USA > Pennsylvania > Historical register : notes and queries historical and genealogical, chiefly relating to interior Pennsylvania. Volume I > Part 8
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
.No family record of the period of his birth is known, but 1761 has been accepted as its date. He was son of Rev. John Hanna, who married Mary McCrea, daughter of Rev. James McCrea. who was also the father of Jane McCrea, whose ruth- less murder by Indians near Fort Edward, New York, is so graphically described by Irving in his life of Washington. The elder Hanna taught school. and young Hanna received a good education under a capable and affectionate tutor. His people were too poor to afford a higher educational training, but he set out in the world with what he had, and it served him well.
It is not positively known with whom he studied law, but it has come down to us that it was with Stephen Chambers, in Lancaster, where he seems to have been originally admitted. Upon the formation of Dauphin county, being twenty-four years
-
82
Historical Register.
of age, he was admitted at the first court. At that time a hand- some young fellow, quite six feet high, of fresh healthy appear- ance, and fine personal form. With these advantages. Mr. H. soon became one of the leading counsel, and so continued. notwith- standing his frequent and prolonged absences from his office on the public service, at Philadelphia, Lancaster. and Washington.
In 1795 he was elected to Congress, and continuously re- elected up to 1805. the year of his death. As he had previously served in the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, his public life was a long one for a man who lived less than forty-five years. He died July 13. 1805, at Harrisburg. His remains now repose in the Harrisburg Cemetery.
Prior to his election to political position. he was an active citizen in municipal affairs. In April, 1786, the next year after the formation of the county. an academy was founded, which is still in existence, and Gen. Hanna, Capt. John Hamilton. and Gen. John Kean were the first trustees. In 1794. we find his signature to the constitution of a library association, and one of its managers, with Mr. Kean, Rev. Henry Moeller, Adam Boyd, William Graydon. Rev. Nathaniel R. Snowden. Stacy Potts, and John Dentzell. He framed the law under which Harrisburg was incorporated in 1791. He also was one of the executors of John Harris, and there is scarcely an ancient title to property in the place that has not his signature to it.
Mr. Hanna had a marked taste for military affairs. He passed the lower grades under Major David Harris and Capt. John Kean. He rose to be a brigadier general, and held that position at the time of the Whiskey Insurrection, when he was assigned, May, 1794. to the command of the Second brigade, Second di- vision of the Pennsylvania forces, collected from Berks, Nor- thampton, and Dauphin counties. This corps marched under Gov. Mifilin to Bedford. Arriving there, it was found that the resistance to the laws it was called upon to quell, had ceased ; was ordered home and disbanded in the Market Square, Har- risburg. In the evening there was a ball and grand frolic. The next day the Berks and Northampton men were set in motion for home. the General and his staff going with them as far as Lebanon. In 1800, Governor MeKean commissioned
-
83
John André Hanna.
Mr. Hanna a major general of the Third division, covering what is now a dozen counties. He held this command as long as he lived.
Gen. Hanna married Mary Harris, daughter of John Harris and Mary Reed. She died August 20, 1851, in the eighty- first year of her age. They had nine children, only six of whom lived to mature years.
i. Esther Harris, d. s. p.
ii. Eleanor, d. s. p.
iii. Sarah Euton, m. Richard Templin Jacobs.
iv. Henrietta, d. 1840 ; unm.
v. Caroline Elizabeth, m. Joseph Briggs.
vi. Frances Harris, m. John Carson McAllister.
rii. Juliann C., m. John Fisher.
viii. Mary Reed, m. Hon. John Tod.
ix. Eleanor, d. s. p.
All left descendants except Mrs. Fisher. His widow sur- vived him many years. She knew all the old citizens; her habit was to ride to her farm_of a summer eve, "on a bob-tail bay;" as she passed down street, stop at every opportunity, , and chat with her neighbors. She passed away before the days of cordial sociability had gone entirely out of fashion.
The papers of Hanna have been strangely destroyed. It is not known that any of his correspondence exists, save a stray letter or two, two of which follow this sketch.
There is an excellent miniature of Mr. H., at about the age of thirty-five, in the possession of one of his grand-daughters.
Gen. Hanna to Adam Boyd, of Harrisburg.
WASHINGTON, 20th Jany, 1805.
