Centennial history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, Part 7

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 7

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).

Hon. William Jessup was agent for Hon. Charles S. Cox, and in 1849 he became trustee of the Dr. Robert H. Rose estate. In 1853 Hon. William H. Jessup was associated with him, and is now surviving trustee. In 1824

1 HENRY DRINKER, THE ELDER.

Henry Drinker, at the time of his decease one of the largest land- holders in Pennsylvania, was the second son of Henry Drinker, of Phil- adelphia, and Mary Gottier, of Burlington, N. J. He was born 21st of Fehruary, 1734 (old style). When twenty-five years of age, he em- harked for England, returning in the following year. Letters written hy him during this tour are still extant among his descendants, and they hear evidence to the fact that he was a man of observation and graphic powers of description. Soon after his return, on the 13th of January, 1761, he was married to Elizabeth Sandwith.

The lands of Henry Drinker were located in Wayne, Luzerne, Wyo- ming, Centre, Clearfield, Indiana, Camhria, Bradford, Tioga and Sus- quehanna Counties, in Pennsylvania, and in Montgomery and Delaware Counties, New York.

He was a stanch member of the Society of Friends, and, for this rea- son, was not brought so much before the public as he, in all probability, otherwise would have heen ; the menthers of this denomination not be- ing in the habit of taking an active part in public affairs. He was for many years a member of the firm of James & Drinker, shipping and importing merchants, of Philadelphia; they were very successful in their business previous to the Revolution.

One of the cardinal doctrines of the Society of Friends is opposition to war in every form, and a firm and decided refusal to hear arms in support of any canse, however just. In consequence, he, with nineteen other persons, seventeen of the number heing Friends, were arrested and taken, first to Staunton, Va., and afterwards to Winchester, Va., where they were kept in partial confinement nearly eight months, with- out provision being made for their support.

His first speculations in lands were in the purchase of farms in the settled counties, principally adjoining Philadelphia County, in which transactions he was very successful, and this led him into his large pur- chases of wild lands. He was a man of great husiuess ability. He resided in Philadelphia, and died in 1808.

The late Esquire Raynsford, of Montrose, and Hosea Tiffany, were the first purchasers of any of his land in Susquehanna County, under the Pennsylvania title. They walked to Philadelphia to obtain their deeds. -BLACKMAN.

LAND TITLES AND WARRANTEES.

Isaac Post, David Post and William Jessup bought all of the Timothy Pickering unsold lands, bonds and mortgages ; also S. S. Mul- ford and William Jessup bought the Wallace lands in Brooklyn and Bridgewater. In 1884 Hon. William H. Jessup bought the balance of the Thomas B. Cope lands of William D. Cope, and is now agent or trustee for all the lands remaining unsold of the old estates.

THE NICHOLSON LANDS .- Next in import- ance to the long disquiet occasioned by the Connecticut settlers resisting the enforcement of the intrusion laws "1 was that to which set- tlers on the Nicholson lands were subjected for a period of nearly twenty years : firstly, by an alleged lien of a Philadelphia corporation, and afterwards by one of the State on the Hopbot- tom tract, as well as on that called 'Drinker's Meshoppen tract.' John Nicholson was comptroller of Pennsylvania from 1782 to 1794, and during that period was owner of about three million seven hundred thousand acres of land in the State. In 1785 he, with Dr. Barnabas Binney, purchased from the State sixty tracts, including a considerable portion of the township of Brooklyn, and paid to the State the full amount of the purchase-money. In 1789 he commenced a settlement upon the lands which, by the partition between him and Dr. Binney, had been allotted to him. In 1795 he borrowed from the Widow's Fund Corpora- tion of Philadelphia, thirty-seven thousand one hundred and sixty-six dollars, and secured the payment by a mortgage upon thirty-five tracts in Brooklyn. The mortgage fell due in 1799. No part of the money was paid to the corpora- tion, and Nicholson died insolvent.

" In 1805 the mortgagees foreclosed the mortgage and bought the lands and contracted the same to John B. Wallace. The purchase- money was to be paid in fifteen years from March, 1806, with interest payable annually. Mr. Wallace paid the interest for several years, and continued to sell the lands until 1823 or 1824, when he had sold about two thousand two hundred and fifty acres-the best part of the land-and for which he had received pay- ment.

