USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial records of Pennsylvania, Vol. V > Part 60
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" I am with great Regard, Sir, " Your most obedient humble Servant, " JAMES HAMILTON."
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PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.
The Governor was afterwards furnished by President Tasker with exemplified Copies of the Warrants, Surveys, and Patents, which had been granted to Mr. Digges for the Lands claimed by him under Lord Baltimore to the Northward of the Temporary Line, and it appeared plainly by these that the Place where Jacob Kitzmiller killed Dudley Digges was in a Tract of vacant Land that lay to the Northward of the Temporary Line, and that it had been granted to Mr. Digges in the Year one thousand seven hundred and forty-five, in express violation of the Royal Order. These exemplified Copies were by Order of the Governor produced at a Court of Oyer and Terminer held by the Supreme Judges for the County of York at the Tryal of Jacob Kitzmiller and his Father, who were thereupon acquited.
At a Council held at Philadelphia, Wednesday the fourth of Oc- tober, 1752.
PRESENT :
The Honourable JAMES HAMILTON, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor.
Thomas Lawrence,
William Till,
Robert Strettell,
Benjamin Shoemaker, Esquires.
Joseph Turner,
Richard Peters,
The Minutes of the preceding Council were read and approved.
The Returns of Assembly Men, Sheriffs, and Coroners for the several Counties were read and the following Persons appointed, and Commissions were ordered to be made out accordingly :
Sheriff.
Coroner.
Samuel Morris, William Yardley,
Thomas Smith, John Adlum, Ezekiel Dunning, Benjamin Lightfoot, William Craig, George Monroe, John Clayton, Junr., William Shankland,
Philadelphia County & City,
Thomas James,
Bucks County,
Evan Jones, , John Keilin,
Isaac Pearson,
Chester County,
Lancaster County,
John Dougharty, Alexander Love,
York County,
Cumberland County,
Tobias Hendricks, William Boone,
Berks County,
Northampton County,
Thomas Wilson,
Newcastle County,
John Yeates,
Kent County,
French Battle,
Sussex County,
John Roedney.
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MINUTES OF THE
At a Council held at Philadelphia, Wednesday the Eleventh of October, 1752.
PRESENT : Robert Strettell, William Logan, Richard Peters,
Esquires.
The Minutes of the preceding Council were read and approved.
The Governor being absent through Indisposition, the following Petition was read, presented by the Captain of a French Sloop called L'Entreprenant, bound, as he says, on a Voyage from Missis- sippi to Martinico :
" To the Honourable JAMES HAMILTON, Esquire, Governor of the Province of Pennsylvania,
" The Petition of Charles Bellamy, Master or Commander of the Sloop L' Entreprenant of Martinico, most humbly Sheweth :
" That your Petitioner sometime since sailed from Mississippi on a Voyage intended for Martinico; That on his Passage he met with such violent Gales of Wind and Stormy weather that so wrecked and disabled the said Vessel that your Petitioner could not proceed on his intended Voyage, but was obliged to put into this Port of Philadelphia to refit; And, therefore, he petitions and supplicates your Honour to Grant him your Permission to nefit the said Vessel for the Sea, and to purchase so much Provisions as may be neces- sary for the Voyage; and to enable Your Petitioner to do the same to make sale of so much of his Cargo as will answer those Purposes.
" And your Petitioner will pray, &c.
" CHARLES BELAMY.
" 26th September, 1752."
After which the Captain was examined, and it appearing to the Council that the Fact might be as was set forth in the Petition, they advised the Governor to grant the Prayer thereof, and to issue his Warrant as usual to some Mariners and Shiprights to examine the Vessel and report her condition, which the Governor accordingly did ; and on their Report that the Vessel ought to be condemned as unfit to proceed to Sea, the Captain again petitioned the Gov- ernor for Leave to put his Cargo into a Store ; whereupon the Gov- ernor sent for the Collector of his Majestie's Customs and committed the Vessel and Cargo into his Care that the King's Duties might be secured and the Vessel and Goods sold.
599
PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.
At a Council held at Philadelphia, Monday the 16th October, 1752.
PRESENT :
The Honourable JAMES HAMILTON, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor.
Robert Strettell, / Joseph Turner, Esquires.
Richard Peters,
The Minutes of the preceding Council were read and approved.
Eight Members of Assembly having waited on the Governor to inform him that they were met according to Charter and had chosen their Speaker, and having desired to know when they might present him for his approbation, he had appointed them to wait on him at this time in the Council Chamber, and they accordingly coming, Isaac Norris informed the Governor that he was unanimously elected Speaker, and being approved by the Governor, he there demanded the usual Privileges on behalf of the House and himself.
