USA > Pennsylvania > Beaver County > History of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, and Its Centennial Celebration, Volume II > Part 60
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pound was equivalent to $2.66}, and the shilling at 13} cents. The cause assigned for the low prices obtained for these lands were the Indian troubles, and the large amount of Donation lands thrown on the market; the old soldiers preferring to sell rather than settle on the lands; but there was another potent and sinister reason: powerful combinations were formed by monied men to engross these lands for speculative pur- poses. "Trusts " and "syndicates" are not of modern growth.
The sales were suspended; the sale of 6,238 acres in North Sewickley township, bringing $829.10 or about 3} cents an acre, made the State officials weary and sick at heart. Nothing further was done in reference to the disposal of the vacant lands, until the passage of the Act of April 3, 1792. The cardinal purpose of that Act was the sale, settlement and improvement of the vacant lands. The mode adopted was, however, exceedingly vicious. "A duplex and adverse system of acquiring lands was created; Land Office rights, and settlement claims were placed in direct hostility to each other"; and the ancient controversy between capital and labor was renewed with increased vigor, both on the land and in the courts. Under this Act the lands were offered for sale to "per- sons who will settle, cultivate and improve the same, or cause them to be cultivated, improved and settled. That no warrant of survey, shall vest any title, in or to the lands, unless the grantee has, prior to the date of such warrant made or caused to be made, or shall within the space of two years, next after the date of the same, make or cause to be made, an actual settlement thereon, by clearing, fencing and cultivating at least two acres in every hundred contained in the survey; erecting thereon a messuage for the habitation of man, and residing, or causing a family to reside thereon, for the space of five years next following his first settling the same, if he or she shall so long live; and in default of such actual settlement and residence, it shall be lawful for the Commonwealth to issue new warrants to other actual settlers for the said lands, or any part thereof."
But there was a proviso, "That if any such actual settler, or any grantee, in any such original or succeeding warrant, shall by force of arms of the enemies of the United States, be prevented from making such actual settlement, or be driven therefrom, and shall persist in his endeavors to make such actual settlement as aforesaid, then, in either case, he and his heirs shall be entitled to have and to hold the said lands, in the same manner as if the acutal settlement had been made and continued." Settlement was imposed on both classes, unless excused by the proviso; and in order to induce such actual settlement, the price of the land was reduced to 20 cents an acre, with an allowance of six percentum for roads and highways, together with an exemption of direct taxes, for a term of ten years from the passage of the Act: and if the actual settler did not within ten years from the passage of the Act, apply for a warrant, pay the office fees and the purchase money, with interest from the date of im- provement, not being hindered by death or enemies aforesaid, the lands were to revert to the Commonwealth, and might be granted to others.
Immediately on the passage of the Act of 1792, applications were
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made for warrants; Daniel Brodhead, the Surveyor-General of the State, took out two warrants for 850 acres on Walnut Bottom Run, on the very day of its passage. But he was wise enough to enter these lands in the names of personages outside of his office, a precedent that seems to have been overlooked by a late incumbent. One of the charges against Brodhead, while acting as commandant at Fort Pitt, in 1781, preferred by Colonel John Gibson, was that he was scudding through the country, in search of mill-seats, to the neglect of his public duties. When the time came Brodhead seemed to know where to make his locations. The town of Beaver Falls occupies part of the Brodhead locations.
On the 14th of April, 1792, John Nicholson, the Comptroller-General of the State, made application for 250 warrants of 400 acres each to be located on the waters of Beaver Creek. The Pennsylvania Population Company was organized in May, 1792, with John Nicholson, as President. The first Managers were Theophilus Casanave, William Irvine, David Meade, Daniel Leet, John Hoge, and Walter Stewart. The stock of the company consisted of 2500 shares, each share representing 200 acres of land. John Nicholson was a man of extraordinary powers of mind, which led him to form schemes of speculation distinguished for their vastness and uncommon extent. His speculations in real estate were not confined to Pennsylvania, but were diffused throughout the United States. An idea of the magnitude of his speculations may be formed from a report to the Legislature in which his lands in Pennsylvania alone were esti- mated at five million acres. He was Comptroller of the State from 1782 to 1794, during which time $27,000,000 of public money passed through his hands. Operations so grand inevitably lead to embarrass- ment. To extricate himself from his difficulties, he made use of the public funds, and became a defaulter in large amounts; he was imprisoned and died in confinement and insane, during the year 1800.
