USA > Pennsylvania > Historical register : notes and queries historical and genealogical, chiefly relating to interior Pennsylvania. Volume I > Part 20
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27
By an act of Assembly. passed in 1782, the President and Vice President and a member of the Supreme Executive Coun- cil, appointed by council for that purpose, together with the Secretary of the Land Office, the Receiver General, and the Surveyor General for the time being. were required to sit as a Board of Property to hear and determine all cases of contro. versy in regard to the title of lands in the Commonwealth. The President or Vice President served on this board as long as he continued in office. but a different member of council was chosen to serve each month. During the year 1786 and 1787, owing to the sickness of President Franklin, Vice Presi- dent Charles Biddle presided over the Board of Property. and James McLene sat as council's member during the months of September, 1786, and June. 1787.
After his retirement from the council, MeLene was again elected to the Assembly. and represented the new county of Franklin until 1789. That year he was chosen a member of the convention which framed the Constitution of 1790, and sub- sequently after the adoption of the Constitution was again
* Autobiography of Charles Biddle, Vice President Supreme Execu- tive Council of Pennsylvania, pp, 202, 203.
226
Historical Register
immediately re-elected to Assembly, and faithfully serving two terms more, he retired in 1794 to the quiet of his home in Antrim township. Franklin county. Six years later, on the 18th of March. 1800, when he had reached the ripe old age of seventy, he was commissioned a justice of the peace, his active spirit refusing to rest even after nearly half a century of earnest important service to the public.
In the quiet country, about four miles north-east of Green- castle, now the principal town in old Antrim township, there may still be seen the remains of an ancient burial place. It is sadly neglected now. Brambles choke up its paths, and un- kempt forest trees cast their shadows upon its shattered and moss-covered tombstones. This is "Brown's Mill grave-yard." The ravages of time may have rendered it impossible for us to tell which of those neglected monuments covers his remains, yet here rests the body of Hon. James McLene, who died on the 13th day of March, A. D. 1806, aged seventy-five years. four months. and twenty-seven days. Idoneus Homo.
227
The Detection of Arnold.
THE DEFECTION OF ARNOLD.
[The following letter, written by Michael Simpson, of the Pennsylvania Line of the Revolution. to his friend and neigh- bor. Joshua Elder, of Paxtang. notwithstanding its bad orthog- raphy, is worthy of preservation in these pages. MICHAEL SIMPSON was a son of Thomas Simpson, an early Scotch-Irish settler. who located in Paxtang in 1720. where this son Michael was born. twenty years later. Michael was brought up a farmer, receiving the meager education, and yet essential, of the back-woodsmen. When the Indian forays following the de- feat of Braddock spread dismay and desolation along the fron- tiers, he became an ensign in the provincial service, and served under Forbes and Bouquet. and the expeditions which brought peace to the settlements. At the outset of the Revolution he was appointed second lieutenant of Captain Matthew Smith's company, and was attached to the Quebec expedition under Arnold in 1775. Being absent under orders of General Ar- nold when the final attack was made upon that stronghold, he avoided capture. He was subsequently promoted first lieuten- ant in the First Pennsylvania, Colonel Hand, and was in com- mand of his company at the battle of Long Island. On the 1st of December, 1776, he was commissioned captain, and as such was in he battles of Trenton, Princeton. Brandywine, Germantown. and White Plains. In fact, not being retired the service until under the re-arrangement of the Line in January, 1781, for nearly six years he served his country and its cause faithfully and well. After the war, Captain Simpson bought a farm on the Susquehanna, opposite Chambers' ferry, where he erected a large stone house, which was destroyed by fire within the present year, 1883. He owned the ferry on the York county side of the river, and for awhile leased the Cham- bers' ferry on the east side. It was the old Carlisle ferry of earlier days. Here he resided until his death, which occurred on the 1st of June, 1813. Being brigadier general of the militia, he was known as General Simpson. He was a gentle- man of aristocratic bearing, and yet much loved and respected
228
Historical Register
by his neighbors. He was possessed of a warm heart, was a firm friend, was liberal and obliging. Such was the author of the letter herewith given-he was a soldier, and his bad or- thography may be forgiven.