Then was read the following Letter and Paper enclosed in it, sent by Express from Carlisle to the Governor :
" CARLISLE, Aug+ 30th, 1752.
" May it Please Your Honour :
" Last night Thomas Burney who lately resided at the Twight- wee's Town in Allegheny, came here and gives the following account of the unhappy Affair that was lately transacted there : On the twenty-first Day of June last, early in the Morning, two French- men and about two hundred and forty Indians came to the Twight- 'wee's Town, and in a Hostile Manner attacked the People there residing. In the Skirmish there was one White man and fourteen Indians killed, and five white men taken Prisoners.
" The Party who came to the Twightwee's Town reported that they had received as a Commission two Belts of Wampum from the Governor of Canada to kill all such Indians as are in Amity with the English, and to take the Persons and Effects of all such Eng- lish Traders as they could meet with, but not to kill any of them if they could avoid it, which Instructions were in some measure obeyed.
" Mr. Burney is now here, and is willing to be qualified not only to this but to sundry other matters which he can discover concern- ing this Affair; if your Honour thinks it proper for him to come to Philadelphia to give you the Satisfaction of Examining more parti- cularly in relation to it he will readily attend your Honour upon that occasion, or make an affidavit of the particulars here. Such
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MINUTES OF THE
orders as your Honour pleases to send on this occasion shall certainly be obeyed by,
" May it please your Honour, "Your Honour's most obedient Servant,
" ROBT. CELLENDER.
"P. S .- Inclosed your Honour has the Twightwee's Speech to Mr. Burney, with a Scalp and five Strings of Wampum, & Bearer. Fifteen Days after the taking of the Town, Thomas Burney and Capt. Trent, with twenty Indians, went back to the Town, where they found all the Indians were fled, and on their Return met with Three of their Chiefs whom Capt. Trent delivered the Virginia Pre- sent to as he had then with him. These Chiefs informed them the Indians were gone eighty miles from thence, and there would reside till they heard further from their Brothers."
A Message to the Governor from the Twightwees. -
" Brother Onas :
"We, Your Brothers the Twightwees, have sent you by our Brother Thomas Burney a Scalp and Five Strings of Wampum, in Token of our late unhappy affair at the Twightwee's Town, and whereas our Brother has always been kind to us, hope he will now put us in a method how to act against the French, being more dis- couraged for the Loss of our Brother the Englishmen who was killed and the five who were taken Prisoners, than for the Loss of ourselves, and notwithstanding the two Belts of Wampum which were sent from the Governor of Canada as a Commission to destroy us, we still shall hold our Integrity with our Brothers, and are will- ing to die for them, and will never give up this Treatment although, we saw our great Piankashaw King (which commonly was called old Britain by us) taken, killed, and eaten within a hundred Yards of the Fort before our Faces. We now look upon ourselves as lost People, fearing that our Brothers will leave us ; but before we will be subject to the French, or call them our Fathers, we will perish here."
The Governor informed the Council that he had sent by the Re- turn of the Express a Letter, Commanding Thomas Burney to come to Philadelphia to be examined touching the contents of the Letter and Message, but that he had not hitherto paid any Regard to his orders. The Letter, Message, and Scalp were laid before the House of Assembly.
The following Persons, namely, Thomas Edwards, Lynford Lard- ner, Emanuel Carpenter, James Galbraith, John Kyle, Thomas Cookson, James Whitehill, James Wright, Adam Simon Kuhn, James Smith, Samuel Anderson, Thomas Fosster, John Allison,
601
PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.
William Jevon, Robert Thompson, Thomas Holliday, and Adam Read, Esquires, were appointed Justices for the County of Lancas- ter, and a Commission issued accordingly.
MEMORANDUM.
On the Seventeenth of October a Message was sent from the As- sembly by Two Members to inform the Governor that they thought proper to defer the consideration of the Indian News till he should have an opportunity of examining Thomas Burney; And further, that the House enclined to adjourn to the fifteenth of next January, if he had no objection, and the Governor having none they ad- journed to that Day.
At a Council held at Philadelphia, Wednesday the 22d of No- vember, 1752.
PRESENT :
The Honourable JAMES HAMILTON. Esquire, Lieutenant Governor.
Thomas Lawrence, r Esquires.
Robert Strettell,
Richard Peters,
The Minutes of the preceding Council were read and approv'd.