From the inaccurate and obscure wording of the "Proviso," different constructions were placed upon it. In the case of the Holland Land Co. vs. Tench Coxe, Chief-Justice Marshall, of the Supreme Court of the United States held, that if either warrantee or settler was prevented from making the settlement by death, or driven from the land by enemies of the United States, the condition was passed and gone, and a patent should issue without more ado. Fortunately that court did not have exclusive jurisdiction of the matter. Had this view been accepted, the Population Company might, perhaps, be still doing business, settle- ments retarded, much of the land left in a state of nature, and the State powerless to correct the evil. The Judges of our own Supreme Court held that the condition of settlement, imposed on both warrantee and settler who had been driven from the land in time of war, was only suspended as long as the danger continued; and when the terror ceased, or was removed, both must "persist in their endeavors to make the actual settlement aforesaid." It was also judicially determined that a State of war existed in the western country from 1790 to the ratification of Wayne's treaty, December 22, 1795; and that the settlement must be
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made within two years from that date. On the representation of Governor Mifflin that there were more patents issued on "prevention certificates " than there was land in the State to satisfy them, the Legis- lature closed the Land Office, September 22, 1794, except to actual settlers and those who had a credit balance in the Land Office for un- satisfied warrants. Notwithstanding the decision of a state of war, settlements were made in Beaver County, north of the Ohio, in 1792; notably Benoni and Nicholas Dawson, William Laughlin, Neal McLaugh- lin and Charles Phillips, in Ohio township, and William Foulks, in South Beaver, all in April, 1792; while William Williams made a settlement on "Buck Run," now known as Walnut Bottom Run, in November of that year, and was there in 1796.
In 1796, after Wayne's treaty, vast numbers of actual settlers and their families pressed eagerly into the lands north and west of the Ohio and Allegheny, and they naturally selected the best tracts on which to settle, and paid no attention to the surveys. They assumed judicial functions, and said that, the Population Company not having complied with the condition of settlement, their warrants were "dead" This senti- ment received a very severe shock when the Supreme Court said the Commonwealth alone could take advantage of the forfeiture, and that vacating warrants must be taken out. At this stage the music began. While there was but little legal contention concerning the lands sold by the State, this Act of 1792 opened copious fountains of litigation; it was a well-spring of joy for the lawyers; it put them in clover, and kept them busy for many years.
There were seventy-six ejectment suits brought by the Population Company against actual settlers on the Trial List of the Circuit Court, held by Justice Jasper Yeates, at Beaver, beginning on Monday, Septem- ber 15, 1806. The company was represented by attorneys John Wood, Thomas Collins, and David Hayes, and the defendants by A. W. Foster, Esq. Three cases were tried, and verdicts were rendered for the defen- dants. These verdicts were promptly set aside, as being contrary to the charge of the Court, and new trials awarded, much to the disgust and indignation of the spectators; several Irishmen stamped their feet, and grasped and flourished their shillalahs.
The ejectment suit against William Foulks brought in 1802 was on the trial list of 1806, but was discontinued, and it is said suit was brought against him in the Circuit Court of the United States, at Philadelphia, by Robert Bowne, a citizen of New York, as Lessee of Stephen Page. The clerk of that court, however, informs me that no such entitled case is found among the records of his office. It is certain that Foulks never attended any court, as a defendant, in respect to his settlement. The warrant to Page was dated April 14, 1792. Before that date Foulks had commenced an improvement on the land and on the 11th of March, 1806, when the vacating warrant was issued to him, and the deputy surveyor was executing the same, Foulks was residing on the said tract. He had eighty acres cleared, fenced and cultivated; and a two-story house and a double barn thereon, together with a peach and apple orchard. William
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B. Irish, the deputy marshal, on the a3d of September, 1807, accompanied by Ennion Williams, George Holdship, and James Hamilton, proceeded to dispossess him; in this they failed and Hamilton lost his life, by a bullet from a rifle. Hamilton was an actual settler, but had compromised with the company, and became its active partisan. A young man named Nathaniel Eakin, was tried at Beaver, November 5, 1807, for the murder of Hamilton, but the jury returned a verdict of "not guilty."