" In 1823 the state of the title and the inter- est which the corporation held in the land, be- coming known to the settlers, excited much anxiety among those who had paid Wallace, but who, as was then ascertaincd, had received no title.

"Some went to Philadelphia and requested that the business might be closed. A corre- spondence was continued between them until 1826 or 1827, when a committee for the corpo- ration came and met the settlers at Mr. Breed's, in Brooklyn; but nothing was or could be effected with those who had not paid, until the question of the corporation's title was settled.

" William Jessup, Esq., had seen the officers of the corporation in Philadelphia, and ob- tained the assurance that no settler who had paid Mr. Wallace should be again called upon to pay for his land. He wrote to some of the settlers, and had a meeting at his office, when it was agreed that he should bring a suit upon the lot on which Jeduthan Nickerson lived in order to settle the question in Brooklyn. Those present assured him that counsel should be em- ployed, the cause fairly tried, and thus the title might be settled. But counsel was not em- ployed. Afterwards, another suit was brought against some settlers in Bridgewater, who doubted the corporation's title. Messrs. Case and Read examined the papers, and prononnced the title good. Obadiah Green employed Mr. Wurts, who pronounced the title bad. Those settlers who were satisfied with the decision of Messrs. Case and Read agreed to contract for their lands, having ten years in which to pay for them ; but Mr. Wurts entered a plea for Green. The issue was duly tried, and a verdict was rendered for the corporation.

" Another cause was also tried, and the right by law of the corporation to call upon those who had paid to Wallace, to pay again, was fully established. But Mr. Jessup urged that the title of the settlers, as made by Wallace, should be confirmed, and that thus the fears and anxieties of those who had honestly paid their money should be quieted. In the fall of 1832 he succeeded in getting instructions which an- thorized him to make relcases in all cases in which the settlers had paid Mr. Wallace.

1 Blackman.

HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

"The foregoing refers to that part of the cor- poration's lands not interfered with by what are called the Allen surveys.

" In 1775, Benjamin Chew, Andrew Allen and others took up a large quantity of land, a portion of which lay upon the Hopbottom Creek. By the attainder of Andrew Allen, in 1778, his part of those lands was confiscated to the State, and by a decision made subsequently by the Supreme Executive Council, the share belonging to the State was located in Brooklyn, on what was called the Chew and Allen war- rants. When the surveyor located the Nichol- son warrants, he laid them upon part of the lands confiscated to the State.

" The State having received pay from Nichol- son, it was supposed that the titles of those who held under him were good as against the State, and that the State never would claim the land from those who had paid their full price; until the decision was rendered in the case of Wallace vs. Tiffany (Amos ?), by which it was decided by the Supreme Court that the title passed by the officers of the Land-Office to Nicholson was irregular, saying, also, that legislative action would be necessary to regulate the title.

" Mr. Joseph Chapman was partly on the Allen lands, and through the procurement of Mr. Jessup, and with the assistance of Messrs. Read and Jones, an act from the Legislature was passed confirming the title of any settler who held under the Nicholson title-on application to the Legislature. But with the great body of the Allen lands Mr. J. had nothing to do, as they were covered by the Mary M. Wallace warrants."

NICHOLSON COURT .- " Thus far all that has been said refers to events prior to November, 1834. We pass on now to the panic of 1841. By an act of Legislature a year previous com- missioners had been appointed to hunt up and settle the claims of the estate of John Nicholson to lands formerly purchased by him in various parts of the State. These commissioners had given notice through the papers that they would be in Montrose on a given day to adjust the respective interests of the State, the heirs and . creditors, and also of the settlers of any such lands in this county.

" The streets of Montrose on the day speci- fied (in August) were thronged, but the com- missioners failed to appear ; and they did not make their appearance until about the middle of November following, when, for two or three weeks, they exhibited at McCollum's Hotel their papers and maps, and drew the attention of crowds. Even those who had no personal interests in the Nicholson lands began to feel insecure against unexpected claimants to their lands, which they had long owned and occupied with a confidence not less than their more un- fortunate neighbors. Several townships were in a panic.

