USA > Pennsylvania > Bradford County > Annual of the Bradford County Historical Society, 1906 > Part 9
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30
29
The Connecticut Claim.
bounded " cast by the Delaware river, on the north by the beginning of the three and fortieth parallel of northerly latitude, on the south by a circle drawn twelve miles dis- tant from New Castle Town, etc." It will therefore be seen that the dispute as to the location of Fort DuQuesne was not creditable to the intelligence of the parties en- gaged in it, as the Connecticut Colony people never laid serious claim to any lands south of the forty-first parallel.
This grant to Penn in 1781 did overlap the Connecti- cut claim granted in 1630 and 1661, and by this over- lapping all the difficulty came. It was a bone of conten- tention for about a hundred years between the proprietary government of Pennsylvania on one side and the Con- necticut claimants on the other. The details of this con- tention would be tedious and perhaps uninteresting to go into here. So I only re-call for your consideration that while the settlers in this county were outraged as to their right of title to lands, and imposed upon by the State government, in many ways most of the war and blood- shed was in and about Wyoming Valley. It may be in- teresting to note that previous to the Revolution the con- tention was a sort of go-as-you-please affair, there being no laws, and no tribunal to try cases arising from these counter claims. In 1774 a petition was sent to the home government praying for a commission to arbitrate dis- putes arising as to the title in the disputed territory but nothing came of it as the then oncoming War of the Rev- olution-the outcome of which forever separated the Col- onies from the jurisdiction of the Mother Country-ab- sorbed and overtopped the minor matters of government.
In 1779 the Assembly of Pennsylvania passed an act as- suming to itself the jurisdiction over the entire country
30
The Connecticut Claim.
granted to Penn, the Commonwealth thus becoming a party to the controversy. Soon after this, a convention to be held at Trenton, N. J., was agreed upon by the two states, Connecticut and Pennsylvania, where their differ- ences should be considered and if possible adjusted. The agents of the two states submitted their claims to their Court, or Commission, which convened November 12, 1782. As for my purposes in this paper, the Connecti- cut side of the controversy is one with which we are most concerned I give you the " line facts " upon which they asked judgment by the Trenton Court :
(1.) That as both parties desire jurisdiction from the same source (the Crown of England) Connecticut affirms also the first point offered by Pennsylvania.
(2.) That Connecticut holds the territory claimed by her under unbroken line of conveyances from The Great Council of Plymouth, to whom the grant was made by the Crown by letters patent, dated November 3d, 1620.
(3.) That conveyance to the Connecticut Council was purchased at a large price and confirmed by letters patent bearing date April 23, 1662, (more than 16 years previous to the grant made by William Penn.)
(4.) That having granted away the jurisdiction of this territory, the Crown could not arbitrarily resume it at pleasure.
(5.) The Dutch possessions were excepted out of the grant to Connecticut by the proviso inserted in all the Ancient Charters.
(6.) That the Duke of York was the legal successor of the Dutch to the territory so excepted.
(7.) That the agreement to the portion in between the province of the Duke of York and the Colony of Connecti- cut did not, and was not intended to deprive Connecticut
.
31
The Connecticut Claim.
of her claim to lands west of the Delaware and within her charter boundaries, but to limit the Duke's claim east- ward.
(S.) That a number of people inhabitants of the then Colony of Connecticut, in accordance with the law then existing in that colony, and with the approval of their Governor and Assembly, did in open treaty, for valuable considerations, purchase a large tract of land west of the Delaware of the natives, at Albany, in 1754.
(9.) That this purchase was made with the full knowl- edge of the Commissioners of Pennsylvania (one of whom was the Governor and all of the proprietors) they not making any open objection thereto.
(10.) That in 1763, the natives executed another deed to certain inhabitants of Connecticut and others, autho- rizing and confirming the grant made in 1754, and giving possession of the land.
(11.) That these deeds were executed some years pre- vious to any pretended purchase from the natives of the same land.
(12.) That Connecticut had made possession upon the lands in dispute as early as 1762, and is now in posses- sion of them.
After hearing the above, the Court passed a resolution to give no reasons for their decision, and that the minority should make the decision unanimous (published Decem- ber 30, 1782,) then made this decision : " We are unani- miously of the opinion that Connecticut has no right to the lands in controversy, and that the lands of right belonged to Pennsylvania." (It is proper for me to apol- ogize for giving you so much of quotation from history, yet it is important that the grounds for the Connecticut Claim be established in your minds.)