A copy of the "prevention certificate" used, may not be without interest: "We do certify that A. B. (the warrantee or settler) hath been prevented from making a settlement on a tract of land containing 400 acres, situate &c., conformable to the provision contained in the ninth section of the Act entitled an Act, &c., passed April 3, 1792, by force of arms of the enemies of the United States; and that he, the said A. B. hath persisted in his endeavors to make such settlement." This certifi- cate was to be signed by two justices of the peace, in the vicinity of said lands. It will be observed that prevention merely was sufficient, without specifying time, place or circumstance, and without reference to the sternness of the persistence or resistance. In this, however, the settler and warrantee were on an equality. It was even held, that if either had a well-grounded apprehension of personal violence, or grievous bodily harm, the settlement was excused until the apprehension was quieted; a man was not required to await on the land until he was struck with a tomahawk or shot at with a rifle.
The following is a partial list of actual settlers in Beaver County, against whom suits were brought in the Circuit Court, September, 1802, by the Population Company:
William Huston
John Lewis
James Smart
Samuel Heiner
Henry Lawrence
John Taylor
Isaac Lawrence
Hugh McCready
Henry Ulery
William Plumer
Stewart McCready John Wilson
William Baker
Mary McKeg
William Young
Samuel Blair
Robert McClelland
Jacob Fulk
Alexander Wright
John Partridge
Peter Miller
Thomas Lewis
James Stevenson
Samuel Ramsey
Philip Achenbaugh
Jacob Server
Philip Lawrence
John Alexander
Prudence Bell
John Fried
John Aitken
Thomas Beatty
John Foster
Conrad Henning
Alexander Cochran
John McCelan
Joshua Hartshorne Thomas Hartshorne Andrew Johnston Robert Johnston Samuel Johnston
Joseph Cochran
Christian Showalter
Archibald Cunningham Simon Bell
Samuel Caughey Robert Clark
John Cooper
William Hanna
John White
George Kunkel
Charles Green Isaac Hudson
William Stevenson
William Lowry
Thomas Hanna
Andrew Latta
James Huffstatter
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Even after forty years of trial and tribulation, with the Judges of the Supreme Court still befogged and bedeviled with those questions, and occasionally reversing themselves, an unexpected danger presented itself. From the enormous expenditures made for Internal Improvements, the State found herself in 1840, on the verge of financial perdition. To relieve the Commonwealth from impending disaster, the Legislature, on April 16, 1840, created the Nicholson Court of Pleas, consisting of Judge Anthony and two associates; and this court appointed three com- missioners designated as Commissioners of the Nicholson Estate. The Commonwealth had in December, 1795, and March, 1796, obtained judgments for large sums of money against John Nicholson, and these commissioners alleged that Nicholson, was President of and owner of 860 shares of the Population Company stock, at the time the liens attached. These commissioners on the 7th of September, 1842, an- nounced by advertisement and hand-bill, that they would sell, October 24th, at the Exchange Hotel, in Pittsburg, 90,000 acres of land in Beaver County, designating the tracts; and much more in the counties of Butler, Mercer, Crawford, and Erie. These proceedings produced a wide-spread commotion. The actual settlers or their descendants, in vast numbers, held irritated and angry meetings in the various counties to protest against this sudden and high-handed proceeding. In Beaver County, the whole country-side assembled at Darlington, September 23, 1842, to enter protest against this summary and vicious attempt. It was clearly shown at that meeting, by H. J. Huidekoper, Esq., a former Secretary of the Population Company, that John Nicholson had no interest in the company at the time the judgments were obtained against him; that the company paid for the warrants, and that the 860 shares, in Nicholson's name, were all assigned to various persons, giving name and date, prior to May 14, 1795, months before the judgments were entered. Judge Watts, of Erie, petitioned and secured an injunction from the Supreme Court, restraining the commissioners from further proceeding; and by an Act of Assembly, of March 11, 1843, the Lien of the Commonwealth, against the Estate of John Nicholson, was released and discharged, and the country had peace.
