USA > Pennsylvania > Beaver County > History of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, and its centennial celebration, Volume I > Part 20
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When we ask who was the first permanent white settler in what is now Beaver County, we raise a question that is difficult to answer, at least to the satisfaction of all. Formerly it was thought to have been one George Baker, a German, who came to America in 1750, and who, after a residence of some years in the eastern part of the country, came to this region in 1772 or 1773 and settled on land in what is at present Moon township. Three months after his arrival in America Baker married a young
tours of the same region. The visits of these men were to points beyond our immediate region.
1 Hist. of West. Penna. (Rupp), p. 40.
2 From a carefully prepared list of the houses and inhabitants outside of the fort, made for Colonel Bouquet, April 15, 1761, by Captain William Clapham, headed "A return of the number of houses, of the names of owners, and number of men, women and children in each house, April 14, 1761," and which is the first description of Pittsburg that we possess, the number of inhabitants is 233, with the addition of ninety-five officers, soldiers, and their families residing in the town, making the whole number 332; with 104 houses. The lower town was nearest the fort. The upper, on the high ground, principally along the banks of the Monongahela, extended as far as the present Market Street.
3 See Chapter XII. for a full account of the Moravian mission in this region.
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English girl, who had her wedding dress sent over from England, the home-country at that early day furnishing the luxuries, as well as most of the necessaries, for the colonists. A piece of this wedding dress was exhibited in the Loan Collection at the Cen- tennial of Beaver County in 1900.
The Bakers, on their arrival in this region, built their cabin, or fort, as it was called, on land now known as the Michael Mateer farm, situated on a ridge on the east side of Raccoon Creek, about four miles from its mouth. Near the site of the cabin is still in existence the old Baker burial-ground, where repose the ashes of George Baker and his kinsfolk. In the Indian outrages about the beginning of the Revolutionary War the Bakers-husband, wife, and five children-were among the first victims, being taken by the Indians to Detroit and delivered to the British.
In the manuscript letter-books of Colonel George Morgan, Indian Agent of the United States at Fort Pitt, which we fre- quently cite in this work, we have found an interesting trace of Baker's captivity, namely his signature to a paper certifying the humanity shown him and his family by his Indian captors while on the march, and at Detroit by Governor Henry Hamilton, who is generally represented in the traditions of the time to have been a very Nero for cruelty. It would appear from the papers, copies of which we give herewith, that Hamilton's policy was to have the proclamation of British and Indian clemency therein made left in the neighborhood where outrages by the savages were committed, in order that the people might be in- duced to surrender themselves to the British in hopes of escaping destruction. The first name attached to the certificate of white prisoners at Detroit, testifying to their kindly treatment, is, as will be seen, that of George Baker. The following letter ac- companied the papers, or "writings," as they are called by the friendly Delawares who sent them to Morgan:
Captains White Eyes & John Killbuck's
Message to Colo. George Morgan-
CUCHOCKUNK [COSHOCTON, O.], March 14th, 1778. BROTHER TAIMENEND [the name given to Morgan by the Indians, pro- nounced Tammany],
A Man from Detroit his name Edward Hazel I came here with some Writings from the Governor & desired us to send some Indians with him
1 This Edward Hazel was sent by Governor Hamilton to escort Alexander McKee, the renegade, and his companions, who two weeks after the date of this letter deserted from Pittsburg, safely through the Indian tribes to Detroit. See The Girty's, pp. 58, 59.
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to bring them into the Inhabitants of the white people, but we declined it & told him that we would not meddle with such affairs-Writings of the same kind was also sent to the Shawnese to leave them where they should kill any white people, which they delivered to me-both I send to you & you will see the contents thereof-Edward Hazel who will stay here some time wisheth to get some Writings from General Hand to the Governor of Detroit which he would carry there.
Brother Taimenend,
I am always glad to hear from you of our friendship-let us always be strong & continue therein & when dark Clouds arise over us let nothing stop our friendship Road, that we may always hear from each other. We on our Side will do as much as it is in our power that it may be kept open, but be strong Brother & do the same for the good of our young Men, Women & Children-
and the "writings" are as follows:
DETROIT, January 5th, 1778.
