Centennial history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, Part 6

Author: Stocker, Rhamanthus Menville, 1848-
Publication date: 1887
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : R. T. Peck
Number of Pages: 1318

USA > Pennsylvania > Susquehanna County > Centennial history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania > Part 6

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could obtain, but I have now sent on four more horses of my own that are good ones, and ought to be well kept. I have given Jabez particular directions about them, and am not in any fear of their suffering if there is any forage to be found on the waters of the Wyalusing. There has a number of good families gone from Litchfield County into Usher and the Ma- nor Delaware purchase. They have taken along some of the rhino to purchase cows, etc., and they have taken with them some of the best working oxen that ever I saw. In short, there have more than fifty families gone into the Delaware purchase within the last two months; ten families from Long Island. Colonel, you will recollect what I mentioned to you respecting Seril Peck, and the vacant land adjoining Victory and New Milford in the Susquehanna pur- chase. I must depend upon all that there is vacant, for Peck has gone on determined to settle on them, and I am of opinion that his father and a family of eleven children will all be there within two years, and he is one of the most respectable men in the town of Franklin. I wish you to keep this request among your daily memoranda. * * * *

* *

"Please to inform citizen Palmer and family that their friends are generally well. Mr. Charles Miner will call on you and give the particulars.

"I am, sir, your friend and fellow-citizen,

" Colonel Jno. Jenkins."

" EZEKIEL HYDE.

SETTLERS ON THE WYALUSING .- Charles Miner's list of settlers upon the upper waters of the Wyalusing, with several corrections made by Miss Blackman :

Memorandum (dated April 29, 1800) of the inhabitants upon the Wyalusing waters, above the Forks, the time of their settling in the country, the number of their families, etc. :

Rindaw.

Isaac Brownson & family . 8 1794 Jabez Hyde and family . 5 1799 Daniel Ross and sister . . 2 1796 -

Total . 15

Usher.

Daniel Metcalf and family. 1798

Joab Picket and family . 3 1799 Miner Picket, born.

Wm. Lathrop and family . 3 1799 Ingram Lathrop, born March 21, 1800.

Nathan Tupper and family 6 1799 James Carroll and family . 5 1800 Abher Griffis and family . 9 1799 Eb. Whipple and family . 7 1799 Ezra Lathrop and family . 4 1799 Holden Sweet and family . 7 1800

Eben Ingram and family . 2 1799

Samuel Lewis and family . 5 1800 Samuel Main and family . 7 1798 Fanny Main, born in 1800.

Meacham Main & family . 3 1800 Charles Miner . .1 1799

Total 64

Manor.

Jno. Reynolds and family

and sister . . . . . . 6 1800 Daniel Foster and family . 5 1800 Jer. Meacham and family. 9 1799 Nehem. Main and family . 3 1799

Ezek. Main and family . 7 1799

Ozem Cook and family . 9 1800

Samuel Coggswell . . 1 1800

Robert Day . 1

1800

Total . 41

Dandolo.

Steph. Wilson and family . 5 1799 Capt. Bartlett Ilines and family . . 6 1800

Cap. J. Sabins and family 10 1799

Jo. Chapman and family . 2 1800 A. Tracy, Esq., and fam- ily . 10 1799

HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

B. Melbourne, mother

and sisters 6 1797

Total . 39

Locke.

Andrew Canfield.

Ira Brister.

Albert Camp. Joseph Ross. Silas Beardsley. Benjamin Abbott.

Bidwell.

Capt. Peleg Tracy and

family . . . . 5 1799

Wm. Harkins and family. 6 1794

Saml Howard 1

Thos. and Henry Park

and family . 3 1796

1799 [Wm. Harkins is put too early by one or two years at least. -E. C. B.]

1 Newspaper controversy upon the subject was particularly rife that year, but extended over a much longer period.

The following letters of Henry Drinker, of Philadelphia, a large holder of lands in this section, under title derived from the State of Pennsylvania, reveal the intrusion on his tracts : " PHILADELPHIA, 5 mo. 22d, 1801. " Respected Friend,

" ABRAM HORNE, EsQ.

