USA > Pennsylvania > Annals of Buffalo Valley, Pennsylvania, 1755-1855 > Part 2
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" The names of the Indians were Kech Kinnyperlin, Joseph Com- pass and young James Compass, young Thomas Hickman, one Kal- asquay, Souchy, Machynego, Katoochquay. These examinants were carried to the Indian town Kittanning, where they staid until Sep- tember, 1756, and were in ye fort opposite thereto when Colonel Armstrong burned it. Thence they were carried to Fort Duquesne, and many other women and children, they think an hundred, who were carried away from the several Provinces of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia. They staid two months, and were carried to Saucang, twenty-five miles below, at the mouth of Big Beaver creek. In the spring of 1757 they were carried to the Kuskusky, up Beaver creek twenty-five miles, where they staid until they heard the Eng- lish were marching against Duquesne, and then the Indians quitted Kuskusky, and took these examinants with them to Muskingham, as they think, one hundred and fifty miles, On the 16th March made their escape, and got to Pittsburgh on the 31st." The date of this deposition is about May 6, 1759.
There was a Catharine Smith among the prisoners re-captured by General Armstrong, September 8, 1756, at Kittanning, and brought back, said to have been taken from Shamokin; but as her name is not mentioned above, it may be doubtful whether she was of the family of Andrew Smith, who lived at White springs. As the others were captives over four years, possibly they had forgotten her. Barbara Leininger was the name of the girl called Liningaree. The next place west of David Oldt, and about two miles below New
ANNALS OF BUFFALO. VALLEY.
Berlin, is called, in the old survey, "Breylinger's improvement," and was where Jacob Breylinger lived. Peter Lick, no doubt, lived on Lick run, or Switzer run, a short distance above New Berlin. A full narrative of Anne M. LeRoy and Barbara Leininger's adven- tures was published by Peter Miller, at Philadelphia, in 1759. I have had diligent search made for it, but without success.
Anne M. LeRoy was living in Lancaster in 1764, when she made affidavit again in regard to her capture and the visits of the Cones- toga Indians to Kittanning. The only further trace of the LeRoy family that I can find is a recital in a deed, that on the 19th of October, 1772, John James LeRoy, the son, of Prince George county, Maryland, sold the LeRoy tract in Buffalo Valley to Andrew Pontius, of Tulpehocken. The latter was an uncle of the late Philip Pontius, of Buffalo, to whom I am indebted for several reminis- cences. He said, years afterward, when clearing up John Hoy's place, adjoining, they found several gold eagles, dropped, no doubt, by the Indians or their captives. This gave rise to rumors that money had been buried on the place. Many expeditions were made by night to dig for the treasure ; but, except a few sleeve buttons, noth- ing was ever found. From conversation with people of the neigh- borhood, I find the witch cloud still lingers about that fateful spring, although the wintry winds of more than a century have swept above it. Switzer run preserves the nationality of the first settler. It empties into Penn's creek, a short distance above New Berlin.
Among the settlers on Middle creek, then called Christunn, I. D). Rupp informed me, was John Zehring, a relative of the Rupp family, who was driven off by this massacre. He is corroborated by a recital I find upon Zehring's warrant, dated November 12, 1765. " for two hundred acres, including his improvement made in 1755, from which he was driven off by the Indians, adjoining Chris- tunn or Middle creek." The Zehrings have still descendants there. Old Peter Decker married a Zehring. and Michael S. Decker, of Paxtonville, Snyder county, is of the family.
(1756.) .A sequence of the Penn's creek massacre was the building of Fort Augusta. (Sunbury, ) at the then Indian town of Shamokin, in July, 1756. This was done with the consent and at the request of the Indians, from a well-grounded fear that the French meant to take possession of the place, and build a fort there. Among the
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INTRODUCTION.
officers of Colonel Clapham's regiment, by whom the fort was built, I note the names of John Hambright and William Plunket, after- wards prominent in the political affairs of Northumberland county. George Gabriel and Joseph Greenwood, as appears by their auto- graphs to an affidavit before James Burd, Esquire, dated 2d June, 1756, were sworn as guides to Colonel Clapham's regiment.