Notwithstanding all endeavors to apprize his Majesty's faithful & loyal Subjects dispersed over the Colonies, of his gracious intentions towards them, signified to them at different times, 'tis to be feared the mistaken zeal of the deluded multitude acted upon by the artful and wicked design of rebellious Counsellors, has prevented many from profiting of his Majesty's Clemency, this is to acquaint all whom it may concern that nothing can give greater satisfaction to those persons who command for his Majesty at the different Posts, than to save from ruin those inno- cent people who are unhappily involved in distresses they have noways merited-The moderation shown by the Indians who have gone to War from this place is a speaking Proof of the truth, & the injunctions con- stantly laid upon them on their setting out, having been to spare the defenceless and aged of both sexes, shew that compassion for the unhappy is blended with the severity necessary to be exercised on the obstinate & perverse Enemies of His Majesty's Crown & Dignity .-
The Persons undernamed are living Witnesses of the moderation & even gentleness of Savages shewn to them their Wives & Children, which may it is hoped induce others to exchange the hardships experienced under their present Masters for Security & freedom under their lawful Sovereign.
The bearer hereof Edward Hazel, has my orders to make known to all persons whom it may concern that the Indians are encouraged to shew the same kindness to all who shall embrace the offer of safety & protection hereby held out to them, & he is further to make known as far as lies in his power, that if a number of people can agree upon a place of rendez- vous, & a proper time for coming to this Post, the Miamis, Sandoske or Post Vincennes, the properest methods will be taken for their Security & a safeguard of white people with an Officer and Interpreter sent to conduct them.
Given under my hand & Seal at Detroit
Sign'd HENRY HAMILTON Lieut: Gov'r & Superintendent
God save the King.
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Appended was the following testimony to the humanity of the Indians and the British :
We who have undersigned our Names do voluntarily declare that we have been conducted from the several places mentioned opposite our names to Detroit, by Indians accompanied with white people, that we have neither been cruelly treated or in any way ill used by them, & further that on our arrival we have been treated with the greatest humanity & our wants supplied in the best manner possible.
George Baker.
from 5 Miles below Logs Town
for himself, Wife & five Children now here
James Butterworth. from Bigg Kenhawa-
his
Thomas X Shoers. .from Harridge Town near Kentucke-
mark
Jacob Pugh. . . from six Miles below the Fort at Wheeling-
Jonathan Muchmore .from Fort Pitt
James Whitaker. from do. . taken at Fish Creek
from Bedford taken at Sandy Run- mark
his
John X Bridges
from do. .. taken at do.I
We have received from a direct descendant of Baker con- firmation of the statement made in this paper. Mrs. Harrison (Baker) Brobeck, of Rochester, Pa., a niece of George Baker who died in 1901, at eighty-one years of age, used to say that the old people of her family always testified to the kindly treat- ment shown the Bakers during their five years' captivity among the Indians and British. On the march to Detroit, however, the savages several times offered to kill one of the smallest of the children who annoyed them with its crying, but yielded to the entreaties of the mother to spare it. The poor mother then, to keep the little one quiet and prevent a recurrence of its peril, would carry it as long as she could. This little band of captives was also guarded at night in the usual manner of the Indians, each one being made to lie between two warriors. During their
1 Hamilton was also kind to the famous Daniel Boone, who was captured by a party of Shawanese at the Lower Blue Licks in Kentucky, February 7, 1778, and brought by them to Detroit :
"On the 10th of March [says the historian] eleven of the party, including Boone himself, were dispatched for the north, and, after twenty days of journeying, were presented to the English governor, who treated them, Boone says, with great humanity. To Boone himself, Hamilton and several other gentlemen seem to have taken an especial fancy, and offered considerable sums for his release; but the Shawanese had also become enamored of the veteran hunter, and would not part with him. He must go home with them, they said, and be one of them, and become a great chief."-(Western Annals, p. 296.)
See, however, what is said of Hamilton's conduct in the preceding chapter. According to the testimony of many witnesses he was very cruel.
