USA > Pennsylvania > Historical register : notes and queries historical and genealogical, chiefly relating to interior Pennsylvania. Volume I > Part 14
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Historical Register.
my instructions, for which Mr. Lukens gave me a dispensation, & for which Mr. Broadhead (as I know of no other cause) took my district from me .- but I have had more satisfaction in the reflection of doing my duty so as not to betray the trusts re- posed in me of a deserving & defenceless body of men, than I could reap from all the perquisites, whether Legal or Illegal, of his office, much less that of a paltry district, out of which I had culled most of the best land, and where I never intended - in my own person to make another survey.
For your further satisfaction as to the other Tracts here fol- lows my notes :
" 728. A Tract of 1st quality : the North side good black oak: the South bottom."
" 759. First quality, having a large quantity of meadow ground in the runs."
" 801. Black & white oak, between first & second quality."
" 810. First quality : the upland white oak, of second quality, but a great proportion of bottom on the creek, includ- ing a part of Pematuning corn fields."
"817. B. & white oak land ; between 1st & second quality."
" 818. The first quality; the upland white oak: in the bottom a part of Pematuning corn fields; the remainder in- different quality with hazel."
As to the navigation, the Shenango or Pematuning branch, from three or four miles above the great bend, where a creek called Lackawanick empties into, three or four miles below the mouth of Askeawacung. I think is better boating than the Juniata from Huntingdon to Mifflin, and from Askeawacung down I believe no obstructions are in it except the great falls four miles from Beaver town. -
Have you any inclination of purchasing United States Mil- itary Warrants on Sciota or Muskingum? If you & your friends lay out a few thousand dollars on them, you may make independent fortunes for your Children. From my knowledge of the Country, having been on part of Land reserved, I could be of service. The way I propose, would be for a certain pro- portion of the land to be agreed on, to examine personally the Township lines, so as to be enabled with certainty to choose agree-
153
Papers Relating to Mercer County.
ably to the Lot drawn. From an examination of the act of Congress you will know that such information will be absolutely necessary. I have a few hundred acres of my own, and would put them into the Company. Should you be disposed to enter into a plan of this kind, you could soon form a company to take 5 or six sections of Townships. A line on the subject by post would be acceptable. You are no doubt acquainted with some who have large quantities purchased, and might be dis- posed to join in the Company.
I am, Sir, with usual respect, Your most ob't servant AND. HENDERSON.
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THE SMYSERS OF YORK COUNTY.
MATTHIAS SMYSER, son of Martin and Anna Barbara Smyser, was born February 17, 1715, in the village of Rugel- bach, belonging to the parish Lustenan, about six miles west of Dunkelsbuhl, in Germany. Of his early history little is known. With his brother George and sister Margaretta, he came to America in 1738, and located on Kreutz creek, York county, Pennsylvania, taking up a large body of land in the neighborhood of what is now called Spring Forge. in the same county. This land he subsequently sold, and purchased a farm about three miles west of York, to which he removed in May, 1745, and on which he resided until his death. George Smyser went to Virginia, and nothing is known of his descendants. Margaretta marrieda Mr. Eyster, and had a large family. She died in 1826, at the age of ninety-eight years. Matthias Smyser died in 1778, at the age of sixty-three. His wife, whose name is unknown, died prior. They had issue, among others :
i. Michael, b. 1740 ; d. 1810 ; remained on a portion of the paternal farm ; although his education was limited, he was known as a man of discriminating mind and sound judgment. He was early associated with the leading patriots of the Revo- lution, and commanded a company in Col. Michael Swope's battalion, of York county associators, and was taken prisoner at the surrender of Fort Washington, November 16, 1776. In 1778 he was elected one of the members of the Assembly, and from that time until 1790 served in that body. Under the Constitution of 1790 he was elected to the State Senate, filling that honorable position eight years. He died in 1810. Mr. Smyser married, and had issue, Peter, Elizabeth, Sarah, Jacob, Mary, Michael, and Susan.
ii. Jacob, b. 1742 ; d. 1794; was several years a justice of the peace ; and in 1789 elected a member of the House of Representatives, serving until his death. He married, and had Henry, Jacob, Martin, John, Catharine, Daniel, Peter, and Adam.