The Justices of the Supream Court having held a Court of Oyer and Terminer at Lancaster, another at York, and another at Phila- delphia, and three Persons having been capitally convicted, the Records of their several Convictions were read, and first the Record of Conviction against Hamilton Carsan, setting forth that he was indicted, arraigned, and convicted of feloniously and burglarily break- ing and entering the Mansion House of Abram Graff, in Lancaster County, in the Night time and stealing and taking one Quarter of a Piece of Eight, one Eighth Part of a Piece of Eight, and Five shillings in Money, numbered of the Goods and Chattles of the said Abraham Graff, and sentenced to Death according to Law. And on the Representation of the chief Justice and Attorney General, the Governor Pardoned him by a Pardon, which passed the Greal Seal, and follows in these words :
" George the Second, by the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, and so forth. To all Persons to whom these Presents shall come, Greeting :
Whereas, Hamilton Carsan, of the County of Lancaster, at a Court of Oyer and Terminer and General Gaol Delivery held at Lancaster for the Borough of Lancaster on the twenty-sixth, twenty-seventh, and twenty-eighth Days of October in the Twenty-Sixth year of our Reign, was convicted of feloniously and burglarily breaking and entering the Mansion House of Abraham Graff, in the said County
602
MINUTES OF THE
of Lancaster, in the Night Time, and stealing and taking one Quar- ter of a Piece of Eight, one eighth Part of a Piece of Eight, and Five Shillings in Money, numbered of the Goods and Chattles of the said Abraham Graff, And Judgment by the said Court then and there was given and pronounced, that the said Hamilton Carson should be hanged by the Neck until he should be dead. Now Know Ye, that we being graciously pleased to extend our Royal Mercy and Compassion to the said Hamilton Carsan, Have remitted, released, and pardoned, And by these Presents do remit, release, and pardon unto the said Hamilton Carsan All and every the said Offence and Offences whereof he was convicted as aforesaid, And all the Pains and Penalties by means of the said Conviction upon him adjudged or imposed; And we do hereby Grant unto the said Hamilton Carsan our full and firm Peace, and that he shall stand right in all our Courts, if any against him would speak of the Premises. In Testimony whereof we have caused the Great Seal of our said Province to be hereunto affixed. Witness JAMES HAMILTON, Esquire, Governor of the said Province and Counties of Newcastle, Kent, and Sussex upon Delaware, at Philadelphia the Twenty-First Day of December, in the Year of our Lord one Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty-Two, and in the Twenty-Sixth Year of our Reign.
"[L. s.]
JAMES HAMILTON."
Then was read the Record of Conviction of Hugh Matthews, " who was sentenced to Death for feloniously making an assault upon John Carnahan, on a lawful Road and Highway in York County, with a Staff and a Pistol, and for stealing, taking, and bearing away a Mare, a Bridle, and Saddle, of the Goods and Chattles of the said John Carnahan, from the Person of him, the said John Carnahan, to the Great Terror of the said John Carnahan ;" And the Consideration thereof was postponed to another time, on a Representation made by the Secretary, Mr. Peters, who was present at his tryal, and desired that the Governor wou'd be pleased to . inform himself by Mr. Francis of the Nature of Matthew's Crime and the Evidence with which it was supported.
Then the Record of Conviction of Daniel Hurley for the Murder of James Clark was read, and the Chief Justice having represented the Fact to have been committed in a manner which called for no Favour, the following Warrant was made out and signed by the Governor for his Execution :
" George the Second, by the Grace of God of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, and so forth, to Sam- uel Morris, Esquire, Sheriff of the City and County of Philadel- phia, Greeting :
" Whereas, At a Court of Oyer and Terminer and General Goal Delivery, held at Philadelphia for the County of Philadel-
603
PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.
phia, on the thirteenth Day of November, Instant, before William Allen and Caleb Cowpland Esquires, our Justices of our Supream Court of Pennsylvania, and of our said Court of Oyer and Termi- ner, A certain Daniel Hurley was presented, arraigned, and tried for and convicted of a Felony and Murder by the said Daniel Hurley committed on the Body of a certain James Clark, by striking and stabbing him with a Knife in and upon his Neck near to the Wind- pipe, of which he instantly died. And the said Daniel Hurley did then receive Sentence of our said Court of Oyer and Terminer, that he should go from thence to the Place from whence he came, and from thence be led to the Place of Execution, and there be hanged by the Neck till he should be dead; Of which Sentence Execution remaineth to be done. These are therefore to require and command you to see and cause the said Sentence to be executed upon the said Daniel Hurley at the usual Place within or near the City of Philadelphia, on Wednesday next, being the twenty-ninth of this Instant, November, between the Hours of Ten in the Forenoon and Four in the Afternoon of the same Day, with full Effect, as you will answer the neglect hereof at Your Peril. And We command all our Officers, Magistrates, and others our Subjects within our said Province to be aiding and assisting to you in this Service. In Testimony whereof we have caused the Lesser Seal of our said Province, to be hereunto affixed. Witness, James Hamilton, Esquire, (by Vertue of a Commission from Thomas Penn and Richard Penn, Esquires, true and absolute Proprietaries of the said Province, and with our Royal approbation), Lieutenant Governor and Commander- in-Chief of the Province aforsaid, and Counties of Newcastle, Kent, and Sussex upon Delaware, at Philadelphia, the Twenty-Fifth Day of November, in the Year of our Lord One Thousand seven hun- dred and Ffty-two, and in the Twenty-sixth Year of our Reign.