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stay among the Indians at least one of the children learned to speak the language of the tribe. It is thought that the Bakers were in captivity between four and five years and that they were exchanged a year or two after the surrender of Burgoyne. They then returned to the south branch of the Potomac, whence they had emigrated to the frontier, and after living there a few years concluded to come back to their Beaver County home. Here they found their cabin in ashes, the clearing overgrown with weeds and thickets, the apple-tree they had planted a dozen years before now in blossom, a rose-bush become a large wild growth, and their well nearly filled with rubbish. Such were the vicissitudes of these early inhabitants. Baker died at an advanced age in 1802, two years after the erection of the county which he had helped to redeem from savage wildness.
But it seems now probable that another pioneer settler in this county had preceded Baker at least two years. This was Levi Dungan. From his grandson, the Hon. Warren S. Dungan, ex-Lieutenant-Governor of Iowa, who was present at the Beaver County Centennial in 1900, presiding and making an address on "Old Settlers' Day," we have obtained the following data con- cerning him. Levi Dungan was born on a farm near Philadel- phia, and, on February 2, 1764, he was married in that city, by the Rev. Morgan Edwards, to Mary Davis.' He was a first cousin to "Mad Anthony" Wayne, whose mother was a Dungan. In 1772, he, with his wife and two or three small children and two slaves, one named Fortune and the other Lunn,2 removed to this section, where he located at the head of King's Creek a tract
1 The entry in the Marriage Book of the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia is as follows:
"Levy Dungan | Both of Philadelphia were married at their Inn in Second street on Mary Dungan February the second day in the year One Thousand seven hun- [Davis] derd and sixty-four by Morgan Edwards."
The above is from a letter to the editor from Hon. Warren S. Dungan. In the same letter Mr. Dungan says that when Anthony Wayne was at Fort McIntosh with his army on his way to Ohio, Levi Dungan visited him and invited him to come to the Dungan home, about twenty miles away. Wayne declined to pay the visit, saying, " I have a wild set of devils to handle, and if I left them so long as to visit you I should expect half of them to be missing on my return."
2 The institution of slavery could not gain a strong hold upon the northern colonies and States, because it was not profitable there. Pennsylvania, by the Constitution of 1790, made provision for its gradual abolition. Beaver County was comparatively free from the influence of the institution, but a few slaves were nevertheless bought, sold, and held within its borders. In 1800 there were four slaves in the county; in 1810 there were eight, and in 1820 five. By 1830, under the operation of the law, as stated, all had been liberated. The following instances of slave-holding in this county are the only ones that are known : James Nicholson, a farmer in Big Beaver, owned three slaves,-Pompey and Tamar Frazier
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of one thousand acres-land now within the limits of Hanover township. He settled where the village of Frankfort Springs now stands, building his house over an excellent spring. The house was a large log structure, built for the double purpose of a dwelling and for a fort, to be used by all the neighbors as a place of asylum in times of danger. Its position over the spring had also doubtless been selected with a view to the possi- bilities of their being besieged, when access to water could thus be had without the peril of exposure. Here, too, he began to clear the land, and to plant vegetables and corn, and to do all the arduous work required by the life of a pioneer farmer.
Mary Dungan, his wife, was a woman well qualified to be a helpmeet for him in this wilderness life. Two instances may be given of her courage and capability. In 1789 she made the long journey from her western home to Philadelphia on horseback, with a few neighbors, taking with her money to enter the tract of land which had been blazed out by her husband in 1772. She made the journey to the east and back in safety, and brought with her the patents for the land, dated September 1, 1789. The other instance needs a word of preface.
Before her marriage Mrs. Dungan had been an inmate of the home of the celebrated physician, Dr. Benjamin Rush, to whom she was related, and with whom she studied medicine until he went to Edinburgh to complete his training. At his departure, the library which they had jointly accumulated, became, by mutual agreement, her property. After her marriage to Levi Dungan, she took a part of this library with her to her wilderness home, and continued there her medical studies. At one time from danger of Indian attacks these precious books had to be hid away for nearly a year, and they were nearly ruined as a consequence of dampness and mildew.1 But the medical know- ledge thus acquired by this brave little woman was often drawn
and Betsy Mathews. At Mr. Nicholson's death he willed the farm to these three slaves. Soon the two Fraziers died, and Betsy then owned the farm and was married to a man named Henry Jordan in 1840. Betsy then sold the main part of the farm, and upon this the borough of New Gallilee was afterwards built. The two slaves of Levi Dungan, named above, remained with him until they died. Isaac Hall, a black man, was bought at an auc- tion in New Orleans by Captain John Ossman, in 1810, for $270, and brought to this county, where he remained a slave until his death. Henry and Henley Webster, two slaves of John Roberts, of Hanover township, were brought with their master to this county from Vir- ginia, and remained here until they worked out their purchase money and keeping.