[Of JOSHUA ELDER, to whom the letter was written, we make the following brief mention. He was the second son of Rev. John Elder and Mary Baker, was born in Paxtang town- ship, (now Dauphin county, ) Pa .. on the 9th of March, 1748. He was a farmer by occupation. During the frontier trou. bles of 1763-64 he was in active military service. When the Revolution broke out he was a leader on the patriot side. and appointed one of the sub-lieutenants of Lancaster county. as also a justice of the peace. serving until the close of the war. He was a prominent advocate for the formation of the county of Dauphin, and under the Constitution of 1790 was commis- sioned by Governor Mittlin one of the associate judges of the courts, August 17, 1791. The appointment, however, of Sher- iff Clunie to the bench, on the resignation of David Harris, who had removed to Baltimore, so incensed him that he per- emptorily resigned. He was appointed by Governor Mckean prothonotary January 5, 1800, a position he filled by reappoint- ment until February 6, 1809. In March, 1810, he was elected burgess of the borough of Harrisburg. He died at his resi- dence in Harrisburg, on the 5th of December, 1820. Judge Elder was twice married,-first, to Mary McAllister, who died November 21, 1792 ; secondly, to Sarah McAllister, who died December 6, 1807.]
" HEAD QRS., TAPAN, Sept" 27, 1780.
"D'R JOSEY : Yours I Rec'd favor'd by Dr. Montgomery, but was long on the way, for which I thank you for your Per- ticulars. I am glad to hear of your having peace and a good harvest. Surpris'd to hear of Sickness of the Army, defate at White plain, or the loss of waggons, or the French being block'd up ;- is all a falsity of I suppose a disafected Gentry. I have heard bad news frequently from Susqueha of the Indians, distroying the enhabitance, which is very distressing.
"Our ontiligence from Carolina is much more favorable than it was at first mentioned by Gen1 Geatses Letter to his Excel-
229
The Defection of Arnold.
lency. We hear lately of a number of prisoners we lost there, was sent of by a Guard, but the Mility rising and Retaking them and ye Guard, make all in our favor on that Quarter. Sorry to hear of our friends falling by the enfernal Toreys, in Perticular Addam Torrence.
"A grand discovery maid. Gen1 Arnold who commd at West Point had sold the place. The Plot was found out by a Capt" of the Mility who took the Ajitant Gen1 of the British army at Tarryton on his just going to the enemy's lines, after being threw our whole army, and maid great discoverys. Had a plan of West Point, and all the fortifycations round it, and Gen1 Arnold's name in it. He was brought to his Excellency at King's ferry, on his return from Road Island with ye Markis De Leviat, on the 25th Inst. His Excellency emediately push'd to West Point : and Gen1 Arnold found his Plot found out, emediately push'd of to ye Enemy. He had apoinded the British fleet to sail up the 25th, and on ye 26th to demand the place, which was to be emediately delivered up without the fireing a gun. His Excellency's timely notice prevented. We have not heard that ye Fleet sail'd because of the plot's being found out. The Ajitant Gen1 begs his life, as he say he can make more discoverys than his life's worth. He Offer'd ve Capt™ 100 Guines, his Gold Watch, horse, Pistoles & coat to let him go, but all to no purpose. I trust there may be some dis- coverys maid amung a body we have long had raison to suspect.
"Our army lys waiting the arival of the French. I hope something may turn up from his Excellency's Conference with the French army at Road Island. I hope to have something - more in a short time. You'l let your Father hear and all Friends, and let it Rejoice all our friends, & Perticular Mr. Chestnut Over ye Water, with my Complyts.
" My Complyts to Polly. I rest, S' you ashur'd Friend & Hum Serv't
"MICH' SIMPSON.
"I hear Capt" Mc Allister Cetch'd the Red belied Salınon. I give him joy, with my complyts. I am glad to hear your Puppys come on so well; there's hopes they'l make fine dogs."
Indorsed: "Joshua Elder Esq. Lancaster county, Paxtang, Hond by Mr. McMartin."
-
230
Historical Register.
COL. MATTHEW SMITH.
BY WILLIAM H. EGLE, ML D.
MATTHEW SMITH, the son of Robert* and Mary Smith, was born in 1734 in Paxtang, Lancaster. now Dauphin, county, Pennsylvania. He received the limited education of pioneer times, and was brought up as a farmer. During the French and Indian war he was in service in Bouquet's expedition. He comes, however. into prominence by being one of the dele- gates appointed by the inhabitants on the frontiers to present their memorial of grievances to the Assembly during the "Pax- tang Boys"" foray against the perfidious Indians on Conestoga Manor and in the work-house at Lancaster. Save as the bearer of that petition, he was not connected with the so-called "mas- sacre.'