"There are in the hands of Timothy Pickering, Esq., two maps, one of them of a considerable body of lands situate on the waters of Tunkhannock Creek and extending to the head-waters of Salt Lick Creek ; the other represents lands bounding on the State line between this State and New York, and to the east- ward of the Susquehanna-these maps Col. Pickering has promised to deliver thee when called for.

"I now deliver herewith a map of a large body of lands, principally on and near the waters of Meshoppen Creek, and including branches of Wyalu- sing, Tuscarora and Tunkhannock.

"The townships laid out by the companies (Con- necticut) are distinguished by dotted lines, which may be of some use to thee in traversing that country. I have also obtained the names of about 50 settlers from Connecticut, etc., and the parts they are settled on : tho' there may be some variation as to the par- ticular tracts they occupy, yet I presume the follow- ing statement may be nearly right, viz :-

Town of Usher.

No.

Ebenezer Whipple . 157

Abner Griffith 156

Solomon Griffith . 156, 107

Holden Sweet . 156

James Carl (Carroll ?) . 158 Samuel Maine . 107, 108

Myron Kasson.

Mecom Maine 107, 108 Ezekiel Maine 107, 108

Ezekiel Morey.

Natban Tupper 204

William Lathrop 208

Erastus Bingham . 204, 205

Dandoloe.

Eldad Brewster . 53

1 Blackman's " History."

Chebur.

Thomas Parke, Į perhaps in Bid-

Harry Parks, well.

Martin Myers.

Capt. Joseph Chapman.

Ezekiel Morey.

New Milford.2

John Hussey . . . . . 214, 264

Daniel Kinney, Jr. . . 215

Lyman Kinney . . . . 234

Amos Perry .

67, 68

George Morey

100, 101

Ichabod Halsey

. 104

Nehemiah Maine

104

Otis Robinson

. 104

Ezekiel Maine, Jr.

. 106, 107

107, 108

Foster.

David Dowd, southerly part of Manor.

Andrew Lisk, southerly

part of Manor.

Capt. Joab Pickett . . . 240, 242 Daniel Roswell, deaf and dumb . 240, 242

" There is one Isaac Brunson settled in the forks of Wyalusing Creek, just to the westward and adjoining my bounds of lot No. 239. He is on a tract survey'd to Thomas Dundas. This man has always conducted well and deserves to be kindly treated ; being Town Clerk, he can give all the names of settlers in New Milford.

"Thy Friend,

" HENRY DRINKER."

March 24, 1802, Henry Drinker writes to Ebenezer Bowman, of Wilkes-Barre,-

"I am concerned in an extensive tract, and in the general of an excellent quality, situate principally on the waters of Meshoppen Creek, and including parts of Wyalusing, Tuscarora and Tunkhannock Creeks, in the whole near 100,000 acres, which, on receiving part payment and undoubted good security for the re- mainder, I would sell together at two dollars pr. acre, though I believe it cheap at double that price. There are parts, however, picked pieces, which have been intruded on, that are of very superior value, and if separately sold, must be at a very different price. I care nought about relinquishments ; all that I require is pay and undoubted security, when a clear title will be made under grants from this State."

In one of his letters Drinker speaks of Jere- miah Spencer, and discusses the propriety of commencing prosecutions against him and oth- ers. A number of the settlers were indicted for intrusion, and finally all had to make settlement with the Pennsylvania land-holders and obtain title from them.

There was some mob violence used in this

John Passmore.

John Robinson.

Eli Billings . 205, 206

Capt. Charles Geer and family 1800 -- Crocker . 50, 51

Joseph Chapman

Manor.

Jeremiah Mecom 63, 105

Otis Robinson

ditto

David Harris

Ozem Cook

67, 68

Henry Cook

67, 68

Victory.