DEAR SIR : As it has been my usual custom to address a line to you from the seat of government, & least you should be angry, I take up the pen, and at the same time, do not know on the subject of politics, what to write to a man who lives so near the Oracle; or on the subject of religion to you, who are under the immediate eye of the church. To detail what is passing here would be useless if you read the papers of both parties, which jointly & severally contain an equipoise of truth and falsehood. But no more of this.
It is expected that some important business will shortly occupy the attention of Congress, particularly in regard to Louisiana, whose peo-
84
Historical Register.
ple appear to be dissatisfied with their officers, and the form of gov- ernment which has been accorded to them. Give a man life and he demands more liberty than the moral and political good of society can afford him. These people, just brought from religious and poli- tical vassalage, now wish for more freedom than any of our old & present United States Territories. They wish to become a State in the Union : they ask for the privilege of carrying on the iniquitous African Slave Trade, &c., &c.
The Yazoo Claimants of the Georgia infamous Speculation, are here from New Hampshire to Georgia. [A blank space occurs here, as if more was to be said upon this subject, but was not.]
Let me hear from you and I will write what may happen worth notice.
Yours, in haste, but sincerely, JOHN A. HANNA.
Gen. Hanna to Col. Robert Clark, of Chillisquaque.
PHILADELPHIA, 3ª June, 1.98.
DEAR SIR : From our old acquaintance and friendship you no doubt expected, and with good reason, to have heard from me oftener, but the various correspondents with which a person in my line of life is persecuted, and particularly from those who have not an equal right with my constituents or friends, to attention, makes letter writing a burthensome task, and prevents much of that kind of information from flowing in its proper channel. The newspapers, however, fur- nish you with most of the subjects which may be treated of in a letter. At last I have procured the commission for Mr. Laird, and sent it up to John Simpson, Esq., which by this time you have heard. The reasons of its delay, Mr. Simpson is in possession of, who will be so obliging as to mention to you when he sees you.
Congress are still sitting, and may probably continue so to do all summer, unless something turns up more favorably than can reason- ably be expected. Our situation at present is truly critical and alarm- ing-the French daily and hourly committing depredations on our commerce, and the English not much behind them in their aggres- sions, the vessels of both these nations taking all ships bound to or from an enemies' port or with enemies' goods aboard, so that be- tween them we are plundered and pilfered 'at all points. Congress have ordered out several vessels of war to protect our trade, with in- structions to bring in all privateers of the French Republic found on our coasts annoying our Commerce, and to retake any that may have been captured by them. This in itself is a state of war, altho' no formal declaration has been made by either party.
People differ much here as to the success of the French Invasion of England, but the major opinion is now that the thing is impossible.
85
John Andre Hanna.
It appears by all the information which we have that the English are in a state of great preparation to receive them, and that there is as much unanimity in the cause as ever showed itself in that kingdom. The French, however. dare attempt anything, and nothing has yet been able to check their triumph.
The people of America appear, from all that we hear, to be unani- mous in the defence of their country, but I much doubt whether the majority of them have such high notions of HONOR as to wish for war, without first sitting down coolly & counting the Profit and loss on the costs. In case of war with France we have much to lose and nothing to gain but honor, and that honor depends upon a contingency upon the fate of war; however, I believe the people whom I have the honor to represent will not give up the substantial part of that honor -their Independence-without a very hard struggle. Some talk of Parties in this Country who would sacrifice their country to a foreign nation-I don't believe a word of it. There are men, and a great many of the best men, and say a majority, who do not approve all the measures of Government, who would still yield the last drop of their blood in her cause.
I will take an opportunity soon, by the mail, of writing you more fully my sentiments on political subjects, which by the way are not changed since you first knew me.
Please remember me with affection to Colonel Murray, and all my old acquaintances in your neighborhood, Capt" Collier, &c.
I am, D' Sir, your sincere friend
& very h'ble servant, JOHN A. HANNA.
1
86
Historical Register.
PENNSYLVANIANS IN THE "GENESEE COUNTRY."
BY JOHN L. SEXTON, JR.