" In order to allay the excitement, Benjamin T. Case, Esq., contributed to the same journal three pertinent articles, giving the result of his own investigations for many years as counsel for persons interested in those lands. He was in- duced to this step by the fact that the uncer- tainty in respect to titles was having a tendency adverse not only to his own interests, but to those of the county, as new-comers declined to purchase and settle where there was so little appearance that they could remain in quiet pos- session. Mr. Case stated that the Nicholson claims presented themselves in three points of view,-

"1. The claims of the heirs, which were barred by the statute of limitations.

"2. The claims of the creditors ; but there was no mortgage upon the records of the county, and, if there were, it is presumed to be paid, in law, after twenty years, and a judg- ment is lost after five years.

"3. Commonwealth liens, and of these there were three-those of December, 1795 and 1796, and of June, 1800. The statute of lim- itations does not extend to a debt due the State ; but Mr. C. was not aware of any lands in this county so situated as to raise the ques- tion about their being barred by the lapse of time. 'To us citizens of Susquehanna County it is a mere matter of speculation. To Binney's share of the sixty warrants issued to him and Nicholson, neither Nicholson's heirs, creditors nor the State can bave claim. As to the residue (thirty-five tracts, called the Hopbottom lands), John Nicholson mortgaged them, Jan-

LAND TITLES AND WARRANTEES.

uary, 22, 1795-eleven months before the State obtained her first lien-to the Widow's Fund Corporation, to secure the payment of thirty- seven thousand one hundred and sixty-six dol- lars,1 which scttles the question; for in the event of the State lien being prior to the mort- gage, only the money arising from the sale could be claimed, not tle land ; even if a judg- ment be reversed for error after a sale on it, the purchaser's title on it is not disturbed.'

" In March, 1842, the ' Nicholson Court ' de- cided that ' the Nicholson claim to the corpora- tion lands in Brooklyn and Bridgewater is good -FOR NOTHING !'

" It was estimated that two hundred persons in Susquehanna County paid five dollars each to the commissioners ; but in Wayne, Pike and Monroe Counties they failed to raise such an excitement as they did here."

DRINKER'S MESHOPPEN LANDS .- " A part of this was in Auburn and Springville. John Nicholson took out one hundred and sixty- eight warrants of four hundred acres each of land included in what was then Luzerne County, seventy-eight of which interfered with prior surveys of Samuel Wallis, from whom Henry Drinker purchased, and were on the south end of the Meshoppen tract. Both Wallis and Nicholson paid the State for the land, but as Wallis' surveys were of an earlier date, the Board of Property decided in his favor. Nicholson appealed to the Supreme Court, and the decision was again in favor of Wallis. In view of these facts, B. T. Case, Esq., stated, 'Patents regularly issued to Drinker, who bought of Wallis, and the purchasers under him on those lands, hold under this title, and what is to disturb them ?'

" Henry Drinker, George Clymer and Samuel Meredith held one hundred and sixty-eight warrants, of dates 1790, '91, '92 and '93, paid for and patented. It was to these John Nichol- son laid claim by virtue of other warrants, dated August 17, 1793, a date subsequent to all the warrants issued to the above, and for more

than forty years the matter had been supposed to be settled by the Supreme Court ; and in a report made by Mr. Kidder, of the Senate of Pennsyl- vania, March, 1842, after a second investigation of the subject, it was stated that the 'Judiciary Committee cannot discern even the sliadow of a claim, either in law or equity, that the Nichol- son estate has upon the Drinker lands in Sus- quehanna and Luzerne Counties.' "

SAMUEL EWING'S LANDS .- " Ten of these tracts lay on the Lackawanna Creek, in the eastern part of the county, and were purchased from Ewing by Nicholson; but Ewing con- tinued to hold the title in his own name, as a trustee for Nicholson. Those who purchased of Ewing without notice of a trust took the land discharged of the trust. A mortgage, August, 1795, by Nicholson to Ewing, was duly fore- closed, and sold at sheriff's sale, by Ewing. Thus, in the opinion of one of Susquehanna's ablest lawyers, 'There is no land in the county covered by the State's liens, or to which the heirs and creditors of John Nicholson have had any valid claim, and if those who compromised with the commissioners persist in claiming to hold exclusively under those contracts, law- suits are sure to follow.' Happily, the Nichol- son claim to the widow and orphans' fund and the Drinker tracts was, as stated previously, decided against them by higher authority, and from that time Susquehanna County land-own- ers have had ' peace.'