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The Smysers of York County.
iii. Matthias, b. 1742 ; d. February, 1829; resided all his life on the old homestead, in West Manchester township; he served as a teamster in the war for Independence, and was throughout a zealous advocate of the Whig cause. He mar- ried. and had Catharine, Mary, [ Polly, ] George, Jacob, Matthias, Philip, and Henry.
iv. Dorothy, b. 1747 ; m. Peter Hoke, and had Michael, Glo- rissa, Catharine, Peter, Jacob, Sarah, Polly, and George.
r. Sabina, b. 1750 ; m. Jacob Swope, of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and had Jacd, George, Matthias, Emanuel, Fred- v erick, and two daughters.
vi. Rosanna. b. 1753 : d. 1796 or 1797; m. George Maul; resided some years in the town of York, and afterwards re- moved to Loudoun county, Virginia, about midway between Nolan's Ferry, on the Potomac, and Leesburg ; and had Susan, Cutharine, Polly, Peggy, Elizabeth, George, and Daniel. Eliz- abeth in. Leonard Eichelberger ; resided near Dillsburg, York county, where she died, leaving Jacob, Frederick, George, John, and several daughters.
vii. Anna Maria, b. 1757 ; d. 1833 ; m. Martin Ebert, and had George, Martin, Daniel, Adam, Michael, Susan, Helena, and Anna Mary.
viii. Susanna. b. 1760 ; & 1840 ; m. Philip Ebert, and had Henry, Elizabeth, Cathurine, Lydia, Sarah, and Michael.
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PROMINENT PENNSYLVANIANS.
BY WILLIAM H. EGLE, M. D., M. A.
Gen. GABRIEL HIESTER.
Gabriel Hiester, jr., son of Gabriel Hiester and Elizabeth Bausman, was born in Bern township, Berks county. Penn'a, January 5, 1779. He received a good English and German education, and his early years were spent on his father's farm. . His father being an active politician, the son was early imbued with the same spirit. In 1809 he was appointed by Gov. Snyder clerk of the courts of Berks county, and in 1811 prothonotary, holding these offices until 1817. During the war of 1812-14, he was brigade major, and served under General Adams of Berks county during the campaign at Washington and Balti- more. Under appointment by Gov. Findlay, he held the office of associate judge from 1819 to 1823. Gov. Shulze appointed Judge Hiester Surveyor General, when he removed to Harris- burg. He held that position from May 11, 1824, to May 11, 1830. He was a presidential elector in 1817 and again in 1821, casting his vote for James Monroe. About 1833, he erected the first rolling-mill in this neighborhood, at Fairview, on the Conedoguinet. He died there suddenly September 14. 1831. in his fifty-sixth year, and is buried in the Harrisburg cemetery. Gen. Hiester married, May 12, 1803, Mary, daughter of Dr. John Otto, of Reading, who died at Estherton, January 9. 1853. They had children: Louisa; Harriet, m. C. B. Bioren ; Au- gustus O .; Gabriel; and Catharine ; all of whom are deceased except Augustus O., of Estherton. Gen. Hiester was a repre- sentative man of one of the most prominent families in Central Pennsylvania. Influential, nay potential, in political affairs, he was a man of enlarged views, of strict integrity, and high social attainments. He was methodical in business and ener- getic. In the establishment of the rolling-mill at Fairview, he was in the advance of those great industrial establishments which have given the locality the importance it deserves.
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Pennsylvania Biography.
THEODORE BURR.
Theodore Burr was born August 16, 1762, at Torringford, Conn. He received a classical education, and studied mechan- ical and civil engineering, subsequently becoming the inventor of the Burr system of bridge building. The act for the erection of the Harrisburg bridge, and to incorporate a company for the building of a similar structure at Northumberland, was passed in 1809. These bridges were both built by Theodore Burr, and his son, Henry Huntington Burr, then a mere stripling, aided him very materially. The bridge at Harrisburg, erected between the years 1813 and 1817, was considered, in its day, a remark- able structure, and for many years was particularly noticed by travelers in America. One half of the original bridge is yet standing. Mr. Burr subsequently constructed the bridge at McCall's Ferry, on the Lower Susquehanna. The ravages of time, flood. and fire have left only the one referred to. Mr. Burr died suddenly at Middletown, where he was superintend- ing the erection of a bridge over the Swatara, on the 21st of No- vember, 1822. He married, in 1789, Asenath Cook, grand- daughter of Capt. James Cook, the Navigator. She was born March 13, 1770, at Torringford, Connecticut, and died March 3, 1839, at Oxford, Chenango county, N. Y. They had issue :
i. Marilla, b. October 15, 1790.
ii. Asenath, b. February 3. 1792.
iii. Philomelia, b. April 13, 1794.
iv. Henry Huntington, b. Nov. 15, 1795.
v. George Cook, b. April 14, 179S.
vi. Amanda Allen, b. April 6 1800.
vii. Charles D., b. September 4, 1803.
viii. Julia Ann, b. March 2S. 1805.
ix. Theodosia, b. March 25, 1807.
