USA > Pennsylvania > Beaver County > History of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, and its centennial celebration, Volume I > Part 23
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I 1b. sugar. $ .35
I yd. calico.
1.25
Į 1b. ginger. .18
¿ 1b. pepper .. .30
1 gallon whisky.
1.85
I cow skin. .31
3.75
1 lb. coffee.
.58
I almanac. .I2
to lbs. hay
1.00
.22
1 oz. indigo
wool hat 2.35
¿ paper pins. .18
1.77
5 lbs. nails.
I bushel wheat. 1.85
I mowing scythe. 1.50
From this price list it would seem that, a hundred years ago, everything was dear but whisky. We may compare this list with prices in Beaver County in 1835. In a letter published in that year by M. T. C. Gould, in Atkinson's Casket (Philadelphia), we find the following :
" Provisions, though much higher than when I first settled here [in the Beaver Valley], are still comparatively low, if we look to the prices in your city; and fuel so low as scarcely to be named among other expenses. Wood at our doors, is $1.25 cts. a cord; coal from $4.50 to $6.00 the hundred bushels. Veal, mutton, beef, pork, &c. from 3 to 5 cts. per lb .; butter from 9 to 123 cts .; flour $4.50 per barrel; potatoes usually 25 cts. per bushel; turnips, 18}; chickens, 182 to 25 cts. a pair; eggs, 6} cts. a dozen. Large village lots may yet be had- say 40 to 60 feet front, by 150 to 200 feet deep, for prices, varying, according to the streets and locations, from $40 to $300 each; and out lots of from i to ro acres, within a mile or two of the town, from $30 to $too per acre, and farms in various parts of the county, un- improved, at $2 to Sio . improved at from $7 to $20 per acre."
I bushel salt.
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History of Beaver County
pioneer life, we must not fall into its opposite by imagining that life as unrelieved by mirth and jollity. It is a consoling fact that there is no condition so bad but that man can find in himself the resources of relief or enjoyment. A prisoner in the awful dun- geon of the little Châtelet in Paris, who had languished for years in a living tomb, said that he and his fellow-prisoners had kept themselves alive and from despair by constantly singing the songs of the people. Even the terrors of the wilderness, with its savage beasts and still more savage men, did not quench the spirit of fun and frolic in the breasts of the boys and girls of the pioneer settlements, or daunt the courage of their elders.' It took more than an Indian or a catamount to do that. They had dances of the simpler forms, such as three- and four-handed reels and jigs; scutching frolics and husking parties, where both sexes met, were frequent, and the boys and men had their rude games in common, and athletic sports in which they vied with each other in running, jumping, and wrestling, besides the con- tests of skill in shooting with the bow and arrow and with the rifle. Doddridge, from whom we have gleaned the most of these particulars, says that dramatic narrations on simple themes were also common amusements of the young people, and, at a later period, music and singing.
In the excitements of the still-hunt and the chase, the men found pleasures as well as a means of supplying the larder for the household, and we read of some of the women even who knew how to use the rifle, and who on occasion could bring down with it a wild turkey or a deer. At a later period grand fox-
1 The cheerfulness of the pioneers is well illustrated in the following account of how they endured the hardships of the journey over the mountains. The Rev. David McClure, in his diary, says (page 118):
"Saturday 24 [April, 1773] Reached Ligonier. In this journey we overtook several families removing from the old settlements in the State, and from Maryland and New Jersey, to the western country. Their patience and perseverance in poverty and fatigue were wonderful. They were not only patient, but cheerful and pleased themselves with the expectation of seeing happy days, beyond the mo. tains.
"I noticed, particularly, one family of about 12 in number. The man carried an ax and gun on his shoulders-the Wife, the rim of a spinning wheel in one hand, and a loaf of bread in the other. Several little boys and girls, each with a bundle, according to their size. Two poor horses, each heavily loaded with some poor necessaries, on the top of the baggage of one, was an infant rocked to sleep in a kind of wicker cage, lashed securely to the horse. A Cow formed one of the company, and she was destined to bear her portion of service, a bed cord was wound around her horns, and a bag of meal on her back. The above is a specimen of the greater part of the poor and enterprising people, who leave their old habitations and connections, and go in quest of lands for themselves and children, & with the hope of the enjoyment of independence, in their worldly circumstances, where land is good & cheap."