-
32
The Connecticut Claim.
By reason of the Connecticut Claim the pioneers of Wayne, Susquehanna, Bradford and Tioga counties were very largely from Connecticut and other New England States and that these early settlers have shaped our civi- lization goes unquestioned. The farm houses in these counties are an exact counterpart of those in Connecticut and Massachusetts. This is especially so in the farming districts. A gentleman who has recently traveled in New England made the remark that homes of the farmers were so similar to those in corresponding districts of Bradford and Susquehanna counties that he could scarcely make himself believe he was not in New England. If a reason for this is asked for I answer, " the Connecticut Claim."
In 1895 the writer of this paper spent a few months in Vermont. The farm houses, the method of hitching and driving teams, the manners and dress of the people were identical with those here and even the names of families were the same, for there were Bostwicks, Chaffees, Hor- tons, Frisbies, Coles, Ballards, Rockwells, Peets, Lanes, Russells, etc., etc. Remarking upon this similarity of names to those of this vicinity, my friend said, " We about all came from Connecticut in 1700 to 1760." I said, " Well, our people came from the same place a little later." This strong resemblance in so many ways to New England is accounted for by reason of the Connecticut Claim.
If you go into other parts of Pennsylvania, where the Germans or Scotch-Irish were the pioneers, you would find everything different ; the shape of the houses and barns, the fencing, manners, customs, religion, names, in fact everything. Reasons could be given for these, but why are we what we are ? I answer because of the Con-
33
The Connecticut Claim.
necticut Claim. That was what sent our Yankee ances- tors here and they gave us the civilization we are proud of. Of course we are not all from New England but the preponderence of Yankees was so great that it dominated everything ; every other nationality yielded to the strong willed people who came here from " down East." Their wills had been trained and made stronger by their con- tentions with the Pennamites.
Other characteristics which we have were inherited from these New England fathers. I may mention indus- try, economy, filial duty, helpfulness. Mrs. Sigourney wrote many years ago of " The Family of the New Eng- land Farmer." She said : " I have seen no class of people, among whom a more efficient system of industry and economy was established, than there is among the people of New England. The farmer rising with the dawn attends to those employments which are necessary for the comfort of the family, and proceeds early with his sons to their department of daily labor. The eldest daughters take willing part with their mother in every domestic toil. No servant is there to create suspicious feelings, or a divided interest." She closes with this : " Let the children of the farmers feel that their descent is from the nobility of our land. In the homes where they were nurtured are the strongholds of the virtue and inde- pendence of their country. If our teeming manufactories should send forth an enervated or uninstructed race, and our cities foster the growth of pomp, or the elements of discord-we hope that from these peaceful farm houses will go forth a redeeming spirit to guard and renovate the Country of our Love." The same thing this author- ess has said of the family of the typical New England
34
The Connecticut Claim.
farmer can be truly said of the inhabitants of the valleys and hillsides of Old Bradford. And why not ? Their New England fathers and mothers trained them in the principles of their Connecticut ancestry, stamping upon the population of this county the Christian habits of the New England farmer, thus emphasizing the influence the Connecticut Claim transmitted to our generation.
Mrs. Hemans wrote of the Pilgrims who came over in the Mayflower :
Amidst the storm they sang,
And the stars heard, and the sea ;
And the sounding aisles of the dim woods rang To the anthem of the free.
The ocean eagle soared From his nest by the white wave's foam,
And the rocking pines of the forest roared,- This was their welcome home.
There were men with hoary hair Amidst that pilgrim-band ;
Why had they come to wither there, Away from their childhood's land ? There was woman's fearless eye, Lit by her deep love's truth ; There was manhood's brow serenely high, And the fiery heart of youth.
What sought they thus afar ? Bright jewels of the mine? The wealth of seas, the spoils of war ?- They sought a faith's pure shrine ! Ay, they call it holy ground, The soil where first they trod ;
They have left unstained what there they found,- Freedom to worship God.