In June, 1775, the roll of the drums of the Revolution called him from the quiet of his farm, and he enlisted a company of volunteers in Paxtang to march to the siege of Boston. His company included many famous characters, and one of its members. Judge Henry, has preserved a record of their wonderful march, under Arnold, through the wilderness of Maine to Quebec. The attack on Quebec. and the capture of Smith's company, are graphically told by Judge Henry. Cap- tain Smith was probably exchanged in the spring of 1778, for on the 28th of May, that year, he appeared in the Supreme Executive Council as the member for Lancaster county, in which office he served during the years 1778-9.
On the 3d of August, 1779, he writes from Sunbury that he had arrived there with "sixty Paxtang Boys," to look after the
* ROBERT SMITH, of Paxtang, died in March, 1757, leaving a wife Mary, and issue as follows :
i. Matthew.
ii. Rebecca, m. Samuel Allen.
iii. Robert.
iv. David.
231
Col. Matthew Smith.
Indians and British who had captured Fort Freeland on the 28th of July previous. On the 11th of October, 1779, he was chosen Vice President of Pennsylvania, but resigned shortly after, owing to the heavy expenses connected with that posi- tion. On the 4th of February following he was appointed pro- thonotary, &c., for Northumberland county, filling that office until the 25th of September, 1783. Captain Smith afterwards removed to Milton, where he resided until his death, which took place on the 22d of July, 1794, at the age of sixty years. A company of light infantry, under Major Pratt and Captain James Boyd, marched with the body six miles to Warrior Run burying-ground. "Many tears were shed at the old patriot's burial, and after his remains were deposited. three volleys were fired over his grave." Captain Matthew Smith was as brave a soldier, as ardent a patriot as ever lived. He served his coun- try long and faithfully, undaunted by the detraction of Quaker historians, who sought to throw a stigma upon his character from the fact that he was one of the bearers of the memorial of the frontiersmen to the Assembly for redress of grievances, and designating him as "the leader of the Paxtang rioters." That he was in nowise connected with the bloody transactions at Conestoga and Lancaster may reasonably be inferred, from the fact that he was chosen as the representative of the "back in- habitants." With " a price set upon his head." no participant would have ventured into Philadelphia. History fully ex- onerates him, and his brave and heroic after-life, beggaring himself in behalf of his country which needed his patriotic ser- vices, has been left as an example of the pure and disinterested spirit of the days of the Revolution. As one of the war eagles of that illustrious era, his name and fame are a glorious herit- age. We have little knowledge of Col. Smith's family, save that in the tidal wave of emigration to the Presque Isle settle- ments his descendants went thither, and a son, Wilson Smith, who settled at Waterford, was an officer of note in that section during the war of 1812-14, and represented his district in the Pennsylvania Senate in 1817. A son of his, Matthew Smith, resides at Waterford.
232
Historical Register.
KOQUETHAGAEELON, OR COLONEL WHITE EYES.
BY ISAAC CRAIG.
The following information regarding this faithful friend of the Americans is worth preserving: Mr. McAllister, a black- smith, was an early settler in Pittsburgh, and White Eyes eu- gaged him to make some beaver-traps, paving part on them in beaver-skins and agreed to pay the rest in the same way. but before he could do so Pontiac's war occurred. Mr. McAllister supposed the debt lost, for, according to Indian custom, "war paid all debts." Shortly after the war. McAllister was sur- prised at the appearance of White Eyes in his shop with a bundle of skins. He held out his hand to shake hands with McAllister, saying: "We brothers now ; you good man : you make me good traps : me owe you ; me pay you." McAllister replied : "I guess not ; war pays all debts." The chief insisted that the debt was just and must be paid, and the bundle of skins fully paid all arrears due on the traps.
Subsequently White Eves said to McAllister : "You good man ; we no kill you ; you make good traps. My young men wanted to go to your house : me said: 'No: him good man ; him make good traps; him always give Indian something to eat; we no kill him.'
The foregoing is just as I received it from a descendant of Mc Allister, and there is not the slightest doubt of its accuracy.