1 This was probably at the time when Dungan had removed his family for safety to Washington County, where he enlisted in the Revolutionary Army. See Chapter XIV.
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upon for the relief of her own family and of her neighbors. The following incident of exigent need and prompt assistance from her skill is related. Two neighbors, William Langfitt and Isaac Wiseman, had been to a mill down on King's Creek to get some corn ground. On their way home they were attacked by Indians. Wiseman was instantly killed and Langfitt was shot several. times through the body, but kept his seat while his frightened horse carried him back over the trail to Dungan's, where he was taken in, unconscious. There was no surgeon obtainable nearer than Fort Pitt and Mrs. Dungan at once set about to care for the wounded man. With a knitting-needle she packed the bleeding wounds with strips torn from a silk handkerchief, and with com- press and bandage arrested the hemorrhage. Langfitt recovered, and lived to the age of ninety-six, dying in Hanover township, Beaver County, August 23, 1831.
Levi Dungan, according to the family records, died in 1825, and it is thought that his wife's death was somewhat earlier. He (and probably also his wife) was buried in Brook, now Han- cock, County, West Virginia, about five miles southwest of Frankfort Springs, Pa., and about one and a half miles west of the village of Paris, on King's Creek. Near the spot a Baptist church was organized, of which Levi Dungan was an active member and an officer; and there stood also an old mill which is supposed to be the one which Wiseman and Langfitt had been at when, on their way home, they were attacked by the Indians, as related above. Richard Roberts, a Revolutionary soldier, the father of John Roberts (an uncle of Hon. Warren S. Dungan) and the grandfather of Colonel Richard P. Roberts, is buried here be- side the Dungans. The locality may be identified for some of our readers by mention of the fact that a few years ago there lived in the neighborhood a man named Levi Standish.
It is believed by some that the first settler in what is now Beaver County was the celebrated Colonel (afterwards General) John Gibson, an uncle of the great jurist, John Bannister Gibson. Three papers are offered in evidence for this settlement, copies of which we have examined. There is, first, an unsigned state- ment, dated at Jeffersonville (Indiana?), November 20, 1813, in which the following affirmations are made, apparently as coming from Gibson himself; viz., that "in 1769, at the opening of the Land Office in the then Province of Pennsylvania, an entry was
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made of 300 acres of land to include the old Indian corn-field opposite Logstown 1 for the use of John Gibson, Sen., he having drawn at a lottery the earliest number, and the land was sur- veyed for him in the same year by James Hendricks, Esq., District Surveyor "; that "in 1771, he, John Gibson, settled upon the land, built a house, and cleared and fenced 30 acres of ground"; that in 1778 "he sold his claim to Matthias Slough, of Lancaster, Pa.," and that "he, John Gibson, has understood that the land was sold by Slough to a Mr. Scott, who sold to Mr. McDonald."
Second, there is an affidavit of Presley Neville,2 dated about the same time, which sets forth his knowledge of John Gibson's having resided on that tract, and having had, with the other settlers, to flee from his home during the Revolutionary War on account of the incursions of the Indians.
Third, we have an affidavit of Rob't Vance, sworn and sub- scribed to before John Way, a justice of the peace of Allegheny County, Pa., and dated December 6, 1807. Herein Vance de- clares that "he hath for the past fifty years been well acquainted with the tract of land in question, having lived upwards of thirty-two years of the latter part of that time in the same
1 We would note that this statement incidentally bears out our position in regard to the site of Logstown (see Chapter XXVIII.), which we hold to have been on the right-hand bank of the Ohio as one descends the stream. This paper puts Logstown "opposite" "the old Indian corn-field." The corn-field is conceded by all to have been on the south (prop- erly, west) side; therefore Logstown, according to the witness of this paper, was on the north (properly east) side, or right-hand bank of the river. From what is said in McClure's and Parrish's journals (quoted ante, pp. 24-26) it might seem that Gibson had a house at Logs- town and one on the opposite side of the river. The former may have been his trading-post.
