USA > Pennsylvania > Historical register : notes and queries historical and genealogical, chiefly relating to interior Pennsylvania. Volume II > Part 20
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Col. James Burd, of Tinian.
he closed with Burd, many a wasted dollar would have been gained to himself and subsequent owners of this mill property. " Tinian " is upon an elevated plateau east of the present turn- pike, canal, and Pennsylvania railroad, about one half a mile of Highspire ; is perhaps one hundred feet above the Susquehanna river, overlooking it, the highlands of the York county shore, the lake-like river on the south, below the bustling town of Middletown, the village of Highspire, and commands from its door a view of more than a thousand of the most fertile and highly cultivated acres in Pennsylvania. In no part of our State is better soil, better cultivated, or adorned by more substantial improvements. A tourist will linger to enjoy this charming spot. The man who chose it for his residence must have been of refined taste. The dwelling, erected about 1760, is of lime- stone, is in excellent preservation, occupied by the present owner of the larger part of Burd's farm.
After 1785, when the townships of 1729 were erected into the County of Dauphin, Burd's residence came to be in the town- ship of Lower Paxtang. The assessment of that year gives him "400 acres of land, at Tinian," valued at £860, Pennsylvania currency, or in present money about $6 per acre; also one negro, four horses, three cattle; the total assessed value £950. The land had upon it two houses and barns. A year previous . to his death, Judge Yeates and John W. Kittera wrote his will. - From it he appears owner of " Rice Island," and a farm adjoin- ing in Newberry township, York county, the present Golds- borough ; of tracts of unseated land in Northumberland and Allegheny counties, "his share of Ormiston," the place of his birth, &c. His will is in the Register's office of Dauphin county, signed in his full, firm hand "James Burd," with seal and coat-of-arms. It is probated by John Joseph Henry. Jas- per Yeates and Edward Burd are named as the executors. The will divided the estate equitably between his children, who were-
i. Sarah, m. Jasper Yeates.
ii. Edward, m. his cousin, Sarah Shippen.
iii. Mary Shippen, m. Peter Grubb, of Hopewell Furnace, Lan- caster county.
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ir. Jane, m. George Patterson, of Mexico, Juniata county, then Mifflin.
&. Margaret, m. Jacob Hubley, of Lancaster, 1777.
vi. James, m. Elizabeth Baker, of Lancaster county.
vii. Joseph, m. first, Catharine Cochran ; second, Harriet Bailey ; one or both of Juniata county.
Colonel Burd and his wife rest near the entrance of the handsome cemetery in Middletown under marble slabs in- scribed as follows :
COL. JAMES BURD Born at Ormiston Scotland March 10th 1726 Died at Tinian Oct 5th 1793 Aged 67 years 6 months and 25 days.
SARAH BURD Born February 22nd 1731 Died at Tinian Sept 17th 1784 Aged 53 years 7 months and 25 days
After his death his sons disposed of one hundred and ninety acres of Tinian "without improvements," for £1,000, and the balance of the five hundred and fifty acres as the needs of its owner or owners required. Thus the name and fame of Burd of Tinian "passed under the cloud." There exists, it is said, a miniature of him, but we have been unable to find into whose hands it has fallen. He makes no mention of it in his will.
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Concerning the County of Luzerne.
CONCERNING THE COUNTY OF LUZERNE.
A CHARACTERISTIC LETTER OF COL. TIMOTHY PICKERING.