Col. WILLIAM N. IRVINE.
William McNeill Irvine, second son of Gen. William Irvine of the Revolution, and Anne Callender, daughter of Capt. Robert Callender of Middlesex, Cumberland county, was born about 1778 at Carlisle, Penn'a. He was educated at Dickinson college, where he graduated ; subsequently studied law with Judge Thomas Duncan, and was admitted to the Cumberland county bar in 1802. He afterwards located at
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Harrisburg and was admitted to the Dauphin county bar at an adjourned court March. 1807. He entered the United States army as captain May 3. 1808, in the regiment of light artillery, and was stationed several years at New Orleans. He left the army. by resignation about 1811 or 1812. and resumed the practice of law at Sunbury. In July 1813 he was acting Adjutant General of Pennsylvania, which duties he performed until his appointment by the President of the United States as colonel of the Forty-second regiment U. S. infantry, August 4, 1813. At the close of the war he resigned, and located at Harrisburg, and was appointed deputy attorney general for the · counties of Dauphin and Northumberland. Subsequently com- missioned by Gov. Snyder, Sept. 14, 1815, Escheator General of the State, which position he filled until the abolishment of the office. From 1819 to 1821 he was Adjutant General of Pennsylvania, and had previously, 1818-19, represented the county of Dauphin in the State Legislature, and to him is due the credit for originating the bill authorizing and directing the erection of the Capitol building at Harrisburg. Gov. Shulze appointed him president juelge of the judicial district compris- ing York and Adams counties, but he resigned shortly after, owing to some difficulty with the members of the bar and efforts made to impeach him. Col. Irvine was a brilliant pleader, but not a lawyer, and hence his failure in the judicial station to which he had been elevated. He returned to Har- risburg, where he resumed the practice of the law for awhile, and subsequently died there on the 25th of September, 1854. He is buried in the cemetery in that city. Judge Irvine was an excellent military officer, and an eloquent speaker. He was a gentleman of fine personal appearance, tall and commanding, of good conversational powers, and for a period of thirty years was quite prominent and influential in public affairs. He mar- ried July 26, 1808, JULIANNA GALBRAITH daughter of Major Andrew Galbraith of Cumberland county, and a sister of Chief Justice John B. Gibson's wife. They left two children : Dr. Galbraith A. who practiced medicine successfully in Warren county, and died a few years ago; and William C., of Phila- delphia, formerly in the quartermaster's department.
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Notes and Queries.
NOTES AND QUERIES.
CAPT. DAVID ZIEGLER .- In the Carlisle Gazette of 3d June, 1789, is this : " Married at Marietta (Muskingum) by Arthur St. Clair, Esquire, Capt. David Zeagler to Miss Sheffield from Rhode Island."
THE PENNSYLVANIA CONVENTION to nominate representatives to the First Congress of the United States, and also Presidential electors, assembled at Lancaster on the 3d of November, 17SS. The county of Dauphin was represented by John Joseph Henry, John Gloninger, and Alexander Graydon.
GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH .- A gentleman contemplating an ex- tended visit to Europe, with some time at his disposal for antiquarian and genealogical researches, desires to have the names and place of birth of immigrants who arrived in Pennsylvania prior to 1776, in- cluding, however, only such as came from Germany, Switzerland, and Holland. It is his purpose to visit as many places as circumstances will permit, and to gain such information as will be of great interest to Americans of Teutonic descent. It will be necessary to give the city, town, or village in each case-the name of the kingdom, prov- ince, or district will not be sufficient. Address editor of Historical Register.
JUNIATA .- Reichel, " Transactions of the Moravian Society," page 26, says " Juniata is an Iroquois word. The Delawares say Juch-niada or Chuch-niada, written also Sko-kooniady, Choniata, and Chiniotta." Also Cheniaty, Taylor draft A. D. 1704, (Dr. Egle's Notes and Queries, 1881;) Juniada, Gov. Thomas' message, 1743. In a note, page 103, " Memorials of the Moravian Church," edited by the la- mented William C. Reichel, editor of the Transactions above quoted from, he says "the Shawanese were a tribe of Southern Indians who, prior to 1700, had been expelled from their seats by the Spaniards of Florida, and navigated northward." * * * "They moved up the river and built a town at Pax-tang." On page 5 Zinzendorf calls them the Floridans, i. e., adds Mr. Reichel, " Shawanese." Defer- ring, of course, to the great authority of Mr. Reichel, I am inclined to adopt the suggestion of James Milliken, Esq., of Bellefonte, who, in a conversation a few days since, alluding to the fact that the Shawanese had removed from Spanish Florida, said a plausible sup- position was they had brought with them the recollection of the Spanish word Juanita, feminine of the Spanish word for John or Sister of John. JOHN B. LINN.