Ensign Miles, afterward Colonel Samuel Miles, of the Revolution, and proprietor of Milesburg, in Centre county, who belonged to Colonel Clapham's regiment, in his manuscript journal says, " we marched up the west side of the Susquehanna, until we came oppo- site where the town of Sunbury now stands, where we crossed in batteaux, and I had the honor of being the first man who put his foot on shore at landing, In building the fort, Captain Levi Trump and myself, had charge of the workmen ; and after it was finished, our battalion remained there in garrison until the year 1758. In the summer of 1757, I was nearly taken prisoner by the Indians. At about one-half mile distance from the fort stood a large tree that bore excellent plums, on an open piece of ground, near what is now called the Bloody spring. Lieutenant Samuel Atlee and myself one day took a walk to this tree, to gather plums. While we were there, a party of Indians lay a short distance from us, concealed in the thicket, and had nearly got between us and the fort, when a soldier, belonging to the bullock guard not far from us, came to the spring to drink. The Indians were thereby in danger of being dis- covered ; and, in consequence, fired at and killed the soldier, by which means we got off, and returned to the fort in much less time than we were in coming out." See Burd's journal, Pennsylvania Archives, second series, 745, for an interesting account of difficul- ties encountered in completing the fort.
As it will be of interest to many to trace their ancestry as far backward in the history of the settlement of the Province as possible, I have collated from I. D. Rupp's histories and other sources all I could find in reference to the emigration and former settlement of the families of the Valley.
(1723.) Among those who came from Albany, New York, with Conrad Weiser, and settled in Tulpehocken, now in Berks county, in the year 1723, occur the names of Henry Boyer, Philip Brown, Simon Bogenreif, George Christ, John A. Diffenbach, Jacob Fisher,
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ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY.
Jacob Follmer, Jacob Huffman, Peter Kephart, John Pontius, Leon- ard Rees, Henry Reidenbaugh, Adam Ream, John Spyker, Ulrich Schwartz, Adam Stein, Peter Sarvey, Mathias Shafer, Christopher Weiser.
In the same year, there were already settled in Donegal township, Lancaster county, the Andersons, Campbells, Clarks, Cooks, Caro- thers. Ewings. Fosters, Howards, Kerrs, Kellys, Lowreys, Littles, Moores, McClellans, Pattersons, Semples, Scotts, Smiths, and Walkers.
(1729, August.) Robert Barber, Esquire, ancestor of the Barber family, was the first sheriff of Lancaster county. The Wrights came from Lancastershire, England, in 1714. Settled at Columbia in 1726, and John Wright named Lancaster county from his old resi- cence.
As early as 1735, the following families had settled in Lancaster county : the Allisons, Adams's, Alexanders, Bishops, Buchanans, Barretts, Bears, Blythes, Blacks, Douglass's, Daughertys, Greenes, Hustons, Hennings, Hendersons, Irwins, Ketlers, Keysers, Klings, Lowdons, Lynks, McClenahans, Murrays, Mitchells, Meixells, Mc- Phersons, McClures, Phillips's, Royers, Ramsays, Robinsons, Ranks, Ross's, Steeles, Saunders's, Thomas's, Wolf's, Wise's, Webbs, Wat- sons, Walters, and Walls.
(1749, September 27.) Wendell Baker, ancestor of the Baker family, landed at Philadelphia. On the same vessel came John George Schnable, John Henry Beck, John Simon Shreiner, and R. Fries.