[TIMOTHY PICKERING, the author of the following letter, was born at Salem, Massachusetts, on the 17th of July, 1745. He graduated at Harvard University in 1763, studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1768. At the outset of the Revo- lution he was on the Committee of Correspondence, and was the author of the address of the people of Salem to the British General, Gage, on the occasion of the Boston port bill. He first opposed an armed resistance to the British troops, when, on the 26th of February, 1775, he, while a colonel of militia, pre- vented their crossing at a drawbridge to seize some military stores. In the fall of 1776 he joined Washington's army in the Jerseys, was subsequently made his adjutant general, and was present at the battles of Brandywine and Germantown. On the 5th of August, 1780, he succeeded General Greene as Quartermaster General. After the war he took up his resi- dence in Philadelphia, and in 1786 was sent by the Govern- ment to assist in adjusting the claims of the Connecticut set- tlers in Wyoming. For an account of his adventures in that section, see Hazard's Register, vol. vii. In 1787 he represented the county of Luzerne in the Pennsylvania Convention to ratify the Federal Constitution. At that period he held the offices of prothonotary, clerk of the courts, &c., for the county, and was subsequently a member of the Pennsylvania Convention of 1789-90. He opposed Governor Mifflin's election to the gubernatorial office, but, nevertheless, continued to hold his positions under him. President Washington appointed him Postmaster General, November 7, 1791, which he held until the 2d of January, 1795; filled the office of Secretary of State from December 10, 1795, to the 12th May, 1800. Leaving office poor, he settled on a tract of land he possessed in Penn- sylvania. He returned to Salem, Massachusetts, the year fol- lowing, afterwards filling the various offices of judge of the
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courts, United States Senator, 1803-11, member of the Massa- chusetts Board of War. 1812-14, and member of Congress. 1815-17. He wrote quite a number of political pamphlets during his brilliant political career, and was one of the leaders of the Federal party. He died at Salem, Massachusetts, on the 29th of January, 1829. To sum up briefly his character, "he was a talented writer, a brave and patriotic soldier, and a disinterested, able, and energetic public officer. Plain and unassuming in manner, he excelled in conversation."]
PHILADELPHIA, August 16, 1791.
SIR : It is proper for me to inform you that the President of the United States has been pleased to appoint me to the office of Postmaster General. This, of course, vacates the offices which I held under Pennsylvania, and though I do not feel myself under any obligations to the county of Luzerne, yet I shall be pleased to see its welfare promoted. I shall be pleased to see that part of Pennsylvania prosper ; and I shall also be pleased, Sir, to see your administration approved and applauded. I am at all times indisposed to adulation. I hope I am incap- able of it; my present situation has removed every possible inducement to it. I may, therefore, now say, what a week ago would have been suppressed, lest it should have been suspected to arise from interested views, which I was willing to promote by dishonorable means. Once we were friends ; and once, I persuade myself, you placed confidence in me. Now, I am not your enemy ; the asperity which sprung up from certain cir- cumstances, time has worn away. It will now give me pleas- ure to contribute, if I can, to the success of your administration. At present I cannot do it so effectually in any way as by giv- ing you information respecting the county of Luzerne, and es- pecially respecting the offices I there held. With regard to these, in giving information, I comply with your own wishes expressed in your circular letter of (I think) last December, in- viting to a correspondence concerning them.
In the first place, give me leave to assure you, that the bus- iness in all those offices together, is but of small extent, and con- sequently of small emolument-too small to admit of a division.
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Concerning the County of Luzerne.
In the Register's office, during a space of more than four years, but about half a dozen wills have been presented. Letters of administration have been more numerous. I think between eighty and ninety have been issued; but these have been chiefly on the estates of persons who were dead before the change of jurisdiction in 1782; and of them, the greater part fell victims to the Indians in 1778. The run of these is over, and scarcely half a dozen letters are now issued in a year. In the Orphans' Court all the proceedings do not fill a quire of paper. In the Court of General Quarter Sessions of the peace, as little business has occurred as in the Orphans' Court. In the Recorder's office. the deeds and mortgages are recorded in separate books, and if united would fill about three fourths of one folio volume of demi, or about five quires of paper.
The Prothonotary's office furnished most bussiness ; but this arose from the like cause with the letters of administration ; the business had been dammed up during several years ; the law introduced opened the gates; and during three years there was a run of from twenty to forty actions at a term; but the. sources have failed, & the stream is greatly reduced. At the last term, the number of actions was about eighteen ; and when I left home, ten days ago, there stood on the docket but a solitary action for the ensuing term, commencing this day two weeks.
These facts I state from my memory, (which, however, I believe is pretty exact) not expecting such an occasion to use them, for till I reached Bethlehem, I knew not that any office under the United States was vacant.
Permit me now, Sir, to mention a gentleman there who can well execute, and who well deserves all those offices. I mean Abraham Bradley, Esq., whose prudence, steadiness & sobriety are exemplary-whose integrity is unblemished-whose in- -dustry has no rival-and whose judgement and law knowledge have there no superior-I think I should speak more accu- rately if I were to say no equal. In pleadings & the necessary forms, he is decidedly superior to all. But he came later into practice than the other three attornies-was younger-some- what diffident-and has not formed a habit of speaking. He
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has, therefore had few causes to manage, and his fees have been trifling. He studied law & wrote in the office of Tappan Reeve. Esq., an eminent lawyer at Litchfield in Connecticut. He writes a fair, strong, legible hand. perfectly adapted to records. During my frequent absences in the last two years, he has done the business in the court & in my office with great propriety. 'Tis a business in which he takes pleasure. His law-knowledge renders him peculiarly fit to hold all the offices before mentioned ; and will give great facility in the execu- cution. And his law-knowledge will not be stationary-it will advance. For he has an inquisitive mind, & a taste for litera- ture in general. This, sir, is not the language of hyperbole ; "I speak the words of truth and soberness," from an intimate personal acquaintance with Mr. Bradley. I think he was last spring admitted an attorney in the Supreme Court, but Mr. Burd can inform you.