"And in the course of 6 years, many families, west of the Mountains, now begin to realize their hopes. Before that time, the country was a desolate wilderness; but now there are many well cultivated farms in the pleasant vallies which run among the Moun- tains, & to the Westward, on to Pittsburgh, about 50 miles."
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History of Beaver County
hunts were organized, reviving and sometimes rivalling those which many of the settlers had seen in the fields of "merrie old England." 1
Public morality was maintained in the pioneer society, even more than in our own, by public opinion. "The punishment for lying, idleness, dishonesty and ill-fame generally," says Doddridge, "was that of 'hating the offender out,' as they expressed it. This mode of chastisement was like the atimea of the Greeks. It was a public expression, in various ways, of a general sentiment of indignation against such as transgressed the moral maxims of the community to which they belonged. This commonly resulted either in the reformation or banishment of the person against whom it was directed."
Manners are minor morals. In these there was, of course, a rudeness at that early date which is now found only among the lower classes or on the frontiers of our land. "Rough-and- tumble" fighting was common, and not infrequently there were
1 The following advertisement of a fox hunt, though of a later period than the times of which we speak above, will yet be of interest:
"GREAT CIRCULAR FOX HUNT !!
A fox hunt will take place on Friday, the 28th of February, 1834, commencing on the Ohio river at the Widow Spencer's, thence along the state road to Nevill's sawmill, thence to Samuel Hoyt's sawmill, thence to intersect the state road, opposite the Four-Mile meeting house; thence along the state road to Andrew Ingle's, then along the state road to Fairview, thence to Ohioville, thence along the state road to Amos Dawson's, thence to Smiths Ferry. Officers to take charge of the line from Widow Spencer's to Nevill's sawmill: Robert Potter, Arthur Campbell, John Spencer, William Sutherland, John Wilson, William Vance and Adam Montgomery. From Nevill's mill to William Reed's-Richard Knight, George Ingle, David Knight, John T. Nevill, Michael Eckles. From William Reed's to the state road opposite the Four-Mile meeting house-William Reed, Washington Phillis and Jesse McGaffick. From the meeting house to Andrew Ingle's-John Reed, Milo Reed, Alfred Lyon, George Barclay, Joseph Barnes, Henry Vance, William Vance and Thomas Marker. From Andrew Ingle's to Fairview-John Marker, John Thompson, William Thompson, John Vance, Henry Ingle, Alexander Moore, John Slantz, Hugh Graham, Noble Graham, Michael Mason, Samuel Duncan and James Russell. From Fairview to Ohioville-Samuel Dickson, Hugh Ferguson, Samuel Wherry. From Ohioville to Amos Dawson's-William C. Moore, James Johnston, Matthew J. Johnston, Dr. John Clark. From Dawson's to Smiths Ferry-Benjamin Dawson, James Todd, Nicholas Dawson, Daniel Biddle, Samuel McFerron, Thomas Foster, Samuel Smith, Andrew McClure, John Barns and Isaac Alex- ander.
All sportsmen are invited to meet on the lines at 9 o'clock, the starting signal to be given at 10 o'clock, the signal to be started at the cross-roads (Ephraim Thomas') by blowing of horns five minutes without intermission. The blowing of all horns is forbidden until that hour. The men are requested to march slow and in good order, and examine the thickets and rocks carefully; the closing ground to be in the glades, near Pott's Island, where it will be marked plain. The first closing line will be from Samuel Campbell's up past Sampson Marker's, thence around the river hill to Alexander Moore's, thence around the foot of the hill back of Richard McClure's, and on around to the river, the line to be well marked. The men will form into the first line and will not march into the closing ground line until a signal is given from the center of the closing ground by the beating of a drum or the sounding of a horn. They will then march in slow, and with as little noise as pos- sible. The officers all keeping their places on the lines. The dogs must not be let loose until a signal is given after closing. Any dog let loose before this signal will be in danger of being shot. The men will all be careful to keep their places on the lines closing. We request all, that conveniently can, to come on foot; persons on horseback will please put up their horses before marching into the closing ground. The officers will be careful to keep their places with the men on the lines, and use their best endeavors to keep the lines unbroken. All sportsmen are invited to attend with their dogs and horses.
MANY SPORTSMEN."
-From the Western Argus, February 21, 1834.