"Henry Drinker was the owner of what are called the Westtown school lands in Lenox, and Fields and Collins were also holders of lands in the same township. Wm. Hartley bought the Fields title ; C. L. Ward, the Col- lins lands ; and these were all settled and sold to the settlers at fifty cents per acre, which quieted the titles in this portion of the county. The titles of one-half the lands in the township were in dispute for twenty-five years."

The Nine Partners' lands were surveyed with lines running northeast and southwest. The Meredith lands were surveyed in the same way. Perhaps one-third of the lands in the county are surveyed north forty-five degrees west. These lands lie mostly in the eastern part of the county. The Wallis lands, which in-

1 On the 1st of January, 1799, with Interest annually. The money not being paid, the mortgage was duly foreclosed in Inzerne County, the land sold at sheriff's sale, and the present owners new hold that title. (B. T. Case.)

HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

cludes the Nicholson tract, were run north three degrees west. The variation since 1785 has been four degrees toward the west, so that these lines are north one degree west. The Drinker lands were run subsequently and re- quire greater variation. Previous to 1800, for some years the magnetic needle was moving east; then it began to move west again, and has been moving west ever since. Most of the lines now run north one degree east.

1 WARRANTEE LAND MAP .- This is a copy (reduced in size) of the old map in the county commissioner's office, which was drawn, about 1837-8, by John and Issachar Mann, assisted by George Walker, a surveyor of much experience (now nearly ninety years old), who had re sur- veyed many of these lands.

Inaccuracies are known to exist in the origi- nal, owing to the difficulty of adjusting conflict- ing surveys and vacant strips, and of correctly connecting streams ; and the proportions are not always in keeping with the amount of land given. But the map is the most authentic gen- eral one now obtainable without the very great expense of connecting the separate surveys on file in the State Department. Many of the war- rantee names have become illegible on the old map ; but most of these, except the lots then va- cant, have been supplied from other sources. The township boundaries are not the modern ones as now established.

In Brooklyn, parts of Lathrop, Dimock and Bridgewater (" Wallace lands ") the lines were run (about 1785) north, three degrees west, and so on to make rectangles. The Drinker Me- shoppen tract was laid out (about 1792) mostly north and south, etc., and most of the lands in the west half of the county were first sur- veyed upon nearly the same plan, while in the east half the prevailing direction was north- east, etc. These lines were run according to the magnetic meridian, which then deviated about three degrees to west of north, and now about seven and a quarter degrees, the variation being a little greater in the east than in the west part of the county, and very slightly greater in the north than in the south part.