(1750.) Among the dwellers in West Derry, Lancaster county, (now Dauphin,) were the Candors, Clarks, Chambers, Caldwells, Lairds, Morrisons, Ramseys, Shaws, and Thompsons. In East Derry, the Boyds, James Duncan, James Foster, John Foster, Hugh and Patrick Hayes, William Huston, John Moore, Orrs, William Wilson. In Paxton, West-Robert Correy, George Gabriel, George Gillespie, James Harris, Samuel Hunter, Thomas McCormick, James Mc- Knight, James Reed. South end-John Gray, John Johnston, Rich- ard McClure, John Morrison, John Wilson. Of the Narrows-the Armstrongs, Robert Clark, George Clark, William Foster, Thomas McKee. In Hanover-John Brown, James Finney, William Irwin, William Laird, Thomas McGuire, Robert Martin, George Miller,
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INTRODUCTION.
Andrew Wallace, Samuel Young. In Hanover, East-John Craw- ford, John Graham, Robert Haslett, Adam Harper, Jacob Musser, Edward McMurray, and James Young.
In Middleton township, Cumberland county, we find the names of William Armstrong, William Blythe, James Chambers, James Dun- lap, William Fleming, Andrew Gregg, James Henderson, Jonathan Holmes, William Jordan, John Kinkaid, Hugh Laird, John Robb, John Reed, Robert Reed, George Templeton. In Hopewell, Cum- berland also, were John Beatty, Robert Chambers, John Nesbit, Robert Simonton, William Thompson. In Logan township, now in Franklin county, were Isaac Grier, William Greenlee, Samuel Jor- dan, Samuel Laird, William Linn, senior, William Linn, junior. In Peters township, same county, John Potter, (father of the General) and Samuel Templeton.
(1754.) In Bethel, the most remote north-west township in Berks county, we find, in 1754, George Boeshor, George Emerick, Michael Grove, George Grove, Nicholas Pontius, George Reninger, Jacob Leininger, Jacob Seirer, Ulrich Seltzer, Baltzer Smith, Michael Weyland.
(1756.) In Cumru township, occur the names of George Engle- hart, George Ream, Andrew Wolf, &c. In Exeter, the same year, the names of John Aurand, William Boone, Peter Boechtel, Leonard High, Fredrick Kunkle, Mordecai Lincoln, Michael Ludwig, Peter Noll, Peter Smith, Jacob Yoder. In Greenwich, same year, John C. Baum, Henry Faust, Michael Gotshall, Peter Leonard, Michael Leiby, Michael Lesher, Michael Smith. In Heidelberg, same year, George Aumiller, Peter Betz, Peter Bolender, Philip Bower, Henry Christ, Ludwig Derr, Andrew Ruhl, George Rorabaugh, Frederick Stump, Jacob Wetzel. In the docket of Peter Spyker, Esquire, Tulpehocken, 1756, we find, among the names of referees, John George Anspach, Henry Bogenreif, George Christ, Peter Gebhart, Jolın Heberling, Henry Hetzel, Peter Kaufman, Jacob Lutz, Jacob Miller, Nicholas Pontius, Nicholas Reed, William Spotts, Adam Smith, Martin Trester, Nicholas Wolf. Peter Winkleplecht, Jacob Zerbe. He records that Adam Guyer was bound to learn the shoe- maker's trade, (a trade the same family, to my knowledge, followed a hundred years.) John George Wolfe also bound to Jacob Follmer, for thirteen years, &c.
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INNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY.
(1757.) In Maiden Creek township, occur the names of the Dun- kels and Hoys. In Maxatawney, John Bear, Andrew Boalich, John Frederick, Joseph Gross, Samuel Guilden, Samuel High, Jacob Kaufman, Henry Lutz. In Oley, John Yoder. In Rockland, John Albright. George Angstadt, Lewis Bitting, Peter Keiffer, John Moil, Henry Mertz. Windsor-Mathias Alspach, Killian Dunkel, Jacob Hummel, John Hess, Conrad Heiser, Wendell Keiffer, Jacob Roush Michael Rentchler, Leonard Reber. October 16, 1768, came over in the same vessel Michael Beeber, Valentine Beeber, (grandfather of John Beeber, late of Lewisburg, deceased, to whose accurate men- ory I am indebted for many dates and incidents,) Andrew Hauck, and John Peter Frick. More than a century has elapsed, and their descendants are still within an hour's ride of each other.