The invasion of the "Genesee Country," or the land of the Six Nations, by Gen. Sullivan and his army in 1779, gave his soldiers and the people of the Colonies an idea of the rich pos- sessions held by the Indians in southern and western New York. The territory in New York, now composed of the counties of Steuben, Yates. Ontario, part of Wayne, and a large proportion of Monroe, a portion of Genesee and Livingston, and about one half of Allegany, containing about two million six hundred thousand acres of land the Indians claimed, as well as the States of New York and Massachusetts. On the 21st day of November. 1788. the State of Massachusetts, in consideration of three hundred thousand pounds, conveyed to Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham all its right and title to the above de- scribed lands. Phelps and Gorham had previously, in the month of July, 1788, at a council at Buffalo with the Indians, obtained, by purchase. their interest. The purchasers imme- diately caused their lands to be surveyed and placed them upon the market. That portion of the Phelps and Gorham purchase which now constitutes Steuben county, was surveyed by Frederick Saxton, Augustus Porter, Thomas Davis, and Rob- ert James, in the year 1789. While they were engaged in the survey their head-quarters were at Painted Post at the house of old Mr. Harris and his son William. These two men, Mr. Goodhue, who lived near by, and Mr. Mead, who lived at the mouth of Mead's creek, were the only persons then on the ter- ritory under survey. On the 18th day of November, 1790, Phelps & Gorham, by deed. conveyed one million and a quarter acres to Robert Morris, of Philadelphia, Pa. Robert Morris, by deed, dated April 11, 1792, conveyed to Charles William- son, about one million two hundred thousand acres of the Phelps & Gorham tract, which has since been known as the
-
Pennsylvanians in the Genesee Country. 87
Pultney estate. Mr. Williamson held the estate in secret trust for Sir William Pultney, an English baronet. In March, 1801. Mr. Williamson conveyed the estate directly to Sir William Pultney.# an act of the Legislature of the State of New York having been passed enabling an alien to hold said land. Sir William Pultney was the son of Sir James Johnstone. He assumed the name of Pultney on his marriage with Mrs. Pult- ney, niece of the Earl of Bath. and daughter of General Pultney. He died in 1805, leaving Henrietta Laura Pultney, countess of Bath, his only heir. Lady Bath died in 1808. intestate. and the estate descended to Sir John Lowther Johnstone. of Scot- land, her cousin and heir-at-law. Sir John died in 1811. and devised the estate in fee to Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cum- berland, (afterwards King of Hanover.) Charles Herbert Pierr- pont, Masterton Ure, and David Cathcart, (Lord Alloway.) in trust, with instructions to sell the same as soon as possible. We have been particular to give the history of the title in order that our subsequent dealings with Pennsylvanians who settled in southern New York, may be the better understood by the reader.
.
Charles Willianison, the first agent of the Pultney estate. was a native of Scotland. He held a captain's commission in the British army, and was captured by a French privateer, and remained a prisoner of war at Boston, until the close of the war. He became the agent of the Pultney estate, with head-quarters at Northumberland, Northumberland county, Pa. Five hundred
* Col. Williamson assigned to Sir William Pultney, on the 13th day of December, 1800, for the consideration of $300,000, all the bonds and mortgages held by Williamson. He subsequently conveyed in March, 1801, 50,000 acres of land in the county of Ontario ; 20 lots in the city of New York ; 1,784 acres of land in the county of Otsego; 1,299 in the town of Unadilla ; 1,400 in the county of Herkimer ; 9,000 acres in the county of Montgomery ; 34,108 in the county of Chenan- go; also 7,000 acres in the county of Chenango; 5,000 acres of land in Gerundigat township; 600 in the township of Galena, in Cayuga county, and all lands in the State of New York held by the said Wil- liamson.
Sir William Pultney, in consideration of the above, indemnified Williamson for certain claims and indebtedness which he had con- tracted as agent for the Genesee Association, prior to April 1, 1801.
-
1
88
Historical Register.
German and English settlers were sent over by the Pultneys to settle upon their estates in New York. Captain Willianison engaged the services of Robert and Benjamin Patterson, of Northumberland, two soldiers and scouts of the Revolutionary war, who, in the year 1792. led these emigrants through the unbroken wilderness, from Williamsport up the Lycoming to Trout run, across the mountain to what is now Liberty town- ship. in Tioga county. Pa .. and there erected a block-house: thence cut their way to the Tioga river where Blossburg is now located, and after suffering every conceivable hardship. they descended the Tioga to Painted Post, cutting a road a portion of the way on an old Indian trail. and descending a portion of the way by canoes, hewn from the forest trees. From Painted Post they ascended the Conhocton river, and located twenty miles above its junction with the Tioga, and founded a city in the wilderness and christened it Bath, in honor of Henrietta Laura, countess of Bath, England. A few Pennsylvanians had settled at Painted Post previous to this date. (1792.) Among them were William Harris and his son, the traders, and the Erwins, of Bucks and Northampton county.