It has heretofore been believed that this noble Indian died - of small-pox, but a letter from Colonel George Morgan (the Indian agent at Fort Pitt during the greater part of the Revo- lutionary war) to Congress, recently brought to light, shows that he was " treacherously put to death." The letter is dated Princeton, May 18. 1784: in it he says: "These two lads were sixteen or eighteen years of age when their parents brought them here, which was too advanced an age to expect they would derive much advantage from a common school, but the
Koquethagaeelon. or Colonel White Eyes. 233
third. [young White Eves. ] who was then in his eighth year. is every way worthy the further patronage of Congress, having now entered Virgil and begun Greek, and being the best scholar in his class. he will be prepared to enter college next fall. His mildness of disposition is equal to his capacity : and I cannot but take the liberty to entreat a continuance of the patronage of Congress to this worthy orphan, whose father was treacher- ously put to death at the moment of his greatest exertions to serve the United States, in whose service he held the commis sion of a colonel. His son is now in his thirteenth year. His father had settled a tract of land of about 30,000 acres on Mus- kingum, had built several good shingled houses on the tract, mowed meadows. planted large fields of corn, kept consider- able stock of horses and cattle, used plows, and hired white men to work his farm. Would it not be worthy of Congress to appropriate this tract of land to this lad, and give such orders to prevent encroachments on it as may secure it for his heirs forever ? * * * I have carefully concealed and shall continue to conceal from young White Eyes the manner of his father's death, which I have never mentioned to any one but Mr. Thomson and two or three members of Congress."
On the 24th of March, 1779, the court of Yohogania county granted letters of administration upon the estate of Col. White Eyes to Thomas Smallman, and his bondsmen were Joseph Skelton, David Duncan, William Christie, and Samuel Ewalt. The younger White Eres, when about forty-three years of age. was present at and signed the treaty at Greenville, in 1814. Col. White Eyes, although he so often advised other Indians, with great earnestness, to embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, never made a public profession himself, on account of his being yet entangled in political concerns. Heckewelder is decided in his opinion that White Eyes was a Christian at heart.
234
Historical Register.
NOTES AND QUERIES.
[TO OUR SURSCRIBERS :- When the publication of the Historical Register was projected, it was not the intenton to issue it at stated times-but simply four numbers during the year. Historic labors in another direction have, however, delayed the getting out the present issue. Number Four, with a full index, will be forwarded to each subscriber about the 1st of December. As it is contemplated to continue the Register during 1884, we would like to be informed at an early date of those who propose continuing their subscription. All that the gentlemen interested in its establishment wish is to have the Register pay expenses of publication. As there are a few copies of the present year not subscribed for, such will be furnished new subscribers at the price of two dollars per year. It is not the inten- tion to interfere with any historical publication whatever, as the Register has its own peculiar field in which to work, and it, therefore, looks for support to all who love to preserve the history, biography, and genealogy of the State of Pennsylvania.]
OLD PAY-ROLLS .- It has been asserted, and it is believed by many persons, that by fires in the Treasury Department all the old army rolls were destroyed. This is not the case. There are yet in the Treasury building large collections of these rolls. presumed to be complete, of the war of 1812-14. There are also pay-lists of the ex- peditions under St. Clair and Wayne against the Indians in Ohio ; and there are lists of soldiers in other Indian wars. There are also extensive pay lists and pension applications of the Revolutionary war, though destitute of any arrangement facilitating examination. There are very valuable Revolutionary records in the library of the State Department, notably the papers and correspondence of General Washington, and his full lists of all the soldiers in his army ; but it seems to be the policy of the Government to exclude the public from any examination, and to prevent their publication for fear that the knowledge derived from them would be evidence in well-founded claims against the Government. This seems to be an outrage, for a rich Government like the United States should long since have pub- lished these soldiers' names in a series of archives. It is a shame that this great Government has not preserved even the names of the heroes that made it a nation. A. L. G.
235
Notes and Queries.
THE PAPERS OF GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE .- About fifteen years ago, we understand, the papers of that brilliant Pennsylvania soldier of the Revolution were confided to the care of Henry B. Daw- son, then editor of the "Historical Magazine," who was to prepare a memoir of the Hero of Stony Point, and edit his valuable corre- spondence. What has been done towards giving to the public a work of the character contemplated ? X. Y. Z.
[In reply we would state that, thirty years ago, Joseph J. Lewis, of Chester county, undertook to edit the papers of General Wayne. About a decade thereafter, having concluded to prepare only the his- tory of Wayne's civil life, Mr. Dawson was requested to write that of his military career. Mr. Lewis died, leaving incomplete his record, while nothing has been accomplished by Mr. Dawson-and there seems to be little prospect that he ever will. A letter to him recently occasioned a very unsatisfactory reply .- W. H. E.]
OFFICERS UNDER ST. CLAIR .- William and John Purdy, who were officers under the gallant St. Clair, and killed at his defeat at the Miami, were sons of Col. James Purdy, an officer of the Revolu- tion, who died in Fermanagh township, Mifflin county, Pa., August 8, 1813, aged eighty years. W. H. E.