With great satisfaction, Sir, I have seen the respectable law appointments which you have made; and I have heard them spoken of in terms of high approbation. The same principle will lead you to select other officers for the department of law who have the best law-knowledge. I need not mention that the Register's and Prothonotary's offices more especially require much law-knowledge-and the more the incumbent possesses, with the more propriety and facility he will executive them. More than ever, law-knowledge in the Prothonotary, will now be useful and important, on account of the increased importance of the Court under the new Constitution.
Give me leave, Sir, to close this long letter with a few words relative to the County judges. Mr. Joseph Kinney was pretty early appointed a judge of the common pleas; but fully expecting to remove to the State of New York, he sent to. the court a letter of resignation, but I do not know that his resignation was ever declared to the Executive Council; I be- lieve it was not. Helived near Tioga, where Esq' Hollenback was sometimes present, and to which neighbourhood Esq" Mur- ray moved up from Shawnee. Mr. Kinney was disappointed in respect to the lands in York State, to which he meant to go ; and has remained in Luzerne. Christopher Hurlburt, Esq' is now a justice of the peace and of the court of common pleas
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Concerning the County of Luzerne.
for that County. These two gentlemen I name before all oth- ers who can have any pretensions to the office of Judge of the Common pleas under the new Constitution ; because they are decidedly men of superior discernment, of minds more improved and still improving. because they are inquisitive, have a taste for reading, and a thrist for knowledge.
I do not know that the other judges can be better chosen than from among the gentlemen who have held seats in the legislature and executive council, whom you personally know, always excepting " Captain John Paul Schott.'
I have, Sir, written you a tedious letter. I have revised it with attention. The characters of the gentlemen I have de- scribed. I think, are drawn with truth. If I were never to see you again ; if I were going to quit this country, or the world, I should freely write what I have written. Should you honour me with any questions relative to the county of Luzerne, I shall answer them with pleasure: and with the same candour that I should have given you information at any period of my life.
I have the honour to be, Respectfully, Sir, Your most obed't servant, TIMOTHY PICKERING.
His Excellency THOMAS MIFFLIN. Esq.
INTERESTING CORRESPONDENCE. [Devereux Smith to the Indian Commissioners. ] HANNASTOWN, March 24th, 1777.
GENTLEMEN: You have Long since been acquainted of Andrew Macfarlane Esquire, is being taken Prisoner the 14th of Feberary at Hatharings. From that date to the 17th or 18th of this Instant. Captin Moorhead whas under necesaty of stay- ing at that Post with a small Party of Milica to Gard the Stoors &c., When he Was relieved by an officer and about 25 Men of the Milica. to whom he Delivered up the Stors, &c. ; and was on his return to this Settelment to Recrut, when he found one Simpson killed and Scalpt, a hors shot by him, & Captin Moorhead's Brother Who was in Company with sayed
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Simpson a missing. Suposed to be taken prisnar. Whas found by the Dead Corps, a War Bullet, a Tammoake & a beevan Pouch containing a Written Speech, A Coppy of it you have inclosed. You have also inclosed a Letter from Colonel Mor- gan Which was sent to this Place Late Last Night by Express. The above Simpson & Captin Moorhead's Brother Left Kat- taning the 16th, whas found the 18th about 10 miles from Thar, neer Blankit Hill. Captin Moorhead being obliged to Stay so Long at Kattanning & Luttent Macfarline being Pris- nar put allmost a totall stop to the Recruiting sarvis of his Company. And the Calling of the Westmoreland Battalon & Milica as left this County very bare of Men and arms, and you both well no the Milica of this county are not to be Depended on When at home; therefore from the present appearance of things, if som speedy steps are not taken for ower Relief, Eithar by the Honnorable Congress or Gentelmen in authority in ower Government below, This infant Contery Sartinly will fall a victim to British tirants & mercyless Savages.