Who shall say that the Connecticut Claim is not the most important fact of our history when it is the link that
-
35
The Connecticut Claim.
joins us to a nobility like this ? From the time the timid Miles Standish persuaded John Alden to " pop the question " to Priscilla in the Plymouth woods to the present these people and their compatriots have been among the most straightforward, energetic and worthy citizens of these United States. They have passed through many hardships and tribulations and have also partaken of the pleasures that come of lofty valor as is well established by their bravery at Bunker Hill, Lexing- ton, Concord and other places. The fact that we are linked by ancestry to a people who have distinguished themselves in peace, in war, in the pulpit, in statesman- ship, and I may say in every walk of life, is a matter upon which we may congratulate ourselves with pardonable pride. If it were possible to trace the history of the families of Old Bradford back through the years to the Colonial days, it would be found that the blood of the Pilgrims and their compatriots coursing through their veins pro- claims them kin to those ancient and noble pioneers. I therefore feel certain that the most important historical circumstance in our annals is the Connecticut Claim.
- -0- -
CONRAD WEISER.
PAPER BY MILDRED RAHIM SMITH.
When studying the history of our forefathers we find in nearly every instance, that motives deeper than the love of adventure, caused those brave and hardy men to leave well established homes in the then civilized countries, to endure the dangers and discomforts of ocean voyages of
86
Conrad Weiser.
weeks' or months' duration, that they might establish a home in the wilds of a new and unexplored country.
Political disturbances in the several countries, the desire for religious freedom and the love of liberty brought the Pilgrim, the Puritan and the Huguenot to America's shores, and for similar reasons the Palatine came too. Wars, political and religious disturbances, pestilance and famine had laid a heavy hand on the region ; and after the frightful winter of 1709 the op- pressed people of the Palatine, hearing of Queen Anne's offer of free transportation to America, swept like a tidal wave on England's shore. England, threatened by famine and wars, found 30,000 immigrants a serious problem to handle, so when five Mohawk Indian chiefs, constituting an embassage to the British government, saw this crowd of suffering people and offered to open to them their hunting grounds beyond the Atlantic, the offer was quickly and gratefully accepted by the English gov- ernment as a happy solution of the problem.
Ways and means for transportation were at once planned, and the last of December a large party set sail, reaching New York six months later. Conrad Weiser in his Journal says of this journey : " In about two months we reached London, England, along with several thou- sand Germans, whom Queen Anne of glorious memory had taken in charge and was furnishing food." Here they remained from August till December, and to quote Mr. Weiser : " About Christmas Day we embarked, ten ship loads with 4,000 souls were sent to America." This voyage took about six months, and when we re-call the size and construction of the sailing vessels of that time, perhaps some of the misery and suffering of that voyage
87
Conrad Weiser.
may be imagined. Nearly one-half died before the ves- sels reached New York.
Among the Germans seeking a home in the new world, was John Conrad Weiser and eight of his children, the ninth and eldest living child-Mrs. Boss-having re- mained in Germany. One of these children was a boy of thirteen years, Conrad, his father's namesake, who later was to bear an important part in the affairs of Colonial Pennsylvania, to become the great Indian interpreter and peace maker for the province.
Conrad Weiser, or as he tells us, John Conrad Weiser, was born at Alfstaedt, a small town in Harrenburg, Wur- temburg, November 2, 1696, and was baptized at Kup- pengen on the 12th of the same month and year. Kup- pengen was the nearest church town to Alfstaedt. He was the fifth child of John Conrad and Anna Magdelena (Uebele) Weiser.
The father, John Conrad, Sr., was a baker by trade and also designated a Corporal in the military records ; later he held the office of Chief Magistrate of a district, an office somewhat beyond that of a Justice of the Peace with us. It is interesting to know that the father, grandfather and great-grandfather of Conrad Weiser held this office during their lives and that he also held the same office in Pennsylvania.
The mother, Anna Magdelena Weiser, having died in May, 1709, in June of the same year, after selling his house, meadows and vineyard to his son-in-law, Conrad Boss, the elder Weiser with his children started for the New World by the way of England. The Germans had been promised free transportation and free lands where Newberg and New Windsor were afterwards settled, but
38
Conrad Weiser.
through the wicked and artful manouvering of Robert Hunter, Governor of New York, and Robert Livingstone, a wealthy landlord of the Province, they were, after land- ing in New York in 1710, removed to Livingstone Manor where they were compelled to pay ground rent for ten acres on every separate family. Then $33 was exacted per capita as passage money. It has been esti- mated that this would have netted $200,000 for Hunter and Livingstone.