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APPENDIX No. VII
DISPOSITION OF LANDS IN THE RESERVE TRACT AT THE MOUTH OF THE BIG BEAVER
INSTRUCTIONS TO THE SURVEYOR-GENERAL, DEPUTY SURVEYORS AND OTHERS
ACTS OF ASSEMBLY RELATING THERETO
LISTS OF ORIGINAL PURCHASERS OF "IN-LOTS" AND "OUT-LOTS" AT BEAVER, ETC.
By J. SUTTON WALL, Chief Draftsman at Harrisburg, Pa.
To the Surveyor General, the Receiver General, and Secretary of the Land Office
IN COUNCIL PHILADA. Septr. 12th, 1785.
GENTLEMEN :-
Taking into consideration the proceedings for carrying into execution the "Act for the sale of certain lands therein mentioned for the purpose of redeeming and paying off the certificates of depreciation given to the Officers and Soldiers of the Pennsylvania line or their representatives &c." We are of opinion, that you should prepare as accurate a Map as you can of the said depreciation lands, divided into the several districts, and another Map of the hundred lots surveyed by Daniel Lect and numbered from one to an hundred-that it should be shewn upon the first Map in what part of the Country thereby represented the said lots are situated- that to the second Map should be annexed a description of each lot as given by the Surveyor-that these Maps should be immediately put up at the Coffee House in this City for public inspection-that advertisements should be forthwith published in the Gazette. Journal, Freeman's Journal and a German Newspaper, and continued weekly to the time of sale, con- taining a general description of said Les mentioning their situation, distances from Pittsburgh, Old Lang Town Port Molnuah or other noted places, and the streams by which they are watered, and referring fos
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a more exact description of each lot, to the second Map, and giving notice that the sales will commence at the said Coffee House on the twenty first day of November next at ten o'clock in the morning, and be continued from day to day, until the whole are sold-that the payment must be in gold or Silver, or in the Certificates aforesaid, one half of the consideration to be paid in five days from the sale, and the other half, in fifteen days more, or the sale to be void-and that the Surveyors' fees are to be paid at the same time
We also think, that a thousand such advertisements in hand bills should be distributed throughout the Counties.
After these steps are taken, you will please to proceed to the Sales, beginning at number one, and proceeding to the next in numerical order, and making report to Council of your proceedings.
I am with great respect Gentlemen
Your most obedient Servant JOHN DICKINSON.
* * *
AN ACT to empower the Governor to lay out a town and out Lots at the mouth of Beaver creek for the uses therein mentioned
WHEREAS by the Act of Assembly passed in the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty three, for the purpose of redeeming the certifi- cates of the depreciation given to the officers and soldiers of the Penn- sylvania line, and for other purposes therein mentioned a certain Tract of Land was reserved to the use of the State, as in the said act is expressed, containing three thousand Acres situate on the Ohio, and on both sides of the mouth of Beaver-creek, including Fort McIntosh AND WHEREAS it appears that the sale of one third part of said tract will be an encourage- ment, convenience and security, to those who become the first settlers:
SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- tives of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same That the Governor is hereby empowered to direct the Surveyor-General to lay out, or cause to be laid out and surveyed, two hundred acres of land in town lots on or near the ground where the old French town stood, in such manner as commissioners appointed by the Governor shall direct; and also one thousand acres adjoining the upper side thereof, to be laid out and surveyed. as nearly square as may be, in out lots not less than five acres, nor more than ten acres each: PROVIDED always, That the Governor shall reserve out of the lots of the said town, so much land as he shall deem necessary for public uses.
SECTION 2. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid. That upon the return of such surveys, which are hereby directed to be made to the Surveyor-General, the Governor shall be thereupon authorised to sell the one equal half of the town lots, and the whole of the out lots, in such manner as he shall think most to the advantage of the state, and make conveyances of the same excepting always such as shall be reserved for public uses.
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SECTION 3. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid That the Streets Lanes and Alleys of the said town and out lots shall be common highways forever, and that the sale of the said lots and out lots herein mentioned shall be made, either in whole or part, at the town of Pittsburgh, Washington, or the City of Philadelphia, at the dis- cretion of the Governor; and previous to the sale or sales in cither place notice shall be given in one or more of the newspapers of the said city, and also in the Pittsburgh Gazette, of such sale, at least ten weeks previous to such sale or sales.