One of the great centers of attraction for settlers from all portions of the Eastern and Middle States, was "Painted Post in the Genesee country." During General Sullivan's campaign of 1779, he discovered a rude painted post erected on the banks of the Conhocton river, a tributary of the Susquehanna, (not of the Genesee river, as some eastern writers have it.) This post had the appearance of having been hewed from a tree four square and painted red, with twenty-eight rude figures repre- senting human beings with their heads cut off. These were in black paint, and thirty other figures representing human beings with their heads on.
This rude post erected by the hand of a savage in the wil- derness, and stained and colored in various hues by the same untutored hand, acted as a talisman to attract thither the hardy pioneer from all sections of the Northern and Eastern States. Pennsylvania furnished her quota of these early pioneer settlers. This spot was visited by Timothy Pickering, General Proctor, the agents of Robert Morris, of Philadelphia, and by land view -
-
89
Pennsylvanians in the Genesee Country.
ers from Maryland. Virginia. New Jersey, New York, and the Eastern States. Until 1792. when General Williamson cut the road above mentioned, through from Northumberland to Painted Post and Bath, the only route accessible to this point from the south, was the Susquehanna river and its tributaries.
The treaty of 1784 by Pennsylvania with the Six Nations. which cession covered all of northern and north-western Penn- sylvania, and embraced lands on the head waters of the Genesee river, and the owning of large tracts of lands by William Bing- ham, of Philadelphia, one of the first United States Senators for Pennsylvania, a portion of which was situated on the head waters of the Genesee river, conspired. especially with Penn- sylvanians, to give a broad interpretation to the term "Genesee Country." Pennsylvania had suffered much during the Rev- olutionary war from incursions into the valley of the West Branch and the Wyoming valley, from the Indians, and when Pennsylvania had extinguished the Indian titles in 1784, and Phelps & Gorham, the Holland Company, and the Pultneys had come into possession of the very homes of the savages in western New York, there was a general feeling existing, par- ticularly in Pennsylvania. to occupy these fertile lands in the . region of the Painted Post in the Genesee country.
The Painted Post, as we have before stated, stood on the banks of the Conhoeton river. The land was owned by Phelps & Gorham. Charles H. Erwin, Esq., in his history of Painted Post, published in 1874, says: "Early in the summer of 1789, and while the surveyors of Phelps & Gorman were yet at work in this vicinity, Col. Arthur Erwin, a gentleman from Erwina, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, came to Painted Post with a drove of cattle which he was taking to Canandarque, (now Canandai- gua.) While resting his cattle here, he employed an Indian guide, mounted his pony and rode up the mountain on the north of the village, from whence he obtained a view of the triplet valleys of Chemung, Conhocton, and Tioga. Being impressed with the grandeur of the scene from his elevated position, he, with the guide, came back, crossed the Conhocton, followed a trail up through the beautiful valley of the Tioga, forded the Canisteo, and, from the summit of the mountain on the south
90
Historical Register.
side of that river, obtained another view of the grand land- scape these valleys presented at that time. carpeted as they were with the rich and variegated foliage of the dense and luxuriant forests that covered them. After enjoying for a time this in- comparable landscape with his guide. he returned to the log shanty of the surveyors, and started his men with the cattle on the trail towards Canandaigua, overtaking them some eight or ten miles from Painted Post. Leaving directions with his drovers to follow with the cattle, he. with his guide. hurried on to Canandaigua, where he arrived about the middle of July, late in the afternoon." "Mr. Erwin sought the office of Phelps & Gorham and made them an offer for the land he had ex- amined at Painted Post. which they accepted. And thus did the land whereon stood the historic Painted Post. in the Gen- esee country. become the property of a distinguished Pennsyl- vanian.
In September, 1790. Col. Arthur Erwin. Solomon Bennett. Joel Thomas, and Uriah Stephens, purchased the townships of Hornellsville and Canisteo, which are described in the deed as lands lving in the district of Erwin, and known by the name of "Old Canistear Castle."
Col. Erwin was a native of Antrim. Ireland. and emigrated to America prior to the Revolutionary war. and held a commis- sion in the Continental army. He was the proprietor of a large estate, which extended several miles along the west bank of the Delaware river in Bucks county, Pennsylvania. Aside from his purchase of Painted Post and Hornellsville. he also bought five thousand acres of land near the State line at Tioga Point, (now Athens.) In the summer of 1792 he visited his New York or Genesee property, accompanied by his sons. Cap- tains Samuel and Francis Erwin, and, on his return. while sit- ting in the house of one of his tenants at Tioga Point, he was shot by some miscreant. and died within a few hours. The rival claimants between Connecticut and Pennsylvania were supposed to be at the bottom of this murder. But the true cause of this deed was never ascertained.