For a time the Germans accepted these conditions, but finally rebelled, and John Conrad Weiser, Sr., Esquire and Corporal, who was already an acknowledged leader among them, became the leader in this rebellion. Re- membering what the friendly Mohawk chiefs had offered to Queen Anne, the Germans decided to send deputies to the Mohawks to see if these favors could be revived, and in the spring of 1713 John Conrad Weiser, Sr., the first of seven deputies, started on this mission.
Without waiting to learn the result, the majority of the colony left their village homes along the Hudson. The names of these villages were Palatinate, The Camp, Ger- mantown, German Flats, Tarbush, Ancram and Rhine- beck. Some strayed about, others journeyed as far as Al- bany and Schenectady. The consent of the Indians was received in November and the valley was opened to them for a consideration of $300. About 150 families were consequently transferred to Schoharie, about 40 English miles from Albany, in the spring of 1714. Conrad Wei- ser, Jr., writes : " In the spring of 1714, my father re- moved from Schenectady, where he had procured winter quarters for his family with a man of the first rank of the Maqua Nation, with about 150 families in great poverty. One borrowed a horse here, another there ; also a cow
39
Conrad Weiser.
and some harness. With these things they joined together, until being supplied, though poorly. They broke ground enough to plant corn for their own use the next year. But this year our hunger was hardly endur- able. Many of our feasts were of wild potatoes and ground beans, which grew in abundance. We cut mal- low and picked juniper berries. If we were in need of meal we were obliged to travel 35 to 40 miles and beg it on trust. One bushel was gotten here and one more there, sometimes after an absence from one's starving family for two or three days. With sorrowful hearts and tearful eyes the morsel was looked for and often did not come at all."
This experience must have been a trying one, but in a few years, happiness and plenty were manifested in the little villages of Gerlachsburg, Smithburg, Foxburg, Weiserburg, Brunnerburg, Hartmansburg and Upper Weisersburg, named for each of the seven deputies.
To briefly state the events of the next four years, no sooner did the Palatines become prosperous that the claim was made that the land titles were defective and that the land had already been sold to seven landlords-Robert Livingstone, Meyndert Schuyler, John Schuyler, Peter Van Brughen, George Clark, the, Provincial Secretary, Doctor Staeds and Rip Van Dam-one for each German settlement.
No appeal seemed to touch these men and it was then decided to send three Commissioners to London. These men were Weiser, Sr., Schaff and Walwrath, who de- parted secretly on their mission but were taken by pirates in the Delaware Bay and relieved of their private purses, though they managed to save the trust money of the Col-
40
Conrad Weiser.
ony. Finally they reached Boston, where they begged or bought their outfit and set sail for England, only on their arrival to find that Queen Anne had died. Hunter and his friends had already sent their agents to England, who declared the Germans rebels and enemies to the Crown. They were cast in prison for debt. Finally the report of their condition reached the people of Schoharie. Seventy pounds of hard earned money were sent for re- demption. Walrath became tired and started for home, but died at sea. Governor Hunter was re-called. Weiser and Schaff petitioned anew and succeeded finally in hav- ing an order issued to the new Governor, William Burnet, to grant, " vacant lands to all the Germans who had been sent to New York by the deceased Queen Anne."
After four years of hardship and suffering Weiser, Sr., returned in 1723 to America. The conditions under the new grant were not entirely satisfactory, however, and His Excellency, William Keith, Baronet Governor of Pennsylvania, then in Albany on business, hearing of the unhappy condition of the Germans, informed them of the justice and freedom of his own State, and invited them to make their own home in Pennsylvania. According to the record of the younger Conrad, " The people got news of the land on the Swatara and Tulpehocken in Pennsyl- vania. Many of them united and cut a road from Scho- harie to the Susquehanna river, carried their goods there and made canals and floated down the river to the month of the Swatara, driving their cattle over-land. This hap- pened in the spring of the year 1723. From thence they came to Tulpehocken, and this was the origin of the set- tlement."
About sixty families located in Heidelbery township. It is asserted on the authority of Mr. Rupp's " History of
41
Conrad Weiser.
German Emigration to America, that John Conrad Wei- ser, Sr., piloted this little colony to Tulpehocken and died there in 1746 among his children and grandchildren."