"JAMES HAMILTON."
At a Council held at Philadelphia, Wednesday the sixth of De- cember, 1752.
PRESENT :
The Honourable JAMES HAMILTON, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor.
Benjamin Shoemaker,
Robert Strettell, Esquires.
Richard Peters,
Joseph Turner,
The Minutes of the preceding Council were read and approved.
The Record of the Proceedings of a Court of Oyer and Ter- miner held at Chester by the Judges of the Supream Court, on Monday the twenty-seventh Day of November last, was read, whereby it appeared that an Indictment was brought against Bryan
604
MINUTES OF THE
Doran, James Rice, otherwise called James Dillon, and Thomas Kelly, for the Murder of Eleanor Davis in Chester County. And thereupon the said Thomas Kelley was arraigned and pleaded Guilty ; And the said James Rice, als. Dillon, was also arraigned and pleaded not guilty. Upon which he was tried for and convicted of a Felony and Murder committed on the body of the said Eleanor Davis, and the said Thomas Kelley, and the said James Rice, als. Dillon, re- ceived Sentence of Death for the same. The Chief Justice having reported to the Governor that the Murder was fully proved and committed in a very barbarous and cruel manner, a Warrant was signed by the Governor and the Lesser Seal affixed thereto, for the Execution of the said Thomas Kelly and the said James Rice, als Dillion, and sent to the Sheriff of Chester County this Day by Express.
"Information being given that Bryan Doran was apprehended in some Part of Maryland, the Governor to prove the Identity of the Person signed the following Reprieve for Thomas Kelly, which was sent Express to the Sheriff of Chester County, but finding him not to be the same Person tho' of the same Name, the said Kelly was executed the sixteenth Instant.
" George the Second, by the Grace of God of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, and so forth, To the Sheriff of the County of Chester, Greeting :
" Whereas, by our Warrent under the Lesser Seal of the Province of Pennsylvania, bearing Date the sixth Day of this Instant Decem- ber, to you directed. We did command and require you the said Sheriff that you should on the Ninth Day of this Instant Decem- ber, execute a Judgment lately given against Thomas Kelly by hanging the said Thomas Kelly by the Neck until he should be dead. We do hereby command you that from the Execution of the said Thomas Kelly by virtue of the said Warrant you totally abstain until the sixteenth Day of this Instant December. In Testimony . whereof we have caused the Lesser Seal of our said Province to be hereunto affixed. Witness, James Hamilton, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor of the said Province and Counties of Newcastle, Kent, and Sussex upon Delaware, at Philadelphia, the Eight Day of De- cember, in the Year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty-Two, and in the Twenty-sixth Year of our Reign.
" JAMES HAMILTON."
15th January, 1753.
MEMORANDUM.
Two Members of Assembly waited on the Governor to acquaint him that the House was met according to their adjournment, and
605
PROVINCIAL COUNCIL,
ready to receive any Thing he might have to lay before them. His Honour said he had nothing then to lay before the House, but if any thing proper for their Consideration should occur to him during their sitting, he would communicate it by Message.
At a Council held at Philadelphia, Friday the 26th of January, 1753.
PRESENT :
The Honourable JAMES HAMILTON, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor.
Robert Strettell, Joseph Turner, Richard Peters,
Esquires.
The Minutes of the preceding Council were read and approved.
The Assembly on the twenty-fourth presented to the Governor a Bill for striking Twenty Thousand Pounds and re-emitting the pre- sent Currency, and this Morning requested by Two Members to know if he was come to any Result upon it, and if not they in- formed him they inclined to adjourn to Monday next.
The Governor laid the Bill before the Council, and with it Ex- tracts of Letters from the Proprietaries, wherein it appeared that in Lord Halifax's Opinion it was too soon to present a Paper Money Bill as yet to his Majesty ; it was therefore determined to return the Bill with the following Message :
A Message from the Governor to the Assembly.