AN ACCOUNT OF THE DEATH OF GENERAL BUTLER, from the American Museum of August, 1792 .- "A Virginia paper, among other western intelligence, has the following : 'Captain Butler (brother of the unfortunate General of that name) has returned from Detroit ; he was assured by the British commander at the post, that the re- port lately circulated of the General being still living and a prisoner with the Indians, was without foundation. He related the following melancholy particulars of his death : After the retreat of our army, on the 4th day of November last, from the bloody plains of Miami, the well-noted and infamous Simon Girty, came up to the General, who was then sitting ; he knew him, and spoke to him; the General suf- fering under the most excruciating pain from his wounds, desired Girty to put an end to his misery ; but he declining to give the fatal stroke, turned and whispered to an Indian standing by, that the per- son he had just been speaking to was the commander of the defeated army ; upon which the Indian immediately sunk his tomahawk into his head, and he expired. A number of Indians then surrounded and scalped him ; but what is most shocking to relate, they opened his body, took out his heart, cut it in as many pieces as there were tribes in the action, and divided it among them-thus died the brave General BUTLER.' "
Other accounts say the Indians ate the heart, believing it would make them brave ! I. C.
236
Historical Register.
WHISKEY. INSURRECTION .- There are, in the Treasury Depart- ment in Washington. a great many official and personal letters relat- ing to the Whiskey Insurrection in Western Pennsylvania, which have never seen daylight since the time they were written. The whole official correspondence of the Government is supplemented by many letters fresh from the infested district, describing scenes im- mediately after their occurrence. A letter from HI. H. Breckenridge to Alexander Hamilton would throw much light on a long contro- verted point. These papers should be copied before they perish, and published by Pennsylvania, along with those already given to the public, for they contain facts not hitherto known. The State should not neglect such materials, nor deal with valuable historical matter with a niggardly hand. A. L. G.
FLINT QUARRIES IN UNION COUNTY .- William Maclay, of date July 23, 1776, wrote from Sunbury to Richard Peters, Secretary of the War Office, that " he had searched, with some success, for flints, and sent some specimens with Mr. Ball, which were pronounced by gunsmiths superior to imported flints. The vein or quarry appears inexhaustible, and is situate along the banks of Penn's creek : dis- tance from Sunbury ten miles, and a safe and expeditious navigation for boats and canoes a great part of the year."
The situs indicated by the distance given by Mr. Maclay would be where the present town of New Berlin, in Union county, now stands, and west to the mouth of Switzer's run. I can find no record that Mr. Maclay's "find " was ever utilized by Congress or the War Office, and tradition is entirely silent as to the working any vein in that neighborhood to my knowledge. In the summer of 1776 a boring ap- paratus was added to Widow Smith's mill at the mouth of White Deer creek, in now Union county, and a great number of gun-barrels were bored for Congress there, but as to the manufacture or prepara- tion or export of flints from Penn's creek, history and tradition are entirely oblivious. JOHN B. LINN.
RECENT HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS.
EIN LEITFADEN DER DEUTSCH-AMERIKANISCHEN GESCHICTE, Von H. A. Rattermann. Cincinnati, Ohio, Druck von Mecklen- borg & Rosenthal. 1883. [Imp. Svo., pp. 12.]
In this outline of German-American history, which the erudite author delivered before the German-American teachers of Chicago in August last. he has embodied such advice as is of value and im- portance not only to the intelligent audience who were permitted to hear his address, but to all earnest students of American history. Most of the history of our country has been written from such stand-points as totally ignore the German element. The time has
237
Notes and Queries.
now arrived when not only that, but the Scotch-Irish should take-the place of the English Puritan of New England, the Hollander of New York, the English Quaker of Pennsylvania, and so on through- out the early colonies of America. The influence of those two power- ful elements, the German and Scotch-Irish, in our nation's history, are only beginning to be properly appreciated and recognized. The "day is dawning."
THE WEITZEL MEMORIAL. Historical and Genealogical Record of the descendants of Paul Weitzel, of Lancaster, Pa. 1740. In- cluding brief sketches of the families of Allen, Byers, Bailey. Crawford, Davis. Hayden. McCormick, Stone, White and others. By Rev. Horace Edwin Hasden. Wilkes-Barre, Pa. 1853. [Svo., pp. 81. Price, $1 50.]
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.