- Spencer, agent for tbe claimant.

- Avery. Gore.

Cyril Peck.

Josiah Bass, between the

Gore and Auburn.

Rindaw.

Jeremiah Spencer

and

family . 10 180 Thos. Giles and family . 3 1799

Total . . 39

Auburn.

Myron Kasson and family 3 1799 Cyril Peck . 1800

Lloyd Goodsell . 1799

Ezekiel Hyde (an improve- ment) . 207

Dan. Metcalf . 242

Auburn.

Lloyd Goodsell.

Charles Morey.

2 The reader will be careful to distinguish this from the Pennsylvania township of the same name. The Kinneys were just below the south line of Rush.

No.

Capt. Jos. Chapman and family . . . 5 1798 Edward Goodwin and

180) family . . 3

Elias West.

52,

CONNECTICUT CLAIMANTS.

county, the most notable case being the assault on Bartlett Hinds in 1802. Captain Hinds came to Pennsylvania under Connecticut title in 1800 as the agent of ex-Governor Huntingdon. In 1801 he and Ezekiel Hyde, John Robinson, Charles Gcer, Josiah Grant, Elisha Lewis, Amolo Balch, Ichabod Halsey, John Reynolds, Jeremiah Meachem, Otis Robinson, Elias West and others were indicted at Wilkes-Barre for intrusion.

The Rev. A. L. Post, grandson of Captain Hinds' wife, relates the following :

"In 1801, while on a road-view between his log dwelling and Lawsville, near the place of Joseph Williams' subsequent settlement, he met, much to the surprise of both parties, his old friend and fellow- officer of the Revolution, Colonel Timothy Pickering, afterwards one of the most prominent men in the Union, who was surveying lands which he had pur- chased under the Pennsylvania title. It was about noon, and so, after the ' How do you do?' Colonel P. said, 'Captain Hinds, will you take dinner with me?'

"The latter replied, 'I don't care if I do, colonel, if you can treat me to a fresh steak.'

"'That will I do,' the colonel replied, 'if you will go with me to my eabin, half a mile away ;' and he conducted him thither, and entertained him in true soldier style.

" After recounting some of the scenes of the war in which they had taken part, the colonel explained to Captain H. the whole matter of jurisdiction and land title after the decree at Trenton ; told him of his own purchase, which he was then surveying, and satisfied him of the probability that the Pennsylvania title must hold good. He (Hinds) thereupon went to Philadelphia; subsequently fully satisfied himself that Colonel Pickering was correct ; found the owners of the land upon which he had settled ; made his purchase, and returned. He was the first person in this section who became convineed of the validity of the Pennsylvania title, and yielded to its elaims. He was to 'Manor,' as to its civil polity, what Colonel Hyde was to 'Usher'-the prominent man; and this fact accounts for the indignation that was visited upon the former after the step just mentioned. This was natural, and is not here referred to by way of reproach to any of the parties.

" It was probably late in 1802 that, under pretence of some kind, he was summoned before a justice in Rush. His brother, Abinoam Hinds, and Isaae Peck- ins (who settled here that year) went with him, expecting foul play. Whilst there a mob gathered and surrounded the house; but the three barrieaded the door as best they could, and prepared for defenee. The defences were forced away, and the mob entered, a number of them to be piled in an uneomfortable

and bruised heap upon the floor. Isaac Peekins was a large, bony and powerful man. Failing to break out one of the posts of an old-fashioned chair, he wielded the whole of it with great success against the intruders.

" But, overpowered by numbers, the trio had to yield. A sort of sham trial resulted in the decision that Hinds should leave the country ; but he refused to submit to the decision."

Mason Wilson says he was burned in effigy, and, he thinks, compelled to leave for a short time; but he was too good a man for the settle- ment to lose, and he returned and was a prom- inent man afterwards - in the affairs of the county. The Connecticut claimants were angry' at being deserted by their leader, and accused him of receiving compensation from Pennsylva- nia for yielding to her claims.