(1758.) The south-western portion of Buffalo Valley was included in the purchase from the Six Nations, made at Easton, Pennsylvania, on the 23d of October, 1758, with the bounds of which they de- clared themselves perfectly satisfied. I copy the boundary line from the original deed in the Executive Chamber, at Harrisburg : " Begin- ning at the Kittachtinny or Blue hills, on the west bank of the river Susquehannah, and running thence up the said river, binding there- with, to a mile above the mouth of a creek called Kaarondinhah, (or John Penn's creek ;) thence north-west and by west to a creek called Buffalo creek; thence west to the east side of the Allegany or Appa- lachian hills; thence, along the east side of the said hills, binding therewith, to the south line or boundary of the said Province; thence, by the said south line or boundary, to the south side of the Kit- tachtinny hills; thence, by the south side of the said hills, to the place of beginning."
The change of boundary from that of the deed of 1754, it will be observed, excluded all the territory subsequently included in the purchases of 1768 and 1784, or more than one half of the State as now constituted. To localize and modernize the change and new boundary, it excluded more than the one half of the territory of Union county as at present constituted. The boundary, instead of running north-west to Lake Erie, stopped at Buffalo creek, near where Orwig's mill now stands, in Lewis township, and thence ran directly west, or nearly so, to the junction of Spring creek with Bald Eagle, now Milesburg; thence south-westerly to what is now the
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SITE OF SHIKELLIMY'S TOWN-1737.
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INTRODUCTION.
north-east corner of Cambria ; thence along the west side of Blair and Bedford, terminating at the Maryland line, between the boundaries of Bedford and Somerset counties.
This line was never run, nor were there any official surveys made quite near it until six years afterwards. So cautious were the Pro- prietaries at this period of offending the Indians by making surveys beyond the lines, that the most positive instructions were given on this head, and the west end of Nittany mountains, Lamont now, appeared to have been assumed as the most northerly and westerly station. Its assumed locality, however, marked the boundary between Cumberland and Berks counties, which can still be identified upon the ground. As, for instance, a little distance north of Ray's church, on the turnpike, on or near the boundary line of Benjamin and Abra- ham Mench's, stood, and probably stands yet, a black oak, common corner of the Little, Templeton, Mackamiss, and David Johnston's surveys of 1769. The course of the south-western line of the latter survey being N. 57º W., that of the county or Indian line N. 45° W., left a little corner of the David Johnston, a Berks county survey, in Cumberland county, and it was not cleared for many years, under the supposition that it could not be held by the David Johnston warrant, not being in Berks county.
The north-east corner of this purchase was, no doubt, made one mile above the mouth of Penn's creek, in order to include Gabriel's improvement, on the spot where Selinsgrove now stands .. Other- wise, what more natural course than to stop opposite the mouth of Mahanoy creek, the north-western corner of the purchase of 1749,. now Port Trevorton.
A line of marked trees was made by George Gabriel and the Indians, from a Spanish oak standing on the river bank, which, in 1766, when William Maclay ran the John Cox survey, stood two hundred and ninety-two perches above the mouth of Penn's creek, to a black oak on Penn's creek, about one mile up Penn's creek, near App's grist-mill, (corner of Henry Christ and Adam Ewig sur- veys.) Their line, being made without a compass, ran west, instead of N. 45° W., or rather N. 49° W., as Mr. Maclay made the bound- ary line between the two purchases in 1768. Gabriel settled on the site of Selinsgrove in 1754. His location was surveyed to John Cox, by Mr. Maclay, on the 15th of May, 1766 ; but Mr. Maclay
2
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ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY.
notes on his return to the Cox warrant that Gabriel had made a settlement and improvement upon it at least ten years ago, and that he then lived on and claimed the property, and his pretensions must be satisfied by Mr. Cox before the return could be accepted. In quite a number of surveys this line of marked trees is alluded to ; and its western terminus, on Penn's creek, was identified, on the . 25th of October, 1765, by William Maclay, when he surveyed the " Henry Christ " tract, (lately owned by Leonard App,) at the black oak, which, he says, " was made a corner of the purchased lands by Gabriel and the Indians, say both Weiser and Gabriel."