160
Notes and Queries.
J. WALKER .- In the Carlisle Gazette for 17SS, there is a " Monody on the Death of James Oliver, Esq., by J. Walker," the most notice- able feature of which is its extreme length, covering the issues of May 28, June 4, 11, 25, and July 2 and 9. Was not this J. Walker the ancestor of Hon. John H. Walker of Erie, the President of the Constitutional Convention of 1873-4?
OFFICERS OF LOCAL HISTORICAL SOCIETIES FOR 1SS3 .- We give herewith brief memoranda relating to several county societies, and request that others will furnish similar information :
The Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, of Wilkes-Barre, was incorporated in 185S.
President-Charles F. Ingham, M. D., C. E.
Vice Presidents-E. R. Mayer, M. D., Calvin Parsons, Rey. Henry L. Jones, L. C. Paine.
Treasurer-Sheldon Reynolds.
Recording Secretary-Harrison Wright, Ph. D.
Corresponding Secretary-Hon. E. L. Dana.
The Society has recently issued " A Memorandum Description of the finer specimens of Indian Earthen-ware Pots in the collection of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, Wilkes-Barre, Pa., made by Harrison Wright, Recording Secretary of the Society, and Member of the Committee on Cabinet," being publication No. 4, a valuable contribution to North American Archaeology. It is illustrated by photographs of seven pots, remarkable specimens of the skill of the aborigines. Dr. Wright has done good service in this particular.
Historical Society of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania, (late " Old Resident's Association,") organized April 10, 1878.
President-Thomas J. Bigham.
Vice Presidents-John E. Parke, R. Miller, Jr., William Little, J. P. Fleming, John Rippy, Dr. George S. Hays.
Treasurer-John Fullerton.
Secretary-W. M. Gormly.
Meetings held on the second Thursday of each month, except the months of June. July, and August.
Historical Society of Dauphin County, organized, 1867.
President-A. Boyd Hamilton.
Vice Presidents - Hamilton Alricks, Joseph H. Nisley, Daniel Eppley.
Corresponding Secretary-Rev. Thomas H. Robinson, D. D.
Recording Secretary-George Wolf Buehler.
Treasurer-John B. Cox.
Librarian-William H. Egle, M. D.
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HISTORICAL REGISTER:
NOTES AND QUERIES,
HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL,
RELATING TO
Interior Pennsylvania.
No. 3. Vol. I,
"Out of monuments, names, wordes, proverbs, traditions, private records, and evidences, fragments of stories, passages of bookes, and the like, we doe save and recover somewhat from the deluge of time."
HARRISBURG, PA. LANE S. HART, PUBLISHER. ISS 3.
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HISTORICAL REGISTER;
NOTES AND QUERIES, BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL.
VOL. I.
OCTOBER, 1883. No. 3.
EARLY INDIAN HISTORY ON THE SUSQUEHANNA.
BY PROF. A. L. GUSS.
III.
Captain John Smith published an account of the infant col- ony of Virginia. called the " Generall Historie," ete .. in which there is a narration of his expedition to the Susquehanna river. He set out July 24. 1608. and returned September 8, follow- ing. "John Smith writ this with his own band." His book also contains a supplementary narrative of his trip prepared by Bagnall, Powell, and Todkill. three of his companions. It was published in London, in 1624, had 248 pages, and was re-issued, with date of title-page only altered, in 1626, 1627, and twice in 1632. It was also translated and published in the works of DeBry and of Hulsius. A copy in our State Library is of the date 1632. and cost seventy-five dollars. An edition of 1630, called " True Travels," etc .. contains, besides the matter of the " Generall Historie," an account of Smith's adventures in Europe. Asia, and Africa. A careful reprint of this work, in two vol- umes, was made in Richmond, Va., in 1819. These editions contain a map, drawn by Smith himself, embracing the Chesa- peake bay and circumjacent regions, extending upwards in- definitely into Pennsylvania. Considering his facilities, the geographical outlines are so correct that it must be regarded as a most wonderful work: and the map alone proves Smith
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Historical Register.