Among the prominent land-holders of the

county were Thomas and John Clifford and their successors, Thomas W. Morris, in Clifford, Herrick, etc .; Samuel Meredith, in Clifford, Lenox, Harford, etc., and also in Bridgewater and Middletown ; Edward Shippen, in Lenox, Gibson and Jackson ; Henry Drinker and his successors, Samuel A. Law, Ephraim Kirby, David Welch, Rufus Lines, Jacob Tallman and Robert Bound, in Liberty (Lawsville), Great Bend and New Milford; Henry Drinker, "school lands" in Lenox and Clifford, and other lands in Harmony, Oakland, and in almost every township in the county ; Henry Drinker and his successor, Thomas P. Cope, twenty- five thousand acres in Auburn, and part of Springville, Dimock, Jessup and Rush ; Joseph and William Lee, William Poyntell and Benjamin Chew (George Walker, agent,) in Clifford, Herrick, etc .; Andrew Allen, in Harford and New Milford ; John Field and Wm. Hartley, his successor, in Lenox ; Timothy Pickering, in Bridgewater, Franklin and Lib- erty, and in Harmony ; John Nicholson and Dr. Barnabas Binney, and their successors, "The Widow and Orphan's Fund " corporation, and John B. and Mary M. Wallace (Putnam Catlin, agent), in Brooklyn, Bridgewater, Dimock, etc. ; John W. Robinson and Thos. B. Overton were also owners of remnants of these last-named lands; Tench Coxe and Nicholas Biddle, in Liberty, Bridgewater, etc .; Abraham Dubois, in Oakland; Elizabeth Jervis and John Peters and their successors, Ann, widow of Tench Franeis, and afterward Robt. H. Rose, one hundred thousand acres in Silver Lake, Cho- conut, Rush, Middletown, Great Bend, Bridge- water, etc .; and Caleb Carmalt and Samuel Milligan, successors of R. H. Rose; Tench Francis also had lands in Liberty and Frank- lin ; C. L. Ward, Collins lands in Lenox ; George Clymer, in Bridgewater; Samuel Ew- ing, in Herrick, etc .; Thomas Cad wallader, in Ararat and Herrick, and Bridgewater ; Thomas Mitchell, Brown & Ives, and Samuel Wilcox, in Middletown, etc. James C. Biddle, Wm. D. Cope, Seku Meylert, Wm. Thomson, Joshua W. Raynsford and Wm. C. Ward were also agents for various lands.

The following are the warrantee names, the

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WARRANTEE LAND MAP OF SUSQUEHANNA CO, PA.

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4013

LAND TITLES AND WARRANTEES.

numbers being arbitrary and merely referring to the place of the lots on the map :

APOLACON.

Acres

1. Samnel Gartley 80 22. William

2. John Ashmeal. 439%

3. Joseph Ashmore. 42414 24. Saml. Jervis 415

4. Geo. Ashmore. 70

5. Benedict Ashmore. 200

6. Benjamin Town. 200

7. Benjamin Thorn. 261

8. Edward Westcot .. 230

9. David Hawes. 400

a George Pickering 400

10. Samuel Langdale. 40114

11. Joseph Langdale

30814

12. Herman Langdale. 414

13. Solomon Ashmore. 4241/4

14. Thos. Ashmore 359

15. Jonathan Gariley. 466

16. Roger Gartley.

4723/4

17. John Brown

41814

19. Michael Hillegas

414

20. Matthew Clarkson 43334

21. James Langdale. 36014

ARARAT AND HERRICK.

Acres

1. Henry Foster, 4821/4

2. Roger Foster 432

3. Peter Foster 47314

4. Peter Dobbs.

491-120

5. Henry Dobbs.

451-51

6. Samuel Foster.

5511%

7. Joseph Betz 462-32

9. John Betz 4831%

10. Frederick Betz 462-32 48. Solomon Rink 48014

11. Lambert Cadwalader ... 290

12. Andrew McConnel.

309-38

13. John Sargeant

301-120

14. Chas. Harrison. .301-120

15. Conrad McHousland .... 301-120

16. Alexander Newland .... 301-120 301-120 17. Wm. Forbes

18. John Cadwalader. .301-120

19. Henry Hill. 32314

20. Panl Betz 452-59

21. Saml. Wiley 478

22. Roger Wiley 478

23. Roger Betz. 43312

24. Christopher Betz 459-59

25. Dr. T. Cadwalader 320

26. Saml. Meredith 3013/4

27. Alex. Nesbit. 301-1.0 28. Geo. Campbell 301-120 65. John Shaw 302

29. Joseph Rees 334-120

30. Jas. Rees 100

31. Jasper Newport 150

32. Jonathan Nesbit 347

33. Chas. Wharton .. 322

34. John Van Reed. 342

35. Isaac Wharton 320 (?) 71. Ann Boher. 200

36. Joseph Van Reed 342

37. Peter Moore 32616

38. Win. Wharton 342

AUBURN.

Acres

1. Aaron Gwinipp 100

2. Peter Pine .. 433-153

3. Moses French 433-153

4. Geo. Porter 433-1 3

5. Chas. Fields 43 ;- 153

6. Martin IInghs .42 ?- 143

7. Chas. Brady 256-92

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Centennial history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, Part 7

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