" 1 His enemies believed him leagued with the Pennsylvania land-holders, and said (though without reason) that he received five acres from them for every settler he induced to come in under their title, and he had succeeded in bringing in about one hundred. But the fact that he had acknowledged the Pennsylvania right by repaying for his own land was exert- ing an influence that embittered against him all who denied that claim."

Eighteen persons engaged in this disgraceful affair pleaded guilty to an indictment for riot and assault.

" Five were imprisoned for the space of three months without bail, one of whom had to pay ten dollars, and four of them twenty dollars each ; and also to pay the costs of prosecution, and stand committed until the whole was paid. Nine were to pay a fine of thirty dollars cach, and the court further ordered 'that they enter into recognizances each in the sum of five hun- dred dollars, with one good freeholder in like sum, conditioned for their good behavior for the space of one year ; and that they severally pay the costs of prosecution, and stand commit- ted till the whole sentence be complied with.'"

" One would suppose this had been enough to deter others from further assaults npon the per- son of B. Hinds, on account of his loyalty to Pennsylvania ; but as late as 1808 another casc occurred, in which he again came off conqueror.

1 Blackman's "History."

HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

" Anecdotes are told to this day of the perils and adventures within our own vicinity which those encountered who came still later to take possession in the name or under the sanction of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

"'A surveyor in the employment of Dr. R. H. Rose, while tracing a boundary line throngh the woods, placed his hand high on a tree to mark where the ax-man, who followed, should strike out a chip as an evidence of the line that had been run. The surveyor had scarcely taken his hand from the tree, when the sharp crack of a rifle rang through the forest, and the spot where the hand had been laid was " chipped " by a leaden bullet-a hint that sufficed to stay all proceedings for the rest of that day. On one occasion, to such extremities had matters proceeded, the " Yankees" had resolved to take the life of Dr. R., and information was brought to him that a meeting would be held at a particular place on a certain day named, to organize their measures. He determined at once to face the danger; and, riding boldly to a small clearing, which had been described to him as the scene of the intended meeting, he found the plotters in actual consultation on the subject. The very boldness of the step pro- cured him a hearing. He rehearsed to them the history of the claims of the two States, and of the grounds of. the final settlement; re- minded them it was governmental, not individ- ual action ; that he had bought of the legal claimant ; that he felt sorry for them, and wished to lighten their load in every possible way, and repeated his offers, which he said were final. He told them he was aware of their de- signs, but added : " Why shoot my surveyors ? It is bright moonlight, and I shall ride slowly to my camp by such a track-but let whoever follows take a sure aim; he will not fire twice!" Soon one of the leaders advanced to- wards him, and renewed the conversation re- specting the dispntes that existed ; the matter was freely discussed ; a better temper sprang np, and from that moment may be dated the negotiations that produced the happy termina- tion to which all the troubles arising from the conflicting claims of the two States were subse- quently brought.'"

CHAPTER V.

LAND TITLES AND WARRANTEES.

Land Titles-Warrantee Map-Names of Warrantees.

THE royal charter from Charles the Second to William Penn bears date at Westminster, March 4, 1681, in the thirty-third year of the reign of that King. The extent and limits of the territory granted are therein defined. It were needless at this late day to question the validity of royal charters. A principle had obtained among the European nations that a new discovered country belonged to the nation whose people first discovered it ; and all Chris- tian princes were deterred from intruding into the countries discovered by other nations, or from interrupting the progress of their naviga- tion and conquests. But William Penn, although clothed with powers as full and comprehensive as those possessed by the adventurers from Spain and Portugal, was influenced by a purer morality and sounder policy. His religious principles did not permit him to wrest the soil of Penn- sylvania by force from the people to whom God and nature gave it, nor to establish his title in blood ; but, under the shade of the lofty trees of the forest, his right was established by treaties with the natives, and made sacred to the Indians by incense smoking from the calumet of peace.