to have been a close observer, a born explorer, and a most extraordinary man. Smith modestly remarks that what he did with his small means he left the reader to judge by the map he made of the country, which would, however, convey only an imperfect idea of the magnitude thereof. For many years there were no improvements made on Smith's map. It was copied by Dutch, French, and others, and attached to their maps, or used as a model by other map-makers. In a suit during the boundary line controversy, Penn's heirs, in 1735, said : "That is the oldest book and in best esteem," and Sec- retary Logan and Surveyor Eastburn testified that the map " is the most correct of any first description of a new country" that they had ever seen. A copy of the date of 1624 was pro- duced during this trial. It was claimed that in the Maryland charter the lands granted Lord Baltimore "were so bounded by the help of Capt. Smith's said book and map of Virginia, and no other, for that map only. and no other then extant, has all the names agreeable to those mentioned and used in said patent." Hence, Smith's map helped to cradle Delaware, and played its part in determining the famous " Mason and Dixon's Line." It was certainly the first effort to map any part of our present State, (Penn'a Arch., N. S., vol. vii, 315, 322, and 340.)
It is proper here also to mention the other publications of Smith and his contemporaries, which in any way bear upon the Susquehanna exploration. The " True Relation," etc., London, 1608, has nineteen unpaged leaves and gives an account of the colony covering the first thirteen months from April 26, 1607. This has been reprinted with notes by Charles Deane, Boston, 1864. The vessel that took the manuscript to England left the same day that Smith started on his first voyage up the bay, and hence it contains nothing about that discovery ..
As early as 1612. there was also published at Oxford, a tract called "A Map of Virginia," etc., with a description of the coun- try by Smith, 48 pages, and an appendix by other writers, 110 pages. The map and that part of this Oxford tract which was written by Smith himself, was republished, with but few variations, in the " Generall Historie," pages 21 to 96; but the part written by the others was much changed and amplified.
A.
163
Early Indian History on the Susquehanna.
The " True Relation" is not thus used in making up the "Gen- erall Historie," because. as some suppose. it could not be made to fit the story of Pocahontas saving his brains from the mur- derous club of Powhatan. which first appeared in that book. What Smith has told us of the Susquehannocks, was, there- fore. substantially written and mapped in the Oxford tract. It appears that this map, and the "annexed relation of the coun- tries and nations," was sent home by Smith soon after his re turn from the Susquehanna explorations in 1608, but was not printed until 1612, which was a couple of years after his return to England. and its publication must have passed under his eye. What changes he made in supervising the printing no one can tell. Purchas. in his " Pilgrimage," 1613, published an abstract of the Oxford tract, and gives a brief sketch of the Susque- hannocks. It seems that while preparing this work, a year or two previous, he had been "courteously " allowed to see "Smith's Mappe," which "may somewhat satisfy the desirous and his book when it shall be printed. further." Purchas. in his " Pilgrimes." 1625. pages 1691 to 1733, republishes Sntith's map and his Oxford tract descriptions almost literally ; but the appended portions correspond more with the "Generall Historie," and the changes it introduced. The beautiful photo-lithographie copy of Smith's map. which we have the pleasure of presenting herewith to the subscribers of the HISTORICAL REGISTER, contains the figures 41 on the lower left corner, indicating the page of Smith's book the map was to face: and at the top, 1690 and 1691, denote the pages in the "Pilgrimes," between which the map was to be placed.
With Smith's writings. there should be mentioned, also, the " Historie of Travaile into Virginia," etc., by William Strachey, Secretary of the Colony, 1609-1612, first printed from his manu- script, by the Hakluyt Society of London, in 1849. It has a vocabulary of Indian words, and was probably written prior to 1616 from notes taken in Virginia, though many pages of it are identical with Smith's Map and description of 1612.
Capt. Smith passed up the Susquehanna to the falls. He says: "Though canoes may go a day's journey or two up it, we could not get two miles up it with our boat for rocks."
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Historical Register.
The first rocks. however. we now know, are at Port Deposit. at the head of tide water, and this point is four miles from the bay. It is very probable, also, that Smith was up still higher. either on land or in an Indian canoe. The number of islands in the river, which he has marked on his map. and the cross mark denoting the highest point reached by him on the river. being by the scale at least fifteen miles, seem to require that Capt. Smith was actually up as far as the State line. On the Potomac and other rivers it is clear he went beyond the "rocks." He may have been the first white man that ever trod the soil of Pennsylvania. At all events, so far as we have any definite account, he was the first white man that met Indians who re- sided within the limits of Pennsylvania.
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