SECTION 4. And be it enacted by the authority aforesaid That the Governor is hereby empower'd to draw an order on the State Treasurer to defray the costs and charges of Surveying advertising and selling the lands aforesaid, to be paid by the Treasurer out of the public monies arising from the sales of the aforementioned lots.
WILLIAM BINGHAM Speaker of the House of Representatives1 RICHARD PETERS Speaker of the Senate.
Approved September 28th 1791 THOMAS MIFFLIN Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
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GENTLEMEN :-
Inclosed you will receive a Commission, by which you are appointed, to carry into effect, the provisions of the Act of Assembly, that directs the laying out and surveying a Town and out lots upon Beaver-creek The Act will point out the object of your duty, on this occasion: but you will be pleased to make a particular report to me, of the quantity and situa- tion of the land, which it will be necessary to reserve, out of the Town lots, for public uses; and of the expences incurred, in making the neces- sary surveys. As I am desirous that the design of the Legislature should be accomplished, as soon as possible, I have directed the Surveyor General, to communicate to you, at what period he will be ready to proceed on the necessary Surveys; and I have assured him of your punctual attendance.
I am Gentlemen Your most obedient hum'e Sert I
Philadelphia October 3rd 1791 General JOHN GIBSON, WILLIAM TODD, & ALEXANDER McCLEAN, Esquires.
THOMAS MIFFLIN
SIR In pursuance of an Act of the General Assembly, entitled, "An Act to empower the Governor, to lay out a Town and out lots at the mouth of Beaver-creek for the uses therein mentioned," You are hereby directed,
" Spelled as in the original.
VOL. 11 .- 40.
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to lay out or cause to be laid out and Surveyed, Two hundred acres of land, in town lots on or near the ground where the old French Town stood, in such manner as the Commissioners, hereinafter named, shall direct; and, also, one thousand acres, adjoining on the upper side thereof, as nearly square as may be, in out lots not less than five acres, nor more than ten acres, each: which surveys you will cause to be returned to you; and when they are so returned to you; make report thereof to me. And for the purposes, in the said Act, and this Letter, mentioned, you will be pleased to take notice, that I have appointed John Gibson, William Todd, and Alexander McClean, Esquires to be Commissioners; and they will be ready to enter upon the duties of their appointment, as soon as the necessary arrangements, on your part, are made.
I am Sir, Your most obedient Servant THOMAS MIFFLIN
Philadelphia October 3d 1791 To DANIEL BROADHEAD ' Esquire Surveyor General of Pennsylvania * * *
AN ACT to confirm Daniel Leet's survey of a town and out Lots at the mouth of Beaver Creek and to supersede the powers heretofore given to certain Commissioners for Superintending the said Survey.
WHEREAS, in and by an Act of the General Assembly of this Common- wealth, entituled ' "An Act to empower the Governor to lay out a town and out lots at the mouth of Beaver creek for the uses therein mentioned," passed on the twenty-eighth day of September, in the year One thousand seven hundred and ninety-one, it is, among other things, provided, "That the said town and out Lots shall be laid out, or caused to be laid out by the Surveyor General in such manner as Commissioners appointed by the Governor shall direct": AND WHEREAS the Surveyor General deputed and authorised ' Daniel Leet, one of the deputy Surveyors to lay out the said town and out lots, but the said commissioners not being able to attend, the said Daniel Leet surveyed and laid the same out in their absence, and without their direction: AND WHEREAS the survey so made by the said Daniel Leet corresponds with the original design, and has received the approbation of the General Assembly:
THEREFORE,
SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- tives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in General Assembly met and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That Daniel Leet shall return the survey of a town and out Lots at the mouth of Beaver Creek, by him made, to the surveyor-General and the same shall thereupon be deemed and taken to be as valid and effectual to all intents and purposes as if it had been made in the presence and by the direction of the Com- missioners appointed by the Governor in pursuance of an Act Intituled.'
1 Spelled as in the original.
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"An Act to empower the Governor to lay out a town and out lots at the mouth of Beaver Creek for the uses therein mentioned," passed on the twenty eighth day of September in the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety-one and the Governor shall proceed to make sale of the town and out Lots contained in said survey and grant conveyances therefor, in the same manner and under the same regulations, exceptions, and reservations, as are prescribed in the said recited Act of the General Assembly.
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