By force of the royal charter, William Penn and his successors, as proprietaries, were un- doubted lords of the soil. They stipulated, however, with the purchasers under them, to extinguish the aboriginal right of the natives. They alone had that power. No individual without their authority was permitted to pur- chase of the Indians; and the Legislature aided them in enforcing this principle. The tenure by which the charter was held was that species of feudal tenure called socage, by fealty only, in lieu of all other services. By the abolition of quit-rents all estates derived immediately from the commonwealth are unconditional fees- simple, with a reservation only of a fifth part of gold and silver ores at the pits' mouth. Every grant of land under the proprietary government was nominally declared in the patent to be held as of some certain manor.

LAND TITLES AND WARRANTEES.

" The General Assembly of Pennsylvania, on the 27th day of November, 1779, passed 'an act for vesting the Estate of the late Propric- tarics of Pennsylvania, in this Common wealth ;' in the preamble whereto it is set forth, 'that the claims heretofore made by the late Proprie- taries to the whole of the soil contained within the charter from Charles II. to William Penn cannot longer consist with the safety, liberty and happi- ness of the good people of this Commonwealth, who, at the expense of much blood and treasure, have bravely rescued themselves and their pos- sessions from the tyranny of Great Britain and are now defending themselves from the inroads of the savages.' The act did not confiscate the lands of the Proprietaries within the lines of manors, nor embrace the purchase-money due for lands sold lying within surveyed manors. The manors, in legal acceptation, were lands surveyed and sct apart as the private property of the Proprietaries.

" The titles to all lands sold and conveyed by William Penn or liis descendants were confirmed and made valid. But the title to all lands in the Commonwealth, which had not been sur- veyed and returned into the Land-Office, on or before the 4th of July, 1776, was by said act vested in the State. This act provided that the sum of one hundred and thirty thousand pounds, sterling money, should be paid out of the treasury of this State to the devisees and lega- tees of Thomas Penn and Richard Penn, late Proprietaries, and to the widow and relict of Thomas Penn, in such proportions as should thereafter, by the Legislature, be deemed equi- table and just, upon a full investigation of their respective claims. No part of the sum was to be paid within less than one year after the ter- mination of the war with Great Britain; and no more than twenty thousand pounds, nor less than fifteen thousand pounds, should be payable in any one year. The Land-Office was begun by William Penn, and many features of the office, as it was in his day, remain to the present time." A Land-Office, by and under the act of 9th of April, 1781, was created under the common- wealth, its officers consisting of a secretary of the Land-Office, receiver-general and surveyor- general. By the act of the 29th of March,

1809, the office of receiver-general was abol- ished, and his dutics were discharged by the secretary of the Land-Office; and by the act of the 17th of April, 1843, this latter-named office was discontinued, and the duties pertaining thereto were performed by the surveyor-general. By the Constitution of 1874, this office is now under charge of the Secretary of Internal Affairs.

An act for opening the Land-Office and for granting and disposing of the unappropriated lands within this State passed April 1, 1784, providing " that the Land-Office shall be opened for the lands already purchased of the Indians on the 1st day of July next, at the rate of ten pounds for every hundred acres, with the usual fees of granting, surveying and patenting, ex- cepting such tracts as shall be surveyed west- ward of the Allegheny mountains, &c. Every applicant shall produce to the Secretary of the Land-Office a particular description of the lands applied for, with a certificate from two Justices of the Peace of the proper county, specifying whether the said lands be improved or not, and if improved, how long since the improvement was made, that interest may be charged accord- ingly. The quantity of land granted to any one person shall not exceed four hundred acres.". The prices of unimproved land were different under various periods under the several pur- chases made of the Indians. From the 1st of July, 1784, to April 3, 1792, the price of un- improved wild lands was $26.663 per hundred acres in Wayne, Pike, Susquehanna and other counties. By act of April 3, 1792, the price of unimproved land was fixed at $6.663 per hun- dred acres. The latter-named act was repealed by act of 29th of March, 1809, since which time the price of lands in the above-named counties has been $26.663 per hundred acres. The laws passed relative to State lands were numerous. Under said laws the surveyor- general, or the officer acting in that capacity, was authorized to appoint a deputy-surveyor in each and every county. The following are the 1 deputy-surveyors who probably located the warrants in Susquehanna County :