1
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History of Beaver County
combats "with fists, teeth and feet employed at will, but above all, the detestable practice of gouging, by which eyes were some- times put out." I
Sufficient will be said in regard to the religious life of the settlers in another chapter, but we may remark here that being, as a rule, from communities in the old country and the eastern parts of this country where they had known all the advantages of churches, they hastened to secure for themselves and their children like privileges in their new locations in the West. It must be confessed, however, that the pioneers were also very much addicted to superstitious beliefs and practices. Medical science was then in its infancy, and physicians were very few in number, so that, as might naturally be expected among a simple people, a great variety of charms were resorted to for the cure of diseases. They ascribed the infliction of many diseases and cal- amities to the influence of witches, and believed in the power of wizards, or witch-masters as they were sometimes called, to re- move them. The writer before quoted says that all diseases which could neither be accounted for nor cured were usually ascribed to some supernatural agency of a malignant kind, and that the witch-masters enjoyed quite as much confidence and patronage as the regular physicians.
Education, until a somewhat late period, was of the most rudimentary character, parents seldom having the means to send their children to the eastern schools, and being compelled to content themselves with giving them what little learning they themselves possessed. This, however, sufficed for the simple business of the backwoods, and with the increase of population and growth of social and business needs the schoolmaster ap- peared and played his part.
On the whole we may say that the men and women who
1 Even up to the period of the Civil War, rough fighting was very common, as the writer well remembers to have seen in his boyhood. The fighting men then enjoyed a kind of honor among their fellows. It is certain that such is no longer the case; it being a rare thing now to see a fight on the public streets, and the bully, if he showed himself to our sight to-day as he used to do, would simply be voted a bore and sent to jail. The writer has a theory about this improved state of manners. He thinks that it was brought about largely by the war itself, with its serious and awful tests of character and courage. The common street fighter and village champion failed to meet those tests so well as did the man of quiet spirit and orderly life, and lost prestige accordingly. The people learnt what real fighting and real courage are, and profited by the lesson.
For a graphic account of "gouging" see The Stranger in America (chapter xxii.), by Charles William Janson, Esq., London, 1807. VOL. 1 .- 12.
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History of Beaver County
settled the region of which Beaver County is now a part were a noble race, with the virtues and the vices which belonged to their time and their environment. To the former, their virtues of honesty, loyalty, and bravery and tenacity of purpose, we owe the possession of our better things, and it would ill become us to scan too critically the failings of those who conquered for us our inheritance and transmitted it to us in title-deeds written in their own blood. For the pioneers as well as for their children and grandchildren who spread out through these valleys and over these hills, and gave to the rural population of to-day its elements of thrift and integrity, we need make no apologies. Rather may we ask with pride, like the old man of Riley's poem, for a "tale of the airly days-of the times as they ust to be":
Tell me a tale of the timber-lands- Of the old-time pioneers; Somepin' a pore man understands With his feelins 's well as ears. Tell of the old log house,-about The loft, and the puncheon flore- The old fi-er place, with the crane swung out, And the latch-string thrugh the door.
Tell of the things jest as they was- They don't need no excuse !- Don't tetch 'em up like the poets does, Tel theyr all too fine for use !- Say they was 'leven in the fambily- Two beds, and the chist, below, And the trundle-beds that each helt three, And the clock and the old bureau.
Then blow the horn at the old back-door Tel the echoes all halloo, And the childern gethers home onc't more, Jest as they ust to do: Blow for Pap tel he hears and comes, With Tomps and Elias, too, A-marchin' home, with the fife and drums And the old Red White and Blue!
Blow and blow tel the sound draps low As the moan of the whipperwill, And wake up Mother, and Ruth and Jo, All sleepin' at Bethel Hill: Blow and call tel the faces all Shine out in the back-log's blaze, And the shadders dance on the old hewed wall As they did in the airly days.
CHAPTER V
FIRST LAND TITLES 1
"Land-grabbing," Indian, Swedish, Dutch, and English-Duke of York's Tenure-William Penn's Tenure-Conveyances-Manors-Extin- guishment of Indian Title-Purchases of 1768 and 1784-Treaty of Fort McIntosh, 1785-Depreciation and Donation Lands-Reserva- tions-Land Act of 1792-Land Companies-Litigation Resulting- Pennsylvania and Virginia Grants.
Still to the whiteman's wants there is no end. He said, "beyond those hills he would not come"; But to the western seas his hands extend, Ere yet his promise dies upon his tongue.