91
Fithian's Journal.
-
FITHIAN'S JOURNAL. From Path Valley to Sunbury in 1775.
ANNOTATED BY JOHN BLAIR LINN.
[The Rev. Philip Viears Fithian, who kept the journal from which the following extracts are taken, was a graduate of the class of 1772. in the college of New Jersey, a class noted for its ability and for the subsequent prominence of many of its members. Aaron Burr. William Bradford. William Linn. D. D .. &c. Mr. Fithian was licensed to preach by the First Presby- tery of Philadelphia. November 6. 1774. On the 4th of April. 1775, he received an honorable dismission from the Presbytery. as there were no vacancies within its boundaries, and was recom. mended as a candidate in good standing. He left his home at Greenwich. N. J .. Mar 9. 1775. on horseback. for a tour through Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, in company with Andrew Hunter. also his classmate. taking notes of people and places in journal form. addressed to Miss Elizabeth Beatty, (sister of Major John. Dr. Reading, and Erkuries Beatty, sub- sequently prominent officers in the Pennsylvania Line.) After his return. October 25. he was married to Miss Beatty, and in the following June accepted the appointment of chaplain to Col. Newcomb's battalion of New Jersey militia, and died in camp at Fort Washington, of dysentery. October 8. 1776. He kept a journal up to within a few weeks of his death. embrac- ing the battle of Long Island and the subsequent skirmishing at York island. His last entry. Sunday, September 22. is : "Many of our battalion sick; our lads grow tired and begin to count the days of service which remain." A portion of Fith- ian's journal was published in Votes and Queries for 1881. edited by Dr. Egle, of which this is a continuation .- J. B. L.]
June 22, 1775 .- This valley# is in many places not more than a mile wide; it is level, and the land rich ; the mountains
* Path Valley.
92
Historical Register.
are both high and so near, that the sun is hid night and morn- ing an hour before he rises and sets. I rode on to one Elliot's; he keeps a genteel house with good accommodations. I saw a young woman, a daughter of his, who has never been over the South mountain, as elegant in her manner and as neat in her dress as most in the city. It is not place, therefore, but temper makes the person. In this valley we have many of the sugar tree; it is very like a maple ; the bark is more rough and curled. It grows in a low level rich land. They told me there has been frost here two mornings this week.
Friday, June 23 .- Expense at this tavern, 43 shillings ; dis- tance from Philadelphia computed, 160 miles west. We passed from this valley by the Narrows into Tuscarora valley, a most stony valley ; two high mountains on every side. The passage so narrow, " that you may take one stone in your right hand and another in your left and throw each upon a mountain, and they are so high, that they obscure more than the half of the horizon. A rainy dripping day, more uncomfortable for riding among the leaves. On the way all day was only a small foot path, and covered all with sharp stones. After many circum- locutions and regradations through the woods, it raining all day, we arrived about five in the evening, althrough besoaked, at one James Gray's, in a little hamlet in the woods. He was kind, and received me civilly ; he had good pasture for my horse, and his good wife prepared me a warm and suitable sup- per. Forgive me, my country ! I supped on tea ! It relieved me, however, and I went to bed soon. Distance rode to-day, 28 miles ; course, N. N. W. : expense at small tavern, 1s.
:
Saturday, June 24 .- Before breakfast came in a Scotch ma- tron with her rock and spindle, twisting away at the flax. The rock is a long staff on the end of which is her flax, like a dis- taff ; the spindle is a peg about 8 inches long, sharp at the end where the thread is twisted. and large at the other where it is rolled on. Expense here, 2s I rode on after breakfast to Mr. Samuel Lyon's, twelve miles yet in Tuscarora. He lives neat, has glass windows, and apparently a good farm. Here I met Mr. Slemons on his way down. From Mr. Lyon's I rode to
* At Concord, now in Franklin county.
Fithian's Journal. 93
the Juniata three miles, forded it and stopped just on the other side at John Harris. Esq.# He lives elegantly. In the parlor where I am sitting, are three windows each with twenty-four lights of large glass.
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.