Rev. David Craft wrote me that the Germans, passing from Schoharie to the Tulpehocken, Berks county, Penn- sylvania, in 1723, were the first white people to navigate the Susquehanna.
During this period of activity and hardships for the father, the little family had been scattered. Some of the children were bound out, one dying at an early age, others were scattered through the Schoharie Valley. The ad- vent of a step-mother seems to have turned young Conrad against his home, and being a boy of strong will, his father and he disagreed frequently.
In 1713, about the last of November, Quagnant, or Guinant, a chief of Mohawk Nation, whom his father knew well and favorably, paid a visit to the family and liking the young boy asked him to take him with him. The father's consent was obtained, and in his Journal Conrad Says : "I went accordingly on my father's request. I endured a great deal of cold in my situation, and by spring my hunger surpassed the cold by much, although I had poor clothing. On account of the scarcity of provision amongst the Indians, corn was then sold for five and six shillings a bushel. The In- dians were oftentimes so intoxicated, that for fear of be- ing murdered I secreted myself among the bushes."
He was now in his 17th year. Hunger, thirst, cold, lying in ambush, running in foot-races and the chase, laid the foundation for his future endurance.
Here also he became familiar with the Indian's life, language, manners, ways and habits, instincts, likes and dislikes. When he returned to his father's house, he un-
4º
Conrad Weiser.
derstood the greater part of the Maqua or Mohawk tongue. Even at this time he was frequently called upon to act as interpreter between the " high mettled " Germans and the Indians. After returning home, he was quite sick and his father and he seemed to have a number of disagree- ments. Finally he ran away during 1713-14 and went to an Indian town about eight miles south of Scho- harie. Here several historians say he lived until 1729, when he moved to the Tulpehocken Valley in Pennsyl- vanja and settled at Womalsdorf. It is an assured fact that he lived among the Six Nations for a number of years, was naturalized by them and became perfectly fa- miliar with their language.
During the fifteen years that he lived among the In- dians, he learned, like all Germans at that time, agricul- ture in its rudest form. Brave and energetic, he made the most of every opportunity and for a time filled the posi- tion of school-master, teaching the rudiments to his pupils and pursuing a system of self-culture.
In 1720 he married-to quote his own words : "In 1720, while my father was in England, I married my Anna Eve, and was given in marriage by Rev. John Frederick Hæger, Reformed clergyman, on the 22d day of November, in my father's house at Schoharie." As the maiden name of his wife is unknown it has been sup- posed by some that he married an Indian girl. But ro- mantic as it sounds, there are good reasons to suppose that this was not so but it cannot be proved. From an old family Bible the following is taken : " Rev. Mr. Muklenberg likewise writes in the Hallishe Nachrichten, ' Our young interpreter remained back and entered into matrimony with a German Christian maiden of Evangeli-
43
Conrad Weiser.
cal parentage in 1720.'" A picture of her, found in York, Pa., by H. Diffenderfer, member of the German Society, would confirm the fact that she was a German, as the Indian features are entirely absent.
Four of his children-Philip, Frederick, Anna Maria and Madlina-were born before he left the Schoharie Val- ley. During his father's absence in England, and after 1723, he seems to have become rather prominent in prov- incial affairs. Warned by the trickery at Livingstone and Schoharie, he had learned to protect his own coun- trymen. Familiar with the Mohawk language, he stood between the Indians and English in all disputes and mis- understandings, as well as between the German and En- glish. " In the commencement of the year 1721," he says, " I was sent with a petition to the newly arrived Governor Burnet." These transactions continued until he left the province. " In 1729," he tells us, " I removed to Penn- sylvania and settled at Tulpehocken." He was at this time about 33 years old, and evidently desired to become a farmer, for during the next thirty years he acquired about a thousand acres of land for cultivation, but his peculiar characteristics, together with the condition then existing, combined to place him in a much more conspicu- ous and useful position.
The Iroquois claimed hundreds of acres of land in Pennsylvania. Shikellimy, an Oneida chief, was sent to the forks of the Susquehanna to guard the interests of the Six Nations in Pennsylvania. His position was such that in order to transact any affairs with the Indians he (Shi- kellimy) must be consulted. Here at Tulpehocken, Shi- kellimy found Conrad Weiser, and prevailed upon him to go to Philadelphia as interpreter. In this way Gover- nor Gordon probably first learned to know him. Of
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.