creek. For the purpose of raising an additional sum by the sale of town lots to be used in paying the debts of the State, the President of the Supreme Executive Council was authorized by an act passed the 11th day of September, 1787, to cause a town to be laid out on the reservation opposite Fort Pitt. The tract, except 312 acres within its boundaries, was accordingly surveyed into town and out lots and sold at public auction. The regular lots of the town, as laid down in the survey, were in dimensions 60 by 240 feet, while the out lots contained from five to ten acres. The part containing 312 acres, not included in the plan of the town, was patented to James O'Hara on the 5th day of May, 1789. This town has grown into the large and flourishing city of Allegheny. By another act, passed Sep- tember 28, 1791, the governor was given power to authorize the sur- veyor-general to cause a part of the reservation at the mouth of Beaver Creek to be laid out in town lots, ' on or near the ground where the old French town stood,' in such manner as commissioners, to be appointed by the governor, should direct. By this act 200 acres were to be sur- veyed into town lots, and 1000 acres, adjoining on the upper side, into out lots to contain not less than five acres, nor more than ten acres. Daniel Leet, a deputy-surveyor, who had previously surveyed district No. 2, of the depreciation lands and one of the donation districts, was employed to lay out these town and out lots, and his survey of the town and out lots was confirmed by an act passed in March, 1793. The same' act directed the governor to proceed to make sale of the lots and grant conveyances for them, in the manner prescribed by the act authorizing the laying out of the town. The town was called Beavertown, and when the county of Beaver was erected in 1800 was made the county seat. The act erecting the county appropriated 500 acres of the reservation for the use of such school or academy as might thereafter be established in the town. The town then called Beaver was incorporated into a borough in 1802, and the boroughs of Rochester and Bridgewater, on opposite sides of the creek, also occupy parts of this reservation.
" The towns of Erie, Franklin, Waterford, and Warren were estab- lished by an act passed on the 18th day of April, 1795. Of the large reservation on Lake Erie, at Presque Isle, the governor was authorized to appoint two commissioners to survey 1600 acres for town lots and 3400, adjoining thereto, for out lots, with such streets, alleys, lanes, and reser- vations for public uses as the commissioners should direct. The town lots were to contain not more than one-third of an acre,* the out lots not
* The regular town lots of Erie as laid down in the map of the town are 82 feet 6 inches front and 165 feet in depth.
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
more than five acres, the reservations for public uses not to exceed twenty acres, and the town was to be called Erie. After the survey of the town, made by General William Irvine and Andrew Ellicott, was filed in the office of the secretary of the Commonwealth, the governor was directed to sell at public auction one-third of the town lots and one-third of the out lots to the highest bidders, and grant patents to the purchasers upon the condition that within two years they respectively should 'build a house, at least sixteen feet square, and contain at least one brick or stone chimney,' on each lot purchased, the patent not to be issued until after the expiration of two years, and then only on proof that the condition of the sale had been complied with. In addition to the surveys of the town and out lots, the act provided that three lots-one of 60 acres on the southern side of the harbor, another of 30 on the peninsula, and a third of 100 acres also on the peninsula-should be surveyed for the ' use of the United States in erecting and maintaining forts, magazines, and dock-yards thereon.' Of the tract at the mouth of French Creek, 300 acres for town lots and 700 acres for out lots were to be surveyed for the town of Franklin ; and of the tract at the mouth of Conewango Creek, 300 acres for town lots and 700 acres for out lots were to be surveyed for the town of Warren. At the time the act providing for the laying out of these towns became a law a settlement had been made at Fort Le Bœuf. Andrew Ellicott had surveyed and laid out a town, and his draft of the town was accepted and confirmed by the Legislature. It was pro- vided, however, that in addition to the town lots of Ellicott's survey, 500 acres should be surveyed for out lots, and that the town should be called Waterford. The size of the town and out lots for Franklin and Warren, the out lots for Waterford, and the provisions for streets, lanes, alleys, and reservations for public use,-the reservations reduced to ten acres,-were the same as for the town of Erie, as were also the regulations for the sale of the lots. At Waterford a number of settlers who had built houses were given a right of pre emption to the lots on which they settled. A subsequent act passed April 11, 1799, provided that surveys should be made of the reserved tracts adjoining Erie, Franklin, Warren, and Waterford, not laid out in town or out lots, into lots not to exceed 150 acres in each, to be sold by commissioners, one of whom was to reside in each town. The tracts were to be graded in quality, and no sale was to be made at less than four dollars an acre for land of the first quality ; three dollars for the second quality, and two dollars for the third quality, and purchasers, before title could vest in them, were required within three years from the date of their purchases to make an actual settlement on the land ' by clearing, fencing, and cultivating at least two acres for every fifty contained in one survey, and erect on each lot or tract a messuage for the habitation of man and reside thereon for the space of five years following their first settlement of the same.' The
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
same act required 500 acres in each of the reserved tracts to be surveyed for the use of schools or academies, and provision was made for the ap- praisement of the residue of the town and out lots, and for their sale by the commissioner residing in the town. It was also provided in this act that the reserved lot in the town of Erie, at the mouth of Cascade Creek, was to be sold at public sale, on consideration of settlement and im- provement, provided it brought $50 an acre. By an act passed Feb- ruary 19, 1800, the clause of the act that required settlement and im- provement of lots was repealed. The other reservation of 2000 acres in the Erie triangle, at the mouth of Harbor Creek, was donated by an act of the Legislature to General William Irvine to indemnify him for the loss of Montour's Island (now called Neville Island), in the Ohio River below the city of Pittsburg. General Irvine held the island under a Penn- sylvania patent, but was divested of his title by a judgment of the Supreme Court of the United States in an ejectment suit brought against him by a party who claimed ownership under a Virginia right, which, under the agreement between Pennsylvania and Virginia for settling the south- western boundary dispute, was held by the court to be good."
INDIAN TREATIES AT FORTS STANWIX AND MCINTOSH.
" Proceedings of the treaties held at Forts Stanwix and McIntosh, be- tween the commissioners of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the deputies of the Six Nations and the Wyandott and Delaware Indians, claiming the unpurchased territory within the acknowledged limits of the said Commonwealth :
" FORT STANWIX, October 4, 1784.
" The commissioners of Indian affairs from the State of Pennsylvania, pursuant to their letter of the 3d instant, met in conference with the commissioners on part of the Continent.
" PRESENT.
The Hon. OLIVER WOLCOTT, RICHARD BUTLER, and ARTHUR LEE, EsQs.,
Commissioners on part of the United States.
The HON. SAMUEL F. ATLEE, WILLIAM MCCLAY, and FRANCIS JOHNSTON, EsQs.,
Commissioners on part of the State of Pennsylvania.
" It was requested by the State commissioners that the commissioners for the United States should introduce and announce them in their offi- cial character to the Indians, and to inform them that they, by consent of Congress, had some business of importance to transact with them, re-
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
lating to the affairs of said State, to be brought forward at a proper period.
" Which requisition, after being discussed, was unanimously agreed to.
" FORT STANWIX, October 17, 1784.
" At the request of the commissioners from the United States, the commissioners from the State of Pennsylvania met them this day in con- ference on the same subject as above. Present as before.
" Whereupon it was agreed, That upon the close of the council to be held this day with the Indians in the council-house of Fort Stanwix, the commissioners on part of said State should be introduced and announced in due form to the Indian chiefs or sachems in full council.
" The same day, in council held between the commissioners on part of the United States and the representatives of the Six Indian Nations, present also the commissioners for the State of Pennsylvania, General Wolcott arose and addressed the Indians as follows,-viz. :
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