" Gentlemen :
" The many Advantages we derive from the use of Paper Money ought to make us extreamly careful to avoid every Step that may possibly endanger it.
" I am well assured the Dislike raised in Britain of the Bills of Credit in the Plantations by the late too General and undistinguish- ing Complaints still so warmly subsists as to make any application to the Crown about our Currency at this time very unseasonable.
" With a view therefore that no share of your Time may be spent unprofitably, I think myself obliged to declare to you thus early (though with a good deal of concern for our Difference in opinion) that I cannot at present give my Assent to any Bill for re-emitting the Current Money of the Province, or for issuing any additional Sum.
" JAMES HAMILTON.
" January 26, 1753.""
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MINUTES OF THE
MEMORANDUM.
The next Day Two Members waited on the Governor with the following Message, and at the same time acquainted the Governor that the House were inclined to adjourn to the twenty-first Day of May next, if he had no objection to the time; to which his Honour was pleased to say that he had no objection to the proposed Time of Adjournment :
A Message to the Governor from the Assembly.
" May it please the Governor :
" We are well pleased to find by the Governor's Message of yes- terday that he concurs with us in that important Point, a Sense of the many advantages we derive from the use of our Paper Money. We would therefore be equally careful with the Governor to avoid every step that may possibly endanger it. But as we do not think that the Dislike raised in Britain of the Bills of Credit in the Plantations was so general and undistinguishing or still so warmly subsists as the Governor seems to apprehend, so we do not conceive that an application to the Crown about our Currency would at this Time be unseasonable.
" We are equally concerned with the Governor for our Difference in Opinion, and that in an Affair of such Importance we may not seem to act too precipitately, we are willing to take the Governor's Objection into Consideration till our next meeting, and propose to make a short Adjournment for this Purpose.
" Signed by Order of the House. "ISAAC NORRIS, Speaker.
" January 27th, 1753."
At a Council held at Philadelphia Tuesday the sixth of February, 1753.
PRESENT :
The Honourable JAMES HAMILTON, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor.
Thomas Lawrence, William Till,, 7 Esquires. Robert Strettell, Benjamin Shoemaker, Joseph Turner, William Logan, Richard Peters,
The Minutes of the preceding Council were read and approved.
The Governor proposed to introduce Mr. John Penn, the Eldest Son of Proprietor Richard Penn, lately arrived here, into the Coun- cil, and left it to the Consideration of the Board what Place they wou'd be pleased to offer him; Whereupon the Council taking the
607
PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.
Governor's Proposition into their Consideration unanimously agreed, as he stood in so near a Relation to the Proprietaries, and was him- self perfectly agreeable to them, to place him at their Head, and that when he shall have taken the legal Qualifications he should be considered as the first named or Eldest Counsellor on the Death or Absence of the Governor or Lieutenant Governor.
1
February the Eighth, 1753.
MEMORANDUM.
Mr. Andrew Montour waited on the Governor and said he came to him on purpose to acquaint him that he was going to Onondago with a Message from the Governor of Virginia to invite the Six Nations to come to a Treaty at Winchester in the summer; and desired to know if his Honour had any Business to transact with those Indians. He likewise informed the Governor that the Six Nations at Ohio had called him to their Council, and had observed all the Forms usual on the Admission of Members of Council, and that he was desired to make this known at Onondago.
The Governor chose at this time to send no Message to the Coun- cil at Onondago being desirous to know first how the Six Nations might receive the Governor of Virginia's Invitation of them to a Treaty at Winchester.
At a Council held at Philadelphia, Monday the 21st May, 1753. PRESENT :
The Honourable JAMES HAMILTON, Esqr., Lieutenant Gov- ernor.
Thomas Lawrence,
Robert Strettell, Esquires.
Joseph Turner,
Richard Peters,
The Minutes of the preceding Council were read and approved.
Two Members of Assembly waited on the Governor to inform him that the House was met according to their Adjournment and ready to receive whatever he had to lay before them.
The Governor laid before the Board several Letters from Gov- ernor Clinton, enclosing Accounts from Coll. Johnson and from the Commanding Officer at Oswego that a large Armament of French and Indians had passed by that Fort destinated, as was suspected, for Ohio, in Order to take Possession of that Country, and to build Forts on that River; whereupon he had dispatched Messengers to the Governors of Maryland and Virginia; and likewise Mr. West was sent to Sasquehannah there to procure and send away two Messengers, one by Patowmec and the other by Juniata, to Ohio to
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