THE first settlement in Pennsylvania was by the Swedes; the Swedes were dispossessed by the Dutch, and the Dutch by the English. But before the white man began the occupation of the land, the Indian had been carrying on the same game of "land- grabbing." The Lenni-Lenape, who at the coming of the Euro- peans were in possession in the lands now included within the limits of Pennsylvania, were, according to their own traditions, not the first owners, nor were the Iroquois, their masters. If we may trust that tradition these had themselves driven out another tribe, the Allegewi, who have left only their name as their memorial.
The English, claiming title to all the country along the coast visited by Cabot in 1498, never ceased to assert possession of right to the lands along the Delaware, and in 1664 Charles II. granted all those lands to his brother, James, Duke of York and Albany, who established a code of laws for the governing of the newly acquired territories. By these laws the tenure of land was from the Duke of York.
1 See also article by Hon. Daniel Agnew in Centennial Section, vol. ii., and one on "Depreciation Lands," by Thomas Henry, Esq., Appendix No. VI.
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History of Beaver County
William Penn acquired a title to the lands in question by charter from the King (1681), and by deed from the Duke of York (1682), and to the territory was given the name of Pennsyl- vania, or Penn's Woods; he, with his heirs and assigns, being constituted the true and absolute proprietary of the province, saving allegiance to the Crown. Having secured his title, Penn published his conditions and concessions to purchasers, and pre- scribed the rules of settlement. The first conveyances by the proprietor were by deeds of lease and release, which were exe- cuted in England. The grantees were called first purchasers and the grants, which conferred peculiar privileges, were called old rights. They amounted to over five hundred thousand acres.
The grants were of manors. Volume iv. of the Pennsylvania Archives, 3d series, contains a most interesting collection of facsimiles of the patents of these old manors. Several of them were in western Pennsylvania; as the Manor of Pittsburg,I which embraced within its bounds 5,776 acres, and the Manor of Kittanning, which extended "north on the east bank of the . Allegheny river from the mouth of Crooked creek to about the middle of the present Manorville," and contained three thousand acres. This manor did not, as many suppose, include either the old Indian town of Kittanning or the present town of that name. As stated in a preceding chapter, it was to this manor that the Pennsylvanians had decided to remove from Fort Pitt on account of the oppressive proceedings of Dr. John Connolly, Lord Dun- more's agent, but found it unnecessary when that gentleman was compelled to leave the country. It was then in Westmore- land County, which had also a manor at Cherry Valley, one at Denmark, and two others. There were also five manors in Bedford County. The tenure here was a kind of feudal tenure called socage, or fixed rent, reserving the quit-rent. The quit- rents were the origin of the present ground-rents. They were
1 The warrant for the survey of the Manor of Pittsburg was issued in May, 1769. The title to this manor was in the Penn family, John Penn, the grandson of William Penn, being then Lieutenant-Governor of Pennsylvania. During the War of the Revolution the Penns were Royalists, and in 1779 the Legislature confiscated all their property, except certain manors, of which surveys had been made and entered in the Land Office prior to July 4, 1776. The Manor of Pittsburg, having been surveyed before this date, remained the prop- erty of the Penn family. In 1784, they sold the lands of this manor, the first sale being made in January to Isaac Craig and Stephen Bayard, of all the ground between Fort Pitt and the Allegheny River, supposed to contain about three acres.
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1
Half-tone reproduction of a portion of the Charter of Charles II. to William Penn.
181
History of Beaver County
very unpopular with the colonists and a source of continual disagreement between them and the proprietor.
One of the first cares of Penn was to extinguish all the titles which the Indians possessed to the lands included within his charter. Through a long term of years treaties were made with them, for the purchase of their lands.I Payments were made in blankets and other wearing apparel; in pins, needles, scissors, knives, axes, and guns. For some of their lands they were paid twice on account of dissatisfaction with the purchase-price, so anxious were the proprietaries to keep on friendly terms with them. No doubt the intentions of the authorities were honest enough, but when we consider the vast extent of the territory surrendered by the Indians, and the purchase-price, a few thou- sand dollars' worth of "goods, merchandize and trinkets," the justice of the transactions is not striking. And despite the formal acceptance of the terms made in the treaties, the Indians were wise enough to see that they were being very poorly com- pensated for their lands. As Chief Whole Face said to James Dickinson, the surveyor appointed for the Ninth District, after the final purchases of 1784 and '85, "Many of our young Warriors are dissatisfied with the Reward we received for the Lands Thinking it inadequate for so large a Body; it not being one pair of Mokosons a piece." 2
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