I am your obedant H'bl Sirvant, DEVEREUX SMITH.
To Colonels MONTGOMERY and JASPAR YEATES Commissioners for Indin affars, Midel Department.
27th .- Last night the Party of Milica, 30 men who ware sent to keep Garason at Kattaning & take care of the Stors till Cap- tin Moorhead raised his Company, Returned to this Place, having Avacvated that Post; and asine no other Resan but becaus the was affreed. I hop wee will Gett them to Return, by Reinforcing them, &c. Colonel Crafford has assured Cap- tin Moorhead by Letter that he will send him Immedat asist- ance from his Battalon.
[.Jasper Yeates to John Harvie.] LANCASTER, Oct. 31, 1777.
DEAR SIR : I cannot be uninterested in the Fate of our Fron- tier Settlements. My long Residence at Fort Pitt has connected me with the Inhabitants of that Quarter more nearly than I. could have at first believed.
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Concerning the County of Luzerne.
Mr. Anderson lately informed me of an Anecdote respecting Capt. White Eves which I think does him great Honour. Capt. O'Hara confirms the account. It seems General Hand sent down two Persons to the Delaware & Shawanese Towns to in- form them of the Success obtained over the Northern Indians by Genl. Harkimer. When they came near White Eves' House they discovered a Flag flying with 13 Stripes on it. He wel- comed them to his Cabbin, & was much rejoiced at the News they brought. The same Day a party of Wiandots and Shaw- anese came there who were offended at the appearance of the Flag & desired the old Warrior to take it down. He perempto- rily refused. They replied they would level it themselves. He sternly told them they might level his House, but he would never suffer them to show such Indignity to his White Brethren as to remove their Banner. It shall not be struck, says he, while I can grasp my Tomahawk. The party went off sullen and discontented.
Surely such Conduct deserves the Attention of Congress. You, Sir, perfectly know White Eyes' Worth and Attachment to our Interest. His Conduct during the last Treaty was highly pleasing to the Comm's. He complains of having suf- fered some Losses, & was once going to repeat them to Con- gress. Would not a handsome Present immediately from Con- gress attach him more Strongly to us, & point out to other In- dians of Influence a new Road to Distinction ? The Red Peo- ple feel strongly the Force of such Arguments. I have taken the Liberty of suggesting the Matter to you for your Consider- ation, and am, Sir
Your most Obed. Servt.
JASPER YEATES.
To JOHN HARVIE, Esq., at Yorktown.
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NOTES AND QUERIES
"CYMIBALINES."-On page 115, Historical Register, note to "Fith- ian's Journal," cymbalines are termed "doughnuts." This is not correct. Cymbalines are squashes, found in the spring markets. It is a term commonly used in Maryland and the South. S. E.
"THE MARKLEY FREUNDSCHAFT."-A record of the descendants of Jacob Markley of Skippack, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, is the latest contribution to Pennsylvania genealogy. Although a modest pamphlet of thirty-six pages, it is nevertheless exceedingly valuable. The representative man of the family was Philip S. Mark- ley, who served two terms in Congress, was naval officer at Philadel- phia, and Attorney General of Pennsylvania-a man of marked ability -- and who died in the prime of life, at the age of forty-five. In this pamphlet we discern the hand of Henry S. Dotterer, to whose researches " The Markley Freundschaft " acknowledge their indebt- edness.
A NOTABLE PUBLICATION -- The "Filson Club " of Louisville, Kentucky, has issued, as its first publication, " John Filson, the first Historian of Kentucky, an account of his life and writings prepared from original sources, by Reuben T. Durrett, President of the Club." It is a large quarto of 132 pages, handsomely printed, illustrated with a portrait of Filson lately discovered, a fac-simile letter, and also a fac-simile of his original map of Kentucky of 1784. This is the first of a series of publications to be made by the Filson Club, an association organized for the purpose of collecting and preserving original his- torical matter relating to the early history of the Central West, and especially to Kentucky. In 1784, John Filson, who lost his life while laving the foundation of Cincinnati, published a history and map of Kentucky, which were not only the first of that State, but the initial chapter in the annals of the valley of the Mississippi, then a wilder- ness, but now containing one fifth of the population of the United States. It has been denied by many, and doubted by more, that Fil- son ever issued a map with his history, though it is specially men- tioned. This is at last settled by the beautiful photo-lithographic fac-simile of one of the original maps which accompanies this volume,
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Notes and Queries.