The line of this purchase of 1758 was the line between Cumber- land and Berks counties, within Buffalo Valley, until the erection of Northumberland county, out of Berks and other counties, in 1772, (when Mahantango creek became the north line of Cumberland.) This line, as stated, ran from a black oak that stood on the bank of the West Branch of the Susquehanna river, one mile above the mouth of Penn's creek, N. 45° W., to Buffalo creek, near what is now Orwig's mill, in Lewis township; thence directly west. The settlers north of this line were assessed in Berks county, and repaired to Reading to attend court ; those south of that line were assessed in Penn township, Cumberland county, and attended the sessions at Carlisle. From 1772, Sunbury attracts attention as the seat of justice for the people of the Valley, until the erection of Union county, March 22, 1813-a period of forty-one years, to a day- when New Berlin became the county seat, holding it for forty-two years ; when, (March 2, 1855,) by the erection of Snyder county out of Union, Lewisburg became the political center of the terri- tory within the immediate scope of these Annals.
(1760.) A letter from Governor James Hamilton, dated November 15, 1760, to Richard Peters, Esquire, incloses a rough draft; show- ing the mountains north of the Valley, Buffalo creek, Penn's creek, the North and West Branches, and main river down to Gabriel's, whose place is marked at the mouth of Penn's creek, ) Shamokin creek, Shamokin marked between it and the North Branch and Chil- lisquaque creek. The space included within a dotted line running from the mouth of Buffalo creek down to a point opposite the mouth of the Chillisquaque, thence in a semi-circle to a point on Buffalo creek, six or eight miles above its mouth, is marked " Manor."
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INTRODUCTION.
The letter states : "Abel James and two others of the Friendly Association have been with me, and delivered me the inclosed plot of lands about Shamokin, and particularly of the Manor, which, by Job Chillaway's information and description, they suppose John Armstrong to have lately surveyed, and at which they are in fear the Indians will take offense. I told them I was entirely ignorant of it, as I supposed you to be, from what you said to me yesterday, but that I would order an inquiry to be made. I, therefore, desire that you will immediately write to Mr. Armstrong, and know from him what truth there is in all this, what it is he has actually been doing in that part of the country, and by what authority, and require his answer as soon as possible.
" I think it also advisable that you should see Teedyuscung before he leaves town, apprise him of this report, and satisfy him that nothing is intended to the prejudice of the Indians with respect to lands, lest, hearing it from other hands on his return, it may make impressions on him and other Indians to our disadvantage."
Mr. Peters wrote Mr. Armstrong, Philadelphia, 17th November, I760 :
" SIR : Inclosed is a letter I received from the Governor, with a draught of a pretended survey delivered to him by the clerk of the Association of Friends for Indian Affairs, who said that John Chilla- way, the Indian, who was with you, complained that the lines run into the land not yet granted by the Indians.
" Be pleased to send to the Governor a letter fully explaining this affair, in order to obviate any complaints that may be made, and make no delay.
" It is proposed that the west line, which is the boundary in the proprietary release executed at Easton, shall be run by the surveyors on behalf of the Proprietaries, and by a deputation of Indians, to be appointed at the next public Indian treaty, to be held in this city, in the spring."
The above allusion to Teedyuscung will be understood from the following information, taken from " The Memorials of the Moravian Church," edited by the late Reverend William C. Reichel, a thorough investigator and the best authority upon the history of the Indians who resided within our state :1
1 Reverend William C. Reichel born at Salem, North Carolina, died at Bethlehem,
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ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY.