Diligent search at Harrisburg for the record of Gibson's entries discovered nothing be- yond the following: Among a list of Benjamin Johnston's "Virginia Entries" on file in the Department of Internal Affairs, the name of John Gibson is entered under date of June 23, 1780, for 400 acres, described as located at "Logstown," also for another tract of 400 acres described as located "adjoining do," entered on the same date. No return of survey is credited to either of these tracts and no mention of a patent being granted is noted in either case.
The word "entry," as used here, means the date of filing of claims for lands with the Virginia commissioners appointed to settle claims to unpatented lands, and the granting of certificates by the said commissioners to individual claimants.
The fact of these two entries being given in Johnston's list is evidence that such certifi- cates were actually granted to Gibson on the date above mentioned, but the reason for no return of survey having been made does not appear. The lands have likely been patented to some other person under the regular warrant system at a later date.
2 Presley Neville was a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, a classical scholar, and entered the army at the early age of twenty years under his father, General John Neville. He rose to the rank of Major and was Aide-de-Camp to General Lafayette. He was the only son of the distinguished John Neville, and married the daughter of General Morgan. After his marriage he removed to his property, at Woodville, on Chartiers Creek. He resided in Pittsburg from 1792 to 1816.
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neighborhood"; and that "the land during that time was in the quiet and peaceable possession of John McDonald, his heirs or those under whom the said John McDonald claims." (Italics ours.) These last would be Scott, Slough, and Gibson, and we have been informed by descendants of John McDonald that he did claim under these three men. We have thought that an impartial treatment of this subject called for the mention of these papers, and we submit the evidence which they afford for what it may be worth.1
We have ourselves previously shown the proof that Gibson was at Logstown certainly as early as Dungan was on his settle- ment in what is now Hanover township (the spring of 1772), and very probably a year or two earlier. This proof will be found in the extracts from the journal of the Rev. David McClure previously quoted.2 McClure, in 1772, finds Gibson a resident at Logstown, with a store and house, and his place a well-known rendezvous for travelers. But we still think that Dungan is entitled to be called the first settler. Gibson was primarily an Indian trader. He had also a store at Fort Pitt, where he spent good part of his time. He came to Logstown, as many other
1 Gibson was a note-worthy man, and was much connected with the early history of Beaver County. He was born at Lancaster, Pa., May 23, 1740, and received his early education there, pursuing a classical course, and entering the service at the age of eighteen. His first campaign was with General Forbes in the expedition against Fort Duquesne. He then settled at Fort Pitt as a trader. In the Indian war of 1763, while descending the Ohio River in a canoe, he was taken prisoner at the mouth of the Big Beaver Creek. Of two men who were his companions, one was immediately burned at the stake, and the other carried to the Kanawha, where he suffered the same fate. Gibson was saved by the intervention of an old squaw, who adopted him in the place of a son killed in battle. He was surrendered by the Indians to Colonel Bouquet in 1764. In 1774 he negotiated the peace with the Shawanese, and while on this mission, at a conference with the Indians near the Scioto River, Logan, the Mingo chief, made to him the celebrated speech which so many schoolboys have used as a select oration, and which is justly rated as one of the masterpieces of natural eloquence. Who does not remember the words:
"I appeal to any white man if ever he entered Logan's cabin hungry and he gave him not meat But do not harbor a thought that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt a fear. He will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan? Not one.'
At the outbreak of the Revolution Gibson was made Colonel of the 13th Virginia Regi- ment. He was temporarily in command several times during the war at Fort Pitt (his command including Fort McIntosh), was in command for a time at Fort Laurens, and held other important military trusts. He was also a Member of the convention which framed the constitution of Pennsylvania in 1790; later a Judge of Allegheny County, Major- General of militia, and Secretary of the Territory of Indiana until it became a State, being at one time its acting Governor. Gibson died at Braddock's Field, Pa., April 10, 1822.
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