placing within reach of the historian the only authentic picture of the country as it was a hundred years ago. Before this publication, all that was known about Filson might have been told upon one of its pages, but here we have an elaborate account of his life and writ- ings, with alternating paragraphs of history and romance, poetry and anecdote, pathos and humor, that must prove entertaining, not only to the historian, but to the general reader. No work of its compass or pretensions in our times has shown more historic research and pro- duced more original matter. It is a work which every student of western history should possess, which every one interested in the his- tory of Kentucky should own, and without which no historical col- lection can be considered complete. A limited number of copies, at $2 50, are for sale by the publishers, Robert Clark & Co., Cincinnati, O.
THE FRANKLIN COUNTY CENTENNIAL .- In the present decade the Centennial Anniversaries of ten counties of Pennsylvania are noted : These are Washington, 1781, March 25; Fayette, 1783, Sep- tember 26 ; Franklin, 1784, September 9; Montgomery, 1784, Septem- ber 10; Dauphin, 1755, March 4: Luzerne, 1786, September 25: Hunt- ingdon, 1787, September 20; Allegheny, 17SS, September 24; Mifflin, 1789, September 19: Delaware, 1789. September 26.
Appropriate celebrations of the hundredth anniversary of two of these counties, Franklin and Montgomery, have just transpired. These celebrations in both instances have reflected credit upon the patriotic citizens of the respective counties. Franklin county's cel- ebration was particularly interesting.
Cumberland county with peculiar fitness bears the appellation of the "" Mother of Counties." Among the sixty-seven counties in the con- federacy of which Pennsylvania exists a State, five: Bedford, Frank- lin, Mifflin, Northumberland, and Perry are children, direct offspring, of Old Mother Cumberland. Thirteen : Blair, Cambria, Fulton, Huntingdon, Somerset, Westmoreland, Centre, Juniata, Clearfield, · Columbia, Luzerne, Lycoming, and Union are the grandchildren of Cumberland. These in turn have carried the germs of the old stock into as many more of the newer counties of the State. Franklin county is Cumberland's second born, the nearest to her heart, and her most prosperous child.
Without entering into the details of the programme of her cele- bration it is sufficient to say, that it is doubtful whether any other county of this State, outside of Philadelphia, can make a more credit- able idustrial and trades display than was made by Franklin county on that occasion. It must be remembered that the hundred years of Franklin's life have not been years of uninterrupted peace and pro- . gress. That even when sister counties were free to receive the im- press of the progress of the nineteenth century, she was " passing
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under the rod," bearing for the general good of all, the burden which they, to this day, have never assumed their share of.
The literary exercises of the occasion consisted of an oration of an appropriate character, by H. L. Fisher, Esq., of York. An historical address by George Chambers, Esq., a great-great-grandson of Col. Benjamin Chambers, the first settler of the county. Mr. Chambers, in a pleasing manner, and in succinct form, presented the history of the county, from the early day when dusky savages peopled the forest where the city now is, when "at the bark of the watch-dog, at the rustling of the leaves-in the still night-the mother clasped her children in terror lest the stealthy enemies were at the door," down to the present prosperous time, when the scream of the steam-whistle has scared away the savage forever.
Mr. John M. Cooper, founder of the Valley Spirit, (one the regular newspapers of the town,) and worthily identified with the county as a citizen for a long period of time, more than filled the measure of expectation in a neat descriptive poem. Mr. Cooper's verses are far above the average effort of this character. He seems inspired with his subject, the natural beauties of the valley county, and he closes his tribute in these words :
No mortal who sees her can ever forget This jewel of nature exquisitely set, For her sweet smiling face on his heart is engraved, Like the image of Christ on a soul that is saved.
Sons and daughters of Franklin, go see all the world O'er which banner has floated or sail been unfurled ; See the rainbow that arches Niagara's thunders ; Feast your eyes till they sate on Yosemite's wonders:
Go where history's columns are covered with mold And things new to us have for ages been old ;
Go where treasures uncounted by kings have been spent And art unto nature her genius has lent :
Thread the paths of all lands; ride the waves of all seas ; Drain the flagon of sight-seeing down to the lees; And when old age creeps on you and hazes your eye, And you feel that the end of life's journey is nigh-
Then return to the Valley that sponsored your birth, For your last glimpse of sky and your last look of earth, For a picture to match her will never be seen
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