1 From Hon. J. Simpson Africa, Secretary of Internal Affairs,

HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Charles Stewart was commissioned March 31, 1769. His district was in the purchase of 1768. William Gray appears as a deputy-surveyor as early as March 26, 1782, and located a number of surveys along the New York line in 1784. He was re-commissioned April 22, 1785, for all that part of the county of Northumberland lying on the east side of the Susque- hanna River. Anthony Crothers was commissioned April 14, 1792, for a part of Luzerne County. Thomas Sambourne was commissioned April 25, 1800, for the county of Luzerne. George Haines was commissioned December 6, 1805, for the county of Luzerne. Jona- than Stevens was commissioned July 8, 1809, for the county of Luzerne, and re-commissioned May 11, 1812, for the counties of Luzerne, Susquehanna and Bradford.

"The person who obtained a warrant was called the warrantee. Upon paying the State treasurer the legal price of the land, and the office fees, $4.50, the warrant was sent to the county surveyor, whose busi- ness it was to survey the land within six months, make a draft and description, and, upon being paid for his services, make a return to the land department. Then the warrantee, upon paying $10 to the land de- partment, would receive a patent for his land. Then, if he had the first warrant, the first survey and the first patent, the title was secure. The land depart- ment, for many years past, has required the applicant for a warrant to make oath before a justice of the peace, of the proper county, touching the condition of the lands, as to its improved or unimproved state, and proving the same by a disinterested witness, on his oath made before two justices of the peace. The act of April, 1850, provided for the election in that year, and every third year thereafter, of one compe- tent person, being a practical surveyor, to act as county surveyor."

Among the large land-holders in Susquehanna County were Henry Drinker, Tench Francis, Thomas B. Cope, Dr. Robert H. Rose, Caleb Carmalt, Timothy Pickering, William Poyntell, William Wallace and a few others. Henry Drinker was a large land-holder in several coull- ties. In a letter he spoke of owning one hun- dred thousand acres in the section that was occupied by Yankee intruders. He had a large quantity of land in this county. Thomas B. Cope purchased about twenty thousand acres of him in Auburn, Rush and Jessup. Tench Francis had about one hundred thousand acres of land in the county. He owned all of Silver Lake township, consisting of two hundred and forty-eight tracts of four hundred acres each. Dr. Rose purchased this land February 18, 1809, of Anne, widow of Tench Francis, who

bought it of Elizabeth Jervis and John Peters, whose patent was obtained from the State in 1784. In 1829, Caleb Carmalt purchased one- half of the Rose lands for one dollar per acre. Timothy Pickering owned lands in the vicinity of Snake Creek, and William Poyntell owned a large quantity of land along the Tunkhan- nock. James C. Biddle married Sally Drinker, and, together with Henry Drinker, his brother- in-law, and grandson of 1 Henry Drinker, the elder, who became a resident of Susquehanna County, acted as' agents of the Drinker estate. In 1841 Mr. Biddle died in Philadelphia, leaving Henry Drinker sole agent of the estate until lie died, in 1862, when he was succeeded by William H. Cooper, who acted as agent un- til he was shot, June 14, 1884. Hon. William H. Jessup has been agent of tlie estate since that time.

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Centennial history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, Part 6

Author: Stocker, Rhamanthus Menville, 1848- Publication date: 1887 Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : R. T. Peck Number of Pages: 1318

Author: Stocker, Rhamanthus Menville, 1848-
Publication date: 1887
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : R. T. Peck
Number of Pages: 1318