The Lenape or Delawares, although under the power of the Six Nations, had their own king. Allummapees held this position as early as 1718, and as the purchases of the Proprietaries forced the with- drawal of the tribes from the Delaware, he removed, in 1728, from on the Delaware to Shamokin, " which is eighty miles from Tulpe- hocken, and the residence of the king (Allummapees) of the Dela- wares, and of the Oneida (Shikellimy) viceroy. The latter virtually maintains the balance of power between the different tribes and be- tween the Indians and the whites, acting as agent for the Iroquois confederacy in all affairs of state and war."-Zinzendorf's Narrative, dated at Shamokin, September 29, 1742, Reichel, page 67. (The year 1728 is, no doubt, the date of the withdrawal of the Muncys, " who were proverbially impatient of the white man's presence in the Indian country," from Buffalo Valley, and their removal to the head waters of the Allegheny, succeeded by the straggling Shaw- anese.) In July, 1739, Richard Penn treated with deputies of " the Shawanese, scattered far abroad from the Great Island to the Alle- gheny."
In June, 1746, Weiser writes that Allummapees has no successor of his relatives, and will hear of none as long as he is alive. Shi- kellimy advises that the Government should name a successor, and set him up by their authority ; that he has lost his senses, and is in- capable of doing anything. Allummapees is dead, writes Weiser to Peters, in 1747. Lapappiton is allowed to be the fittest to succeed him, but he declines. Finally, Teedyuscung was made king of the Delawares, in the spring of 1756. He had his headquarters in 1757-8, at Teedyuscung's town, (a little below the site of Wilkes- Barre,) marked Wioming on Scull's map of 1759. Here he was burned in his lodge, on the night of the 19th of April, 1763, and hence the Delawares fled, in October of the same year, after having struck the last blow for the possession of the " Great Plains," on the 15th of the month, when they fell upon the Connecticut settlers.
Reichel differs from Loskiel as to the date, before quoted, of Shi- kellimy's death, and places it on the 17th of December, 1748, and adds, that his son Logan, returned home from a far off journey sev-
Pennsylvania, Wednesday, October 25, 1876, Atat 53. " Murmuring of the Rock of Ages. he passed away quietly as an infant falls asleep." He was professor In the Moravian Theological Seminary, a ripe scholar, an indefatigable student, and, In the language of John Jordan, junior, Esquire, his decease an irreparable loss.
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INTRODUCTION.
eral days after his decease, to weep over the lifeless body of a parent he so much esteemed. The brethren, Zeisberger and Henry Fry, made him a coffin, and the Indians having painted the corpse in gay colors, and decked it with the choicest ornaments, carried the re- mains of their honored chieftain to the burial place of his fathers, on the banks of the "winding river." He was succeeded in his vicegerency by his eldest son, Tachnachdoarus, " a spreading oak," alias John Shikellimy. His second son was James Logan, named for Secretary Logan, of Germantown. Logan was lame. John Petty was the youngest of the three brothers, and bore the name of an Indian trader.
ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY.
1708.
PENN TOWNSHIP SETTLERS-WILLIAM GILL-MURDER OF WHITE MINGO- WILLIAM BLYTHE-PURCHASE OF 1768.
HE following list of inhabitants of Penn township, Cum- berland county, is taken from the original assessments at Carlisle, Penn township then embracing nearly all of what is now Snyder county : John Aumiller, Philip Au- miller, William Blythe, Jacob Carpenter, George Drowner, Adam Ewig, George Gabriel, Jacob Hammersly, John Lee, Arthur Moody, Michael Regar, George Rine, John Reighbough, junior and senior, Michael Rodman, Casper Reed, Frederick Stump, (who is taxed with one negro,) Peter Straub, Adam Stephen, and Andrew Shafer. The freemen are John McCormick, William Gill, Edward Lee, and Joseph Reynolds.
Of these early settlers I can fix the locality of but few. Wil- liam Blythe lived at the mouth of Middle creek ; Adam Ewig on the creek just above App's mill ; George Gabriel on the site of Selins- grove; Frederick Stump where Middleburg now stands; Peter Straub at Straubstown; William Gill on Tuscarora creek, not far from New Berlin. The latter came originally from Bucks county. Belonging to a regiment in Forbes' campaign, he was wounded in the leg in Grant's defeat, September 14, 1758, or in the attack on
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